Buttermaking with a KitchenAid

I make butter every 4-6 weeks, using cream bought in bulk.    It's the same amount of mess, and the same amount of clearing up, whether I make a couple of litres or a lot of litres, so I now make about 10 litres at a time, and I have a production  line going on. 

I remembered to take some photos yesterday, so I thought I'd write it up here.

Preparation
First of all, I clear my work area, and clean it with something like Dettol spray, or Milton.   This includes cleaning the sink/   Then I get out all my equipment, and clear a space in the fridge. I stand the mixer on some kitchen towel.    Then I tie my hair back, put my pinny on, wash my hands, and get started.

1.  Open all the cartons. It's surprisingly hard to do this with buttery fingers or buttery gloves.

2. I use about 1 and a half litres of cream for each batch.  I pour the cream into my kitchen aid bowl. Then, I put the lid back on the carton and turn it upside down to get the last of the cream out (used in the next batch).

You can see I am using the beaters with rubber on both sides, I've found these more effective than the whisk (which gets the butter clogged in it and therefore wastes loads of butter) or the metal beater.

3. I fit a lid to the mixer bowl.   KitchenAid have lids available which are used typically for dough proving. I bought mine from the US via Ebay -  we simply cut a hole in one of them so that it can fit on the mixer (before the beater is attached). Without this, even at a slow speed, the buttermilk sloshes everywhere. 

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4. I turn the mixer on, at speed 1.  Faster isn't better. Too fast and the process doesn't work, you just end up with whipped cream. You need the fat globules to smash together and join together, not smash and repel.    

Listen to the sound.  You'll learn very quickly to hear the change in tone, as the cream gets thicker,  and you'll learn to recognise the tone that happens just a second before the butter has formed and separated from the buttermilk.

5. As soon as that happens, I switch off the machine, undo the lid, and raise the beater. .  Inside, it looks like this - loose yellow curds, and buttermilk.

6. Now we need to drain the buttermilk.  Don't waste it - it's fantastic in Yorkshire puddings, pancakes, scones, and bread.   I put a bowl underneath the beaters, to catch drips.  I then pour the buttermilk off into a jug, moving the butter around to get the buttermilk from underneath.  

7. I then mix again, at speed 1 (and with the lid on) for literally just a few seconds.  More buttermilk comes out,and now the butter has formed into more of a single mass.   I drain it, and use a firm spatula (or similar) to press against the bowl to squeeze out a bit more. .  Then I mix it again.  And sometimes again. 

You MUST get the buttermilk out. If you do not, your butter will go rancid. It's much easier to get the machine to beat out the buttermilk than it is to do it by hand when washing.

8. When I've got out as much buttermilk as I can, I empty the butter into a colander over a bowl in my (clean) sink.    I can now put the second batch of cream on to churn, while I wash the butter from the first.

9. I turn on the cold water tap so that it is running slowly. If you don't have cold water, you could pre-chill some in the freezer and use that.    I use a firm spatula  to move the butter so it is washed thoroughly.  Try to avoid pushing it through the holes in the colander. When the water  it is running fairly clear, I shake the colander to get the water out. This also rolls the butter together, probably not necessary, but it's the closest I get to doing any butter patting.   I then stand the colander over another bowl so it can drain.

The water from the washing is used to rinse out the empty cream cartons so that I can put them in the Recycling. Don't be tempted to use the water from one washing to wash the next batch.

10. When the second batch is ready for the colander, I simply plop the first batch into a big bowl in the fridge to chill down.

I carry on like this until I've made all the butter.

Now, if you want unsalted butter, all you have to do is to pot your butter and freeze it.   We like ours salted though, so we have a bit more processing to do.

Salting the Butter
Once all the butter has been made, I rinse the KitchenAid bowl and the beater to make sure there is no buttermilk (or butter with buttermilk in) on them.    I then weigh out 3 pounds of the butter from the fridge,  and I add 3 teaspoons of salt.  I then put the machine back on, and let it churn for a few minutes.

While the first lot is churning, I clear up all the things I no longer need.  I wash by hand, sometimes then putting things in the dishwasher to ensure all the grease is removed.  Don't put things covered in butter in your dishwasher - the pipes will get clogged. 

Once the first salted batch has churned (and be aware that the salt will taste a bit strong at this point.  it mellows as the butter rests),  I start potting up.   If it's warm, I'll put the butter in the fridge for a bit before potting.

A second bowl is helpful here, so you can set another lot salting while you are potting the first lot.  I do find that sometimes the machine gets a bit hot and needs a break.

For pots, I use small Lock and Lock containers,  freezer proof bowls,  and sometimes I just roll a load of butter in greaseproof paper and then freeze that

I've also used silicone muffin cases, which work reasonably well, but I find I can taste the silicone in the butter. so I now avoid them.

I've also used burger presses, which are fine as long as you have a receptacle to keep the butter in afterwards.

When it's all potted, we put everything in the fridge for a few hours to firm up, and then transfer to the freezer. 

Other Tips
Don't make the blocks too big.  We like our butter soft, so the block we're using is not kept in the fridge. T  In the summer, we don't want to risk losing butter, or have it go off, so I make smaller blocks in the summer.    
We always have one block out to use, 2 blocks in the fridge waiting, and the rest in the freezer.
As soon as a block comes out of the fridge, we take a replacement out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to defrost.   It's just a habit to get in to.

Butter gets everywhere
I have half a j-cloth which I wet, and I use that to wipe my hands as I go.  Even so I end up with butter on the fridge handle, butter on the tap, etc.   I've got better with practice.

I've tried using food-safe gloves.  These are helpful because you can chuck them away if you end up with too much butter on them, but it does mean you lose your sense of touch (so I'm not as aware that I've just touched the fridge door with butter etc).

Flavoured Butter
If you want to make flavoured butter - wait until you've potted up everything else.  Then put the remaining butter in your Kitchenaid, along with the garlic/chopped herbs/whatever you want.  I find it helpful to include some chopped parsley, so I can see that the butter is savoury.

I've had success here by putting the flavoured butter in ice cube trays to freeze, then popping them out and storing them in a Ziplock bag in the freezer.  I can then pull out the number I need.

I've also had success by making a roll of flavoured butter and freezing that. I simply cut off the amount I need from the frozen roll.

Buttermilk
I typically get about 3 litres of buttermilk from 10 litres of cream.  I measure out several portion-sized amounts into square tubs and freeze it, so that I have buttermilk available at all times.

Once it's frozen, I pop it out of the tub and into Ziplock bags, wrapped in EasiFreeze.   The portions are usually enough to make 1 batch of Yorkshire puddings, or one loaf of Buttermilk bread.    This means I can continue to enjoy it long after the buttermilk has gone too sour to be used.

The rest is kept in lock-and-log 1.5 litre fridge jugs in the fridge.  I make buttermilk bread for about a week or so after making butter.  I'm happy to slice and freeze excess loaves.  I also use it instead of milk/water in Yorkshire puddings,  in pancake batters,  in scones.     As it starts to sour, I use it to make Irish Soda Bread.

When it's too sour for me to use, any excess is poured down the sink.

Raw milk

Did I mention that I've been drinking raw milk for some time now?  

It's so delicious, I have to ration myself. 

I've been buying milk fro Hook and Sons (the chap who was featured in the film The Moo Man), driving to Chiswick Market every few weeks and buying in bulk.  Fortunately, it's freezable with relatively little loss of quality. 

If we were in his rounds area, we'd pay 95p per pint.  I pay my milkman 85p per pint for pasteurised homogenised organic milk, and I'd happily pay 95p for the quality of raw milk.

However, I'm not in the rounds area, so my choices are to either get it posted, which isn't cheap,  or to go to a farmers market.   Luckily, they sell at Chiswick, which is this side of London at least.  

Then I was contacted by an alternative supplier from Lancashire.  Their milk was really well rated,  and their price was much cheaper per litre (£2ish rather than £3). Actually, I should point out here that Hook and Sons was in 2 pint bottled, which is 1.1 litres.  I worked out that if I ordered the maximum number of bottles, even with postage it would still work out cheaper than buying the same number of bottles at Chiswick.   I gave it a try.

It arrived in superb condition, really well packed with wool insulation.   It tasted OK, but I would swear it wasn't quite as proper-milk-tasting as the Hook and Sons (H&S) milk I'd had before.  (I also ordered some cheese at the same time, and I can say the cheese was delicious).

Maybe I was just getting used to the taste of real milk, and not noticing it so much?

I froze most of it.   Like the H&S milk, it's a little bitty when defrosted, but it doesn't impact the flavour (as far as I can tell). A quick shake and the bits disappear temporarily anyway.

I did notice that the new milk frothed well for our morning flat whites,  which surprised me.   The H&S milk doesn't, and there is a biological reason for this, same reason that the yoghurt made with H&S milk is runnier than that made with pasteurised and homogenised milk.      

It was very pleasant to be able to have frothy raw milk - but I had thought it wasn't really possible.   I checked the poly bottles to make sure it really was raw milk, and it was.    

Maybe it's just because it's a different breed of cow?

I'm down to my last few bottles in the freezer. I decided to get some more Hook and Son milk this time, and to try and do a taste test while i have both.  I couldn't face driving over to Chiswick Market yesterday,  so I placed an online order. 

We'll see.

Still here

Sorry, been very distracted lately.

**proud stepmum alert**

My wonderful SS1 completed the Marathon des Sables, in a fantastic time, with a superb average km/h figure.   I tracked him pretty much all day, every day. 

**/end of alert**

Meanwhile, we've had a gorgeous few days weather wise.  Spring has sprung everywhere.

The cherry tree outside the kitchen door is covered in blossom...

...so hopefully this will translate into lots of cherries.   I've eaten all the jars of cherries in syrup I bottled a couple of years ago, and I'm looking forward to making more.

The pear tree also has a lot of blossom, so we may be in for a good pear crop.  

Tilda is spending the sunny days outside    It's still not possible for her to cgo in the paddock with the Others - any attempt to put her in there is met by a frenzied Ninja attack from Poppy.    Poppy can't even tolerate Tilda sitting alongside the fence on the other side of no-hens-land.  She desperately pushes at the fence trying to reach Tilda to attack her.

Did I mention that I'd moved the egg shaped cat-bed so that it provides a wind shelter for Tilda.  She does get in it occasionally, but usually she uses it as a windbreak. If she uses it at all.

Marathon des Sables

My amazing eldest step son is running the Marathon des Sables.

This is the toughest race on earth.  240 km over 6 days, across the Moroccan Sahara.

It's an incredible challenge.

He attempted it many years ago as a young man, but could not complete it becaue of the damage to his feet.  It's always nagged him that he didn't complete it.


So.  They are starting today and have to complete he 34km stage in 10 hours or less.  All competitors ave to carry their own sleeping equipment and food.


http://www.darbaroud.com/en/2014-edition/the-race.html
 

Another fit

Izzy had a fit this morning. 7.30 (so the usual 6.30 GMT).

We had reduced her morning dose to 1/4 tablet,  from Thursday 13th March.  It took a couple of weeks before we saw any appreciable change in her.  She still wasn't back to her old self, but she was a little more alert. She had started to occasionally join us for breakfast again, and she wasn't zonked out all the time. Just some of the time.

We're going to continue on the reduced dose and see what happens.  We're due to take her back to the vet in a week and a bit, so we'll see if she fits again in the meantime.

Garden Helpers

Dh was digging over the beds in the fruit cage today.  He had a lot of help.

The Girls watch where the fork is going and dive in immediately.  One learns to be very careful before plunging the fork.

2 hour expeditiion to do a 30 minute trip

DH thought it would be a change to have a fish curry.  Coincidentally, I had seen a recipe for Parsee Fish Curry by Cyrus from the Spice Men. It uses sea bass, and that happens to be what we have in the freezer.

We didn't have any curry leaves, nor did we have any rice flour. I looked online and saw that Rice Flour was available in Ocado, Waitrose and Sainsburys.  I need it today, so Ocado was out.     I thought about making rice flour in the Vitamix, but apparently I need the dry container (which I don't have) or else I might damage the wet container.   

I couldn't face driving intot the town cetre for Waitrose. Besides, they would have only dried curry leaves, whereas there is an Indian superstore not too far away,  so I decided to go there.  I got the fresh curry leaves ( and a few other bits) while I was there. I coudn't find rice flour.  Atta flour (which is cornmeal, I think),  Garam flour (which is chick peas), Barley flour, chestnut flour, water chestnut flour, potato flour... an endless list of flours, but rice not amongst them.

I went over to the nearby Sainsbugs.  Sainsbugs online has rice flour.  Sadly, this one did not.

On my way home, I thought I'd try the Vitamix. Then I remembered there was an Asda nearby.  They would surely stock it.

Asda didn't.  At least, not in the flour aisle.  They had a very imited selection of flour, in fact.  However, they have a few "world food" aisles, so I traipsed up and down those looking.  Nope.  In the Caribbean Food section they had "potato  flour".   I reasoned that might be a good substitute,  it was - after all - a starchy thing ground to flour.

I googled "rice flour substitutes" with no success. 

On my way home again,  it occurred to me that an oriental supermarket might have rice flour.  After all, Rice Noodles are made from rice flour. 

It wasn't possible to park outside the orietnal supermarket.  Second time around, I had to park some distance away and walk.   At least the walk would do me good.  It would help me walk off some of the malt loaf I had managed to eat, butterless, after leaving Asda. 

They had some.

It looks remarkably like the potato flour.

Let's hope it was worth the 2 hour expedition.

Not today, thank you

Yesterday's blog got me thinking about Tilda.  I do realise I  spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about our house hen.

Anyway, today, instead of scooping her up and putting her outside the open kitchen door - where she then has the option of coming back in or staying outside - I tried things the other way around. I opened the door, and put her by the open door, still in the kitchen.

She stood in the doorway, apparently sniffing the air.  I'm not sure she really was sniffing. There were no sniffle related sounds. It's not like a hen's nostrils wiggle when they sniff.     But her head was definitely in a sniffing-the-air pose.

After a few moments, she lurched forward (aha, going out! I thought), swung round, and shuffled back into the kitchen.

I tried again a couple of hours later.  Still no joy.

I'll try again later.

 

Terminal 2

Took part in a large-scale passenger trial at Heathrow today.  

There have been lots of minor trials,  this was (I believe) the first full on testing of the Arrivals process.

It was really well organised,  and I really enjoyed seeing the new Terminal 2.   For many years I travelled most weeks, usually Terminal 1 or Terminal 4 though.  I had travelled from T2 a few times, and it was hideous.

The new building is really lovely, airy, spacious, light.

The process - mostly - worked well. We did encounter a problem with outsized baggage, but that's part of the reason the trial is done.

We were all well looked after, and I'd definitely do it again.

For her own good

Tilda has been quite perky (for a hen on her last legs) lately. She's increased her consumption of peckablocks, which is a good sign.  She's spending her days outside now, although that's done byus physically picking her up and putting her outside.  I suspect that if we left it up to her, even with the door open,  she'd stay inside.

Once she's out she seems reasonably content. As much as one can really tell with a chook. She waddles over to the double row of netting, as close to the other chooks as she can, and then sits there.  She moves along the netting as the day goes on, getting into the sun or the shade as she prefers.

She has asked to go in with the others, but each time I've tried it, it hasn't ended well.  I have no idea whether her hatchmates still want to attack her - they don't get the chance.  As soon as Tilda gets anywhere near the run, Poppy rushes over to keep her away.     Poppy goes to great lengths to try and reach Tilda, to give her a resounding peck on the head.  If it was just one peck, well, that would be hen pecking. But this is done with a passion.

It's not spite,  which was the reason Milly (deceased) used to attack newbies. Or oldies that she didn't like anymore.   Milly had never been subjected to anything other than mild hen pecking, and I've no idea how or why she developed such a nasty and spiteful personality.  I had to cull her in the end,  and I wish that I had done it sooner.

I can understand what might be Poppy's motivation.  Last year,  when Tilda reintegrated herself for the summer, she made sure she hen pecked Poppy and Lotti.  Tilda had been bottom hen all her life, she had been bottom of 5 and she did not want to be bottom of 7.    Poppy and Lotti were youngsters who didn't know how to retaliate.

Poppy, presumably, thinks that Tilda wants to rejoin the flock,  and now Poppy wants to make sure she doesn't lose her place in the flock. She's making quite sure that Tilda knows her place.

Unfotunately, I can't be sure that Poppy will know when to stop.  She's drawn blood before,  but that was on the comb - and combs always bleed profusely.     I've tried putting Tilda in the no-hens-pand between the two rows of netting,  but she's then within reach of Poppy's beak,  and Poppy has a go.  Last week's cut comb was caused by that.

So we're currently not putting Tilda in with the others.   

As the weather warms up, and the kitchen might become to warm for her,  I think the next step will be to put Tilda on her own, in the Go. The Go could  run alongside the netting, meaning that Tilda gets the same contact as she does now, but she can also live outside.    I was thinking I could leave the side door open (during the day when we are in) so she could also come out of the Go and come to the house if she preferred.  And at the beginning, she could choose whether to sleep in the Go or sleep in the kitchen.

Yes, I guess that's the next step.

More felt hens

I've succumbed.

Fiona, who makes the hens, was having a BOGOF day.   Sadly I missed it, but it did make me think about getting some more (felt) hens.

I asked her if she had any black felt, and she said she had enough to make one, maybe two at a stretch, This was perfect.  I asked her to make me a big hen and a small hen, and to give the small hen a different style of comb.

So please meet the felt representations of Florence (my Australorp) and Poppy (My welsh black)

And here's Poppy in real life

I've just realised that  I shoud have asked for grey beaks.  Never mind. I'm happy nonethless

New House

Here are some pics of the finished house. The roof is curved for run off.  The edge of the roof also overhangs all round, to try and avoid rain getting in the joints.

It has six nextboxes, 3 either side. The middle of each three is slightly larger than the outside two.  The top flap opens for easy access to eggs, and for airing when cleaned.

The large opening at the back lifts up, allowing easy access for cleaning. We have wooden struts on top of the Cube wheels to help distribute the weight.  Two of them are kept long, so we can use these as handles if we want to move the house on its wheels... and the handles also act as perches for the Girls during the day.

Inside, we put roosting bars, which have slightly rounded edges.. We dithered between roosting bars and perches. We decided to start with roosting bars. Everything is, of course, dusted with Diatom.

The roosting bars sit a little hugher than the nestboxes. Compost bag trays are underneath (the house was sized so these fit perfectly), lined with Aubiose. These slide out for easy emptying. I currently haven't put in anything in front of the nestboxes, so this makes cleaning easy. The old Aubiose can be easily swept into the main part of the coop, and then swept out.  No additional edges or corners for things to get trapped, or water to get caught when cleaning.

For cross ventilation, we have holes just under the eaves in both sides, covered with mesh:


The Girls are laying eggs in the nestboxes, but they aren't sleeping in the house. That's not surprising, as they still have the older houses to choose from.   We will be dismantling and disposing of at least one of the older houses soon.

Ladies and cocktails

Yesterday was a cocktail day with my lovely friend (Y), her sister (D) and my Aunt, (J).

This time it was at Y's.   I arrived at 10.30 laden down with assorted Monin syrups,  an enormous bag of lemons and limes,  a small and select range of alcohols, some special chocolate bitters, and various cocktail making sundries.  And eggs. And cream.

Y supplied the majority of the alcohol.  And most of the ice. 

After delivering me, DH went to collect and deliver J,  and we got started at about 11am.

Our first suite of cocktails were based on the Collins family of drinks.   I carefuly noted the alochol, the type and amount of syrup,  the lemon or lime, and the reactions.       It was  a successful session, and we quicjly got into the swing of things.

We stopped for lunch, walking over to our village cafe. Something to eat, some coffee,  and a walk  prepared us for the afternoon.   We started with the Sours,  and used up all 6 egg whites (the yolks will be made into custard).   We also used some of Y's eggs,  and never has it been easier to show the difference between a pet hen and a commercial hen.   We ran out of ice, and DH very kindly agreed to bring over a couple of bags.  Fortunately, we live close by.

We then moved on to Margaritas, Mojitos, and Mules.  And Y made a Martini for someone who was curious about it.

When we'd all had enough,  we  chatted until DH arrived at about 7.30 to collect us.

I think we may be doing that again.

The new coop

Some time ago, probably in Country Smallholding, I read about a new product called Ecosheet. Made of recycled plastic, it was marketed as being ideal for farmers to make pig arks, hen houses, and various other things out of.

The selling points were very good, including resistance to mites, and I searched for it locally without success. I could get it delivered, but we needed several sheets and the delivery cost made this prohibitive (unless we were prepared to buy a pallet lad of sheets)/

Eventually, it became available at a wood yard about 20 miles away, and we decided to go for it.

We spent quite long time designing the new coop.  One of my concerns was how long the wooden coops take to dry when I clean and poultry shield them. This new material is non absorbent, so I should be able to wipe dry.     We wanted plenty of nest boxes (3 each side), which needed to be accessible for egg collection from the outside.   Access from the back for easy cleaning was essential.  At the same time, a set of Cube wheels appeared on Ebay, and we bought those to use as a base, which meant the coop would be a reasonable height from the ground (making access for cleaning straightforward) and there would also be an area underneath for the chooks to shelter. 

DH used a CAD program to work out a cutting plan which then told us how many sheets we needed.  My DB2 collected the sheets for us in his van.

I'm not sure what I expected Ecosheet to be like, but whatever I expected, it wasn't what he unloaded from his van!

Still, it was here now, and so DH started work.

I was a little concerned when DH made the first cut.    I couldn't see how something like this could be mite resistant (and it wouldn't be possible to make a coop - or an arc - out of uncut pieces).

I contacted the company, and they said if I was concerened, we could just use a sealant over the cut sides.  That's what we did in the end.

Gradually the coop took shape. It also took over the kitchen for a while.

 The nestboxes are internal, which is why the floor area is so large.    We debated and debated whether to have a centre pop hole or a side pop hole.  In the end, as you can see, we went for a centre pop hole.

I can't find the photos of the rest of the build. Next time I go to the allotment, I'll take some pics of the finished coop so you can see it.

And Thursday

In anticipation of being able to move the kitcar into the back garden to work on,  DH was keen that we moved the new hen house down to the allotment. The hen house was currently preventing access.

The new hen house, built by DH out of Ecosheet (recycled plastic sheets),  has been finished and ready for several months.   The weather has been too horrible to face the hassle of getting it on site.

Anyway. Today was the day we had selected. 

It took a long time. 

Not particularly to get the new hen house on the allotment (although this did involve dis-mantling and subsequently re-mantling some heras fencing and some electric fencing), it was everything else.

We moved one of the old hen houses,  so that half the plot is now clear to re-seed.  This weighed a ton,  and involved me tripping over a log pile (ha ha ha).

The chooks got very excited that one of the coops had moved, and it had to be inspected by everyone.

We then had to manoeuvre the new coop, still in the trailer, to its resting place;  the base,  made from a spare set of wheels for an Omlet Cube, and some wood,  was levelled first, and eventually we transferred it.  I then had to diatom it all, put some Aubiose in... and I tried, unsuccessfully, to introduce the hens to it.

DH then fenced off the fallow half of the allotment, while I de-pooed the various coops,  did the waterers, collected the eggs,  and checked the feeders.

We still haven't decided which of the two old coops will go (in addition to an ancient shelter which is definitely going).  It was too windy, and rain was imminent, so we put off destroying the ancient shelter.  The active half of the plot is now a little busy with coops and shelters.   We will do it the next week or so, weather permitting.

I'm not convinced the Girls are going to use the new coop of their own free will.  I put some dummy eggs in the nest boxes as a bit of encouragement, but I'm not holding my breath.  Given that we haven't removed any of the other coops,  there isn't any point in forcing them.

Yet.

Heavy Wednesday

When we first moved here, some 17 years ago,  I applied to the local council to see if we could rent a garage.   I was very happy to be accepted, and took the offered garage. It was to store DH's kit car. It's not too far away.

Over the years we've discussed (sometimes quite animatedly) whether we should keep the garage, but we can't agree with what to do with the now-non-running car.    The garage was home to my carriage as well, for a while.  And all the spare roof tiles, leftover from when we had the house re-roofed.  We kept them as we were considering adding a porch at some future unspecified date.

The subject came up again recently, prompted by the SORN declaration.  Out of the blue, I suggested that, if we were keeping the car and garage, maybe we should try and get a garage in the block which was nearer our house.  We can see thse from the back of the house.

I checked online, and saw that no garages in the block were available.  I emailed the local council, now housing authority,  to ask about availability and to ask if I could be put on the waiting list.  I explained that I wanted to swap garages.

Why did I want to swap?  was the reply.

I was a little embarrassed to say that the desired block is less than 30 seconds walk from my house, whereas the existing one is about two minutes walk.     I was also a bit loathe to tell them that I would be happier being able to keep an eye on my garage - it's not as if we've ever had trouble at the old ones.

In the end, I explained that it was almost literally "on my doorstep", and I sent her a marked google map picture.

To my delight, a garage was available, and I could swap immediately.     While I went down to sort out the paperwork, DH went to the garage to start loading the car with roof tiles.   We'd then be able to unload the tiles into the new garage, then puch the kitcar down the road, and then I could give the old keys back.

The lady at the Housing Association was very helpful.  Several forms later, plus a deposit, plus rent in advance, and I had my keys.  I also completed the termination form for the other garage, and promised I'd be back with the keys as soon as we had pushed the car from one garage to the other. 

I got a text to say that there was a bit more stuff in the garage than we remembered.  And the car's brakes were seized.  Ans the tyres were flat.   He was using the portable tyre pump, but it had to cool down after each tyre and was taking some time.

So.

The new garage needed a sweep out, there was a lot of detritis and broken glass.   When that was done, we moved the roof tiles.   There were indeed a lot of roof tiles.

Then back to the old one, and we loaded the two kitchen cabinets.  And the Ducal bookcase.  The kitchen cabinets went into the garage, the bookcase came into the house so I could clean it up and give it to my brother.

Next, we had to try and tow the car our of the garage.  By the time we reached the new garage, the brakes had unseized and DH was able to manouevre it in.

Next, we had the huge tub of horse paraphernalia, including the electric fencing tape that I had been hunting hihg and low for some time ago.   And the baling twine. And the crops.  And the feed scoop.  And the lunge lines.   And the bridle bracket.     The horse stuff went into the garage, and I contacted the local horse rescue centre to offer it to them.

Finally, was the stuff that needed to go to the Tip.  Lots and lots of once-new underlay, that was a bit the worse for being stored in the garage.   Another ktchen cabinet, now rotted from damp.  Some random bits of wood.   Some childrens badminton racquets.  A helicopter which connects to a sprinkler.   etc etc.

A trip to the tip,  and then I popped back in to the Housing Asssociation to return the keys.   I explained that there had been a bit more stuff in the garage than we expected...

...but I suspect that she had worked that out from the state of my clothes.

Wash's "Garfield" impression

Mystery solved

Lotti, our loopy and lovely Exchequer Leghorn,  has been managing to hide her eggs for some time now.

Last year, she was laying all over the garden. Every time we discovered her hidey-hole, she started a new one somewhere else.  This year, she's not been escaping every day - which means she has been laying somewhere in the free range area.  The key is somewhere.

The season started well, with Lotti and Poppy both laying in the nest box.  The older girls weren't laying.  Just under 2 weeks ago, we stopped getting eggs from Lotti.    Now, it's quite common for her to have a day or so off each week. But after 2 eggless days, we knew she was laying somewhere else.

Over the next week, I searched the free range area for her nesting site.   I realised that she was probably laying in the Pampas grass, but I couldn't find any eggs, despite several forays into it. 

Until today.

Today, Lotti was making a racket,  sounding very distressed.  She's been like this before if she has been denied access to the nestbox.  I was pruning elsewhere in the garden, so I came over to have a look.   Sure enough, Florence (our Australorp) was in one of the nest boxes and showing no signs of moving.   I picked Lotti up and put her in the other nestbox.

The racket started again a little bit later, and it was coming from the direction of the Pampas.   I had an idea.  I went and fetched the big egg thing I had once used as a spare nest box for her (until I found her sleeping in it at night).  I could wedge that in the pampas grass, and she'd have somewhere to lay, we'd know where to look for eggs, and she wouldn't have access to it at night time. 

I filled it with fresh Aubiose and found somewhere in the Pampas to wedge it.  I could hear Lotti, but I couldn't see her.  I got DH to help. He searched one half, I searched the other.  She wasn't there,. but I could hear her.

And then a movement caught my eye, and this hen popped out of the Pampas.    She was literally in the Pampas,  about four feet off the ground.   I waited till she vacated, and I found her nest and ten eggs.

I removed 9 of them,  in the hope that having 1 left encourages her to continue laying there.

It's not ideal, but at least we know where it is.

I've left the huge egg thing at the bottom as well, just in case.

Hello to ?? the Cross Trainer

The cross trainer doesn't have a name yet.   At the moment, it's an it.

So how is it working out?

Coincidentally, the lady who sold it to us, and who was absolutely fabulous during the whole process,  emailed me today to ask if everything was OK.    She had been as nervous of it being sent by courier as I was,  although she was much reassured when the courier arrived and turned out to be a really lovely chap with a very presentable van and suitable accoutrements to protect the CT on its journey.

I'd emailed her as soon as it arrived to let her know that it had arrived safely, and I left feedback for her.  .   At that point we hadn't put it together.  She'd obviously been worrying about whether everything was as we expected, hence the email today.

Back to the question in hand - how is it working out?

...we got it all put together, adjusted the feet etc, and it's working well. I'm not surprised it took you til 1am to take it apart and wrap it.

We've each used it several times since it was all set up yesterday afternoon. First time was a killer. We had a treadmill before (for walking, not running), and this is so different. We knew it would be though, and we knew exactly what to expect from this model. We had visited Fitness Superstre to help us decide what cross trainer we wanted to buy before we started looking for one.

That didn't stop us hopping on and overdoing it completely in the first 5 minutes. We've now tried out the beginners programme, and have been playing with the manual settings. We haven't quite got to grips with the programming yet, I need to steel myself to RTFM properly. Or my husband does. One of us does. I think the priority is probably to learn how to set up the individual "quick start" options so we don't have to adjust it each time one gets off and the other gets on.Although it is quite amusing watching my husband's legs cope with my long stride setting.

 I can see this is going to keep us amused for some time.

Goodbye Teddy the Tready

We've said goodby to the treadmill. He went to his new home yesterday.

Teddy the Tready It had occupied a large space in our living room since November-ish 2011. He had  been through phases of much use, and disuse.   For the last few months hehas been in a lot of use, always for walking though not running.   I wondered whether a cross trainer would be better than a treadmill. 

I did a bit of research,  asked a few people who would know this sort of thing, looked at the proces cross trainers went for second hand,  and understanding what the different features meant. In the end, we decided it would be best to go and try some cross trainers to see what they actually felt like. 

We are lucky to have a fitness place not that far from us, and they had a whole range of cross trainers (and treadmills and gym equipment) in a large showroom.  Some of the treadmills on display were brands and models that I had been looking at on Ebay. 

The sales chap was really helpful and not at all pushy.  We explained that we were there on a bit of a whim, had no idea whether we even wanted a cross trainer, had no idea what we were looking for.  He showed us a range of them, and explained the differences.  We tried them. He then left us to try them ourselves, and we spent a reasonable length of time trying them all.

We ruled out a number of models (including the ones I had on my Ebay WatchList).  We ruled in models from a manufacturer we'd never heard of.. turns out they only make cross trainers,  and as we'd never looked at cross trainers before, we'd never heard of them.

We left the showroom and discussed what to do. 

First discussion point was whether we should look at getting a cross trainer instead of our treadmill.   Surprisingly, as we are often a Mr and Mrs Jack Spratt,  we both agreed that a cross trainer was worthwhile.

Then we talked about the models and manufacturers.  Again we agreed.  And we even agreed on our preference of model.  (As I write this, I'm wondering if I should mark this day of "being in agreement" on a calendar!).

We looked online, and found a few previously sold versions, at much less than the new price.   We found one (a slightly older version of the model we wanted) at a much-cheaper-than-new but much-more-expensive-than-we-wanted -to-pay price.   Hmm.

I downloaded the manuals for both versions and attempted to work out the differences.  In the end, the differences were small.  We hummed and haahed.  

I'll cut a long and tedious story of indecision short - we bought the second hand one.    We took a deep breath,  and arranged a 3rd party courier to go and collect it for us.  As it turned out, that was another great decision.  There was a bit of faffing about thanks to my bank,  but all was well.

It arrived yesterday,  about 30 minutes after the treadmill went to its new home.

It's a monster.  It's so different to use vs the treadmill. 

Worm turns.

Tilda's been out for a dustbathe and sunbathe each day for the last few days.    She had also been spending time in the Girls' free range area. Until I saw Poppy go for her.   Poppy. Poppy! My loveliest little girl.

I'm not surprised really.  When Tilda decided to move back out wit the Girls last summer, she was pretty horrible to Poppy and Lotti.     I guess Poppy was concerned that Tilda was thinking about joining them again, and just wanted to get A Few Things Understood.

Since then I haven't let Tilda in with the others.

Yesterday we rearranged the free range area, so that haf of it was resting and they had a whole new bit to use.   For part of that time, it wasn't practical to contain them. They invaded the rest of the garden with glee.  Tilda shuffled off and sat under a shrub, well out of the way.

I found her being attacked by Poppy. 

Poppy had been on the other side of the garden. She must have spotted Tilda and made a beeline for her.

I ended up carrying Tilda to wherever DH and I were working, keeping an eye on her, and then moving her as we moved.   I would have just carried her round the garden, but she finds being carried a bit uncomfortable, so I only carry her when I need to physically move her.

She seemed very perky today.

Scoot!

DS2's daughters are 8 years old today!

We saw them yesterday, and took their presents.  Fortunately DDIL2 gave me a massive steer on what to buy (thank you Debbie!), and the presents were a great success.

New scooters.

Weather was gorgeous, so we all went to the local park and they had a good old scoot. So did DDIL. And DS.   And me.

And then out for an easy bite to eat.

Lovely afternoon.

Bloody bank

I am so cross with my bank, I'm going to move my account.

Sound of silence

 Power cut.

Lots of streets.

Internet to find out who to call. Facebook to find out who else is affected. Not quite tbe blitz spirit, but much more cheerful than not havimg it.

Very quiet without the whitenoise in the background.

Downloaded app to find out ongoing status.

Fortunately we keep a torch by the back door and could use this to find other torches and candles. I knew those beeswax candles would come in handy.  And the Christmas candle.

DH had a powerful light in the boot of his car which lasted over an hour (despite not being charged up since August). Have to get another one of those for "next time".

Dinner was in the oven. On the downside., being electric the power went off. On the plus side, it remained hot long enough to finish cooking.

All restored after an hour and a half.
 

Wisley Woes

In Setember last year, Wisley had an apple and pear identification expert visiting them.  I wanted to take the opportunity to get our pear tree identified.

When it came to a day or two before the day, I looked on their website to check my facts and could find nothing.  I phoned Wisley, and was told that there wasn't an expert coming.  I then found the info on the RHS website, and emailed them to let them know about the confusion.

They emailed me back on the actual morning to say it was going ahead.    I hopped in my car with my pear samples, and drove there.  When I got there, it turned out that I had to pay to go into tthe garden if I wanted to see the expert.   I don't mind paying to go and visit the garden, but I didn't have time to look around.  IN the end, I signed up to a year's membership,  figuring that DH ad I could visit again in the year and that would pay for it.

I was then misdirected several times to where the expert was located.  By this time it was pouring with rain, and I was dressed for summer,  so I wasn't the happiest of bunnies.  It all turned out well though, the Expert was great, he identified my pear, and I came home

Fast forward nearly 6 months.

We still hadn't visited Wisley.  Then I got an email telling me about their butterfly house.  DH and I decided we'd go.  Tickets had to be booked in advance, but they were free.   We had other commitments, and the butterfly house was only open on certain days, it finishes this weekend, and it ended up that we booked tickets for today.

We left in plenty of time.  I had my membership card, I checked that it would admit DH for free as well,  I checked I had the butterfly tickets.   I remembered my camera.  I even remembered my macro lens.

A straight run to the A3,   and then suddenly the traffic was solid.  We queued, and we discussed whether it was a traffic problem, or whether everyone was going to Wisley.   We tried going round and coming back the other way, it was worse.

I wasn't too worried about missing our slot - Wisley would understand that there had been a traffic problem,  everyone would be missing their slots.

We noticed that all the cars had couples in.   I had a sinking feeling that all these people were heading to Wisley.   I looked online for information about the jam, and in the end searched on Twitter.  

All the traffic was for Wisley!

Today Wisley was opening for free.  How could I have missed this?!  I would never have arranged to go today if I had known.
 
We sat in the queue for  awhile.  A long while.  Until I suggested that we go home.

All these cars meant we would be in the queue for another hour.  And then we had to park.  And then, even though numbers in the butterfly house would be limited, the crowds would be in the gardens.  It wasn't going to be a pleasant stroll.

And so we came home.

Goodbye, Chicken Of Fate

Coffee, our Chicken of Fate, died last night.  It was Other Chap's (OC's) turn to visit the chooks today, and he found her dead in the coop this morning.

No obvious cause, no signs of bullying or pecking or anything.

Coffee, a black rock hybrid,  arrived in September 2011.  She just appeared amongst our Girls, having been dropped n by someone who didn't want her.      Luckily for her, she'd been dropped in with the young dinner girls, rather than the established flock. If she'd been dumped in with them, she would probably have been killed (by them).

http://witchhazelhens.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/chicken-of-fate.html.

She had scaly leg, and her feathers weren't in very good condition. She'd been wing-clipped, but whoever did it had clipped everything - primaries, secondaries, and a long way up. 

It was too late to quarantine her, so we treated her for the scaly leg mite, and gave her some extra protein to help her feathers.   The treatment for leg mite took quite a long time, but it did have the advantage that it helped her to not mind being handled. 

She blossomed into a lovely little girl, who laid enormous eggs.  When we joined the 2 allotment flocks,  she became part of Henry's harem.  She had a good free range life, and was with us for 2 and a half years (was it really that long?!  I only know because I looked back through the blog to find out).   I guess that means she was about 3. 

Unbelievably, I can't find any photos of her.

Dysons

Some time ago I bought a handheld Dyson vacuum cleaner.  I hadn't been in the market for one - I was shopping in Costco,  it was a good price, was designed to cope with animal hair, and when I saw it, I thought it might help with the stairs.

All our downstairs is solid flooring. Our bedroom and the bathroom is solid flooring.   The stairs, landing, and spare bedrooms are carpeted. The upright vacuum clearner, lives upstairs.  We have a Henry stored in the utility room, and he comes when we're doing DIY, or I'm cleaning the fireplace, or somesuch.

The stair carpet gets covered in carp and cat hair all the time, and vacuuming it is a bit of a palaver. I have to get Henry out specially, unroll him, put the end on, then vacuum, then put him away again afterwards.   When I was ambling around Costco that day, I thought that the handheld would be perfect for the stairs.

However, I'd had an original Dyson (DC01) many years ago, and found it was heavy, a pain to empty and didn't live up to the hype.

Still, this one was light.  The bin popped open easily, and it seemed a good buy. 

And so it has been.  It lives in the hall, plugged inready to go.  Vacuuming the stairs is easy.

.....

With Tilda living in the kitchen again,  I've been having to sweep the kitchen floor every day, and as soon as I have swept it,  more debris (Aubiose, a bit of chicken food, a stray feather...) appears.   I've tried numerous types of broom (foam, brush, angled brush, rubber...).    Recently I've found myself getting the handheld vacuum cleaner, and using that to do the edges and corners, it's much more effective than a broom.

And then I saw the new Dyson DC59 advertised on TV.    That was the answer!   That was, until I Googled it and saw how much it cost.   I decided I'd wait and see how I felt in a couple of weeks. Or I'd wait until someone had a sale or an offer. 

I kept looking.   I found that retailers often excluded it from their Quidco payments,  or their discount codes.   My fear wasn't really about spending that much money on a vacuum cleaner,  it was about spending that much money on a vacuum cleaner and then finding it wasn't worth it.

Then by chance I found that Curry's were doing a promotion where you could get your money back if you bought one of a selection of Dysons, and decided you didn't like it within x days.   That seemed ideal. 

I bought one.

It's been amazing. Seriously.   It's hung on the wall just outside the kitchen, so it's easy to grab and use.  The head pivots on a ball.It sucks right up to the front edge (not quite right to the sides of the head).  The amount of stuff it picks up is unbelievable.  I've used it on the carpets too, and it's great - but for me it's best use is downstairs.

I do have to switch to the crevice tool thing to get into the corners of the kitchen units,  and I don't do that every day.    But I do vacuum the kitchen floor every day, and it's grabbed multiple times for additional bits of cleaning.  I've found myself vacuuming other downstairs more often, just because I have the thing in my hand and it's quick to do (much quicker than sweeping and dustpanning).

I have also used it (with a different head) with great success to vacuum my sheepskin rug,  and to vacuum the sofas, and to de-hair the cat tree.  I did try using the specially supplied  head to vacuum the windowsills and TV stand, instead of dusting,  but that was only moderately successful.

It's also great for lifting up and doing the ceiling.  We are a spider-friendly household, so we don't routinely remove cobwebs.  We wait until they are obviously out of use.  Actually, I normally wait until I am confronted by a dangly out-of-use cobweb.    If I have the crevice tool on, I take a moment to look for cobwebs that are ready to be removed, and I can get them easily, without having to climb on something first.

I also use it to vacuum the bottom few stairs, if I happen to be vacuuming the hall.  To vacuum the rest of the stairs comfortably and properly, I'd need to take the long pole off,  and it's easier just to get the original handheld and use that.

I've ordered a second filter.  The filter needs to be washed once a month and left to dry for at least 24 hours.  Mine will need washing at least once a month,  and there is no way I could wait more than 24 hours to use the machine again.

Sorry if this sounds like an advert, it isn't meant to.    I dithered about getting one, I had fairly low expectations.... and it's just been great.  

I just wanted to tell someone!

Bad Mummy

Tilda seemed quite perky this morning.  She'd already had a bit of a wander around the kitchen by the time I got downstairs, and she was sitting under the breakfast bar stools.

We emptied the dishwasher and put stuff away. I made breakfast, poached egg on toast as usual, and then I went and did some stuff on the PC.  Tilda chuntered away, getting quite vocal sometimes. When this happened, I wen into the kitchen to see if she was trying to tell me (a la Skippy) that Poppy was out, or that Geoff had falled down a well.   Nothing was amiss.

I was a bit puzzled, but I just assumed she was having one of those days.  She might be asking to go out for a dustbath, but as it was wet outside the other Girls were lounging around in the covered run.

Much. much later, I went out to make a cup of tea. Tilda was still grumbling. An image of Yoghurt  popped into my head, so I checked her yogurt galley pot (yes, she does have one), and saw that it was empty.  

And then I saw that the door into her pied-a-terre was closed.

We'd obviously closed it so we could get into one of the cupboards to put something away.

Poor Tilda.  She wasn't going to go hungry, she has dishes with food strategically placed around the kitchen (including under my bar stool)... but her water was inside. Bad mummy!

I opened the door and apologised.  She immediately shuffled in and headed for....the yoghurt pot.  She stuck her head in and banged her beak against the bottom of the empty pot. Then she just looked at me.

A teaspoon of yog was duly dispensed, and immediately eaten.

De-Moat-ed?

We had a problem with a blocked gully outside our driveway, caused by someone (not us) sweeping crabapples into the drain last autumn.

Every time it rains, we get a moat.    In the recent floods, the moat got quite large, and extended over half the road at it's widest point.   The blockage was also affecting the nearby garages.   We contacted the council, sending pictures,  to ask if someone could come and clear it.

After the floods went away, we still had a moat.  Every time it rained, the moat increased.  One day, a little council truck turned up and the men worked on the drain.  They were very quick, we assumed their high-powered vacuum had done its job.

It rained again, and the moat was back.

After a few days of rain, I contacted the Council again - just in case they thought it was fixed. I sent new pics to show that I wasn't making it up.

Another Council truck turned up today. This is a BIG truck.  There is a lot of activity, the drain cover has been up, there has been mega-vacuuming, and now there is a lot of banging. 

I'm intrigued by the banging. What are they banging?  Has the wodge of apples set solid at the bottom or something?

After several minutes thumping,  the vacuum was employed again.  Then a hose.

I went out to see if hey would like a cup of tea. They were making a lot of noise, so I wrote "Cup of Tea? Coffee?" on one side of a piece of paper, with  "sugar?  milk?" on the other side. By the time I opened the door, the noise had stopped. I didn't need ny sign.

I asked them if they'd like tea, and they said thanks, but they were just going.

The moat has gone, so hopefully it's now fixed.

Faggots

Today's planned meal is faggots, which I found in the freezer - a treat from visiting one of the many food shows.  I also got some leftover rice out of the freezer,  as I'm in use-up mode.

I think we'll have faggots-out-of-the-hole  I love Yorkshire Puddings (my mum made the best ones), but I really don't like -in-the-holes.  I find the Yorkshire doesn't cook as well when there is something else in the fat.  So we have two old 7 inch cake tins that we use. We make 2 giant yorkshires, then put the whatever (which has been separately cooked) inside.

I was originally going to have passata with the faggots, but this didn't seem right with Yorkshire pudding.  A rummage around unearthed some beef gravy, leftover from last time we had roast beef.   That will do perfectly.

I'm not really sure about rice, yorkshire pudding, and gravy as a combo.... but it's what I've got out, so we'll try it and see.

Overcomplicated

We decided to "jazz up" the defrosted leftover mashed potato that I defrosted.  Normally they go in an ovenproof dish and go in the oven or under the grill.

DH had the idea of naking patties out of them and egg and breadcrumbing them.     I had the idea of making up some dried herbs with a small amount of hot water, mixing this in, and adding parmesan.  We decided to use a burger press, to try and get firm patties.

Chilling them didn't work, so we popped the made patties into the freezer for a short time.  Then they were flour/egg/breadcrumbed,  apart from one where we ran out of flour.

It was a bit of a palaver to get them fully coated without them disintegrating, but DH did a great job. We then baked them in a hot overn for 20 minutes.]

They tasted delicious.  However, it was quite a lot of faffing about.      So, we decided that next time we'd continue with the adding herbs and parmesan, but then we'd put the whole lot in an oven dish, and sprinkle seasoned breadcrumbs on top,  a kind of potato gratin.   It wouldn't be quite the same, but it would be less faff.

Under orders

Took Tilda out for a dustbath on Friday, but she didn't want to do it.

By the time I got back into the house and to the 'puter to switch on the  HenCam,  she was out of the dustbath and sitting under one of the benches.

I went out straigtwaway to collect her.  I'[m not sure she was actually ready to come in though. Normally when I put my hands down, she steps forward and leans her chest into my hands so I can pick her up.  She didn't do that. I had to move the bench to retrieve her.

I didn't get a chance to put her out yesterday. When it was sunny, we were at the allotment,  and in the afternoon there always seemed to be someone in the Run.

Today I got back from the market (I bought 3 weeks worth of raw milk today) to find that Tilda was sitting under my kitchen stool, looking out of the window.   She started burbling as soon as I appeared. 

I was a bit too busy to pay attention, so I just chatted back to her while I made space in the freezer for the milk. I'm using up leftover mashed potato to go with our dinner today,  and I got some faggots out for dinner tomorrow.  Then I moved on to sorting out another kitchen drawer, and then I  used some lemon spray stuff on my wooden kitchen utensils and boards, etc etc. Worked well on the wood, but made a mess of everything else on the worktop!

I realised that Tilda had been chuntering away at me for some time,  and it occurred to me that maybe she was asking for the dustbath.  The Run was empty, so I put my hands down, she lurched into them, and I popped down the garden and put her in.

By the time I got back and turned on the RunCam, she was dutbathing away.  She was mid-roll when I took a snapshot

 Back in the kitchen - I think that I need to do some meal planning. 

We've been using up the ready meals (leftovers that we've frozen) for the last week or so,  but there are some other items which need using up.  I've got some bought pastry that has been there for longer than it should, and there isn't really any need to keep it in there.  I'm going to make something I haven't made before. Not sure what yet.

Effort

I had a flash of inspiration some weeks back, thinking it must be possible to buy a  pressure washer for use where there wasn't any electricity.   And it is.   I did some research and stacked some possibles on my Ebay watchlist, to get DH to look over.  Then I discovered by accident that not all of these could take water from a waterbutt (who knew?!) and so that cut the list down a bit.

And then I wondered why I couldn't just attach my pressure washer to a generator.  A generator would be a bit more versatile.

It turned out that I neded agenerator of a certain output.  And I needed to check whether my pressure washer would run off a generator, And then I had to chek whether my pressure washer would draw from a warer butt.

Amazingly, the pressure washer passed all the requirements.  DH found some generators and, when I discovered how heavy they were, I insisted that it had wheels.  We got one.

Today was the first sunny day since the generator arrived, so we packed p the car and headed for the allotment.    I was going to jet wash the Dinner Chicks home;  dh was going to use the electric chainsaw to cut up some of the branches which had fallen in the recent storms.

It all worked rather well.  I was surprised at how little water the pressure washer actually used.    I was temtpted to give the older houses a going over, but I wasn't sure they'd stand up to it.

Previously DH had cleared and rearranged one half of the allotment, ready for re-seeding.   It only needs the hen houses moving, and another Heras panel.   We were going to move the houses ready, but it all got  a bit complicated.

We decided to leave it until the next sunny day, and we'll take the house that DH built months ago at the same time.