We get one fine day and then a wet one on the whole, so that the land never has a real chance to dry up. This is quite worrying for farmers as they do need to make second, or even third, crop silage for winter feed. Judging by the way things are going weather-wise, animals may well be brought in early this year (there was ice on our car this morning) and this will mean that unless extra silage is able to be brought in there will be a shortage of winter feed before the end of winter and the price will rocket up.
Gateways in particular are very wet. Why is it always the gateways where it is wettest? But in our fields set aside of silage making, everywhere is wet and any machinery that ventured on to the field would be quickly bogged down.
So let's hope for some fine September weather. We have several ancient horses in the field next to ours. One is a retired racehorse in his twenties (in the photograph) with a naughty habit of chewing the wood off the top of the fence. The other two are mares, one in her twenties and the other well into her teens - both have been brood mares in their younger days. And one has a condition called 'mud fever', which means she has to have her leg dressed and bandaged every day. Amazingly, she gets her head into a bucket of oats and lets the stable girls get on with the bandaging without even looking in their direction.
I love these horses when they come. They are so tame that they come to the fence at a call. The girls say it is because they hope to be fed, but they come every day when I am on my walk and I certainly dare not feed them as I am quite scared of horses. But we have nice conversations.
On an entirely different subject, a friend J came into the Golden Lion when we were all having coffee this morning and told me that she almost always reads my blog. It is always good when somebody tells me they read it (it makes me try a bit harder). She says she is disappointed that I never mention that our little town, Leyburn, has a very thriving Band, in which she plays. So here you are J - a mention of Leyburn Band and if you send me a photograph of them then I will put it on to my blog one day!