Another pair of twin calves!!

Snuggled up to mum and less than 24 hours old.

About a year ago I wrote on my blog that twin calves were unusual!  Those of you who regualarly follow my blog will recall that we had a second set of twin calves born outside at Firs last summer so imagine our surprise when yesterday another cow produced twins and here they are.  All are doing well!

  

Icicles and Snowscapes

Hundreds of tiny ice crystals, in a peaty hollow, sparkle in the sun

Icicles, like giant's teeth!

 

Beck meetings

Great Sleddale leading onto Great Shunner Fell

Walling at Firs

 

The snow has melted sufficiently for Chris to get on with repairing a length of dry stone wall.  The hundreds of miles of dry stone walling is a major feature of the upper dales.  They provide invaluable shelter for our sheep, particularly in lambing time as well as being strong, stock-proof boundaries.  These walls have stood for hundreds of years and eventually require repair or re-building.  Dry stone walling is a skill, usually passed down from father to son and both Chris and his brother are experienced wallers.   

 

A dry stone wall has a central cavity which is packed with rubble and small stone.
Stones are selected and discarded until the right one is found that fits and sits correctly.  Large 'through stones' are laid the full width of the wall, tying the front to the back, for strength.  The number of rows of 'throughs' depends on the height of the wall.  The best walls have three 'throughs' and are finished off with a row of sloping top stones.

A

 

Technology Traumas & Tantrums

Just when I was happy, confident (or as confident as I will ever be in front of a keyboard) and comfortable with my computer it died.  I now have a new one and it is fabulous but it sure knows how to give me a headache!  This morning I was ready to chuck it and revert back to pen & paper, scissors and glue.  I have finally worked out how to transfer photos from my camera, hence the new posts on this blog but still haven't been able to load my printer.   Its so frustrating.

Consequently like waiting for a bus, I am adding three new posts at once!  Hopefully there should be lots more news from Pry House Farm in the near future.  This week all the in-lamb sheep will be scanned and then it a few weeks it will be lambing time.  Stay tuned!

Carrie goes Walling

Carrie is looking more and more like a young dog every day. 
She loves to be outdoors exploring and racing around with our other dogs.

 

 

Today Chris took all the dogs with him when he went walling.  It is the perfect opportunity for them to run and play and interact and not to have to work! 

Snow and Snowdrops

We still have plenty snow but finally we have sunshine and blue skies to go with it.  All this talk on Twitter and in the papers of the sighting of the first snowdrops tipping their tiny heads sent me searching for mine however, here at the the head of the dale, we only have SNOW but no DROPS!

 

This poor, struggling, little specimen is all I could find!  We will have to have patience and wait a little longer.