It's 5 months since I last posted, I've been so busy with loads of different things. We've been through another car, the Renault Laguna had the cam belt go. It was going to cost at least £400 to fix as all the valves would need to be reground. That was if we did it ourselves. As we only paid £40 for it, we decided it just wasn't worth it, especially as we would have had to send the parts away to be reground which meant we would be without a car for at least 2 weeks.
I had recently bought a job lot of knitting machines at a local auction, 3 machines, each with a ribber, plus a cabinet and an old Knitmaster with ribber. I had sold all of these for quite a decent profit, just thought I might have some money to buy a garter carriage for my Brother electronic machine. Then this happened. Fortunately, we managed to get a small Vauxhall Corsa for £350, which was quite cheap. We had to tax it at the time, then later, replace two sections of the exhaust ((£38) and get some new tyres (£65). It now does much more to the gallon. It's going down to Devon and back on Sunday as I'm going down for 10 days while Phil will come back Sunday night on his own, and look after the menagerie.
I lost 4 Angora rabbits within 10 days, all in the same shed. The first one Topaz started snuffling and wheezing. I put Eucalyptus oil in his hutch and he seemed to get better. Then 3 days later he started again, but much worse. I took him to the vet and she said it was probably Pasteurella and there was nothing they could do except euthanase him. We had that done, then a week later Garnet went limp one morning, wouldn't eat or drink or move around. No other symptoms, then he just died. Onyx went the same way a day later. Jasper and Laurel were the only 2 left. I thought it was strange that the eldest, Father of Onyx and Topaz had survived, then another few days later he also just died with no other symptoms. I can only assume that they all had Pasteurella, which is apparently quite common with Angoras. 6 weeks later, I came home from Lutterworth, went out to check the bunnies and found Thistle laying on her side, hardly breathing. I picked her up and cuddled her and she died a few minutes later. It was almost as if she had waited for me to come home. I checked and Angoras seem to live only for 5 or 6 years, and these were exactly that, so obviously geriatric in Angora terms.
I now have only 1 Angora left, Amber. the one with the best wool, but very grumpy. I scrubbed Thistle's cage out and moved Laurel in as he was the only rabbit left in the other shed. the last remaining Quail hen died a few months ago and we got some new girls for Mario as he just kept calling and calling when he was on his own. We got 3 girls but lost one a few weeks later. The other 2 seem to be OK. We got them as sexed chicks and had to keep them separated from Mario until they were 6 weeks old and mature. They lay an egg each nearly every day, more than the chickens. We have lost 2 more hens, Lobelia the penultimate ex-batt and one of the hybrids we got from the chap in the village. We had 8 of those 2 years ago and now down to one who is the scrawniest, scraggiest bird you can imagine. This left Rodney one of the Araucana cockerels on his own, so we put him in with the oldest Araucana hen and the silky crosses. They seem quite happy together now.
We went to the Steam rally at Ashby Magna this year. We have lived here 15 years and it is the first time we have gone. We got in free as I was demonstrating spinning for the Guild with one of the other ladies, Alison. Phil enjoyed looking round while I was spinning and I walked round a couple of times to stretch my legs. It was enjoyable, lots of tractors, classic cars, dogs, craft stalls, lots of stalls selling tractor type parts, nuts, bolts etc. There were even some Alpacas there.
Our local auction where i buy most of my sewing machines to sell on, was closing down, so I bought everything I could to keep me going until I can find another source. I think I have enough now to keep me going for about 6 months, after which time I might be able to have at least one bedroom back.
I think that's about enough for one night's catch up.
