Fauna Friday: Dexters

Oh dear. I haven't been here for a week. Things have been busy and they have been fraught. Anyway, today I am posting a photo of a neighbour's Dexter cows. She is a beef farmer and yes I am afraid we do have a taste for beef and we do buy packs of beef from this lady. (I say 'I am afraid' because I am sorry for upsetting people who don't eat meat, but there we go.) Dexters are a small breed so the joints etc tend to be small and ideal for smaller households. We are gradually eating our way through a pack in our freezer now.

This brown cow in the photo is always producing calves which are a bit small, even for Dexters, but when I said to my friend J 'Oh no. So does that mean she will get sent for.....? J said 'Oh no'. Sometimes I just can't bring myself to do that. I'll just keep her. That's nice, isn't it? J admits it isn't good business sense but she does have a heart.

Update on hubby. Very sadly, his cancer has spread to his kidney despite the chemo, so he is no longer on chemo. He will be trying another drug which again won't stop the progression of the cancer but hopefully will slow it down, much as the chemo was supposed to. The side effects will be the same as chemo so he says if he can't stand them he would rather go without and just get what quality he can for as long as it lasts. The success rate of this drug is 50/50. We just feel it all hangs very much in the balance. It's very uncertain, very frightening and upsetting. Sometimes it just all seems too big a thing to contemplate. He was even brave enough to ask hard questions himself, such as what will happen to him if the drug doesn't work, and how long would he then have? It was all quite sickening and horrifying. I know people say well we all have our time and all have to go in the end. I know that but it really is not of help to me.
Did I say he had a little stroke at New Year? He is recovering from that. He feels better for not being on chemo and is eating better. Steroids are helping him.
I just can hardly think of anything else. That's why I'm not here so much. Besides that, there have been lots of times lately that we've spent large chunks of the day going to hospital for various things.