Extreme Knitting Redhead: A sheep interlude and some tadpoles so you don't get bored with all the running stuff!

Monday, May 30, 2016

A sheep interlude and some tadpoles so you don't get bored with all the running stuff!

Mark and Melissa phoned to ask if they could put some ewes and lambs on the field next to the horses the other day (yes, of course!) so Mike and I went to say hello and introduce ourselves to our latest guests the other evening, as you do.

Most of them were spread out across the field and as they hadn't been there for very long we didn't want to approach the group and scare them so we just took a few photos from afar. There are about 40 ewes each with 2 lambs.

Cue photos of cute lambs:

Peek-a-boo!

What a sweet little face

Exploring their new temporary home

I love their long black stockings!

On the way back we noticed the Hawthorn blossom around the pond and commented that the bushes are getting really tall now. I was pleased to see that an area we'd cleared of scrub along the margin had some beautiful purple orchids in flower. Plus, the moorhens have got babies and we saw them scuttling across the lily pads! Still no ducklings yet though.

The very next morning I headed off for a marathon and so Mike was in charge of horse feeding etc. When he went out he spotted a ewe and 2 lambs at the far end of the horses field. By the time I got home they'd been joined by a few more!

We don't usually have lambs and I guessed they'd just squeezed underneath the field gate dividing the 2 fields. They must have been thirsty as they soon found the water.

After a while we herded them back into their field as we needed to see where the ewe had got through as she couldn't have got in under the gate. 3 of the lambs went under the gate (their mum was calling them) but the remaining ewe and her 2 lambs went through a gap in the top corner - I watched her squeeze underneath the stock-proof netting so we'll need to secure that asap as once they've found an escape route they tend to keep going through it!

Now for a brief update on the tadpoles. There were 12 to begin with but now there are 8 very healthy specimens. As there were no dead bodies in evidence I suspect they might have been consumed by their siblings. An example of natural selection.

At the moment they are split into 2 large glass jars but I'm about to go and search out an old fish tank to give them more room.

I'm finding watching their progress very absorbing and it's fascinating watching them change into frogs. Even Mike said "wow" when I made him look at their froggy markings and eyes the other day!

They're mouths are huge now and in the last few days their eyes have developed

They are even starting to develop the markings of a frog - see the spots on the tail

As they're growing apace I realised that they needed more than a bit of algae and so I asked an expert who told me to feed them lettuce which you have to boil for 10 minutes. The boiling breaks down the cellulose and makes it easy for them to bite into. They certainly get stuck right in as soon as I drop it in there.

Hopefully I finish my reports for marathons 76 - 79 in the next day or so then there's a bit of dementia stuff to talk about...........

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.