I hate to sat this but Fearnley-Whittingstall's right!

I bought my first free range chicken today! No I have not increased the flock, but I have bitten the bullet and have finally realised what intensive farming methods are employed to rear the average Sunday roast. Thanks to River Cottage guru Whittingstall and publicity shy Jaimie Oliver,the nasty factory lives of the average six week old broiler chicken is now known to all. So during my amble around Sainsburys I have decided to put money where my mouth is and buy a happy chicken meal!- a corn fed, organic bird that has skipped around in the sun all day.
I know it smacks a little of "too little...too late" but now I feel I can face my girls with head held high

Personality vrs politics

I have been following the battle for London's Mayor between Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and Brian Paddick with interest over the last few weeks, and as in the race for the White House, this political battle has come down to personalities rather than just plain policy. Red Ken has proved himself to be passionate about his home city, but compared to Boris Johnson, he has lost the popular vote. Johnson, a likable buffoon has been quick in his intelligent insults and retorts to Livingstone's waspishness and this likability has overshadowed any hard work and positive achievements the existing mayor has done. Liberal Brian Paddick has also used his personality and positive first impressions to gain a foot hold in the race, but can many Londoners actually remember much about each candidates manifestos? I very much doubt it

Over in the US ,Hilary Clinton with her emotional outburst about her homeland won the New Hampshire Republican Primary! People ( hummm perhaps women in particular) were won over by her warmth and "sudden" humanity in that brief lapse of agnst .

I guess we will never take out the very real "human factor" out of politics. Journalists and the like that rather pompously say that we should be purely reflecting on the content of an argument rather than the person , sometimes have forgotten that actually liking and respecting the person in power is equally important to us the masses. Gut feelings are an important factor about being human, Sometimes we battle too much against this very real skill. Believing in someone is not just a case of reading a list of their goals?..........

Anyhow, busy day today! I have cleared the front garden of deadwood and weeds, cut back the climbing rose and honeysuckle by the door and painted another ( and the last) radiator in the Church. The affable rat killer called around again to check on the rodent pest levels and he was given half a dozen eggs for being so helpful ( and a cup of tea and a chat) The paperwork arrived from the land agents about my field as well!

with all the proviso's I suggested in include the allotment, fruit trees and animals!!

Rain,

Torrential rain and gale force winds make the countryside brown and grey.The new wind turbine at the house at the edge of the village, can almost be heard from our cottage, it is whirring that loud. The turbine is impressive! and I would love to have something like it (albeit slightly smaller) in our field. The wind was so strong today, that I feared the whole thing would actually take off.
So today is another write off . The ground is too heavy to turn over and too wet and waterlogged to plant the rest of the shallots so I have spent the day completing plans for planting (yes more lists!)and pricing polytunnels on the internet. and picking out fruit bushes that could be planted in the upper field by the churchyard.
The things I want to get this year include

• a medium polytunnel
• another electric enclosure for the ducks and older hens (non egg layers)
• another 12 volt battery and transformer
• An incubator and heat lamps for the ducklings and chicks
• A small duckling/pullet house

Humm, perhaps a little overtime is in order

Idle Chatter: Nacido y Criado, Jeremy Clarkson, Village Renovation ,bread...and FINALLY MY FIELD!!!!!!

Nacido y criado (2006) Theatre Clwyd this evening.
Is a moody Argentinian movie which strangely has similar themes to Will Smith's I am Legend. Affluent designer Santiago (Guillermo Pfening) suffers a terrible car accident with his wife and daughter. Running away from his inner demons, he becomes increasingly unstable when working in a bleak Patagonian airport. This slow moving film is incredibly well shot by Guillermo Nieto) and in its own ponderous way, mirrors the more flashy mainstream vampire film with its themes of isolation,grief and guilty insanity. At times Nacido y Criado is as uncomfortable to watch as the bleak, harsh and unforgiving terrain of rural Patagonia, but as a study of a man in torment, it is at times riveting cinema.

"Clarkson stung after bank prank " Was one of the headlines on the BBC News website, and I was greatly amused to read the following:-

"Jeremy Clarkson found himself unexpectedly donating to charityTV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has lost money after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column.
The Top Gear host revealed his account numbers after rubbishing the furore over the loss of 25 million people's personal details on two computer discs.
He wanted to prove the story was a fuss about nothing.
But Clarkson admitted he was "wrong" after he discovered a reader had used the details to create a £500 direct debit to the charity Diabetes UK. "........ Clarkson has made a career out of strong opinions and bullying so it was evern so satisfying to hear that his pomposity had backfired on him!

Nice to see that work has started on the renovation of the village hall. The whole place is shut for the entire year, as the Edwardian building gets an overdue facelift.

Delivered eggs this morning and have planted early garlic and broad beans AND I have made some wholemeal bread(pic) and vegetable soup as the weather is bright but ever so cold.

24 eggs today, which is a record as I have only 25 female birds! Hormones must be pumping with the arrival of the men! The egg money is being put aside to pay for my incubator, heat lamps and chick feeders, so when spring finally arrives, I shall be ready.

and finally,...................I have finally agreed the annual rent for the field....only a year late the price will be £15 quid a month! and my agreement ON PAPER will arrive tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!
I feel I can actually get stuck in with all my plans

partisan hens and the weather draws in.....

No, not a photo of a dead hen, but a supposed action shot of Stanley post peck fight with Duncan.
I have been clearing the vegetable patches all morning, so I had a great chance to watch the new expanded flocks behaviour.
Duncan is definitely "cock-of-the-walk", he spends most of his time near the chicken coops surrounded by the majority of the females, who have turned themselves into rather bubble-headed groupies!
There is much billing and cooing amid the girls, but not all of the hens have followed suit. A few of the non conformists have sided with a rather gauche Stanley, and he and his little entourage (Whoopie Goldberg, Beatrice and a couple of the hookers) spend their time on the upper area of the run.
For the most part the two males are perfectly happy with each other, but just occasionally, especially when Stanley decieded he would like to increase his meagre girly group by catching the eye of the likes of a passing Robina or Glen Close, Duncan would then charge over and try to beat the crap out of him. These challenges are brief and showy, and if the girls could collectively sigh "ooohhhhhhh and arhhhhhh!" as they look on with admiration I am sure they would have done.
The weather turned this afternoon and the heavens opened big style. Leaving the allotment, I have cleaned out cupboards and drawers and the space under the stairs as well as cleared the refuse tip that is located under our bed!
Not the most interesting blog ( eh Carol?) but they can't always be interesting

Mamma Mia the Movie [trailer]

ok ok we saw the musical in New York and it was enjoyable pap!
This version looks rather good! Streep looks wonderful!

Back to Spinal Injuries

Oh My God! I didn't have time for even the briefest of blogs yesterday..How remiss!. Saturday night was phenomenally busy at work with me having two ITU patients to look after rather than the more manageable one!

Sunday night seemed Even busier as I has to transfer out on of my more stable patients so that an acute spinal injury patient could be admitted. Working in one of only 11 spinal injury units for 16 years, gave me an appreciation of the holes that can occur in DGH care, and last night was no different as the truth is that no one has a comprehensive or indeed in my humble experience an "adequate" working knowledge of the intricacies of care.

I wont bang on about it, but I was fairly satisfied that all the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed and I felt that the patient had more than a fighting chance against the banalities of small hospital care..

Fell asleep fully dressed on the couch when I go home at 8.30, covered with a blanket of dogs. Up again at 10.30 feeling like shit.I am too old for all this!!!!!!!

the sound of a house

chris has gone off to do horse things, he has palmed the dogs off to the ever supportive Carol and Joan has staggered off to do the strange things an elderly senile cat gets up to. In the middle of nights I have woken to the sound of an empty cottage .

Like most Seventeen Century cottages with 18 inch stone walls,it can get incredibly cold inside Bwthyn -y-llan, even when the sun is shining and the temperature is warming outside. so despite a quick venture out to answer the door to Janet and Ned who had popped up to see the roosters, I am back in bed waiting to drop off again, before another busy night shift.

I can hear absolutely NOTHING! perhaps the odd passing land rover or crow from Duncan, but essentially there is silence. Unlike big houses, our cottage does not have an orchestra of creaks and groans when unoccupied! it just sort of squats where it is, and it is strange not to hear Chris listening to re runs of bloody Miss Marple or hear the dogs squabbling of Joan bleating on about nothing.........................perhaps that is why I can't get back to sleep?