volcanic disruptions

Currently stuck here in Australia, flight to UK canceled, and the damned volcano in Iceland is causing major hassles. There is no way to contact BA at the moment- the website is being deliberately obtuse and the phone lines permanently on hold.

So, not a lot I can do but continue to enjoy the fantastic autumn weather here.

Vanessa got a birthday gift from Georgie ( hereinafter known as 'the animal hoarder by proxy' ) of 2 guinea pigs. She is refusing to call them 'Kath & Kim', so they have been named 'Myrtle & Sorrel'.

The new 'pig palace' is currently having coats of yacht varnish before the ladies move in.

From Protea Farm 1

Brian the ram has settled in well, but there has been no obvious procreative activity to date. he may turn out to be an Adam or Ian......watch this space.

kiwis and sheep

It was an Easter of kiwis and sheep ( always a good combination). Friends from NZ who we have not seen for nearly 15 years arrived for a holiday. When we were last together in the UK there were only 2 of them, but times have moved on...

From Protea Farm 1

From Protea Farm 1

It was great to see them and get to know the 3 boys, who were incredibly well-behaved apart from regularly bringing bugs and creepy-crawlies for us to admire.

We also collected our new dorper ram. Sticking with The Archers theme he needed to be a bit of a Lothario in order to perform his duties, so we have named him Brian.

From Protea Farm 1

He is currently following Lilian around with a stupid amorous look on his face.

From Protea Farm 1

Happy Easter!

From Protea Farm 1

quote of the week

This week we went to the pre launch party of the 'Gourmet Pantry' at Thistle Hill, one of our local wineries. Obviously the main reason for attending was free wine, but an additional bonus was the chance to catch up with locals in the hospitality industry and swap stories about the joys of dealing with the public ( running this business has so many parallels with running a vet practice, and the delightful general public are the common spanner in the works ).

Having vented our communal spleens about feral children, obnoxious over 60's, and people's inability to understand basic rubbish recycling, Kate's sardonic comment was a belter.

' I mistakenly thought that Fawlty Towers was a comedy; I now know that it was a documentary'.

Blogs have been few and far between recently, mainly due to the fact that my Mum is seriously ill and I have to return to the UK in a couple of weeks. So Ness is having a crash course in all the business/internet stuff that I primarily deal with and trying not to panic about flying solo.

Fully booked for the Easter holidays, but hoping to get a little free time to go shopping for a ram- the girls are fat as houses after the rains and accelerated grass growth, and they need a man soon. Looking into getting a dorper boy and breeding wiltshire horn x dorpers, working on the principle that they will look very stupid and taste good.