Just...................whatever

I had a dream last night that I was in a library somewhere and I went to go get food and there was a big table with a bunch of people sitting at it. I see my mom, and guess who's sitting next to her? PJ. Everyone at the table was from the production staff of the hobbit. I squealed "Oh my God! Peter Jackson!" Then I froze, not knowing what to say next. I was debating over being polite and telling him how much I loved LOTR, or to bring to light all the issues we talk about here. Before I could respond, my mom came in and woke me up I still don't know what I would have said to him...

I hate it when that happens

I had a dream last night where people were asking me why I haven't updated The Needlehole Mysteries in a while. I suspect there's a message hidden in that somewhere.

definitely is! Write Man, write!!! D:<

Mrs Figg wrote:Hasnt the idiot got sheep dogs?

That's what I always ask when all this sulking farmers complain about wolfes and all (we have like no wolfes at all and litterally zero preditors) where's teh sheep dogs and shephers! seriously. It is so stuuupid! sending the sheep up the mountains all by themselves all summer an expect that they are perfectly safe .LOL!

You may have gotten that vibe from me, Eldo. I usually drop by the thread every day just to check and I am trying hard to be patient and to not nag.

I agree Norc, its ridiculous, a trained sheep dog is there to protect the herd from anything that will attack sheep, and there is no way a fox could attack a sheep dog and survive, foxes are much smaller, and they dont attack in packs like dogs do. I think the farmers just like killing foxes and that about it, its an excuse to shoot stuff, as they cant shoot peasants anymore. there is more danger to lambs from Polecats, and mink that have escaped from mink farms, they are vicious buggers and will kill anything in their path. Also a well fenced chicken house will usually stop foxes, but Polecats and mink can climb and wriggle in small holes, they decimate whole chicken roosts. The poor old fox gets the blame and gets chased by plonkers in red coats going tally ho!

I don't agree Mrs Figg, I helped out on a farm as a kid until I was 14 and it was sold off. Typical Scottish sheep farm, very large area of hills dotted with sheep, one shepherd, a vicous as hell sheep dog (but a sheep trial champion) and a few helpers in lambing season and a few people like myself. Those sort of farms there is no way to keep foxes out, they are big rambling places with open front barns that the chicken swander freely aroundand nest in- there was a fenced enclosure for example for the lambs that needed hand reared for one reason or another (and were therefore heading for lamb chopdom) feeding them from the bottle was one of the jobs us kids got (as was putting them on the slaughter van- you got an education in them days!). And we lost at least two or three of those lambs every season to foxes and countless chickens, a newly born lamb is small enough for a big fox to kill althoughmost times they cant get the body ayway so just rip it up a lot and eat what they can or run off with a big chunk, and that one in the photo I could easily believe was taking twice the normal.
You might say build a better fence but there are practical reasons on a small, low profit making farm like that in going to the expense and more importantly lambs are curious and not that bright, I've seen a few die with their head stuck in a fence, to much mesh and stuff and you've got a problem. And if you go for just boarding it up youve got the problem that even in a Scottish summer you will get occasional storm force winds across the hills.

but, you see, we don't keep sheep in fences I think, well, sometimes, but mostly they roam around in the mountain side all by them selves, then they complain about wolf and wolverines and lynx and.. eagles sometimes, bear, martens, mink.... (I've never heard of a fox taking lambs here, but I bet they do )

Sheep were kept the same here Norc, free to roam the hillside but there were fences where the farm road was and the power substation, and over the tops of the hills miles and miles of dry-stone walls- so there were bounds.
And its not the taking, unless its pretty much a newborn most lambs are too heavy and awkward for a fox, its the killing and then getting what they can and scarpering, then the smell of the dead lamb attracts any other scavegers in the area. And I've heard it said but never seen it that a Scottish Wild Cat can take a lamb down. It wouldn't surprise me.

Scottish Wld Cat- about half again to twice the size of the average tabby cat but apprently untameable and undomisticable. Very Scottish that!

All my relatives from my grandparents generation back in time are farmers Petty, and they were sheep farmers, its been in my family since forever and I grew up going to the farm in the Pennines so I know there are losses, but each lamb lost is a big deal so farmers protect them amazingly well especially when they are tiny and vulnerable, and foxes only attack when a farmer has forgotten to close a gate or barn door, which is hardly ever, as its a cardinal rule to close doors. They have more than one dog, and they are trained for generations and they know their jobs. Obviously chickens running wild are going to run risks but most chickens I saw were in well built hutches with wire fences, the only problem was climbing predators of the ferrety kind.

Sort of small hill farms there were round here Mrs Figg (only 1 left the rest is horrible forestry pine trees now ) the barns had no doors, there were two barns, one for hay and one with a pig stall and several stalls for using in lambing season, the barns faced each other and the facing sides were open, no walls let alone doors. And one shepherd and one sheep dog- Mick (the bastard as I preferred to call him- fantastic working sheep dog but lived outdoors in the barn, not a pet in any way at all and very aggresive- he got a few foxes in his time but no difference between Mick getting them or the shepherd shooting them but they had to be stopped or by the end of a season you'd have lost a load of chickens and several lambs). And without shooting there is no other way to protect the lambs out on the open hillsides- even by the time the dog gets there the fox would be well gone.

No barn doors? how odd you Scottish folk are.

Need a guard llama. it's something that's taken off in the states (well, sort of) and you'll see a knot of sheep down in the valley with this sort of periscope thing with a topknot sticking out of the mass of it. It's Hank the guard llama, and as you walk by you'll see that topknot track you like some sort of military fixture, and honk menacingly at you if you get too close.

you look a bit like a guard Llama Halfwise, your face is hairy, and you probably spit in Ferguson's eye if he doesnt warm the toilet seat for you.

Oo! do I perceive a glove being flung? Pardon me as I toddle off to brush the cobwebs off the spitball cannon.

Mrs Figg wrote:I grew up going to the farm in the Pennines ...

The Pennines! Nice! I have a Pennines/sheep story that's only a little OT (even if there was a topic, which there wasn't).

Several years ago I hiked about 100 miles of the Pennine Way in late March, about lambing season. All the fields had large, angry looking signs about NO DOGS! because they'd chase and worry the ewes and sometimes kill lambs out of sport. I got the sense that Yorkshire farmers were not people who should be ignored, but it wasn't a problem for me because I didn't have a dog....

...until I passed through Haworth. I'm a bit of a Bronte fan, so I spent a day exploring the village and moors there. I made the mistake of petting a friendly little black and white collie as I passed through the village, and he instantly adopted me, following me over, through, and around all the stiles despite all my efforts to send him home. He'd leave me when I told him to, but only to go chase sheep for 5 minutes, running back to me excitedly to tell me of his adventures as soon as anybody came into view .

I got many black looks and several stern lectures from the people I met, despite all my protests that I'd never met the dog before. The dog made it very clear that he knew me, and that seemed to be all that mattered. He was with me for most of the morning, until I passed up onto the high moor where the sheep chasing game ended for lack of sheep. I think he must have chosen another "master" to take the blame for his actions as he returned to the village, chasing sheep all the way.

A very charming and clever dog, but a little too clever for my liking...

{And Mrs Figg, if my dog chased any of your family's sheep, I do apologize! }

Great story Dave, I come from the Lancashire side of the Pennines and spent my childhood wandering on't moors. I cant say I liked it though, its a bit bleak for my liking. Haworth is spooky, although I am a bit sensitive to atmospheres, I cant go back to some places, they freak me out.

when I hear moor and bleak, I think of The hounds of baskerville "it's sort of bleak but beautiful".. "wandering on the moor"

Well, i'm back

Welcome back, Chris! I hope Bali was nice.

Most of it was nice Eldo, good to be back thou

Welcome back Chris- I too have (briefly) been absent- been, um, unwell, yes that'll do, unwell.
How was Bali? (Was Bali wasn't it?)

See new thread. Holidays

I am missing Orwell and Eldo, I wish they would stop farting about on Egyptian sites and doing teenage stuff, respectively and get their finger out and come back and irritate and exasperate me some more, well mostly Orwell, Eldo never hardly ever irritates me, at all. apart from when he doesnt write about Ringo Herring.