I stood in the street last night, just taking in the atmosphere of a village settling down for the night. Nothing evokes a sense of well being or satisfaction more than the whiff of wood smoke.  Toasting their toes in front of log fires in cosy cottages, its nice to see that grey smoke curling up out of the chimney pots again. Proof indeed that the holiday season has started, and lovers of the dale and those seeking the solace of a few days away from the stress of the office and the phone, have a little time on their hands to wind down and enjoy their first holiday break of the season. The village is waking up in more than one sense, although winter is reluctant to give up its grip lambing season is also up on us.

__________

As a write this entry there's a little hen sparrow tapping on my office window glass and I can hear the sound of bleating lambs and a ewe calling after them. I look out and see Bella who must be the oldest farmer in the dale striding in her wellie boots down the street with a lamb under each arm. She's pursued by a frantic mother who doesn't realize that she's being tempted into the warmth of a barn to protect her and her offspring from the wet and cold. She's one of the fortunate ones for there are many more out on the fells. So spring is upon us, sort of and what with the sparrow and more aggressively chaffinches who are fighting off their reflections in the double glazing to protect their partner from the window phantom suitors are doing, is just getting on with the rush of spring, just like everyone else despite the weather.

___________

I was smugly driving up the A684 towards Hawes with a ton and a half of the best logs in my trailer behind me. Biomass fuel that's what it is, I was telling myself. These are better than the solid smokeless fuels I normally burn on the stove. Why? because wood is a renewable and to produce growth the trees breath up the carbon dioxide produced by the stove, thus closing the circle. So why should I be having this conversation in my head. Well I was brought up through the smog's of the fifties and sixties and in my working career had responsibility for the introduction of smoke controlled areas under the Clean Air Act. I'm afraid previous life experiences do leave there mark on you, however hard you try to leave them behind, but these old sycamore and ash logs burn extremely well. Incidentally the source is from the casualties of the January 2005 gales they tell me it will be a couple of years yet before they're all cleared up or made into fallen sculptures, seats and the like.

__________

I've been eaten by a cow!! what I hear you say surely that should have been... I've eaten a cow. Well not actually me but my fleece must have had a certain attraction to a hungry Limousin. We were repairing the float valve on a drinker in the undercover yard were the beasts have been wintered over and are running with a big Belgian Blue bull with a back end as big as the barn door. Was I frightened? asked Ken?, no not at all, I knew the bull was no problem he was more than happy with his family around him than showing an interest in me. But it's a bull isn't it, so you keep an eye out for him don't you, and that was my mistake, I didn't notice the Limousin heifer that had tootled up behind me until she grabbed a mouthful of my old fleece jacket. I jumped, startled her she jumped back as well but forgot to let go. Job finished into the shower and clothes into the washer!!!