Is it foxes or wild dogs?

We live under this green hill.

October 29. 2013-

Last week concluded better when Edd and the mechanics at the shop found out what was wrong with the milking machine. Some parts had been replaced wrong way round at repair attempt one! The good thing is that it is now working fine and in heavy use twice a day. I have weaned the second batch of kids and the first gang of four now feed together from the feeder bucket. There are only four goats left to kids so the bulk of work is done now.

On Sunday morning we woke to a horrid surprise. The lamb that I was bottle-feeding had vanished from the fold over night. We had lost one very small twin lamb earlier but I had thought that the bottle fed lamb was too big and heavy to be a prey for foxes. There was no sign of blood or of a struggle if the lamb had been dragged through the fence so if it is foxes they are behaving differently to usual. It is all very worrying and so sad too. The little lamb was a cheerful friendly fellow with a pink and black nose and was almost ready to be sold as a pet.

Some one else has gone too. My friend Beni has moved out of the donga and into her new home. It seems lonely here with out her but I expect she is thrilled to be in a proper house again.  Edd and I ate at my daughter’s house last night because it was her husband’s birthday. We all had a wonderful meal of swordfish with piles of amazing vegetables and a cake made mostly of nuts and fruit. It was a very special meal. My daughter’s eldest son played the ukulele and sang for us whilst his father accompanied him on the piano and my daughter helped with the singing. It is such a delight to have this talented musical group as part of the family.

Today Edd is doing his once a week teaching day at the High school and I am back to sewing curtains. The sheep escaped this morning and are grazing on the house roof! They seem very happy with this arrangement. It certainly needs some of the grass grazed down. At least it is all green this year. I rather like the idea of living down under a little, green hill. The faverolles have started to lay in their new shed and Edd has repaired the incubator so we can try and hatch some of their eggs. Pure breed chooks are getting very expensive now so it will be good if we can get back to rearing our own. The faverolles are a heavy dual-purpose breed so spare roosters will help feed us too.