B***ocks!

Lewis is at the Vet's, being 'done'.    I'm so grateful to them for agreeing to do it.

Lewis was quite stressed this morning.  He hasn't been on a solo trip to the Vets before,  and he was presumably missing Shelby's reassuring presence.

DH and I are like 1960s expectant fathers,  unable to settle, waiting for news.

We just want him home asap.

Bread and Butter Pudding

I made bread and butter pudding yesterday.

I made a white loaf on Saturday, so that I could have B&BP this week.  I love home made white bread, and it's taken a lot of effort to resist having bread and butter,  buttered toast, etc.

I can't remember when I last made B&BP.   I used to make it a lot, when the children were younger.   Then, when we started to make brown bread,  I stopped making it as it required planning to make white bread, let it stale, and then make the pudding.

I did make it a few times with left over homemade malt loaf (which I'm now craving, now I've though about it), and that was lovely too.

I made it just as my mum taught me to, which isn't how it's done in the recipe books.   We don't use egg, so ours doesn't have a custardy texture.  It's just creamy milk.   We also make it fairly shallow,  because we want lots of the crispy bits on the top.  We never serve with custard,  just with extra cold milk if a bit more liquid is required.

It took a lot of bread.  Both DH and I had a large portion and then we both had seconds.   I was a little surprised about DH having seconds.  He's not a fan of dried fruit and I used to make this with a corner with very little dried fruit in just for him.      I didn't go overboard with the fruit this time, so that probably helped.

It was delicious.

Like my mum's.

Technology issues

The SmartConnect cat flap has been playing uo.   A few weeks ago, Lewis got out a few times, but we didn't understand how.  The flap was set to "indoor" for the kittens, which means it lets them in but not out.   The App hadn't registered him going out,  accusations about un-careful door openings flew.  We speculated. Could he be going out behind Izzy?  We set up a camera.

The camera showed that it was random, but it was happening.  Forno reason, with no click, it would let Lewis out.    We reset the cat flap.

Eventually we go to the point where we were letting the kittens out.  The cat flap sporadically decided to deny them entrance.  Or to recoginse them.  We reset it.  We continued it on "indoor" mode, which meant the cats could only get out when we opened a door for them.

For a while, things were fine.  Yesterday I mentioned that I'd seen Shelby trying to get in, but the cat flap hadn't done the clunk of recognition.   DH said it was working ok.

This morning I let the cats out when  I went to let the Girls out.   I was going back upstairs with a cup of tea, so I shut the back door.

Later, Lewis came for a cuddle. Izzy came for a cuddle.  There was no Shelby.

I went to look for her, but couldn't find her.  I got the Loc8tor out, and found she was down by the greenhouse. Only she wasn't.  I guessed she was Next Door.    I got dressed, got the stes, and looked over the fence.  There she was, mewing pitifully.

I woke next door up and asked if I could go in their garden to colelct her.  Social Distancing was maintained at all times.    I rescued a very soggy moggy,

We tested her with the cat flap.  It didn't recognise her.  She's still registered OK,  but hte Flapjust wasn't recognising that she was there.

We're changing the batteries, again, and we might reset it again.

It's such a great piece of technology...when it's working.  It's a pain in the b*m when it's not.

Goodbye, boys

The fallout from the theft of the chickens continues.

Today DH is culling the our two beautiful Silver Laced Barnevelder boys, Mutt and Geoff.  We had managed to run the two boys together in the same flock,  because Barnevelders can be very laid back lads and it's sometimes possible to run two hatchmate boys together.       Ours got on well, and they had a big enough harem to minimise conflict.

The Boys are stressed at the loss of their Girls.  We can't bring them home.  Even one cockerel would be too noisy, and our neighbours are already tolerating the noise arising from the Allotmenteer girls arriving, and the resulting fights and squabbles.

It's not just a problem that the boys are stressed without the Girls.    We run the risk that the thieves will be back.    If they take the boys, then the very best we could hope for would be that they were culled for food.  The worst would be that they would be used to train cocks for cockfighting, which is often the fate of cockerels, advertised as free to good home,  who are collected by the most respectable looking people. 

At least if we cull them ourselves, we can make sure that their end is a stress free and painless as possible.

The loss of the stock at the allotment will have consequences over and above that for the stolen chickens, the cuylled boys,  the uprooted Allotmenteer girls, and the displaced Garden Girls

It was a focal point for DH,   something he had to go out and do.  It was exercise,  it was calming.  It was something for us to have disagreements and agreements about.     Plnning the annual hatching and managing the transition was a large part of our summers and autumn.   It was a big part of our time with Miss Tween,  and we would swap Allotment days so they coincided with her staying.

Not just us, either.    It was something for the Other Chap to focus on, his exercise walking to the allotment and back. Something to share with his grandchildren.  He has just been released from being housebound after 6 weeks, and had been looking forward to resuming his share of the allotment duties.

Those poor boys.  I cried for them,  even more than I cried for the poor girls who were taken.



There was no excuse for what the scum did.   There are plently of chickens in Asda, and they are cheap.  

They saved themselves maybe £10.   The cost to us, (and the boys, of course)  is immeasurable.

Effing c***s

Well I got to the allotment super early, so I could get everything done and get home for breakfast.

The thieves had been again, this time they had taken chickens.   They had been unable to get the ones out of the shed (we think), despite shoving a drinking trough in through the pop hole and waving it around to scare the chooks off the perches.    They had managed to get the ones who were sleeping in the other coop though: Sasha (my Appenzeller Spitzhauben,   Summer and Blondie (the two silver leghorns),  and Pong (one of the two silver grey dorkings).

They left the allotment open to predator attack, and the electric fence down.  I looked for signs that some of the girls might have escaped and been killed by an animal predator.  Honestly, I would have preferred to find their remains than to know that they were taken hy human scum.   There wasn't anything.

Sasha has a unique beak feature, so if I saw her I would know her and I could provide photographic proof that she was mine.

We've brought all the remaining girls home.  We've left the boys on the allotment while we make arrangements for them.      Annie did not want to leave Geoff-boy's side, and she's going to be calling and calling for him this evening, just as she did in the time she was here before.  

Nora, who is 9 and blind in one eye, is going to struggle to adapt to a new environment; Nora and Katherine, who is 8 and is Poppy/Gloria's sister,  are going to struggle to establish themselves in the new pecking order with so many new, younger,  faces.  Ping is going to be the bottom of a much longer pecking order.    

The girls who are currently in the garden, and have been establishing nicely in to 2 flocks and not too much friction,   are going beserk.  They are really agitated at the arrival of a load more hens,  even though they recognise 2 of the combs (Fay and Annie).

It doesn't matter who was there and who was taken. All the Girls were loved, and all but the Dorkings were raised from eggs by us.  If they'd taken the Oldies,  I'd be upset that such fragile girls were ending their days this way. If Violet, Elizabeth and Bott, or Annie, had been taken, I'd be upset that my line of Welsh Blacks had been taken.

Miss Tween is very distressed.  I don't keep these things from her, it's part of the trust between us.  Her mum messaged me to say how upset Miss T was.

It is the end of keeping chickens at the allotment.

And that means the end of hatching chicks.  

All those years.  All those records. All that care.   All that detail.

F***ing c**ts.

A bit bleurgh

One of those not so happy days today.

I got up at 6.40 and went out to see why the Girls were complaining this time.  It was a grey damp morning, and I had a headache.    

I had decided yesterday that today I would go to the allotment and do a deep clean of the shed and coop.   It's usually done in early April, and I'm really really late.      As it involves saturating everything with Poultry Shield,  I need a warm dry day so that everything dries quickly.    As I tramped out across the wet grass I realised that today wasn't going to be the right day.

I went back to bed, and didn't get up again until gone 11am.   By the time I got up, with my headache subdued,  it was a baking hot day.  I feel a bit rubbish for going back to bed.  I know what I'm like,   and normally I don't let myself get suckered in to going back to bed.  But I had a headache, I didn't feel great, and I thought it might be different.

When I got up, and had breakfast and showered,  I still wasn't feeling full of the joys of Spring.    It happens, and I know it will be better tomorrow.    Acknowledging that, instead of slapping myself because of my apathy,  was a good tactic, and I feel a bit more chipper now.  I even dressed in one of my lovely me-made maxi skirts, and I feel a bit more human.

We dropped some garden games at the end of Next Door's driveway,  hopefully the two kids will like them.

Momentum

The ice cream maker has been on the worktop since whenever it was I made toothpste ice cream for DH.   I haven't put it away because I still have cream in the fridge, and I wanted to make at least one more batch of ice cream.

This morning, I decided on the way in from sorting the Girls out, I would do it.    I'd already decided thaat my next batch would be Cardamom and Honey,   so I spent a surprisingly long time crushing and shelling cardamoms.      I didn't have single cream, so I used double cream with 25% of the volume made up with milk.  That might be why I had trouble getting the custard to thicken.

While I was waiting for the cardamom seeds to infuse into the hot cream.  I decided ot make lemn and lime ice cream tomorrow, and I made up the lemon and lime syrup today.      The fridge now has cold sort-of-custard, waiting for whipped double cream to be added and for it to be churned into ice cream;  a pint jar of what looks like a urine specimen for tomorrow's lemon and lime ice cream, and a bowl of egg whites.  Usually the egg whites sit in the fridge, with all good intentions for being turned into something (apart from meringue, which gives me a migraine), until I throw them out.  I thought I might make a Disoronno Sour later, and actually use one of them.

The fridge also has half a white cabbage and half a red cabbage (which were going to be turned into coleslaw, but I decided to give some to the Girls yesterday to keep them occupied),  some manky carrots,  some cooking apples (from a previous intention to make red cabbage, which was scuppered by me not having an red cabbage),  a big bag of mushrooms (which are meant ot be made into mushroom soup,  which I fully intend to do in the next couple of days),  some new potatoes,  and lots of chicken veg.

I am going to get on and use them.  I am.   I really am.

sHENenanigans

It started well. I watched on the camera.

Gloria and Poppy, the two old Garden Girls, took themselves to bed early as usual.   Everyone else milled about the Run, eating, rooking, ignoring each other.      

At about 8pm,  the 3 Littlees made their way to their Cube.   Sunshine (Gold Leghorn) went straight in;  Astrid (Gold Leghorn) and Sylvia (Silver Laced Barnevelder) sat on the verandah.    The 4 allotmenteers and Fleur carried on pacing around.

Eventually Phyllis, the oldest of the Allomenteers, climbed the ladder. She waited at the top.    Violet, the youngster with the odd eyes and a bucketload of attitude,  decided to try the other Cube and went straigh in with Gloria and Poppy.  A few seconds later, Poppy was evicted.

Elizabeth climbed the ladder behind Phyllis, but gave up.  Bott ran around.  FLeur paced around, not sure what to do.  Eventually she flew on to a perch and waited.

Poppy managed to get back in with Gloria and Violet.      Phyllis got in with Sunshine,  and then Astrid went in, leaving Sylvia on the verandah.  All was going well.  Bot decided to try her luck with the old girls.

And then Fleur happened.

She climbed the ladder of her normal Cube (the one with Glory, POppy and Violet).  She got off.  She ran round and climbed the ladder for the other cube. She barged in.   I held my breath.   I told myself, if they all stay in, it's ok.  If anyone gets ejected I'll have to go and get her out.   And then a few seconds later,  Astrid and Sunshine rushed out.    I gave in and went outside.

I could not get hole of Fleur. She was out of arms reach via the pop hole.  I shhooshed her out. but she just sat on the verandah, and I couldn't get to her from there.    Astrid and Sunshine went back in.  I could bot prevent Fleur from going back in, so I had to open the Cube at the back (not normally a problem, but awkward on this one because of where we'd put the solar panel for the door opener), and I just pushed her out.  I then had to run round to get in to the Run to stop her going back up the ladder. 

Eventually I managed to get her round to the other Cube ladder,  and she went up and in.

Thank goodness for that!


At 3.30 in the morning I woke up because the Girls were making a noise.   Luckily the four shrill hens were now at the allotment, so the noise wasn't horrendous.    Next door's PIR light was on,  and it seems we had a predator (or a cat) go past.

All night we had an owl hooting, which kept waking me up.

At 6.30, the Girls started to complain about being shut in.   Again, without the shrillness of Fay and Sasha (and the 2 silvers) it wasn't too bad;   however, we had new coop mates, and I was concerned that it might be an indicator of trouble, so I had to get up and go out and see.

I can't see any obvious wounds, so everyone survived.    I did see Poppy attack one of the gold leghorns, not sure which one,  and I think this was frustration at losing her place to Violet last night: she obviously feels the need to dominate someone else in retaliation.

We're going to cut a removable panel (I don't think we have any doors left) in the run so that I can get my arm in from the other side of the Littlees coop.

We'll see what happens tonight.

DH is going to the Allotment today to check on the girls there.  I hope they are all OK!

Hen "Holiday"

Today DH took 5 hens to the allotment.

Bedtime tonight is going to be a challenge,  as the occupants of all 3 coops will find at least one of their number missing.

One was an original Allotmenteer, Annie.    Annie has not seemed settled while here and, each evening, she calls and calls and calls.  I'm guessing she misses one of her friends, or perhaps  one of the boys.  We decided to take her back to the Allotment, and I really  hope that the friend she is calling for isn't AnneOfCleeves (who died a few days ago).

I also took the decision to send four of the garden girls to the allotment as well.  The two silver leghorns were earmarked as allotmenteers anyway,  and we've also taken Sasha and Faye.  I decided to leave Fleur here, which was a tough decision.  Fleur may struggle without Fay and Sasha,  and I'm sorry about that.  But Fleur "isn't quite right",  hasn't been for most of her 4 years.

Sasha and Faye don't like Summer and Blondie, but it still means that there will be 4 newbies against the 6 established allotmenteers, which is better than adding in just the 2 leghorns.   If we wait until lockdown is over, then the allotmenteers here will be back at the allotment, and we'll be trying to add 2 loopy leghorns to 10 girls.

The other dvantage of taking Sasha and Faye is that it gives us a break from their screeching. I'm really hoping there will be a difference tomorrow morning.


I don't know whether we're going to leave Sasha and Faye there permanently.  We'll have to see how it goes.  They will miss the unlimited grass that they get here,  but they will like the freedom.

I hope they are all OK.

CBA

Yesterday was not such a good day.

For the last few days I have  struggled to work out what day of the week it is.  We joked about it earlier in the lockdown phase, but I've genuinely not known what day it was since about last Wednesday.      I know I kept thinking Friday was Saturday,    and Saturday I kept thinking was Sunday or Monday;  and today - which IS Sunday, I know this because the papers got delivered - I thought was Monday.

I know it doesn't matter really, but it isn't a good feeling.

Yesterday I also woke up with a headache after a bad night,  and struggled all day with a big dose of CBA ("Can't be bothered").    I get irritated with myself when I'm like this.  I also get irritated withe the chickens who seem to squawk more,   the weather, which was crap,  and everything else.

I *made* myself do lots of work, which included moving all* the furniture in the living room to vacuum and mop properly,  and shaking the rug outside.  I also cleanined and mopped  the bathroom floor (including sterilising anything and everything that needed sterilising),    put 2 weeks worth of cleaning cloths in some Milton before washing them .  (*all=all furniture that I could move relatvely easily).

I also made some rainbow hearts out of felt, but as I cut them all out freehand they are a bit rubbish.   This also created a ton of mess which I cleared up.

The Girls behaved really badly at bedtime.  Annie wouldn't let the rest of the Allotmenteers get into their Cube.    Sasha tried to get in to the LIttlees cube (I evicted her twice.  I couldn't get hold of her, as it's now difficult to slide the roof open because the controller and solar panel for the door opener are on there).     Annie has not been especially happy all the time she's been here, so I'm thinking she's going to have to go back to the Allotment to replace the recently deceased AnneOfCleeves.


This morning, the planes started at about 5am, and the chickens started about 6.15.  I got up, twice, to try and sort them out (the chickens, not the planes) and then I made a cup of tea; unusually for me, I went back to bed.  This was a wonderful thing, and a Big Mistake.  I didn't get out of bed until 10.30, and I could actually have stayed in bed for a few hours more.   I wasn't sleeping though, only dozing,  and I suspect I'll end up paying for it later.

I feel better today than I did yesterday, but I'm still suffering from CBA.

Rain

It's been dull and wet for the last two days, and a little bit cold. I almost lit a fire last night.

Despite the cool weather, yesterday I carried on with my plans to make mint choc chip ice cream.  I'd got the ice cream maker out of the cupboard the nightbefore so the regierated unit couls settle; the creme de menthe had arrived; the eggs are piling up,  and I had some cream (my brother had been to Costco and dropped some stuff off on the doorstep for me as he had to go to work in the nearby town).

I felt obliged to do it.

I'm glad I did.   I'd forgotten just how lovely the texture of home made ice cream is.   I didn't love the minty ice cream- but then I don't like mint ice cream anyway.  I didn't stir in choc chips,  I just grated chocolate over the top.   DH quite liked it.     I stored the remainder in some perfectly sized little tubs I got from Lakeland for butter,  and there's enough in each tub for one generous portion.

I'm supposed to be cutting down on things that affect my cholesterol, so having home made ice cream isn't really a good thing.  The ice cream maker is sitting on the worktop, winking at me.   I might make another batch of something before I put it away again.

I'm very tired today,  another very disturbed night.   I don't sleep well generally anyway  because I have half an ear open for foxes getting in the Allotmenteers run.    The coop door is closed,  so we'd have time to get downstairs and deal with it before a fox got to the chickens, but I worry that I wouldn't hear in time.  

I've suffered from chicken tinnitus for years, and it always flares up even more when we have a temporary run in the garden.   I have to have the window open, just so I can reassure myself that I'd hear, and I'd wake up.  If the window is shut, then I wake up even more frequently as I think I can har something,  and then I have to get out of bed and go and check.   At least with the window open,  I can reassure myself that it's only the tinnitus, and I can try and go back to sleep.

Thinking of You

I embroidered some cards to send to the children, to my parents, to my eldest brother (who is refusing to join in on any of the family chats), and to my friend Sandra (I sent it before she phoned me, lol!)

Inside I just said we were thinking of them.

That's used up my creativity for the month :-)

Another one gone

8 years ago, we had a really full hatch of chicks,  18 in total.  Far more than we expected.  We kept Poppy and the exchequer leghorn girl, Lotti, here at home, and the rest - including Poppy's sister Gorgeous Glory - went to the allotment.

The boys were culled in two batches,  some in December, some the following February.  Spike, the Exchequer Leghirn cockerel escaped being culled because he was so irresistably handsome.  We gave him a few ladies, and sectioned off part of the allotment for them.   He was a disappointment, all fur coiat and no knickers.  He looked stunning, but  he was not particuarly good with his ladies, wasn't a friendly chap with us, and eventually started to attack the Other Chap that looks after the allotment.  He was culled separately.   

Of the girls, we'd originally planned to keep 2 or 3 to add to our allotment flock, and the rest were going to be dinner chickens like their brothers.   We let the girls run with Spike in the meantime, and we got used to the idea of them staying as his little flock.  When we decided to cull him, we didn't really want to cull the girls, so they all joined the allotment flock.     This meant that the follwing year we had no space for any females to join the flock, so all the chicks we hatched ended up as Dinner Chickens. 

Back to the 2012ers.  Apart from Gorgeous Glory, who had a name because she had been a contender for staying in the garden flock ,  the others didn't really have names.  Our cockerel at the time was Henry,  and the Girls were named after 5 of the wives of Henry VIII, but we tended to just refer to them en masse as "the Harem".

Glory  - or Gloria, as she became known - came back from the allotment after most of our garden flock was taken by a fox. We had only Poppy left, and the poor shell shocked girl needed a companion.  Gorgeous Glory was the obvious choice.

Asfor the other 5: One of them, nominally Catherine of Aragon, had to be culled in 2016.   The second, nominally Anne Boleyn,  died unexoectedly and peacefully in November 2018.     In February this year, DH had to cull the third,  Jane Seymour.   Today, another one, nominally Anne of Cleeves,  was dead:  old age, no sign of trauma.  Like all the Harem,  she was a steady, kind girl, very intelligent, and very secure in her space.    I'm sad that she's gone, but I am happy that her death was quick.  And I'm happy that she had a long and (I believe) happy life.

So we have only one of the harem girls left.  This means that that the two Barnevekder boys now have only 5 girls,  so we will have to think about whether to return one or more of the Allotmenteers from here to there.

Yesterday I had been thinking about the likely demise of Poppy and Gloria, and whether I'd bring any allotment girls back home permentantly to occupy their space(s).     Now that we've had 5 of the allotmenteers here, I think the answer is yes, I would.    I can't imagine not having at least one of these gorgeous black hens in my garden flock.

It was brought home to me even more when I was trying to rescue Summer last night.  She'd gone in to the Allotmenteers run.  She was fine while she was hoovering up their treats and eating from the jostaberry bush,  and they were letting her get on with it.   It wouldn't have been so fine when it came time to go into the coop.

Anyway,   I put my arm out so she could fly up on to it, and she looked at me like I was stupid.  Elizabeth, one of the allotmenteers,  flew up immediately.   She hasn't done that since we took her to the allotment 2 years ago. 

I guess she's earmarked to stay.

Chicken frenzy

The girls are in full lay at the moment,  even Poppy is laying the occasional, fragile, egg.  They are also getting more and more hormonal, and the nest box rows are reaching a crescendo.

I'm not quite sure what is going to happen when they start going broody.   We know that Poppy and/or Gloria is likely to go broody,  and all the allotment girls are known broodies.   We don't yet know what last year's babies ("The Littlees") are going to be like.

I don't mind the upcoming reduction in number of eggs (although I hope we still get enough!) that broodiness causes.  but I can't imagine how we're going to manage for broody space. And how we're going to manage for nest box space for those that do want to carry on laying.

I suppose we have to consider taking the allotmenteers back to the allotment.  In which case, we should also consider taking still-to-be-renamed Summer (STBRNS) and Blondie down as well, as that's where they are earmarked for.

I was thinking about this last night as STBRNS decided to get shut in the run with the Allotmenteers.  She refused to come out, and I was sorely tempted to leave her to it.    After the third attempt at gettting her out, I'd had enough.    I couldn't leave her though, because I could see that there would be blood at bedtime.

It did made me think though.  Maybe now is the time to gently encourage STBRNS and Blondie to mix with the Allotmenteers.  That would make their subsequent relocation to the allotment, whenever that happens, much easier.

So, I'm going to start on that today.

General free ranging is mostly OK, unless someone happens to cross paths with some else.  There's the odd spat, but nothing outrageous.   It gets worse in the run. 

In fact, the upset is more within existing groups.   Poppy and Gloria are making it difficult for Sasha to get into the Coop at night. .  As a result she goes and occupies the Littlees' coop.    They won't go in the coop with Sasha there,  so they end up on the verandah outside. 
Every night I'm having to go and evict Sasha, then watch her try and get into the correct coop.  Fay and Fleur won't go in the coop until Sasha is in.

We had a bit of this before the Allotmenteers came, but it's become worse now.    Poppy has always felt under pressure and insecure of her place in the pecking order. Gloria has never felt insecure.... until now.

People

The current situation is bringing out the best and the worst people.   I've been trying not to read too many articles, or watch too many stories, because it's playing havoc with my emotions.   I have been drawn in to some though.

The "worst" includes self entitled s. Those who are ignoring the lockdown,  or who are being pedantic and shitty to Police (like that annoying b*tch who was "mentally exercising" for 2 hours by the river and thought herself so effing clever for recording her conversation with the incredibly patient policeman. );  and the criminal s who are doing things like mugging an 80 year old lady as she walked to the local newsagent, pushing her to the ground.

I was never a believer in capital punishment,  but these people.....   It gets me so enraged.  I know it's not helpful, and I know  it's pointless getting so wound up, but I just can't help it.  I get so angry that I am reminded of the compulsory Two Minutes Hate in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four.

On the other side, there is the heartwarming - a few tales of people who have recovered from the virus, like the 106 year old lady; tales of small (or large) kindnesses; 

And the tugging at the heartstrings: like the elderly couple dying side by side in hospital, holding hands;   the young baby, infected at just a few months old;  husbands, sons brothers, fathers, mothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts.... so many stories. 

The practical, like the people who set up the NHS Scrubs facebook group and got hundreds of people sewing scrubs for the NHS;    the Rainbow Trail;  and so on

The heartwarming, like the video of the bin men dressed as Village People and emptying the bins to the sound of YMCA;  to postmen (including ours) who were doing their rounds in fancy dress;   young kids singing for the street;    the staff at the hospital cheering Boris as he left ICU;

And then the uplifting.  Like Tom Moore, the 99 year old chap who wanted to do 100 laps of his garden before his hundredth birthday, and wanted to raise £1000 for the NHS.  His total is now at £7million,  a symptom perhaps of people wanting to do something and his effort being a focal point.

I cry easily at the moment, sometimes with sadness or despair, and sometimes  with happiness.

Cats and garden

The kittens are loving going out in the garden.  They tear-arse around, chasing ach other, chasing the chickens, chasing flies, sitting under bushes.....   

We currently have the catflaps sent to "indoor cats" for them, which means the flaps will let them in, but won't let them out.  This means that they can only go out when we open the door for them to do so,  and we've been doing that so we know what they are up to.

With the good weather, and one or other of us doing somethign in the kitchen or outside, we're able to leave the back door open for parts of the day,  so the kittens are in and out and in and out and in and out.

They are exhausted by the evening, and spend it sparko on one of the many (many) cat beds in the sitting room.    They sleepily come upstairs to bed when we go,  and then wake up in the middle of the night for more running around stuff.

We've had a couple of incidences where Lewis appears to have got himself into a compromising position.   Shelby, who is spayed,  has no idea what he's up to.  I'm not entirely sure he does, yet.   As soon as our Vet reopens routine ops,  he'll be going in.

The weather is just amazing.   In normal times I'd be spring cleaning now,  and I really want to re-do the floor in our sitting room.   I have all the stuff in the loft to strip it and re-do it,  but it requires the room emptying completely, and my enthusiasm hasn't quite reached that point yet.

Work

Today's "work" was clearing out the smallest bedroom, again.   I wanted to be able to put our large laundry airer in there, out of our bedroom.

The room wasn't really too bad.   It was mainly several teetering piles of stuff "to be sorted".    I started sorting the first pile and withing 30 seconds I realised why it hadn't been done.  I wasn't able to make decisions about any of it either as I didn't know what to do with it, or I couldn't do anything until I'd done something else.

In the end I got an empty box (the contents are now in the bed in the spare room) and used it to put stuff in for the sewing-orientated of our grandchildren.   This cleared one enough space to enable me to start on another pile.

I put some other bits aside to give to my great nieces. I chucked stuff out.  I made a "for the loft" pile.

I put away things saying the "every little thing I put away makes a cumulative difference" mantra. Pens, Paperclips,. Random bits of stationery.  Comb binders.     Some Christmas cards fell out of the box on to the floor while I was up the step ladder, and they are now in the bin.  (That's very ruthless for me, I hate throwing away stuff like that).

I've got two piles left, and I've come downstairs to get some squash, and to see why the chickens are complaining this time!

I've almost unearthed Orla, my organ, and I might play her later.

Friends

Thank you Sandra for the phone call xxxx

Rotten

The other day DH came back from the getting something out of the freezer in the summerhouse, and said that the summerhouse had a funny smell.

I went out to sniff for myself, and he was right.   We had a look around, couldn't quite identify where the smell was coming from. We checked the cupboards, the freezer, couldn't find anything.  We speculated that maybe something had died under the floorboards.

Time passed.  Yesterday he came in and said "I wonder if it's your chair?".  My recliner chair wsa moved into the summerhouse so that I could use my Gravity chair to keep my leg elevated above my heart.

I went out.  The smell was worse.  I sniffed the chair, it didn't seem to be that.    The fridge smelt, because we'd kept the smoked bacon in there before freezing it.    The Smell Smell wasn't quite the same smell.  It did seem to be in that corner.

I got on my hands and knees and sniffed patiently.  It was definitely in the vicinity of the fridge and freezer.   I called DH, and he moved the fridge and freezer . There wasn't anything underneath,   It was definitely osmething around thre though.   It reminded me of a pet shop.

We opened the doors to let the air through (barricaded to prevent the chickens from entering), and left it.  We got a powerful torch and checked underneath from the outside.  No dead bodies  No spills, no nothing.

It was a puzzle.

A bit later, when my nose had cleared,  I went out to try again.   On all fours, I sniffed like a dog.  And then I found a stronger smell.  The air rifle target, next to the freeezer, also smelt of The Smell.  I followed my nose, and there, on the floor,   I could see a stain on the bottom of a folded up garden chair!

I'd found it!

I went into the house to get gloves, spray, strong kitchen towels, and a carrier bag.  I told DH that I had found it.  I  pulled out the garden chair and put it on to the table on patio, and then moved the stuff in front of the air rifle target.

And then I heaved.

Two unopened packs of previously frozen raw cat food were on the floor.  They had erupted, and there were maggots.  I put the packs in the bag, and sprayed the mass of...bleurgh...on the floor   I started trying to clean it up,  but my gag reflex was too strong.  The more I tried to stop gagging, the worse it got.

DH had to do some of it while I tackled the bit that I'd seen on the bottom of the chair frame.

Eventually, it was cleaned up.  I put the gloves in the bag, and triple bagged the bag,   I sprayed and washed the floor.   We left the room to air.

God knows how we managed to miss it before.

Days go by

The days are rolling by and I am struggling to tell which day of the week it is. More than ever, I can't remember accurately whether I did something yesterday or the day before or the day before that.

I've had to start making notes on my calendar: "visted allotment",  "washed towels",  "gave eggs to xx".  My phone helps me track when I last spoke to my Uncle,  and the chats on Facebook Messenger/WhatsApp are datestamped so I know who I've 'spoken to' that way.


As for DH and I, we're lucky to have space to be able to keep out of each others hair for large parts of the day. 

Our new neighbours put some banana bread on the doorstep yesterday, as a thank you for the eggs.

I've been ensuring that each day I do an amount of "work",  as well as dong things I like, and doing nothing at all.     I am not particularly motivated to do the "work", although I want the "work" to be done,  and for the last few days I've gone back to the Points system.    I award myself points for each thing I do, and when I get to a certain number of points I give myself a reward.

When things are really really really bad,  I get 1 point for each and every thing I do .  A cup in the dishwasher - 1 point.  A piece of paper in the recycling - 1 point. Putting the washing in the machine - 1 point.  turning it on - another point.  Vacuuming 1 section of the kitchen floor - 1 point.    On those days, the bar for a reward is raised or lowered depending on how likely I am to achieve it. It can be anything from, say, 10 points to 100 points to get a reward.  The reward might be "have a glass of squash",  or "check email" or "do a puzzle". 

On those sort of days, it helps me to remind myself that anything and everything I clear away will make a difference and when I've done quite a few, I'll see that difference.   

On other days, if I'm starting from a higher point,  I might have to put everything in the dishwasher to get a point,  or have removed everything from the worktop, cleaned the worktop, and put everything back to get 3 points.  It just depends on where I am on the curve.   

I am aware of how lucky we are,  and that's why make myself get on with stuff.

On the plus side...

... there are fewer planes during the day and, unlike when the planes were grounded due to the Icelandic Ash Cloud,  we can't hear the traffic noise from the main road either.

Instead our garden is.mostly, an oasis of calm.  We can clearly hear the song of many different birds and  the burble of contented hens;   the sky is  blue and clear;  the sun is warm and benevolent;  we're seeing loads of butterflies, not just cabbage whites.

Of course we also get  the hens having spats,    the sound of lawnmowers,   sanding, drilling, or whatever pastimtes people are enjoying,  and the occasional bark from the dogs either side.

If it wasn't for Covid19 causing the peace, this would be the most idyllic of locations.

Invasion

I've been phoning my Uncle most days to check he is OK.

He's much fitter than me,  and is completely compis metis,   but he has no iternet, no answerphone and only turns his mobile on if he needs to use it.  Online shopping is not possible for him, so he is currently going out twice a week to get groceries.

I phoned yesterday, after realising it had been several days since I'd last phoned him.   There was a problem with the line.   I tried his mobile, straight to voicemail.   I tried many times over the next hour, and tried to find out how to get the line tested.

 In the old days you rang a particular number, and they checked the line for you.   Nowadays,  you have to phone your supplier.  I tried BT,  but there was a 45 minute wait.

In the end, I decided I'd have to go round there.

He wasn't in.

I phoned again, and this time his phone rang (typical!).  No answer.  I've got a key for emergencies, so I used it.   It felt really...invasive.  I called and knocked beore I went into any of the rooms,  I touched nothing.  I couldn't find him.

His car was in the garage.

I left a note on his doormat, and tried his neighbour.  His neighbour hadn't seen im for a few days, but hadn't been home herself.

I drove home.

Later, I tried again and this time he answered.

He hadn't been out, so he hadn't come back in and hadn't seen my note.

He'd been down the bottom of the garden and hadn't heard the phone.

Thank goodness he's OK!

Interesting

The Girls have been crotchety, and have been excessively loud.   

I managed to do something creative for the first time in a couple of months.  I made a birthday card for my niece, who is self isolating with 2 small daughters.   It's really tough for her on her own.

I think that's possibly my arty crafty juices used up for April.

I cleaned out 3 chicken coops yesterday. I also set up 2 additional nestboxes and rearranged two of the existing ones in an attempt to get the Girls to try laying somewhere other than the one single nestbox that the 10 Garden Girls insist on using.  

This morning I found an egg on the floor of the run, so that obviously hasn't worked.

Yesterday we had roast chicken (a chicken quarter cooked in the Ipot following Cathy Phipps' recipe.).   We had roasties (which were the roasties Id partially cooked and frozen previously), parsnips (DH's own,  blanched and frozen the other week), yorkshire puds, and frozen veg.    It worked really well.  The home grown parsnips were just so very...parsnippy.

I also attempted to make 2 small cheescakes in the Ipot. .   I used the previous Custard Cream recipe, but reduced the quantities to about 2/3rds.     I didn't have custard creams, so I used bourbon, which I'd bought to make a chocolate range cheesecake.    I filled the little springform moulds and got ready to put them in the Ipot.  I had a bit of mixture left over, so I tried it... and realised I'd forgotten to put the sugar in!

 Emptying cheesecake mix back in to the bowl, wthout the base also falling in,  was a challenge.  I added the sugar, whipped it briefly, and then tried again.

Just as they finished cooking, and I was waiting for 10 minutes for natural pressure release,   DH phoned me from the garden. 

Yes, he phoned me from the garden.

"Um, can you come out here please and get the cats.  There's a snake out here".


And there was.  It obviously wasn't a native snake, ours are dull colours.  This one was a sort of pinky orange colour.  I googled "pink snake" and then "orange snake", and saw a similar looking one.  The one in the picture had a much larger head than the one in our garden, so I wasn't 100% sure. 

We kept an eye on the poor thing, and then it started to try and escape the garden into the ground behind.  I was very concerned that the poor thing would get injured or killed,  so DH gently eased it away from the fence with a stick.   It slithered along the fence and, luckily,  went into our hedgehog home.

While we kept watch,  I asked on our local facebook page if anyone in the village owned snakes.   Through that, and through the local Beavers master who is the village fount of all knowledge, I got the name of someone who was experienced with snakes and she very kindly came and rescued the poor thing.
She confirmed that it was, indeed, a corn snake.

It turns out that it's quite common for people to "free" their snakes when they get too big.    What a disgusting thing to do!!  This one was already a little chilled,  so probably would have died before long.

The lovely lady will keep the snake for a few weeks to see if the owner comes forward and, if not,  will then rehome. 

When we eventually came back in the house, the cheesecakes had been sitting on "keep warm" for 50 minutes.   They are in the fridge now, so we'll try one later today.

Flocks

The hen dynamics continue.

We started to remove the barriers between the Allotmenteers and the Garden Girls a few days ago.  We left most of the netting up, but opened up a little bit more to make mixing easier.

The Allotmenteers had no trouble in investigating the Garden Girls area, and this has been the cause of much of the conseternation and kerfuffles.     Mostly, the groups keep separate, but they do cross occasionally.

Yesterday I witnessed Astrid, leader of the younger Garden Girls flock, having a stand off with Bot.  It developed into a kung fu style fight, with Bot the victor.  Later I saw Summer, one of the two lowest ranking younger Garden Girls,  rush at Bot in fury.

Yesterday I put out bowls of spent barley from the brewing process.  I started with 3 bowls, but not everyone was able to get to one and I ended up with 5.     I was interested to observe who was happy to share with whom.

Poppy and 3 Allotmenteers round the bowl

Today I put out 5 more bowls.    I was interested to see that Poppy was once again earting from th same bowl as some of the Allotmenteers (Phyllis, Violet and Elizabeth I think). Annie was also eating from the bol but moved before I took the photo.

 Bot had a bowl to herself.    The others moved round betwen the remaining 3 bowls, and at one point I saw that Gloria was sharing with the leghorns.

They really love this stuff.   It sprouts really quickly though and I'm not sure it's a good idea to give it to them once it gets going,  so no more after today.

We've now removed the dividing netting completely.  We've left the area in front of hte summer house netted off as (a) it's a relief to have some part of hte garden that isn't covered in chicken poo,    and (b) we might need to use it to give another part of the garden a rest.  We've no idea how long this lockdown is really going to carry on.

That Friday feeling

I woke up with a tension headache.

I couldn't shift it.  I tried all sorts of dlexions, I just wanted to make that "ping" where the tensin would release, but I couldn't do it.    I wanted to stay in bed with th eduvet over my head,  but decided to get up and do the scheduled Pilates class, thinking that the stretches mught help.

The kittens were excited when the mats came out.  We were doing the class in the bedroom today,  as there was a bit less stuff to move around.    It worked well.     The mats now have lots of little pin pricks in them where the kittens,  who absoutely LOVE the texture,  couldn't help themselves.

It didn't cure my headache, but its pushed the tension down my back a bit and I'm going to try more stretches in a moment to see if I can pop it.

I did end up getting the cobweb attachment on to the vacuum cleaner, and cleaning my bedroom ceiling.     I try and leave in-use cobwebs and only get rid of the unused ones.    I also cleaned the top of the blades on the ceiling fan,  and the tops of the skirting boards.  And the architrave of the door.  And the top of the TV and wardrobe.  And down the side of my bedside cabinet.

Raymondo is busy in there now, vacuuming the floor.  The kittens are still excavating the poor plants,  so we invariably have soil everywhere.

I commented on some new cracks in the plaster,  and suggested we (by which I mean DH) could fill them....        It didn't go down well,  DH is trying to sort out the greenhouse and spring planting,  and wasn't impressed with my suggestion.

I've almost cleared the cutting table in the kitchen.   Clearing it resulted in me having to do some ancillary stuff, so it wasn't as straigtforward as just taking the stuff off and putting it away.  (It could and should have been, but I decided to go with the flow).

Our other Pilates teacher has been in touch to say that she is going to run some Zoom classes, so we're going to support her by signing up for one of those as well.


I have to go out and get some cat meds today.  I haven't been out for ages (apart from the garden), so it'll be a bit of an adventure.