Animal Update

Dogs can be mischievous. of this I am certain! Years ago I was always delighted in the way that Finlay, our first Welsh terrier would playfully kick at old Joan the cat as he passed her and today I witnessed William amusing himself in a similar way with a chap delivering flyers.
The dogs sit on the window seat of the upstairs bedroom in between walks, and from their advantage point can see all the activity on the lane.
As the delivery chap ambled into view, I watched William bounce off his seat and trot quickly down the stairs. He jumped onto the couch, peeped through the window, then silently went to the door with his nose pressed against the letterbox, tail wagging frantically.
Seconds later the stiff letter box opened and the flyer and a set of fingers poked through. Without a bark, William sat up and playfully grasped a digit, and through the small glass window in the door, the effect on the man was immediate and hysterical, as he literally bounced back into the air snatching his hand away from the letterbox with a muffled shriek!
Obviously happy at this violent reaction William then galloped around in a tight circle, beaming in pleasure! It was a lovely moment to watch
Anyhow, my cold is coming to a head today, and I have been literally streaming! I would have loved to have stayed in bed with a good book, but the sun has been shining so I have cleaned out 4 hen houses, delivered eggs and sweetcorn around the village, disinfected the chick cages out in the shed and weeded the entire front garden before washing windows, doing housework and clearing the paths and weeds from the lane. As snotty as I am it has been lovely to be outside

Albert watching the gardening

The turkey chicks are now over a month old, and like William are becoming playful and full of themselves. They are simply quite delightful! For the longest time I opened their cage and waited for them to amble slowly over in their slightly depressive way to sit on my lap, and the five of them played quite happily pecking at my fingers and jumper! Seeing me fawning over these quirky little birds, made the passing postman shake his head in pity!

The guinea fowl chicks couldn't be more different from the turkey poults. Nervous and hyperactive, as soon as they sense danger they burst out of their standing positions like popcorn out of a pan! and within a fraction of a second the air is filled with tiny, fluffy bodies bouncing off the walls with scary abandon! Gawd help me when they get bigger
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