Good Bye Oscar

We are sad at the moment as Oscar had a stroke and we had to let him go. The vet said it was the only option and the right thing to do for him. It was really hard as we loved him very much, but after two weeks of medication, physio and even a sling to try and get him back on his feet it was clear he wasn't going to make it. I knew in my heart it was time for Oscar to go. He had his favourite treat, strawberries and some coca-cola before we said good bye.

He was only three, but at least those three years were good and he was happy here with us.

RIP Oscar

2004 - 2007

Our attentions have now had to move to taking care of Bosie. He is very sad and nervous to go out without Oscar. He has never been on his own before. I am desperately seeking a new companion for his, but this is proving harder than you would think and certainly not helped by the recent ban on animal movements due to the foot and mouth outbreak down south. In the mean time, Bert is helping to keep Bosie company.

Mum, dad and Brodie came to visit last weekend. The weather was lovely (for a change) and we had a really nice time. Dad re-glazed my greenhouse for me after is was broken in the storms this year. Brilliant, thanks dad. What would we all do without you?!

Fuzzy felt

This weekend was really warm, so I spent some time brushing the goats to get rid of some of the fluff that they start malting this time of year (see April last year).

It was so soft and fluffy, I decided to collect a bit and see what I could do with it. Oscar's fluff is white-grey and Bosie's is brown-black.

Since I don't have a spindle to make yarn, I though I'd give felting a go.

I gave it a good wash and then left it out in the sun tro dry. I don't have any carders, so I made do with a dog brush to sort it out after.

I kept the colours seperate and added a bit of pink silk fibre I already had.

Then I gave it a good long hot and cold bath. The finished result is a small but very soft piece of handmade goat felt. In retrospect, I think the pink was a mistake, but I'm still very pleased with it and plan to make more.

FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today, after three months of solid work I finally handed in my completed dissertation. It looked lovely in its black hardback cover, but to be honest I never want to see it again. I enjoyed reading all the books and I quite liked the field research parts (except when it was snowing), but writing it all up was a nightmare. Doing stuff like this is for 'real students', the ones who have time to write a dissertation in between watching day time tv and going to the pub. Getting home from work at 7.30pm and then working until the early hours before getting up and going back to work - for three months - is no fun. I am VERY tired but sleep tonight will be good, as for the first time in weeks I'll be dreaming about knitting, gardening and watching movies rather than whether I remembered to properly reference Natural England on page 107 or if I worked out my percentages right before I did the correlations. Phew, never again!

Winterama

Today I had the day off work to do some work on my dissertation. When I got up, the snow was twinkling and the sun shining, so I got as far as gathering all my books and putting them on the table. I then spent the rest of the day playing with the animals, making winter vegetable broth and after dark, watching movies. I guess I'll just have to catch up at the weekend.
















I moved all of my cacti out of the greenhouse after the wind broke most of the glass. To my amazement I discovered that one appears to be starting to flower. I have had this plant since I was at university (about 1992!!!!!!) and it has never done this before. A good sign I think.













Tonight we watched 'a series of unfortunate events'. It was on sale at the supermarket for 5.99 which seemed like a good deal, and so it was. I especially enjoyed all the costumes, I can see I'll be hunting down some black voile to create some nice puff sleeves.















I am unavoidably influenced by movies and have been wearing my hair in head plaits since seeing 'secretary' a few weeks ago.





















I suspect Dolly and J are unavoidably influenced by the photos on my blog.





















I saw white cat have a wash for the first time EVER today, so I let him sit with us on the sofa for a while. Hopefully this positive reinforcement may lead him to wash again at some point!





















Peahead has been grumpy as usual, phone glued to ear.

Our friend and Spike's dad Billy appears in the latest Badly Drawn Boy video for 'a journey from a to b'. He's the one on the sofa chatting up the ladies. Spike is very proud.

Out of hibernation

Been hibernating for a while, but the bad weather woke me with a bang. The new year was starting to look good, but 90 mph winds with a bit of frozen rain thrown in for free has devastated my beloved greenhouse.





















The fence took a bashing too.





















Next door lost their guttering, and the chimney looks dodgy too (what d'you think dad - is this gonna fall through my roof or what?).








































Shed lost a few slates, but our house is still all here.

This cheered me up though!






















As did this. Play people and goats. Two of my favourite things.

There's a moose loose...

Today Peahead finally fixed my new hall light. I love it. It looks like hundreds of little birds flying up the stairs.















He put up my moose light too, so together the whole staircase looks magical. I think I may sleep in there tonight! Thanks, Peahead, I love it.





















In an attempt to become more domesticated this weekend, I started wearing my new pinny that I got from the car boot sale a couple of weeks ago. I got two, a pink one and a brown one. I like to imagine some old lady made them in the 70's.













White cat has been feeling a little left out as he hasn't got his own bed. For weeks now, he has been hanging around the other cats and taking every opportunity to sit on their beds when they aren't looking. Since he is here to stay, I figured it was only right he got his very own so I made him one out of an old jumper that doesn't fit me any more. He seemed quite pleased with it, but already it is covered in white hair.

Goat walking

As usual we have been very busy. Inspired by this picture, I devised a way to save time. I taught the goats to take themselves for a walk. Now I just need to teach them to chop their own veg, fill their own water bucket and muck the shed out!













Although I have been slacking with my posts as usual, I do add pictures to flickr quite often as it's a bit quicker to do.