POST STORMS

  Apologies to all those who follow Dafad's Days, but I'm having a few "technical" problems here. I know posts are less interesting without the visuals to accompany them but hopefully one way or another, normal Dafad daftness will be restored, please be patient. Meanwhile we are still having adventures and the camera is a constant companion as we trog about. Today was lovely, clear skies, warm air, yet still very soggy under hoof! Daft dog went swimming today and cleaned off all the sheep squelchy "mud"  in the Canyon. If you go back to the 16th April, in the post "LOW LEVELS" I recorded that the water had dropped four foot below it's natural level. Due to all the recent rain, that level has risen over five feet at least, to the point that even the normal path was below the water surface. 

Diving dog found all this great fun, but trying to navigate a new way was to say the least treacherous due to the rain causing landslip down the sides of the canyon. 
In the forestry the wind damage was quite awesome, big pines toppled over and branches and fresh greenery blocking some of the paths. The whole area had been changed by the storms of this last week but due to the "slightly" warmer weather the insects were foraging and new growth can be seen everywhere and the birds were busy filling the air with newly invigorated energy.

   Another sound heard today was rare ... as a rally for 57 classic vehicles passed up and over the mountain. The throaty sound of old gear boxes being put to the test, reverberated all around (bringing back memories) as the now classic cars from my youth navigated the set course. It was a lovely sight to see elderly MG's, Fords and other makes, driven by owners enjoying a run out in decent weather, it made a change from tractors and Landrovers.

  The rest of the day was spent washing and air drying, dog towels, bedding and other mud splattered clothing, no doubt that clean state of affairs won't last long. Now that there are many more sheep out on the commons there is a certain aroma that seems to become part of dog and owner, the scent of Ovine O'dure! A very penetrative perfume. C'est la vie!