first go at this technique. I was inspired by technique challenge 3.
http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/17459/technique-challenge-3-split-toning. Give it a go it is fun.
Blimey it is has been a weird old day weather-wise. It's been blowing a hooley for most of the day and we have had clear blue skies, drizzle, torrential rain, hail and thunder.
Did my 'ward round' first thing. Cashew the goat's eye is more open than it was yesterday, but I am not sure whether that was because it is getting better or is more swollen - sadly I have a sneaking suspicion that it is the latter. Myrtle the pig was limping worse than ever so I braved having my wellies eaten off my feet and my legs covered in pig's nose print-shaped snot marks and while she was eating her breakfast I went in with her to get a closer look.
I managed to have a good old prod and a squeeze and looked at the bottom of her foot to see if there was anything stuck in it, but there is nothing obviously wrong so hopefully it is just a sprain or a pulled muscle.
The dog is still driving us mad at night and no longer sleeps in the kitchen due to the fact that she spends half of the night barking at the glass doors at imaginary foxes. I am becoming increasingly convinced that she has gone senile. For the first few weeks of this she had happily slept on the landing, with a very apparent air of feeling that she had somehow gone up in the world. She has now decided that this isn't good enough and nothing less than sleeping on the leather sofa that is in the kids' TV/games area at the top of the attic steps is enough. The problem with this is that she has a bit of history with leather sofas, having completely wrecked the one in the kitchen by trying to scratch a nice comfy nest in it before lying down. So every night we have been building a barricade to stop her getting up the stairs to the open area above. The last three nights she has breached the barricade and the sofa is already showing signs of nest building.
So, today I braved the cobwebs and spiders in the cellar and retrieved the revoltingly filthy stair gate that we used to use when the kids were little. Once I had cleaned it up it was quite alarming to see the little teeth marks all of the way along the top of it where Angus used to try to gnaw his way through it when he was a toddler.
I cooked cod wrapped in parma ham with roasted vegetables out of the Hairy Bikers' Diet book, and together with couscous and samphire this was well received by all. Even Angus who doesn't usually like fish enjoyed it.
When I put the animals away this evening Myrtle's limp seemed a bit better. The donks and Cory the goat were keeping their usual evening vigil by the hay store in case I forgot to feed them, but Cashew was nowhere to be seen. I had a quick look in the stables and his favourite hiding place the donkeys' food bin but still couldn't see him. As I was putting the hay out for the donks, and psyching myself up for a search of the field in the almost dark I heard a telltale rustle and a straw-covered head appeared over the edge of the feed bin. He must have been hiding under the straw. Panic over.
I hope your little goat recovers soon. I don't know when you find the time to take photographs! :-)