A fag end and tissue!

Short blog today as I have made the most of the spring weather and have nearly completed the vegetable patch. I won't bother posting a photo of said plot, as pictures of dirt and very little else isn't that interesting to the average blog reader, and I must keep my public wanting more! (as my friend Jonney H would say)

Cleaned out the hen houses as the hot weather is making them all smell rather too "high" and I have read that Chickens can become ill if subjected to strong smells.

I was amused to find a rolled up paper tissue and a fag end in the larger ooop which is a little surprising. God knows why a hen would hide away such titbits.

As well as dropping off birthday pressies for Ned and Hazel, I bought a gift for Sheffield Maisie ( what do you buy a 2 year old? I will be buggered if I know?), I walked the dogs on the beach, picked up the Hens' veg from the veg shop girls and made a tasty flan from duck eggs for Chris' tea then am soon to go out to see Cloverfield with Janet. Mike rang last night and we had a good post mortem of the film which I do miss at times! Catching up with him and Jonney H in Sheffield on the 29th, so I suspect more film banter will be on the agenda.Bliss!......

William Training, Cleo Lane, and Marion Collard

William has now officially "grown up". Banishment to the puppy area of the kitchen dog baskets has been lifted and for the last couple of nights he has joined the scotties in the living room whist I was watching tv. He spent a few minutes each night dancing around, courting attention from everyone, but when he realised he was being overlooked, he settled down (with George) to sleep.Meg needs a haircut, she looks a little like Cleo Laine at the moment. Anyhow, Just caught up with the BAFTA award tonight on line and I was thrilled to see that Marion Cotillard won for her performance of the young AND dying elder Piaf in the wonderfull La Vie En Rose. As Cotillard walked into the awards the crowds mistook her for Kiera Knightly and she brushed off a potentially embarrassing situation by smiling broadly and shouting simply and without an edge.. "I'm French!!!" Her speech of thanks was funny and genuine and it must of been wonderful for her to win the best actress award- a first for a French performer! Great stuff

Ennio Morricone -

This is the love theme from Cinema Paradiso, a film I have never seen. Now I usually do not like Morricone's scores, as they are sometimes very similar, but this is quite a beautiful theme

Beautiful Day

Joan looks a bit like Elsa from Born Free in this shot. The weather again has been sunny and warm and she and what seems like the population of Trelawnyd has been out and about today, enjoying the spring like day and keeping me company.
I have dug another 50 square feet of potato patch today, whilst keeping an eye on Stanley and Duncan as well as feeding the female ducks with titbits.So on paper not a lot has happened but it feels good to be out.
Steve (village elder) is getting me an application for the Parish Council when he gets his own, me thinks it would be prudent to be close to any village decision making meetings especially as the duck empire is about to be increased.
Chris is away in London today and visited Broadstairs and Sorrel last night.
He made the difficult decision to part with the ever friendly Pippa over the weekend, which was hard but necessary as work pressures and the like are preventing his full attention to care for her
Personally, I am glad she has gone, I wont now be a horse widower every weekend
Egg orders are comming in thick and fast this morning, (14 over the past 24 hours) so will be delivering a load tomorrow. Stanley looks back to his normal self today too, bloody and battered but looking mightly fine.

In the wars

Last night Judy came round for dinner (roast duck too!!) and a nice evening was spoilt by me feeling ill around 6pm! No it wasn't a hangover at all,as I had a temperature of 38.5 and suddenly got all shivery and a bit dopey!
At 8 ish I had a bath and went to bed and slept right through until this morning still with a temperature but feeling a tad better.Don't know what it could be,but certainly I have felt fairly rubbish.
Poort Stanley has been having a rough time also! as Duncan was shut in his coop over night by accident. Close proximity of two males and a load of females precipitated a huge fight which Stanley of course lost. He was covered in blood when he emerged and looked very sorry for himself indeed. It took me an age to catch him and it was apparant he had suffered several nasty pecks to his head and neck.Poor boy! I cleaned him up best I could and fed him.and resolved myself to check more carefully where he and Duncan are each night.

The rest of the day I have been doing home stuff and sleeping. Typically it has been a glorious sunny day, but apart from walking the dogs I have rested indoors most of the time.

In the doghouse

Well I went to Heather's leaving do last night after work, which was an interesting night out. The Indian restaurant had to be seen to be believed, as it looked like one of those cheap garden make overs on a council estate. Trellis , ivy, and badly painted pine was the order of the day, and the food mirrored the decor but at least I only had a starter to chomp through. I don't really like ward nights out as I feel a bit too long in the tooth to socialise with people I generally have nothing in common with, but I was sat with Hazel and a couple of others I DO like, so the night was ok-ish.
The problem with the whole thing was the fact I got home rather late (1ish!) and slightly....well ......pissed. I wasn't falling over or anything, but I was,shall we say a little loud! ...I also "helped" Maddie and George on our bed a little too roughly so Chris woke up in a rather irate mood. The mood has deteriorated this morning, and not placated by a cup of tea and plate of hot cross buns but he did get his own back by bouncing Meg on the bed after her early morning walk.He hasn't spoken to me all morning
Hell hath no fury, as a old queen scorned!!!!!!!!!!...

Covatutto 12

My incubator has arrived!!!!. Looking like a retro 1950's lamp, the grandly sounding Covatutto 12 comes with detailed instructions of how to incubate any egg from a quail to a goose. The whole palava is incredably complicated.....the eggs have to placed just so. You are not to clean them with too much water and need to cool them and turn then on particular days and not on others Humidity has to be just so as does the cleanliness so simply bunging them in the airing cupboard ( as I did when I was 10) just won't wash.,Duck eggs in particular can be tricky so seeing that I am working all day tomorrow I am going to practice with a few hens eggs on sunday!

With Duncan and Stanley rogering the majority of the girls senseless, I know that some of the daily egg production will be fertile. I am also trying to remove the eggs from the nest boxes every few hours as one of the girls is getting terribly broody. Trinny (below) is a maternally challenged hen and will sit for hours if left, pecking any approaching hand to protect her "clutch" I have read that it is ok to dip a broody hen's bum in a bucket of cold water to prevent this maternal stage from continuing but it does seem a little drastic.to me.

I have spent most of the day extending the potato patch, and in the process I have been taming the ducks who still remain slightly skittish. Digging allowed me to collect a whole jam jar full of worms, and it didnt't take Maude and Nell long to realise that these titbits were picked just for them. So when I gave them a low whistle, I would wag a fat worm surreptitiously at them ( so that the hens wouldn't notice) then saunter over to the wire before bunging the worm quick sticks at them. If I mistimed the throw then a passing hen would muscle in to the feeding frenzy and would bully the gentle and slower ducks, but after a few practice throws, we got rather good at the game.

The more I watch the ducks,, with their small piggy eyes and happy expressions, the more I warm to them. especially the benign females.Their new enclosure should be up and running when Steve finishes the top of my field, and hopefully by then I will have a few hardy adolescent ducklings to join them.
Out again tomorrow after work! am going to a girl's leaving do in Prestatyn so no blog tomorrow! It has been a busy social week!

Robin Ince & Markus Birdman(pic below), etc etc

Hazel and I had arranged to go to Theatre Clwyd tonight, and it was a nice change for me to be taken to the Comedy store evening rather than our usual arthouse cinema trip! The two comics were excellent! Intelligent, quick,observational and not crowd pleasing swearing bigots! A couple of pints and a good laugh is exactly what I needed today, as the MOT on the Belingo cost a fortune we just haven't got !
The chickens had also pecked the rubber guards off my digital radio earphones this morning (both of them!.....what's that all about?) so the day had already been earmarked at being a bit of a disaster.
Funny thing happened on the beach though........when I came back to the car park with the pack, maddie ran ahead of us ( being all clever and big headed) and jumped into the back of a nissan micra parked next to the belingo......much to the surprise of an elderly yorkshire terrier asleep in the boot.....ok not a big laugh, but big enough for the day!