The day I nearly lost the car!

Mike came shopping this morning. He walked from the car park to the high street, bought a few things on the market but then felt he had had enough so we went back to the car together and I finished without him. Not bad coinsidering he only had his staples out on Friday and it is only just over a fortnight since his operation.

We needed a few things in Axminster as well, so I dropped Mike off at home and went to get chicken and dog food and a few other bits and pieces. Unusually I did not bother to switch on my hands-free as it was only ten minutes down the road. Of course my friend, Ali, phoned. I was just coming out of town and so I pulled in to a parking spot at the bottom of the hill and phoned her back. Whilst I was talking a lady came up and said she wanted to speak to me about the alpacas ( our car is a sign written Nissan Navara 4 x 4 which doubles as a farm vehicle) as she had passed the farm and wanted to call in. After I had finished my call I got out of the car and started to talk to her. She wanted to come and buy some wool. She suddenly said something like "Ooh your car is moving". Sure enough the Nissan was slowly rolling backwards down the hill. I did James Bond style chase, opened the door and jumped in and put my foot on the brake pedal. Luckily the cars coming up the hill had avoided us and all ended well.

In future I will always switch on my hands free - or alternatively I could put on the hand brake and leave the car in gear when parking on a hill!! Still all is well that ends well.

My friend, Lynsey, from Dreamfield Alpacas came over this afternoon to help me assess some young alpacas I was thinking of showing this year. I am pleased to say that most of her opinions confirmed my own feelings, which is very pleasing as she came top of the recent judging course which she attended.

We have put the alpacas in the barn for the night again as heavy rains were forecast . It is actually meant to give them a chance to have some dry ground for a while, but it also saves me doing the afternoon feed run with hay, alf alfa and supplement as they can be fed in the barn which is only a stone's throw from the house.

The chickens are still laying very well and have finally decided that they will all lay in the same place so they have spoilt our hunt the egg games.

The kittens have mastered the art of roof climbing and use the water barrel to break their fall when coming down.

Apart from fee mud baths, everything else seems to be OK. Even the office work is up to date. This is a bit worrying - I am sure I must have forgotten something!!