I STILL like the story about the farmer with two sons; one was a pessimist, the other an optimist. One Christmas he bought the pessimist a computer but the poor lad was frightened to use it in case he broke it. The farmer gave his optimist son a pile of horse manure, so the lad set to work with a fork saying to himself: "There must be a pony under this lot!"

Noticing the date was almost the end of May, I remember a hill farmer friend of mine telling me something his father had told him about what happened one fine Saturday morning in late May.

My friend's father was called Mark and his story went like this. "It was a fine warm morning towards the end of May, primroses were still in evidence and there were signs of new life everywhere. The countryside was at is best. I was leaning over a wooden field gate down the lane when I heard a car coming. When the car arrived, the driver, who was probably a tourist, wound down his window and bade me Good Day'."

Mark had settled himself on the gate, one elbow resting on the top bar to face the visitor, as he returned the chap's greeting.

The visitor went on to comment: "It is often said that we should all be more like farmers and make time to stand and stare."

Mark replied "I bet thou thowt I was doin nowt and if thou did thou'd be wrang!"

"No offence," said the driver, "But you looked as if you were just enjoying the countryside on this fine morning."

"Not quite" replied Mark, "I could deah that without leavin t' farmyard. But dosta like t'countyside?"

"I not only like it, I love it, said the visitor." Mark thought for a moment then said: "I'm glad of that, but appen I can elp thee to understand it as well."

The old hill farmer told the visitor that he hadn't just been wiling away the time and went on to explain to the chap that this was the month when lambing in the fells would be almost completed and the ewes after being dosed if needed, having had any lame feet attended to and any soiled wool clipped off their back end and tails, would be turned to the fells with their lambs. These lambs will have been given a flock mark, an ear mark and anything else they might need. Also, the suckler cows will have just been turned out with their calves after spending the winter inside. He explained to the chap that what he was doing while looking over the gate was casting his eyes over the suckler herd complete with bull that were grazing contentedly on the slope below and to one side of the gate, looking for any signs of distress and anything else wrong with the cattle that may need attention.

Mark told the chap that it could be a critical time for cattle that had been newly or not long turned out, as the sudden change from being fed inside to grazing fresh spring grass could cause a sudden lowering of the magnesium and calcium content of the blood and if a solution was not quickly injected into the blood stream the beast would very likely die. The signs to look for were uneasiness, followed by staggering about.

The hill farmer said: "When thou thowt I was dewing nowt, I was looking fer any sign of trouble amang t'cattle."

The chap then said: "Well thank you for that, as you said I now understand a lot better and although I haven't been here for long, you have certainly opened my eyes."

"I'm glad of that," said Mark, "And I hope thou'll go on tekkin an interest, in fact I wish a lot more would".

Dialect word: Kep meaning to catch Thought for the day: Apart from the known and unknown what else is there?