Thursday 10 September 2015

Two types of Damage!

Hello from Sunny Cornwall
David is fishing and I now have Broadband connection, so I am able to do a quick blog.
Welcome 2Torts on the follower bar, lovely to see you here.

Our granddaughter, with support from her mother, is looking after the house, greenhouses and animals. She and her mum phoned me the other night to tell me that Biscuit (ram lamb) had been fighting with Biffa (his brother) and had lost his horns... He was bleeding profusely. We discussed what she needed to do.
Here he is poor thing

And here are the horns that they found side by side in the middle of the field!

They have cleaned him up with wound spray and then used wound powder to dry the wounds up. Phil next door has also lent them a purple spray as an ongoing treatment and fly deterrent. They then cut some willow twigs for him to eat, which they feed him daily (The bark contains a form of aspirin).
I hear today that he is doing well with no sign of further bleeding, but that he is proving difficult to catch to spray again as he is a bit spooked with the whole affair. I have suggested bribery with something really tasty.

Not to be outdone on the disaster and damage front, I have pranged the car! I was reversing in one of these fine, winding Cornish roads and didn't see the large rock that was in the grass on a verge.
Here is the damage!

As you can see each panel leading to the damage is affected in some way and we cannot open the boot. We can access the boot from the back seats, which fold down (God Bless Berlingos!)
Fortunately it is okay to drive as the lights have not been affected. So we will wait until we get home to get it fixed as it will probably take a few days bodyworking to fix it.

The girls tell me that they are processing windfall cookers and ripe tomatoes by the bucketful. - tomato puree and sliced apples in the freezer -Aren't they good?
When we get back on Saturday afternoon we will be off again to my nephew's 50th birthday party (where did the time go?!) But Sunday we will settle down to pick THE DAMSONS.. We have seven large damson trees which are full of fruit. We will make jam and wine and sell many pounds (we hope) the proceeds of which help to feed the animals in the winter and buy sugar for all the processing that is taking place.
All for now.
Gillx

23 comments:

  1. Do horns grow back? He looks pretty rough. Cars don't take much to cause a lot of damage. That must be inconveniet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes they do. At the risk of offending some people, they won't get too much chance to grow back as he will be going for meat in October. The farmer who bred him tells my daughter that this has happened to a couple of his rams too this year and like Biscuit with a clean wound that has healed well. They were with biscuit within minutes of it happening (the other ram was covered in fresh blood too) and Biscuit had stopped bleeding and was sat down cudding within half an hour.
      I dread to think how much the car will cost to have mended. Obviously we are insured though.

      Delete
  2. Oh poor biscuit, that's awful. Yes our Cornish lanes are not forgiving, cars always come off worst. Hope the rest of the holiday goes well :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good job I don't believe in the "Everything comes in threes" rubbish !
      He's doing well now eating heartily and cudding well ( a VERY good sign)
      I feel very cross with myself for making such a mistake with the car.

      Delete
  3. Ouch (hornless lamb) - and ouch (car)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup. Poor thing, but he's recovering well I'm told. I would like to be there but know that my daughter and granddaughter are quite capable of looking after him.
      Re the car.. everyone keeps saying "It's only a piece of metal, at least you are alright" which I know is true, but I didn't think so at the time.

      Delete
  4. When we had sheep our ram had a fight with the electric hook-up connection on the campsite. The hook-up came off worst. Animals with not a lot of sense . Good job he's for the chop ( excuse the pun), Sorry about the car, those Cornish hedges are harder than they look.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One of our ram lambs lost a horn last year too. They are starting to get a bit rutty and it makes them quite difficult and stroppy.
      Trouble with Cornish hedges are that they are often planted onto or on top of walls!

      Delete
  5. To open boot, take one large hammer.....

    Poor old Biscuit; I remember seeing a cow one that had lost a horn..... it was a very red sight.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, we had already clouted it down as much as we could before I took that shot!
      Yes it is pretty bloody, but they seem to come round very quickly. Looking at the horns parts had already become detached.

      Delete
  6. For a moment I thought there had been a dog involved, why do males of every species have to fight, Lambert is for the chop this Autumn as well he dosent have any horns, I did the same with my car a few weeks back it was a post hidden by long grass, I reversed up to let a tractor past, hubby has had it fixed now I was surprised how much damaged was done as it was just a slow reverse hope it dosent hurt the pocket too much :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not dogs this time though that did happen to us about four years ago and very distressing it was too. No-one ever admitted to their dog worrying our sheep. We had to have the vet out that time as apart from the bite wounds etc one sheep had its leg broken.
      I was making room for a tractor too!

      Delete
  7. Oh, poor Biscuit, that looks really nasty. I hope it doesn't hurt him too much. Those Cornish lanes are so narrow and grassy at the side so there could be all manner of things hiding by the side of the road. Hope it isn't going to cost too much to get it repaired, it's the inconvenience of being without a car though whilst it's in the garage too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He seems well chilled now, eating and cudding away (which is a good sign) It has certainly calmed him down a bit tho', which he needed as he was getting very stroppy and "male" and was forever butting our youngest granddaughter, who became quite scared to go into the field with him

      Delete
  8. Sorry about the car Gill - it is always inconvenient. You are not exactly going home to a quiet life with all those damsons. I always find them an irrtitating fruit with all those stones, although I so like damson jam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are waiting until we get home to sort the car out when we can organise our lives around the inconvenience!
      I know what you mean about damson jam. I stand there scooping them out when they rise to the top after I have put the sugar in. Last year I cooked them with some chopped up windfalls and pushed the lot through a sieve before adding the sugar- I called it "smooth damson jam" - went down well

      Delete
  9. Poor you and poor biscuit. We have our neighbours damsons as they don't use them but there are hardly any on the tree at all. The pears however are full to bursting. Again we get free dabs as they don't use them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish you were nearer as we have no pears at all but plenty of damson - we could do a swap!

      Delete
  10. Poor Biscuit, still that's sheep for you! Wish we had a glut of damsons, two trees and not one fruit, I think I need to threaten them with the chop.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have a couple of trees that have no damsons, but the rest are great. I really can't see why the didderence

      Delete
  11. Bless little Biscuit xx these things always happen whilst you're away don't they? It sounds like your babysitter has the situation under control though x

    ReplyDelete
  12. You are right there is always some drama or another, but them it's like that when we are here too! As my daughter and granddaughter were bought up here I know that they can cope. I am so lucky that way. many people with smallholdings struggle to get away.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Do you need Personal Loan?
    Business Cash Loan?
    Unsecured Loan
    Fast and Simple Loan?
    Quick Application Process?
    Approvals within 24-72 Hours?
    No Hidden Fees Loan?
    Funding in less than 1 Week?
    Get unsecured working capital?
    Contact Us At :majidvijahlending@gmail.com

    LOAN SERVICES AVAILABLE INCLUDE:
    ================================
    *Commercial Loans.
    *Personal Loans.
    *Business Loans.
    *Investments Loans.
    *Development Loans.
    *Acquisition Loans .
    *Construction loans.
    *Business Loans And many More:

    LOAN APPLICATION FORM:
    =================
    Full Name:................
    Loan Amount Needed:.
    Purpose of loan:.......
    Loan Duration:..
    Gender:.............
    Marital status:....
    Location:..........
    Home Address:..
    City:............
    Country:......
    Phone:..........
    Mobile / Cell:....
    Occupation:......
    Monthly Income:....

    Contact Us At :majidvijahlending@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete