I could not do any hedge trimming as planned since it has been raining most of the day. Rain and fog so thick I could not find Justin in his field this morning... In fact, he'd found shelter in the shed standing in a corner and usualy occupied by twelve ewes and their lambs... so far he never set foot in it and because of the rain the bully must have evicted them. I have an old stable block in the old barn so tonight I will put him in there so that the poor sheep can have a good night sleep. It will probably be a first for him... Four stars hotel... I have no straw but found a few bales of hay that must be four years old and not too dusty so that he can lay on it and nibble at the same time, like a roman emperor. Talk of a dirty trick to play on him. Today's richess before tomorrow's rags. If he only knew.
Well, donkeys after all come from Africa and they do not like rain. Even all this green grass, full of growth hormones we have at the moment is not that good for them. His droppings are rather runny so hay, even old should help. Tomorrow I'll ask a neighbour if he can lend me a couple of bales of straw for the last three days he has to stay here before departure, just to balance his guts before hitting the track. Furthermore, seing that he really dislike the rain, this morning I went to buy a tent for myself so that he can have my tarpaulin when rain is on the menu for the night.
I took the coastal road to go to Cherbourg and you could not see Guernsey because of the fog. I couldn't help but to take the long way round just for the pleasure of seeing the sea. Not to be able to see or smell it for so many days will be hard for me as I have spent most of my life near or on it.
So, today was not as good as yesterday. I experienced a sad moment when I took my five hens to be looked after by the lady farmer who sold Justin to me. They will stay there for the duration of the trek and I know they will be well looked after. They were in a sorry state, drenched and silent as they did not quite understand what was going on. I have had them since juveniles and they have been trouble free and very good layers for nearly two years now. One of them had a close encounter with death when a stray hunting dog mistook her for a pheasant and I had to patch her up with sterystrips, Betadyne and green clay under a fresh cabbage leaf for days. Torn skin was like 50p coin size in places. She survived and got back to laying eggs and when the owner of the stray dog saw what happened, she was so sure she was going to die, she got me a replacement hen the next market day. Some decent people in the village... I was just as responsable as she was for the incident as my hens should not roam freely around the farm...
So, a neutral kind of day. I am impatiently waiting for a new IGN (topographic 1.25000th) map covering the whole of France for my GPS and a set of maps from the European Ramblers Association in order to work on the itinerary (but not too much as I like to leave a lot to chance since nothing ever goes as I plan it, so why waste the time and energy.) My new smart phone with Assisted GPS and topo maps too will be back up navigator. (will have to shut up the lady's voice telling me were to go though, I cannot stand to be told what to do...) Right, better get some sleep because tomorrow hopefuly will be dedicated to gardening and trimming. Rain has stopped and big fires roaring in both fireplaces are repelling the damp atmosphere of this coldish spring evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment