Boris, Grace , a death wish dog and The Prestatyn Flower Show Preparation

I had not realised just how pretty and cute baby turkeys are until today.. At 8 am. I picked up my free Norfolk Bronze chicks from a very grateful patients relative,(who apologetically pointed out that the box they were housed in was a microwave oven box) and soon got them settled in the shed. Although only 5 weeks old, they stalk around with that undertaker type amble so characteristic of the adults, and look dreadfully serious even though they "peep peep" quite sweetly. Next to the buff chicks they are quite wonderful. I have christened them Boris and Grace.
Geoff and Christine have been very sweet, and have given me their newly constructed hen house to house the newcomers. It was a very welcomed gesture, and I know Geoff can knock up another bespoke coop in record time before his hens arrive.

I have struggled to get all my entries ready for the Flower Show tomorrow, but finally (it is now 10.45 pm) all have been either, dug up, cut down,cooked,baked and arranged within an inch of their lives. Janet and Ned were going to Tatton Park for the day, so dropped off the hyperactive Jess for me to babysit. Now after walking all the dogs up the Gop my dogs were all ready for a sit down and a snooze as usual, but Jess, excited at the prospect of having four mates on tap to play with, was having non of it. As I spent the morning cleaning and trimming my show vegetables, all five dogs raced around the cottage like lunatics, and only seconds after I heard the galloping "thump-thump" of them racing up into the bedroom, I was a little worried when there was nothing but silence.

When I reached the bedroom, I caught William, Meg ,Maddie and George all milling around vaguely, with Jess no where to be seen. The cottage bedroom window was wide open and there standing on the garden wall ( and gazing excitedly at the field's hens) was Jess, with her tongue as usual lolling happily out of the side of her mouth. The bloody fool in her excitement had actually fallen from the first story window ( and by the look of my flowers, had landed on my lily -of -the- valley) and rather surprisingly was totally unhurt.

Oh the stress of babysitting

thoughts

The humid and summer-like weather has lasted all day. Tonight William has exhausted himself in the heat and actually fell asleep sat up. For a variety of reasons I took a rain check on my Sheffield trip today. The main reason was a very poor pay slip, and luckily Mike really understands being skint, so we will re schedule for next month.
Tomorrow will be set aside for the Flower Show preparations (my show nemesis Hazel has shipped her kids off on Grandma so she has a similar free run at her entries and hopes to whip my ass come the judging), so today I have cut the grass in most of the field and delivered all of the other local allotment open invitations
. I have two turkey chicks coming tomorrow (free from a grateful relative of a patient), but still have no housing for them. For the short term both can go into the shed, so I am excited that apprentice Geoff has finished his own hen coop and has promised to knock up a small turkey house . His coop is an impressive structure (see below) and a bargain at under 45quid. I am secretly envious at his newly acquired skill

Some good news

Today I have started to plan for the Prestatyn Flower show on Friday, and it is nice to be pottering around. This morning I have planted and staked some dewberry bushes in the allotment and have written the allotment open invitations for selected villagers.Chris also needed running to the station as he is off to Glasgow on a conference

This afternoon I have bought various ingredients ready for cake baking and flan cooking on Thursday evening.and have made list after list to get things organised and sorted. Tomorrow I am off to Sheffield to see Mike, so I will only have Thursday night to sort out around 15 entries.

I cleaned the kitchen table of clutter and gave the tablecloth a good airing. Had a very sad moment when the whole kitchen was filled with Joan's shedded hair from off her blanket which always perched on the corner of the table.The place seems rather quiet without her noisy yowling, but I know the old girl had a charmed healthy life right until her final day, indeed she had only visited the vets twice in her life. Once for neutering and once for a removal of a broken tooth. Not bad for 20 years.

I have decided that I would like another cat at some stage, a house does not feel quite right to me without the quiet presence of a cat sunning itself on a chair or window ledge but I will get a grown cat next time from the rescue unit, and one that has "experience" of dogs. All four terriers were good with Joan but needed a strong willed cat to put them in their place before any trouble started.

Anyhow the buff girls that looked so poorly a day or so ago, seemed to have perked up in the shed overnight. (I had put the heat lamp on them and fed them with tit bits as well as the antibiotic powder the vet had given me)

I have replaced them back into their run with the others this afternoon.

Joan- 1988-2008

Well it had to come...I suppose,but being so worried about a couple of golden brainless chickens throughout the day,I almost did not notice that life (as it has a habit of doing) had thrown me another curve ball. At tea time, almost without thinking I dished out Joan's sachet of "senior" felix and was suddenly aware that the old girl was no where to be seen. Strangely I knew instantly what had happened and minutes later Chris found her disorientated and poorly under the bed in the spare room.
I couldn't face that final journey to the vets, it seemed as though it was only yesterday that I had to accompany Fin back and forth to the vets and animal hospital, so Chirs wrapped her in a blanket and took her up to Caerwys for the last time.
After 20 years of noisy demanding yowling, affectionate behaviours. a minor head injury after being sideswiped by an 80 year women driving a fiat panda on Providence Road in1992, four house moves, and a sudden lease of country life in the definite twilight of her life, Joan has always been a constant in the last two decades of my life.
Unlike dogs, who scream for the limelight, Joan remained firmly (but not uncomplainingly) in the side wings, and I will miss that irritating supporting role that she always played. The ginger and white despot that followed you on the dog walks at night, who took 4 weeks figuring out just how to use the cat flap, and who was ecstatically grateful for the briefest of strokes as the terriers pushed her by was as important to us as breathing in the tiny world that was Wynyard Road and is Bwthyn-y-llan.

We buried her in the allotment, in more or less the exact spot where this recent picture was taken .I must say that she never took a better photograph
When Finlay died I remember writing on the blog that I had lost my boy.
Well Today,........ we had lost our grand old girl.

Sick birds

The Buff pullet chick that was sick last night, still looked a little rough this morning when I got home after a long night shift. In addition another female chick looked hunched and miserable, so with the thought that one sick bird is "acceptable" and two "definitely careless".I wavered a brief sleep in order to take the little girls to the vet.
It took absolutely ages for the waiting room to empty before our turn ( I actually nodded off once with the buffs in the box on my knee)
This time I had a vet, who was obviously very, VERY new in post, and who didn't really know chickens that well. After several three way conversations with the rather harassed well established vet who was in another examination room, I bought some antibiotic powder (just use a pinch in some water........I was told) and some wormer for the rest of the girls.The vet didn't actually look at the buffs that closely, which bothered me somewhat, but I gave the medication a go, after setting up the poorlies in their original cage in the shed.
To be honest the two buffs still look a little subdued but they are eating and drinking, which is always a good sign, but I am worried as young birds like children, deteriorate suddenly when unwell.
I scrubbed out the ark and treated it all for red mite, just to make sure that there was no potential risks to the other three birds. Then I collected the vegetables from the veg shop for the rest of the hens & ducks , bought more feed and wood chippings, sorted out the dogs, organised tea and the house work, and bingo the next time I looked at the time, it was 6.30pm!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am buggered........................

Mooch & a poorly Buff

Moochy day today, as I am working nights. Got some weeding done in the garden and organised a scrappy sort of invite on the pc for the "allotment open evening"so that Chris can print it out at work.Chris went to Church this morning, and said that the parishioners are looking forward to the evening ( they definitely can't get out very much)
so I have decided to "officially" invite some of the villagers to attend.
I have done a quick list and have come up with around 25 names...........message to self..........organise more cakes

One of the female buffs is not well today. She is sat hunched over in the ark, and has allowed me to pick her up to check what the matter could be.. I could not see anything overtly wrong so I put her back with some more chick crumbs and water. Perhaps a trip to the vets is in order tomorrow

Stanley and egg production

I have decided to try to hatch out a final bunch of chicks of the season. Duncan has fathered the 5 hybrid chicks with Broody Nolan, so it seems only fair to give the underdog Stanley a go. I have collected 5 eggs from his girls Scarlett,Melanie,Eve,Margo and Karen today, and with some more tomorrow I shall set up the incubator again.
In general egg production has been a little low recently, so to boost out put, I have given the girls extra rations of pasta and corn and have added poultry spice and vitamins to their water and pellets. 24 eggs today as a result, not bad for 28 laying hens.

Beach, Carnivals and cafes

We took the dogs down to the beach today, a thing I have not done for ages (well, since the spring car park charges went up) I love the photo of all four of them galloping into the distance (below) although my IT skills couldn't quite work out how to get rid of the oval picture frame border.

Today the Prestatyn carnival took place, and what a lacklustre, shabby event it has sadly become. As a child I always remember the big parade (always organised on a Thursday afternoon) and recall it as a huge celebration within the community. There was always a score of large bands, multiple comic floats, and dozens of thigh slapping drum majorettes all weaving their way down the high street watched by a three deep crowd of locals and holidaymakers. (Right pic 1950's Rose queens )

Highly coloured bunting was strung back and forth across the high street, and from our advantage point with the family (on the roof of Dad's shop) we were always pleased that the parade seemed to take hours to pass on by.

Today, the whole thing is perhaps a reflection of the times in which we live in, as there seems to be little support from and affection by the town's population for this slightly old fashioned celebration.
Health and safety rules has meant that the bunting can now not be hung across the road.(sad short pieces of plastic bunting can be seen in short bursts parallel to the road), and only one lorry sponsored by a local social club was filled with a an aging set of cowboys and Indians, who actually looked as though they were enjoying themselves.

Today the majorettes were there (bored,glum and still accompanied by obese parents in shell suits), and a few bands livened the proceedings, but I did have the feeling that the whole thing was well past its sell by date and was in need of some strong leadership to kick the whole thing either into the 21th century or perhaps back into the 1950's where it perhaps belongs.

Anyhow, Like two old ladies Chris and I enjoy "doing" the good British Cafe, and to be honest, we have experienced some shockers around the North Wales area. The old Forties cafe on the High street has had a bit of a revamp (my mother worked there in 1942 by the way) and now looks suitably flash. I do like the fact that all the original art deco Lloyd loom furniture has been retained,but surprise surprise the service didn't quite measure up with the standards of a bygone age.Hope it is just teethiing problems..