Slight hiccup last week when I had to go to the emergency clinic and came away with medication for a stomach ulcer!
We decided to pick our olives earlier this year, whilst they were still green, so that our oil will be nice and peppery. The first two days went well, we picked 120kgs and 156kg (well on our way to our 500kg goal).
Day 3 started well; us, our 4 dogs and 2 cats in the big field enjoying the sunshine, until I looked for Looby .......... She'd snuck out under the fence (we'd noted that she was pacing a lot the evening before - a sign that she's starting one of her false heats), she'd got the urge to roam. So we had to drop tools and go search for her - a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack but you need to feel you're doing something. Of course we didn't find her! Fortunately she came back after a couple of hours (great relief), but it lost us the morning's picking and since then only the cats and Walter have been allowed in the fields with us (so she spoilt it for everyone!). By the end of day 4 we had picked 540kg, so now we are booked to take them into the lagar tomorrow.
Netty has been chewing her paws excessively this last week - she's on really expensive pills as she has been diagnosed with seasonal allergies, but they don't seem to be doing the job, so off to the vet we went. Now she's on double expensive pills and a foot cream that has to be applied twice daily - then we have to stop her from licking the cream off .........
While we were out we left the other 3 dogs out, to keep the poultry safe from predators - they are bloody useless, one of the muscovy hens had been taken. Netty is a brilliant livestock guardian, the only time we've lost anything since she's been here is when they haven't gone in overnight (or today, when she hasn't been on quinta). On a plus side our Guinea fowl chicks have started hatching out in the incubator.
