Guests who have stayed with us before will be saddened to learn that we had to have dear Nellie put to sleep.  She had a prolapsed disc which meant she lost the use of her back legs, bowel and bladder, and this was misdiagnosed, so that by the time she had an operation, it was too late for her to regain the feeling in those areas.  We all miss her.  We also lost one of our chickens to a badly broken leg that couldn't be saved.  So a sad month for us here.