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Some thoughts on living and working in France and conversations with my sheep! |
| This is a journal of the present but will also include reflections on the past 15 years which is the time I have been living in France.I hope it will generally be upbeat and amusing but as it is real life there will be some sad times aswell.I dont know yet how to include WritingML tags so my Journal will be unspiced for the time being! This is the first item I have posted in my Portfolio so I hope it will get better as I become more relaxed. |
| I have been under the weather for the past few weeks so have not felt much like writing. I am now feeling much better so back to the blog atleast and other writing too I hope. Yesterday I was walking the dogs across the fields as I do every morning, I also take the opportunity to check that all is well with the ewes. I was looking across to the far hedge when something caught my eye, it looked like one of the ewes was on her back. This is a problem that happens sometimes, for an unknown reason a ewe will turn right over onto her back and promptly get stuck. This probably sounds quite funny and certainly looks funny, but it is life threatening. While a ewe is on her back she is unable to urinate and if she is not set back on her feet within a few hours she will be dead due to absorption of toxins from her urine. As the ewes had not been checked since the evening before I was extremely worried for her. I ran round the field I was in to the gate into Home field where the ewes were. From a distance it was impossible to see if she was moving. As I was running towards her I was calling out to her to hold on as help was on it's way, I was so relieved to see her legs move. I reached her and rolled her over onto her belly she was very bloated. I tried to get her to stand but she was weak and frightened, luckily she urinated which is a good sign. I decided to leave her alone for a while to see if she could get up by herself. I went back about half an hour later and she was up and she had rejoined the other ewes, although she still looked very shaky on her legs. I was so pleased that I had found her in time as it's so upsetting to lose a perfectly healthy ewe just because they can't roll over from their backs. It would also have been a disaster in terms of having the body collected, there is a collection service for farm casualties but not over the weekend and Monday is a Bank holiday so the ealiest the ewe could have been picked up would have been Tuesday. It is very unpleasant having to store a dead animal for more than a day, one of the downsides of farming is dealing with such occurrances. THis time the ewe and I were lucky. I am just off now to do the evening check of the sheep and horses and trust that all will be well. |
| ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Last Wednesday we took our friends to the Haras National [national stud farm] for breeding of the Baudet du Poitou. This is a donkey that is native to my region of France and was very close to extinction. About 20 years ago a program was launched to save this remarkable donkey. It is one of the largest donkeys with a Rastapharian hairstyle and a lovely sweet nature. I first saw these lovely animals in 1992, I was here on my own for my Birthday [my husband was still spending a lot of time in England] so I decided to have a day out. I had heard about these donkeys and so set off to find the Haras. Even though it was mid March the weather was beautifully sunny and warm. I arrived at my destination just after lunch, I was the only visitor. The gentleman who was one of the people responsible for the operation to save the Baudet du Poitou gave me a guided tour and his enthousiasm for this superb animal was plain to see. There were several foals with their mothers and I was able to go in with them and handle the foals.These animals are so gentle and the little ones have coats like silk.I had one of my best birthdays ever and have been in love with these donkeys eversince.Since that first visit I have been back several times and have seen the project evolve and expand and the number of donkeys is increasing slowly..The French have a knack of throwing all their energy into an idea and the results are always impressive. I am hoping that now I have a little more time I maybe able to realise the dream that started that day of owning a Baudet du Poitou. If you would like to see a photo I took last Wednesday of a mother with her foal then please look in my Port. If you would like any more info on these amazing donkeys leave a comment. |
| What a difference a little sunshine makes. I don't mean to go on about this but when I woke up this morning and the sun was shining the effect on my spirits was undeniable. Trouble is I felt so full of energy I started Spring cleaning now I feel knackered and I have hardly made a dent. Apart from the sun I have also had two reasonable nights sleep which helps my morale aswell. I don't seem able to settle down to any "real" writing at the moment but perhaps a bit more sleep will help. Yesterday we moved the sheep to some fresh grazing which means I don't have to put hay out for them anymore which means one less job. This is good as we have some friends arriving tomorrow to stay for a few days so we will have more time to enjoy ourselves. I have also started some research for the book I have in mind. It will require quite a lot of reading in french which will keep the grey cells active. |
| I mentionned the Spring word too soon, the last few days have reverted to wet and windy. Despite hearing the first cuckoo of the year it really has been miserable weather. My moods are definitely governed by the sun or lack of it. When the sun shines I can conquer the world and work all day but when it's grey outside then I feel grey inside. To try and cheer myself up I bought some bedding plants to start the summer planting of the pots and tubs which add colour to the patio and liven up the farm buildings. All I need now is for it to stop raining long enough to plant them!! I mentionned before about the bird flu, why is it that whenever there is a problem with any product the general public instantly stop buying that item whether or not there is any reasonto do so. The poultry producers are suffering badly with sales nosediving,so I have been buying chickens and ducks to eat for the last few weeks to show solidarity. Tonight it will be spit roasted free range chicken with no fear of flu! I am something of an insomniac and this week has been a bad week perhaps only one night of reasonable sleep, there never seems any rhyme or reason to my sleepless nights all I know is that it doesn't do much for my creative efforts. Maybe the return of the sun will help both problems. Watch this space. |
| Actually that was Saturday night, for the last couple of days we have been carrying on with the renovation of our farmhouse. When we bought it 15 years ago the ground floor had already been completely rewrired, walls lined, bathroom added and decorated etc. But there were only two bedrooms and upstairs was an enormous grenier[loft] totally unused. Since then we have been steadily adding wiring, insulation and so on. We are now in the process of finishing off the third bedroom . As with most things we undertake this has been ongoing for several years as It has to be fitted round the farm work. As suggested by the title I have been doing all the joints of the plasterboard, this is a very time consuming and quite boring job, but I can eventually see a light at the end of the tunnel.The next job will be nearly as bad as the whole room will need painting. Ugh! The worst of all of this is that the weather is atlast warming up and it really feels like Spring has arrived. Over the past couple of weeks I have seen quite a few hares as it is their breeding season, this is good news because it means they are holding their own against the huntsmen. In the wood the primroses are out and in the garden the daffodils are blooming. Suddenly it seems that Winter is over, there is a softness in the air and my spirits are lifted. I love the colours of the wild Spring flowers, all shades of yellows and purples, they compliment each other so well.I can't wait to start in the garden but as always at this time of year there are so many jobs to do. The grass hasn't started growing yet so all the animals are still being fed but it shouldn't be long now.Then before you know it everything goes wild. But before that there are several weeks when the garden looks good then the weeds start their determined attack on my morale and take a strangle hold on anything cultivated. Perhaps I will have to get plastered again! |
| Yesterday I reached the ripe old age of 55. It's quite a strange feeling because your heart feels young and raring to do so many things but so often your body just won't keep up. We had some friends round for dinner and had a really good evening and didn't get to bed until 3.30 a.m.This morning I definitely feel my age! At long last Spring seems to be making a timid apparition and I am looking forward to spending some more time with my horse, it has just been too cold recently.I use the Parelli method of Natural Horsemanship with him which is quite revolutionary c.f. traditional methods. I hope to make some real advances this year as at last I think I am mentally and physically ready. At the moment in France we have the spectre of Avian Flu and our chickens have to be shut in. If there are more outbreaks then the whole of the French poultry industry is at risk. I am just glad we only have three!.I can remember a few years ago when there was the foot and mouth outbreak in England we were in a state of fear for months in case it took hold over here. I cannot imagine what it would be like to see my flock of ewes slaughtered in front of me which is what happenned to hundreds of farmers in England.The site of the burning pyres touched me deeply at the time. It is bad enough when we lose a ewe or a lamb. |
| This morning I took the dogs for their usual walk across Wood field. On one boundary of the field we have an electric fence and one section of it was flattened. Most of the sheep seemed to be there but I had to count them to be sure that none of them had gone through the fence. Have you ever tried counting sheep? I got to 65 three times which would mean 2 missing. I counted again, 66 and on the fifth count I finally arrived at 67 Bingo!. There is a common misconception that counting sheep helps you sleep but I have to say that after this mornings efforts I was fully awake. |
| So back to the garage this morning and hey guess what the car still wasn't ready!!! Apparently because the car was imported to England directly from Japan it is wired differently. I had to wait another half hour before it was ready and even now I have to take it back next week for a part that they had to order. It seems that every time we try and do something to this car it takes far longer and inevitably costs more than anticipated. The French have an inbuilt aversion to anything that is not home grown and this can become very annoying when we are all supposed to be in Europe. You just have to grin and bear it and remember all the plus points of living in this wonderful country. It does mean however that I still haven't got much writing done today, only bits and pieces that don't take much concentration. Oh well there is always tomorrow! |
| I took the car into the garage this morning to have a new CD radio fitted but as with everything we do with this car it is never easy. It should have been ready in an hour but when I went back no such luck. As we live a 40 minute drive from the garage they lent me a car to get home and I have to go back tomorrow morning to collect the car. I just hope it's ready. It may not sound much of a problem but when you have so many other jobs you would rather or should be doing it is very annoying. However after a few glasses of good French wine a sense of perspective returns. Life is too short to worry about such things. I can start my novel tomorrow! |
| We arrived home yesterday after 5 days at our home near Carcassonne. All the animals had survived our absence, but the dogs were pleased to see us back. The weather started off warm and sunny then deteriorated to wet and windy which was a bit disappointing but we enjoyed the break. I also had some really great ideas for the novel that I am anxious to get started. It was quite weird because I had flashes of inspiration while we were driving on the autoroute. I had my notebook with me so I made notes of all the ideas that seemed to appear from nowhere. Now I have to start some research to put some flesh on the ideas. I have told my husband that if I need more inspiration then he will have to take me for a drive on the autoroute! Now it's back to work here on the farm. It's not always easy to fit everything in but I feel really enthusiastic about my writing. More about our wekend away tomorrow. |
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... as long as you occasionally moan here. I do check in but I've been overwhelmed this past month. My bronchitis is getting better and my spirits are okay today. Some days that is as good as it gets. Get thee well.