Winter Draw(er)s On....

Trump towers?

In the last post I alluded to my passing, and Liz's more passionate, interest in the US Elections and the big horse-race between Trump and Clinton. There can not be many people now left in our orbit who do not know that Trump shocked 'em all by winning, leaving a trail of formerly confident Clinton-ites upset, angry, baffled and plotting revenge in his wake.

A more reflective, considered response from the British Isles
papers by the next day. 

By early morning it was all sweary disbelief on Facebook and Twitter, with the Irish and British national papers going to print too early to know the result. By the next day, when they could do their Trump headlines, they had all had a chance to put together more reflective, considered reports. Now I am way too much of a beginner at this to add my opinions to the learnéd prose but I am going to sneak in one observation for what it's worth. Feel free to skip on by. It all looked to me a bit like the UK's 'Brexit' vote with the big majority not really voting on the issues but just wanting to give authority a bloody nose.

I was feeding a neighbour's cattle while he
is in hospital again. Love this fine Charolais
head.

Clinton obviously represented the governing elite, Washington, the White House and Democratic Party centre. Trump no doubt did not, but also, in my humble opinion, did not really represent the "other party" either. He seemed to have snuck in 'despite' the Republican grandees and was portraying himself as his own man; his followers could still vote for him and still feel sufficiently 'anti-establishment'.

The Irish Times had a lovely picture of a baseball capped, bearded 'good aul' boy' Trump supporter at the victory bash rushing at the photographer and doing two middle-finger salutes; real "F**k you and the horse you rode in on!" stuff. Like the British government and their Brexit problems, the US government on both sides (all sides, maybe) is going to have to react to this urge by the majorities to smear their noses across their faces. Meanwhile we have what we have, Brexit and Trump.

One of the turkeys tries his hand at
 'magnificent' up on the fence.

Aside from that excitement. it is all fairly quiet here. Steak Lady has gone on her hols to Malta so invited Liz to borrow her car for the duration. This is a regular treat for us, and Liz catches a train down to Silverwood-land, stays the night to catch up with her Mum, sees her off in the 'Sparks' taxi to the airport and then high-tails it back up here in the smart red buzz-bomb hot-hatch. We are a 2-car family for a week or so and then we have to give the whizzy racer back. Liz used to enjoy driving it to work where all the gang would say in impressed amazement... "New car, Liz?" By now they are all wise to the 'play' and just say "Uh huh.... borrowed Mum's car again then, Liz?"

Liz has now graduated to 5 needles at once knitting this
tubular sock-leg. Definitely NOT a game to play when there
are 'kattens' to help.

Heavy rain has been the order of the day and we are, once again, slopping around in a bit of a mudbath. We are not alone. I was over at Sue and Rob's today and he, too, was bemoaning the quagmire in some of his poultry pens.

One or two workers struggle up into the 'attic' to see why
there is suddenly daylight streaming in. Plenty of 'brace comb'
on these frame-tops. 

Warm enough today, though, to be able to crack open a beehive without killing all inside from hypothermia. After 2014/5 when my smaller colony perished from cold, damp and condensation, I like to snug this hive down tight before the frosts. I take off the un-used 'super' (honey store) box(es) and fit a blank 'box' (eke) into which has been fitted a tight-fitting slice of stiff house insulating foam. This gives the bees 3 inches of 'snug' between their brood box and the stainless steel sheet of their roof and stops any 'chimney' ventilation with all the hot air disappearing up through their roof.

All the spare hive boxes and bits go into
dry store

It worked last year and there was no repeat of the 2014/5 disaster. I whip off the eke in April or May before there is any chance of the hive overheating and put the super back on to give the workers space to store their spring time nectar gatherings.

Trying to get a crisp cat's eyes pic. Not bad, but not as crisp
as I would have liked,

I think that'll do you for this time. Just a few more pics because I had them.

Bobby the dog came a-visiting so I tried with him too.

Random cow.

Growing old gracefully? Reading glasses for me now.

Big Block of Cheese Day

The eponymous Big Block of Cheese

Fans of the US TV political drama 'West Wing' (one of our favourites) will recall the episode(s) in my title as they were funny and often bizarre. They referred to a day in the White House year when the staff resurrected an old tradition of inviting any madcap pressure group to come and be heard by the Administration and the staff would set up a huge block of cheese in the foyer for the visitors to cut bits off if they were hungry. Last time Liz was over in the UK, our good friend Mazy advised her to buy from local deli and farm shop 'Macknades', a house-brick sized block of a gorgeous vintage cheddar - 1.36 kg at about £13 (UK). I mention this because, Mazy, it has taken us this long to get through it. Not enough lunatics with outlandish pressure group requests, we guess. Thank you very very much.

Fruit scones

Not all good news this time, I am afraid. Hot on the heels of our 'loss' of the cat Pirate, came a call from Sue and Rob to say that the lovely ram, 'Rambo', whom we borrowed to service our three ewes. had died in the night. They'd had no warning and he appeared perfectly healthy on Saturday except for one 'symptom' which they think with hindsight, might have been significant - the lad standing still in the middle of the feild in the rain, when he is usually first in the queue for shelter under the trees. With Rambo dead in the morning Rob could see a little dark blood around the boy's anus and in the poo but we are at a loss. I have contacted our vet to see what she thinks and she is asking whether we vaccinate (e.g. with Heptavac P). I must admit we haven't, though we have wormed and fluke-drenched, so it is obviously something we should think about.

Pirate's grave site and memorial rock (grey lump
bottom right) under the beeches. 

Then there was another good friend, near neighbour and fellow (beginner) bee keeper, T McC. Poor T had that thing happen to him that all beginner beekeepers (incuding ourselves of course) are worried about - that you'll have a dramatic reaction to a bee sting. T was snugging down his bees a week or so ago and got stung, not for the first time but suddenly had "sweating, redness, itching, light headed, flashing lights and a slight constricting of the throat.  Had to lie down on the ground outside. Lucky it was sunny". He had to phone the ambulance and felt a bit silly by the time they arrived as he had recovered except for the big bump on the back of his head (the sting site) tingling.

Beekeepers know that they can react differently to stings and the intensity can also change with time/stings; You can have no problem for a while and then suddenly react, or you can 'get over' your sensitivity and have no more bad reactions after that. Poor T is now going through the tests with his doctor to see where he is, whether he'd be safe to carry on or whether (God forbid) bee keeping is not for him and he'd have to give up the hobby. On the bright side all his hives are snugged down now so he won't have to go near them till Spring. The doctor has a few months to do the tests and come to a decision.

Hallowe'en fare, Champ with pork chops. Our own spuds, kale,
pork and onions, of course.

On happier topics, Hallowe'en went really well for us. We had set up the 'Jack o'Lantern' on the gate pier and made a long "chain" of candles in jamjars all up the new fence, one on each post. We also hung our two posh gift lanterns on trees, so that the drive up to the house was nicely inviting and we were publically 'up for it' to any random passing groups of witches, ghosties and vampires. We had the obligatory big bowl of sweeties and we sat back to enjoy our own Hallowe'en fare, of 'champ' with pork chops.

The turkeys try out the pumpkin seeds. Bit of a mixed reaction
but they did all disappear eventually.

You never know round here, how many kiddies will come. We are out in the sticks and there are no children in walking distance, so they come carted round likely places by Mums in huge people-carriers and farm cars. Well, we had none till quarter to 8 which was nice because it meant we could eat our own supper in peace, but then a veritable army showed up and annihilated the sweeties in short order. The bowl now contains a lonely refresher bar and half a dozen tubes of tiny Parma Violets which we'll never eat, so we need to find a post-Hallowe'en victim for those.

Traditional unmolested Irish Stew after Theodora Fitzgibbon 

I am partially Liz-less at the moment (she's shuttling between Silverwoods and house/Dad sitting for part of each week and back up here for work the other part so I am King of the Kitchen temporarily and continuing to expand my range. Today that meant that my favourite Irish Recipe book, Theodora Fitzgibbon's "A Taste or Ireland (in food and in pictures)" (pub Pan 1968) was dusted off and cracked open. Irish Stew! I had a chunk of our own delicious lamb, our spuds, onions, parsley and thyme. Theodora tells me that "the pure flavour is spoiled if carrots, turnips or pearl barley are added, or if it is too liquid. A good Irish stew should be thick and creamy, not swimming in juice like soup". Well, I'm happy to report that it was delicious, but I do not know where the 'thick and creamy' comes from. There were no thickening ingredients on the list and my gravy was definitely 'wet'. Perhaps she uses a different kind of spud which breaks down better and solidifies the gravy for you.

Sheep hurdles assembled into a pen.

I have also been out spending the hard earned loot (I did clear this with the Chancellor of the Exchequer first), investing in some sheep bits, namely hurdles and dagging shears. The hurdles assemble into a 6 by 4 foot pen for containing sheep while you work on them, but I bought them for their handiness singly as temporary gates. I have posted before of the plan to install some new runs of fence to give the sheep a new bit to graze and tidy, but I need to leave 'holes' through which to push the trailer when moving pigs or just to move geese about. Rather than invest in 4 permanent gates, this was a cheaper (and more flexible) solution.

Dagging shears. 

While at the farm supplies 'co-op' I spotted a rather nifty pair of old-style (springy scissors) "dagging shears". One of our ewes (Myfanwy) came with full length tail (some mix up at her own birth) so she is prone to great chains of 'klingons' adhering to the underneath of her tail and around the bum, where the output cannot fall freely to the ground. These will sort that out and be good for any other small trim ups for example where I have missed bits on the shearing.

Definitely getting a bit TOO cheeky now!

Finally, I leave you with a brilliant local expression I picked up recently. This where the old boy involved had come into the building with me but nipped off for a quick wee while I made the tea for us. "Ah, you're as good as a bad woman" he said. Made me smile, anyway.