Catch up and a Happy New Year

Firstly I would like to wish my faithful followers a Peaceful and Prosperous 2010.
I have not published for a little while as those of you who follow will know, I have had a rubbish 2009.
My father is still very much in my everyday thoughts, not just because of this time of year but also because he would have been 70 years old on the 4th of January.
My illness is still hanging on and is getting to me, my fuse is a little shorter than it was before, because the specialists cannot seem to ease my problem.
But this year I have to move on one step at a time to get on top of all these soul destroying problems.

We had a quiet Christmas, not through choice I might add.
The snow started on Friday 18th December, we had a flurry of snow which persisted through the night.
Then after that we had snow on and off but not huge amounts like they had down south or in the North of Scotland.
But the problem became worse when we had low temperatures, this caused the dirt track to become an ice rink.
So luckily we did the Christmas food shopping in Fort William.
Because the weather was so unpredictable we decided to stay at home, there was nothing needed that was so important to risk life and limb for on the road.

We are having to let the cows out of the byre one at a time because it is so slippery under foot, once they get out on to the common grazing's they wander off for the day, the sun in the afternoon is melting the snow out there so they are finding something to pick at.
Once they come back in they get a good feed and a warm bed.
The young calves were fluke and mite dosed today, I must say they were really mild tempered, what a difference there is between calves weened in the winter and calves weened in the summer.
Winter calves are in the shed through the night so they get used to you being around them and will let you stroke them.
Summer calves are out on the common grazing's all of the time and do not have the human interaction so are a bit more fiery when you try to do anything with them.
So that is the calves in for the duration now once they are weened from mother.
The mothers are all in calve and some of them are due imminently.
One of the heifers "Pal" is due right now so we are up through the night checking her to make sure all is well.
The old crofters used to say that the cow will sometimes go into labour when the moon is at it's fullest, but Pal is still hanging in there.

Our sheep now nine of them are all in lamb, Sandy the Cheviot ram went out at the beginning of November and has worked well, lots of Green markings on rumps that's the main thing, so we should be expecting babies around about 1st April, (no it's not an April fool).

We lost poor old Snowy the big White Charolais this year, she went out on the common grazing's with the others in the morning and never came back in the evening, we went out to look for her and there she was, at first we thought she was a sleep, but she was not old age comes to us all we can never escape it.
She was one of my husbands father's last original cows, we both had a soft spot for her, she is missed even now, her great grand daughter "Pal" inherited her stall and she fills it just as much as Snowy did.
Lets hope she follows in her great grandmothers footsteps.
Penny one of our other heifers gave birth to a little boy a couple of months ago, not that he is so little, he is also Snowy's great grandson, he is a beautiful fawn coloured Charolais and we named him Tougs.
He is soft natured like granny, and full of mischief, nosey too.
When I get the camera down-loaded I will post pictures.

It will soon be time to take the tree down, it is beautiful, a traditional fat six footer
I will miss it this year, as it is one of the nicest trees I have had for a long time.
We are all snug this evening in front of a Peat burning open fire, as we have been through the Christmas holidays.
All that hard work in the spring has come to some use, Peat has a beautiful aroma when you go out into the night air, it reminds you of so many things from your child hood.

My New Year resolution is to keep blogging more frequently than I did last year.
Anyway I will close for now, wishing you all a Happy New Year and pop in anytime to find out what we are up to.