Yesterday Beattie trod on my foot when I was feeding her some concentrates.  Even a small cow (she’s a Dexter) has horny hooves and weighs if not a ton then it feels like a ton and my little toe is puffy and bruised (photos available on request!).  Nevertheless I managed to put on my wellies and join the Wednesday walkers for a bracing trek across the muddy footpaths. For some reason we got onto the subject of ancestors and I discovered that one of our group is a direct descendant of a famous explorer, map maker and fur trader who was born in 1769 and worked for the Hudson Bay Company, married a Cree Indian and begat 14 children with his free nations wife.  There is even a monument to him in Saskatchewan.