Jim Webster's Blog, page 31

Avoiding entanglements

Obviously it’s tough being a best selling author. After all there are only so many free lunches a chap can attend. Then with the endless free drinks, the groupies, and of course the expense account…. Sorry I was looking at the wrong list, that’s what you get for being an MP. Easy mistake to make …

The advantages and disadvantages of ladies high-heeled cowboy boots.

Now I’ve never worn cowboy boots, with or without high heels, so I approach the whole subject with a completely open mind. Still it strikes me, that as a public service; I ought to warn people of the risks that one can run wearing these boots. I speak of course not from personal experience but …

And with one bound she was free! (or ‘Have you got a dog who can raise the dead?’)

Another day older and deeper in debt, but at least it’s not raining. Indeed it’s a good frost. The ground is hard, but the taps around the yard are still running. I can cope with this. So the dog and I go to feed sheep. There’s some grass that needs cleaning off from a couple …

And so it begins!

When we were scanning between Christmas and New Year, one ewe was ostentatiously more heavily in lamb than the others. So she was brought in and pampered a bit. Because the weather has been so wet and disgusting, one of the hoggs that was running with the ewes was starting to look sad and bedraggled …

Happy New Year

New Year’s Eve was pretty much like what you’d expect. I got two phone calls, both to discuss sheep, and we agreed that we’d get some wintering hoggs wormed New Year’s Day morning. The problem is that the weather so far this winter has been so wet; it’s been perfect for the snails that carry …

Betwixt and Between

I’ve seen a lot of comments this winter about the period between Christmas and New Year. In one newspaper a journalist was moaning about how he loses track of even what day it is and eventually the stultifying boredom of it all gets to him. I must confess that it’s never been a problem for …

Sleeping in a manger?

I’m not talking about one of those twee things you see in nativity plays. I’m talking about a real manger. Years ago I was on a walking holiday in Iceland and we were well and truly in the wilds. We’d got permission to sleep in the shielings, these are the huts or bothies used by …

Wet!

The weather is wet! We’ve not seen the sun for three days and everything is just utterly grey and sodden. It’s the sort of weather where cattle get pneumonia and sheep just look depressed. They see you coming and shake themselves in a pointed manner, with great clouds of water coming off their fleece. The …

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof

  A couple of days ago I mentioned to somebody our temperature here had dropped to -7. His comment, “You should be able to get some work done with a bit of frost.” Admittedly it was more pleasant checking sheep when you had the opportunity to walk across the surface of a field rather than …

It’s colder now than it was when it was cold!

The temperature is rising. When I looked sheep this morning it was at least -5 centigrade and now it’s probably about plus four centigrade. Yet frankly it feels far colder. I blame the fact that whereas before everything was dry, with the thaw stuff has got wet and suddenly your hands are wet and cold. …