Flying South

Easy check-in and boarding although the flight was completely full. After a 90min delay sitting on the plane waiting for cargo containers to be loaded it was -17C when we were at the de-icing station just before take off.

The delay meant that we arrived in Santiago during the immigration officers lunch break. By the time they returned to work there were around 2500 people in the queue who greeted them with a slow handclap.

When we walked out of the terminal in Santiago it was 32C. Luckily our taxi to Con Con was air-conditioned and it was only about 26C by the time we arrived at the coast. Our apartment looks over the beach which was quite busy when we arrived.

After dinner in a local fish restaurant we went to sleep listening to the waves breaking on the long sandy shore and when we woke in the morning the beach was deserted – perfect for a morning stroll!

Toronto in the snow

Woke to a light dusting of snow – temperature dropped to -10C – now I understand why people have heated car seats! Linda went shopping for a new bikini without success then back to Jim & Suzanne's to relax before their Friday night Pub-Night (an evening of unlimited alcohol consumption hosted by each neighbour in turn);
We got to bed before dawn but only just.


I made it out of bed in time for lunch on Saturday and after a brief -very chilly - walk around the block, we went to see Braeden's ice hockey game – our attendance obviously inspired the whole team as they won 3-1 against a team several places above them in the league.
Then it was time for an early dinner before heading for the airport and our midnight flight to Santiago.

Leaving Moyhill

Earlier start than intended - my phone rang at 0410 (must have been a wrong number) I assumed it was my 0520 alarm and was up and straight in the shower. After about 5 mins Linda pointed out my mistake – in her usual endearing fashion – and told me to keep quiet for another hour.
It was wet and misty as we left Moyhill and pretty much the same when we arrived in at Jim & Suzanne's in Toronto 17 hours later – easy, uneventful journey -US pre-clearance in Shannon was a real treat – even got a laugh with the US Immigraton officer – the flight wasn't crowded and the connection via Newark worked well.

That Joni Mitchell moment

Our bag is are packed and we're ready to go.

Taxi's coming at 6.15 in the morning to take us to Shannon as we start our trip to Chile - with a short detour via Toronto to visit the CC & Coke drinking BMW driving Banker cousin.

For all those people who have commented or complained about the lack of my blog posts for the last 6 months I have resolved to do better this year.

watch this space!

Learning curves

I am sure that Brian Phillips on the Isle of Seil - who is a real sheep farmer - would have had a laugh or two at my expense this week and that Peter who sold me the sheep is still laughing behind my back.
Examining the two ewes in the light of day after they had been sheared, it was clear that they must have been on very thin rations for a few weeks. In addition, the grass on our paddock was a bit too lush for them and particularly for one of the lambs. Ended up at the vet's on Monday evening with a very bloated lamb which needed to be treated with 5 ml of washing up liquid followed by some antibiotic, feed supplement and bottled milk.
After an anxious night - under a heat lamp in my workshed - he was well enough to join the others who had been moved into another shed - via Linda's flower beds.
Linda was right into the bottle feeding but when it came time to encourage him back onto his mother's teat, she felt a little too close to the action.
On the same night, when we were concentrating on moving the sheep, Molly the donkey took advantage and went for a wander - she almost made it into the vegetable patch before we caught up with her.
Then, just to make it interesting, the contractors showed up to cut, bale and wrap the grass on the paddock for silage. By the time they finished it was after midnight and we had 4 bales of silage which I have traded with Keith for some hay later in the year.
This evening we had to vaccinate all the sheep - my 5 and Keith's 16. Mine were easy - confined in a limited space - while catching each of his 7 sheep and 9 lambs in his large shed was like playing a game of 7's. Not only was I bruised and sore by the end of it, I also had that distinctive odour of sheep.
After we had finished and let them out into the field he realised that we had missed the youngest lamb and we spent an amusing 10 minutes cornering and catching it - flat out rugby tackle to catch a hind leg in a field recently grazed by cattle was effective but resulted in an odour of a different type.
We are off to Waterford tomorrow to see the Tall Ships and we are both really looking forward to a day off!

Just for Jim

Realise that it has been a very long time since my last post - 11 weeks for those who were counting - and that there has been lots going on here at Moyhill that I could have written about.

My only excuse is that life here has been busy with animal and poultry husbandry and with preparing and planting our new veg beds - Linda currently has 20 different vegetables planted out. We still have the hockey girls and Rocky, 5 ducks and three meat hens which will be ready for the chop next week and we have already butchered two meat hens and 9 bantam cockerels - so there is still plenty in the freezer.

Jim commented today that he was missing the blog not knowing that it was a special day here at Moyhill because we have just collected our first sheep - two ewes already christened Maureen and Isobel (Mo & Izzy for short) - with three lambs. Should have lamb ready for the freezer by late October!

Will try to report on a more regular basis - and perhaps even catch up on some of the things that have happened over the last month or two.

Can now add 'sheep farmer' to my CV!!!

Say hello to Rocky