Stuff

Thursday 26 January 2012

On Saturday our eldest daughter Alex had a birthday and was originally scheduled to be working, but during the previous week she covered for the manager and various assistants in the Bristol branch of Cath Kidston so was given the entire weekend off.  In collaboration with Steph we arranged a birthday surprise for her.  Steph contacted her and asked if she’d like to ‘do’ lunch on Sunday.  Even though one of Alex’s friends was visiting that weekend she replied saying it wouldn’t be a proper birthday without some family present so would like that.  We arranged for Dan to work on Sunday afternoon and after milking we picked up Terri and Steve and drove to Steph’s house in Cheltenham.  From there we walked to the Brewery (a good place to eat) allowing Steph to go ahead and meet as arranged.  We sauntered to the door by which time Alex had spotted us then there were shrieks, hugs and tears as she realised we were all there to wish her happy birthday.  It was a great surprise and we had a lovely day.

Mrs Ellis, my friend of many years, has pneumonia.  I visited her today, but I don’t think she knew we were there.  The carers were wonderful, bringing us tea and biscuits, but we were warned that she may not be able to overcome this.  Mr Ellis struggled with the visit and we left after little more than thirty minutes.  I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it must be to lose the person you’ve been with for over fifty years, even though I know he feels he lost her some months ago.  He asked her several weeks ago if she knew who he was and she said she didn’t.  I wonder whether she’s curious as to why this strange man keeps visiting her or whether she’s just accepted the fact that she knows no-one?

Since I last wrote a post (bad me – been busy sorting) we’ve had more calves, bringing the total to thirteen: eight females and five males.  We now have a Jenny, a Marion and an Iris who was born yesterday morning.  Unfortunately last week we lost Heather who sadly had to be put down.  Luckily she had a daughter last summer so the name will stay in the herd.  This year we’ve had quite a few who’ve needed bottle-feeding as either they’ve refused to suck from their mothers or their mothers have refused to feed them.  This is quite unusual since in the wild the need to feed is a basic instinct so we’re not sure what’s going on.  It makes the job of taking them from their mothers a little easier though as after a few days the novelty’s worn off and the cow has lost interest!

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