The Gang Of Five

After last week's heatwave we've been lucky to have several days of gentle rain up here. Before it began on Saturday I rushed out and cut down the eight feet tall dried foxglove stalks, gently lying them in newspaper before bringing them inside to harvest. And that's when all the fun started. I spent hours sitting on the floor gently prising unopened pods and emptying the tiny brown seeds into an old honey container. This process literally took hours with me intermittedly screaming as very weird looking spiders ran up my arms. I am not good with creepy crawlies and by the time I'd finished harvesting I was itching all over. Result: I ended up with half a honey container full of tiny brown seeds plus a sore bum.

The wire fence between my place and the big paddock is just a joke these days. It is actually just a roll of wire netting that's held to the main fence by a single strand of rusty wire. I tried to improve it by threading wooden standards through to add stability but it still wobbles first to one side then the other. So it wasn't surprising one morning to meet a black faced ram in the back yard when I went out to feed the chooks. He calmly gazed back at me before returning to the fence and hopping delicately over.

For several days "Boris" as I named him would come in for a few minutes before the sight of me sent him walking back to his own field. But then he began bringing four of his friends along with him for the adventure. They were always the four same animals- one with curly horns "Horny", another black faced ram "Horatio", "Limpy" and "Sid". Initially I was worried about the garden but since I'm not going to be here much longer I gave up worrying and just hoped they would make a good job of mowing the lawn. If I went outside Boris would lead the gang back to the fence and they'd jump over. Who says sheep aren't smart? But yesterday Andrew's dogs rounded them up and took them away much to Briar's distress (she ran up and down the fence braying abuse at him). I thought they were all gone but this morning poor Horny was lying in the field stone dead. I guess the excitement just got too much for him.