Oakey's news

Well I promised to do this days ago and then the sun was shining and the fields were just so inviting and the sun kept shining, I could smell rabbits and had to go and investigate, and then the sun was still shining so I needed a long lie down...

Anyway, today it is raining, probably just as well as the farm was turning into a dust bowl, so the time has come to update the farm news. Firstly let me introduce myself, Oakey the lurcher. Named after the historic hollow oak tree where I was born (good job my mother didn't choose a pig sty or the muck heap). My job here is to help with the horses, entertain the children and work with my friends the terriers to keep the rabbit population under control.










Last week two more foals were sold. three were supposed to go but one attempted a tricky jump over a gate and injured it's knee, so it will go next month.









Neil, the farrier, has been this week. Here he is shoeing Jack, for such a big horse he's a complete baby about having shoes fitted and then he does his best to pull them straight off.










The garden is still keeping everyone busy and well-fed. Plenty of flowers for the house and loads of pumpkins, these two were destined for the local Harvest Festival.





















The turkeys have moved outside and have been enjoying the autumn sunshine. Today the children have been out drawing them and they are being immortalised as mosaics, I suppose as they are short-term residents it will be good to have something to remember them by.







And the orchards are just groaning with fruit. The children have already filled four large 1 ton feed sacks with perry pears and the cider mill is being cleaned ready.

They are also making 3D mosaic cats - CATS - I ask you. Isn't it bad enough that we have the two real ones stalking about the yard scratching us dogs on the nose if we so much as look at them, who needs to be reminded of them?


There is one area where I reign supreme... I am the undisputed sprint champion of Wick Court. Many, many children have challenged me to a race, "easy" they say. I did once enter a real race at Frampton Show but I saw someone I knew half way down and stopped for a chat, by which time the race was over, still my mother always said "good manners cost nothing".
So I take the children to a flat field and off we go, I love to tease them, holding back then shooting past with my sprint finish, as I said, unbeaten to date...

However my racing days are temporarily on hold, it looks like there'll be the patter of tiny paws in about a month, so for now I'm off to find a warm, dry bale in the barn for a rest...