Hot! Hot! Hot!

Well, the weekend brought limited success to my plans. The Saturday morning clean out was scuppered by an emergency shopping need in Brighton and then having to detour to Marksies where they have my favourite pink Cava currently on offer...honestly this stuff rivals Lanson Rose and when life becomes 'responsibility' then what are you and DH going to do other than have a little treat on a Saturday night? So that was that. Some gardening did get done but more is now needed thanks to my lunatic dog who on a rabbit chase decided going THROUGH the netted fruit cage, then the raspberries was a good idea...! He was in a funny old mood last night - basted himself in the 33 degrees yesterday afternoon and then drank 4 bowls of water on the trot leading to an 'accident' (accident my a**e, lazy so and so couldn't wait to get over to the field) in my lounge with leg cocked against my new, oak, handmade sideboard. SO unimpressed, especially with the subsequent need to get out the gloves, the dettol, the 1001 and scrub away  all with my newly done gelished red nails. It wasn't a good dog day all round yesterday.


The sheep are now all sufficiently fat enough for the freezer (oops, not this years lambs, I keep forgetting!) I mean, sufficiently fat enough not to escape between the bottom rungs of the barred gate (the amount of times I've had to chase Hiltz or number 8 around the duck land paddock, hair wafting across my face annoying me, hunched over, bottom sticking out in a so-not-Beyonce type manner to all and sundry on the 29 bus...I care to forget those days) So the extra hurdles have been removed meaning that I can open the gate like any normal smallholder would instead of having to climb over and jump down all with my dodgy knee. Hurrah! Small progress indeed!


I have no idea what to do with hot sheep, I thought I knew how to deal with hot dogs until Horsley's carryings on yesterday, but allow me to preach a very short lesson to you all - sheep do not like being squirted with the hosepipe. I did this with best intentions to spritz their faces (well my Evian brumisateur works for me) but instead it sent them wild with number 8 (soon to named Minty I think) actually running into one of the oaks head on...lesson learned, provide fresh water, leave to nature, Hozelock is not the answer...


Plenty of wildlife activity happening. Mummy duck and her 8 ducklings still in existence and thankfully still on my neighbours ponds, butterflies galore, newly fledged bird families in abundance including greater spotted woodpeckers, green woodpeckers, starlings, blackbirds, buzzards, wrens and plenty more  I can't think of right now. Tonnes of bugs everywhere too - biting things, mozzies and our usual plague of grasshoppers. Each night, armed with a jamjar I collect the silly things and release them outside again. It makes me feel good to have 'saved' them until I remember each bat eats 1500 bugs a night... Fox not spotted for 5 days now but 3 dead fox cubs on the roads by our land.


An interesting creature (2 actually) spotted yesterday morning. On the Preschool run turning out of the drive I see 2 'things' running across the road. Now I can only described them to you as giant centipedes as they seemed to have a zillion legs. In hindsight this was probably the reflection from the road surface. Anyway, they were around 9 inches long and only around 3 inches tall, running quite fast one after each other. I can only imagine they were baby stoats/weasels or perhaps lizards. We get snakes on the field (grass mainly but have had 1 adder a couple of years ago) but never seen a lizard in this country. I must find out!


Thunderstorms on the way apparently, great, probably when sheep feeding later on!


Mx

Weather: Peaked at 33 degrees yesterday. sunny, humid and glorious!