Still more

And another 4m of differentcat bunting today.

The finishing line is in sight.

I have only one more lot of bunting to make.

And then normal service will be resumed. Maybe.

And more bunting

Yesterday afternoon I made 4m of double sided, cat related,  bunting

Here is the "front"...

...and here is the "back"..

I've got another 4m of cat bunting  - a different sort - to do. 

Special Bunting

I have now completed my third set of bunting. I'm quite pleased with it.

This is it from the back, which used fabric I had to buy new!

And this is it from the front, which includes the lettering which I created, printed on tee-shirt transfer paper, and then ironed on (before joining the bunting together, in case there were problems with the ironing.)

My tests the other day gave me very useful learnings, especially the fact that having the iron hot enough to do the transfer results in the fabric scorching... this explains why the instructions say to use a cloth over the top.  Sadly, I forgot the instuction about not using an ironing board, and I forgot that in my tests I used a wooden board as backing,  so if you look closely you'll see a couple of letters are a bit dodgy.

But I'm pleased with it.

And I'm pleased it's over because it was a bit of a pig to do. It was the edging of the lettered sides that was a real, ahem, PITA.

My second-hand Shaun the Sheep duvet cover arrived yesterday, so I've already cut some bunting triangles from that.    The Chicken Run cover arrived today, so I'll be cutting that up and making my fourth set of bunting soon.

I really need to go and visit the venue to measure how much bunting I need.

Making life hard for myself

I'm now working on the 3rd set of bunting to decorate the roon for DH's birthday dinner.   This set was going to be plain on one side (from cut up sheets), with a complementing polka dot backing.  I was going to have 2 colours.

Having had success (of sorts) with  my other two sets,  I felt that the plain side was going to be a little too plain for its purpose (can't say any more), and I had this brilliant idea of edging it.   I spent some time thinking about how this would work in practice, and what I might need to do.

[I started to type a paragraph describing the things I considered.  Trouble is, if you know about sewing, you'd think "what an idiot!"; if you don't know about sewing, you'll be thinking "Who cares?!"]

The following is, believe it or not, an abridged version of what happened next, and took place over nearly a week. 

I entered the murky wold of bias binding, both single fold and double fold.   Firstly, I searched for suitable  bias binding to buy.  For the quanity  needed (half a metre per pennant), it was all horrendously priced, which is a bit ironic considering what I subsequently spent trying not to spend money on buying binding.  I couldn't find anything that was the right pattern and/or colour.

I watched a YouTube video showing me how easy it was to make my own, and to apply it using a Janome bias binding foot.  I sourced a foot. I waited impatiently for it to arrive.  I tried it. I failed.  I just couldn't get my binding in the way the woman on the video did. 

I had also bought some hemming feet for the machine, which roll the hem and stitch it in one neat movement,  so I tried those.  They worked quite well, but the widest rolled hem just wasn't wide enough.

Next, I tried making my own folded bias binding using bias binding things.  I ordered 3 different sizes of bias binder makers,  from 3 sellers as I couldn't find one seller carrying all 3, and waited for them to arrive.    While I waited, I contemplated the application process.   I'm not a natural seamstress, so making myself work out what would happen with various methods of application was a bit of a gym-exercise for parts of my brain that normally are undisturbed.

I watched YouTube videos on applying single fold and double fold binding.  My brain hurt, as what I was seeing on screen just didn't stack up with what I was expecting to see.I twiddled bought binding, thinking about it all.

Several days later, 2 of the 3 binding makers arrived and I had a go.  I didn't cut my fabric across the bias for my test runs.  I used starch.   They worked OK - although not perfectly - for making binding. But even the widest, wasn't really wide enough (once it had been bent round the edge of a pennant, and the pennant sewn to another piece of fabric before being turned out.  The mega one had yet to arrive.

Last night I rewatched the video of the woman using the binding foot and I had a bit of an "Aha!" momen when I realised she was putting unfolded fabric into it.  How ironic that I had bought the bias makers and waited for them to arrive!.   It took me several goes running between YouTube and my machine, stopping in between to go and buy some spray starch, but eventually I managed to get it to work.   It was OK, very promising in fact - but again not wide enough when the backing pennant was sewn on and the whole thing turned out.

I then realised what I had to do, but I doubted my ability to do it neatly.  I looked for a shortcut.  First attempt, I ironed my binding in half to give me a crease, and inserted the pennant into it.  I sewed it. I sewed the other pennant on the back. I turned it inside out.  It looked like carp because the stitches could be seen.

I tried again, with the painstaking sewing the little lip...blah blah blah... it looked great, the stiches were hidden, but was too narrow and wasted a hell of a lot of fabric.

So, I tried another version, which didn't use any of the feet and it didn't use any of the bias makers.  And it worked.  But it is going to take ages.   At this point, I decided that plain pennants would look fine, and I made one up to prove it to myself.

It looked awful. Especially when I....looks round to make sure DH isn't looking>
put the final finishing touch on. And I scorched the fabric putting on the finishing touch.

Well, it's going to have to be done.

Strips cut to the required width + double seam allowance.  Manually draw centre line on the wrong side.  Pin right side to right side against plain fabric. Sew along line, removing pins as I go.  Iron over, so that strip is right side up.Sew this half pennant to the patterned half of pennant, right side to right side. Turn out. Iron on finishing touch.  When all pieces completed,  sew into bunting tape. 

I dreamt about it last night, trying to calculate sizes, and trying to work out if I really had to make bias strips or could I just cheat and cut quick strips.

I need to take a deep breath and have a go.

Cats

Izzy has been on her thyroid medication for 3 weeks now, and had a checkup booked to see Uncle Tim today.

For the first couple of days, she was just a bit lethargic. Then she started retching and vomiting up small amounts of liquid.  I'd read that these were possible side effects, so we carried on. In case her vomiting was down to digestive troubles, I bought and cooked chicken breast for her for a couple ofdays, and this settled things down.  Back on ordinary cat food, it started again - so we put her on chicken completely for a while.

Despite the chicken, she's been pretty disinterested in food.  Usually we have to sit her in front of her bowl to get her to eat.    We weighed her a week or so ago, and she was down to a shocking 3.9 kilos.

We're so used to our cats eating voraciously, that we had to remind ourselves - continually - that normally cats only get fed twice a day,  and maybe this was just Izzy getting bacl to being a normal cat.

We were relieved when today arrived, so we could get her checked out.

We also decided ot take Wash along.  After all these years of mentioning his constant hunger and vomiting,  we wondered whether maybe he has a hyperactive thyroid too.

The first surprise was Izzy's weight.  4.79kg. She'd put on weight, and was now back to her July weight.  Blood was taken to check thryoid, we'll get the results on Wednesday.  We're so happy!

Next, Wash.  The Vet was really busy, and I hadn't given notice that we were bringing Wash too.   Tim kindly accomodated us. Wash has also lost a small amount of weight. The amount wasn't of particular concern, byt my concern was that he has been losing weight constantly.  Tim took urine and blood.      The urine showed that there was no diabetes,  so now we just need to wait for the blood test results.   I know this may be odd, but I hope that it is a hyperactive thyroid,  as that is potentially easy to get under control.

We'll know more on Wednesday.

Bunting. continued.

DH made me a pennant template out of some acrylic!
 
My next stretch of bunting came from some old Winnie the Pooh tea towels.  These took ages to cut ut, to get the characters centred and to make best use of the available cloth.   There are some small holes - these are used tea towels, after all. 

I had one other tea towel which was pale green with polka dots, and this provided the backing for several of the pennants.  I wasn't really sure what to do about backing for the rest, so I carried on regardless. 

After what felt like hours of cutting out, I made a decision on what to do for the backing.  I cut up a quilt cover.

I then started sewing pennants.

Then I ironed pennants.

The I lined them up, and then I checked the pattern on the back as well.

The I started pinning them into the bunting tape.  I ran out of pins.  I had a lot of pennants.

Learning 1.
Tea towels are quite thick, and so are not the easiest of things to sew as double pennants.

Learning 2 
Cut out the two parts together. Even using my template, it was very difficult to get two separately cut pieces lined up.

Learning 3
Tea towels are quite thick. Two tea towels are a nightmare trying to sew them into fairly thin bunting tape.

They are a but ropey, close up... but they look OK from a distance.

 

 
 

One extreme to the other

Izzy now has no interest in food, is a bit lethargic, and has started vomiting. Usually it's retching, with a little but of goo coming up, but we've had the full works.  No wonder she doesn't want to eat.

I read that vomiting, lack of appetite and lethargy (amongst other things) are symptoms of side effects of the medication.  She's going back to the Vet a week on Monday, so I think I'll weigh her today and see if I can hold my nerve until then.

I might have to keep her in to see if she's going to the toilet OK.

DH is back later today, so hopefully that will cheer Izzy up.

Green-eyed monster

The bottom of our garden is very shaded, and backs on to public land.    I'm sick to death of clearing ivy, only for it to surge forward from the other side of the fence.  With the recent changeable weather, Ivy has been even more rampant than usual,  and has not only crept under the fence but through the fence and, like a waterfall, over the fence from the other side.

A few days ago I decided I'd attack the other side of the fence with the mattock, and yesterday I decided that today was the day.

So. I walked round to the park, mattock discreetly in my hand.  The gate nearest my house was locked, so I had to do a detour which involved passing a childrens play area, and a youths' play area.  I walked as nonchalantly as I could, given that I was carrying a very large, very sharp, very scary knife.

The area backing on to my house was deserted, and I set about my task.  It was horrendous. After about 40 minutes of slashing and pulling, I had great big red blobs all up my arm, which I assumed was nettle rash but, as I type this, I am now wondering if it was poison ivy.    I'd done the best I could, and I walked home. 

I tried even harder to be nonchalant, as now I was not only carrying a great big scary knife, but I had wounds down one arm, was bright red (from exertion, but an onlooker might not have realised that), and I imagine I was looking a little less than kempt.

At home, full of itchiness,  I decided I might as well finish the job on our side.

An hour later, I had not only cleared the ivy - well, most of it -

..sorry, there was a break of  a few minutes while I looked up the symptoms and treatment for poison ivy, and then I went and did it. Took antihistamine,  washed the area with lukewarm soapy water,  in case you need to know...

- but I had also cut some sapling branches which were hanging over our side of the garden.  I only did those I could reach with my small two-step step stool.  I left the higher branches alone as they weren't really causing a problem.  I cut them into smallish pieces, as the Green Bin isn't being collected until next week, and DH will have Words if he finds big bits in it.

I'd opened the nettng to the back of the Girls' free range area so I could get the step stool in, and I'd left it open so the Girls could have a rook around the newly cleared ground on the other side.  They lined up and made busy with their feet and beaks.  Eventually they got bored and wandered off towards the house,  so I had to halt what I was doing to re-enclose them.   The cats pretend not to notice when the odd chook pops in the house,  but they wouldn't have been to happy if the Girls came in mob-clawed. 

It's probably just as well that the green bin is full, as I was tempted to do a bit more pruning while I was out there.  Our damson trees are nearly all misshapen, and I can see we might want to cut some of them down to let the straighter ones survive. 

Right, I'm off to find some antihistamine cream now, as my arm feels like it is full of pins and needles.  The antihistimine tablet has reduced the swellings. 

It's quite annoying actually.

Sew and Sew

DH is away at the moment, which is partly why I wanted to get the machine now.   Whil I had a bit of peace and quiet to think about it all.

I eventually packed the machine, and started by reading the manual.

I set it up, without the foot press, and tried it out withrout any coton or bobbin.  I know that probably seems a bit bizarre, but I wanted to see how it was going to be, would it be slow, too fast. Could I control it?  It was very easy.

Relieved, I went on.

The instructions on winding the bobbin were very easy to understand.  Success.

The instructions on threading the machine were OK to start with, helped by the fact that I had a vague idea of it, and the machine itslef has numbers on it to tell me where to go next.  It was OK until I got to the needle area, and then I just couldn't make sense of the pictures.

The first Youtube video wasn't very helpful.  The lady showed very clearly all the bits I already knew, but then didn't show in detail the bit I was stuck on.

The second Youtube video was more helpful, and I the lady explained that I needed to look at the underside of the machine.   Aha! Got it.    For the next bit, I had to watch the video twice, and then I got that.  I expect I'll be a bit better next time.

Now I needed to thread the needle.  I used the needle threader.  It took me several goes, but I got there in the end.   And then I followed the manual to pick up the bobbin thing.  Success.

I got some old teatowels from the utility room.  I sewed a bit, trying out different stitches.  I worked out that the letters refer to the type of  foot. Good start.

I thought about my bunting ideas, and the next thing I did was try sewing some paper into the folded edge of a tea towel.  To my surprise and delight, it worked!  Ha!

I then got a lighter tea towel so I could actually see the stitching, and tried them all - well, all those that did not require a foot change.  I tried the autolock feature, which is where the machine does a backwards and forwards set of sitches (so you don't have to do it manually).  

I really love it.

It's so easy to use.  

Well, it's so easy to use when I'm just sewing without actually trying to make anything.

I'm likely to be out tomorrow, otherwise I'd go and get some binding so I could try making the first of my bunting projects,  paper bunting.

I wish I'd done this years ago.

Sew what?!

I've bought a sewing machine.

I've been dallying with the idea for several years now, but each time I've looked at machines I've had to lie down in a dark room to recover.   I do actually have a machine already, an ancient Singer, which is very pretty but is (a) a nightmare to use,  (b) weighs a ton, and (c) (d) (e) is a nightmare to use.  In fact, that is partly what keeps putting me off buying a new machine.

I don't know how to sew.   I tried at school at 13, and was hopeless.  Like sports, the needlework lesson wasn't really about being taught , it was about doing.  Like sports, I put it in the "I can't do that" category.

I found a lady a few miles away who runs classes, and this gave me the prompt to think about it again.   Her lessons were booked up,  but I was sure she'd start a new class. I looked at machines. It was too complicated.  I decided I's wait until I had had my first lesson, and I'd get some advice on what machine to buy.

The May course finished. She didn't post any new dates.  Then she took an extended holiday.  And she still hasn't restarted.

The reason for me wanting to get restarted is that I wanted to sew some bunting.  I know it's a bit extreme, buying a machine to sew bunting.... but bunting was really the poke I needed.  

Once again I did some research.  I looked on the John Lewis website.   I looked for nearby sewing centres who might be able to give advice.  All the well rated places are hundreds of miles away.

Then I came across a blog where someone was actually talking about sewing machines for beginners who were looking for a mid range machine.  She really rated Janome,  and actually recommended a machine, the 5018.   I looked at the machine online, it was available in John Lewis.  It was also available from a very highly rated online place, SewingMachinesDirectwhich gave a 5 year guarantee for the machine.

It was so much easier than previous attempts where I'd been trying to compare across makes as well as within makes.

 

I did what I always do.  I compared the machine to the one or two below it in price, and the one or two above it in price.  The next machine up, 5024/5124,  had some additional features that I thought would benefit me.  It was available in John Lewis and the online shop.    It looked ideal.  

I looked for reviews.  It was promising, although one of the forums had a discussion about this machine versus another Janome, the 3050. .  John Lewis had that one too.  I looked for second hand versions.  I could see that second hand machines don't hold their value, and it would be much better to pick one up second hand, and resell it if I didn't like it.

I parked the idea, waiting for the "heat of the moment" to die down.

It didn't. Yesterday morning I had a spare hour. I went to John Lewis to look at the machine.   I was baffled.  The assistant wasn't able to demo the machine as she had another demo booked.  I left the shop, wishing that I had know that it was possible to book a demo.  I didn't know what to do.

If I booked a demo at John Lewis, I would feel obliged to buy from John Lewis.  Maybe that was the answer.

I searched some more online.  Then I found a recent forum posting discussing exactly the machines I had been looking at, plus a 3000 which was badged for Sewing Machines Direct.  I compared the machines.  Once was electronic, the other computerised.  The computerised one was significantly cheaper,  but the forum discussion leaned heavily towards this one, recommending purchasing the quilters pack to go with it.

I couldn't find an exact equivalent to the SMD3000 at John Lewis,  so there wasn't much point in going back.  Surely I'd be able to work it out? Ot there woudl be Youtube videos?

In the end, I went for the SMD3000, the cheaper option.  It had some features that the 5024/5124 did not, like a stop start button so I wouldn't need to use a foot press.  It didn't have the onboard storage that the 5024/5124 had, but that seemed like a small thing.

I ordered it yesterday afternoon from sewingmachinesdirect, and it arrived today!

It sat, still in its packaging, while I considered what I had done.

Busy

It;s been a busy few days.

Eldest grandson has been staying for a few days, so we've been baking and stuff.  This time round we've made pizzas,  made home-made fishfingers,  and I showed him how to make meatballs out of good quality (in our case, our own) sausages.

He's also been making sweet things - a large batch of choc chip cookies with Thermy and me, and  a slab of chocolate and pecan brownies with Thermy and DH.    The Thermomix has been in action almost non stop.  

I whipped up a banana and white chocolate milkshake one day,  and hot chocolate for him the next.    I should probably point out that he is lucky to be a lean and lanky lad, so can easily devour this high calorie diet for the few days he's here.  Sadly the same cannot be said of me.

He and DH also made several batches of passata, which I showed him how to pasteurise using Preston, our pressure canner

And of course we've been making bread, we're still on the Millet and Rye loaves.

Outside we had a short dry spell so I mowed the grass,.  It was the first time in weeks that it's been mown.  The first few weeks it was too dry and the poor grass was stressed.  Then it rained, and rained, and rained, and the grass shot up. It's been too wet to mow for over a week.

The mower couldn't cope with it all, so it's not finished - but I had done the important bits: inside the Hen Pen, so they now have sweet grass to nibble,  and the small  area in front of the kitchen that we refer to as "the lawn".

I pruned some of the shrubs so the chicks' Cube could be rolled back in to place.  DH pruned his tomatoes, which had been going beserk in the greenhouse.  

We squeezed in a Duck Tour yesterday.

I'm trying to catch up on laundry today as there is a vague possibility that the weather may stay dry enough to enable some of it to be line dried.

I can't help feeling a beet sheepish that one of my highlights is line drying washing. 

Cocktail Hour, Once Upon a Time

I'm not one to drink alone.  Actually, I very rarely drink....  I go through phases of having a glass of wine with my dinner, and then phases of not.   I always drink a lot of wine when I go out to dinner with my friend Yvonne.  In between - I really don't indulge.

I have no idea why.

I wanted to practise my new cocktails, especially as my pourers and bottle condoms had arrived and been washed. DH isn't around, so in the end I  had no choice but to instigate a cocktail hour.

On Friday, I tested my pouring technique, to compare counting to an actual measure.  I didn't do a bad job, but I started to wonder why I didn't just buy optics instead of pourers.  Maybe optics are too slow in a busy bar.

I digress.

I didn't drink my test measure, I poured it down the sink.   My lovely eldest stepson was doing an endurance race, and I wanted to go and see him that evening.  I'm sure one cocktail would have been OK, but I don't drink and drive. At all.

On Saturday, evening. I decided to make a Singapore Sling.  I lined up the necessary bottles,  unscrewed them and fitted them with pourers.  And I made one.

Not bad!

I couldn't bring myself to make a second one. Something about drinking alone. Slippery slopes.  That sort of thing.  I put condoms on the pourers, and left the bottles lined up. 

Afterwards I lay on the bed watching back to back episodes of Once Upon a Time. My Season 3 US DVDs had arrived a few days ago, and I couldn't wait any longer.  [Once Upon a Time is a fantastic show,  fantastic twists on traditional fairy tales,  a really gripping story. Two seasons were shown on Channel 5, but they declined the latest season.   At the end of season 2, I desperately wanted to see season 3.   The US DVDs were released on August 19th, and I ordered a set. They arrived a few days later.

I savoured them. I waited. On Saturday, I was ready to start watching.   They wouldn't play in the living room player, so I had to watch them upstairs. Amazing story telling.  Such rounded characters - no one was totally good or totally bad,  the backstories made it easy to see how each villain became a villain.  

I couldn't cocktal whilst watching.....it felt decadent enough lying on the bed watching DVDs, I couldn't lie there drinking alcohol as well.

I had a break to make cook my Arancini (deep fried risotto balls) made earlier in the day, and went back to the DVDs

On Sunday, I considered making another one.  I didn't. My Once Upon a Time marathon resumed late afternoon.

Today, I lined up the bottles for my next cocktail of choice.  More Once Upon a Time in the afternoon.  At 6pm, cocktail hour,  I made my cocktail:   Long Island Iced Tea.   Rather alcoholic, rather tasty.     I was busy eating new potatoes, steamed in my Thermy, dipped in Tzatziki dip at the same time.  Not sure that's a good thing.

I've got one episode of  Once Upon a Time left.

I'm going to watch it shortly, and then I'm going to wonder how I can survive a year until Season 4 becomes available.

Millet and Rye Bread

I spotted this recipe a few weeks ago when flicking through Jennie Shapter's fantastic Bread Machines & Beyond.  It caught my eye because we had millet in the cupboard, leftover from my trying to tempt Tilda to eat. 

It took me a couple o fweeks to get round to making it for the first time, and I was really pleased that I could use Thermy to grind some of the millet seeds into flour for part of the recipe.

The bread was lovely.  A good crust, full of flavour, and the keeping quality was excellent.  It toasted superbly, which is always a bonus.

I've been making this almost constantly since.  My poor sourdough starters are, temporarily, sitting unused in the fridge. 

• 50g rye flour
• 450g unbleached white bread flour
• 50g millet flakes
• 1 tablespoon molasses sugar in one corner (I've subsequently made it with ordinary dark soft brown sugar and it's been equally delicious)
• 1 teaspoon salt in another corner
• 25g butter in a third corner
• 1 teaspoon easy blend yeast (make sure the yeast doesn't come into contact with the water. Either put it in before the flour,  or make a small dent in one corner and put the yeast in, then cover it with flour.)
• 300ml water
•  50g millet seeds (added at the "raisin beep' stage)
• millet flour for dusting

My breadmaker, a Panasonic, requires the dry ingredients in first.

It also has a yeast dispenser and a raisin dispenser, so that's where mine goes.  Follow the order for your own breadmaker.

Put the breadmaker on to the (raisin) dough setting. Mine takes 2h 20 minutes. Add the millet seeds at the raisin beep stage

At the end, tip out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down gently.  While doing so, shape into a rectangle.  Roll it up lengthways (like a swiss roll), and make it into a thick batton with squaish ends.

Put the rolled up dough, seam side down, onto a baking sheet.  Cover with  oiled clear clingfilm - I don't do this. I put the tray in an enormous polythene bag and tie it.  Put it in a warm place to rise for 30-45 minutes. Don't forget it, overproving is not good.

At the end of the proving time, remove the bag/film, and dust the loaf withth emillet flour.  Using a sharp knife cut several pairs of chevrons down the length of the loaf to give it room to rise.  Let it stand for 10 minutes or so.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees/Gas 7.

Bake the loaf for 25-30 minutes, until it's a golden brown colour and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Pop on a cooling rack.

Poor Izzy

12 days ago we took Izzy to the Vet so she could have a blood test to check the phenobarb levels in her system.  She'd had a few fits in between Vet visits, and we were wondering whether we ch/could increase her doseage. 

She'd lost a bit more weight.  The vet wanted to check various things, so he needed blood to get the phenobarb levels tested and to check for hyperthyroidism,  and urine to check kidney function and for possible diabetes.

They process the urine sample on site, but the blood has to be sent off.

The good news was that she isn't diabetic.

The less good news was that she had a rampant urinary infection.

The possible good news is that the urinary infection might be impacting on her fits, both making her more prone to fitting and preventing the phenobarb from working properly.  

She had an antiobiotic injection for the infection, with a follow up due today.   We had to wait a couple of days for the blood test results.

Good news - the phenobarb levels are OK, so we have a bit of  hearoom if we need to increase the dose.

Sort of good news - she has a hyperactive thyroid,  and Tim prescribed some tablets to help.  It's good news because it shows the reason for the weight loss, and it should be manageable with medication.

So, she was back to the Vet today, even though it was a bnk holiday.   Another urine test.  Some infections are resistant to some antibiotics (as I have found myself!).     Infection much reduced!  Second injection will be enough.

Still losing weight, which is not suprising as she hasn't been on the tablets for very long.  More tablets prescribed, and an appointment booked for September to do another blood test.  Finally, a quick trim of all her claws,  and we were done for the day.

Home in time for her her first dose of tablets for the day.   She's not been eating cheese lately,  luckily we discovered she has a taste for german sausage.  She's been having extrawurst or bierwurst twice a day for the past week or so. 

Still trying to catch up

DH has been away, doing th ebuild up for a festival,  so the garden has been neglected.  The strange weathr has caused it to grow dramatically,  and it's like something out of a fairy tale in places.

I started hacking back the pampas grass.  I went round the base once,; despite earing a shirt and gloves I still managed to get pampas-lash,  including a particularly nasty one across my bottom lip.  The green waste bin was full to bursting, so I stopped.

Some days later,  I did round two.  I now have a green waste bin that has been filled again, and a one-tonne white bag full of pampas.... plus a couple of other things.  The bay tree I cut down had started to sprout, and had suddently grown up again.  I cut it righr back.  I also had to take out some holly and parts from the adjacent shrubs at the same time.


I cut the pampas back a little more, and a little higher, so that I could move the fencing.  I can't believe how much lighter it is,  whilst still providing dappled shade for the Girls.  I can see that it needs to go back even further - I've unearthed a log I put under there ages ago, which used to be right on the outside of it...now, it's still partially covered.      There are bits of pampass all over the grass, but I'd had enough and had planned to rake the remainder up today.

I also got the shrub book out to see about pruning back the hypericum (St John's Wort) and the lacecap hydrangea which have been running rampant on the driveway.  Both need to be pruned in March, not now, so I guess that saved me a job.

I was set to finally clear up the pampas bits today, before DH returns tomorrow.

Except of course that today it's pouring with rain.

Could be worse.  At least I did the allotment chickens' weekly  mucking out yesterday.  That's not much fun in the rain.

It's not much fun in the dry of course.

But little things...

Trying to catch up

It's been a funny week.

A few days ago, I was seeing to the chooks at the allotment.  Three of the Littlees had managed to escape from their run. I found them sitting, unperturbed, against the netting, with some of their brothers and sisters on the other side.

Henry and his Harem either hadn't noticed them,  or had decided to ignore them.   Henry was cock a doodling a bit more than usual, so I suspect the latter.

I couldn't see how they had got out.

Meanwhile, I opened the gate and shepherded the lost sheep back into their own pens, where they ran off to tell everyone of their adventures on the Outside.

I did the usual chores, which this particular day took a while as I had to clean and scrub the drinkers.   They get a bit algae-fied, and need a bit of a scrub once a week.   All feeders were topped up,  everyone had corn,  and I did a headcount of bothe pens.

I was missing a itte Harem hen. Siouxsie Sioux,  sister to Norman and NotNorman,  was nowhere to be seen.  I checked around and under things.   She had definitely  been there earlier,  as I had seen the three of them together.

I went out of the allotment. shutting the door.  I walked the perimeter fence, in case she had wandered out and around.   Nothing.  I walked again, checking the outward side.  I checked the next door field.  I came back to the allotment, closing the door behind me.  Ichecked Henry's shed.  I checked the storage shed. 

And then there she was.

Bemsed, I locked up. 

On my walk back tot he car, I texted OC (other chap) to let him know that we'd had some escapees and that I hadn't found the escape place,  and to let him know about Siousxie disappearing.  I suggested maybe she'd hidden under one of the sheds.... and I wondered if she was laying under there.

Henry has 12 girls in his harem at the moment.  At any one time.  one, tow, three of them are broody - the record has been six broody at once.   3 hirls (Norman, NotNorman and Siouxsie) are 5 years old and so their irregular laying is to be expected.  At any one time, one of them us likely to be broody though.

I mention this because we've had a drop in egg numbers.   Thinking about Siouxsie made me wonder if some of them are laying under the shed... although that doesn't make much sense because we have 11 nest boxes spread over 3 different houses.   Even when 6 hens were broody, that still left more than enough nestboxes for everyone else.

We are wondering whether the eggs are getting stolen, with Magpies or rats being the most likely suspects.

The next time I went down to the allotment I put extra fencing up along the Littlee line, and I took the memory card from the camera so I could bring it home and empty it, ready to set it up again.

Coxtail Cocktails

We looked at our cocktail menu, and decided we'd better start with something fairly easy to get us into the swing, and then do the more complicated ones - on the basis that as the time (well, our consumption) progressed, there was a chance that we'd be less able to concentrate.

In the 2 hours we made 7 cocktails,  one of them we made twice,  and I had to have a short break in the middle.

We made:

Long Island Iced Tea
(yum!  I'm really surprised as I don't like gin, I don't like tequila, and I don't like coca cola.)

Singapore Sling

(yum! Another surprise as  don't like gin)

Pina Colada

(Yuk. Not on my make-again list)

Raspberry Mojioto

(OK but prefer the standard Mojito. Athough I might try other variants)

Porn Star Martini

(Yum. Passoa here I come.)

Strawberry Martini

(Very OK, I would try with it other flavours especially as we grow fruit in the garden.)

and lastly, Yvonne's favouritre

Screaming Orgasm

Very good. I don't usually like creamy drinks, but this was most acceptable.

I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking,  and I know my limits.  So, I didn't finish any of the drinks we made, I just tasted them.   My "yums" (and the Screaming Orgasm) I probably drank half.  They really were delicious, and I could very easily have drunk them all, but then I wouldn't have been able to make notes on the drinks etc.

I've placed an order for delivery today, and it comprises alcohol and toilet rolls.

Goodness knows what the delivery driver is going to think of that!

Coxtails

Of course on Friday morning we were moving the LIttlees to the allotment.  We had to get up early to get everything fone, so I could be back in time to get cleaned and changed ready for Yvonne and brunch at 11.30.

Yvonne arrived promptly, with her car as I was taking Thermie with us in case we needed to blend any of the cocktails.  There was a minor change of plan.

Although the training was going to be from 1 til 3, Sam the Mixologist was going to arrive at 12.30 so he had 30 minutes to set up.

That didn't give us time to eat brunch at our local cafe.  It's all made to order, we'd planned a leisurely sit down, but we realised that the Sam, might be early.

We drove to the cafe. A cat ran in front of the car. Had we hit it?  We stopped. The cat ran off. I followed it - My own cat had once been hit by a car, was badly injuredm but had still run from the scene.   Lucjily for me a pedestrian who had witnessed the incident reassured me that the cat hadn't been hit.

We arrived at the cafe.  We went in to order our food "to go", and went back to the car to pick up the bag which had been thrown from the back seat ontot the floor, jettisoning its contents.

I had packed a box of 1000 straws.  I now picked up 500 of those straws from the car floor, trying to get them back into the box.  Everything else was undamaged.

We collected our food and coffee.  We were now hemmed in waiting for a supermarket lorry to make its delivery   Fortunately, the lorry realised that there was a long queue and it drove around the block.  We made our escape.  The coffee cups were full, and I was grateful that they were in a cardboard holder. If theyhadn't been, they would be all over the car by now.

We got home to Yvonne's,  ate our lunch, and Sam arrived.

Cocktails

A couple of years ago (really? was it that long?!), my friend Yvonne and I sepent a day at Shaker Bar School on a cocktail masterclass.  We learned to make (Properly) a variety of cocktails, and variations on those cocktails.
Since then we've practised a bitm separately,  and we've practised together.  

Together (1)  was having a day where we re-made all the ones we liked, trying some variations.  We found a fatal flaw in this approach, which was we were physically limited to the number of variations we could try... or rather how well we were able to continue after we'd tried a few variations.  So, we tried a different approach for our second day together.

Together (2) had 2 guests, my Auntie Joy and Yvonne's sister Diane.  This worked well,  we stil made the same number of cocktails, but there were twice as many people to drink them.

We had been trying, unsuccessfully, to get Shaker to run another course - same format as before, but with different cocktails.   Eventually we gave up, and looked for alternatives.  Yvonne suggested Coxtails, which is an outfit who normally provide bar services for parties, weddings, and does corportate stuff..but they were willing to send us a Mixologist for a couple of hours to make whatever cocktails we wanted.  We decided we'd choose our cocktails in advance, and then get our own alcohol etc in - after all, if we liked the cocktail, we'd be making it again.

We booked the date.

Eventually, we went through some cocktail sites and chose the cocktails we wanted to add to our repertoire.

The shoppin glist was sent. Alcochol ordered (I suspect that the supermarket has an exclamation mark against Yvonne's delivery address now).

A 2 hour training session last Friday.  1-3.   That would give us time to have brunch to at 11.30.

All was arranged.

Settling In

So the babies are settling in at the allotment.


We popped back down last night to see if they had managed to get themselves to bed.  They hadn't.  Despite being shut in the coop for a while when we moved them there,  despite the coop being identical to the one they had in the garden, they just couldn't quite connect the dots.  Or they just weren't ready to go to bed.

CharlieFarlie came running over to see me. I scooped him up and put him at the top of the ladder.  He went in.  We then spect soe time catching everyone else and putting them in the coop.    We didn't shut the pop hole. We snuck away.

We heard the clunk of  a feeder, and crept round the outside of the allotment to see what was happening.  Someone had come back out.  Then BigBird came down the ladder,  then a couple of others.

We left them to it.
The weather is OK, so it doesn't matter if they do decide to camp out for a bit.


This morning, they all looked very settled.  There was poo in the coop, so several of them had spent the night in there. Not sure they all had.

So far, the Big Girls and Henry are ignoring them.  It's not as if the Littlees have taken over land that use to belong to the Biggees.   The Littlee area is an area the BigGirls haven't had access to (apart from some of them, a couple of years ago when they were babies themselves).   

And we opened up a new area of grass for the Biggees at the same time,   to make sure they had something else to think about.