Beau

What is that munching on our lawn this drizzly autumnal day? Why it's my new pet sheep - Beau! Our son Ian purchased her from a sheep dealer in Nottingham and she travelled back to Sheffield in the back of our hatchback yesterday afternoon. I woke this morning to "Baaaa! Baaaa!" I wish Beau was part of a flock. She looks very lonesome doesn't she? But investigations demonstrated that we don't have enough grass to support more than one hungry sheep.

I am a regular reader of "Going Gently" in which Earl John Gray, the tea baron, often recounts the ups and downs of caring for an assortment of animals on his country estate in North Wales. Now with the arrival of Beau, I think I have joined his league though I am not about to make Beau my "partner". She will instead be my lawn mower. She was purchased secretly by Shirley, Ian and Frances to celebrate my recent eighty second birthday.

Earlier, regular garden visitor Stanley, the alpha male ginger cat from up the street, came strolling down the little path between our dwarf box trees and stopped in his tracks when he saw Beau grazing. Beau sneered at him and Stanley ran off. Territorial rights modified.

I guess there'll be a few more posts about Beau before she becomes several Sunday lunches, a few lamb saags and a fireside rug. In the meantime I hope to find great pleasure looking after my new girlfriend. Now where did I put my wellington boots? Welcome Beau! Daddy's coming!