Spring

Days lengthen as we pull away from what really has been a long, difficult winter...various illness, long, wet days and of course the 'silence of the lamb' episode(s)...the most curious aspect of the whole business being that the chap who shot scooter actually tried to put the rifle up his bum!? if this is not a homoerotic gesture then...(which does fit with him...yet such a punishing thing to do..rage, rage)..

Anyhow, here we are starting to sense the sun is warming, the days longer and the grey,wet mist receding...with the roof finished it is time to start the inside..yet, it is also time to attend to the gardens...onions are in, garlic up and going (from October), strawberries beginning to shoot as are the rasberries, casis and blueberries. I have planted a 50m double row of willow for coppice and whips as well as three varieties of hops as a trial. My bees have woken up so soon I shall have a look under the lid to see how they are. No glasshouse yet so I need to build some single bed cloches for this year..

Huge amount of work left to do before the second half of the house is ready but I do feel that completing the roof is a big step..sadly my back has given up for the last week so it has been enforced rest for awhile...

Watched Wales score a somewhat dubious win over Ireland, here's hoping the ABs do the business in October...

All this against the backdrop of Japan, with thousands of people presumed dead, towns wiped out and peoples lives devastated..with this in mind, life is pretty good here in rural France! lessons are back on and so the bilingual goal is still alive!!...

R

The roof is finished!

The roof is finished, spring has arrived, it's a school holiday, and Scooter is doing fairly ok. So I must say, things are good here.

Black dog day

It's been a week ago already. Both Rod and me weren't paying attention to the dogs. Too sick, too much going on. The buckle of the rope Marley was supposed to be tied on was faulty. Marley and Scooter went of for a run.

An hour later Martin came by in his car. That he'd shot the dogs because they'd killed a sheep. That the gendarmerie was there and were going to put them both down. That Scooter had a broken leg. That Marley was ok. I was in shock. Rod jumped in the car.

When he went there the maire was there but no gendarmerie. The dogs were alive in a stable. Rod endured a half hour tirade, then they had a coffee and Rod and the dogs came home.

Scooter's leg was all floppy. I took him to the vet. An x-ray showed his feamur was in bits and pieces. Another vet could operate on him the next day.

After a 4 hour surgery the vet had pieced his leg back together. When I picked him up on Saturday Scoot was a miserable little pile of dog.

I've been on the verge of tears all week, but today both Scooter and me are feeling a little bit brighter. He sleeps most of the day and lies in the sun in the afternoon. He is on loads of antibiotics and has a foot long zip on his thigh.

I'm sorry about the sheep, but I find the damage done to the dog out of proportion. Expensice too. Looking at the x-ray the dog have been shot at very close range. The guy could have grabbed him by his collar.

Everybody we know has heard about the sheep incident. It's probably the most exciting thing that has been going on for quite some time. I'm really tired. I wish my life was boring too, but it just never seems to get there.