The Boards
I have two black boards – actually they are made of slate rescued from an old school destined for demolition. One board (in the Cloak Room) is for the Work. The other, kitchen board, is for – well, kitchen stuff, household stuff and reminders and my thoughts. 
I will not read you all of the kitchen board as one side is a deeply boring grocery list but the other side says:” You can’t teach old dog New(-er) tricks.”
You see: The other day as I walked with the dogs I realised what this meant. The: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks thing?
It is not about teaching an old dog New Tricks – we can all do that – it is about teaching an old dog to leave his OLD tricks behind and learn NEW tricks to replace the old tricks. This is much harder for us to do.
Much harder – even when we know the old tricks are obsolete in the extreme. 
Mrs Flowers and her peachick are still defying the odds (and the cats).
Tima Looks as UN-pregnant as a pig can get.
Hugo and I put Difficult Bobby into the car and brought her home to be friends with Little Bobby. Two bony calves. The other two are still waiting for their human to pick them up. It is a very busy time of year around here. But hopefully it will be soon. Anyway Little is way pleased to have someone his own size to be with. His lungs are still very bad – poor wee fella. He coughs and wheezes but is still alive – he is beating the odds as well. But small. 
Poppy still wanders the farm at will. But she has always done this. She always comes home for dinner.
Hugo helped me lift the divider between her (and Sheila’s) pen and the middle pen with Molly and Tahiti. So now the big pigs can see the little pigs. Both big pigs immediately started to fight the little pigs through the fence. (Even though these are Poppy’s daughters). Sheila promptly moved her bed across to the other side and soon Poppy lost interest and went back out into the field. The little pigs were very interested but we need to be sure of Sheila before I blend the two pairs of girls into one unit.
The other thing written on my board is
- Clean
- Wash
- Tidy
- Clear
- Then slow down and COOK.
This is how life should be. At least for me.
i hope you have a lovely day
celi
32 Comments on “The Boards”
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I love lists. Even other people’s. And I would have been very interested even in the grocery list. I always find them on the street and pick them up and keep them. Such lovely human artifacts. Poppy is very sweet. And the two calves, they are boney poor dears, but it’s lovely to see them keeping each other company.
They are boney, but dairy cattle are bony as a rule.. hard to fatten my way.. c
Come on Tima …. Just you wait and see how cute your little piglets are going to be 🙂 Laura
I am not so sure – how many days ’til her first due date? let me count/ TEN! and no sign of anything.. c
I bet Sheila thinks that one fat pig hot water bottle is enough 😉
and everyone wants to cuddle her.. she will be SO warm this winter! c
I think she might get the hang of it after a few grumbles 😉
Mrs Flowers is clearly an excellent mama, and I’m hoping the Bad Cats stay clear of Miss Violet. What was it about Tima that made you think earlier that she might be pregnant? She looks exactly as she always has to my eyes, but then I’m not in daily contact so I can’t tell. I like the idea of your blackboards, but unless I can carry my lists around with me, I forget, so I have a fat spiral notebook and pen always by me.
I am going on the breeding date, the date when Tane threw a hip trying to breed her.. But yes, like you I don’t think her body has changed much at all and she has been on a strictly grass diet except for her two thieving missions to the fields.. she should, at least, lost some weight.. c
So by inference there may be an interesting reason why she’s still ‘traditionally built’… Sadly, it seems a bit unlikely, given the absence of other changes this close to her due date.
Yes.. we do have one more date though, 21 days after the 9th. So still another chance.. c
I live my life by using lists. Right now my main list is of letters, cards, and thank you notes to get written. But these rainy days are not really motivating me to do much of anything but curl up with a book and read blogs. 🙂
Rainy days are perfect for mail – I really loved the idea of the old victorian lady dealing with her correspondence at her writing desk on a daily basis.. I think i need a correspondence desk!
I remember when I was very young, in school, learning the basics of writing thank you notes, penmanship and even how to address an envelope! Schools don’t teach these social graces anymore, and I don’t know why… This seems to be a vanishing skill, as so many now just use an email to send a thank you…but I still enjoy getting a card in the mail that I can read. I appreciate the old school effort.
Phew – I need lists. One for the chores, one for cooking/menues, one for grocery stuff and and and. Otherwise I forget or I don’t do or think or see or whatever… Bad. But the lists help from time to time. Lots of bits of papers laying around though… And I always set check marks when one thing is done. Lots of them make me happy.
Sad, that Little is still suffering. But good, that he enjoys Difficult’s company.
The story of lifting the wall between the young and the old pigs shows how important it is that you are so cautios. Super. All has to be thought in a psychological way – even with animals: Slow down and give them time to adjust, to get accustumed, to like each other maybe some time. Your work is so well done…
Oh my – cautious and accustomed, of course. All these mistakes…
Writing things down helps make them happen. I so hope everyone gets along and thrives. I hope you have a lovely day and life slows down a bit for you.
My sister encouraged me to start making daily and weekly lists. I was delighted, thinking that at the end of the week, if I’d done everything, I could treat myself to something special. But my sister informed me that it didn’t work that way, that the real treat was checking the items off the list as I completed them. Hmmmmm……. Well, after I got over that shock, I realized she was right, and that checking off each item is truly wonderful 🙂
Wonderful post hope you are well.
I love your lists – how organised you are!
Pigs. Yes I’m talking to you: little birds in their nests agree, and that should also apply to pigs. Play nicely together.
Just back from the dentist – pat on back for me and a nice clean. Smacked bottom for retired dentist husband who had two fillings. Viv is now very smug.
love,
ViV xox
miss c I am going to a HUGE livestock fair next weekend in a place called Zafra. I can’t stop thinking of all the little piggies and animals I’d love to buy you but I think I’ll have to make do with photos….am very excited, we’re going with a group of pals and will be there a couple of days! Sorry, it’s in Spanish http://www.figzafra.es/
Oh how I wish i could come! But just imagine what i would bring home!!
I enjoy your blogs and reading about the daily activities on your farm.
Then slow down and cook is always a favorite on my list. Have fun!
I love lists, and live by them. Mostly yellow post-its but there’s something deep and satisfying about writing proper lists and snippets of wisdom on a wall 🙂
Slow down and cook. My favorite list item. A good reminder to take good care of our busy selves…
It’s good to see Violet (love the name!) out for another walk. Sounds like trouble in Sheila’s paradise.
A walk-about it a great way to spend the morning of an early Autumn day. Where did the Summer go?
Oops! Wrong post but you get the idea.
YES!! Where did the summer go!?
Lovely day back at you Celi 😀
The last point on the board is the most important of course.