Brittany housesitting - Days 18 to 23

Evening drinks with furry friends

The final countdown till we are back on the road has started, and is coming a day earlier than expected, because Martin has an extra week off so is keen to make the most of it by coming out ASAP, he works two weeks in the UK and is here for two weeks, but has managed a third week from work, though this does mean Gill is missing out on a planned Grandma day.

We’ve really enjoyed ourselves here, except for Monday morning when we went to let the animals out to find something had dug its way into the duck and chicken house and killed both chickens, eating the head and neck of one though the other appeared untouched, shock? 

Evening sunset as we put the animals to bed one night

The duck was understandably a bit traumatised, it certainly had some blood on it, though we weren’t sure whether it was its own or not. Not a good way to start the day for us or ducky. The final indignity for the day was to have to be picked up to put into her newly allocated pen, on the hard standing to prevent digging, but small, so no chance of herding her in! By day three however some gentle herding was enough and a lot less stressful for everyone, she has also done some preening and is blood free and looks absolutely fine.

The Medievil walled town of Moncontour

The weather has been kinder this week, with most afternoons being beautiful, though some of the mornings have been a bit grim. We’ve been to Moncontour a small, old but beautiful little town round which we had a good, two cat, walk. We’ve taken Lexy out in the car a couple of times to a local reservoir where she had a great walk, a good little circuit. We’ve cleaned Ted inside and out and enjoyed cake or early evening drinks out in the sunshine. 

Walking the old streets of Moncontour

The only difference here or when traveling is the company, it’s lovely to be surrounded by furries when sitting outside, they just love the company. Pasha and Lexy do wander off, but only to the end of the road, occasionally visiting their mate across the crossroads. I did come in today to find their mate in while the other two were outside with me, Brian hadn’t noticed! We’ve been particularly honoured by how much we’ve seen of Noodles, she is such a sweetie, loves some fuss, and we’ve now seen her four consecutive days, which may be it for the next month!

Street of Moncontour

Alfie parrot trying to get into his M&M treat box

Alfie is ‘helping’ Brian making a video of Big Ted (yes, another one) he knows he shouldn’t be going for the keys, but also knows how to wrap Brian round his little foot, if he gets shouted up he just lowers his head giving you the signal for please stroke my neck, I’m cute really....

We’ve been intrigued by the cows that get moved up and down the road twice a day, going where they are moved and not crossing the piece of string pulled up across side streets. One sneeze and they’d be through, but no, the string is there, they don’t cross it. We also saw a cow that had obviously only just given birth, licking her calf and trying to persuade it to stand up. It can only have been minutes old.

New born calf being attended to by its mum

So tomorrow, back on the road after a good debrief.

A bold Alfie parrot nibbles Murphy cats paw

Here's an interesting thing Gill told us, the white post with a red band signifies traffic entering the major road from the right have priority, they can just pull out in front of you without warning. There is a Stop sign telling people they should stop, but I suppose old habits die hard. Who would be right in the event of an accident is anyone's guess so, if you see one of these posts, watch out!

The lovely old water mill at Cornean, just down the road from us.