Rob-n-Hild Take the High Road!

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Valle + Rygnestad

It was strange waking up in a bed at Adelheid's rather than a tent somewhere in Scotland. After breakfast we got to visit mamma at the nursing home. Then we had a day of even more fun ahead: cow wrangling and associated tasks.

As we walked up to the nursing home, it was a beautiful day, and as we often do we met the robot lawn mower. He's a lucky lawn mower who has his own road crossing sign. Always makes us giggle.

First we had to visit Hege at the farm where Hild grew up. Things are different there now with only 1 sheep rather than 100+, but so many other animals to cuddle.

The latest additions are these 4 Indian Running Ducklings. They are so cute and their little feet go "pitter-patter" when they run back and too. They love their little hut with a heating lamp until they are big enough to run outside with the other farm animals. Rob and Hild clocked another species for the list of: seen AND cuddled.

As usual we also popped in to greet the hens and the peacocks. We didn't bother the peacocks, but we stroked the hen that was sitting on an egg.

The cats were running around - also ready for cuddles, and in the case of Hinny the dog: chasing a stick, any stick, ALL DAY LONG. This sign was a gift from Kristin and Alvaro: Home is where someone runs to greet you.

Hege has also built a pond for the ducks including a fountain and lights driven by solar panels.

Now that she has a new digger there is only one goal: Ready Steady Dig!

Our real task on the farm today was to move some of the cows from one field, across the road, to another field. Hege, Adelheid, Rob and Hild were optimistic that this was going to be a quick task. Then suddenly, Hege's alarm went off and she had to go and joint the volunteer fire and rescue team and attend to a road accident. Adelheid, Rob and Hild soldiered on without her.

We are a bit ashamed to say that we prioritized getting our lunch bags out of Adelheid's car before Hege had to rush away - potentially saving lives!

The cows, bull, and calves were suspicous at first, but when they realized that Adelheid had turned off the electric fence and was carrying a bucket of feed ("kraftfor") they came willingly. Well, I say willingly, but two calves decided to make a run for it. The took off in the wrong direction. Adelheid and Rob made sure the other cows did not escape while Hild set off running to cut the calves off at the pass - as it were. The advice from seasoned farmers (Hege and Adelheid) would be to leave them to it and they would soon return when they found themselves alone and away from the herd. But Hild had no patience for that: there were more tasks ahead. So after some running, shouting and waving of arms, the calves were across the road and into the field with the others.

Next task: electrify the fence around the new field. This meant disconnecting the old one, bringing control boxes and cables to a new point and plugging it all back in. The system also had to be earthed and metal stakes had to be hammered into the ground and connected to the circut.

Next task: bring water to the new field with a giant hose from the Rygnestad river, across the road in a culvert, and into a big old bathtub. Sounds easy? It was not! Adelheid and Rob were pouring buckets after buckets of water into the hose to clear it. Hild was comfortably sitting at the bottom of the hill by the bathtub waiting for water to arrive. It didn't for about an hour. While Hild sat with her feet up in the sun, Rob and Adelheid did the math on how many buckets it should take before the hose was full. They had worked for too long with out positive results down the bottom of the hill.

We regrouped at the river when Adelheid discovered a couple of large holes in the hose. Ugh. How annoying. Bad weather and rolling rocks must have damaged it. We needed a picnic lunch break in the beautiful weather with the river rushing by us. Lots of childhood memories for Adelheid and Hild.

Then Hege returned after having helped sort out the road accident and the person had been taken to hospital in a helicopter. Together we did a temporary fix of the hose with some rubber sheeting and electrician's tape. A few more buckets of water and airing out of the hose vent - and the cows had plenty of water running through the bathtub in their field. Hooray! Some lessons for next time: we will walk the entire length of the hose to check for leaks first.

Next task: We went up to Systog to tend to a calf and to spray the goats and Kalle the ram with insect spray.

Malacrux the horse, Loke the Shetland pony, and Emil the fjording seemed less stressed by the insects. We gave them carrots and they seemed even happier.

The view at Rygnestad is still beautiful on s sunny day.

After visiting Janet for another little while, we went to get some groceries for a BBQ dinner at the farm. We enjoyed sitting outside to eat our dinner, and then having dessert in the garage building. Hege and Eirik have furnished half the building with sofas and tables. There is the BBQ and a fridge and a gas heater. There are decorative lights and great farm-life atmosphere. Perfect for parties as well as normal Saturday dinners!

We weren't only having a family dinner, we were also celebrating Kristin's birthday in her absence. Alvaro was also jealous that he couldn't be there because we made sure we had his favourites: "sjokoladepudding, gele, and vaniljesaus" which is chocolate pudding, rasberry jelly, and custard. Jon Halvard came to join us too. We chatted into the late evening and reminisced about our different travels and also our joint trip to Florida in 2013.

Coming up: A day of work in Valle.

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