Peaceful Sunday morning.

We had a late night last night watching The Revenant on DVD.  I didn't get to bed until about 12.30, which is really really late for me.




And then I had a fairly typical morning.

5.15 Wake up to the mournful sound of a hen who wants to be let out of her coop.    Close my eyes and try and ignore it.

5.17 Mournful sound from Annie has now become a wail,  and has been joined by voices from one of the other coops.    I keep my eyes closed, and hope that they will give up.

5.20 I get up, put my dressing gown on, and stomp downstairs.  Find the door key, unlock the door, and open it.  Deathly quiet.  I wait for  a moment, and shut the door.

5.21 It starts again.

5.21& a few seconds,  I open the door and march out to the coops.  I hiss "sssssshhhhhh" to each coop, and have to resort to opening the pop hole of the Evacuee coop and sticking my head in to say "SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH" to the originator (Annie)

5.23 I stand by the coops waiting for them to open. It feels like minutes have ticked by.

5.23 and a few seconds,   one coop opens and 7 girls spill out making a racket.  "Sssssssshuuut up! " I hiss.


5.23 and a few more seconds,  wailing emanates from the Annie, the original noisemaker in the Evacuee coop, as she is still shut in.

5.24 The third coop, reasonably quiet till now,  join in.

5.24 I bang on the Evacuee coop roof and hiss "shut up shut up shut up, you'll wake the neighbours" . They shut up.

5.24 and a few more seconds,  I walk to the 3rd Cube (wth the 3 youngsters and Phyllis in)  and do the same.  They shut up.

5.24 The Evacuee cube starts again.   It still hasn't opened. Thinking about tomorrow,  I swipe the opener with a magnet (to fix the opening time for tomorrow).    I go to the Youngsters Cube and do the same (so they open at the same time as each other  tomorrow).   I then go back to the Evacuee Cube and manually unpin and open the door.  5 girls stream out, complaining loudly at the lack of service.
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5.25 The lot who were out already join in with the complaining.

5.25 and a bit, I go and let out the Youngsters.  They come out REALLY whingeing.  I threaten everyone with being shut in solitary confirnement in  wooden nest boxes (but realising I can't do that today as it's too hot for them)

5.26 I go back to the house, go to the toilet, then go back to bed.  At least I'll have an hour before they start whingeing to be let out of the runs into the garden. If I get back to sleep quickly, I'll get a decent amount of sleep.

5.35 I'm lying in bed, trying to work out if the chattering is an acceptable level of noise. 

5.36 I tell myself that I need to go to sleep, otherwise it'll be too late to go to sleep. I isten to the radio, I listen to the chickens.
 
5.50 A chorus of wailing erupts.  I get up, open the window, and all is suddently quiet. Butter wouldn't melt in their little beaks.

5.51 I get back in bed.

5.53 The wailing starts.  I lie in bed wondering if it really travels as much as I think. And next door's back bedrooms are occupied by kids,  surely they'll sleep through it?

5.54 The wailing reaches a crescendo.  I get up.  Open the window, the noise continues.   I put my dressing gown on, stomp downstairs, and go into the garden.

5.55 I open the doors to both runs and the Girls stream across the lawn, chattering in glee.   The original wailer, Annie,  starts wailing again.  I try to catch her, and fail.    

I'm getting a bit fed up at this point, and decide I'll take them to the allotment and if they get stolen it's good riddance.    I point to each of the noisiest girls and tell them my plans.  They ignore me.

5.56 I get back into bed with my dressing gown on.  DH stirs, asks why I've left my dressing gown on.   I tell him it's the ideal time for a fox to come, and every second counts in that instance.

6.00 Someone lays an egg (on the grass, I later discovered) and decides to announce it.  I pretend to be asleep, hoping DH will get up.    DH is asleep and doesn't hear anything.

6.02 The egg announcement stops.   I try and sleep but find myself in the usual half doze, where I'm listening for trouble.

6.04 A spat breaks out between one of the Evacuees and someone.    I pretend to be asleep.

6.30 One of the Girls is at the fence under the window, calling. I ignore it.  I doze off.

7.15 Woken by the noise of  alarmed chickens.  Leap out of bed.  It's not a fox (the calling isn't that level of panic), so I open the window. Something has set them off, they are pointing in the same direction,

Run downstairs.    Get to the back door to see Thunderpaws (a massive, long haired, blue cat who terrorises our cats and makes the fence shake when s/he leaps on and off) strolled past.  S/he didn't see me.  

7.16 I open the door and chase Thunderpaws, and s/he runs out out of the garden.   I hear some strange motorised noise that I can't place.  It's not a chainsaw. It's not a car or bike or boat. It's a really weird sound.   I go back through the house to the front door, to see if I can hear it better from the front,  or work out what it is.   It's even louder out the front, and it's a horrible sound.  I can't place it.  It's really annoying.    What an anticocial thing to do on a Sunday morning!  I'm farting around trying to keep my chickens quiet, and this is going on!!     This is what's unsettled them!!! (well, it's this unsettling them today anyway).

7.17 As I turn to go in, I see a pair of yellow eyes watching me from under a bush on the driveway.  It's Thuunderpaws!   S/he realises s/he's been spotted, and saunters off. I'm sure her back legs and tail did the feline equivalent of a V sign as she sashayed away.

7.18 I feed the cats.

7.20 I debate whether to stay up or go back to bed.  Normally I'm having this debate at 6.30am, but today I'd let the girls out at 6 so it was too early to stay up.     I know that if I go back to bed, I'm going ot be staying in bed until mid morning.

7.21 I get back in to bed. DH wakes up and asks whats happened.   I try and go back to sleep.  

7.30 I listen to the news.

7.40 I pretend I can't hear the chickens.

8.00 DH has to get up, and asks if I want a cup of tea.  I say yes.

8.45 I wake up to find a cold cup of tea by my bed.  I drink it anyway.

9.15 I get up.

Girls again

The saga continues.

A few nights ago,  I found that we had only 3 people in the Orange Cube: Gloria (#1 chook)  Violet (recent evacuee who made herself #2 chook), and Fay (bottom, or near bottom, fayoumi).    The other 8 girls, including Poppy (ousted #2(, Fleur,  Bot and Elizabeth (Violet's sisters and daytime companions) all piled in.

The next night,  Gloria was ejected from the Orange Cube too.   She barged in to the purple cube which meant everyone else came out,  so I had to manually relocate her.


After that, I saw that Violet would peck Gloria at every opportunity.


Since then,  they've been all over the place.  I've given up. They can do what they want.

The Evacuees, in the temporary coop,  carry on as normal.  Apart from Annie and her incessant foghorn calling at 5.30am,  they've been no trouble.

It's another month until we get to the longest day,  and I'm going tot have to Do Something.  Annie's calls,  which encourage some of the others to join in,  are starting earlier and earlier.   I have to get up, go out, and quieten them down.     They then stay relatovely quiet for about 45 minutes before they start again, and I have to go and let them out in to the garden.

I don't like letting them in to the garden that early, because of the risk of foxes.

I might have to go back to timed opening of the doors.  We'll still get whingeing,  but maybe it will be a bit muffled.  It won't really solve the problem of me having to get up tp let them out into the garden, nor the risks that brings,  but it might mean the time doesn't keep getting earlier and earlier.

It continues

The Girls are continuing to happen.

You may remember that we brought outr first lot of refugees back from the allotment, the day lockdown was announced.  This group comprised Violet, Elizabeth and Bott (who were hatched in 2018), Phyllis (Violet and Bott's mum or Aunt),  and Annie (Elizabeth's Mum).  

After a few days of having them separate,  we joined them with the existing flock.   Violet became #2 chook the day we combined the flocks. 

Sometime later,  we took Annie (who wasn't happy in the garden) and four of our Garden Girls to the Allotment. 2 of them (Summer and Blondie) were due to become allotenteers anyway,  and it was a great opportunity to introduce them to a reduced flock before the Refugees went back.  Faye and Sasha were causing a lot pof upset, so they went too to balance the numbers.      Almost immediately,  4 girls were stolen (Summer, Blondie,  Sasha and one of the existing Allotmenteers, a grey Dorking called Pong).     We then had to bring ALL the remaining allotmenteers back to the garden.

Anyway.  Since the day we combined her into the main run,  Violet became number 2 hen. She forced Poppy (previous number 2)  and Fleur out of the Cube, so they were always last to be allowed to enter.  She refused entry to Phyllis,  who straightaway started sleeping with the younger girls (Astrid, Sunshine and Sylvia).

Over the coming days, her sisters, Elizabeth and Bott, abandoned that Cube and went next door with  Phyllis and the youngsters.   The only people she allows in the Cube are Gloria (#1 chook, hanging on by the skin of her beak) and Fay (bottom chook of the old group).      Even Poppy eventually started sleeping next door.  Fleur initially tried going in the youngesters Cube, turfing them out, but I put a stop to that.   Then she went through a phase of not wanting to in either Cube and having to be popped through the pop hole at night. 

Violet. ot Violent as I started to call her,   continued her domimation during the day.

A couple of nights ago,  everyone (except Gloria, Fay and Violet) was crammed into the youngsters cube.  I thought perhaps it was sorted.

Yesterday,  a series of fights broke out.     Full on, blood drawing, fights, between Violet and Bott!  Bott has never shown signs of aggression before. Not only that, but Phyllis kept coming to Bott's aid, and jumped in on the fights.     I let the fights play out, which was quite hard to do.    Violet needed sorting out,  and it would be helpful if the hens did it themselves.

Last night, we had the usual shenanigans.  I watched on the camera, so I didn't influence what happened.    Poppy tried to get in to Gloria's Cube, was refused entry, and went in the other Cube.  Fleur tried both, was refused both, and got back on a perch in the run.

I went out,  put Fleur on the floor, and told her to choose a cube.  To my surprise, she tried the Violet cube.   They wouldn't let her in, then the door shut (light sensitive).     I opened the door, and encouraged Fleur up the ladder.   She was still hesitating.

I opened the back of the Cube, and pushed Violet out of the way (I've done it before for Fleur).   She was a lot more amenable to being moved,  last time Violet and I had a bit of a battle.   

And then I realised it wasn't Violet.   It was Bott!

Violet was in with the youngsters!

Partial win

It was 6.15 this morning before the noise started.

DH woke me up at 6 telling me that it was all quiet and all the doors had opened etc. He didn't mean to wake me up.  He got up, I was dozing and asked if he was OK, and he got chatty.

A few minutes later, a deep and horrible wailing started.  I pretended to be asleep for a few minutes,  but DH did the same and won the game.    I got up.

Outside, as I strode across the cold, wet, grass,  no one was making a noise.    As I approached the Run, intent on finding Violet and putting her in the Brown Box,  my mind was processing the voice I'd heard.  I wasn't sure it was Violet.

Violet started to whinge as I unlocked the run door, and that confirmed for me that it wasn't her.  I ran through the hen voice catalogue in my mind and realised it was Annie,  in the other run.   

Annie looked at me like butter wouldn't melt in her beak.   I didn't have anywhere to shut her in;  There is a spare brown box nest box under their cube,  but it doesn't have a door.  I'd have to catch her, and then get her in the other coop to shut her in one of the boxes there.

I couldn't face it.   Catching hens in the Evacuee run is hard work, because there is a huge Jostaberry bush that shares their run.  Great for them,  but difficult to negotiate even at a walk.

I let everyone out instead,  which I realise was a mistake.

It was a mistake because tomorrow they will be expecting to be let out into the garden at 6.15am.

It was a mistake because I can't leave them unattended at that time,  it's a good time for foxes.

It was a mistake because Annie, who is a quick learner,  will assume that being gobby gets Mummy to come and let her out.

I can't go back to bed anway because I have Pilates at 9. If I get back in bed  I'll lie awake worrying about foxes until about 7.30, then start to doze, and then feel like c**p when I have to get up in time to get ready.

I've fed the cats.  I've done my banking.  I've read my emails.

And now I'm here.

Here come the Girls

Welll, 14 of the 16 anyway

Annie and her daughter Elizabeth are missing from the pic.

The Evacuees (Big Bird, Katy, Nora and Ping) are gradually trying to come more into the garden.

Nora is struggling a bit. She's still eating and drinking OK, and hasn't lost weight.  We added a down-to-the-floor wooden ladder to her Cube as she was struggling to get up on to the first step.    For the first couple of mornings and evenings, I offered to hel her in and out, but she managed well with the new ladder.

Another 5am start for me!   I'm shattered. 

The girls were making such a racket each morning, and when one coop started, they'd all start,  that I was having to get up to get them to be quiet, or to manually let them out.   The racket was starting earlier and earlier, and when I found myself getting up at 5.30, we decided to set the doors to open wit the daylight.

Unfortuately for me, the gear mechanism on the Omlet auto opener broke a week or so  ago, and so I've had to get up to let that group out each morning.    Luckily it's under warranty, so we've been waiting for the replacement.   Every morning asn I traipse across the garden, bleary eyed and sweary,  I've been hopin gthat "today would be the day" that the new door arrives.

The good news is that it's arrived today!  DH is fitting it as I type!  Hooray!


  

Mutton neck

No,  not a comment on my neck.

I had a mutton neck fillet in the freezer, which had a sell by date of July 2016.  I decided to defrost it and cook it today...not because it was so out of date,  but because it was an odd shape and was taking up more space than it should!

I struggled to find a pressure cooker recipe for a roast mutton type dish.    I could see Moroccan recipes,   curries,  and Irish stew types.

In the end I decided to do something along the lines of Cathy Phipps roast chicken recipe.

I put some ground nut oil (because its flavourless) and some butter on to saute.  Then I browned the neck all over,  which didn't take long.  Because sheep is a relatively fatty meat,  imported out mist if the fat. I lifted out the meat and deglazed the pan with lamb stock (made with a Knorr lamb cube).

 I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and put but in the stock.  I added a little sprig of rosemary,  a bay leaf, and some dried oregano.  I cooked for 30 minutes.

When cooked I let the pressure release naturally (NPR) and then moved the mutton on to a board. I put some cornflour in the stock to thicken it  sauteed on high and stirred.

I served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips and yorkshire puddings.  I meant to cook some green veg but I didn't.

It was lovely.  I'll be buying some more as soon as I've made room in the freezer. 

Anti hoarder

I managed to rehome a massive pile of bird feeders today.   Big tick.

We used to use Chapelwood feeders, and we had a large collection of various sized tubes (seeds, nuts, suet), plus corresponding bases, tops,  trays, and 'squirrel proof cages.  When we excavated the shed a couple of months ago,  I threw away the damaged ones,  and put the others in the garage.  I didn't want to get shot of them in case I needed them.

Today I foudn a couple more.  We've got even better feeders now (in fact we have even better even better feeders; the 2 which are only "even better" are now in the shed!) and I decioded that I'd just bin all the old ones.  But when I looked at them... it seemed a waste

I posted them on our local facebook selling group, offering them for free,   and they've been snapped up.  I'm not surprised, as they are good ones.

The lady who is collecting them (contactless, of course) has a big garden, but she's going to be suprised when she sees quite how many there are.

VE Day Anniversary 2020

I thought about making bunting, but couldn't summon up the enthusiasm.   I have a box with bunting and flags in, from the Golden Jubilee, re-used for various other royal celebrations.

I left it to this morning to go and look for the box in the loft,. Of course I couldn't find it.

Instead, I've decorated our house with bunting from DH's 60th birthday. minus the "Happy Birthday" bits.    I almost didn't put it up.  As I unwrapped each bag,  I was amazed at how beautifully I'd folded, pressed and wrapped it.  I'd even pinned "front" to the front of each run (the bunting is double sided).

I nearly put it away, but the weather was fine, so I hung it out.  I put some Toy Story bunting up across the windows of a neighbour who is shielding (after asking, I hasten to add).

 

I had made two loaves in Pullman pans yesterday, so I made finger sandwiches.  I cut the crusts off (such wasteage, of course, would not have happened on VE day!) and cut them into two perfect finger sandwiches. Except when I turned them on their sides I realised that I'd cut the bread too thickly.  So,  I quartered them instead, and didn't put them on their sides.     DH and I hoovered up the crusts and the off-cuts of fillings.

We spent a pleasant hour on sitting on chairs on the driveway, having our tea and sadwiches, chatting to our next door neighbour (more than 2 metres apart).

I learned a lot about Fortnite from one of the children.

Quite a lot of the street turned out.  Some, like us, were in their front gardens;  some were on the pavement;  the people in the flats had something in the communal gardens behind the flats.

We were so lucky with the weather.

Pullman

A couple of years ago I bought some pullman loaf tins. A pullman is a loaf tin wich has a lid,  and produces very squared loaves.

We had previously bought a Tefal Snackmaker  and a selection of plates to use with it, and one of the plates that came with it was for toasted sandwiches.   It worked OK, but I thought a pullman would produce the perfect sized slices.

The pullman tins arrived,    I didn't use them straightaway,  we were using the Tefal for waffles etc and the urge for toasties had passed,  and we forgot all about it.

I want to make some lovely finger sandwiches for Friday.     We're going to sit in the front garden in the afternoon and have a cream tea (well, sandwiches anyway),  and I thought how much easier - and less wasteful - it would be to make a pullman shaped loaf.  I could trim the crusts, and then cut each sandwich in half, making the perfect finger sandwich.

So I dug out the tin,  and made a trial loaf today.   My brother had given me some Cotswold Crunch flour to try,  and it was very pleasant.  Although it doesn't look it, it's a white flour. It has malt added which gives it an orangey brown colour and a lovely smell,  and it has wheatflakes added to give it some crunch.   I added caraway seeds, because bread with caraway is just wonderful.   My brother had tried it with caraway and recommended it highly. 

I've just tried a slice.  Heaven!

The Flock

3 of the Evacuees attempted to come down the garden today.   I managed to get a pic with 14 of the 16 Girls in,  the missing 2 were in nestboxes at the time.

A few spats broke out after this was taken,  when the original Garden Girls and the first wave Evacuees realised that the 2nd wave Evacuees were there.

At  some point I suppose we will have to try and get them all in the 2 coops in the main run. In theory each Cube sleeps 10,  but I suspect that's 10 girls who are on good terms and dont mind snuggling.

We will wait for a bit and see how they get on before making any decisions (by which I also mean see if anyone dies in the meantime) .

I cant believe how matter-of-fact I seem to have become   I suspect it's only 'matter of fact' in the abstract,  talking about them as a general group. As soon it becomes about an individual, that's different.

Pork Baharat

The lovely Maria, she of Feisty Tapas, posted a recipe for Chicken Baharat  a while ago.  I have a tub of Baharat seasoning in my spice cupboard,  and I made a noteto try her recipe.

Today was the day.

I used diced pork.   I added mushrooms and onions, which were not in Maria's recipe but someone else who had cooked it had included.  I cooked it for 15 minutes instead of 5 as I wanted to make sure the pork was very tender.  I added all the lemon at all the stages, just as Maria instructed,  and it elevated the taste.

Here's Maria's recipe https://www.feistytapas.com/2020/04/instant-pot-baharat-chicken/#comment-2986  There is a printer friendly version accessible from that page as well.

To serve, I made some lovely  home made flour tortillas.  They were great - they always are, and I don't know why I don't make them more often.  It's been so long since I made them, that I couldn't remember the quantities and I googled for a recipe.  This is the one I made, and it is the one I will be making again https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/homemade-tortillas/

I served with shredded iceberg lettuce, quartered cherry tomatoes, and some greek yoghurt. 

The Worm that Turned

I made scrambled eggs for the girls this afternoon.. We had quite a few eggs, including some potentially ropey ones. The ropey ones aer any that are laid by Fleur,  and those laid by the older girls.  In the commercial world these "second class" eggs would not be sold as "in shell" eggs (the sort we consumers buy to eat), but would be sold for use in comercial baking.

I used 6 eggs, and stirred some lovely Chirbs (a hen supplement with herbs and minerals in - chicken herbs I always assumed).    It looked good enough to eat.

I took it out and shared it amongs the girls.    The Evacuees came to have their share.    Fleur started a fight with BigBird, a proper hackles up, fisticuffs, handbags, and grabbing hold of each others combs affair.   It went on until the eggs had almost run out.  I'm not sure who won,  it was a close contest.    Even Nora and Katherine came along to have some of the treat.

Ping came down and suprised me by having a little lunge at Bott.  I thought it was a one off, but I've just seen her go out of her way to assert herself to Bott and Elizabeth.  The two girls walked off without retaliating,  so I'm not sure what that means.

I guess we'll see what happens over the coming days.

Hen WHos Where

I was messaging Miss Tween, to let her know what's happening with the Girls.  I thought I'd jot it down here too.

Over in the temporary run, on the old fruit cage bed,  we have the latest lot of Allotment Evacuees.   These are the girls we brought home after the theft of four girls.  This oddball group is made up of:
- Nora (our oldest girl, 9+,  blind in one eye,  bit unsteady), 
- Katherine (Welsh Black, sister of Poppy and Gloria, 8+, lovely gentle girl, who just gets on with things and doesn't make a fuss.), 
- Big Bird (big yellow girl, 6+, brick shaped bum,  friendly girl but just the wrong shape for breeding)
- Ping (silver grey dorking, 3+, incredibly noisy, She gets bullied by EVERYONE she comes into contact with, apart from, possibly, those she's currently living with),  and
- Annie (Welsh Black x,  4+, hatchmate of Barbara who died recently)  Annie wanders everywhere. She tried joining the Purple Cube crowd, but gave up and joined the Evacuees in the temporary run.    Apart from Annie, the Evacuees tend to keep to their own area.

The earlier Allotmenteers, these are the ones who we brought home when Lockdown was announced:

Violet, Elizabeth and Bott (Harem Welsh Blacks x Bertie, 2+) sleep in the purple cube with Gloria, poppy, Fay and Fleur.   Violet is aiming to be Top Chook, and from the very first night,  established her dominance by ejecting Poppy.    Poppy and Fleur wait outside until the last posisble minute before going up the cube ladder.

Violet, Elizabeth and Bott tend to leep together as a little flock,  and are often joined by Phyllis.   Violet is a gobby chook,  to the point of real annoyance.   Elizabeth remembers jumpy uppy and is an inquisitive friendly girl.


Phyllis (Welsh Black x, with her Australorp side dominant, 6+) sleeps with the Littlees(Sunshine, Astrid and Sylvia) at night. She's first in the Cube at night, and the 3 litlees hang around outside before eventually going in.  I haven't observed any bullying, and there is no evidence of pecking.  During the day, she wanders around with the younger black chooks, Violet, Elizabeth and Bott.   Phyllis is an inquisitive, friendly girl, and likes to be next to us if we're in the chicken area. She is a real people person. 

Out Littlees continue to be a happy little Trio Sunshine, Astrid (both Gold Leghorns) and Sylvia (Silver Laced Barnevelder).  Sylvia is way down the pecking order.    

Our original Garden Girls
Poppy (Welsh Black, 8+) has been in the Garden the longest. She was the sole survivor of a fox attack,  and we brought home her sister Gloria from the allotment to keep her company while we decided what to do.  Gloria is Top Chook.    When we introduced new girls (Fleur, Fay and Sasha),   Poppy fought to be number 2, but has always had a dodgy hold on that position.  She mainly lept it becasethe younger girls didn't want to challenge her.    Sasha was onbe of 4 girls stolen from our allotment.  She was there becaiuse we wanted to introdiuce our two Silver Leghirns (Blondie and Summer, who were also stolen) to the reduced Allotment group,   and we wanted a break from her and Fay's shrill squawking.    

Fay (Fayoumi, 5+) came back from her holiday to the allotment a much more determined chook.  She had preoviously been second from bottom in the pecking order.  She started off living in the temporary run with the Evacuees,  but one night she  decided to try her luck in the purple cube.  She's stayed with that group ever since.   She's lost status as a result, because they are treating her as low ranking again.  She doesn't really range with any group,  she flies out of their area at will.  Sometimes she'll snuggle up with one o fthe other groups, with the netting between them.   She has started to let me pick her up, which is really unusual.


Mostly, there isn't too much infighting going on, unless the Girls accidentally cross paths.  They graze together in fairly close prioximity without squabbling,  and sunbathe together as a biig group.   There is a lot of squabbling over nest boxes.

The odd spats are things like Poppy, Phyllis and Nora having an altercation when Nora dcided to check out the Big Run.  I'm amazed that Nora held her own quite well!   The leghorns attack Ping (everyone attacks Ping);  and there's lots of quick pecks going on,  but no real nastiness.

We're trying to work out what the new order is, but it hasn't been properly established yet.

Cat Climbing

Shelby,  who until recently hasn't been very adept at jumping up on to things because she has quite dumpy legs,  has been teaching herself to climb trees.

DH mentioned it yesterday morning.  He couldn't find Shelby, so he got the loc8tor out and discovered her somewhere up the apple tree.

Izzy (in bowl) and Shelby, April

Last night, when I went out to check on the hens Shelby slipped out.  She bounded down the garden like a cartoon cat.  She went up the pear tree.  She ran down the pair tree. She ran up the apple tree, and sat there, looking very pleased with herself.     I went and got treats and I came back and rattled the jar.  She climbed higher.

I called her, and rattled.  She climbed higher.    She eyed up over the fence.   She leapt on to our shed.  I pretended to walk off.  She ignored me.

I came back, rattle rattle, Shelby! Shelby!.   She popped her head over the roof of the shed.   I looked around to see if there was anything that would take my weight to get me up on the shed.  Nope.  I didn't want to walk back to the house in case she leapt over the fence into the Great Outdoors.

Eventually, she decided to get back into the tree.  An enormous leap, and she landed.  She looked at me.  She looked at the upper branches.   rattle rattle.  She came down a bit,  just enough for me to grab her.

Monkey!

Poor Lewis isn't allowed out at all,  he has to be kept in for 10 days.     I took him out in my arms so he could see everyone and smell the air.  

May

Another early start this morning.  I was up at 6am because the Allotmenteers in the temporary coop kicked off and started the group in the purple cube off.

I had to get up at 6.15 anyway, as I needed to change the opening time on the Hentronix openers.   This means swiping a magnet acrodss the control box at the time you want the door to open in future.

I did this, then I let everyone out in to their runs. The noise was horrendous.

I then made a cup of tea, did my banking, caught up on mail, fed the cats, and went back upstairs.   I was very very tempted to get back in to bed, but I know how disruptive that is.    So I farted about, put some washing in the machine,   did some domestics, and eventually had my shower and got dressed.

I'm going to be ready to do some sewing soon.   I got as far as nearly clearing the sewing table this morning,  and I even picked up my work in progress tee shirt and compared it to a shop bought one.

Tomorrow, I'll hopefully be ready to go

I'm trying something new for dinner.    I bought some Baharat spice seasoning months ago, and never used it, and I was really interested to see htis on Maria's blog.   I'm going to make it with pork.  https://www.feistytapas.com/2020/04/instant-pot-baharat-chicken/