Silly string

Early morning, Mary the hen is supervising the five ducklings in the paddling pool, while the other chickens scratch around and Pela' is feeding in the alpaca shelter - sorry she is in the dark - if you hover over the picture and double click, you can enlarge it.

Silly string: No, not the stuff you get in an aerosol can - the string the animal feed bags are tied with. There's a special way for opening it, but they don't tell you on the bag - it's so fiddly, and I can't imagine a farmer with his work-hardened stubby fingers on a dark, frosty morning trying to pull the thread through the first few loops until it runs free - so does anyone know the secret?

It was the first tee-shirt day of the year, although if you went up the hill and caught the wind it was cool. I saw a Yellow Brimstone butterfly as well - first of the year and proof that it was warm. There are hundreds of Dock leaves in the field so we have sprayed them with Round-Up (keeping the alpacas in the other paddock while it dried) so we'll try and maximise the grass with some seeding soon. Yesterday I cut down by half its height, a conifer that had outgrown its welcome - hanging on with one arm, while sawing with the other, with all my weight on one foot on a branch swaying in the wind for an hour and a half, I felt like I'd played in the rugby international.

Looking forward to an introduction to Camelidynamics training later this week.

Just listening to the new U2 album - the songs are typical U2 - their fans will love it but they won't win any new ones - I like it. By way of contrast, I am also enjoying the Fleet Foxes.