It is getting necessary to limit my livestock activities and gardening. The front garden has now been rationalised to the point where it is mostly lawn [if one can call it that when Silver has continued to wreak havoc in spite of my underlay of carpark netting!] and the only flower beds are around the edge. I'm trying to stock them with plants that can defeat weeds and don't need too much attention.
I had thought my are was recovering from the shoulder operation gradually but then it started getting worse instead of better. This was a bit alarning until the surgeon pointed out on the latest xray that I had broken my collar bone. So I am slightly mollified on the grounds that one could expect that to limit progress.

Meantime the animals are all well except my dear old Felix, who at the age of nearly 12 jumped the top wall and met his death. So now there are only two sheep.
The photo is Felix RIP in front, followed by Luki [left] and Badger [right].

I seem to have neglected this for best part of a year. It has been a complicated year. The recession has more or less put a stop to my language teaching so I have been selling books on Amazon. That has meant a lot of time checking, cleaning and listing books. Also Dog walking has taken more time, partly because my walking has deteriorated [had my 80th birthday in July] and partly because my dear Emma has not been able to walk dogs as she was heavily pregnant for sveral months. That has a happy ending -- the arrival several weeks ago of baby Noah.  The picture which hopefully will appear below this is Dyfi with emma's Rocky up on the mountain while Emma was still coming. Rocky is part bulldog and part Boxer and is very clever. This year he even noticed what Emma wanted when she was shepherding sheep out of a field preparatory to a game of ball and he took to doing it for her, and not a drop of sheepdog blood in him. Dyfi is wearing a muzzle in case they  encountered any sheep on the mountain; he is not to be trusted.

Emma is recovering from her caesarian and is hoping to get back to some dog walking soon. Rocky wants to see his friends.
Dyfi, meanwhile comes with me every morning to feed my three woolly pets. He stands outside the pigsty while I dish out shee- muesli. He is actually quite useful as without him Felix comes in and stanps on my heels with sharp-pointed hooves. The first day I fed them Badger had forgotten the routine and was inside the pig sty. Finding the way blocked by me and Dyfi he charged and I went on my back in the mud. By the time Badger had extricated himself from the dog lead he had also removed Dyfi's collar. I struggled to my feet yelling 'Paid!' [don't] and found Dyfi faithfully beside me and not giving chase. One virtual gold star for good behaviour.

Summer's End at Bodyfuddau

Wasn't much of a summer, was it? I quite enjoyed some of it as, at least when I could abandon the computer, I could do some gardening. I did have quite big areas in front of and behind the house. Behind was only accessible by either going right round the house and through several gates or through the archway where they used to keep the carts [and I used to keep my goat]. A small part of that is raised beds and slate paths but it has been taken over by a jungle of ras[pberries and tay berries, rhubarb and black currents so I leave it as it is and gather what i can. All the rest of the back is grass and is mown by pet sheep. I am in process of extending it to make a big playground for dogs, including training for Dyfi. The latter will happen more in the winter as I can then bribe the woollies into that area with food and make him behave in their vicinity. That's the plan anyway. I'm awaiting a nice big shed to keep dog agility equipment and grooming wherewithall.

The front I've kept as garden and, with an hour a week of help, I can more or less manage that and it has been quite pretty this year. The improvements included a rockery beside the front door and two weeks ago I was putting Dyfi's lead on before a walk when Silver ran full tilt into my feet, canoning me into the rockery face down so I have spent all that time eating only spahgetti, soup or bread with no crusts. Just got to managing marmelade with thin peel. Apart from such accidents I manage very well gardening now as, so long as I'm on the flat, I don't even notice the knee. My right arm is getting worse but I'm getting fairly adept at some things left handed.
Two photos give an idea of the front garden. One is my trellis after last winter's gales, showing also the state of the lawn after much circling by Silver, who runs in circles whenever excited [that's how come she collided with me]. The other is after resurrecting the clematis and putting green plastic mesh on the lawn for the grass to grow through. She still circles but only mows pathways, doesn't make excavations.

Sorry for the long gap. I have been hindered by many hospital visits of which I don't think you all need details. The final result is that I am now back home with a complete new knee and it is fast getting so much better that I'm beginning to forget how awful the old one was. Before the date for the new one arrived the old one bled into the joint and I had to be rescued by two very kind para-medics and spent the week in hospital on morphine with about a binbag full of ice round my leg. When they brought me back Welsh winter had kicked in and the ambulance just got up my lane and my front garden was an ice sheet I didn't dare walk on.
Fortunately Emma had been in residence ever since I went and she walked a 3 mile round trip in the snow every day to walk the collies and feed ducks and sheep.
Then at last I had the op. Managed to give 6 extra drakes to a good home the night before I left. To catch them one has to arrange for the recipient of ducks to come here at about dusk so that I can corrall them as they come in for their tea. Anyway I now have a more suitable little flock ready for spring but no one is laying. They haven't forgiven me for being kept in through two long periods of snow.
Emma moved back in while I was back in hospital and is still here most of the time, bless her, although I am now quite good walking about indoors and even outside a bit. Haven't risked walking dogs yet as Dyfi could chrge into me and dislodge crutches. The dogs are thoroughly enjoying Emma and her dog, Rocky. who is their bosom friend.
Picture of snow play. The one up above that isn't a collie is Rocky. He is bulldogxboxer and is exactly like a very small boxer with chopped of legs - very energetic.

Now I wonder if this site will let me post the collie one down here? Evidently not so see above.

Problem solved

At one point I was feeding about 30 full grown ducks but luckily the ladies at least are always in demand so two people came and collected a batch each and one had a drake as well. In order to catch them I have to close the gaps in the fence round the bit of their night time quarters when they have gone out and then shut the gate. At tea time when they are hungry I let them in and shut the gate again and then start catching. It is pandemonium. One by one I catch them, listen for a quack and hand females to the waiting buyer. Drakes only whisper which makes them ideal garden pets in built up areas where the neighbours would complain about quacking. I find that ducks of all kinds make excellent living garden ornaments and they eat slugs and snails. Above is a photo of the slug patrol.
After the first catching session a whole batch of them refused to come in for two nights but fortunately were not eaten by a fox.

a superfluity of ducks

This year my ducks managed to nest in the bog irises without my knowledge, It is such a jungle in the bog where they live at night that I can't see the eggs for leaves. Later I cut a lot of the greenery with a sickle but too late. One produced 8 babies and two ladies sharing a nest produced 10.. By the time they all grew up they were eating me out of house and home. Now, thank goodness, I have sold seven but the rest, finding the selection process [barring exit from feeding station, so traumatic that last night only the drakes and a couple of their more elderly wives came for tea. I don't think a fox has had any as there are no piles of feathers around. I just hope they will be hungry enough or forgetful enough to present themselves fot tea tonight.

Ducklings

Several ducks have found secret places to nest in the bog irises and one now has eight babies. They are two weeks old now and so far no losses. O have been carefully surveying the netting over their safe bog and mended all the possible crow entries I could find. The photo above is their first day. Mother made them wait till she was sure all were out of their eggs. Now if this works right the next photo should appear under the texts.
It's no good. It just won't upload the other duckling picture.