Not nice conditions

 13.6.2022

 

The weather is miserable, cold and continually raining. Going outside to feed the animals is not something we look forward to at all. The only upside is that I feel very happy when I am back in the house again.   We have moved the horses onto the hill where there is more shelter and the goats are staying in the shed all day where they can keep warm and dry.  Luckily, we do not have the large numbers of sheep that we had last time the conditions were this bad. I am planning to move the buck so that the sheep can use his shelter shed when they start to lamb.

 

The dog, Flynn, is not getting better, we have followed the vet’s recommendations and more, but we have now given up hope that he will recover the use in his back leg.  It is very sad. He has been such a healthy bouncy character that we thought we would have him for years yet.  He must be at least 12, but our last desert dog died in the fires age 18! I miss our daily walks. He comes up with us to the dairy some days but he is not able to walk very far and I will not walk alone in this weather.

 

Al and his family are in Spain, which seems a very sensible place to be. Next, they go to visit Arj and then they have a conference in Switzerland and a trip to the UK.  I am going nowhere at present because the windscreen wipers on my car broke down a week ago and we are still waiting for a replacement part.  Luckily, I was on the way home having done the months shopping when they broke down so at least we have food.

 

Food is actually quite an issue. With the rise in fuel prices some basic items like lettuce are unaffordable.  Now we have people who can not afford housing or food which is not a good look. The renting situation is bad here, with only short-term leases available so the landlords can regularly raise the amount to be paid.  More and more houses are being brought as investments for Air B&B and several in our valley are now just used as weekenders. So, we have had fire floods and plague, so I suppose we now have famine and war to go!  We are lucky that we produce so much of our own food and can get firewood off the property.