Halswell Domain

Halswell Domain
View from the Model Engineers' site in the Halswell Domain

Friday, March 29, 2013

The end of summer (but not of the golden weather)


I am sure I am not alone in noticing how the length of the days is fast diminishing. I am still surprised by the streetlights coming on soon after eight, and, while I can still rely on the sun to dry the sweat on my horse following our afternoon rides, this will not be the case for much longer, as we lose a couple of minutes of light each day.

The temperature has definitely dropped in the last few weeks. As the days shorten and the temperatures decrease my horse has started growing in his winter coat. His summer-sleek lines looked distinctly fuzzy yesterday, and by May most of my finger disappear into his ample winter hair. The oldest of the horses I look after is already chomping through a full 20 litre bucket of hard feed each night, and this will increase to at least twice that amount each evening. 

The apples on the apple tree are nearly ready, and the birds and the dog have consumed the majority of the plums. I am sure that the plum tree welcomes this, as it is no longer bent over by the weight of fruit. My pumpkin patch on the horse manure pile is going slightly ballistic. Some of the pumpkins are so heavy that they have started sinking into the pile (we won’t tell that to the people who will hopefully be eating them!) so they have been propped up using bits of firewood. The dog thinks that this is a great game, and (un)helpfully drags the bits of wood back over to me once I have finished putting them in place. I am starting to hear the occasional ‘crack-crunch’ of walnuts as I walk under the trees, but it will be a few weeks yet before it sounds like I am letting off fireworks as I walk along because of the sheer amount of nuts.

The rain last week was much appreciated, but like almost everyone with stock, we would like more please!

Hope that you all have a good break this Easter.

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