Momentum

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

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

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

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

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

sHENenanigans

It started well. I watched on the camera.

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

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

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

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

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

And then Fleur happened.

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

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

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

Thank goodness for that!


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

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

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

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

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

We'll see what happens tonight.

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

Hen "Holiday"

Today DH took 5 hens to the allotment.

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

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

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

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

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


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

I hope they are all OK.

CBA

Yesterday was not such a good day.

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

Rain

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

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

I felt obliged to do it.

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

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

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

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

Thinking of You

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

Inside I just said we were thinking of them.

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

Another one gone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I guess she's earmarked to stay.

Chicken frenzy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cats and garden

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

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

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

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

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

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

Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friends

Thank you Sandra for the phone call xxxx

Rotten

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was a puzzle.

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

I'd found it!

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

And then I heaved.

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

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

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

God knows how we managed to miss it before.

Days go by

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the plus side...

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

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

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

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

Invasion

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

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

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

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

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

He wasn't in.

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

His car was in the garage.

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

I drove home.

Later, I tried again and this time he answered.

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

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

Thank goodness he's OK!

Interesting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, he phoned me from the garden.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Flocks

The hen dynamics continue.

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

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

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

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

Poppy and 3 Allotmenteers round the bowl

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

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

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

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

That Friday feeling

I woke up with a tension headache.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

Casualty and bully.

We had our first casualty from letting the Girls roam together.

Phyllis, black hen in foreground

It was Phyllis, who is 6 years old.    I saw her wandering around the garden with her beak open.  I bent down to talk to her to see what was up, and I noticed that her comb was quite dark.  I also saw blood on her wattles. 

I carried her in to the kitchen, and offered her some sunflower seeds, which she ate.   I cleaned up the blood and saw that she had some damage to the top of her head and to her wattle.  I purple sprayed the wounds (and myself a bit, oh well), and gave her some Nutridrops.

These things are to be expected when you try and integrate.

I took her back outside and she toodled off.  She's one of DH's favourtie hens because she is so friendly to him.  She's really nosey, always wants to get under your feet.  Her Dad was Henry (Roo's Welsh Black son) and her mum was one of the Welsh Black Harem.  She stands out because her shape, comb, and friendliness come from Roo's side of the family,  although she has Welsh Black colouring.




On a related theme,  I noticed that the Leghorn girls had even more scabs on their combs than usual, and Barbara had feathers missing on her head.      The huge floppy combs and wattles on leghorns make them an easy target for bullies.   I wasn't entirely sure who was doing it though, and made a mental note to keep an eye out.


In the evening I went out to shut the Allotment Girls' coop (the auto opener hasn't arrived, so I guess it won't be dispatched until all thhis COrona Virus stuff blows over) and I saw that Fay was up and her coop door had already shut.    I tried to catch her and failed,  and I went round and manually opened the coop door for her.

By this time, she was at the Youngsters coop and was trying to get in there.   Something was amiss. 

One of the Leghorns was outside on the mezzanine,  another was in the doorway with their whole body outside,  and no one was able to get in.

When I walked up, the one in the doorway tried to go in and one of the girls already in the coop went beserk and started attacking her.  The squealing was horrendousand I could hear the vbictim running around insdie the coop trying to get out of the way.     I rushed to the back of the coop to open it up, and I saw the problem.

Fleur.

She was in the coop and she was attacking anyone and everyone. Not with a bit of "oi, know your place",  but with real aggression.   I pulled her out and put her in the Big Girls coop via the pop hole.   With her out of the way, the Leghorns filed in to the coop normally.   Fay ran round to the Big Girls coop and hopped in through the door I'd left open.

Fleur is understandably stressed by the Allotment chickens,  and what it means for her in the pecking order.    I can understand why she's behaving badly, although the agression I'm seeing is worse than I expected.  I  can't imagine what she's going ot be like if and when the remaining 6 girls come home

I don't have the luxury of being able to separate her out now,  nor the luxury of taking things super slowly.

I know I'm mixing my metaphors but - her card is already marked, and she's now had strike 2.

 

Lemons, Pilates and kittens.

I had some lemons languishing in the bottom of the fridge, it seemed a crime in the current situation to throw them away, so I decided to try dehydrating them.  

I'm well aware that fruit is best done at its peak, but I decided to go ahead anyway.  My dehydrating bible says that the results from dehydrating lemons is often poor,  but that's fine: i'm planning to grind these into powder to use in, say, breadcrumbs.

We did a Pilates class yesterday.  For the last week, our instructor has been running 3 classes a week by video and this is the first one we've been able to join.     DH hasn't been to Pilates for a few weeks as he wasn't well,  and I missed the last couple of weeks as well.

It was really tough.  Much harder than it should have been.   The kittens thought it was a new game specially for them and they joined in at every opportunity. 
We're going to see if we can cast the phone to the much older bedroom-TV, as the floorspace there might be a bit better shape (and we won't have to move the furniture so much).   It would be good if it works, as the bedroo TV never gets used. 

As the class was in the evening we didn't have dinner until late.  We decided to have a cheaty tea,  so I made hot dog rolls (using an enriched dough with egg and milk) and we had a jar of hot dogs.   I'm regretting it a bit today.

Hens in Spring

Egg production is at its peak at the moment.  It won't last: as soon as they start going broody, they will stop laying.

In the meantime though, it's very very noisy.  

We have 5 nestboxes for the 8 Garden Girls who are laying.  The Girls, however, all want to lay in the same nestbox, and several chickens want to lay at the same tim.

Each girl likes to get herself settled, and sit and read the paper for a while before she actually lays an egg.   They don't like sharing the nestbox, so there's a lot of shouting going on. (like people banging on the bathroom door saying 'hurry up'). Sometimes there is a queue on the stairs 

We have 5 nestboxes in their run, including one that could accommodate 3 hens at once. But no. They all have to try and lay in one box.

....
 
Over in the Allotmenteers temporary run they have one double nest box for the 4 hens that are laying.  So far they seem to be managing OK,  but it could be just that theur coop is so far down the garden,  and the Garden Girs are so noisy,  that the sound is muffled.     We aren't getting 4 eggs a day from this group,  it usually works out at 2 or 3 a day. 

This morning, the Allotment Girls announced that they needed more space.   They've been really happy mooching around their area (which is mainly the old fruit ed, but with one reasonable sized bit of grass).  Ad lib grass is a luxury they aren't used to,  and it's kept them occupied since they arrived nearly a week ago.

This morning,  all 5 of them were together at the boundary of their area,  just standing around.   It was time to take the next step. 

I removed part of the netting which seprates the Allotment Girls from the Garden Girls.   It was a piece right at the back,  in an area which the Garden Girls don't often use.     The Garden Girls aren't likely to discover this, until they realise that the Aliens are now in their patch.     We'll leave it open for a while, to see how it goes.

I've had to go and rake up the Allotmenteers area.   The poo is building up,  and we need to try and protect the grass for as long as possible.

We're making preparation for the possible evacuation of the remaining Allotment girls.   We don't want to do it until we have to,  but we want to be ready to move quickly if necessary.

 

 

Haircut

Last week, before the shutdown was announced,   DH's hair desperately needed cutting. 

He was unable to go to the barbers and he suggested buying clippers to do it himself. We were on our way back from visiting the allotment chickens, having done a lot of preparation for moving the chickens should it prove necessary.

We were driving past a large Boots, so I suggested we go in and look, as car park was pretty empty.

So, clippers were purchased.

It turned out that "do it himself" meant "we could do it ourselves".

I've ever used clippers before.  I've never seen anyone's hair being cut with clippers (unless they are having it all choped off, which looks relatively easy).

I watched some Youtube videos, which weren't as helpful as you might expect,  they were mainly people doing a for of head shave.   I just wanted to cut some excessively long hair into short hair.

In the end, DH had to try and tell me what to do, while I did it. We were in lockdown by this time, so I reasoned that if I made a mess of it, it'd grow back before anyone saw him.  Well, the hair would.


It wasn't too bad.


I need to use the clippers several more times before they've paid for themselves.  It'll be better next time.

Sausages

Are you old enough to remembeer the little dog on "That's Life?"
This isn't about that.

Our friend Shirley had contacted us some weeks ago to say that her latest porkers were due to be slaughtered, and would we like our usual half pig.    Of course we said yes.

They were booked in for last Tuesday, but with all the recent events, Shirley wasn't sure whether the abbatoir would be able to keep the appointment.  In the end, they were done, and we arranged to collect on Friday.

I hadn't been out since Tuesday (when we moved the chickens),  and it was about collecting supplies,  so it seened like a good idea.      It seemed less of a good idea on the way home when the motorway ground to a halt.

At east I'd be able to prove that I'd genuinely been collecting supplies... all they'd have to do was to look in the boot and see the trotter sticking out of the box (that's Shirley's trademark way of boxing the four primaries/. And thank goodness we get her to cut it into primaries,   a complete half pig wouldn't fit in my boot, and I chuckled as I imagined what the driver behind me wold be thinking.

I got home, via the Vet as I had to pick up some prescription items for Izzy.  We processed the pork on Friday afternoon, but didn't do anything particularly interesting or new (i'm just not in the right frame of mind to be dealing with curing ham or salami, or whatever.).

DH wanted to make lots of sausages, so we did.    We'd ordered some seasoning mix and some fresh casings.  We usually have Weschenfelder's Cumberland mix, but  they's dold out.  So instead we had "Gold", which we've had before,  and "Yorkshire", which we hadn't.     DH made the sausages on Saturday,  and there were loads of them.   He made "sausage pie" for dinner,  and both mixes tasted really good.

He's going to make bacon,  using loin this time.  After our little, ahem, incident with the cardboard smoker last time we made bacon,  I bought a proper metal smoker and we haven't actually used it yet.

Cats

Someone posted this recently, and it made me laugh out loud.

Grey

I washed my hair today.   It's due for a colour,  and my roots are starting to show.   I toyed with the idea of buying a home colour kit

My hair is very curly, and I don't have a parting, which means that the root issue is only really really obvious around my fringe.       Usually when the roots show, it's an ugly yellow-tinted grey. It reminds me of nicotine stains,  even though I've never smoked.

Today though, I saw some proper grey - or white, i'm not sure which - as well as the yellow colour.

Maybe I'll use the enforced staying in as an opportunity to see what my hair is like underneath the colour.

I'm sure I'll give my friends and family a shock  when they see me.

I haven't ruled out the home colouring kit thing.

Thursday

Another gorgeous sunny day.  DH again used his once-a-day to go and check on the chooks at the allotment.  All are fine.

He's been taking advantage of th gorgeous weather and has hosed down the seating area so we can move the swing bench back in to place, and put out a table.  The swing bench collapsed, literally, in the winter. Luckily for me, DH is handy with wood,  so he was able to make a new beam to fix it.

One of the Garden Girls is Not Quite Right.    Fleur has been Not Quite Right for pretty much her entire life.  Now we've got an extra 5 girls in the garden,  and may have more to come,  we're having to give serious consideration to culling her.

I ordered a coop door opener for the coop we brought home from the allotment.  I haven't heard anything form the company concerned, so I hope all is OK with them.    At the oment, the Girls are being very patient about being shut in at night and not being able to get up when they feel like it.  The Garden Girls start getting gobby quite early, complaining that its 6am and their respective doors haven't opened yet.

In some respects, it's good that one of us has to get up to let the Ex-Allotmenteers out.  Whoever gets up makes tea, feeds the cats etc,  and by that time its not worth going back to bed, so the other one gets up as well.   I suspect we'd be lie-abeds otherwise.

The layers pellets arrived today.  I ordered direct from the manufacturer, to avoid pressure on our local supplier.  People are, naturally, buying extra to see them through (as indeed I did).

Groceries wise, yesterday evening I managed to book an online delivery slot for tonight (it was tonight or nothing), but stuff was going out of stock between me putting them in my trolley and checking out,  so I don't know how much use it will be.   I didn't panic buy, I didn't over order.   It has cat food in,  and some cheese for our neighbour,  plus some goats milk for me (the milkman is having trouble delivering goats milk at the moment), and some butter.  I've also included some vegetables, as I haven't been eating enough veg, and my cholesterol count is very high.

I made yoghurt last night, and today I used an extra fine straining box to try making yoghurt cheese. I appreciate the irony of making "cheese" when I have high cholesterol,  but all was underway before I got the news.

Speaking of cheese, I've just realised that my Instant Pot would be great for makking marscarpone.  I normally make it in a double boiler jug thing,  but I bet the IP would be fab.

I've phoned my Uncle (who lives about 6? miles away) almost every day in the last couple of weeks (I missed 2 days), to check he's OK.     My mum and my brothers and I are all on a group chat,  and we check in each day, at eleast once a day.  One of my brothers reads the messages but doesn't often comment.  My brothers and I (and my husband) also have a separate chat so we can talk about things where we don't want to bother/worry mum.  Most of the talk is about the Virus, or related to it or the lockdown.

We had a cat related shock yesterday. Lewis came flying over the fence into the garden.  We don't know how he got out, we didn't even know he was out.  The camera that is trained on the cat flap, for this exact purpose, had run out of battery.

Later, when we went to bed,  he had Shelby by the scruff of the neck,  and I'm sure he was trying to get in to position to  mate with her.   Luckily she's spayed! She carried on sitting next to him after we separated them, so I don't think she was too bithered about it.  Perhaps she thought it was part of their normal kitten rough and tumble.  

I hope the Vets open before too long so we can get him "sorted out".

We're only a couple of days in to this latest lockdown phase,  so the death toll is going to continue to rise for weeks until the lockdown starts to take effect.

Those left behind

DH used his one hour exercise window to go to the Allotment.

The boys and the remaining girls seem happy enough.  We opened up a section of ghe allotment which we've been letting recover for many months.  It was meant to be for this year's chicks,  but we wanted to give the Allotment chickens a distraction from the other changes.

DH too the usual amout of green vegetables,  so that's a bit of a bonus for them.

We're still discussing what to do in the event of a further curtailment of activities.  

Moving

Monday's announcement abour movement restrictions meant we had to bring forward our plans to relocate some of our hens.

Our allotment has been broken in to several times over the last few weeks, but the culprits were looking for things to steal, not hens.    The lockdown means that, now that they know we have hens (and chicken feed etc) on the plot,  our hens are more at risk... even if the original thieves don't want them, they may well tell other people.

When we thought that Norah (our oldest hen) had died,  before the Announcement, we had made the decision to relocate ALL the girls to our home, and to leave the boys on the allotment.   With the good news that Norah is still alive,  we've had to revise this.  We are concerned that the shock of reocating her,  and the resulting, inevitable,  battle for pecking order, will be the death of her.    So, we decided we'd leave her at the allotment for now. 

Of course, we can't leave one hen with 2 boys, that would be an even worse fate for her.  So we had to work out how many - and who - else to leave.   We ended up leaving 6 hens. 2 of them are our lovely Dorking girls,  Ping and Pong.  They've been left because they are in lay,  and that means a source of eggs for the Other Chap.    We've also left Norah (the oldest hen),  the 2 harem girls who are from the same hatch as Poppy and Gloria,   and Big Bird.      We brought Phyllis,  who is aged between the Harem and Big Bird, home.  DG has a soft spot for Phyllis.

It took quite a long time to dismantle the coop at the allotment and to get everything loaded in to the car.  At home, we had to unload,  clean it, and then DH built it.  It took a while to get sorted.

The Allotment girls were a little fazed by the move. Phyllis was stressed.  We put them in the garden in a small section of grass, while we unloaded the coop etc and got things set up for them.   They seemed OK,  the ad lib grass really helped keep them occupied.

The Garden Girls were not happy.

Late in the afternnoon we moved the Allotmenteers into a sectioned off area with their newly built coop.  In the evening, all but one had worked out how to go to bed, and we shut them in.

At some point soon we will need to let the two flocks free range together.  Normally we'd take this very slowly, let the two flocks get used to the idea,   but we don't have the grass to be able to do that.... and we may have to bring the other Girls up at some point.   We'll keep them separate for a couple of days to check for any illness (stress brings it out sometimes), and then go from there.

Not Norah.

I went to the Allotment today with DH.

As soon as I walked in, I saw Norah.

I realised at once that it was Barbara that DH had found on Saturday.   Whilst Im happy to see Norah,  I am so very sad to find barbara gone.  She was the bird I wanted to breed from to keep that line and colouring (Indian Game) going.

The chap that bred that line originally,  David from Castle Hill Farm near Hay on Wye,  has sold up in the last month.    Another great story closed, sad at any time but seems desperately sad right now.


 

Balls!

Lewis was booked in to be neutered on 30th March, the earliest date our surgery could book him in for, after  the abandoned booking (only 1 testicle dropped) in mid Feb,  as they were undergoing a massive refurb.  

Last week I contacted them to see if there was any chance it could be brought forward, and the Vet very kindly moved him to today (they were full until then). 

Last night we had a call to say they had to cancel.  The Vet who was meant to be doing surgeries today had been called out on an emergency and would be operating until the small hours,  This meant she wouldn't be operating on Monday.... and Monday was their last day for doing routine surgeries.

So, no snip for Lewis.

We haven't let them outside, unless they are on a lead, yet.    Now they are older, they are getting more fractious, and really could do with the outside stimulation. 

Their food was removed last night so Lewis could starve before the op.   I didn't give then anything, just in case the other nearby Vet could help.  I phoned them first thing this morning, but they are also suspending routine ops (even before I told them we weren't registered with them).

It's worrying, but it can't be helped.

At least Shelby has been done.

Goodbye Nora

Our current oldest girl,Nora, died last night.  DH found her when he was checking the nest boxes and coops this morning.

No trauma,  just old age.   She was over 9 years old, and was the one of  first hatch from the Welsh Black girls we bought from Castle Farm near Hay on Wye.     Her dad was our gorgeous Roo.  and unlike most of the rest of the hatch, she was brown and black.

 She was one of a pair of very similar looking girls, really pretty markings.  Her sister, Batty,  died in August 2017.  Actually, they were known as "Norah and Batty" (named by the Other Chap),  and the names were interchangeable because it wasn't always easy to see who was who.

Nora walking behind Bertie (our Vorwerk cockerel)

She was an enormous, gentle, friendly girl;  she had the best characteristics of each of her parents.   Roo's gentleness and unflappability;  Rose/Ruby's heath, vigour, excellent constituion, and spirit and zest for life.

I cried when DH told me.     We knew it was coming, of course.  She was an Old Girl anyway,  and she'd been slowing down recently.      I'm happy that she appears to have died peacefuly in her sleep.





It's the end of an era:  she was the last surviving daughter of our wonderful Roo.


On a positive note, we have her (or Batty's) daughter by Henry,  a yellow hen called Bg Bird.  Big Bird doesn't look like Norah at all,  she has the colouring of Roo's side of the family. 

And we have her daughter (or it might be her granddaughter through Big Bird),  Barbara.  Barbara looks very, very similar to  Norah.  I'm happy that we have her Norah's genes in our breeding pool.

Goodnight sweetie.

Bananas

I had a bunch of bananas on the side, and decided I'd better take them out of their plastic and move them.

 I picked the bunch up, an this happened...All the bananas fell off the stalk and split open.  .

I peeled one and took it outside to give the Girls.They love banana.  They rarely get it though because its not really very good for them: a little bit is OK, but too much, and they get crop issues.    I shared it out as best I could, even trying to give some to Sylvia who was on the nestbox at the time.  She's one of last year's hatch,  and was too busy concentrating on laying to eat.  If it had been one of the older ladies, they'd have stopped laying and gobbled up the banana.


I made banana bread with the rest, on the basis that I could slice it and freeze it.   It's in the oven now.

I've also got a bottle of sour milk, which is really unusual.  I need to amend my milk delivery to switch formally switch another one of the cows milk days to goats milk as I consume more goats milk now.    I was going to pour it doen the sink,  but that seems too wasteful with all the shortages.   So,  I've decided to make soda bread instead.   Ironically, I have whey in the fridge from making yoghurt the other day, and that was maerked for soda bread.   I'll have to make something else with that.

A lovely pair of chaps have set up a fruit and veg stall at a pub in the neighbouring village.  I went today to get a few bits,  and I took a list from my neighbour who is self isolating.  People seemed to be buying quite a lot of stuff, but I guess they might just be buying for more than one household.    I bought very little, and I was acutely aware of what I was buying (4 medium potatoes, a cabbage, a lettuce and a squash, plus a couple of swedes  for the chooks at the allotment.).

DH is digging up the remainder of the ropey parsnips today.     This is the first time DH has grown ropey parsnips.  Usually they are amazing, and we eat them in huge quantity over a short period of time (parsnip soup, parsnip bread, parsnip crisps, parsnip chips....).   This year they weren't great, and we left a load in the ground.  We'd kept talking about digging them up and doing something with them,  but the likelihood is that we'd have left them in the ground to rot.    That's not really right, under the current circumstances,  so we're going to salvage what we can and peel, blanch and freeze them.

With non-food stuff, it's really hard to know what to do.   I don't want to panic buy or buy stuff unnecessarily.... I do want to support those shops and businesses who are trying to keep going.  Everyone will have to stop at some point,  and I want to support those that I can, while I can.

I've been trying to buy stuff that I woud have bought anyway,  in the sort of quantities I would have bought anyway. 

Time Tunnel

Just watching this on the Horror Channel. 

I loved this when I was a kid. Its season 1 episode 1. 

Its just as I remembered it. And,  unlike some of my other childhood favourites ("The Champions"  I'm looking at you!),  rewatching has not ruined the memory. 

short Ribs

Recently we decided to eat some of the larger, older,  items in the freezer.   Last week we had a huge pork shoulder,  cooked for 7 hours a la Jamie Oliver.   Gorgeous, moist,  roast pork for 2 days,  pork for the cat,  and   then pork in tomato sauce with rice.   We had much larger portions than normal,  it's been ages since we had a full roast. 

 This week, it was beef short ribs,  cooked in my Instant Pot Evo Plus,  following Nom Nom Paleo's recipe.  No added water,  no burn message,  despite the tomato based sauce.

Her recipe was for 4.5 pounds of ribs,  and the picture showed many pieces.  Mine,  from Pipers Farm,   was half that and only 2 pieces. 

I made her Magic Mushroom Powder as a seasoning.   I did the ribs for 45 mins, and the meat was beautifully tender and falling off the bone in some places.

 I would add 5 mins next time so it was falling off the Bone everywhere.  I might also make it a day in advance,  as she does, so the fat can separate and be peeled off.  I used a gravy separator jug,  which worked quite well.

I served it with home made aligot mash. This was heated from solid frozen in the air fryer.  It was about 20 mins at 150 and then 5 mins at 170. 

Very happy.  

Lovely village

We live in a mostly lovely village.

The village Facebook group has been busy, with pepole asking for help and offering help.   The bug town nearby has set up a FB group for help during the situation,  and it encompasses our village too.

Our Parish Council recognises that many people in our village don't use the village Facebook page,  and many don't use the internet,  so they decided to organise a village wide leaflet drop.   It explains that there is help available with picking up shopping,  phone call,  posting mail,  urgent supplies,  and how to access the help.

They asked for help in delivering the leaflets, and all streets were quickly covered.  (I did ours, ther aren't that many houses so it was easy).

I know similar things are happening all over the country, and it's great to see positive things occurrring.

(Of course we've also been warned about scammers offering help,  there will always be pond scum.)

The internet age means I can keep in touch with my brothers and my parents in one group chat.   My Uncke doesn't have internet,  so that's a phone call.   


But it's good to concentrate on the positives.

Planning

We've been making plans for what to do about the allotment chooks.    They have extra waterers and plenty of feed and(assuming no injuries etc)  would be fine for a while if we couldn't get to them.  We've filled up the water storage tanks there, so if we can't get there but someone else can, it's not much hassle for volunteer.

We've been talking about whether we could bring them home if necessary, and what we would need to do to make this possible.

For a very short period, we could manage with them in the garden, but the extra number would make short work of the grass leaving little or nothing for any of them.   It would have to be a last resort thing, and we aren't there yet.

We may or may not be able to bring one of the coops home from the allotment.  Even if we could, it isn't big enough to accomodate all the allotment girls,  but we also have our small  coop, so we should be OK.  We we could accommmodate some in the greenhouse overnight if needed, and we might have to do that for the more elderly girls.  

As for the boys - well, they will need to be boxed or crated at night, and put separately to the girls (in one of the sheds), to minimise the effect of their early morning crowing.   Cockerels need height to be able to get a fully loud crow.  Minimising the headroom means they can still crow, but they can't achieve the usual volume. 

As for enclosed runs... technically we could build up the run we used for the chicks,  but that would actually just concentrate the allotmenteers on one patch of grass, putting more stress on it.  It would be destroyed completely in days and would take months to recover.        It looks like we'd have to have them free ranging all the time.    That's a big fox risk, but we might have no alternative.

I guess it's possible one or other of  our neighbours might let us put up a run in their garden, at least so the chooks could graze for a few hours.    Our adjoining neighbour would, I know  but she's moving imminently.  The other side has a puppy Jack Russell,  so I don't think that will work.   There are others who might be able to help,   and we'll progress that if and when te chooks definitely move.

Stepping Up

My lovely step daughter popped over to see us late on Friday night.  She stayed the night, and we spent most of Saurday round the breakfast table chatting.  Not really about anything, just chatting.

She lives a couple of hours away; not far really, but far enough to mean that droping in for a cup of tea is impractical.

It was a lovely day.

Scum

Some scummy broke into our allotment last night.

It was OC's (Other Chap's) turn to do the allotment today,  and DH got a phone call and went straight away to assess he damage and to see what had happened to the chooks.

They damaged a fence to get on to the allotment land.  They pulled out the wiring for the electric fence,  ripped off the the door to the chicken shed and then, finding it was a shed with chickens roosting,  they ripped off the door (next door to the shed)  which actually gives them access to the plot. 

They attempted to steal the solar panels,  took the camera,   and then tried to get in to the storage shed. 

They failed.  It would have been a disappointment anyway.

Luckily,  all the chickens were accounted for.   We were relieved that none of the chickens were stolen,   and were lucky that no fox took advantage of the lack of electric fence and lack of door to the shed.

It took several hours today for the two chaps to do enough repairs to secure the chickens (from four legged predators).

Scum.







 

Coughs and sneezes

DH has a horrible, incessant, cough.  No fever, so not Coronovirus.     It's very wearing for him,  and a bit for me.     I've no doubt I'll be strting with it soon enough.

I went to do the Allotment chooks today.  I put out an extra waterer (making 5 toughs in total), and filled up the feeders.  They've always got enough to cover an emergency, for example if we're unwell and we're unable to find someone to step in..  A bigger worry is if they are in an area which ends up being locked down,  which is why we wanted to make sure they had feeders well stocked, and the extra watering trough.    I've got another large plastic drinker, which is a nuisance to clean,  so i might bring that home next time, clean it and then take that back as well.

We've currently got 12 girls on the allotment,   which is a few too many really (although we have 2 cockerels, so from that point of view, it's about right).       We have 2 girls in the garden who will be moving to the allotment at some point,  but they are layers rather than breeders of table chooks. 



Three of the allotment girls are very old ladies now, and 2 are getting on a bit.  We don't begrudge them their long and happy retirement.   Norah is 9 years old, and has slowed down noticeably over the last few weeks.   She's eating OK, and she looks OK.     AnneOfCleves and KatherineHoward, (sisters to POppy and Gloria),  are 8.  We lost JaneSeymour a few weeks ago.  Henry's last 2 remaining  daughters,  BigBird (daughter of Norah [or Batty]),  and Phyllis (daighter of one of the 6 Wives), are both 6.  Phyllis looks a little tired,  asnd her comb isn't quite as bright as it should be. Phyllis' twin sister, Dilys,  died 2 years ago,  so Phyllis is doing well.

We may choose not to hatch this year.     I'd like to hatch some blue egg layers,  and I've asked around to see if I can find a cream legbar cockerel I can borrow for stud duties.    I'd like to put him to my Leghorn garden girls,  and keep a couple of resulting girls.    No luck yet.        

If we can't find one,  we might decide not to hatch at all this year.   It's always hard culling chooks,  and culling excess girls for the table is even worse.   I can't imagine not having chicks.     There are advantages though :  we can rest part of thre ground for longer than just a few months.

I guess I'll see what happens about the cockerel.
  

The Great Escape

On Wednesday I had an appointment with my chiropracter, who does an amazing foot and leg massage.  This (along with some other stuff) has really been helping with the issues in my lower leg,   and my leg is smaller now than it has been for years. 

I also had to go and get some chicken feed,  and go and muck out the allotment chickens.  I planned my time carefully, allowing a few minutes contingency.

It went wrong immediately.

I got up to leave the house and I could hear the chickens squawking,  but not from the usual place.    As I walked across the kitchen, I saw Shelby had her face ressed against the front cat flap.  I realised that there was a chicken... no,  more than one chicken..... out on the driveway.

Next door has a young terrier pup, Mason..... I  ran out the front.     3 of the youngsers were running around the driveway, shrieking.   I tried to catch them, but they were too full of panic to let themselves be caught.   They also refused to be herded through the cat-sized hole in the fenvce whence they had come. 

It took ages to get them back in.    Then, I had to herd all of them into the run.   I had been planning to leave them out (a risk, I know),  but that was now impossible.  The 3 girls would show the other 2,  and the 5 old girls would also want to get in on the act.      I had to spend more time getting them all shut in their run,     and filling up hanging feeders to occupy them,  before I was able to leave.

Mason trotted into the drive to say hello, just as I was leaving. 

A narrow escape for the girls.

A little ray of sunshine

Yesterday was a gorgeous, sunny, spring day.

It was the first blue sky day for what seems like forever.   I walked to Pilates (on my own, DH is unwell) and filled my lungs with fresh spring air.

When I got home, I wanted to open all the doors and windows tl let the house breathe.  I couldn't, of course, because the kittens would get out.  Instead, I went round and opened all the windows on their latches, to let a bit of air in. 

It was wonderful.

The good weather lasted all day.  I spent most of the day cleaning and airing things.  I can't help it,  the slightest whiff of that ozone rich spring air, and my brain goes into spring clean mode.

Choice Grenfell

I was on a sewing machine related course a while ago (a looooong way from home),  and the venue had flyers for the local arts theatre.  One if the flyers was for a show called Choice Grenfell, and it looked like my cup of tea.

When I got home I looked it up, and I was pleased to find that there was a show coming up at an arts centre more close to home.  I booked tickets,  and we went to see it. 

We took Miss Tween, even though we knew it wasn't really going to be her thing.   Her nan, my aunt,  would have loved  it, and I would have taken her (were she still here).   So, we took Miss Tween instead.

It was a lovely evening.

The first half of the show was Joyce an her pianist rehearsing and chatting.  In a very casual way, they managed to impart a great deal of information about Joyce's life (she mentored Clive James!), and they got in a few sketches/songs under the guise ofrehearsing them.

The second half was Joyce performing.    I had completely forgotten just how poignant and sharp some of her observations were,  they weren't all funny.    I cried at a couple of simple songs and a couple of clever subtle sketches.    The evening included some of the most famous funny ones (George, don't do that!),  and I was happy to see them performed. 

Last time I saw anything like this was years ago.  We went to London to see Maureen Lipman in Re: Joyce,  which was incredibly moving. I cried all the way back to the train.

Miss Tween said she enjoyed it.  What she meant was she enjoyed  having an evening out with us. She didn't dislike the show, but most of it went over her head.   I'm not surprised.   I'm hoping that she may revist Joyce Grenfell when she's older.