Life and Death

Unfortunately our young white cockerel Barry died last week. Our dogs cornered him outside where he shouldn't have been and mauled him. Although he only had one cut he had some of his feathers pulled out by the dogs and by the time we discovered him, he was in shock. Despite our best efforts he died over night.

Naturally Tim and I feel awful but we didn't hear any kerfuffle. Accidents do happen, chickens drown, are taken by birds of prey, sometimes they just disappear like our much loved young cat Monty but in most cases there is very little that can be done. In the wrong place at the wrong time. None of us are immune from death. As Terry Pratchett said in Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.

    “DON'T THINK OF IT AS DYING, said Death. JUST THINK OF IT AS LEAVING EARLY TO AVOID THE RUSH.”

Barry in happier times with some of his ladies

The hens were very subdued without their man so Tim and I bought another one at the local market yesterday. We have named him Errol (after Errol Flynn) as he is handsome and dashing and able to twirl his moustache with one wing.. After a few minutes here, he was doing what cockerels do with one of his new harem and he has settled in beautifully. We only hope he has a long and happy life with us.

Otherwise we continue to preserve the fruits of our labours. We bought a dehydrator and are drying some of the huge fruit glut, grapes, pears, apples and figs. Seed saving continues, various beans are drying for winter soups and stews and the turkeys continue to thrive. The gentlemen Turks are quite magnificent in their bright colours and enjoying every moment of their lives. As the old Irish proverb says "A turkey never voted for an early Christmas."

Friol Horse Show

This is an annual event in my local town, with a mix of entertainment, horse selling and competitions. It is held in the market place. The weather is rainy today but this didn't stop the crowds. The Galicians love their horses.

The height that the grey horse achieved when it jumped in the air and kicked backwards was incredible. You can just see the feet of the man supervising it on the left.

The pony was just as well trained and could lay down and play dead as well as rear up on command.
The result of many hours hard work I am sure.

Work goes on

I am making the most of having my daughter here, families are great. Yesterday we spent a hot day loading our lorry load of wood into the wood store. It had sat outside drying for a couple of weeks but with thundery storms looming at the weekend we decided not to take any chances of our wood getting wet. The weather here has been unusual, the rain has fallen late this year and there is more cloud around leading to high humidity, ideal conditions for blight. My tomatoes are suffering again from this and I have lost several plants.

We are part way through the construction of a goat milking area, we have prepared the base of what will be a small concrete slab with wooden posts in it, to keep a reluctant goat still and enable a single person (me) to milk unaided. Our goats have not been milked before so I expect them to be skittish but the lure of home-made ice cream, yoghurt and cheese is too strong to be ignored.

Our domestic animals remain very happy, Nosher the cat is the senior animal and bullies the dogs unmercifully and spends his days sleeping in the sun and his nights sleeping on the sofa with an occasional break to eat food. He is a good mouser when he can be bothered.

Sam is senior dog and supervises every activity, he has had a summer hair cut and looks smarter as a result with less rubbish caught in his fur. He is a fussy eater, he is very bright and a 'worrier' who spends most of his time ensuring that the junior dog is not misbehaving (an impossible task).

Toby as junior dog, is the lowest of the low. He is a Spanish mastiff crossed with a Brittany spaniel and has inherited the worst attributes of both breeds. He is big but not very bright and provides the muscle to Sam's brains. For a few months I was not sure I could keep him as his destructive tendencies felt like more than I could cope with on my own. He does not intend to trash things but chewing through internet cables, furniture, digging up newly planted vegetables, unearthing shrubs combined with chewing my underwear and chasing and killing chickens made me despair. His regular gifts include rotting goats heads he has found (three so far) various dead body parts and vomiting back cow pats. I offered him up for re-homing but nobody wanted him, finally now, as he ages he is slowing a little and learning some manners. He is very sweet natured and now I finally feel he is here to stay even though disaster follows in his wake.

They are all part of our 'family'.