Our friend had got a catcher for the sheep, so when we arrived at 9.15 a.m. to help out it was quite a nice surprise, after driving three-quarters of an hour, to find we were not needed! All that Laura and Thomas said was"at least it got us up!"
I ended up tractor driving for the day, which made Sunday a better day, Laura and Thomas caught up with their sleep in the afternoon.
It's now official - we have sold the farm and are downsizing. I don't say retiring as the number of sheep we are taken keeps rising. From "how many sheep do you want?" it has now gone up to 120. But no heifers. And we still have to find somewhere to go. Am I stressed? No. Something will appear. The purchaser of our farm wants us to stay for a year to help him out, but we cannot put our life on hold if something comes up.
Had some lovely e-mails this week. One from my bridemaid of 22 years ago - she was 5 then, and her mum wanted to find me. One also from a relative-by marriage in New Zeland - could be a holiday on the cards (if he is interested in cricket!). One of the temptations of retirement was the promise of a winter cricket tour while we are still you enough to enjoy it - the Caribean calls!
Anyway, we are now farm hunting and it's quite exciting. We're staying in France, and in the same area (Vienne/Haute Vienne), and have tickets to see Tina Turner in Paris next March. Anyone fancy farm-sitting?
5 comments:
Congratulations on your sale - it sounds like the retirement bit is slipping away though with the increasing number of sheep!
Good luck with the house search too.
I've not seen the Alan Titchmarsh book, do let us know if it's good. When out there weeding in the sun I do think it would be easier to buy but when I sit down to a bowl of freshly picked alpine strawberries etc, I know exactly why I do the work.
Terrific that you've sold the farm, but why aren't you now travelling at leisure round France and the universe, relaxed and stress-free? It won't be so easy if you still have nine million sheep!
Anyway, it seems you have a lot of exciting things waiting for when you DO have a spare day or two...
Good luck with farm-hunting, and as for Tina Turner - just FABULOUS!
dND - Retirement beckons, but I still have to pay towards it - another 6 years away at least. Hence the sheep. Alan T book is very good, I'm now itching to "prepare my plot".
Dolores - Again, stressfree retirement beckons. We do daytrip quite often, work permitting, so hopefully we will have more time for it, and hope we can find a sheep-sitter for when we go to Paris for Tina.
Congratulations on selling the farm! It is exciting looking for a new place to live. I hope that you find somewhere, soon.
Sheep sitting? Now, what sort of a disaster would you like to return to? I am a townie, after all! Hope you find a competent person.
There are awards over at my place, if you have a few seconds to spare.
Dolores - have looked at your blogs but have trouble leaving a message. Is it just me or is everyone the same.
Everyone - I promise to get better at blogging.
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