A Busy Day.

I went up to Tesco at the usual time but hurried as it was the day to collect my fascinator. For anyone who does not know, in April I am to give my God-daughter away at her wedding, so I have had a fascinator made. I am not a hat person at all and it does feel strange but the farmer was quite complimentary about it when I put it on at lunch time for him to see. It certainly has an air of celebration about it! One day I may post a photograph!!

Tomorrow I am having a little dinner party, so this afternoon was taking up with making two savoury dishes to save time tomorrow - a pheasant casserole and a shepherd's pie. This means that in the morning I have only to make two sweets and to cook the potatoes for the pie topping - makes life so much easier.

A busy afternoon on the farm too as some of the cows we overwinter - all from our neighbour's Dairy Herd - were to be freeze-branded. This quite painless procedure means that each cow is settled into a crush and then a number is branded onto its haunch using dry ice. It makes identification of individual animals so much easier. These cows have been used to going into a crush since they were very young - for having their pedicures, for pregnancy testing etc., so they accept it as a matter of course.

Each day the temperature is rising a little higher here in the Dales and is set to reach a record February high by Friday. Unfortunately there will be strong winds so the wind chill factor will make it feel much colder. How glibly we use all these meteorological terms these days.