Another early start on Wednesday for venison-ing. This hind had several little larvae in it once we’d skinned it which Neil says are pretty common. Ady was quite grossed out by them but I found them pretty fascinating. The kids are really keen to come down and learn more about the whole processing side of stuff when we do the next batch in the summer – the cull is all but over for the season til July. We found the bullet in the carcass this time which was pretty cool so we cleaned it up and brought it home. As a meat eater I thought it was really quite good to be eating a beast for dinner last night that had been born, lived, shot, processed all within a few miles of where I live with the bullet that shot it in my pocket and the animal shot by someone I know, and the beast skinned, chopped, minced and shaped into burgers by me then cooked by my husband. 🙂
We finished processing and came home for lunch. One of the ducks was missing again so we all went out to look for it and Scarlett spotted it down by the river – it is fine and healing well but had been seperated from the others again. We returned it to the flock and then all walked down to the village, calling in to Fliss and Sandy’s for a cup of tea before coming home.
Ady cooked venison burgers, home made chips and I made onion rings with beer batter – home cooked junk food 🙂 I was wiped out after such early starts and lost nights from the windy weather so was in bed long before midnight.
Thursday we Popmastered and then went to meet the boat – we had nothing come off but collected some bits for Fliss. Ady dropped me and that off at the school as I had a meeting with Stuart the headmaster who was over between boats and we set my provisional start date as a week on Monday. We talked about the opportunity for the school to become something experimental and exciting if the parents of the children all buy in which is potentially interesting stuff.
Fliss gave me a lift back to theirs where I expected Ady to be and dropped me off at the back where our car was but Ady was nowhere to be seen so I went to the front and sure enough he was indoors with Sandy and Steve. It was all a bit chaotic in there and poor Joss had a leaky nappy so I took her off to change it – first nappy I think I’ve changed in about 8 years! Then Ady and I came home for lunch. We spent the afternoon mostly indoors with the kids chatting and the kids had showers, hair cut (Davies) and hair brush (Scarlett), then Ady and I put dinner on low in the oven and went down to the village for the RCA meeting. The kids decided to stay home so they watched a film and kept the fire going. The meeting was well attended and we had lots to plough through including stuff about road charges, the teashop provision for the coming year and other contentious stuff. Afterwards Ady went home to finish off dinner and I stayed for a couple of drinks with Fliss before walking home. I left about ten minutes later than I should have and got drenched walking home the last wee bit in the pouring rain – yuck! One day I won’t wander around in the dark with a torch several nights a week…
We watched the second half of Mary Poppins that we’d started the night before, I’d never appreciated before what a long film it is, well over 2 hours. Then I read for about an hour, we’re about halfway through the sequel to My Side of the Mountain.
This morning I went down to the castle to swap the washing over into the tumble drier and then to see Vikki. I had a chat with her and Rachel about woodland crofts which I’d been quite vocal about last night at the RCA and I explained my stance a bit more. Rach went off to make some phonecalls and then Ady arrived having caught up with me. We called in to drop some eggs off for Fliss and Sandy but they were not around and then came home for lunch.
Another afternoon hanging out with the children – some really interesting conversations lately, often inspired by the Jeremy Vine show it has to be said ;), Ady and I walked back down to the village again, calling to Fliss and Sandy’s to collect a drawing Karl has done for us of our planned layout on housebuild. Then home again. We had pizza and watched The Truman Show which I have started watching twice before over the years but both times fallen asleep before the end so finally got to see what happens tonight. We’ve been having a Jim Carey-fest with the kids while studiously avoiding any films with too much gurning so this complete it I think.
I’ve been outting final touches to the Rum newsletter which I’ll get printed off on Monday and distribute.