Big, Part 1

Where do I start? SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM! Well my last post was Thursday, what happened on Friday? Can't remember. Oh that's right, Monkey had a baby Monkey. That's code for one of our sheep, called Monkey, had her first lamb. She popped it out without any problems, but somehow, the lamb sustained a nasty gash on her tail and an injured eye. Either she had a tumble on the barbed wire fence or a rook took a fancy to meals on legs. She's ok now though. Saturday and Sunday were taken up with catching sheep to worm them and trim their feet. Puppy sheep dog did good. Considering he hasn't had any practice working the sheep for months, he was calm and patient, stood his ground and we got them in all in one go. But you don't want to know that. The weather was roasting too, but you probably don't want to know that either, especially if you went to the Pre65 trial over on the west coast, at Kinlochleven where it was a little...er...damp. Had a report from one of my spies that the Scottish MZ rally at Gairloch was "worse than last time". Well, last time I was there, several tents blew away in the night and several bikes blew over. I had a jolly exciting trip home in gale force winds and sideways rain. Poor old Poppy was poorly on Sunday - another ewe due to lamb, and we thought she was a gonna, called the vet and he diagnosed milk fever. Not something we've had to deal with pre-lambing before, but if we'd thought of it, it would have saved us a call out fee on a bank holiday weekend....oh well....he gave her a huge shot of calcium in the jugular and she was up within minutes (you would be too if someone stuck a needle in yer neck), although she seemed a little dazed for a while. So, Monday arrives and again, I'm supposed to be writing the blog post that I promised for last week, but I somehow find myself pottering around outside feeling like death after over doing it in the hot sun on the previous two days. Still plenty of jobs to do before I go away tomorrow - off to the Isle of Skye for about 10 days for work. Which means Mrs BC will have to cope with the lambing. Ahem. So we sorted out a few jobs that should make life a bit easier for her while I'm away. We popped into town too, and stumbled upon the May Day celebrations. Would have taken a photo of the Harley guys but as we only popped in for some more wormer, I neglected to take the camera with me. Very impressed they were only charging £4.50 for a ride to the local hospital. It didn't say if it was a 'return' or not... Tuesday arrives with the rain, Monkey and PD are settling down well with their lambs, and early evening sees the arrival of another pair of twins, courtesy of Polly (Poppy's sister) who was looking decidedly odd for a while. Finally got the car AND the VAN back on the road and here at home, the car sounding as good as new and the van's brand new alternator, complete with a year's warranty, charging very nicely - huge almighty BIG thanks to Roy and Sandy and the rest of the guys at Cameron Autotech in Cuminestown for squeezing me in and being so patient over the alternator saga..... And they sponsor the Haggis Run too....that's in October in case you want to join us. And don't forget the Plus1 in August - time to contact me for an entry form and book your camping or B&B. You'll never guess what - Shorty couldn't guess so there's no chance you will.....Bette Barber - she's the Immediate Past President of the Vintage Motorcycle Club and a very nice lady to boot, is going to donate the Bette Barber Award for the Plus1 - you could win it...but you gotta be in it to stand a chance...so come on!!!

What I thought I'd do....save you having to read too much in one go and without pictures to look at....is write a BIG post, catching up on stuff...and get Mrs BC to publish it in 3 parts while I'm way. So make sure you pop back, probably around the weekend-ish, to see part two....and then part three I guess will appear in the middle of the following week....

PS, good job I'm still here...look what's happened....