Mrs Down's Diary

Having said that John has just finished clipping the tups as their wool was starting to shed and their backends look very mucky.

Not wanting to leave them for the flies to attack and provoke a maggot panic, he decided the best thing to do was clip them completely. The rest of the flock are being quality assured for a short trim round the backend, just the worse claggy cases, with full haircuts booked for when we return.

Yesterday John cut four acres of grass for some bagged silage. We normally have contractors in to make the silage but there is not time to prepare the big clamp or cut the large acreage of grass we need for winter feed for the herd. Winter feed.

It is not summer yet but we are already having to make plans for what the herd will be chomping their way through come November. The four acres is one of the furthest fields on the farm and difficult to access with the big machinery owned by the contractors, whereas John, and his friend who will bag it up for him, can easily bounce their way along the rutted track.

This particular field is alongside a small wood. It belongs to the hunt and is approachable down a green lane which only John, a neighbour, and the hunt can access.

There has always been a gentleman's agreement that John can shoot the wood if the hunt can ride over land immediately adjacent to the wood. Since the hunt ban of course things have changed and we rarely see any riders.

But there are plenty of foxes and John showed me the flattened areas of grass just out from the wood where the cubs come out to play. They will be rather surprised tonight to find their playground has been shorn. So will the badgers, of which there are several.

The holiday of choice this time is the Western isles. We would like to go abroad but dare not go too far because of my mother-in-law. Since she came to live with us we have been away a few times and always arranged for someone to house sit and care for her. This is no longer possible.

Plus no-one wants, or volunteers, to do it. It is a sad fact but she has become increasingly socially isolated and never has any visitors apart from our friends and family who always make a point of going in.

We tried to interest her in a day centre but she became very distressed after a couple of times so we dropped it. And nobody wants, nor do we expect it, to take on the responsibility we have of responding to all the night and day time disturbances and her personal care and meals.

So, to get a break, we have organised respite residential care for the period we are away and, someone to sleep in the house at night to alert John's brother if there is a problem with the stock in the yard. If it all goes to pot, at least we can be contacted and come home. We organised a trial overnight stay at the home and it went well, so we are hopeful that she will enjoy her holiday as much as we are looking forward to ours.