It is a lovely day today, calm, sunny now and then, no rain. Our fencer can’t finish one of our fields because he can’t get his digger up there in the wet. In fact only one length of fencing is crucial to keeping the alpacas in, the other sides of the field are fenced but it is falling apart and messy but good enough. So we sent our boy Andrew up there to do the crucial bit without machinery whilst I fed the animals. Everyone comes up to the barn to be fed on Mondays so I have been poddling up and down the slopes bringing each field up. I took the opportunity to walk the fields as well which was very pleasant apart from when I put up a pheasant and nearly jumped out of my skin. They make such a din. All our pheasants are almost certainly survivors from the shoot up the road. Every Wednesday and Saturday it’s like World War III up there.
The alpacas are all dry and fluffy again and looking very nice apart from their muddy feet. We did Joshua’s goats’ feet today as well. Joshua is the youngest son and acquired three Golden Guernsey goats some years ago. However now he is a teenager and in the middle of ‘A’ level exams the goats have dropped down the list of priorities although he did clean their house out on Sunday with a minimal amount of nagging. The goats have a charming wooden summerhouse that was in the garden but has been moved into a field for them. They hate rain and shoot in there the moment it starts. Their feet were in a bit of a state but are all trimmed up now.
It is Day 40 of not smoking for Chas and myself and we haven’t murdered each other yet. I go up on the StayQuit website every day and it tells me how much money I have saved, how many cigarettes I haven’t smoked (200) and how many days I have added to my life. Pretty daft that one as if a bus has just turned you into strawberry jam, the extra days are not particularly relevant. It is a very good aid in the battle against addiction as it reinforces your desire to stop. Well done NHS.