(4.10) On my knees again; weight 109.5. The netting was finished off this morning, and now runs continuously for about 100m. It was a bit of a dash to finish the netting as the Black and Speckledy hens were out in the field and getting ever nearer a gap in the netting. True to form, they jumped through the gap as I was finishing off. And they disappear so quickly! I eventually found them, round the other side of the barn, outside the candle shop, and ushered them back into the field. The llamas were less bothered with my netting progress today but were very disgruntled as I finished off one section as it deprived them of access to a newly formed dusting patch. Llamas like to roll in the dust (quite dog-like) and there are a couple of oval patches in the field, which have been worn down so much that they fill with water when it rains. I had to deprive them of this particular patch as I was told yesterday that the farmer intends to build a hard-core access road into the next field (where my winter hay stock is currently growing quite well). And it is his land after all, so it is my interest to acquiesce. This morning I was encouraged to create a specific website for this diary and the subsequent books and the address is inbusinesswithllamas. It needs work and content but I’m getting there. The signmaker and New Biker showed up this afternoon – the sun was shining and it was very warm, and they partook of tea and cake, while New Biker related his recent weekend escapade in North Wales in his motorhome (bought because he intends to travel round Portugal and Spain soon). He’d gone for a ‘shake-down’ weekend with his intended travel-companion (an old friend from school days) to see how they and the motorhome would cope. Well, they ran out of diesel going up a hill, the exhaust cracked and fell off, they got lost (twice) and he found out how negative his friend could be over every little mishap and setback. New Biker’s now planning to travel to Portugal and Spain solo! Signmaker has a rattle on his bike and he is fully convinced that there is something metallic loose underneath the petrol tank. I tapped a couple of rattle-potential-areas around the tank and settled my finger on a very loose headlamp peak. This is like the peak of a baseball cap but made of metal, curved, and slotted into the chrome ring that holds the headlamp in. It sits about 18 inches in front of the tank, is slightly higher than the tank but any rattling sound could be reflected back towards the rider and appear to come from underneath the tank. Signmaker was having none of it though, very sceptical that the rattle could be found so easily (and by me!) and remains convinced that there is some component that is working itself loose underneath his tank. And he might be right. During this particular verbal discourse I was advised that the black hen was wandering about outside the restaurant! Any more of this malarkey and she’ll find herself in the restaurant, and on the menu. I managed to trap her and, complaining very loudly (her AND me), she was placed, fairly unceremoniously, back into the field, where she remained as I fed the llamas. All three chickens were inside the chicken run and we were joined by my hairdresser sister (female version of Edward Scissor Hands and Sweeney Todd!) and she deftly trimmed all 10 flight feathers on both wings of both the Black and Speckledy hens. They can’t fly now but they can still burrow and jump. The top of the fence is more than 1m high and there is no way that they should be able to jump that high (said he, confidently). So while I finished off the llamas I asked my sister to check for gaps in the netting and the chicken wire (impartial third eye) and she found that there were a couple of slack portions of the chicken wire that need some attention. I’ll get to that in the morning (if my knees survive the night). The Business point? Be careful what you wish for. I spent about 10 hours in all (bent double and on my knees), using 100m of netting, made from cutting 50m of scaffolding safety netting in half lengthwise, and about 1000 staples in a heavy duty staple gun – and all to contain one slightly troublesome chicken! See you tomorrow. The Daily Llama
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:47:09 +0000
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