Menagerie update

A neighbour lost one of her beloved dogs today. He was ten years old and died in his sleep after a short bout of illness, but the shock of his passing was profound and upsetting for our friend who, like us, treated her animals as surrogate children. I called around this morning with some garden flowers and as I have worked in the field for most of the afternoon, I have witnessed a steady stream of neighbours calling around with flowers and plants, to offer their sympathetic best wishes. People can be extremely kind when the wind takes them, I always think.
As George spent an extended playtime stealing eggs as they were laid late, I got on with planting sweetcorn seeds into plantpots and weeding the 5 large vegetable plots and I stopped several times to watch the field population "enjoying" the summer-like afternoon.
The early seasonal warmth seems to suit the animals who all slow their pace of existence right down to almost a Mediterranean amble.
The pigs spent most of their time asleep in the shade of their house, venturing out only to use their latrine or to slurp nosily from their water bowl.
The ducklings, almost full grown, spend their time sat together in the long grass, but remain, silent and alert and aware of all what is going on. Bunny the runt, Mary and Roger the bantams sat next to them just on the other side of their enclosure fence, and all are fast sleep. I can see Bunny's deformed leg sticking out between the chicken wire, both her and the tiny Mary are laying small delicate brown eggs daily.
The remaining buff girls sit in the shade, slightly overheated by their heavy feathers, and Scotty (the young buff cockerel, who I have recently separated from the flock to give their feathers a chance to recover from repeated sexual advances) is alone wandering around the turkey enclosure. He looks bored.
Boris is still acting like a typical stag turkey and consistently shows his fan tail to Gloria and all of the runners in a sexual display, She and the ducks ignore him and appear to be dozing in the long grass.
I can just make out Susan, pecking absently at the ground, and she seems to have enough energy to peck at Maddie, who is ambling by on her way to watch out for passers by at the gate, all of the other hens are grouped untidily together in the shade of the hen houses.
I can see Albert stalking a rabbit by the compost bins, as Welsh terriers Meg and William sit quietly watching his antics. I am listening to the LBC discussion about the recent MP's expenses fiasco as I realise that I have a touch of sunburn.
Being outside is so much better then completing jobs in doors, I really should have been looking for my mobile phone, I mislaid it somewhere in the cottage the day before we went on holiday, I just couldn't be arsed!