Sunday Snaps,a letter, teen thugs and goose updates

I am sat at the kitchen table with the first (and best) cup of coffee of the day. I have changed the usual LBC talk radio chatter over to Classic FM and in front of me is a vase of cut roses from the garden. (Chris sighs every time I bring flowers into the house and grumbles "there are more soddin' flowers inside the house than there is in the garden!"

This morning ( a fine clear day) you get a true blast waft of the scent of honeysuckle as you come around the front of the cottage, so much so, that two early walkers stopped by the gate just to "sniff"

A day or so I received a neat hand written letter with a local post mark. Not too unusual an occurrence, you might say, but in this age of email and text, had written letters seem to be a rarity and I may add , a little bit of a treat.

As it turned out, the letter was in reply to the lengthy one I sent to the vets after Maddie's death, and on reflection I think it actually mirrored mine by being measured, thoughtful
and in the main constructive.

Of course my concerns over Maddie's treatment were countered just as I expected they would have been, but my other points regarding communication issues and my lack of confidence in the practice itself, were acknowledged, and for that I was strangely grateful.

The time and effort it has taken to reply to my complaint has been therapeutic in itself.

Anyhow, over to more frivolous issues. The 10 young hens that were chicks only 11 weeks ago have formed themselves into a tight knit little group that resemble Ronald Searle's illustrations of the St Trinian Schoolgirls.

Led by a couple of immature and posturing males, the "gang" swagger around the lower part of the field like teenagers at the top of town! If there were a couple of tin cans around I am sure that they would be kicked, as the ten of them look as though they are up to no good for most of the time.

Only when the lead cockerel Stanley wanders around to give them a rather blank "once over" do the gang melt away into the grass to hide, before re appearing with that slightly bored "whatever" kind of attitude.

Winnie and Jo, seem to be doing ok in the hot house of the shed. Winnie is more robust than his/her sibling, but both seem to be doing ok. Readers that have raised goslings before may be able to give me some pointers about the specifics of gosling care.....I wonder if they are slightly more delicate than the Indian runner ducklings I am more used to. They seem to spend 90% of their time running around in hysterical circles and shitting on their own webbed feet!

Right...the coffee cup has been drained and I need to take the dogs out before the heat of the day becomes too unbearable...Hope everyone has a nice Sunday