Ten things I want to do before the next big 0!

Not an original idea but one that I borrowed from Caroline (of "in search of Adam" fame) read it here who in turn borrowed it from "40 things to do before I'm 40."read it here. So as I have another biggy coming up in three years I thought I would give myself a wish list. I don 't want to be greedy so just 10 things I want to do before the next big one.
Oh and I'm not telling you how old maybe I will when I make it!!!

1 Finish my novel and get it published. This one is maybe too easy but I thought I should include it!!!!!!!
2 Try cross-country skiing. We are only about 1 hour from the Pyrenees so that shouldn't be too difficult to achieve.
3 Visit Venice.
4 Wear high heels again. I seem to have lived in wellies for the past 15 years and it has played havoc with my feet. But I haven't worn wellies for 6 weeks now so it's looking more hopeful.
5 Join a Salsa band. This may be a bit trickier as I have no rhythm and I'm tone deaf but they might let me have a triangle or a tambourine!!!
6 Learn to dance. Proper dancing such as latin american jive etc.
7 See an Ashes tour in Australia or the Cricket World cup somewhere exotic. Now I don't like long flights as I am Claustrophobic but I reckon some tranquilisers such as I gave the dogs should do the trick, in fact I've got a few tablets left so that's okay.
8 Go to the Super League Grand Final between the Leeds Rhinos and anybody else. Obviously I need Leeds to help with this one.
9 Do a Triathlon. Just a short one, I already run, I cycle a bit in the summer and I swim but only breaststroke. But hey I only want to finish I don't expect to win.
10 This one is for my eyes only but I may tell all when I reach the big one!!!!

So there it is my wish list for the next three years. Now all I need is some cooperation from the OH and for me to stop procrastinating and they should all be possible. I will try and put a short list in my sidebar to keep you up to date as to how I am getting on. So wish me luck and if you want leave your wish list.

Sunday Market

As promised here are some photos I took last Sunday. One of the musicians is sporting a fine example of a mullet and the stalls are all in addition to the usual wonderful selection of fresh fruit and veg, flowers, cheeses, charcuterie, wines, hardware goods, more conventional clothes and shoes and much more. It really is a fabulous Market that runs throughout the year although it is obviously much busier in the summer months.

Settling in.

Thanks to all who have welcomed me back to the blogging world, it's good to be back. It hardly seems possible but we have been here over 4 weeks already!! So it really is time to stop my favourite past-time of PROCRASTINATION and start blogging and more importantly writing again. I have been sitting at my laptop for the past hour messing around, deleting e-mails, checking out other websites, you know how it goes, anything to avoid actually doing anything remotely connected with blogging or writing. Anyway I have finally run out of things to distract me so here goes: blog number two in our new house.



A few words about where we came from and where we are now. We had been living in the Poitou-Charentes region of France for the past 18 years, sheepfarming, hence the title of the blog!! Our farm was completely isolated which suited us very well, but eventually we decided that we were ready for a bit more life without having to drive 30/40 minutes. So now we have moved to the Aude departement, we have settled in a large village about 40 minutes south of Carcassonne. What a contrast!!! We are only about an hour from the Pyrenees and the Med and so not far from Spain either. We are looking forward to wine buying trips across the border.

We are within walking distance of 3 BARS plus all the other shops etc, but we are on the edge of the village and manage to have found a really tranquil setting. The house requires a lot of work including a extension to provide a new kitchen, but we enjoy a challenge and have already started on the top bedroom. In the meantime we are fairly cramped compared to what we had before, lots of boxes will not be opened for some time and we have a lot of furniture in store, where it will stay until the extension is ready.

Luckily the village provides ample distractions for when we get fed up with DIY. Every Sunday morning there is a huge Market with people pouring in from miles around. Market stalls selling everything you can imagine plus quite a few selling the unimaginable. The village and surrounding area has a large hippy population which means the Market is very 'colourful'!!!! I have never seen so many mullets, on the young and not so young!!!! I have suggested the OH grows his hair so that he can blend in . We shall also look out our Indian cotton dresses[for me] and shirts[for him] plus anything else from the dressing up box. It does however give me an incredible range of characters that I can draw on for my wip. I always have my notebook handy when we stop for a beer or two, all in the name of research of course. I will take some photos of the more colourful stalls to give an idea what it's like here.

It looks like we are in for a tough life here but hey we'll do our best to cope!!!! More Sheep stories will appear from time to time along with updates on life amongst the Beautiful People.

MOVING WAS HELL!!!!!!!

First of all thankyou to everyone who left encouraging comments.

It proved far worse than I could have imagined. Having spent nearly two years with our farm up for sale I thought I would be so relieved to be moving that it wouldn't matter how stressful it was. I had intended to do progress blogs but there was never enough time or energy, the timescale of just 6 weeks to pack up our farm was far too short and it descended rapidly into a frantic race against the clock. The last couple of weeks were a complete nightmare and we were only saved by an extra week before completion.

The OH did 5 round trips of 1200 km with loads of furniture and boxes, I don't know how he did it. We finally moved on the 7th March. The OH was driving the 4x4 plus a trailer load full of so many odds and ends, he also had the two dogs whom I had tranquilized as they are very poor travellers. I was driving our toyota MR2 also filled with more odds and ends, plus I had the cat, also tranquilized, in a cat box and our two goldfish, in a plastic bag in a plastic container!! In the event the OH arrived before me as I had to make several stops to squeeze the cat back into her box and to stop the water slopping out of the goldfish bag!!!!!!

But it was such a relief to finally arrive here, never mind the fact that until we get the extension built half of our furniture is stored in a garage, and half of our belongings will have to stay in boxes until we can get some serious decorating finished, plus a bathroom or two.

We are now back on line and have somewhere to sit and watch tele, and I have just about enough room in the kitchen to rustle up reasonable meals. The wine racks are full and we have already been taking advantage of the fact that we can now walk to a bar or three for a bit of company if we feel like it. And the complete novelty of being able to walk to the boulangerie for a baguette or the little supermarche for just about anything. The dogs are settling in well as is the cat, all very new for them too.

It has taken me this long to feel able to write a few words for my blog, lack of sleep and the stress of moving left me physically and emotionally exhausted. But I am getting back to normal and will be trying to catch up with all my favourite bloggers, not an easy task but I will do my best as I have missed them.

I intend to carry on with my farming tales but also hope to give progress reports on the work we are doing to our house. All we need now is for the weather to improve, we did not expect snow but that is what we have had over the past few days, and it has been cold. So roll on the sunny days when we can throw open the doors and spend lots of time outside. Now it's time for a glass of wine, so cheers to you all.

On The Move!!!

Firstly I would like to wish all visitors and fellow bloggers a happy and creative New Year.

Fleur and Tigger have no idea of what the New Year is going to bring and I would guess they don't really care. Life is good for them.

After last years disappointment when the sale of our farm fell through it now looks as if we have genuine buyers. We signed the Compromis de Vente [provisional contract] last Saturday morning and we are due to sign the Acte de Vente on the 28th February. That gives us 6 weeks to pack up everything and move to our house in the Aude region of France. OH BLOODY HELL !!!!!!!

Never mind it won't give me too much time to worry about it all. The OH has gone off this morning with the first trailer load of garden equipment plus a car load of spare duvets, curtains towels etc, and so it begins. So much to do and so little time to do it all.

In between I shall try and keep up my blog and my wip as we have started a new race this year and I am determined to finish the first draft [ this year atleast].

We are looking forward to starting a new chapter but it is going to be quite a wrench to leave some very good friends behind, and we have been very happy in this house for the past 17 years but all things move on and now it is time for us to move on.

Look out for progress reports and signs of impending madness as the time flies by.

Oh dear it's Christmas!!!

Well there is no such thing as a free lunch and they had fun while it lasted.

Wishing all fellow bloggers and readers a very Happy Christmas and a creative New Year.

Normal blogging will resume in January.

Death in the Afternoon

AND THE END OF THE AFFAIR.

It was April the 18th and we were about to move the ewes and lambs on to Far field, as this field was closest to the neighbours with the dogs, we phoned them to say that we were about to move the sheep. They assured us that the dogs were under control at all times.

April 19 morning, we moved the ewes and lambs to their fresh grazing and very happy they were to, lots of lush grass and Spring sunshine. One of the real pleasures of sheep farming is to watch the young lambs playing tag, they are like unruly school children who have just been let out at break time. Charging at full pelt from one end of the field to the other, rushing up the banks, jumping onto the fallen trees to play King of the Castle. I have spent some hours watching spellbound by their absolute exhuberance for life. And even the ewes will rush onto fresh pasture jumping into the air like lambs themselves, having headbutting contests over the juiciest patches , and moving quickly eating as they go, worrying that there might be even better grass further into the field. Not wanting to miss out on anything.

And so it was that morning. We walked back to the house happy to have seen such obvious enjoyment from the ewes and lambs.

April 19 afternoon, we took a leisurely stroll across to Far field with the milk for the Orphan lambs, the sun was still shining, it had been a lovely day. As we approached the field we heard the distinctive bleating of ewes and lambs in distress, in the distance TWO DOGS running away fast across our neighbours field.

In the middle of our field A EWE WITH HER TWIN LAMBS PAWING AT HER DEAD BODY. There were no other ewes or lambs in sight. We spent the next hour rounding up the flock from all corners of the adjoining fields,they had crashed through barbed wire fences, ploughed through streams, jumped wide ditches and generally scattered in all directions.

TWO LAMBS were so badly injured that the OH had to kill them in the ditches where they lay, one other was in a bad way but we brought her home in the hope we might be able to save her. Many of the ewes and lambs had rips and scratches from their flight through the undergrowth and the barbed wire fences. And lovely G74 was dead, there were no marks on her so she must have had a heart attack whilst defending her lambs from the dogs, so we had two more orphan lambs. And having rounded up the ewes and lambs we were still missing one lamb. The OH spent another hour trying to find the lamb as it could have been injured or even dead somewhere, eventually he gave up that day as we had to move the flock and tend to the wounded. As you can imagine we were in a state of shock and so unbelievably angry that the dogs had been allowed to wreak more carnage on our sheep.

It was too late to do anything that evening but first thing next day we called the farmers. One of them arranged to call on us with his Insurance agent. Later that morning when they came he was visibly shocked by the trailer load of bloodied corpses.

Now this may seem harsh to some people but we now insisted that both dogs should be shot otherwise we would take our complaint to the Gendarmes. The farmers agreed relunctantly, one claiming that the dog was his little boys but we could not risk the lives of anymore of our flock, nor could we live with the uncertainty that they might strike again. I felt so strongly about this that we even insisted on seeing the dead dogs, it was the only way we could be sure that they had carried out our demands.
Two happier endings, we found the lost lamb, the OH spent several hours beating through the undergrowth and eventually found one very frightened, hungry lamb who was very pleased to be reunited with his mum and the badly injured lamb recovered and was able to rejoin the flock.

The whole dreadful episode had lasted from the first attack on November 26th to the last on April 19th, approximately five months of constant worrying.We had lost FOUR EWES and TWO LAMBS plus all the losses at lambing time and without our willingness to seek veterinary attention and spend a lot of time treating the injured we would have lost more.

Probably the worst experiences we have encountered in our time as Sheep farmers.

So maybe HEIFERS would be less stressful!!!!!!!!!!