91热爆

I have an outbuilding where I tan me skins. At one part o` the process they are laid oot, stacked, on a pallet. I lock up the workshop securely every night. The other night I`d four fine white sheepskins, all neatly stacked, and in I went in the morning to work on them.
They`d been eaten!! Great big chunks o` them taken from the edges and the middles nibbled and holed to ruination!
Oh, was I ever mad!
The evidence was there for me to see...rat poop, large enough to conjure up images of puppy sized beasts waiting in the shadows with fine sharp teeth....curse me overactive imagination....
So indoors I run to the other half...well, he`s a man, and it is the mans job to face unseen dangers and protect the wummin frae harmful beasties, is it not?
Apparently not. "We`ll have to put poison down"...
"Well, whit dae I dae in the meantime though?"
*Shrugs*...."I`ll have a look for any holes and stop them up in a wee while"...
So back I went to fully inspect the damage...four fine white sheepskins, thrown oot. The workshop scoured and the one solitary hole...in the ceiling!!...found and boarded up, a temporary solution. And the shop was visited, rat poison bought and laid, and the workshop securely locked and in the morning, the poison had been taken, which brought me a sigh of relief I can tell ye!
See, I admire rats...tough and intelligent, they are, hardy and wily and one o` natures grand survivors.
And I dinnae mind them oot in the byres to an extent...they are attracted to the grain spillage and leftover bits o` meal frae the hens and goats and the sheep. I`ve watched goats stomp a rat tae death, then pick it up and toss it into the water vat just to mak` sure it`s deid...they dinnae like rats, goats.
But the minute they start eating me stock, that`s it! I declare war!
Each year, we see the rats come into the ootbuildings frae the surrounding fields, and up frae the beach. We usually lay poison twice a year and it seems to work and keep them doon tae a manageable level. But this year they have encroached whar they didnae afore....MY territory....grrrrrrrrrrrr.....
we did try using thon humane traps once....in the morning, in one o` them, there she was, mammy rat wi` a parcel o bairns. So in a rare moment of compassion, I took the cage doon tae the pond and let them go.
Next day, same trap, the same family were richt back in there!
So poison it is. We are richt careful o` handling it and it is always put in places inaccessible tae oor cats and ither beasts. I dinnae like using it, but am mindful o` me ain livelihood and the risk o` spread disease frae them. So, poison it is, I`m afraid...

And we still didnae get snow! Had hail..it fair pelted off the windaes and the corrugated plastic roof o` the porch, pretty fierce it was an` a`...but nae snow...
how and ever, the fellas at the met office have promised the north snow for the weekend..tomorrow...I`ll believe it when I see it mind!...No` known for their accuracy, the met office...every time I look at the weather map on telly, ye cannae see whit Orkney looks like, for it`s always under a wee cloud with raindrops under it!

We have a family o` moorhens in the field next door. They visit oor garden to scoop up some o` the grain we put oot for the geese, who chase them off when they get too close...so the wee moorhens wait til the geese are fully fed and have moved awa`, then in they come, pecking at the wee drap grain, keeping a wary eye oot for the big white birds that dinnae like intruders. It`s nae wonder geese used to be used for guard dogs....the racket they mak` is enough to chase onybody awa`!

We have one auld sheep. We had him frae a lamb, bottle fed him, and kept him for a grasscutter. We never use oor lawnmower, so he works just fine! But the size o` him! Ye can see what happens tae sheep when they dinnae go to the butcher....I`m five foot nothing. His heid reaches me chest. He`s massively wide and has nae sense o` personal space so when we go in the byre tae feed the beasts, he comes tanking oot o` the stall toward us and we`ve sometimes tae run for cover...a humiliating thing, running awa` frae a sheep! But he is wide and solid, and has knocked me doon on mair than ane occasion. Like an ower enthusiastic pup, he likes tae mak` sure he will be the first fed.
The auld one has a touch o` arthritis in his knees nooadays, but otherwise is daeing just fine. Still thinks he`s a lamb the minute the sun comes oot. Has the deepest `Baaaah` I`ve ever heard, a rumbling bass sound ye widnae like tae hear on a dark nicht alone....
The billygoat we have is his mortal enemy. They hate each other. A couple o` years back they both got off their tethers and set to. The billy has a fine spread o` horns near on three feet across. He took a run at the sheep and heid butted him, and then stood back triumphantly. The sheep just looked as if tae say "Wis that it?" then took his ain turn. He walloped the billy in the side and the billy went doon, and took a full five minutes tae get up again, so winded was he!
Sheep just walked off and got on wi` eating the grass...he`d won, far as he wis concerned...
The billygoat was fine, but he never learned no` tae try and tak` oot the sheep, and so they still to this day hate each other on sight, so we`ve tae keep them well apart.
I have nae names for me beasts. I figure, they come tae whatever I call them, and often just tae the shake o` a bucket with grain in it. The only time I named onything was when I`d tae tak` me cats tae the vet on mainland tae have them done. Filling in the forms, I was asked whit they were called and had tae think up names for all four cats on the spot! The woman ahind the desk clearly thought I was a tanner short o` a bob...
so the goats are just called `Goat` or `Hey you!` and sheep is just called `Sheep`, which they a` answer tae fine enough.
It`s only oor dogs have names, and that is almost always because we inherit them already named frae ither folks.

I`m looking at the news and the fuss over the bird flu doon sooth. Then I mind on me ain hens and ducks. which all just wander aboot ootside during the day, going where they like, me ducks mixing wi` the wild mallards on the pond, me hens trying tae catch the starlings and blackbirds, and keep me fingers crossed it doesnae mak` it up this way. Even if we have tae keep the birds in, oor auld barns are so full o` holes and cracks in the stane walls, wild birds nest in the eaves every year, so we have nae hope at a` o` keeping them oot.
Just have tae hope, I guess.