Sunday 29 December 2013

More Adventures Of Domino The Smallholding Cat And A Poem About The Wind.


Here's our Domino busy tree climbing this morning.  Who needs a gymnasium if you are a cat?  That's a willow tree he's climbing in.  They call it the 'Salix' here in Ireland.  Which happens to be it's real Latin name.  They also call the airing cupboard the 'hot press'.  And (never start a sentence with and) they often say they are going for the 'messages' if they are going shopping.  It's strange and incredibly interesting the regional differences and words we have in the British Isles.

The two storms of the last week have been very frightening.  I have never known noise like the thunder and lightning storm we had the other Wednesday.  It sounded like World War Three.

I talked to a middle aged farmer the other day.  Says he had never seen or heard storms quite like them in his life.  The storms look like they are to be a regular visitor.  I often wish we had built a cellar when we built our little cottage in the countryside next to the sea. Somewhere to go in a storm. We live ten minutes walk from the bay.  Luckily we have cliffs above the sea.  Also it means that the land can drain via the streams into the sea.

I  remembered a poem from years a go the other night.  It's called 'Wind' by Ted Hughes.  He talks about the house being far out at sea all night.  Thanks to You Tube and the people who put these poems on it for our viewing.

9 comments:

  1. Another storm is heading our way tonight...the third in so many weeks
    I am getting a little tired of it all

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  2. Rural living is not for the faint hearted during the winter. I hate the gale too! Thanks!

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  3. Looks like Domino's enjoying the weather. Raggy cat used to sit in trees a lot, noticed a cock pheasant one evening sitting on a branch about 15' up, the next evening Raggy cat's sitting in exactly the same place.

    Another storm here this morning, wind's gone round to South East, unusual, but every bit a s strong. River's well up, just about 2' off breaking out, looking very brown and threatening. And (never start a sentence with and) I'm agreeing with the farmer, never heard gales sounding the same, weird.
    John's right as well, I think everybody's getting weary of it all, can't remember the last time the gales went on for so long.

    I feel sorry for the sailors, just hoping the fishing fleet's tied up on safe moorings.

    Good weather to be indoors with lentil soup and lamb hot-pot.

    Raggy cat came in earlier, very wet and bedraggled, asked for biccies and milk, then asleep on my chair. Moved now, the fire's on.

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  4. A cheeky Robin keeps sitting on the shrubs in our back garden. He's probably not the only one. Rather like when somebody sees a rat again and thinks its the one they saw the other day. Domino keeps attempting to catch the Robin but so far he's not managed. He caught a mouse the other day and decided to play with it for a while. We distracted Domino for a split second and the mouse lived to survive another day. I hate it when they play with live mice instead of just killing them.

    Incredibly mild here. Bracken the Shetland is still out in the fields. He's got a shelter and he's grown a very long coat. He's also doing a very good job keeping the grass clipped and removing the old straggly pasture.

    Supposed to be storms for the next month. I can understand why so many people emigrate to warmer climates.

    Thankfully the fishermen have sonar and computer technology to warn of storms.

    A good hotpot, soup or stew is just what you need this weather. A nice glass of Brandy also helps wash it down. I usually have a can of Newcastle Brown.

    Terrier a sleep next to range.

    Thanks!

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  5. Haven't seen "our" robin for a few weeks, hope Raggy cat hasn't caught it, it was a cheerful little soul, quite tame as well. There's a few on the cycle track not far away, they're fairly tame as well, must be used with people walking dogs all day, it's a very popular walk.
    Know what you mean about the cats toying with their catch before the eat it, psychopaths, but it's nature I suppose, they all do it.

    I think Bracken will be quite happy in your field with a shelter, it's probably better than the Shetlands where they developed to withstand the harsher climate.

    Saw the New Year in, a few fireworks went off in the distance, but nothing else special, watched The Godfather, then The Godfather 2, it finished at 0400, must have been a good film to keep me up so late. A glass or two of the excellent bottle of port No 2 son gave me at Christmas and a bag of popcorn.

    Weather abated a bit today, still blowy and raining but not as bad, wind gone round to East, so very cold.

    Raggy cat put out then came in with the new year, put out again at 0400, still waiting at 0630 to get back in. Hedonistic little sod.

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  6. Happy New Year, Cumbrian. You are right about cats being psychopaths. Did you see the Lynx cats on Countryfile?

    Watched Christmas Tudor Farm the other night. Loved the two Oxen pulling the hay cart. My father used to tell me how he use to look after five year old bullocks when he was a youngster. They must have been built like Rugby League prop forwards.

    Cattle prices are very bad at the moment. Back 150 Euro per head. Might be a good idea to buy a few cheaper ones while they are not doing so well. Farming is always swings and roundabouts.

    A good film and port and popcorn sounds just the ticket during the wet and windy winter. Gales supposed to return tonight.

    Terrier and cat sharing their breakfast this morning. Both heads next to each other.

    Thanks!

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  7. Yes, I watched the Tudor Monastery Farm Christmas edition, must have been bloody hard work in those days, but then there was plenty of bodies "many hands making light work"

    Must have missed the lynx though, watched the Christmas special, Countryfile is something I make time to watch every week, so maybe it was on a different programme.

    There's no accounting for auction prices, bull calves to £300 a head at last sale, 18 Dec (British Blue), butchers paying just over £2 per kg for beef animals. So 150 Euro sounds cheap, might be a good idea to invest in a couple if you've got enough big bales left?

    Another stormy morning here as predicted, biggest tide of the month high water about 1:00 pm, it looked savage at 10:00 am and only half tide, but the river seems down a bit. Wheelie bins blowing over, hope they empty them today.

    Raggy cat developing a liking for the indoor life, its excursions seem to be getting shorter.

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  8. The comraderie must have been brilliant also, Cumbrian. Think the word 'Holiday comes from 'Holy Day'. There was always time for celebrating saints days. They have medieval banquets at Bunratty castle in Clare for the tourists. Don't think there will be any ploughing going on at the moment.

    Electric went off again last night. Rather surreal feeling sat there drinking a can of Newcastle Brown ale in candle light. Makes you realize how much we are dependent on electricity.

    Big cattle are back 150 Euros. I reckon it's a combination of the factories tightening prices and the livestock ferries not running.

    Lots of road surfaces wrecked here with the weather. Hope you are OK?

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  9. ๐‡๐š๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฉ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ/ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฅ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ซ๐ข๐ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐†๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ฉ๐ž๐ฌ / ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ซ๐š๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐›๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ƒ๐ซ. Kham. ๐ˆ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง (๐‡๐„๐‘๐๐„๐’) ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐จ๐ฉ๐ž ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐œ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฃ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐›๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐๐ฌ. ๐ข ๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง-๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ง๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‡๐„๐‘๐๐„๐’ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข ๐ ๐จ๐ญ ๐š ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐ƒ๐ซ. Kham ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐‡๐’๐•-๐Ÿ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ข ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐›๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ƒ๐ซ. Kham ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ข ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฅ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ . ๐ข ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ง๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ฅ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐›๐ฌ ๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ฒ ๐†๐จ๐ ๐€๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฒ! ๐š๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ ๐๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ, ๐ก๐ž ๐ญ๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฌ ๐›๐ž๐ž๐ง ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฏ๐ข๐š (UPS ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž)๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ ๐จ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐š๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ‘ ๐๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ! ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž๐๐ข๐œ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐š๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž (๐Œ๐Ž๐‘๐๐ˆ๐๐† ๐š๐ง๐ ๐„๐•๐„๐๐ˆ๐๐†) ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž๐! ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐š ๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฆ ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข ๐š๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ! ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ข ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐š๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐‡๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐›๐ž ๐ฌ๐š๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž! ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ฅ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐จ๐ง dr.khamcaregiver@๐ ๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ฅ.๐œ๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ๐ฌ-๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ +๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿ’8159922297 ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก him on his website: drkhamherbalhealingcenter.wordpress.com/   



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Onion Set Planting.

I still managed to plant up two of the new planters/raised beds with onion sets in the rain yesterday. Notice the white root sock in the com...