Lift Me Up

A good start to the day. Our OAP Arab (will be 32 in spring) had laid down overnight in his stall and got stuck. So a joint effort, swinging him over on to the other side and then supporting his head until he could lift himself up on his own accord. A few scrapes and scratches but nothing too bad.

Angie then out for a hack with the other two and Luna while Flash & I did a walk near Ottobeuren. Saw the first tractor of the season with a new chemical fertilizer hopper doing a test run. Did photograph it but it's not Tractor Tuesday. So while quickly popping in to the supermarket to get drinks and a few foodstuffs for a possible dish or two, saw the Tesla. First one I think I have ever seen. If the number plate had included "JB" (Jakob Bindung) I would have suspected MI6's advertising campaign had borne fruit. It's almost the only logical explanation for such a vehicle around here. No one would spend that much money on a set of wheels unless it had a Fendt, Deutz, New Holland, John Deere badge on it and was happier at the slurry tank than the electric socket. Just wait till the local Q boys here develop a car that runs on untreated slurry and all you have to do to tank, is pull up at your next door farm. that will stop all the diesel particle rows and probably result in near empty roads when they are all so clean and perfumed with good "Countryside Air".

Home and prepare the wood pellet bunker for a delivery this afternoon. After every three or so deliveries, one should completely clean out the bunker of all the fine dust that accumulates. Our supplier prides itself on having the best and most dust free pellets anywhere. Fairly recently they have supplied all the equipment to a pellet dealer in Norfolk and I now see their website is also very well excellently done in English, very clever and although a 1:1 copy of the German language pages, it strikes me as being better with the use of words.. Angie and I are even quoted in the Customer Comments bit, the original email about two years ago was in German but someone has done a great job translating it.

With time though, the simple abrasion within the system will cause the dust to accumulate and make the system less efficient. So I heaved myself in using stepladders and started the work, having to try and stay upright on a 60° V shaped floor and wearing only socks. The inevitable happened when I was also balancing on the ladder and I fell painfully on my backside. Boy did it hurt and just hope my coccyx is OK - I fell off Asyr about 25 years ago - well he fell over while walking and took me down with him. I suffered pains for that for at least 15 years.

However managed to finish, hauled myself out and then had the joy to get a call from, my personal trainer, Bliper Nogbad. He told me to stop whining, pick myself up, ever cloud has a silver lining. Six hours later, three large kidney stones popped out! Thanks Nigel for lifting me up - as always.

As always, the pellet delivery was 5 minutes early - so annoying. The driver who has almost always delivered to us in the last 12 years and is also a several horses-at-home man, had only done 500km today with several deliveries. Ours was the last today, so just another 110km back to the yard and fill up ready for Monday.

Everything back in place set about making a Mackerel Pate. I don't think I have made (or eaten) one for 25+ years but a chance sight of a Blipers photo of a package of kippers yesterday reminded me of it. Somewhere I ha´d written down the 70's recipe my Mum used which I am sure was from Delia, back in the days when she did a cookery spot on BBC East Anglia and had bought out her first book. A check of Delia's website revealed a fancy one and no mention of the old one. So took a look around at Jamie, BBC, Telegraph and concocted something. Not as good as Mum's but acceptable.

Then the phone rang and had a great uplifting call from grandchildren (and Mum) in Ireland,. Meanwhile Angie prepared a great meal which did a power of good but after which I fell asleep on the sofa. Waking up at 10:30pm and thought I needed a dessert to lift me up again. So once again in the kitchen and made a Tiramisu, again using my own adaptations from the same sites as above - I liked Jamie's passion for chocolate but having no dark chocolate had to adapt. Went well apart from the bottle of Amaretto slipping inadvertently a few times.

The greatest thing about making cakes and desserts on your own - you get to lick the spoons, bowls and whisks yourself and don't have to share with anyone. Gets to the point where I don't even run the whisk at top speed at the end, so as to make sure more of the sweet goo sticks on the whisks!

However it was a mistake. Instead of "tira mi su", it let me down. I didn't read "Chill for at least four hours before eating". What a let down and very disappointed, I lay down again and slept till morning.

However to end on a positive note:  when trying to find a recipe book tonight, I did find my original copy of Mum's pate recipe. Will have to try when children here next month. Happy bunny after all.