Bette Davis lives

As usual my trip to Sheffield comprised of too many white wines and a great deal of gossip. Mike and Jane were typically urbane , chatty and fun whilst Johnny H was in one of his outrageous "Bette Davis in full flow" moods, which is always worth the price of an admission ticket. It wasn't a late night, but an overdue one. I am glad I made the effort to catch up with them

Before I met them all, I had the chance to do some birthday card shopping at Cole Brothers, then took a quick stroll around Hillsborough Park to see the snake sculpture in the playground (below) before going to Johnny H and Bev's for tea!

As usual I got home early this morning (complete with the obligatory hangover) and went back to work on the field. Elizabeth Spriggs (below), one of the buffs has gone completely broody, so I have set her up on a half dozen eggs in the rabbit hutch. Blanche remains broody also, but is out of condition and moulting, so to save her any longstanding damage I have tried to keep her out of the nestboxes all day. Angry and vocal she has stalked around the compound and ever time I got on with a job or two, she popped back into her nest. Tomorrow I will "sin bin" her in an effort to knock the broodiness out of her.

(Sin Binning is the practice where you put a broody hen into an "uncomfortable" wire cage for a day or so to break their nesting urges)
Susan is still with us by the way, but is hardly eating at all. She remains pathetically thin, and if she doesn't buck up by Monday, I think I may need to be kind to her and have her put to sleep.

This afternoon I have planted more onion sets (below), marigolds and have transplanted strawberry plants. The weather remains warm and dry, so much so, I have had to water all the seedlings by hand, which is a backbreaking job with a slight hangover!

Chris has gone ballroom dancing with Janet tonight.....I am resting with crap tv!