Dorset lifestyle
Sand piled on the promenade after the storm, and a foaming sea that’ll take a few days to calm down, the winds are still strong and the showers race through. The donkeys were on high alert, churning the straw as they moved around, the sheep were much calmer, grazing the paddock and sheltering in the Lea of the hedge. A showery, blustery day with spells.
William always sleeps in the same place at night, Toby will lie to the side on the straw, or in front, nearer the door. It’s rare to see them flat out at full stretch but it does happen occasionally. The rain arrived and continued on and off all day, strengthening winds made the donkeys skittish and they came up from the paddock early for their vitamin balancer. Topped up the pond, the fish are still hungry and the various weeds and lilies are starting to take up a lot of room. Heavy, continuous, rain to end the day, lit the woodburner.
Walter, Winnie and Digby look so different, longer legs and blacker than ever without their fleeces, they’ve been hiding from the wind most of the day, only emerging from the sheep shelter to graze the paddock and then return to comfort to chew the cud. The donkeys have been on high alert, chasing around and hanging on to each other’s necks. All the trees are bending in the wind, losing blossom, leaves and small branches, hardly any racemes left on the wisteria, they’re all over the grass, tied the bean sticks to the trellis. A cloudy mild day with occasional showers and gale force winds.
Waiting for his daily mug-full of vitamins, slightly tubby William stood by the straw store for a while, Toby meanwhile helped himself to the fresh straw in the stable, neither of them tempted away by a few apple branches. They both came in from the paddock when there was a downpour late afternoon and never went back out, and all the sheep squeezed into their shelters until the sun came out again. The wisteria is trying to flower, battling against the cold nights and the gale force winds, a cloudy day with heavy rain showers and bright skies at sunset.
William and Toby have had their vitamins and are resting, William in the evening sunshine and Toby in the shade of the stable. The high winds of the last day or two mean they’re less relaxed than usual, it’ll take a calm night to relax them. Moved barrowloads of compost from the heap to the new hedgerow which is looking healthy and full of fresh green leaves. The high winds snapped the rhubarb stalks, the leaves too big to withstand the gale. A sunny day with strong winds and rain clouds that passed by over the hills.
William loves a cuddle, not always possible on very windy days as he’s not quite as chilled but today he was OK. Walked from Tarrant Gunville to Chettle for coffee and a sausage roll in the sunshine, only one squally stinging hail shower on the way back. Hurried across an open field and made it to the hedge line which gave some protection, the sheep and new born lambs in the field huddled together, most of the ewes had twins, their numbers clear to see in bright blue or red. Tomato seedlings have pushed through their compost which is a mix of mole hill and vermiculite, they’re doing well so far, sowed nasturtium seeds. The wind dropped at dusk.
William nibbling at fresh sticks before the rain set in and the wind increased to gale force, a day for waterproofs and gloves – a big change from yesterday, the water butts are full again and the paddocks are starting to puddle. The sheep stayed in their shelter, only venturing out for hay, they don’t like the rain. Sawed wood, shouldn’t be long before it can be stacked instead of being used, lit the woodburners early. Not many birds out and about, mainly the rooks, none of the buzzards were flying. Same weather forecast for tomorrow, hope everything stays where it should!
William does love a head cuddle although it is a little back breaking bending down and lifting a donkeys head onto your shoulder and then standing up, they’re surprisingly heavy. Fieldfares in the paddock today and a song thrush in the garden eating the berries. Did more work on the driveway and a few barrowloads from the compost heap, moved the sheep arcs to a fresh piece of grass. The donkeys went onto the small paddock for an hour or so but came back to their stable when the wind increased and it started raining.
Collected from the side of the road on the way back from cycling it’ll be a treat for the donkeys. They spent the afternoon in the square paddock running around while I poo picked. The ride from Shroton to Sturminster Newton and back was hard work into the wind, which always seemed to be against us, luckily it didn’t rain. Last night was so windy the chairs in the garden blew over and the oak leaves spread far and wide, no wonder it kept me awake. A sunnier afternoon with a cold wind to end the day.
A very wet and windy day, easy to clean the stable area but difficult to stay dry. The donkeys were a little disturbed by the shoot happening in the field across the lane, sounded very close but didn’t last long, they soon trotted down to the paddock. The sheep didn’t like the heavy rain so huddled together in their shelter most of the time. The hurdles that were delivered a few weeks ago proved to be difficult to put together in a row so were replaced today. Played several games of mahjong and lost!
