Mothering Sunday

 The Sunday before last was Mothering Sunday.  Good weather was forecast, so instead of spending the morning in bed, being waited on by my devoted daughters, I got up at 6.15am - yes, really - and joined my husband as he undertook the morning sheep-checking routine. 

It was a beauiful, crisp, almost cloudless morning.  As it was so early, the shadows were still long and no-one else was about.
As the morning wore on, it became quite warm.

We started off by checking all the pregnant sheep, a few of them had lambed early, but all was well.

They know that if my husband turns up on his quadbike, that it is feeding time and they mob him.  You can see them all belting up the hill as fast as they can so as not to miss out!

There is one particularly tame ram who has become a favourite of my husband.  He pushes to the front of the crowd and tries to get his head into the feed bags - he is right in the middle of the picture below, with a black face.

The blue spot on their sides denotes that they are carrying triplets.

One of the ewes was 'cast', which means she had rolled on to her back and wasn't able to get up again.  Sheep have many design faults, but this one is potentially fatal.  She had probably been lying on her back for most of the night and had developed a prolapse (not nice and always puts me in mind of James Herriot). She was in a sorry state.  I was careful to only photograph the head end!!

 

 As sheep are ruminents, if they lay on their backs for too long their stomachs fill with gas.  My husband battled with the prolapse and then we had to prop her up the right way while she expelled methane burbs.  I am purposefully not going in to too much detail. We left her in the field with the promise we would return at the end of the morning to check she was fully recovered. 

Next to check were the ewes with lambs that are already a few weeks old.  The ewes rush over to eat the feed and the lambs all crowd together for moral support.

 

The number on their sides links them to their mothers, who also sport the same number.  They are always marked on the same sides so that the shepherds can easily check the numbers.  Here we were in a field of twins.

A cow has managed to infiltrate the flock.  I think she was supposed to go off for the chop, but managed to get herself pregnant in the meantime and now has this gorgeous calf.  She has now aquired a taste for sheep food.

 

I kept pointing out lambs that appeared to be abandoned and would clearly need to be hand-reared, in our kitchen, but my husband was having none of it. 

 

This is the one I particularly want.

Jazzed-up Jackets

 To jazz up jacket potatoes, bake them whole until they are cooked all the way through.  Meantime, fry onion until caramellised.  When the potatoes are cooked, cut them in half length ways and scoop out the inside leaving a 'boat'.  Mash the potato with butter and grated cheese and stir in the cooked onion.  Fill the boats with the mash. Sprinkle more grated cheese on top and return to the oven for 15 minutes or so.

I would happily eat these as a main meal.  You could also add tuna or crispy bacon if you need a protein fix, or your family members can only consider a main meal one that contains meat (ie my husband and nephews).

 

My younger daughter who loves all things potato, didn't like these however, as they had been "messed about with". 

Does my bum look big in this?

I know we shouldn't have done this to the dog ......

 

....... but we found it funny!  You can tell by his long-suffering look that he didn't think much of the idea.  Sorry Jed, we won't do it again.

Flu

I've had flu.  The proper 'can't get out of bed' sort of flu that completely wipes you out. 

Both me and our elder daughter spent the whole of the week either in bed or lying on the sofa, with raging temperatures.  My husband was rubbish at looking after us, and I am reminding him of this at every available opportunity.  Our younger daughter, however, was wonderful.  She got herself ready for school, made her lunch, tidied up and when Sainsbury delivered the shopping, she put it all way for me. 

My lovely work colleagues knew I was very under the weather and sent me flowers to cheer me up.  I do work with some lovely people. 

 

 










It was lovely big bouquet, so I took out all the yellow tulips and daffodils, and displayed them separately.

 

 

 

 

I love flowers and they really did cheer me up.