Unfair imprisonment

Poor Washy.

DH has been away for a few days, and I've sneakily let Wash sleep on the bed upstairs overnight.  This means he hasn't actually been confined to his pen for about a week.

This morning I had an appointment about half an hour's drive away.  In good time, I went out and shut the chooks in.  Izzy came out with me, her second time that morning.  Because the cat flap is blocked up to prevent Wash going outside, she's stuck in too.

Normally by the time I've done the Girls, Izzy has had her sniff around and is ready to come in (and use the litter tray - rolls eyes).  Not today.  I called her.  Nothing.  I pursed my lips Blooming cat must know I have to go out.

I went inside, went to the loo, put my shoes on, got my bits and pieces sorted out. Still no Izzy.  I opened the back door and called her, and waited. Nothing.

I was now running late.

In the end I had to unblock the catflap so she could get back in,  and then I had to go and find wash to lock him up.   He was curled up, fast asleep and full of contentment, on a cat bed on the landing.  He burbled when I scooped him up, he wasn't unduly worried.

When we started walking towards the Pen, he tried to escape my arms.  I had to manoeuvre and twist so that his front paws landed inside the Pen, followed by the rest of him.  He looked really shocked (well, that's what he looked like to me) and stood by the door.

I felt so mean.

I was as quick as I could be, but I was still out for a couple of hours.

When I got home Izzy was lolling by the door waiting to be let in. (Seriously?!)

Wash wooshed out of the Pen on 3 legs, straight upstairs on to the bed.  Wonder what he'll do tonight?

Pork Chop Phobia

Since we discovered slow cooked pork shoulder, I've been working to overcome my pork phobia.  I've come a long way.

It started when I was about 13, when a teacher at school told us about worms in pork.  I didn't really like pork that much before this pronouncement,  so it didn't take much to put me over the edge.   My experience of pork was pork chops, and roast loin of pork.  Both gave dryish squeaky meat, which was the sort that would stay in my mouth long after the flavour had been chewed out.  That's not a reflection of my Mum's cooking, she's a really good cook, it was just a reflection of the reality of loin of pork.

I couldn't bear the taste or smell or pork cooking,  I couldn't even cook it for my husband.    When I was 40, I started a long journey of revisiting foods I'd hated since childhood. I had a lot of successes (spinach,  watercress soup, kale, Brussels sprouts, for example),  and I had some resounding failures (liver still makes me throw up, for example).   I tried making Jamie Oliver's slow roasted shoulder of pork, and the result was amazing.   Love that, really love it.   I moved on to belly pork,  crackling... but I still couldn't stomach even the smell of loin of pork roasting, or pork chops.

We started having a half pig from our friend Shirley, which meant my journey continued.   DH would cut chops for himself,  but the rest of the loin was always diced.  I could cope with loin of pork as long as it was cooked until very soft in some sort of sauce.   We eat a lot of curried pork,  chilli pork, and so on.

The other day, DH wanted to cook some loin steaks in the sous vide, and I agreed to try them - as long as there was an accompanying sauce.   He beavered away, and all was well until he had to flash fry the steaks to colour them at the end.  That smell.... oh god, that awful smell.

What if this put my years of effort  - learning to eat pork without heaving  - in jeopardy?

He'd worked really hard on it all.  I cut a teeny tiny piece of pork, and stared at it.  I pushed it off my fork and ate a chip. Then another chip.  I couldn't avoid it any more, so I smothered the tiny piece of meat in a large dollop of mustard and mushroom sauce, and put it in my mouth.

It was OK! (Read that in a surprised voice).

I cur another tiny piece. I had some chips.  I had some peas.  More pork.

The sous vide method had really, really worked on this.  It was cooked and very tender.   I was struggling a little with the smell, but the taste was OK.

I don't think I'll ever try and eat a fried pork chop, as I think the moment I get a bit of squeaky meat between my teeth, I'll barf.   I don't think I'll ever try ordinary loin roast.

But I would try a chop sous vide again.

As long as it's accompanied by a rich sauce.

And I think the sous vide needs to stop being packed away each time we use it. It has earned a place on the worktop. I just need to find a place for her now.

Have a heart

Busy day at the Vet for us today.  Wash had his dressing changed, all still looking good underneath (although very greasy - cats secrete a lot of oil which they usually lick into their fur.).  He's now booked in for 10 days time to have his pins removed, and this time they will definitely be coming out.

Izzy had her ultrasound and she does have signs of early heart disease.  She behaved really well, and they didn't need to sedate her (bless her!).

I'm weriting this all here so that I have a record of it that I can easily find later.

The heart beat is good, there's not much leakage yet. There is thickening of the left ventricle (over and above the normal additional thickness vs the right ventricle). The papillary muscles are thickening.

We've caught it very early,  it's just outside the normal range, and that, coupled with the newly discovered murmur, is enough to give a diagnosis.  It's a progressive disease, and the biggest risk for Izzy is that, untreated, the blood flow becomes more restricted, less blood to the brain, more fits, and the problems they bring.

The good news is that we can slow that progression down by giving her medication in the form of Fortakur (sp.?).   This is an ACE inhibitor, which has an effect on the small arterial muscles, reducing the rate of "remodelling".   It isn't fixable, but it is manageable.

She's at the Vet once a month for a B12 injection anyway, so it'll be easy enough to keep her monitored.

I asked how we can tell if things are getting worse, and the Vet said to monitor her respiritory rate.  When she's asleep her breathing should be almost impercebtible (I should have mentioned her snoring), and should be at the rate of abot 20-30 per minute   If it gets to 40 a minute then that's a serious problem and we should call the Vet immediately, even if it's out of hours.
 

Heartfelt

I mentioned that Izzy had an unexpected fit on Friday night.  

I think I also mentioned the - ahem - poo on the bath mat?

Well, she'd also been drinking a lot, and lolling about in the middle of the floor a lot. Usually these are symptoms that she has a urimary infection, but that didn't seem very likely as she's on antibiotics .  We made an appointment for today.

The good news is that it isn't a urinary infection. Yay!

The other news is that she has a heart murmur.  She hasn't had one before - definitely. She's at the Vet once a month for a once over, a B12 injection, and so I can get a prescription for her phenobarb', and the Vet examines her and weighs her each time.     This might indicate heart disease, and that might account for the seizure.

She's going to have an Ultrasound so we can find out for sure.  The Vet will do it at the same time as Wash is having his dressing changed.

I'll let you know what we discover.

Amazing Ammarylis

My other BFF gave me an about-to-bloom Ammarylis bulb.

We potted it up and have been watching it develop. Little shoots. Long leaves. Flower buds. And then **BOOM**

I love you more than wine..

It was the birthday of one of my 2 BFFs this week.  I saw this saying, and thought it very apt, so I made a card for her.

It needed to be quite large, so I ordered some A3 card (which I could fold into A4).   The card didn't arrive in time (my fault for leaving it to the last minute), so I had rustle something up using 2 sheets of A4 card and some magic tape.

Egg Dance

After all these years of keeping hens, I still find myself doing the Egg Dance when a youngster lays her first egg.

One morning earlier in the week, Fay (the loopy Fayoumi) wasn't anywhere to be seen when I let the girls out.  I quietly checked the nest boxes, and I could see her settled down in one.   I rushed back to the house to tell DH that I thought Fay might be about to lay her first egg,

Later in the day I went out to check, and there it was. A snall, white(ish) egg. Not bone china white like my hybrid leghorn Lily used to lay,  a pinky white like Lotti the purebred leghorn used to lay.  Fay, being a very small breed, laid a small egg.

Small, perfect.  I danced the Egg Dance all the way back to the house.

Fay's 1st egg below one of Fleur's brown beauties

Out of the blue

Izzy had a fit during the night. 

Not only that, I discovered she did a poo on the bath mat... she's never ever done anything like that before.

Her last fit was back in October, so this was a complete surprise.    The cameras didn't pick it up (we've discovered that one of them has been unplugged since mid January). 

Setbacks and progress

Wash's Xrays on Friday showed that the bones had not all healed enough for the apparatus to be removed.

Our Vet, Paul, toyed with the idea of removing one of the pins, but in the end decided to leave everything as it was.   While he was out, they did various blood tests on Wash, and we had an assortment of news.

The jaundice had gone.   The scores for the diabetes had gone right down, so we have now lowered his dose of insulin.   One of the metatarsals was healing really well.    We could try having the dressing changed once a week now, assuming that the dressing survived Wash's not-so-surreptitious gnawing.

Wash came home on Friday, and was very stressed.  We gave him some chicken, as suggested by the Vet.  Some time later he seemed much happier, and very hungry, so I gave him a little bit of the raw food diet. He devoured it.  We didn't bother with chicken after that.

He's very very bored.  We've tried taking him upstairs with us when one of us is up there.  I've taken him outside in my arms so he can sniff the air.  The excitement gets too much for him.   I briefly toyed with the idea of getting a cat harness, but I've been down that route once before (with another cat) and it didn't end well.... I was left with a harness and no cat.  I might be tempted to risk it when he's actually properly able to go outside again, but I don't fancy him escaping with a bandaged leg.

......

In other news, Musical Coops continues.   We've had Sasha, Sasha, Poppy, Poppy, Sasha and Fay,  (not checked),(not checked), Poppy and Gloria. 

......

It was my mother's birthday at the weekend. My brothers and I went to stay nearby so we could take our parents out to lunch, spend the day with them, spend the next day with them.  It was a lovely weekend,  the B&B was good,  lunch was good,  the fabric shop was, as always,  excellent.....

We'd bought her a practical present, and I wasn't really sure it would go down well. She'd asked my about pressure cookers some time ago, before I owned an Ipot, but hadn't got round to buying one.    Years ago, she was the pressure cooker queen.  These days I think she'd struggle to lift a pressure cooker,  even one like my (ex) Kuhn Rikon which had handles on both sides.  

I'd been using my InstantPot a lot and getting on with it really well.   Not just the pressure cooker, but I'd used the slow cooker functionality,  I'd made lots of yoghurt in it,  and I thought it might suit my parents.  We decided to buy one for her and see what she thought.

Both parents were really pleased with it.  I was really surprised, actually.  I mean, I thought it might be useful, but they were very keen.  They currently have a slow cooker, so this will replace that (with lots of extra benefis - being able to saute in the pot,  having a delayed timer functionality, having the keep warm facility) as well.   My mum also uses an electric steamer, so hopefully the Ipot will replace that too.


Bit of a result really!

Waiting

Wash is in for his Op today, having the pins (and the apparatus supporting them) removed.    He had his last meal at 9.30 last night, and this morning he just couldn't understand why we were ignoring his pleas for breakfast.

The morning seemed to drag as we waited until 2pm, the time we were told to phone.   Lots of busywork.  I decided to wrap my mother's birthday present. The box is quite large, so I decided to use florists ribbon instead of organza.   The bow looked lame, which surprised me as my bows normally look quite professional.

Youtube to the rescue.  I learned how to make pompom type bows with polyester ribbon.  I probably should have split the ribbon in half lengthwise, as the ribbon I have is much much wider than anyone on Youtube was using.  My attempt compared to the video I was following, is rubbish.  However, as polyester ribbon bows go, it's fine.

It's not really fine enough to share though,

Instead, here's a pic of the card I made for my mother.  It's a Lady's Slipper Orchid.

Mild weather

We had a hedgehog in the garden this morning,  the smallest of our 3 regular vistors.    I guess the mild weather has made him/her wake up from hibernation.

I threw out a handful of sunflower hearts, which was all I had to hand. While he munched his way through those,  I managed to find the packs of hedgehog food I'd vacuum sealed for winter.  I opened one, it wasn'tquite as pleasant to touch as it had been before vacuuming.  I threw a handful of that out for Hedgy as well, and I was pleased to see him chomp his way through everything.  

I didn't have anything else more suitable to offer. Our catfood is fish, and that's a no no.  We have started one of the cats on a raw food diet,  which would probably have been perfect for Hedgy - but I've only got just enough left to last me until our next lot arrives.

He snuffled off soon after.  I've left the food by the door so we can feed him tomorrow if he comes again - although the forecast is for heavy rain so that doesn't seem very likely.

In other news, musical coops continues.  I always feel sorry for whoever is on their own.  On the plus side, it chance to have a brief cuddle with the lone hen.  I miss hen cuddles, and I hope that as the weather improves and the youngsters come into lay, they'll be a bit more willing to be tamed.

Musical Coops

Yesterday, Sasha (the young and flighty Appenzeller) was on her own in the orange cube.  It was very cold so under the cover of darkness, I popped her into the purple cube with everyone else.

Tonight, Poppy (fox attack survivor, number 2 in the pecking order and desperately not wanting to go any lower) was on her own in the orange cube.  She probably would have been OK on her own, but it seemed a bit mean to leave her.  I popped her in the nestbox of the other cube.

Wonder what tomorrow's arrangement will be?

Candling success

Whoop!

A few years ago we started to put 8 hour tealights (available from catering wholesalers) under the metal drinkers at the allotment, to stop the water freezing overnight.  When it was freezing and snowy during the day, we'd put another candle under the drinker during the day, to prevent the water freezing.  (It had to be very cold for us to do this, as we didn't want to end up with hot water!),

It took a but of trial and error to get the set up right; sooting of candles, condensation, draughts, all had their impact on the system.  Eventually we had the drinkers raised on bricks, with bricks all round to keep out the draughts (and the hens). The tealights were put in ramekins, and the ramekin were put inside cut-down Illy coffee tins.  The coffee tins had drainage holes in the bottom, so the condensation would drain off (rather than rising and swallowing the candle),  and ventilation at the top for good air flow.

Of course 8 hours isn't really long enough in this weather, but it still helps.  Even if the water started to freeze, it was at least possible to either melt it on the camping stove, or to empty it out and refill.  Unprotected water freezes into a solid block, and the lip round the Eltex drinker makes it impossible to remove.

We've recently had the first bit of weather cold enough to necessitate candling.   DH bought some of the tealights back with the idea of melting them and making bigger - longer lasting - candles.  We didn't know what the criteria was for getting a candle to burn longer (more wax? taller? wider? different wax?  wick? )  so DH just had a go with what we had.

While he busied himself melting wax in the old asparagus steamer (which was actually on its way to the tip, so another recycling result there) , I looked on line at wicks, as I guessed we would need some.  Then I saw a bulk pack of wax and that made me think that, of course, we should buy wax to melt. 

A bit of googling, seeing posts about making emergency 50 hour candles using Kilner Jars, and I realised that we have a cupboard full of jam jars that we could use! 

A bit more googling and I ended up at Randall's Candles.  I looked at the waxes, saw that soya wax was longer lasting, and put the best wax in my basket. I found the wicks, I saw about the diameters, I put a selection in my basket.  I saw something called wax improver, that went in as well.   At checkout,   I needed urgent delivery. This sas available but needed to be phoned for.

So I phoned up and spoke to the most helpful chap imaginable.  I explained that I needed a rush order, and I shared that I was making candles for the first time, and what the purpose was.   The amount of help I got in that conversation was incredible.  I had been correct in opting for soya wax (longer burning) but  I didn't need the superior wax I'd put in my basket, as that was really aimed at improving the look of the candles.    He explained about wicks, and the impact of too thin or too thick a wick.  I measured the jars I'd been thinking of using, and he sorted out the right wick sizes for me.  I asked if he would write on the receipt which set of wick was for which sized jar. 

I didn't need the wax improver - that would make the wax burn faster, and was really used to improve the burn when colours and scents had been added. He also explained how long to test the candles for.

I ended up spending less than I had originally thought, and got a bit more stuff.  

It arrived the following morning,  and DH set about making a candle straightaway.  We used one of the M&S olive jars, these were not too tall and had a wide mouth.   He took it to the allotment at 4pm, and came back to report that the previous attempt (made out of the tealights) had lasted for over 12 hours.  That was pretty amazing, and we were really keen to find out how a proper version would perform.

We've just had a call from the Other Chap who reported that proper candle, made with soya wax and a proper wick,  was still burning - and it was only about 2/3rds gone.  It had been going for nearly 20 hours!

What a result!! 

There's no need for candles today,  but DH is going to make a few so we have them to hand.   He's also going to make some "emergency use" candles, candles in jars will be safer to use than tealights.

I stopped eating M&S olives some time ago, started eating Waitrose ones.   I'll have to go back to M&S ones (assuming they are still in the same jars) for a while. It's going to be tough, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

And I would definitely recommend Randall's Candles for such FAB service.

Chillywilly

It's bitter outside.  I've been to see if the Girls need re-arranging.

Poppy is still henpecking the Littlees.  The two tiny girls run away in panic but Fleur, the not-so-little Marans, just ducks, takes her peck, and carries on.   I think that Fleur may usurp Poppy and become number 2.

The sleeping arrangements continue to bewilder.  Rarely do we have all girls in one cube, and the nightly allocation covers every permutation possible.   Last week we had one girl on her own in one of the Cubes most nights, sometimes it was Sasha, sometimes Poppy, once it was Gloria;  which Cube the loner ended up in also changed. 

I had decided to leave well alone, assuming that it would all resolve itself in the end.    My resolution went out of the window a few nights ago, as I was concerned about any of them being in a coop alone when the weather was quite as cold as it was.

The first time, Sasha was on her own.  She's a tiny hen, and not exactly fluffy.   In the other Cube, Poppy was in the nestbox, and the rest were on the roosting bars. Under cover of darkness I picked up Sasha and deposited her in the Cube with the others.  I put her to the far right, so she was as far away as possible from Poppy and Gloria.   I then switched off my torch and stood in silence and motionless, to see what happened.   There was silence.  Then there was trilling,  Then there was much moving about.   I opened the egg port and shone the torch in to see what was going on.  All looked OK, so I went back indoors.

Yesterday, Poppy was in one of the Cubes on her own.  She's a much bigger, fluffier, hen. However, the predicted low temperature was somewhat extreme, so I transferred her to the nestbox of the other cube.  All seemed OK.

Tonight, Sasha was in one Cube, with Fay in the same Cube in the nestbox.  Fleur was in with the big girls.  I hesitated.  I decided to leave them as they were.

I know they are only chickens.  I can't help it.

I've been giving them pellet porridge in the afternoons.  This is just ordinary pellets with boiling water to make a mash. Some mixed corn is stirred in,  then it's served on dishes on the floor, sprinkled with some sunflower hearts.     DH had been beer making yesterday so we have a big bowl of  mashed barley,  and I stirred some of that in to the mix as well

I have to put out 4 well spaced bowls, because the Girls all suffer from GreenerGrass Syndrome.  If there were only 2 bowls, only the two Oldies would eat.  If there were only 3, still only the 2 oldees would eat - they would take it in turns to move the LIttlees off the 3rd bowl.  With 4 bowls, it's too many for them to control at once.

Another card

Birthday card for DGD. I discovered that I could buy a pinking blade for my rotary cutter. Why have I been wasting my time with pinking shears all this time?!

Of course it's now a nuisance to have to keep switching blades on the rotary cutter, so I've ended up buying another one of those too.

Just two more January cards to go.

4 weeks

It's been 4 weeks since Wash had his Op, 5 weeks since he was run over.

He's recovering really well.  Each time he has his dressing changed, his foot looks good (as good as a shaved leg and foot can look).   He's bright, purry, eating well.  He's put on lots of weight. 

He's good at taking his tablets, and he doesn't complain about the twice daily insulin injections.

He's still on cage-rest. We let him  spend most of his time outside the cage - he sleeps on the rug, or in a bed under one of the chairs.  

He is obviously feeling better as he's started trying to get on the sofa or on the cat tree.He's also very velvet pawed.  He can tiptoe past me and I don't even realise he's done it.

This is of course completely unacceptable,  and the irony is that he's having to be confined to his cage more now than he was when he first came home from the vet.

We're starting to try him on a specialised cat raw food diet now.  Today was the frist time, and I introduced a tiny amount of raw beef to his cooked chicken.  He wolfed it all down. (Can cats wolf?  Shouldn't they tiger  down, or panther down, or something?).   He wolfed down seconds.  Later, he wolfed down thirds. 

Despite the success, I'll continue with only a small proportion of raw for a day or two, and then increase it. 

Izzy is also meant to be starting on raw today.  She's refused to eat anything so far... but she also refused to eat anything without the raw food mixed in, too.

Another victory

I've completely finished the landing. I will get the house back under control.

I can imagine that you're wondering how on earth it can be an achievement to tidy a landing.  How hard can it be?

Our actual landing is a typical small area at the top of the stair, but I also have a small "lobby" (which used to be the tiny bathroom and toilet) which now leads to our bedroom.  When I talk about the "landing" I include this, as it's all the same floor area.

I'd had a growing pile of unsorted stuff sitting on the landing for...months.  It was partly obscured by a bigger pile of stuff waiting to go into the loft.  Even when the sstuff finally went up into the loft last week, the remaining pile wasn't really too noticeable as (a) it had been there so long, it was like part of the furniture and (b) there was also huge piles of sewing related stuff on top of the cabinets that I used to store my fabric.

There wasn't any room in the cabinets.  They are lovely - oak, tambour fronted, office filing cabinets. I didn't really want to spend money on another cabinet, as I wasn't sure that would give me enough storage anyway.  In the end, I had decided I would replace them with cheaper, more versatile, Ikea storage.   I was procrastinating because the cabinets weren't cheap, we had very little proper furniture left and it seemed a shame to get rid of those to replace them with something purely functional.  Besides, I'd need to sell them, and I had to work up the energy to think about putting them on Ebay.

In our recent Ikea trip I had bought the cabinets to replace them, and all the storage stuff to go in them.  These were stored, flat packed, under our bed (in the space I made by doing my mega clearouts in the last couple of weeks).

DH kept on aout putting these new units up, and I kept resisting.  It would mean moving the old cabinets and dumping them in the guest bedroom, which of course I had only just got sorted out and couldn't face messing up again (I know, how lucky am I to have this sort of problem)..

In the end I decided I'd bite the bullet and the get whole area done.

We did it over the last couple of days.

The landing is completely clear,  the lobby looks lovely, perfect for purpose.  The lighness of the units reflects the light, whereas the old oak cabinets used to absorb it.

Thank goodness for Ikea.

The fabric area

Bigger victories

It must be the time of year.   Two of my online friends (well, ladies whose blogs I follow and occasionally comment on) also seem to be struggling.  They have more tangible worries than I do, so today I made an extra effort to pull myself out of this funk.

I spent some time cuddling my chooks.   OK. I spent some time stroking the one chook who is currently accepting cuddles, and chatting to the other 4 who aren't.    It was wet and cold outside, so good for clearing my head a bit.   I then dosed myself up and went upstairs to tackle the box room, which is currently living up (down) to its name. 

It didn't used to be quite so bad.   Then all the Christmas decoration boxes went in there,  then the stuff from the guest bedroom.... then there was all the stuff to go to the animal rescue jumble sale... and then there was no room to get in to get to anything.  

I have a confession. 

At one point I remember standing in the doorway and, in desperation,  lobbing stuff in.  There wasn't anyway to get in and place the stuff. I had neither the time nor the inclination to sort the room out, and I needed to put the stuff somewhere.

I kept the door open so I could see the shameful mess every time I went upstairs.

This morning I decided to have round one of clearing it out.   Baby steps.  No point in having a goal of "empty box room".     I wasn't sure how far I would get before my energy level was too depleted.  My goal was to clear the space around Orla so I could play her,  and my rules were that everything I picked up had to be  put into its proper home,  or else allocated to a pile.  Pile A, on the landing, was for stuff for the jumble sale;  Pile B, also on the landing,  was paper and card for recycling box;  Pile C, also on the landing, was rubbish (and initially had a rubbish bin);  Pile D, was an area in the room for some boxes for stuff which I couldn't deal with at the moment.    Pile D was a cop-out really, but it enabled me to manage my energy levels,  and I achieved much more than I expected. 

It still looks like a box room, but it is tidy. er.  

 

Small victories

Two more birthday cards done.

Living room now clear of carp. Most of it dealt withm but one - small - box was dumped upstairs to be sorted 'later'.

Managing patheticness

What is the noun for pathetic?   I suppose technically it's "pathos", but that isn't the type of pathetic I mean. I'm talking about being pathetic. Anyway,  I'm digressing again.

I'm invoking emergency measures to manage my patheticness.

I've forced myself to do a couple of items off my to do list, items which deep down I didn't really want to do and which I was avoiding and prevaricating about.     I am usually the Queen of getting on with the things that I don't wish to do;  my belief, that it's better to have a few minutes of pain/discomfort/whatever doing a horrible job immediately than having the thought of the horrible job hanging over you, is very strong (despite what impression I may have given on my blog).    It's a symptom of my patheticness that I just haven't been able to make myself do them.

And they were only unavoidable phonecalls.  Actually, I made one phone call and sent a text for the other one, which hasn't saved me any time or grief as I now have to wait for an answer and I'll probably have to phone in the end anyway. And I can't phone now because I've texted and it will be rude to phone.  See the tangled mess I've made, for no good reason?

The "emergency measures" involve breaking some of the (not actually very big) goals into baby steps, and then ticking off the baby steps as I do them.     Doing this I've managed to clear the last of the debris from our bedroom, without just dumping it somewhere else.      The baby steps were really tiny.  "Empty the small brown box onto the bed deal with the contents";  "Take the box of games and put it under the bed in the guest room"; "Empty rubbish bin";  that type of thing.   

I'm hoping the decluttering of a couple of rooms will help release my my mind a bit. 

I'm not sure I believe in feng shui but... well...  for the last week or so we've had to shut the hall door to make sure that Wash doesn't try and get upstairs (he's not allowed to climb or jump up or jump down off anything).    It's really having an effect on the feel of the house. The airflow isn't right.   Maybe there is something about energy being trapped/blocked?  

Or maybe I'm just full of cold, and tired, and in need of a nap or two.

Being a bit pathetic

The repair man came today to fill and fix DH's car. Did I mention that I managed to scrape the door and the rear panel on the driveway gate posts the other day?  

The rest of today was a bit of a struggle, for no reason other than I am being a bit pathetic.  This cold has washed me out, and I'm struggling to get up enthusiasm for anything much.

Eventually I managed to sort out the new living room storage unit, which involved rationalising and organising a whole load of stuff.  Did I mention we went to Ikea yesterday?  Both of us. Together! And we didn't row!!  Mind you, we didn't go round the store, we went straight to the warehouse bit.   We now have various storage units and  bits for various rooms, and that's what we've been mostly sorting out today.

I also spent quite some time at the Vet, with Wash.  His foot is looking quite healthy underneath the bandages, and I managed to get a quick photo of his unbandaged wolverine structure.

Washy was having his stitches out, which was mostly OK but a bit tricky in places.    I think it took a bit out of him as he's spent the whole day sleeping on the rug.

I did manage to use my embroidery machine, stitching out a rather tricky card for my uncle's birthday. It needs to be posted tomorrow, and I wasn't sure I'd get it done.  It was something like 26000 stitches, 24 colour changes and 20 different colours (it took me at least half an hour just to identify the threads), so it was a bit of a challenge.  

It took the entire day to complete, mainly because I was busy doing  101 other things at the same time.

I also managed to sell the old cabinet, so that's something else out of the way.

January is a busy month for birthdays, I've got another 3 cards to make in the next 10 days. I'd like to try and get them done by Sunday, then I might stop feeling like I'm running to catch up.

Derailed

All good intentions for today. I was going to clear the kitchen surface and get my machine set up again.  It started well enough, and then I derailed myself.

I got as far as putting on the vinyl table covering, bringing down the machine stand, the machine, the embroidery arm, and the cutting mats.  I farted around getting the positioning right.  I then decided to see if I'd had a response from Janome UK about a software problem I'd been having.  No response, so I emailed them again. 

While sitting at the 'puter, I wondered what a particular Ikea unit might look in place of my printer cupboard.  DH had used a couple of units in his study, and it had been quite effective. We had such a unit upstairs, in the guest bedroom, and I decided it would be a good idea to bring it downstairs, and see how it looked. If I don't like it, it could go back upstairs;  if I did like it, I could add getting a replacement unit to my "Next Ikea Trip" list.

Moving the existing cabinet was easy. Moving the cabling required a fair bt of time and a lot of patience.   Dust bunnies abounded, and I had to do quite a cleaning job (serves me right for being so lax normally).   Eventually, everything was unplugged, detangled, and separated.   DH and I carried the unit downstairs and put it in to position.

It looked good, better than I expected.   So, next I had to empty the old unit of the myriad of specialist printing stuff.   I don't have the right sort of storage for the new unit, so I added to the shopping list.  DH and I discussed how to handle extension leads, power supplies, etc.  I idled away some time looking at the Ikea catalogue, adding to my list.

In between times, I had correspondence with Janome, and tried various updates.  It wasn't looking good, and I could feel my enthusiasm for making anything waning. In preparation for this being really serious, I had to try and find where I might have stored the redundant old dongle.  It wasn't where it should have been. It wasn't where it might have been. It wasn't even where it shouldn't have been.   I found it in the end. In the box with the new software. Not a stupid place, exactly, but definitely one of those 'last places' I'd look. (What a stupid expression. Everything is always in the last place you look, even if it's the first place too!)

Eventually the TARDIS of a cabinet was empty, and I had piles of stuff everywhere.   I took a deep breath, and shoved it all in the new cabinet, to be sorted later.  I will review stuff and rationalise before final storage, especially as I've already got a charity shop run planned.

The floor was a mess, so I washed that.  

And I spent some time cuddling Wash, who has perked up significantly since he moved on to two doses of insulin a day and rather enjoyed inspecting everything.

At the eleventh hour, the lovely chap at Janome had a breakthrough and we got my software working again. I'm so relieved, not just because of the lack of hassle, but I could feel me getting less and less enthusiastic about the whole embroidery thing, and I was in the 'shutter' zone where I could see me taking everything back upstairs and leaving it there...and that would have been a shame as I've got quite a few birthdays in January that I had planned to embroider for.

I don't think I'll get any embroidery done tomorrow,  it's going to be quite a busy day anyway.

Still going

Another day, another dressing change for Wash.  The Vet was very busy, so the Nurse had to use a small side room to do the change, and we stayed.   I was interested - and a bit queasy at the same time - to see Wash's unbandaged leg.

The Vet popped in to take a look, and seemed pleased at the progress. 

The urine sample still showed glucose, so we now need to move to twice daily injections.   Of course the timing can't line up with Izzy's 3-times-a-day phenobarbitone tablets, so it's a bit limiting. Still, we'd rather have the cats than the freedom.

The last of the Christmas stuff came down today. I dismantled the wreath, and took down the ribbons that held the cards.  All the boxes are now in the loft,  only 50 weeks til they come down again.

Another mini round of decluttering, as I'm sorting through the stuff that came out of the guest bedroom so my DB could sleep in there. 

Curates Egg

We were relieved to find, at our subsequent appointment,that Wash hadn't damaged his leg when he did a runner the other day.  The leg/foot is healing well.

The not so great news was that he *still* has glucose in his urine. The two Vets each proposed a slightly different approach regarding whether to start with insulin, and both rationales were sound. In the end, we looked the potential consequences of making the "wrong" decision, and we started with the insulin injections.  The Vet told us what he would normally prescribe, and that we were giving about a quarter of that a day, so there shouldn't be any problems.  The next dressing change and test was 2 days later, and we checked we understood what adverse reaction looked like, and what action to take if this happened.

The first day was awful.  Wash was very lethargic, and even more sleepy than usual. His sleep was very deep, to the point where I was standing over him, I moved down until I was about to touch him, and he didn't stir at all.  We were ready to get another urine sample and get it tested the next morning,  we were sure his glucose levels must have gone too far the wrong way.    He did brughten up and get lively for a bit very late that evening, so we went ahead with the second inhection.    

Check up and dressing change today, and we were confident that there would be no glucose.  We were wrong.  So, the insulin was probably the right thing to do.

The couleur de jour is red. Not sure if this is coded,  or whether they just happened to get a red bandage out of the box. If I'd known red was available, I might have requesed it over Christmas

More weight gain today, so that's good news too.

Definitely a curates egg of a day.

Done a runner

In Tuesday I wrote an update about Wash, including a picture of him zonked out on the rug in the living room.  

He's a very naughty boy.

Shortly after I posted my Tuesday entry, DH and I were in the kitchen, discussing New Year's Eve dinner and looking in recipe books.  DH popped his head into the living room to check on Wash, to find that Wash wasn't there.  He quickly checked the living room, before shouting to tell me that Wash had gone.

I checked the utility room. I checked the kitchen.  DH checked upstairs,  I went outside and looked for him.  We couldn't bleep him because he wasn't wearing a collar.

We realised that he was probably sitting quietly out of the way somewhere, and we recognised that in a panic one can look but not see. So, we started again.  I checked the living room, pulling out the sofas and checking in the cat tree.  I checked our bedroom, and the spare room, and (what I could of) the box room.  I went back outside and checked again.  I checked under the hedge. I checked under the cars.  I checked by the bins.  I checked next doors driveways.  

No Wash.

He could not have vanished into thin air.  I stood in the street, wondering where to look next.  I couldn't believe he was really out there, so I went back to the house.  Then I saw the hydrangea, and thought I'd better just look.  

And there he was. Curled up, quite comfortable thank you.  He looked at me with those "Oh hello, were you looking for me?" innocent eyes. 

He was back in his Pen quick smart.  We just hoped that he hadn't done any damage to his leg.

Yesterday he was back on supervised time out, and he was as good as gold.

His dressing was changed today, and the Vet is very happy with how the leg and foot are coming along. We didn't mention his escape.

Hiatus

It's that period between Christmas and New Year.  Sometimes we clear the decks and put eveyrthing back to normal at this time,  some years we leave things as they are until New Year is done.   This year, we're leaving things up.

We finished the goose, which remained very moist (despite Nigella's assertions that it wouldn't) for several days.  We still had a fair chunk left after a couple of days of cold goose, so we made an enormous Rogan Goose, which was really rather good.  We've frozen the leftovers for later.    I made a banoffee pie for my dessert yesterday, without the pie. And without the offee.  Well, I had bananas and double cream whipped with a little sugar.  

The tree is still looking good and has shed hardly any needles.  The wreath is wearing well.

 The "new" table is looking lovely, but part of me is itching to put my embroidery machine back on it.  I'll leave it until the new year.

The guest bedroom is looking OK, although the box room is now living up to its name as a result.  It is full of boxes, and I had to fight my way in there to retrieve DDIL1's birthday present, card, and wrapping paper.   A lot of it is boxes for the Christmas stuff. Honestly.  It'll be better once we've taken some things down. Really it will.

I could sleep for a week.

Wash, again

Wash has now been home for a week.  He's been back to the Vet every 2 days to have his dressing changed and for them to test his urine for glucose.   He hasn't had a blood test for a week (due to his stress levels), so I guess they'll do that next time he goes in.

The foot is, apparently, looking good.    He's looking really good, and is putting on weight.

He's on cage rest, and we have the biggest dog crate we could find for him. It's huge, it's big enough for Weimeraner, Pyranean Mountain Dogs, and Great Danes (although probably not all at once!)

We let him out for a cuddle every so often, and yesterday he had a bit of a hobble around before sleeping in the sunshine streaming throught the french window.

This morning after he'd been pilled, we let him stay out and he's gone to sleep on the rug

We're so lucky.

Again?

The dumping ground that is the guest bedroom has had to be cleared again. 

In my defence, each time I have cleared it I have been brutal (ish) in my decision to bin/give away, so the amount of stuff left has got smaller each time.   In my defence, the first time I cleared it was when we sold the wardrobe and chests of drawers, and I had to relocate everything to our room, just for a few days.  The build up since then has been cosmetic, mainly stuff piled on top of the ed rather than being stuffed under the bed and in the wardrobe (mainly becasue we don't have such things at the moment).

The building work, that might happen at short notice, hasn't happened yet and I decided that after Christmas I'd get on with properly sorting out the rest of the room in anticipation.  Then DH suggested asking my DB1 if he'd like to stay over Christmas Night, so I had to clear the bed anyway... and I'd already bought the sample units from Ikea so we could put a couple of them up... which meant we might as well get on with turning the enormous and very heavy bed around... which meant that the last remaining piece of storage had to be emptied....    It's been a busy morning.

The room has had its first vacuuming, the bed has been turned round, a couple of storage units made up.   I've started to put ctuff back under the bed.  It's going to be very controlled and boxed,  so that when the short notice building work happens I can whhip it all out quickly.   The bedding is organised into separate bankers transfer boxes, clearly labelled.   The suitcases, which probably should go in the loft but that's another stor(e)y (ha ha), have been nested and are under the bed.   The few items that will go into the new hanging storage (when it arrives) have been hung up in the corner.   It's getting there.

I'm just having a bit of a break.  My break involves getting on with the advance prep for tomorrow.   I made a bit of a blunder by putting the Ipot on to make yoghurt this morning, I should have waited until tonight.  In the meantime I have plates all over the kitchen with the weighed out ingredients for various stuffings and accompaniments.

I've done the prunes braised in armagnac (I have an uneducated palate and I suspect that brandy would have been just as good) and they are cooling ready to go in the fridge.

I'm waiting for the goose giblets to finish defrosting so I can put them on to make stock.  Ideal candidate for Ipot, but that's just tough. I want to try making the braised red cabbage in the slow-cooker function of the Ipot rather than the oven, so that's taking precedence.

I'm waiting for the sausages to finish defrosting so I can make the forcemeat stuffing.

Actually, I suspect that they're defrosted, so I'm going to go and do somethign with that and I'll come back later.

Wash has a Vet appointment at 3 to have his dressing changed, and we're hoping it'll be OK so he can stay home with us.
 

Ikea

I went to Ikea yesterday, not realising that their sale had started.  DH was horrified when I said I was going, and only stopped looking horrified when I said I was going on my own.   We rarely manage an Ikea trip without something on the range from a minor disagreement to a bit of a row.

I knew it would be busy - even not knowing about the sale -  so I was well prepared. I had my list. I checked the size of the flat packs and measured the car. I decided to take my tiny car rather than DH's estate because,  well, it's small. It's easier to manouevre on some very busy roads, easier to park and unpark.

 I got there in good time, wound the front seat down (manually, took ages) ready for my return, and went into the store. I didn't go round the showroom, I went straight to the downstairs bit.  I picked up some bits I hadn't put on my list,  I found some of the big bits I needed.  I then spent ages trying to locate everything in the warehouse.... I got most things quite quickly (by asking the chappy on the desk, as the self service screens weren't helping me), but it took me a while to dfind everything and I gave up on a couple of bits. Some of the boxes were heavy,  a lovely customer offered to assist me but I declined... if I couldn't get it on the trolley, I wouldn't be able to get it in the car.

I then joined the queue. It was long, it was expected. We slowly progressed. It took forever.   The pleasant chap in front of me had multiple trollies, he was kitting out several new flats.   It took a surprising amount of time, as they had a lot of items.   Eventually I got to the checkout and got through reasonably quickly.

It was raining when I got out of the shop. At the car, I flipped down the back seat. Only it didn't fold flat.   Sigh.  I opened the passenger door, and wound the seat upright, and then wound it forward. Only it didn't go very far forward.   I tried one of the long boxes. Nope.  I tried it diagonally-ish.  Nope.  Another sigh.

I wound the car seat back to the upright position, and wound it back down.  By now I had someone waiting to park in my space.  I ignored them.    I took the head rest off. I tool the head rest off the back seat. I folded it down. It was flatter, but not flat.. I put some of my non-breakable purchases at both ends to try and make a flat surface.  I then womanfully lugged the heavy long boxes into the car and, in a flash of inspiration, flipped them on to their sides. This would avoid them sliding over to me when I went round a bend.  I'm an old hand at small cars packed with Ikea furniture.

Eventually it was done.  I put my trolley away, and set off.  I was late home. DH had waited for me so we could visit Wash together.

Furniture unloaded later that evening, and a couple of items put together.  Well worth it. 

Another trip needed now to get some more.   

After the sale.

Christmas Cakes

I finished decorating two home made Christmas Cakes yesterday.

One was a fully iced cake....

..and the other was a glazed nut topping for a Creole Cake.

I've got another Creole Cake which I've cut into 4.  I then realised I didn't have any cake boards of a suitable size, and I didn't have enough nuts to cover 4 cakes prettily. 

I'll do those later. After I've been out to get the missing bits.

Wash, continued

We saw Wash on Saturday evening, and were lucky enough to see the Vet who had performed the op.  He showed us the Xrays, and explained that the damage was even worse than the xrays suggested.

They've put pins in,  which will remain in place for about 6 weeks. The bandage is enormous. They'll then need to xray him under an anaesthetic and, if all is well, they will remove the pins.

front leg=IV,  back leg is the damaged one

He was trying to move about, and was very pleased to see us.
Hopefully he will be home before Christmas.

Long Friday

Eventually Friday came around.  The Op was scheduled for the morning, and we could phone at 1pm to get an update.

In the morning I busied myself with wreath making and the endless attempt at getting the downstairs into some semblance of order.  DH had a long standing arrangement, so left at 11.

At 1.05 I phoned the Vet.  Wash hadn't had his Op, he was just being prepped. Phone at 5.I texted DH, who would - because of the  circumstances -  have considered no news as bad news.

I spent the rest of the day putting up the last of the decorations, not really in a Christmassy mood.  I idled away on Facebook.  I made progress in the house tidying.

I phoned the Vet. Wash had come round from the anaesthetic, his temperature was OK, he'd eaten, he was awake.  I left the house immediately to go and see him.

He was fast asleep when I got there. I burst into tears when I saw him, relief I guess. He stirred but didn't wake up when I stroked him.  I texted DH. I was going to attach a photo but decided against it..

Tree

The Christmas tree arrived yesterday. It's bigger than I expected!

My Christmas tree of choice is a Fraser fir.   I love these because they are bushy (as in dense), but are compact, a very neat triangular shape.   The Nordmanns and the like were lovely, but so...wide. When I discovered Frasers, I really started to love having a tree again.

We used to like getting our tree on the 21st-ish of December, but found that everywhere was sold out of Frasers by then.  I learned to phone round the various Christmas tree farms and suppliers before making a journey,  and we started getting our tree a little earlier... but still we often had problems getting one.

I decided in advance of last Christmas to try getting a tree by post.  I was dubious, to say the least, but a friend recommended someone she used every year, so I gave it a go.  

My tree arrived on time, and was beautiful.  It was on the smaller end of the size range, but it was beautiful none-the-less. I missed the drive out to the Christmas tree farm...but, at the same time,  I didn't miss the drive out to the Christmas tree farm. I didn't miss the pang of guilt at picking up a tree and rejecting the poor thing.

This year, I ordered the next size up.

When it arrived yesterday, it was obviously at the top end of that size, and it seemed HUGE. It was actually too tall for the room, even before we put it in a stand, and after we'd sliced the bottom off so it cold have a good drink.  DH had to prune the top a bit, and take out some of the lower branches.  We left it overnight to relax.

This morning, the house smells wonderfully of Christmas Tree. 

Wash date

So far the Vet has been unable to operate on Wash because he's got jaundice, likely a symptom of liver problems, and they can't risk giving him a general anaesthetic.

 He's undergone numerous tests and scans to see whether the casue can be identified.   On Monday, the scans showed that it wasn't a tumour, and it wasn't scirrocis.   He was on antibiotics to see if there was an infection causing the problem.

He was happy to see us on Sunday, but not at all happy to see us on Monday - maybe he was feeling better and was having a sulk.   Yesterday he was very pleased to see us, very purry, rolling around for us to stroke him.  He looked well - apart from having a drip attached to one paw,  and having an enormous saggy other paw.

Over the last 2 days, he's responded well.  Today the Vet said that they have pencilled in Friday as a date to operate on his poor foot. 

We're so relieved.

Displacement and replacement

We had to phone the vet this morning, to see what the situation was with Wash.  While we were waiting for the appointed time, I busied myself with displacement - or, rather, re-placement - activities.

It's taken me hours and hours to get some semblance of order in the kitchen and living room (living room was the dumping ground),  and to try not to just relocate the mess to the guest bedroom.

The tree should be arriving today, so I also had to clear a space for that.

My flat screen laptop fell off its stand on to the floor. 

I looked at it in horror.

The screen was still on.  I picked it up, placed it back on its stand, and tried a few programs.  I'm doing y backups at the moment, just in case.   Luckily it seems to have fallen flat on its back, rather than on the front or on an edge. I daren't turn it off and on again yet.

Chaos

I bought another electric desk, to use as a kitchen table.  It was very inexpensive, even with the cost of a private courier to collect and deliver it.

While we waited for it to arrive, we discussed options.

My ideal was to take the bamboo worktop - bought this time last year as a temporary thing, but extremely lovely - and put it on top of the desk. It didn't have to be now, it could wait until we re-did the kitchen. (We've been going to re-do the kitchen since 2013, but I haven't found one I want yet.  And I haven't looked for about a year).  The desk could be dismantled and stored in the summerhouse, or the shed. .Or it could stay mantled in the summer house. 

It was likely that the new desk wouldn't be able to take the weight of the worktop (and the rest of the stuff), but my sewing desk upstairs can take 150kg so a swapsy was a possibility.

When the desk arrived, it was quite a neat little thing, much less industrial than its upstairs brother.  We speculated about the weight of the worktop.     We had a piece left, so we weighed it, and calculated that the full worktop is 57kg.  The new desk can cope with 100kg, so we decided that was probably OK.

We discussed whether to do something, or to leave it until later.

We decided we'd do something.  The something was going to involve some lifting and shunting,  so I called upon my DB2 to see if he could help.  He came over almost straightaway, we'd only got as far as emptying the units that currently lived under the worktop.

For the next few hours there was a humongous amount of activity.  Taking the worktop off,  fixing it to the desk.  Moving the two Units. Both were from Ikea, but from completely different ranges. One has sliding doors in a sort of pink colour, the other has drawers.units in a very high gloss cream colour.  (Bought at different times, for different purposes, and to try out different Ikea kitchen styles. Each was hidden under our worktop, so it was never a problem). 

With the new arrangement there is only space for one unit, so one unit had to go. The one that stayed could either live under the desk, looking like a pedestal  or (in the case of the sliding door cupboard)  we could try wall mounting it.   We tried the Ikea sliding door cabinet first.  Luckily, it was a wall unit which we had mounted on tall legs on the floor.  It actually looked good in both places.  Lots of photographs and discussions,  and the decision was made.

The pics came down, the nails were removed, the light fitting had to be moved a bit. Wall unit up, table in place.

It looks..like it's always been that way.

The table can now be moved and used as a proper table.  It can be lowered for small children, raised for sewing or a bar,  it can be pitched at the perfect height when we are dealing with a half pig.

It's great.

The rest of the house looks like a bomb has hit it.  Operation clear-up had to wait, as it was Vet time.

Thwack!

Panto yesterday, local show, great as always.

Got home, no Wash.

Found him, huddled under radiator.  Smelt awful. Lifted him up to check he was OK and discovered that he had a broken leg. Hit by a car.

Emergency vet at t11.30pm.

He also has jaundice, so they can't x ray or operate until they know what's causing it.  If it's liver damage, he won't be well enough to operate anyway.

Blood tests today.

Saw him again  at 5pm today. He looks brighter, despite being on a drip, mainly because he's on happy meds.  He was pleased to see us, tried to get up but failed.

We'll know more tomorrow lunchtime.

Slip up

I'm battered and rather bruised, and I'm lucky.

The young chickens have taken to making a racket at about 7 in the morning.  Each day one of us gets up, looks out of the window, can't see anything, goes downstairs, unlocks the back door, pads down to the Run, and checks that everything is OK.  (It is. however, the dog a few doors down is usually barking, so we think we are having a foxy visitor each morning).

Yesterday it was my turn.  barefoot, I managed to slip on the carpeted stairs. Worse, somehow I managed to get my ring caught on a balustrade. The weight of the rest of me was pulling on my finger, and I was unable to move myself to use my feet to stop.

I thought about calling for DH, but I realised that was pointless. By the time he'd woken up enough to realise there was a problem,  had got up, and got to me, and freed me,  my finger would be broken. Or the balustrade. Or both.  My shoulder was hurting from being pulled in two directions, and I tried in vain to get one foot up somewhere to give me leverage.   I did it in the end.

The chickens were OK. When I got back in, I inspected my finger and realised that I needed to take action to get my rings off, before they had to be cut off.  I put my hand under the cold tap and soaped.  My engagement ring came off, but my wedding ring was stuck.

I remembered something about dental floss and removing rings.  I googled.  I searched the bathroom cabinet until I found the floss. I tried, it hurt more than I imagined, I gave up. I soaked my hand.

I googled again.  Elastic band.  Found band. Tried it. Fail.

Elastic.  I couldn't get this to work n my own, so I had to ask DH for help.  We argued (of course).  We tried it.  Nearly.  I soaked my hand and we tried again. DH used tweezers to try and get the end of the elastic under the ring. It HURT.   A LOT.  We pulled the elastic.  It was very painful.  The ring moved a smidge. And a smidge more.  Enough for me to soak my hand, re-soap, and then I got it off.

All day I felt like I was in a cartoon,  my bulbous finger was pulsating and looked horrendous.

Today it looks better.  But it's still too big for the rings.

And I have some rather impressive bruises. All over the place.

Nothing broken, though.
 

Christmas cards

My machine and I are getting on at the moment.  When she's working well, she really is lovely.

I had a break for some time, I couldn't make myself do anything on it.  Then the software arrived, so I did some reorganisation in preparation for using that,  and then I decided to bite the bullet and do some christmassy stitching for some special cards.  

There was a problem with the software which set me back a bit.  Janome responded immediately and emailed me a fix, and I was back up and running.  

It's been a busy few days.

The kitchen looks like it's been hit by a craft bomb.  There were card blanks and enveloped everywhere. Piles of stitched designs.  Piles of fabric.  Packets of bought cards (bought in the sales last year) for people I want to send a card to, but don't want to hand make one.   A neat pile of printed address labels.   Printed card-insides, and sliced off remnants where I've trimmed them to fit. Pritt Sticks in various states of decay.   Several rolls of double sided stucky tape. Scissors.  Reels of thread.  Rolls of felt.  It was horrendous.

Today I wrote, addressed, and stamped all my non-made cards.  Then I started working through the made designs, and matched the design with the intended recipient.    Then I started on some very individual designs, and while they were printing, I attempted to clear the decks.

The kitchen now looks better.... but the hallway is a bit of a disaster zone.

I had licked-and-sticked a number before I thought about taking photos. Oh well. 

I've still got some very detailed designs to do, so I hope I can keep the motivation for another few days.

Gorgeous Girls

So, we had a spate of the Litlees sleeping out on the Verandah.

This isn't as bad as it sounds... the Verandah is a platform that I got DH to construct, just outside the door of the orange cube.  It was designed to help Lotti (who had a deformed foot) get into the Cube more easily.  She could wait on the Verandah until there was an opportunity, then rush in.

After we lost Lotti, we left the Verandah in place because the girls really liked it;  sunbathing on it during summer days, and sometimes sleeping on it during hot summer nights.


Anyway, it's not summer and, although I'm sure the litlees aren't getting cold, I'm pretty sure they were sleeping on the verandah because Poppy and/or Gloria wouldn't let them in to the Cube.

We decided to give them more choice. We connected the purple cube to the main run, so we have two cubes open. For the first night, I forced the older girls, Gloria and Poppy, to sleep in the purple cube and let the litlees sleep in the orange cube.

The next night they organised themselves.  Poppy was in the purple cube,  Gloria was in the orange cube with the littlees (although Gloria was in the nest box).

The third night, Poppy and Gloria were in the purple cube.

Then Fleur laid her first, dark brown, egg.  (I did the egg dance, in my dressing gown, in the rain)

Then all of them were in the orange cube (Poppy and Gloria in the nestbox).

And it's been that way since.