'Sheep Poo Field'

Ruby is settling in well to life on the farm.

She seemed to have read the puppy manual from cover to cover before her arrival and until yesterday she had been the ‘almost’ perfect pup. Of course I may be ever so slightly biased here and have had my rose tinted specs firmly pegged on the end of my nose, naturally, but she has been doing really well.

I decided the other day to introduce Ruby to her lead and take her on the short walk to school, doing my ‘bag lady’ duty, as I carried all the school paraphernalia for youngest as she cycled off into the distance.

Ruby was the picture of perfection. She walked beautifully to heel, head proud and tail in the air. No pulling, no hindering, she kept perfect pace, and just snuggled in tightly to my heel as the ferry traffic hurtled past. School bag and packed lunch delivered I decided to walk Ruby back through the happy farmer’s field to introduce her to the sheep and lambs and let her have a run off the lead.

As she scrabbled through the gate you could actually see a huge grin spread across her chops, so excited was she by the contents of that field. She did not however even blink at the sheep, appeared not even to have noticed them. No, from the moment she entered that field her nose was glued firmly to the grass as she ‘hoovered’ up every piece of sheep poo she could manage to get between her jaws. It was a case of so much poo and so little time, as I shouted, she shovelled and rolled, delighting in the smelly fragrance, covering herself as thickly as possible in the gooey poo. So engrossed was she, that when she came nose to nose with a sleeping lamb it took her completely by surprise and she bolted in the opposite direction. The lamb jumped up and joined in the game, chasing after Ruby, bleating away. The lamb’s mother was not too impressed and began stamping the ground in a threatening manner, calling to the lamb, and the next thing I knew Ruby and I were both being chased by one lamb and a very angry sheep.

The happy farmer was highly entertained to see his wife and her dog getting chased across the field by a sheep and a lamb. Being a farmer's wife, I get it wrong every time when it comes to anything to do with farm animals, from bulls, cows, piglets, sheep and now lambs, I have been chased by them all. One of these days I will learn not to run, and one of these days Ruby will learn not to roll in and eat sheep poo….maybe.

Until next time…

The happy farmer's wife turned into an egg....

The blog has been getting neglected.

Ruby has sprouted.

The extension is now complete upstairs and the final hurdles downstairs are being ‘jumped’. The happy farmer has spent many hours loosening and easing huge boulders from their resting place of several hundred years, in order to make an opening between our existing kitchen and the extension into the old stables. It is heavy duty, hard manual labour and he has succeeded in making a right mess of my kitchen in the process and I have succeeded in biting my tongue (not an easy task when everything has been covered in thick dust and my nest has become completely unsettled).

Visitors have come and gone during the process, easing the pain, with plenty of giggles and sociable evenings along the way, and adding to the guddle and the muddle that goes with the chaos of a nearly finished building project and a kitchen full of endless mouths to feed. The cooking was taken out of my hands and I was thoroughly spoilt.

 Lambs popped out on an hourly basis in the fields and the happy farmer managed to squeeze in the lambing rounds in between building houses. The lambing team grew on a daily basis, and the trailer behind the quad bike was soon squashed full of children. The happy farmer was highly entertained at the youngsters’ attitude when the trailer was needed on an SOS mission to transport a sheep and her newly born offspring home to the barn and the young clan were told they would need to use an alternative method of transport to get themselves home, i.e. their legs. They were not a happy bunch, but a few fields later and they were all smiles by the time they reached the farmhouse kitchen.

The new pottery shop and tea room opened in the old byre and the happy farmer’s wife got caught up in loading kilns and serving cake stands oozing with home baking and freshly cut sandwiches to the visitors.

Marmite, the Highland heifer, continues her frequent visits to the local distillery village touting for business, and has even made special roadside appearances for the passing tourists’ cameras. She is hoping to attract more customers for the happy farmer’s wife.

Meantime the happy farmer’s wife turned into an egg….for Easter.

Until next time....

Marmite the Highland cow and her love of a good whisky.....

Marmite, our cheeky Highland cow, has taken it upon herself to be a very sociable lady of late.

The other morning we got woken from our slumbers by the telephone ringing. To the happy farmer‘s delight Marmite was in the middle of the roundabout at Caol ila. Now before you get too concerned Caol ila’s roundabout, is not a busy roundabout, there really is not any traffic to speak of, it was built a few years back for the tankers, which carry waste from the distilleries, to park and then turn, as they dispose of the waste which gets piped from there out to sea. Marmite was trimming the roundabout when the happy farmer found her and sweet talked her into going back to her field.

Last night Marmite took it upon herself to once again hoppity skippety jump over the fence before skippety skipping over the cattle grid which leads into the village of Caol ila. I rather suspect she was on a visit to the distillery there. Word must have got out that they were interviewing tour guides for the summer season at the distillery yesterday; either that or she was after a nip of malt whisky for a night cap. She did not however quite make it as far as the distillery this time; she got distracted, spying the juicy grass on the village green. Caol ila is such a picturesque village, and Marmite took it upon herself to trim the village green for the happy residents, hoping to impress the distillery manager, who was looking for seasonal workers. Luckily for the happy farmer his outlaws, I mean in laws, reside in Caol ila, so a quick phone call, to inform him that Marmite was visiting the relations, and the happy farmer sped off to gather her up and take her home again.

Marmite was a bit perturbed to see the happy farmer, and flatly refused to be chased back up the hill, no the bold girl, chased round and round in a circle, before taking off through the woods and hoppety skipping back over a nearer fence, she does like to help the happy farmer with his keep fit regime!

Until next time…..