Sorrel does country

My mother in law doesn't "do" the country....well you can't can you? with designer jeans that you could eat your dinner off, two inch heels and a beautiful green coat (complete with sun glasses!!!)......she is just not slummy enough to be pottering around the allotment and field.
Bless...she was game enough though!
She tottered down the muddy paths, fed the pigs with some bananas that she had brought all the way from Kent as a treat for them, then braved her phobias by looking at the chickens and turkeys

It was all a bit like watching an episode of The Good Life when Margo braves the elements to help save the piglets!

This morning she and Chris have gone to Chester....shopping!

The beast of Gypsy lane

Villager Joanne goes walking with her two huge dogs every morning past our cottage. I saw her today and she regaled me with a somewhat strange story about how she witnessed, what she thought was a big panther like cat slinking in a hedge down gypsy lane.
Now Joanne is not prone to flights of fancy, she is a level headed professional, with good eyesight and all her own teeth, so if she saw a big cat, a hundred yards from our house, who am I to disbelieve her? I just hope to high heaven that she is wrong.....it is bad enough having a fox beheading 8 of my hens........god alone would know, what carnage a black panther would do...though Nora, the largest of the sows would probably bite the head off any big cat, if it came too close.
Strangely enough the BBC website has noted that North wales (Especially Flintshire) is a bit of a hot spot when it comes from mythical cat sightings!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northeast/guides/weird/mythsandlegends/pages/panther.shtml

This afternoon I have planted onions and potatoes. Tomorrow when Chris and Sorrel do their usual days shopping. I will plant shallots and broad beans.
I had to cut short my allotment work as Geoffrey and I "volunteered" to put up a security camera in the Church.
In between all this public spirit! I have kept a close eye on Jesus, who still remains rather quiet in his part of the field. Though not droopy, he is rather too quiet for my liking, so as he was sunning himself in the sun, I crept up behind him and grabbed him and gave him the once over.
Apart from a few peck marks on his head ( after his fight with Rogo), he looked ok. No diarrhoea, no lice, no ticks. I treated him for lice anyway, gave him a wormer and used the broad spectrum antibiotic injection I had left over from Scotty to treat any possible infection.
I have also fed him some extra cat food to boost him up, which he ate.

Sorrel arrives tonight......with the turkey pack now numbering 6 feisty birds, and her pathological fear of anything feathered, tomorrow on the field, should be fun!

Phone Box ideas, Sorrel checklist and Scotty

On my way delivering eggs this morning I noticed that the village phonebox has a notice on it informing the public that it is no longer viable as a working public phone. The notice suggests that the council or the community council purchase the box, for whatever use they may want to put it to, and I was reminded of the village of Westbury in Somerset, who bought their own phonebox and converted it into a mini lending library (see above)....I may suggest this initiative to Islwyn who is on the community council!
The pensioners in the sheltered housing in the centre of the village may well appreciate a load of smutty Jackie Collins' paperbacks within easy reach!

With Sorrel visiting tomorrow, I have spent the day ticking off, the "Operation Sorrel checklist"
so I have:-
Cleaned and made up the spare bedroom,
picked garden flowers for each room,
Got some extra heaters insitu (Thanks Geoffrey!)
Shampooed the carpets,
bleached the kitchen from top to bottom
Cleaned,polished and buffed up everything in sight
and finally weeded some of the garden which I missed a day or so ago.

Tomorrow I will do some baking and will dive into the bathroom with a mop and bucket....she's worth the effort!

The Sad news today is that poor old Scotty died this afternoon, the vet said that he may have had coccidiosis, seeing that the weather has been so wet and damp for months now.....I think I disagree on this as he had no blood in his droppings and the quickness of his deterioration doesn't quite fit with her possible diagnosis.
The other hens look all ok.....except for Jesus , who somehow had got himself into a fight with the Smaller but more aggressive Rogo. He had a bloody head this afternoon and looked incredibly quiet and tired.....With Scotty gone, I am getting a little paranoid about the others

Google Maps

If anyone is interested
Go to the GoogleMap UK- web site
Type in Trelawnyd
You will see a rough road map of the village
locate the name the Crown Pub (incidentally it is in the wrong place)
Opposite to the words is a narrow road
Take the yellow man icon to the first corner and look around!!!
You will see our cottage, the church, the allotment and as you go down the lane...
I am walking back up towards the cottage!

Still Walking

Aruitemo aruitemo (Still Walking) is an interesting study of a Japanese family's reunion which is reminiscent in many ways to tv's "The Royale Family".

Just like in the Manchester sit com nothing really happens when the Yokoyamas meet, yet,underneath the veneer of Japanese politeness, relationships are complex, resentments are hidden away and everything is governed by respect and tradition .

Ryo (Hiroshi Abo) is the middle aged son of retired doctor Kyoshi Yokoyama (Yoshio Harada) and Toshiko Yokoyama (a wonderful Kirin Kiki). He has married a widow with a small son, and feels second best when compared to his elder brother Junpei, who died over a decade ago, saving the life of a child.

Over the course of two days, Ryo has to deal with the resentments of his father, the grief and bitterness of his outwardly benign mother and the nervousness experienced by his new wife in the potentially difficult family meeting.

If this was handled in a US or British film, then there would be huge rows and much wringing of hands, but in this beautifully observed Koreeda movie, every emotion and family slight is restrained, controlled and ever so recognisable from family gatherings we have all experienced throughout time, and as a piece of cinema it is incredibly powerful.

I loved it even though the film was slightly too long, but the performances, especially a pivotal, heartbreaking turn by Kirin Kiki (pic) made up for the extra 30 minutes running time.

8/10

Strangely the film was advertised as being titled as WOW Still Walking by the Theatre Clwyd web site......and yes I found the dark calm cinema rather relaxing!

Tattoo

Readers might of already guessed but the tattoo was a fake to wind my elder sister up!
ah yes...the power of the blog!

Broken, fires & tattoos

I have been rushing around like an idiot all day, and am mightily pissed off with myself and our wood burner stove, which is in drastic need of repair!
Anyhow more about that minor saga later!....I was up at 7am, and attacked each one of the hen houses with scrubbing brush and dettol, in an effort to get rid of the yearly threat of red mite. At 9am I looked an absolute site, so thought I would add to the layers of filth that covered my whole body by de lousing as many hens as I could get hold of. ( not the nicest of jobs)
At 10am I took Scotty to the vets, which was a bit of a trial as the whole practice was on its first day of going computerised! Subsequently our wait was lengthened as the practice staff giggled nervously in corners as they banged away on keyboards and monitors..."computer says no!" seemed to be the phrase of the day.
As usual the vet was not sure what was up with scotty, so he had an antibiotic injection (I will give subsequent injections)- in the hope that he will recover, and I capitalised on the visit by stocking up on some more antibiotics and wormer.
I then picked up a load of coal from St Asaph and then managed to collect the spare parts for our woodburner before coming home to walk the dogs, feed the stock and break the stove's glass window in an effort to make good the repairs to the door...
now we have not got a functioning fire! and mother in law Sorrel comes in a day's time......
Bloody hell!
So when my sister called round all pert and excited with her new tattoo, I was hot, sweaty, irritated and covered in soot....oh and less than enthusiastic in my reaction to her new body adornment!
I am not a lover of tattoos, I never have been, but she seemed so excited with her rebel decision to finally have one done at the age of 47, that I relented somewhat and joined in the spirit of the whole thing by photographing it........the design is a winged saying of sorts, a copy of the one my brother has had when he was on holiday....
It's all a bit much. I have a headache, especially after the fact that William got all a bit excited with the tattoo furore and Janet's dog Jess, and peed on the duvet on our bed
Tonight I am off to Theatre Clwyd to see the Japanese film – STILL WALKING .
Thank goodness for a bit of relaxation in a dark. quiet .... place.....
Now you know why I love films so much


No it is not toilet roll sticking out from her pants....it's a dressing

Mother in law plans

Sorrel, my mother in law is coming to visit on Thursday. It is her birthday at the weekend, so I have been left to organise some treats for her! SO.........!
I think that we will have lunch at Osborn House in Llandudno on Saturday.....then in the evening we will either go to the theatre or Prestatyn's Scala cinema.....then on Sunday I want to book us in for tea at the lovely Bodysgallen Hall (see all photos including a snap of the house's famous tea table yum)
http://www.bodysgallen.com/

I will sort the weekend out tomorrow, in between vets visits, fixing the spare tyre on the old berlingo, collecting spare parts for the wood burner stove, oh and disinfecting the first set of chicken coops........the dreaded red mite is returning!

Off to bed now......I am so tired I am losing my ability to co ordinate and I have dribbled my diet coke all over my pullover!

Protecting crops

There is only so much you can do without any sleep. This morning I have walked the dogs, collected feed and straw for the pigs and have wheelbarrowed manure and compost into bags for our old neighbours to collect.
The first vegetable bed has been surrounded with netting (to prevent scraping feet damage to the potato trenches which I planted yesterday) and the first of the onions have been planted out too!
.....Although I am very weary, I couldn't afford the luxury of 40 winks, as I found a rather bedraggled Scotty (the buff cockerel), standing listlessly in his run. It looks as though he has had some diarrhoea and has some discharge from his mouth (but no wheezing or coughing) , so I have isolated the poor bugger and will try to get a vet's appointment for him tomorrow. I am not sure just what the problem may be..
He looks very sorry for himself indeed.

Spoke to my twin sister this morning....she is on holiday at the moment and is planning to have a tattoo like the one my brother had done in Florida......I despair at her gesture of solidarity!

I need a sleep.....................................

The Great Escape

Compared with all of the other field animals the young turkeys seem to possess a modicum of brains and an over abundance of curiosity.

I was working yesterday afternoon, and without my pottering presence in the field, the four poults drove Chris to distraction by planning and implementing several raiding parties into the Churchyard.

Now, I am convinced that the birds understand fully that the Church is a no go area. When I have caught them before ( and I am usually storming noisily around brandishing a bucket or hoe), the four poults raise their beaks into the air, in gestures of acknowledgement, give a series of odd little gobbles and uniformly leg it back to their enclosure like naughty little boys.

They have now been so conditioned by my baleful expression, that all it takes is one glimpse of my dirty wellies and bleach stained trousers to have them galloping back home in thinly disguised hysteria!.

Soon the four of them will be just too heavy to be breaking out of anywhere and the problem will be naturally resolved.

Sunday today, which means Church for Chris, a nice Sunday dinner for me, and work this evening

shit happens

Every picture tells a story, and this photo is absolutely priceless...
Grandma barfing into a rubbish bin...(in a sort of weird way) made my day......
Thanks to Mark, whose blog I nicked this from

Love Happens

We couldn't be bothered going out last night. The weather has closed in and it was cold and rainy last night. We watched half of an awful film Love Happens, which was supposed to be a romantic comedy (in actual fact it is neither romantic or funny) and ate Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
The film was set in Seattle, which looked suitably sweet and wet, and the only fun I had with it, was recognising areas I had in fact visited. (The Space Needle,Pike place fish market Puget sound etc).Seattle, as I recall, was friendly,relaxed and very wet
This morning I have made myself popular by washing Chris' best woollen scarf with my allotment clothes.....it is now six inches long...........................he is not best pleased......good job I am working this afternoon!

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Remembering Finlay

http://disasterfilm.blogspot.com/2007/03/chasing-cars.html

This is an early post but is perhaps one that follows the previous post very well......
(forgive the photo....it was taken when I was very....well FAT!

Domestic trials

Because of the fox threat, I usually don't let the birds out until 8am, but this morning as it was warm, sunny and I had been awake, off and on since 4.30am, I got up early and did all the morning jobs by 7.30.
Chris is to blame for my ungodly morning shenanigans. He was up early, making tea and and probably planning research adventures in his brain ( which is the size of a planet)....unfortunately he has the flat feet of a middle aged dancer (he used to be a dancer in a previous life)...so clomps around the bare floorboards of the cottage like a penguin with clogs on.

As I sit here with the first coffee of the day, warmed by the sun in the window of the living room, I am quietly joined by Maddie. The other dogs and Albert have all retired upstairs to bed, so in the peace and quiet we can enjoy each others company for a short time.

I was thinking about Maddie yesterday. The signs of old age are beginning to show on her just a little now. Her eye sight is failing ( she has a tendency to trip over curbs), there are small rings of white hair around each eye and her tolerance for silly behaviour from the other dogs has diminished considerably, to the extent that she will stop dead any tomfoolery with a bark and a robust chest barge. She has effectively turned into a sort of maiden aunt, who dresses in black and who reads the daily obituary

It seems only yesterday that we brought the tiny ball of hysteria back from Nottinghamshire to our home in Sheffield. She constantly barked, covered every inch of the house with copious amounts of urine and refused point blank to be walked on a lead. Yet from day one of her arrival, Maddie was and remains consistantly loyal. She comes when called, sits when told and never causes us any concerns save for the occasional bout of constipation, to which she is prone .

She will sit within a centimetre of you, yet hates to be cuddled. She loves her food more than any dog we have ever had and loves to relieve herself in a deep cold puddle.......in short she "asks" for very little and gives so very much and is no trouble at all, I just find it a little sad when I remember (as I was reminded by my previously posted Kipling poem), that you never really own a dog for very long..do you?....sigh.............

Anyhow...enough of all this, I am at risk of getting maudlin. Today I am getting stuck in with the clearing of the back garden, tonight we are having our usual Friday night fish and chips and then will be going to theatre Clwyd to see ME AND ORSON WELLES, a film I missed on its first run

Spring Incubation

The girls have started to bang out the eggs now that the days are longer and somewhat warmer. Yesterday I collected two dozen from 30 laying hens, so I have had a small surfeit to sort out.

So the incubator is back in use on the kitchen top. In three weeks a motley group of chicks will hopefully be hatched, and the circle of life will continue quite wonderfully.

Of the original 12 laying hens I bought four years ago, seven old girls remain under the watchful eye of the geriatric Stanley. they are still laying eggs, which I guess is a sign of them being happy contented hens, here's hoping the new chicks will be healthy,happy and ALL FEMALE.....yeah right!

Smack the Pony - Don't touch the hair

a few years old now, but one of the funniest things on tv

Men of Harlech (Zulu)

An ideal dvd for a Wednesday night!
......and who said that the Welsh have no balls!!!

For Kim

The Power Of The Dog
by Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

The Object of a pig's affection

Gladys is the quietest of my pigs, she is usually shy, and nervous of me, even though both pigs have been with us for just over a year now, and will just about allow me to touch her ear occasionally.

Today,she had the devil in her for some strange reason, and time after time, I caught her biting at the wire fencing of her enclosure, squealing and grunting at me as I cleared the remaining herb beds.

Finally I ambled down to the pig pen and sat down to see what was all the fuss about, and as if she had a personality transplant, she galloped over and started to rub herself on my knee in a fit of flirtatious sluttery!

I tickled her behind the ears and her seduction behaviour intensified as she concentrated upon my wellies, which she started to bite and suck on!

I had never seen Gladys like this before, so I had to put this uncharacteristic show of affection and playfulness down to a sudden rush of hormones.

I had to smile......to myself......

Chris and a pig called Gladys are the only two individuals that actually find me attractive!

Oh be still my beating heart!