PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Saturday 11 February 2012

Beware the Headbangers!

This morning I decided that I wanted to do a post about sheep.    I have a wonderful old book which is grubby, worn, well-thumbed, and is full of sheep.  There are approximately 700 pages showing these same illustrations...
It also contains a couple of pages of
the many and varied ways in which ears can be marked.  Ouch, ouch and ouch.


It is the Shepherds' Guide and gives a proper delineation of the Wool, Horn and Ear Marks of all the Members' Sheep.  It probably dates from the 1930's.  


It is a book you could fall asleep reading - and yet, despite that,  I am fond of it,  because it has had a busy and useful existence, unlike so many other books which languish on shelves, unloved and unread.
The day progressed and took on a different shape to that which I had planned. We took young Harry on another long walk through the snowy fields and along the river - we all enjoy it.  It was late afternoon when we set off, the sun was low and the ice crystals in the snow were beautifully illuminated.   The fields sparkled.
It was -2 degrees and very cold.  We ended up singing and marching to keep ourselves warm -  I hope no one heard us as we ran through all the marching songs we could remember, including 'The Grand Old Duke of York',  countless times.  No doubt we sounded awful, but they did the job and we kept warm and made good progress.
We were well wrapped up, but even so we needed all those songs.
It was beautiful.  We thoroughly enjoyed it, and best of all we still had to pay a visit to Arnold before going home.  We marched on, and on.  We also sang on.
Arnold must have heard us, for he was waiting with his sheep friends.  As ever this delightful old horse was happy to see us, frisking us for treats, gently pushing and nudging, playful and kind.  He was obviously thrilled that we had Harry with us and paid special attention to him.  


I love watching Arnold take apples from Harry - he takes such care not to nip him!  Where he gives us friendly nudges he stands stock still for Harry to stroke him.  He is a truly gentle horse.


John, his owner, came hobbling out as we left.  He was warmly wrapped up, but looked very wan and pale.  He wanted to tell us about his accident earlier today.  While he was putting hay out for the sheep  and Arnold he bent down and the black sheep with horns got a bit eager and jumped up, cracking his horns against John's head.  Poor old John.  Not the sort of thing you need at any age, let alone when you are in your mid-90's.


He got himself back to the house and dialled for assistance.  He was eventually checked over at the hospital and allowed home, providing someone stays with him for 24 hours.  A lovely lady from the village has agreed to do that.  


We have told him that we are more than happy to sort out the sheep and look after Arnold for him, until he feels better.  However, he is a wonderfully strong and independent man and insisted that he could manage, because that is his nature.    We'll check up on them all tomorrow, give him a helping hand, if he will let us.


We'll certainly be watching out for the horned headbanger though. 



10 comments:

  1. Are English people naturally long-lived? Between old John and your elderly aunt it seems advanced old age is common. I have several friends who grew up in England. One lost her father when he was over 100 and the other recently lost her mother who was well into her 90's. It makes me wonder if there is something in the tea?

    I love how much Arnold loves company. I'm so glad he has you to visit him and give him treats.

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    1. Ms Sparrow your comment has just reminded me of something John told my husband - I'll do a quick post about it today. Meanwhile, I must have my second cup of tea of the morning - then I can start the day.

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  2. I can see why you needed the marching songs - it definitely looks cold!

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    1. Scarlet, We were a crazy little marching troop, but at least we had fun! I just hope that no one else has done a blog about some loons who they saw/heard down by the Great Eau yesterday!

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  3. If I had a stiff upper lip, it would have been frozen at -2. How did yours do?

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    1. Joanne, Luckily my upper lip is sufficiently fuzzy to stay reasonably warm. So glad I forgot to wax it last week!

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  4. Hi Elaine...It looks like your snow is holding on. Our temps at the farm tonight are 30 degrees with stong winds coming off the hill behind the house.

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    1. The snow is now frozen snow and looks set to stick around a while yet, Meggie. Stay warm and safe in that lovely old house of yours.

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  5. I love going for a walk when it's windy because I can sing at the top of my voice and it just gets carried away. If anyone should happen to hear me, they won't know where it's coming from (well that's my theory anyway).

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    1. LBM, That's a great idea. We shall adopt it at once!

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