Wednesday dawned windy but not raining. Yet. The BBC Weather app said not raining until 12. Great news. I would be able to do the scheduled visit and not have to postpone it. We start at 10 so I had a bit of a lie in. I posted the blog, got up and called Josh. “The visit is tomorrow” Bugger. I’ve I had been up at my normal time, I would have missed the worst of the rain. For some unknown reason, I looked at my contact lenses and left my glasses on. Another choice I would regret later…
I got to Garth Hall, put on my hat AND hood. I’ve washed my mask and not seen it since. It must be here somewhere 🤷♀️ I know the wind blows so much it takes your breath away at the top without a mask. At this point it was just windy but when I looked up towards Gilfach, it was shrouded in something that looked suspiciously like rain. I fed the silvernoses and went to the barn. Ginger Nut was sitting by the trough, waiting for food. Great news.
After seeing to her I went to the barn gate. The rain was coming down in waves. Absolutely brilliant. I fed the outfield sheep in the shelter of the wall and then had to go up into the teeth of the wind. We are close enough to lambing to have to check the whole farm. The bad weather is another reason to check everything closely. Nothing wrong but yep, the wind took my breath away. I had to hold my hand over my mouth to breathe until I had my back to the wind. I need to find that mask.
I went over the bridge into the Bedw (alpaca fields) because I needed to check the brook. It was overflowing so I had to try to sort that out. Sometimes the pipe under the bridge gets blocked but not this time. It was the sheer volume of water coming down that was causing the brook to widen and overflow on one side. The trouble with this is that it overflows into the route across the bridge which is already muddy and also down onto the track towards the office. This could make it unpassable.
Nothing for it but to try and slow down the flow at this point. I wonder if Josh’s ears were burning because I wasn’t half swearing at him for not being there. I took my gloves off and began moving the biggest stones I could to make a bit of a barrier. I also placed some branches as well to try to redirect the flow. It was heavy, tiring work. One of the planned jobs for the summer is to clear lots of stones from the brook. They will be taken from the bottom and built up at the sides making it deeper. Won’t be ready in time for Storm Eunice though…
The rain was so bad that my waterproofs struggled to keep me completely dry. I couldn’t see a thing through my glasses either. I finally got to dry them off a bit in the car before driving home. I would need my other set of waterproofs for the afternoon shift…
In the afternoon, Josh came with me. It was just too wet and waterlogged to use any vehicles. We filled empty feedbags with hay to take to the alpacas. The weather was too bad to take a new bale down with the tractor. We stuffed 2 bags each and started off. I suggested to go the nursery way as its more sheltered but it was bad. Even walking along by the dry stone wall, it was bad. It was slippery through the nursery and my hands were aching from carrying the bags. They weren’t heavy. Carrying a thin bag but holding on tight in the wind just made my hands ache. It’s really steep on the way down. I took careful, precise and slow steps. Josh was waiting at the bottom by the repair I had made by the edge of the brook. I shouted “What’s wrong?” I strained to hear his reply, lost concentration and my feet went out from under me. Both legs went up in the air. I landed on my bum and lower back. Then my shoulder blades hit the floor before my head hit with a thud. “Ow! My head”
Well, I’m officially old cos Josh rushed over to see if I was ok. He didn’t even laugh. I’m OK. Just a few aches and pains. I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself now but at the time, we had a lot to do so we just had to get on with it. Josh put all the hay out and I fed the jail inmates.
We also took the opportunity to turf Baarbaara out. She snuck into the girls’ field in the morning. I couldn’t get her out because she was gorging on alpaca food. I hope she hadn’t eaten too much of it! Due to her greediness, she saw me with the bucket. She followed me into the pen. Josh opened the side gate, waved a feed sack at her and she followed him out.
Just after we got back to the office, Neil arrived. While the 3 of us were there, we put the storm anchors out in preparation for the coming storm. It’s in a really sheltered place. We aren’t expecting the wind to be too bad in that position. Up by the barn and right on top its already bad. Fingers crossed everything is ok overnight and no lambs are born. I will update on the mop up during my next blog.
Helen
