Give me my hour back. Now.

What a difference the loss of the hour of daylight makes.

It's been an absolutely gorgeous day here. "Crackin' the flags" as they say in Liverpool, really warm and sunny. Bacardi and Coke (the pigs) spent the morning sunbathing on the fresh straw we had put down for them yesterday and Cherub and Sweetheart (pygmy goats) played on their climbing frame and platform. They were standing on their hind legs and looked as though they were having a boxing match, so cute.

Today has been spent doing more spit offs and worming injection. Si went to get all the girls that hadn't been done the other day into the catch pen ready for the spit offs but Ms Humphreys went down in the paddock and refused to move. She was nowhere near the male, she was just being her usual stubborn self. She's far too heavy to be carried and so she got her own way, again, and was left while he tested all the other girls. She spat off 2 weeks ago so we will try her again next weekend. Nobody will ever boss her around. Si asked Phil (2nd son) if he would help with the injections and was told "I don't 'do' injections". When Si explained that he would only have to hold the alpacas still he was a lot more willing to help. I think he has seen us stab ourselves too many times but Si should have told him that he was no safer holding the animals as I've managed to get the needle into his thumb instead of the alpacas skin but my aim is getting better.

OD and I had planted some strawberry plants the other day so after I had cleaned the paddocks I put some of the poo around them. I also planted some more bulbs in tubs in the hope we have a colourful display of crocuses and daffodils in the early spring. It then started to get dark so we had to come in. I suppose we had spent more time than was necessary with the alpacas though but they are such time wasters when they want to be. It was a shock to the system that night time had come so quickly when it was still warm enough to be outside.

Si has just asked if he can watch the highlights of the Liverpool game. It's football, there are no highlights. He still hasn't forgiven me for the time he took me to the pub to watch a match and I referred to the stuff they wear as a uniform. The result was 0:0 and I commented that it had all been a waste of time to create that much dirty laundry. For some reason he never took me again.