Hello All
What a lovely day Sunday was, we had friends round for lunch and had braised lamb with beans, which was delicious, and then sat in the garden (or rather area of mud with a little grass growing on it) in the sunshine. Granted we had jumpers on but nonetheless it was very pleasant. Having taken my photo I realise the cabbage should have been savoy cabbage rather than the round white for artistic effect.

When we had yet a second day of sunshine I was curious enough to add up the amount of rain we have had since the beginning of January, 280mm, or about 11 inches. Amazingly I had a spare minute to look up the average rainfall for the Dordogne in Jan/Feb and it is apparently 162mm or about 6.4 inches. Interestingly the average rainfall in Cork, Ireland is 260mm in Jan/Feb.
My curiosity satisfied I went moving fences with Gavin and Number 3 to make the most of the sun before the rest of the week began.
"A"lamb was evicted to the shed this week to learn how to be a real lamb. Mainly because Number 2 did not enjoy having a wet foot when she stumbled downstairs in the morning in her pyjamas to forage for her Coco Pops. There are few things more frightening for a Father then a grumpy 15 year old daughter with a wet slipper before 10 o'clock in the morning.
We have reached lamb number 50 I think and we are still going strong I hope.
Patrick has been home for a few days this week and has helped his Dad finish off the gates for the shed and rolled a few bales around. He's had a good old workout ready to attack another term at uni. Number 2 and I are quite happy to have a break from bale rolling as although they provide excellent body strengthening exercises,  they are really quite heavy.
See you all soon
Helen

Hello All
What a hectic week. I thought that if I skipped a market and caught up with my jobs then I would get a bit ahead of myself and be able to have a slightly less frantic week than last week.
Ha....... I should have known better. 
We seem to have had one lamb after another this week and as a rule our sheep are fairly good at the rearing and birthing on their own. However at the moment we are lambing all the first time mummies so few of them know what is going on and I seem to have had one after another lamb appearing in the kitchen (the intensive care unit) which means extra duties of care and more mouths to feed. The sole consolation is these mouths are happy to eat the same thing every mealtime and I don't have to think of what I am going to cook.
Titch/Lucky now renamed "A" lamb, if my regular readers remember her, is still happily in the kitchen but has taken to sleeping in the dogs bed and also next to the fire in the evening. Thank goodness the sun has shone a bit and she has been able to run about outside a little.

The children are as usual being very helpful with the lengthy chores, feeding and checking livestock. Here is Number 3 counting how many sheep so she know how many scoops of feed per pen.

The biggest news of the week was being able to hang out 3 loads of washing then being able to leave it outside all day and then the excitement of being able to bring it inside in the evening dry. 
Hmmm..... maybe I should get out more.
See you all soon 
Helen 

Hello All
It is true. I have seen it with my own eyes and gossip hot from the market place agrees that deinitely cranes have been sighted in several location. That means that despite external conditions spring is on the way. See below for an illustration of the arrival of spring;

Yes here I am looking glamorous as usual in St.Méard before the rain started. 
The sheep are now all inside in the warm and dry gosh they eat alot of hay. I am in training for the next olympics as we have to man/woman handle the big round bales into the shed and they eat about 6 a week. 

Here are some pics of our new mummies and babies in their warm dry shed. They have just been fed which is why they are all looking at the floor. It is the only way Gavin can get them to stand still when he arrives at the shed. Blue numbers are for one mummy one baby, red numbers are for twins. the paint makes it easy to ensure each baby is with the right mum. In case you were wondering. 
Enjoy the weather tomorrow more lovely wind and rain on the way.
See you soon
Helen

Hello All
Gavin, my husband, was out fencing (no, not with swords) maybe I should say moving sheep and tells me he heard, then saw a small group of cranes heading north! I have asked him if he was hallucinating and he was emphatic that he was not so unless they have been blown off course I guess that spring is on the way! Extraordinary looking out the window right now at the grey sky, the trees blowing in the wind, the constantly running water drains and the mud, mud and more mud. I dream of tarmac..........
You will all be delighted to know that all the children are well and those who were ill or waiting for exam results are back at school, so I managed to spend only 35 euros at my last supermarket shopping spree at Mutant. Pretty impressive I thought.
There are 2 lambs in our kitchen one of which is called Titch/Lucky. Two of the children are fighting over what she should be named. One would have thought that after a lifetime of having various baby animals in the kitchen everything from wild pigs (in Zimbabwe), to goslings and kittens they would have become less adamant about who gets to pick the names, but no. Funnily enough we seem to have a long line of Luckys, Titches, Babys, Fluffys.... etc, etc. 
The other is number 14 and without name just incase. 
Below is Titch/Lucky.

Above is a picture of some of our girls who have been moved inside to escape from the mud. The rest of the shed is under construction to receive the other half of the main flock. It is a pity this website doesn't do sound as during feeding time it feels like your ears are about to explode with all the baaing.
See you all soon
Helen