Pig of a day.

Yesterday was buttermaking.

I only bought 8 litres of cream, it's gone up from 1.99 to 2.59 per litre in my nearest Costco - a huge percentage hike.

I did two batches in the butter churn,  and it was very easy. Less mess than BBC (before butter churn) and, because I can do 4l at a time,  fewer receptacles dirtied holding butter.  The clean up was faster too,  and I think I'd be happy to do 12l another time.

Today was pig butchery.   Shirley raised Gloucester Old Spot x Wild Boar this time,  although I doubt we'll be able to tell the difference.  She got us to consider making bacon again,  we haven't done this for a long time.  She uses a wet cure (we've previously only done a dry cure) and she suggested trying Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's ham cure.  That's what we're doing - or we will be tomorrow afternoon.  A small ham,  lots of loin bacon,  and some lardons.   

DH also wanted to make portk pie again,  so we've put aside a kilo of shoulder for that.  He bought some cure that has Nitrite in,  which will make the meat pink instead of grey.  It will be interesting to see how it works.

We're making a lot of sausages too, and have bought a couple of new seasonings to try.   The sausage stuff is all minced up and chilling in the fridge.  Tomorrow afternoon.

We've also got a couple of small belly joints,   some pieces to bash for Schnitzel,  a tenderloin,   and lots of diced pork and minced pork.  And the trotters.  And stock, which is pressure cooking as I type.  And lots of lard.

DH made trotter stock the other day from all the trotters we had piled up in the freezer, ready for his pork pie.

Apart from the inevitable disagreements, it's been a good day.

Bannered

I completed the (short) name banner yesterday evening.

I think it took about 15 mins per letter, on average, and that doesn't count the time taken to wind a 2 bobbins with matching thread, or loading the designs on to Monster.

First, I have to cut and hoop stabiliser, making sure it is drum tight.  I use clear vinyl, because it gives the neatest edge once removed.   The hoop goes on Monster, and she stitches out a placement outline.   I use this to  find just the right bit of the fabric for that particular letter:  I wanted to ensure I had as much insect as possible showing for each letter, and that ALL the insects appeared somewhere. It's a bit wasteful on fabric, but the end result makes it worthwhile.

The fabric is cut out, and then I place it on the
hoop, wiggling it around to get the best placement.  It's secured with masking tape. Then I repeat for the backing fabric (The backing fabric I chose for this project requires less faffing about).

The hoop goes back on Monster, and she sews 2 layers of securing stitch.   Hoop comes off again so I can trim the fabric on both sides, getting as close as possible to the stitching to avoid sticky-out threads later. I have to be very careful that I don't pull the stabiliser at all, because this would reposition it. (Ask me how I know!)


Now the rest of the stitching takes place. A foundation layer goes on, and then the beautiful (and thread heavy)  satin stitch for the edging.  

Next,  it stitches 2 different layers of "bean stitching" to give (a) a neat edge and (b) to secure the satin stitching to help prevent it fraying over time.

Finally Monster sews the eyelets: outline sttch, , foundation, satin, bean stitching.

Now I have to unhoop, and carefully extract the letter from the stabiliser - I don't want to pull the edges.  I trim the edges for loose threads, and cut off any untrimmed jump stitches.  I make holes in the eyelets, and tidy those up. 

When all the letters are ready, I thread them on to the ribbon, allowing plenty of ribbon at each end
.   

Yesterday's 4 letter name (and the 2 stars I added because a 4 letter name is a bit short for a banner) required 31,617 stitches. 

Because I used the same thread for the bobbin as well,  this means I used a little under half a reel of thread.   The fabric (for both sides in total) was probably a fat quarter's worth;  there was quite a lot of vinyl stabiliser - I couldn't use the small hoop because it's impossible to get the scissors in to trim the fabric.     The ribbon was 48 inches long, so about 1.25m or so.

I can see why people charge £4 or more a letter! 

I'm not getting paid for this,  instead I've asked for a donation to the fund to help a local lad who has severe physical disabilities and is need of some particular equipment.

I hope she likes it.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.   After my previous,  unsuccesful (read: disastrous) attempt at using vinyl stabiliser on Monster, I had given up on ever being able to do this sort of thing again. 

I'm hoping that my new clamp frame will work for this, which would make the process a little quicker and, maybe, use less stabiliser.

We'll see.  

Keeping my hand in

I'm mostly  keeping up with my 'resolution' of trying to do something sewing/embroidery related every day.  Well. I am if I take an average.  And if I'm a bit loose in my definition of something sewing/embroidery related.

I've done some more card. The first was using some super sparkly vinyl:

The other was a simple appliqué, for a guitar-playing friend:

I've also agreed to do a name banner for another friend.   I had to do some tests on my machine as she didn't accept vinyl as a stabiliser last time I tried.

Firstly, I had to try winding a metal Brother bobbin on my Janome machine.  It wasn't great, but I managed it in the end.   Banners are seen from both sides,  so I can't have white/black bobbin thread (which are the colours of thread on the prewounds I use).  I need to actually load a bobbin with matching thread.  Fortunately, I had purchased some proper Briethr metal bobbins, exactly for this sort of eventuality,  a few weeks ago.

 The real testing though was how to actually stabilise the letters.    On my previous, single needle, machine it was easy. I just hooped some clear vinyl, and off we went. Vinyl works really well for banners - it's impossible to get cutaway or tearaway off the sides completely.  Soluble stabiliser is a bit of a pain on letters.

I tried hooping vinyl the other day - I was trying to make a little gift card holder - and it was hopeless.  The machine just chewed up the vinyl, spat it out, and complained about the vinyl bits in the bobbin case.    I thought that maybe soluble stabiliser would work.

The test turned into several tests.  The first was a letter using soluble stabiliser, using an EZ Frame.  This was OK, but the top right corner was rubbish.   The fabric also wrinkled when I used a damp cotton bud to dissolve the stabiliser round the edge, and then pressed the finished product.  Not great.

The second attempt was vinyl stabiliser, in a normal hoop, with the hoop just the size of the design.  That was OK, but it was impossible to get scissors in to trim closely enough before the satin stitch round the edges,  so it looked a bit scrappy off the machine.

The third attempt was the same as above, but I attempted to cut the shape beforehand.  That was a disaster.

Until my new clamp frame arrives from the US, the best way is vinyl, properly hooped... but I need to try it in a larger hoop to give me more room (with the risk that it doesn't hold the vinyl tightly enough, and I end up with another dodgy top.

On the plus side,  I took the time to use vinyl-in-a-hoop to stitch the letters of the name, without fabric.  This means I can move them over fabric to find exactly the right bit of fabric for each letter.

I've agreed to do the banner anyway now, as I know I'll be able to do it - I just need to sort out the best method.

Bread

It was my sister in law's 60th birthday yesterday,  and my brother had arranged for them to go on a breadmaking course near me.     They've recently got a breadmaker, and have been enjoying making their own bread, so he thought (correctly) that J might like to try real home made bread.    I rarely make bread by hand anymore (I use a breadmaker to make bread,  or to make dough for hand finishing,  and a mixer to make bread for pizza and nans and other flat breads),  but it sounded interesting.

We went to the Willow Micro Bakery https://www.willowmicrobakery.co.uk/courses.html  What a fab day it was! 

It was a basic course, so we made white bread, wholemeal bread, soda bread,  and Nicky demostrated sourdough and proper rye breads.   

DH and I chose to make slighly different loaves to each other, so we could compare and contrast.  For example, I made a 100% white loaf,  he made 50/50 with Kamut (Khorasan) flour.     I made 100% wholemeal,  he did a 50/50 with some specialst italian malt flour.

Soda bread I've made many times before, but I learned that I handle the mixture too much.   The textur of the stuff we made on the course was better than I make normally.

It was interesting to use fresh yeast. I haven't done that for many years. 

And it was very interesting to learn about shaping the loaves - how to do it properly to make sure the tension is right to give a good crust.

While we were there we were talking about using mixers and bread makers.  Nicky was completely unsnobby about breadmakers,  which was good.   We discussed the merits of various mixers.  She's gettting a specialised mixer soon, and I asked if it was going to be an Ankarsum Assistent.   It kneads using rollers, which is the closest a machine can get to replicating hand kneading.  It also has a different roller for making sourdsough and rye breads.

Pic from John Norman's blog

I found one of the  blog entries from my on-line friend, John Norman, to show her a picture.   She's getting a bigger version, but it's the same sort of thing.

I read John's various entries again, and semi seriously considered buying one.   But I just don't make dough in large enough quantities to make it worthwhile.  But you could make large batches and freeze them ready for baking..... the little voice in my head whispered.

And I replied How about we see if actually bother to make, shape and freeze large batches first?  Then I'll think about getting one.

That, I suspect, is the end of that.

The story of John's initial purchase is here https://john-norman.com/2013/11/    He occasionally writes about it in his blog.     A recently entryy, 3 and a half years on from his initial purchase,  shows just what a master he has become https://john-norman.com/2017/06/16/another-baking-session-yeasted-sourdough/

 

Setback

My Aunt died last April.  The inquest is next month.  The hospital has admitted it's their fault she died.

The coroner has asked my cousin to write a family statement about my Aunt's health and lifestyle.

I've started trying to jot down some thoughts and to organise them.  I've also been through my notes written at the time.

I can't stop crying. 

Izzy

Izzy went into a bit of a decline just before Christmas,  same as the previous year. 

Once again, we discussed whether it was time to put her to sleep, but we decided to wait and see - mail because of  how she flourished again last year.

We had out monthly vet appointment just after New Year.  To our surprise, she'd gained weight.  Not very much,  but any gain is good.    We talked to the Vet about how stiff she'd been, and  commented on how it had been the same the previous year.     He was happy with how she was.

And she perked up a bit after her B12 injection.   She showed a renewed appetite.  She got a bit playful.  She got Interested in Things.   She did a lot more jumping up and jumping down,  aided by the small stools or steps we have at strategic points.

And she's started going out.  Initially she would go outside when we went outside,  but we've actually seen her use the cat flap to go out a couple of times!

Still cold

My cold continues.

I've completed Small Person's card.  I can't show you the inside because it has lots of photos, but this is the outside:

I've also made her leggings out of some specially purchased posh fabric.  All the learnings from the various inexpensive-fabric pairs went into making these, I hope they fit.

I've been making headway in my fabric clearing/sorting/tidying.  All the outstanding stuff was piled on the guest bed,  and I've now cleared the guest bed.  Admittedly, part of it was cleared to a pile in another room , so I can't put my hand on my heart and say it's all done. But this pile is neat, and is just fabric.

I really have done loads.  Stuff has been sorted and boxed. Drawers have been organised. Cupboards rearranged.    Stuff has even been thrown away (we have a textile recycling service, so that's helpful).
I also gave a huge bag of stretch jersey to our local AmDram group's seamstress.








  

Cold

I'm full of cold, and it's making me very sluggish.

It's a nuisance because I've been making headway with the clearing.  Really.  Fabric has been boxed up,  and I've even been to Ikea to buy additional storage (in and out without looking around at anything else).

I've been doing at least one creative thing a day,  and I've realised we might need to trim the sewing desk so I can park the embroidery monster against the wall.  That is a huge undertaking though,  the desktop is 40mm thick, 900mm deep, layered bamboo.  It weighs a ton,  was a nightmare to et in position,  and it is currently beautifully finished.  In truth it's a crime to consider cutting it.... but I don't think there is a sensible alternative.

In considering the implications of  'trimming' the desk,  I ended up pulling out more stuff to sort. The workspace looks a lot worse than it did before I started clearing up, and the guest bed is buried under piles of stuff.    Matters were not helped by me dropping a drawer of thread spools; the shock of landing caused the golf tees to snap off, and I ended up with an unholy mess of thread , tees, and lumps of glue.  Parts of the mess are now in the kitchen, waiting for me to re-glue the tees.

On the creative side,  I've decided how I am going to make my next duvet-cover-with-insert.  I did a mock up with some scrap fabric,  I rethreaded and tested the coverstitch machine (which is when I sent the embroidery thread toppling over),  and I've washed and done the initial press of the bits to do it.  It's a big job and I need a clear head and space to do it.  Right now, I have neither.

I've also made some birthday cards....

I've made a card for Small Person as well, but I haven't finished it yet. The posh fabric for her birthday leggings has arrived and I've washed it.    I'm trying to decide whether to attempt some leggings for my granddaughter, who is a similar age. I bought some posh fabric to do some for her, but I really need to do a test pair first.  I could ask her mum to measure her.... but that sets up expectations that I might not be able to meet.

I've attempted to design a 60th card for my Sister In Law (SIL), which I'll stitch out in the next week.

I've also had some complete failures, which made me want to give up on the whole embroidery thing.  I think it was the then-impending cold making me feel sorry for myself.  I was trying to do a simple gift card holder, to hold an "IOU" for a brthday present for my daughter in law (DIL).   After the 3rd attempt  I gave up  and wrote a note and put it in her card.

Onward and upward.

  

Bitter

It's a beautiful day today, but bitterly cold.   The sun is quite strong, and there are areas of the house which are warm becasue the low rays are forcing their way in.

The bird feeder has been busy all morning. Yesterday we had about 20 birds waiting in the nearby tree, while  10 or so birds clustered round the feeder.

Queing in the tree, waiting for a space on the feeeder

Birds on the feeder (photo taken through window)

The  birds continue to ignore the 'new' feeder, which has premium suet balls stuffed in it.  Cue eye roll.

I popped into town today.  It was really quiet, very sad. I'd expected it to be heaving.  I allowed myself to park in the rip-off car park right by the shopping centre, instead of the cheaper one a bit further away.  I went up to the roof. There were plenty of spaces on all levels,  but I love the view from up there.

I farted around in  one shop for ages, couldn't fnd most of the stuff I had on my list, and decided I'd order online instead.  I also went into Waitrose to get some stuff for dinner on New Years Eve.   That was a waste of time,  I'll have to go back tomorrow or maybe even Saturday.  

I did pick up some reduced price vegetables for the Girls though.  They tried the kale, but waslked off, leaving the pile apparently thesame size as when it started.    Maybe the Allotmenteers will be a bit more grateful?

I've got swede and lettuce for them for later.

The car park was busy when I left, and it took ages to get out.  People were trying to find the one of two empty spaces in the lower levels, instead of going up and enjoying nearly empty floors.  The spaces are quite narrow, with lots of pillars,  so getting in and out often requires a bit of manoeuvring. The car park flow is bck-to-front, so people trying to exiyt have to go up and down each and every level to get out, and this means long queues form while someone is trying to get in to their space. 

I  got home eventually, and started to clear out the fridge,  eating leftovers for my lunch.

I did some clearing up but ran out of steam and have been 'busy' catching up online.     I do want to get some stuff put away though, so I'm going to Get On WIth It, just as soon as I've finished this blog post.

Really.

I am going to.

Just as soon as I post this,

Hitch

My pre-Christmas planning suffered something of a hitch.

On Thursday evening I ate something which didn't agree with me.  I spent the next day being ill and sleeping (although I did get up, get showered, and went to deliver a cake.  I got back into bed as soon as I got home).

I lost Friday and Saturday.  Saturday I did actually get up, but I wasn't really functioning and I wasn't able to eat anything after toast for breakfast.  I couldn't face tea, or coffee, or water.     I drank a lot of tonic water both days.

Christmas Eve I did all the usual food preparations, but without the merriness of Madeira.  Late afternoon, I ate a bag of ready salted crisps.  I know it's a strange thing to decide to eat, I can only guess that my body needed the salts replacing, or something.  It worked - a few hours later I actually felt a tiny it hungry, and was able to eat a bowl of weetabix.

Christmas Day happened.  I had an egg for breakfast to see how my tummy was feeling.  It grumbled a bit, but seemed OK.   I cooked lunch,  a bit more stressed than usual.   The  goose was lovely and,  I ate a reasonable sized lunch.   Still no alcohol.    Afer the washing up and clearing away,  we watched TV,  no energy for anything else.

Boxing Day also happened, and I felt much better in the morning, near normal. I made coleslaw, which I just couldn't face making on Christmas Eve.      I made a gin cocktail in the evening,  no other alcohol for me.  Lunch, Tea and Supper was a running buffet, I ate quite a lot. I was reasonably hungry.

Today, I feel fine. 

a cake for Judith

I iced the cake for my friend J first thing Thursday morning.   

I originally wanted to put a very large Free Standing Lace (FSL) Poinsettia on the top.  However, when I did a trial stitch out, the poinsettia was tiny.  Unsurprisingly, the designer wasn't able to do an enlarged design for me this close to Christmas,  so I spent some time looking for alternatives. 

 I'd decided that an FSL snowflake would work well,  but all the ones I could find were far too small.  Eventually I found one, bought it,  and stitched it out.  The stitch time (excluding me changing threads etc) was 80 minutes,  it was a very elaborate design.   Thank goodness I did the stitching on Monday, which gave the washed out design plenty of time to dry before it was needed on Thursday morning.

  

Small Person before Christmas

Time has zoomed past once again.

I've just said goodbye to Small Person, who is off to Slovakia tomorrow for Christmas and New Year.  We've been looking after her this week as she's on holiday from school, ad it's been the usual chaos.

As always, she's been a blast.


I decided to try and get her to do her homework BEFORE she goes away, so it isn't hanging over her while she's on holiday.    The first part was easy, it was about baking some biscuits and writing detailed instructions and including pictures.  That was Monday, after she went to help DH check on the Allotmenteers.

The next part was to do with The Ancient Greeks,  so that involved a bit of internet research,  a reminder about not just writing down what you see on the screen,  and trying to produce a poster.    She did the preliminary work yesterday,  including a sketch of the poster layout and writing down some key facts.

Today, after we all went to the allotment,  was trying to rewrite things neatly and produce the poster.   I forced her to  strongly suggested she write everything on pieces of paper, and then glue the papers to the poster. I explained that this meant any errors could be corrected without having to re-do everything, and she could also move them about to finalise the layout before glueing.    She wasn't convinced, but gave in.... and it was a good decision.

The poster took several hours to produce, and she was desperate to finish it before her mum came to collect her.  She had very definitely bought in to the idea of having it all FINISHED before she went away.   She did a good job, and stuck at it, which was a challenge for her as she does tend to get easily distracted.

Last week I impulse-bought a Tefal snack maker which was at a bargain price in Costco.  It came with toasted sandwich plates and waffle plates.  I'd had a go at a most acceptable toastie at the weekend,   and I'd promised Small Person that we'dtry making waffles today.

I made some this afternoon while she was working, and she had a break to eat them. She then pronounced that they are even better than pancakes! which means she'll be having those for breakfast from now on when she comes to visit.  Her Nan (my lovely late Aunt) taught her how to make pancake batter, and Small Person makes it herself when she comes to visit.  I have an electric griddle which I get out so she can cook them herself, at the table - and she loves doing this. I'm hoping she'll find making her own waffles easy enough to do.  They really were rather scrummy, even DH asked for one after tasting some of mine.



We had cocktails last night.  For her, this was half a lime,   home made Jostaberry cordial, with more Jostaberry cordial in place of alcohol,  lots of ice, and lemonade.  For her second cocktail, she added home made blackcurrant cordial.    She got the giggles when she accidentally got out a bag of potato croquettes instead of a bag of ice cubes.


When she came back from the allotment on Monday, she mentioned that Nora seemed to be moulting, she'd lost feathers from her head and from her side.   I realised that this was probably caused by Bertie, so I mentioned that Bertie was probably mating with her.   I had to explain that sometimes the cockerels legs rub, or the spurs catch,  and cause the feathers to come off.   The reason I went to the allotment today was so we could catch Nora and check her over, to make sure she hadn't been injured.  Of course there was a barrage of questions:  how might she be injured, what would we do if she was injured,  did a saddle have stirrups,  how would the saddle help,  why didn't we just put a saddle on anyway....

Today she saw Bertie mating with Pong, and she asked me why he was biting her comb.  I explained that he isn't biting, he's just having to hold on to her comb.  She hasn't asked me yet what actually happens when they mate,  I suspect it's just a matter of time before that subject comes up..  I'm starting to practice my answers now.

Her TV request was The Persuaders.  We've watched a few episodes the last two times she's visited.   I've no idea why she likes it, although I did love it too when I was her age (or younger, probably).   I think she likes it because it is easy going, a bit silly,  and humorous; and because  it's not gritty, it's not a kids program,   and it wouldn't be acceptable if it was made today. 

I meant to ice a cake for a friend today, but there just wasn't the time or kitchen space to do it.  I marzipanned it on Monday (while Small Person was using the cookie press),  so I'll get it done tomorrow morning and delivered tomorrow afternoon.  

Snow

It's snowing.

I got up to let the girls out, and there was a slushy covering of snow, and fat wet flakes were continuing to fall.    It wasn't really settling snow though, and the water wasn't frozen.

The Girls took ages to come out from the coop.   It continued to snow outside, with the snow getting a bit thicker and a bit more, well, snowy.   They hadn't come out of the Run at all, so I went out to give them some swede and hang up a cauliflower for them.  At least two of them had gone back into the coop!

Before the thicker snow started, I cleared a path down the driveway, and swept the path immediately in front of the house.  I was surprisingly knackered at this relatively minor exertion, and I sat on the steps to recover.  I felt a teeny bit woozy,  so I wonder if I've got something affecting my balance.

Small Person stayed last night.  We went to the local  Pantomime,  and she was very happy in the company of my oldest friend, S.     Her dad collected her at about 9.30am,  and she was disappointed that it was too snowy to go riding.

Yesterday afternoon I made a quick pair of leggings for her out of some Christmassy scuba fabric.   Scuba is a thicker stretch fabric,  with a lot less stretch than the stuff I've been using for her up to now.  They fitted well, and she liked them because they were warmer than the usual sort, and were Christmassy.     I need to hem the legs, which I could and should have done then and there....  I just couldn't face trying to rush doing that this morning.     I've made a mental note of the alterations to make the next pair using this pattern fit even better, and I'll try and get those done in the next day or two.

I decided that I really MUST try and make some Christmas cards.  I did a design so I could do four cards worth in one go.  The machine started off all right,  and then started complaining.   I tried a few adjustments, couldn't solve it,  and in the end turned the machine off and walked away.  I might buy cards this year.  Or not.

The bird feeder is inundated with finches. blue tits, coal tits and great tits,  plus the odd robin and other brown birds/   Usually we get four birds feeding at once, with the others waiting in the nearby apple tree, or rose bush.  Today there were 10 on the feeder at once, and there were a dozen or more in the tree.    I guess other food options are scarce.

It's not a huge feeder, and I'm filling it up half way through the day at the moment as well as in the evening.    

I put up a new feeder with some suet balls in.  So far, it's been completely ignored.

I realised I hadn't phoned up the animal sanctuary to find out how the little hedgy is doing.  I'll try and remember to do that next week.

Whoop!!!

A year ago I started to make trousers with my SureFit Designs (SFD) kit.   I got them almost right (3rd pair), but then my 4th pair went horribly wrong.  I went on to other things, promising myself I would finish my blueprint soon.

Well, it wasn't soon.

We recently started Pilates.  My yoga pants, made to my 3rd Blueprint,  just weren't right.  I made some leggings using cheap fabric and a bought pattern (Patterns 4 Pirates).  They were OK, but not right.  I decided I could/should try mashing up my SFD blueprint and the P4P pattern.  I decided I should fix the blueprint before I did anything.

I did it!

It took a few more iterations to work out what was wrong (technically, I mean.  I could see what was wrong, but I couldn't work out what it was from a construction point of view).   I made a 5th pair which were rubbish,  and then I made a pair which were... really good.  I'm sure they need some tweaks, but they are damned well good enough.

I then, immediately, set about trying to adapt the pattern for leggings.  I wasted a day trying to cheat,  and in the end I gave in and followed Glenda's process.   Tonight, exhausted after lots of fiddling about,  I have a template for leggings with side seams.  I also have a pair of leggings which are basted together... I need to take out the basting and then sew them properly but I'm to  cream crackered to do it.

The next step is to convert them in to single seam patterns, which shouldn't take long.  I suspect they are going to look very similar to one of my first "cheat" attempts, but we'll see.

I've also cardboarded my successful templates,  cleared the kitchen sewing area,  put away the offcuts.

And I've ordered loads of cheap stretchy fabrics to try some more.

I've done nothing about Christmas,  so I need to stop clothes sewing and do some Christmas stuff.

Shortish visit

We were lucky enough to have Small Person on Saturday afternoon and overnight. 

I picked her up from her Saurday activities,  and we drove straight to the allotment so she could see everyone - especially Bertie Ping Pong,  and Siouxsie and Camilla.   They all looked well.

On the way back to the car she casually mentioned that she wasn't going riding the following day, so I messaged her Mum to see if we could keep her beyod the 9am we'd previously agreed.  Mum said yes.

Back home,  she checked on the Big Girls, and then she helped me prep for dinner.  We were having Slow Roast Pork, which takes about 8 hours in total and was about 6 hours of the way through the cooking time by then. 

She put her bedding on the bed,  we made Cocktails (Laverstokes for DH and I,  Laverstokes-with-no-alocohol for her).    She quite liked it, but she didn't love it I could tell.  So we did a tonic taste test to see what might be a good sub for the ginger ale.    

I have some particularly pretty shot glasses,  and I lined them up for her.  Each one had a different tonic in.   She tried to drink one like a proper shot, but fizzy tonic isn't the ideal thing to drink that way.

After tasting four tonics, she got the giggles, so we put any more testing on hold until 'next time'.

She stayed up far too late, and we ended up watching several episodes of The Persuaders.

Sunday, when she eventually made her way downstairs, was making pancakes (she did it all), She was wearing the latest pair of leggings I'd made for her,  so I was very happy about that.  I've ordered some slighly more expensive Christmas fabric, and I'm planning to make her some more from that.

After breakfast, which finished very late,  she went to the allotment with DH. She was in charge of Vegetable Distribution,    Tuna Distribution (which ended up in quite a detailed explanation of why we were feeding tuna and why, therefore, there was a priority about who could have it),  and Mealworms for SiouxsieAndCamilla Distribution.    DH was going to the pub straight after,  so SP was being collected from there.

He messaged me at about 12.20.  When are they coming to collect her?    I messaged back that they were on their way, but had planned to stop in a nearby town first. Shall I come and get her? I asked.
No, she's fine. Just wondering.

The pub has a 'raffle', but it wasn't the sort of raffle she was used to, and they had to explain to her how it worked (there are 100 - or whatever - numbers, and people pick the numbers they want).  They let her count the money, I think, and she enjoyed the responsibility of that.

Hedgie

A couple of nights ago I spotted a small (young) hedgie in the garden.  I put some sunflower seweds and some cat food (not fish flavoured) beside him, and let him get on with it.

I didn't see him yesterday,  but I found him in the middle of the garden path this afternoon.  We'd been ouy,  got back, and I went to let the Girls out and found him.  He didn't curl up, he didn't run away.  He was clearly in a bad way.

I hurried back to the house to get some gardening gloves, and shouted for DH to come and help  I scopped the poor little thing up and brought him in to the house, while DH and I discussed what to do.

I checked online,  and DH went out to Myshed to get the cat/chicken carrier.   I looked online for local rescues, all the while holding the little hog in my hand.

The nearest rescue was only a few miles away , but their answerphone message said they were full and to phone the British Hedgehog Preservation Society for the numbers of other rescues.  I did that,  and got the number of one a bit further away. She advised us what to do in the meantime  so we popped Hedgie on a heated pad (luckily we had one which is microwaveable),   put some food and water nearby,  and covered him in a little towel.   His nose wiggled at the food, but he didn't try and eat, not even when I put a bit right beside him.

The lady who answered from the 2nd rescue was very apologetic, but they were full also.  She gave me the number of another rescue, further away still, and reiterated the advise given by the BHPS.  

I phoned the 3rd rescue(on a premium rate number, all proceeds go to care for the animals).I weighed him for them,  and he was only 250g. They need to be 500g-600g at this time of year o have a chance of surviving the winter.  They said they'd have space to overwinter him,  we jumped in the car and had a bit of an excursion - about 45 miles round trip.

I didn't make a donation (we'd already spent quite a bit on the premium rate phone line and fuel),  but I felt a bit mean.  I bought something from their Amazon wishlist instead.

 I hope the little sausage is OK.

Oopsie

DH messaged me from the Allotment. "All chickens are in the big girls bit. The fence had lifted in the wind the other day"

The Littlees had taken the opportunity to go under the lifted fencing, to join the big girls.

"Are the Littlees OK"?

"Seem fine. Bertie is loving it.  The hens seem ok, they are staying away from the others".

I phoned him.     The Littlees were keeping themselves to themselves and the older girls ignored them the whole time DH was down there.

We decided to leave them merged,  and opened the gate that formally separates the two areas. 

It's not our turn today but I have Small Person staying overnight, so I think we'll pop down to the Allotment to see everyone.  I want to check over  the Littlees  - and the four bottom ranking hens from the Big Girls.

Reintegration continues

I accompanied DH to the Allotment today.  I wanted to check on Siouxsie and Camilla, to make sure they hadn't suffered any reintegration injuries.

We were greeted by all 12 Girls, all waiting to get out to munch grass.  When we opened the gate,  Camilla and Siouxsie stayed behind - which is what they did before they came home for a week.

I shut the gate so the others couldn't get back in,  and I gave Siouxsie and Camilla some mealworms.  Then I opened up the gate into Bertie's bit,  and Bertie and Ping and Pong all came out for an explore.  Then I opened the gate to the outside,  and everyone charged in.

Bertie got extremely excited, and did a lot of wing fanning.  The Allotmenteers all ignored him,  and they ignored Ping & Pong too.    I opened a tin of tuna and crumbled it up so everyone got some,  and Bertie picked his up and dropped it on the floor, making encouraging noises.

I did the waterers, and then gave everyone some sweetcorn.   Camilla and Siouxsie were not in the general melee,  so I shut the gate behind me, and went to find them to give them their tuna and sweetcorn separately.  They both look OK, no obvious wounds or marks.

I opened the gate again and distributed corn, starting by giving some to Bertie.  He immediately started calling the Girls,  and some came to eat the corn.

When we'd finished out chores,  we herded Bertie and Ping & Pong back to the safety of their own  pen.  We had to do them one at a time,  but it was relatively straightforward.  Each was rewarded with mealworms for going back in.

We're going to open the gate permanently before long.  Ideally I'd like Ping&Pong to be laying first (being in-lay gives hens a bit more confidence at standing up to each other), but I guess it'll depend on how long that takes to happen.  In the meantime, we'll carry on letting them mix while we're there before doing anything more serious.

I miss having Siouxsie and Camilla in the garden, and I think of them everytime I walk past the coop.   We're not dismantling it until Ping & Pong are integrated,  just in case we need it.

Reintegration

On Monday morning we took Siouxsie and Camilla back to the Allotment.

We arrived,  shut the entire flock in a different part of the allotment with some treats, and let Siouxsie and Camilla out of the cat carrier and gave them time to wander round and reacquaint themselves with the old homestead.

We let Bertie and Ping & Pong out as well.  Pong didn't venture out.  Ping did.  Bertie couldn't decide what to do.  

After a bit of farting about, we opened the 'gate'.   Bertie and Ping went unnoticed.

Two girls immediately spotted Cami and Siouxsie and went on the attack    It was most unpleasant.  Camilla and Siouxsie fought back,  and I intervened to separate them.    It was interesting to see who was threatened by their return,   I assume the two 'offenders' must have been at the bottom of the remaining ecking order and wanted to make sure they didn't slip down any further.   It was one of the harem girls - I don't know which one,  we've long stopped having leg rings -  and one of the Yllis twins (Phyllis or Dyllis, can't tell them apart ).

When we'd finished with the mucking out, watering, filling feeders, we herded Bertie and Ping back to their area.    I  gave the main flock some corn over on the other side of the allotment,  and gave C & S some tuna.

And then we left them to it.

When I got home, I immediately pulled out all the temporary fencing,   cleaned out the coop,  and  cleaned and put away the feeder, drinker, coop cups and other bits and pieces.     I decided not to dismantle the coop just yet.

I wish I could have kept Cami and Siouxsie here in the garden.   However,  the little bit of garden they had is not suitable for long term living,   and keeping them would have meant integrating them with the existing 5 Garden Girls.   That would have been incredibl stressful, probably more stressful than having to go back to the Allotment.

It was very hard though.

Feeling Blue

Spent the day at Laverstoke Mill,  the home of the Bombay Sapphire distillery.

I don't actually like Gin;  I hate the smell,  I hate the oily mouthfeel,  and I hate the taste.    We bought a Gin Masterclass and a Tour for the five of us for  my sister in law's birthday back in January, and the way the year panned out meant that this was the earliest we've been able to go.

The drive was lovely because we had a perfect November day.    The Distillery site is amazing,  it was the sort of place I'd like to work - just because the place was so wonderful. 

We were early, so we went to the cafe - which is housed in a really well-done conversion of a double decker bus.  The coffee was excellent,  a great start.

The Masterclass started at 11.00, which was a ridiculously early time to be drinking gin. The class was chokka block.  I didn't count the number of participants,  but every station in the well equipped room was taken.  30 people or so I'd guess.

A tasting of the gin, and an intro into the botanicals used in Bombay Sapphire.  BS is the only gin to have all the botanicals entirely vapour infused (rather than being steeped in the gin itself,  or a combination of the 2).

The tasting of the nearly neat drink confirmed to me that I'm definitely not a gin person.   The host demonstrated the first cocktail,  the house special, The Laverstoke.  Lime juice, BottleGreen Elderflower cordial, Martini Bianco vermouth,  Bombay Sapphire. masses of ice,  ginger ale,  mint and ginger garnish,  all in an oversized globe shaped glass.  We then made it, and it was divine. 

More chat.  Demos and discussions of other gin based cocktails, and then our second and final cocktail. This was a make-along of a something or other 75 and was made in a Boston shaker.  I'm comfortable using that.    The shaken cocktail was then added to prosecco.  It was OK, but not great - I'm not a gin drinker, so no surprise.  I didn't drink mine.

The Masterclass lasted about an hour, and then we did our tour.We did the self guided tour, which actually included a guided part anyway,  and we spent about an hour and a half there.  As part of this,  we had a smell test.  You get to smell variations of the 10 botanicals that go into flavouring the gin,  and you pick your favourite 3-6 smells.   This then shows you which cocktails you might like,  and you get a cocktail at the bar.   You can choose what you want,  you can get advice from the barmam.   Non drinkers have a non alcoholic cocktail,  and get to pick up a take-home cocktail in the shop.


We were surprised at the similarities and the differences in our tastes.  We all had something different, and we all tried each other's drinks.  

We finished by going in to the shop.  DH and I ended up buying a bottle of  East Bombay Sapphire which, in the UK, is only available in that shop.  It's Bombay Sapphire with 2 extra botanicals (lemon grass and pepper).   I also bought 2 of the bowl glasses.  I don't really like branded glasses, but I thought these "would do" until I found something suitable.  I also bought a bottle each of Martini Rosso and Martini Bianco,  so that I could make The Laverstoke and The Laverstoke Winter at home.

DB1 bought some glasses. DB2/SIL bought a hamper of Bombay Sapphire stuff, which was a bit of a bargain.

We left just before 3pm,  and were all very happy with it.

I'm going to try Hendricks next.  I understand that has cucumber as one of its botanicals,  and I love cucumber.