TJP Day 11 Max Dudley and wood
Posted: Tuesday 8 July, 2014
Been a few days since a diary entry - it's now Tuesday and the previous one was Thursday. I can't remember what we did on Friday - some general tidying and preparation for the weekend's courses, I guess. We had an Introduction to Smallholding on Saturday and a Sheepkeeping for Beginners on Sunday. We enjoy doing courses - we've met a lot of lovely folk and many of them keep in touch through TAS or by coming and saying "hello" at the Festival and other events.
We have lodgers! Max and Dudley, my chum's two Labradors, are here for two weeks while she's on holiday. They're lovely dogs - well mannered and friendly - but those tails! And they're just at Meg's head height, poor wee soul. They wouldn't bat Tess with their tails - well, maybe once.
I milked Annie on Friday but she had the weekend off; Monday wasn't great but when I turned her out and Rosie came over, her udder was binging with milk, so I grabbed the bucket and milked her in the field. That's fine while the weather's good, but I'll have to find a way of getting the calf in, without being mobbed by the rest of the herd. I didn't milk her today because I was supposed to be on a Soil Association course, but for a variety of boring domestic reasons, I didn't manage to get there :-(
Smokey's a bit short in his off fore again, so I'll do a bit of investigation tomorrow - an Epsom salts soak and poultice, I guess. His Parelli "Preparing to drive" DVD is coming tomorrow with Auntie Claire, so we want him sound asap.
The weed problem in the adjoining field has been resolved via a big tractor and mower that arrived unexpectedly yesterday evening. Having reported it to RPID yesterday, I had to unreport it today, which pleased RPID, as well as us. And I phoned the landowner to that them for their help :-)
Dan was out at 7am today chainsawing wood at the golf course (with permission). Between the heat and the protective trousers, he was pretty pink around the gills when he came in. By then, we were in a heavy and prolonged rain shower, so he worked on the Festival website for the rest of the day.
I spent the day reading the Scottish Agricultural Census and related documents, plus the guidance notes on the new CAP in Scotland. I'm doing a "compare and contrast" between crofting and smallholding. The helpful folk at the SG Statistics Unit are going to run some analyses for me, which is great. But now ma heid hurts :-)
It's a sheep day the morn, so it'l no jist be ma heid hurtin' :-)
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