Ann's Diary 3

While we went away to Kefalonia for a week, woken daily by the gentle tinkling of goat bells on the hillside, Ann held the fort, with an incontinent geriatric Joey and widdling nipper Ned.  Ann in charge?  We all know what that means…another instalment of Ann’s Diary!

Day 1 Saturday

Your lovely clean house was wrecked by 3pm.  Played fetch with Ned for a while, who promptly peed on the floor when he got in. You said to leave Joey behind on the evening walk, but how?  He trotted most of the way and even barked on half a lap of 7-Acres. He ambled behind for the other half.  Late back from my evening out to find Ned’s racoon completely disembowelled.

Day 2 Sunday

Paid the price for going out.  Two alarm calls from Cody at 2:15 and 3:30, but all good as there were no heaps (or otherwise) to clear up in the morning. A beautiful day and all went well until I got to Ball Allotments.  One of the rams seemed to have a shoulder injury and was playing dead until I got near, then hobbled away. Joey spent a lot of time in the garden with me and Alan, then came in to poo on the runner.  I fear it may need a dry clean!

Day 3 Monday

Well, everyone slept like tops last night, me too until I heard the wind rising. I spoke to dad this morning and he is going to bring the teaser ram from home to go in with the tudduths. He brought calf muesli and we went up to Ball to look at the lame ram in case he needs replacing – still lame, but ‘working’ so I think he’d been fighting.  I now have the Landover for a couple of days as we did a car swap so Kat has something to drive when she is over from Sardinia.  Hurricane Ophelia has been gusting all day, but not too dramatic. We had a really amazing orange sun and strange light for a while…it turned out to be Saharan dust picked up by the winds. One of the cows in Edwin’s was behaving very spookily when I drove around them.  Feeling a bit concerned, as she should not have reacted to the bike, I took dad for a look – we decided to start them on some wedges of straw. No accidents from the dogs today, but I did lose Cody for a short while – found him in the pond having a cool down.  Question: how much water does a husky fleece hold?  Answer: enough to flood the utility room floor, as I was not quick enough to stop him running indoors.

Day 4 Tuesday

Red kite at lunchtime.  All good today, although the Welsh Black is still keeping an eye on me.  Joey has had morning and evening walks so far, on the lead on the way out, then free-trotting on the way back – just like a pony when you turn it to home.

Day 5 Wednesday

The black cow ate straw this morning, so all fine.  Ned has been good(ish) – the runner, however, is getting a few wees…even when he has just come in from outside.

Day 6 Thursday

I fed the calves and cows before nipping into town for a coffee and some shopping.  I managed to get all the rest done before the rain set in.  Dad bought cake, and also checked Common and Ball Allotments for me as they had been fog-bound in the morning.  Another casualty – the ancient piece of blue string on the quad bike keys!  I have replaced it with a bright orange shoelace just in case they are dropped in the straw.  Dad says he hopes a rat doesn’t run off with them…now I am worried.

Day 7 Friday

Not a great night – very wet and windy.  Joey had the gallopers so he asked to go out a couple of times.  I lost Cody and just before I got dressed and went out to find him, I saw him looking through the front windows to come in – the side gate had blown down.  All good outside.  The ram is walking around again, but I am not sure how much he is working – though he was in hot pursuit when I saw him.  5-Acres was looking bare and I moved the sheep on, especially with Storm Brian arriving tonight.  Tried to get a photo of Ned and Cody playing, but they stopped as soon as I got my phone out.  Just at the moment, there is a wren picking flies out of the window frames.  I have seen several rats today – quite young ones.

Day 8 Saturday

We all overslept, but managed to get our walk done before any rain arrived.  Joey wasn’t keen this morning.  I have been hand-feeding him to get him to eat – sorry!  Much squealing…more rats – time for the air rifle.  All good outside.  I spent an hour trying to make the house look as though the dogs had been at the kennels all week.  Hopefully, it won’t look too bad by the time you get back in the small hours.