Project 52 2020 week 16 – dog walking

The week that included Easter Sunday plus the extension of the UK lockdown for a further 3 weeks.

I’ve had this week off work which has been strange given there’s not been anywhere to go or anything to do. Thankfully most of the week has seen good weather again until Saturday, so N’s been dragging me out to walk the puppies while the OH is out working in the fields all day. I don’t have the shoes or boots for walking up and down hills. My walking boots from pre-N times are a little small now so hurt my big toe nail, and my walking trainers have given me a blister. So after 2 days walking up and down hills and around fields, I’m done in. Give me walking on the flat anytime!

Unsurprisingly I’ve not done much all week. But here’s our week 16.

Easter Sunday was the most unusual one we’ll probably have in our lives. Usually all the family go to the farm for Easter dinner – turkey, with simnel cake and lemon cake made by the mother-in-law. She still did the traditional food, and sent some turkey and stuffing over with the OH for our tea. And he went and got some cake for him and N too. No family Easter egg hunt either for N with his cousins, but he did still manage to get an egg over to his cousin and vice versa. The joys of having people working up at the farm.

Easter Monday was a non-event as usual. Leftover turkey, ham and salad as is always popular after a roast. We didn’t do much.

On Tuesday it was nice to just be able to mooch without needing to work. I did a top up food shop at the local village shop. There was a short queue to get in, but was pretty quick to wait. They even had flour this time, and all the types of cream as usual. The one thing I am missing about supermarket shopping after Easter is all the cheap Easter eggs. Better for my diet though, although this week’s been rubbish for eating way too many carbs and bad snacks.

Wednesday was another day of not doing much. I wrote a blog post (but didn’t get round to publishing it), did some jigsaw puzzle, made some scones (plus some keto ones which I overbaked).

I also had a local butcher delivery. I’d put in the order last week but heard nothing, so then chased confirmation of the order being received and wanted to change it to next week so I could make room in the freezer. But it was already on its way. It was so lovely to chat to someone for a bit as the delivery man knew our area and our neighbours. It was a bit of normality, a bit of small talk, finding out about how things are going out of our bubble on the farm. All from 2 metres+ away. Our local independent food suppliers are doing a brilliant service and hopefully getting enough trade from households to make up for the huge drop in no longer being able to supply to restaurants, pubs and schools.

When I went to bed I found N asleep in my bed. I’m presuming it was because we’d been talking about dreams and struggling to sleep at bedtime, so he made his way in. It was another one off thankfully though.

Thursday we took the puppies for 2 long walks. I still only managed just about 8k steps over 1.5 hours of being out walking. The views are gorgeous over our hills and fields, and you can see for miles. We had the labrador join the puppies on the walk, although they spend most of their time fighting!

I had to help N feed Maggot the calf because he couldn’t lift the feeder up onto the rack. It’s amazing to see him measuring out the milk and mixing it up for her. He knows what’s he’s doing and finds his way around the old parlour to do it. He and the calf have quite a little bond going on now, and she’ll even come over a take some cow nuts from his hand. Not that she’s worked out how to eat them. Milk’s her thing currently.

On Friday, our Sports Direct delivery finally arrived. It was a saga, and after 3 days of Hermes (sigh) saying they were delivering but giving excuses why they couldn’t, all was happy once it arrived. N finally has work boots that fit, a pair of trainers without any holes in, plenty of tennis balls, and I have a new tennis racket. Wow, I never knew tennis rackets were so light compared with my old graphite one I’ve had since I was about 13.

We also took the puppies for a couple of walks again, although one was only letting them run around the field up above the yard. Until they managed to find the one hole that led them under the wire fence into the sheep field above out house. Oops. Luckily they just fought each other rather than chasing the lambs or single cow in there while N ran up the hill and over the gate to catch them before I joined him to grab the other one, get them both on leads again to walk through the field. Our labrador pup isn’t too bad, but the alsatian is so strong already, give it a couple of months and N won’t be big enough to grab her when she’s off the lead, unless she starts to come when called. He’s said he’s not going to take her out on his own anymore because she doesn’t behave, only when there’s someone else with him, which is quite a sensible thing to say for a 9 year old.

On Saturday it was more mooching at home. I used my Le Creuset casserole dish for the first time since I was given it. I did panic about the knob on the lid because it’s plastic and although it’s oven resistant I think it’s not to a high enough temperature for the Aga. So I need to get a stainless steel knob just in case. Had to make do removing the knob and shoving in some foil to block the hole.

This week’s Project 52 photo was taken on one of our dog walking outings a few fields away from the farm. There is one advantage to this lockdown and that’s the increase in photos I’m taking compared with previously.