What has happened to summer? If we could see the wind,I think that we would see the wind is pushing the sun away!! Maybe next week will be calm.
A few evenings ago, Angus put the hens in their house but never noticed that one was still out. A short while after that I heard something make a noise at the door; it seemed like a light hammer hitting the door. I opened the door and could hardly believe what I saw! There was one of the brown hens pecking away as if trying to tell me that she was left out.
They say that hens are stupid, don’t you believe that! I phoned Alexander and he put her in with the others. When Rocky was alive he would bring them into the kitchen but none have come in since he died. He used to put them in every night and none would be left out.
As well as his company I miss his help too. He really was special! One of the white hens started brooding but I don’t have a cockerel. I decided it would be nice to have chickens once more so I got fertile eggs from Fergus John. John Angus MacPhee, known to most as Wee Man, made me a new posh chicken house as the old one was done. She has two compartments, the small one for her and the eggs, and in the morning I open the small door and she goes out to the big compartment to eat some grass. She has 5 star accommodation which is all vermin proof.
Fergus John also gave me two extra hens and they are in Sarah’s old stable. They have laid two eggs every day since they came. When the weather gets calm (when?) I’ll let them out and they’ll mix with the old ones. One is a Wellsummer and the other a Rhode Island Red. My cat, Cissy, is in my bad books these days! She hunts the poor wee birds like sparrows. Although I give her more than she can eat it makes no difference. She’s usually out every night but I kept her in for three nights to try and protect the birds, however she wanted out at 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. but that was worse for everybody, me, the birds, and Cissy when she got a telling off. She brings the poor birds into the house and I have managed to save three of them. She brought one in two nights ago and it escaped out of her mouth and went behind a piece of furniture.
I phoned Angus and he moved the furniture and then the bird went under the bench. He managed to catch it in the corner and took it outside away from the houses. She caught one early morning a few days ago; she was that proud bringing it to me but I smacked her on her back and in her shock she opened her mouth and it flew away. The cows and calves are off Vallay now and are on their summer pastures. It’s a very big job organising this movement. Fraser and Carianne have got to make sure that they don’t put cows with a bull that they are related to. The young ones go to Vallay the day before and move the animals to the west side near the big walled garden where the pens are. Of course the tide plays a big part in this operation. They picked the 15th June, which was the full moon when the tide is out at midday so that on that day the cattle could be moved off from 11am to 5pm. To give them plenty of time to sort out the cattle, they went over at 7 a.m. in a dinghy. Once the tide was right, some were walked across the strand and the furthest away groups were taken across in cattle trailers. They had a foul day with wind and rain, but there was no point in waiting for decent weather as the cattle were needing the hill grazing and water and they will be there until around September time. A few weeks ago Carianne and Fraser were over in Vallay and came across one of the cows with a prolapse. They phoned the vet for advice as there wasn’t much time with the tide. Carianne is over there every day and takes a thermos of warm water along with many other useful objects that she might need.
The cow had calved about a week before and it was strange for her to prolapse. The last piece of her after birth was still attached so maybe she had been pressing to get rid of it and had pushed out her womb. Anyway they got her in a pen and Fraser restrained her. Carianne washed it with the warm water and with her small but strong hands managed to put the womb back inside the cow. She also took away the short bit of after birth and she gave her long lasting Alamycin, a very effective antibiotic. Fortunately the cow healed up well and is in the best of health to carry on rearing her calf. What a team the pair of them are! I remember that in 1970 I had to do a similar thing.
I was coming home for lunch (when I worked in Bayhead shop) and noticed the late Donald Archie’s cows grouped in a tight bunch. I climbed the fence and I can remember that one of my shoes got stuck in the mud and I just left it there as my instinct told me something was wrong. I was horrified when I reached the cows as one had calved and prolapsed and I knew that if I left her she would not have a chance. I shouted to Donald Archie and Seonaidh Dhoddie as they were heading into the house but they didn’t hear me and there weren’t any mobiles then. I had read about prolapses but had never seen one before and knew that the other cows could maybe damage it. The cows were used to being tied in the byre at night and being handled so seeing that the womb was clean, I was able to put it back in. I was really nervous when I think back. Donald Archie phoned the vet and said that I had done the right thing and gave him some tablets to give the cow. What a story to tell when I went back to the shop! There is so much sadness in the world.
There is nothing we can do but pray that God will answer our prayers soon. I think of all near home who have had sad bereavements. God bless you all. The readings that I have chosen are Matthew 25 and Psalm 138.
