Anyway, I'd mentioned a while ago, that our trailer was trapped in the field, waiting for better weather to allow the car in to retrieve it without getting stuck - so saturday morning I noticed that the level of frost looked capable of supporting the car, but I had guitar-based business to deal with, and decided to get up early on sunday to attempt a rescue - 7.00 sunday morning, went out - no frost - the going was 'good-to soft' is the racing term I think, and no good, even for a Subaru 4 x 4, due to the slope of our hill. However, yesterday, dawn broke with a frost, and I went for it - up the neighbours hill which faces south and is in much better condition, over the brow, into ours, down the bottom, hook-up, foot down, up the slope, bit of wheel-spin starting, turn across the slope to slacken the gradient, and... yes! made it. So today, we started Camelot's weaning, by taking his mum, Minnie, over to the rented orchard at the other end of the village to join the others, and brought Autumn Gold back for additional company, along with Moira who was already here. Autumn is rather large, and yet they all get the same feed in individual buckets, and she isn't a bully, so at least with our sparse grass, she can't gorge on the lush grass of the orchard. Camelot has also started his halter training.
Last thursday morning during the gales, I had just fed the three remaining here at home, when a gust of wind came roaring acrooss the vale, into the open face of the shelter, and lifted the shelter and corner (tree trunk) post four inches off the ground - just as I pondered whether to grab hold to keep it down (!), the gust passed and it settled down - phew! I quickly tied it to the hay shed for good measure.
Regarding the Futurity, we've made bookings, but we've also made some economies compared with other years - it seems that perhaps the NEC's proximity to the airport, and perhaps the large number of exhibition halls means the hotels can charge a premium, so the whole event can be much more expensive - that's not a complaint, because hopefully, there will be a much greater footfall of the general public, with follow-on benefits to all breeders, but it does mean you have to be careful to weigh-up the benefits against the costs a little more carefully.
I've put our expected birth dates into the calendar along with shows, and Joy has some bookings for felting, and is preparing 'goods' for the Futurity, so there's plenty to look forward to.
I loved the frost, easy to walk on, easy poo picking, and we had beautiful hoar frost too. Love the photo.
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