58 days to go!......

Oh my! it has been so long that I have just had to read my own blog to find out what I said last.  And much has happened since then.
To catch you all up on the stolen sheep scenario no-one was caught, no lamb was found, no insurance payout. Situation sadly normal.
Gavin has had his cruciate ligament replaced in his knee and is making steady progress. The physio said today that rehabilitation is long winded for this one and he should just be patient. Easy to say, less easy to achieve for someone used to working a 14 hour day and being outside 80% of the time. It is surprising what he has been driven to do with his spare moments this week. Strip the chainsaw, dismantle the quad (he got told off for that one) cook shepherds pie, mop the floor, clean the bath, do the accounts, pay the bills and help me put away stray sheep by calling them, as they dont know me so well, and banging his crutches together from the safety of the road to get them back in the field.

Gavin finally found our old weather book whilst sorting out the accounts (don't ask about the state of our office zone) as we were contemplating whether the change in air pollution levels and also cloud disturbance, due to the reduction in air traffic this year, has had an effect on the climate. It does feel like South Wales, rather than the Dordogne we have been used to for the last 16 years. The book showed us that rainfall in the past had fallen in shorter spurts with longer stretches of sunshine inbetween. Completely unscientific theory based on limited data and lots of gut feeling. However I do not believe for a moment that the quantity of air traffic has no effect on cloud formation. Below is a photo of the weather at home last Friday morning whilst we were at the market in Ribérac.

We seem to have had a much greater variety and quantity of insects around the house this year  I wonder if this is also due to reduced pollution.  I have had fun trying to capture some of them to share with you. And its a good job I spent several years in Zimbabwe to desensitise myself to most bugs.

Lastly because we always like to keep things calm and easy at Franklin Farm we got a puppy :-O or as we like to call him a convalesence dog for Gavin. So here's Mushu....

See you all soon at the markets, on delivery or at the farm.
Helenx