Making this post has made me realize two things: A. my life is very dull and onesided B. My mind is even narrower because of all the things I don’t think to take pictures of. I also realized B is perhaps just an excuse to not admit completely to A. I obviously can’t count either.
I don’t mean dull as in being bored or not doing many things, which I obviously do if you’ve been following along, but they do tend to revolve around the same. I seem to mostly be looking a plants and the sky and nothing much besides! Of course, that’s what we’ve got to look at out here. I need to drive to the “city” (18 km) for some bits and bobs but most importantly more hydrosulphite to make blue, but I never thought of taking pix there. We usually just go to the mall, quickly scoop up what we need and head back home. Not really worth looking at.
How often do you do extraordinary things?
microlandscape
Talk to me, now!
Probably one of the last days to dry laundry outside
Somebody has been having a very long vacation. Said vacation is now officially over! Last year I tried to teach the two remaining ponies to be free longed together in preparation for “ponying” the little one when I ride. (for the non-horse savvy this means towing him along on a rope). Little brown boy has a very firm idea about such things and he’s having none of it, also called ponytude. So I need an assistant and there never seems to be the time for it no matter how we plan.
Anyway, I finally got my own A into G and started them off today, and they remember perfectly, we’re right where we left off. How cool is that?! Would be fun if we could get to doing various moves and tricks as well apart from going round in circles at various speeds and turning.
“And now, cookies please”
à h nej, ferien er slut
Efter en meget, meget, meget lang pause, har jeg endelig taget mig sammen til at få rørt ponyprutterne lidt. Sidste år begyndte jeg at lære dem at blive løslongeret sammen som forberedelse til at tage den lille brune bisse med som håndhest når jeg rider den store. Han vælter nemlig rundt over det hele eller nægter at gå, og manden i huset har aldrig haft tid når vi ellers havde planlagt, når han har ferie har vi jo også en milliard andre ting som skal ordnes.
Men de kunne sørme huske det hele, vi starter fuldstændig hvor vi slap. Lige nu kan vi bare rende i rundkreds og skifte retning og tempo, men det ville være sjovt at arbejde med lidt tricks eller finesser igen – det bliver noget af en udfordring fordi den lille er arbejdssky og den gamle synes det er noget pjat, han vil kun pÃ¥ tur.
Well, not actually with sheep for sale, but about them. I was slightly underwhelmed I must admit, this being my first, but at least I’ve seen it. Just a handful of meat sheep, a handful of stalls with knitware and other crafty stuff, easily browsed in half an hour when you’re on a budget and didn’t think to bring cash anyway.
But we did see a sheepdog at work, had locally made lamb sausages with unfiltered apple juice (one of my faves) and sheep milk ice cream for lunch. I ran into my friend Nina who lent me 200 kr. so I could buy some merino top that I fell in love with as well as a couple of pounds of Leicester fleece “pick your own bagful”. He just said “white L.”, but since we do have a breed called Danish L. I’m guessing that’s it. I didn’t stay put for the presentation of that one because the dog show started, so I don’t know if they originate from the Border Leicester or the original Leicester Longwool. (had I bought the fleece first I would have paid more attention of course)
shropshire lamb
One of the ideas I came away with was felted postcards, really cute. I forgot to take pix or buy one however, like I forgot I wanted to taste the muffins. 😉
And I learned why wool sheep like the nordic shorttail breeds actually taste better than meat sheep. Meat sheep store their fat in their muscles, the smaller wool sheep around their organs. This means a Spelsau or Gotland sheep has very lean meat with no “zoo taste” to it. You don’t get nearly as much money from the butcher per sheep, which is why the meat sheep exist of course, who can pack on some serious weight in a short time.
Phew. That was a full weekend for sure. You’ll be hearing from me when I resurface to the land of the living. 😉
Mohair with teeth
Artichoke
Dansk Leicester
Gute
FÃ¥redage i Hedeland
Så fik jeg også prøvet det. En anelse skuffende måske mht størrelsen af arrangementet, en håndfuld kødfår og to håndfulde boder med strik og lidt andet finurligt, let at gennemgå på en halv times tid når man ikke har overvejet nødvendigheden af at medbringe kontanter. Men jeg rendte da heldigvis ind i en veninde som kunne låne mig 200 kr. så jeg kunne plukke en pose Leicester råuld og lidt merinotops i fristende farver fra Renee Darley. Lidt skulle jeg jo have, når ikke jeg nåede spindedag med indbygget uld-shopping!
En lammepølse med æblemost og fÃ¥remælksis kunne det ogsÃ¥ lige blive til, vi fik set en border collie optræde med sit “team”, og det var sÃ¥ det. Godt det samme, for det var jo ogsÃ¥ halm-weekend, sÃ¥ vi er lidt flade nu.
Jeg så nogen fine filtede postkort som jeg glemte at købe eller fotografere og jeg lærte hvorfor uldfår smager bedre end kødfår. Kødfår lagrer fedtet i musklerne, uldfårene omkring organerne, derfor er kødet både magert og uden smag af zoologisk have.
As well as going to the sheep market this weekend, we also had straw delivered from a neighbour farmer. 300 bales. We don’t have the buildings to store the modern large bales, nor is the road here compatible with having deliveries by truck through the winter. So small bales that go into the loft are necessary to keep horses on the property, even if it’s a lot of work a few times a year. It takes about an hour at breakneck speed to get 100 bales up, tall guy throwing up with a fork, me blue in the face climbing up and down the stack.
Since I now only have the two senior ponies left, I’d prepared an empty stall with pallets for storage as well, in case the delivery rate got a bit overwhelming, also I have more hay in the loft this year because last winter the mice ate into about 20 of my wrapped(fermented) hay bales. Once the plastic is broken on those, it rots in no time.
I stack so that the dry hay is enclosed in straw, this prevents it from moulding, which happens with humid air contact. The straw doesn’t mould for some reason, so it insulates. So it’s a bit of a construction job at the same time.
This year I decided to try with a paper facemask, since I normally have breathing problems after a session like this, a week of lung pain and lots of slime and coughing. It seems to have helped not get much dust inhaled at least, altough of course it does not help with oxygen levels in a closed loft or the dry throat.
And most of this week I’m guessing will be very low key. I want to give the ponies a bath, trim big brown pony’s hind hooves if my back and hands agree and harvest my weld. I can’t seem to find the twine with gloves on, so it’s all barehand, ouch!
Yeah, hammock and library books sounds pretty good in fact…
first loadhalf way
Vinterforråd
Weekenden stod bl.a. på halmleverance, 300 småballer skulle jeg have, da vi ikke har lagerplads til de store, og vejen herned egner sig ikke til lastbilleverancer i vådt føre. (eller i det hele taget, de kan ikke komme om til stalden)
Det er tre timers hÃ¥rdt arbejde for to personer, en lang til at kaste op og lille mig blÃ¥ i hovedet der piler op og ned af stakken… Jeg havde dog ogsÃ¥ forberedt den tomme boks med paller i bunden, nu jeg kun har de to gamle ponyer tilbage. SÃ¥ nÃ¥r jeg blev lidt overvældet, kunne gemalen traske ind og lægge et par stykker derinde imens.
Jeg havde også lige 100 høballer der skulle jongleres deroppe, sidste år bed musene hul på næsten alle wrapballerne i ly af vinteren, 20 måtte vi smide ud, da de rådner så snart der kommer luft til. Men høballerne holder sig fine uden svampesporer, hvis man pakker dem ind i et lag halm som isolering. Men det er lidt af et puslespil, når pladsen er trang og ballerne vælter ind af lugen.
I Ã¥r forsøgte jeg mig med maske, da jeg ellers fÃ¥r nærmest lungebetændelseslignende tilstande, kraftige smerter, hoste og slim op til en uge efter. Det hjælper ikke pÃ¥ iltmængden, men jeg er faktisk ok (bortset fra træt, øm, skrammede arme og smadrede hænder ;-) Jeg kan selvfølgelig ikke finde snorene med handsker pÃ¥…)
Så jeg tror det bliver en stille uge, ville gerne have givet ponyerne et tiltrængt bad mens det er lunt, beskæring af baghove på den store brune bisse må vi lige overveje. Faktisk lyder hængekøje og biblioteksbøger også ret besnærende.
Dalton would like me to make him a snuggly man cave, pls. Dalton kunne godt tænke sig en hyggelig hule at putte i.
Molly says I should take her to the woods instead of cramming horsefeed into her travel compartment. Molly siger jeg skal fjerne mit skrammel og hestemad fra hendes kupe og køre hende en tur i skoven.
They always talk to me in various ways. Sometimes I listen, sometimes I’m just daft. Mine dyr fortæller mig mange ting – nogen gange lytter jeg, andre gange er jeg bare fatsvag.
