A duvet day......yeah right?

I can't think when I last "enjoyed" a proper duvet day, not that I am complaining but today as my cold has hit home (like Hurricane Katrina), I could kill for a day of doing bugger all as I do feel like shit..When I am ill, I need to be left alone to get over it, I can't abide fuss in any form, so this morning I was desperately hiding under the duvet as Chris tried to be overly chatty when getting ready for work. I swear I could literally kill anyone when I am like this

But the dogs needed a proper walk and the coops and bird shed have all needed a clean and re stocking with wood shavings so in the heavy rain (with my new plastic pants on- a pressie from Janet) I got all the jobs done.

Boris and Grace looked rather wet and glum in their small enclosure, so I thought I would chance my arm and let them out into the Buffs' bigger enclosure for the first time.

Out Boris stalked, and very slowly he ambled over to the buff coop to have a look, to my surprise (and certainly to the surprise of the sheltering hens) he walked straight in.There was no fighting or bickering (I think the buffs were just too shocked by his sudden appearance to react properly), and seconds later, after a brief and somber exploration, he marched out again followed by the 5 indignant buffs in pursuit.

Strangely it was Grace that had the first "spat", as Clover tried to assert himself with the turkeys,, but the fight (if you can call it that) was over in a matter of seconds as she literally flattened the poor cockerel with huge umbrella like feet..

Clover and the turkeys

p.s. Thank the lord for Lemsip

................and there it goes

Trelawnyd from the East

I am full of a heavy summer cold today and feel rather "wan" after night shift and the usual absence of sleep. There is a definite autumn chill in the air and by 7.30 it was almost dark on the field. The girls almost sensing the change in the season had all retired to bed early leaving the rabbits alone in the dusk.Even the usual bat activity seems to have stopped.
This year seems to have galloped by.

Here comes the sun..............

Even though I am working nights tonight, It has been too warm and sunny not to be out in the allotment. I have harvested tomatoes,runner beans,beetroot,sweetcorn,courgettes,green cabbages,baby parsnips,broad beans.and lavender and will make up some veg boxes to sell tonight at work. Chris pottered around making lavender bunches for the wardrobe.

Still no takers for any of the runners, so I have resorted to a home made sign in the garden. Boris (below) is getting a little stir crazy in his enclosure, but typically of the breed he remains outwardly calm and and somber.He is an amazing character. I spent a restful half hour lying next to him and the buffs, cloudwatching.in the warm sun.

We ate my tender sweetcorn for lunch and watched the awful The First Wives Club (1996) on tv. Strangely enough it was quite amusing at times and one funny scene where the botoxed to death and straight Goldie Hawn danced with a group of bull dog dykes in a large lesbian night club reminded me of my straight friend Jonney H, dancing alone in a gay pub in Sheffield in an effort to cheer me up at a very bad time.It was a funny wonderful memory.amazing what you remember isn't it?

It's Back!

Strictly Come dancing is back, bigger, (supposedly better) and on until Christmas. Tonight we sat down with cups of tea and the four less hysterical dogs (Jess has gone home) to watch the parade of the new contestants. Ok Strictly is the X Factor for the middle classes, but I don't care, It remains the campest and most entertaining thing on the box all year.Bring it on.

Out of the cannon fodder this year jolly hockey sticks Jodie Kidd and the delightful tongue-in cheek John Sergeant are stand outs

Lizzie Bennet where are you?

I think I would have liked the film The Duchess (2008) more if the wonderful Keira Knightley wasn't in it. That sounds rather odd, but every time there was a scene of her in period eighteen century dress in the Chatsworth House gardens, I was longing for her famously warm character 'Lizzie' Bennet to suddenly take over from the rather dour Georgiana, The Duchess of Devonshire .

The Duchess is a beautiful film to look at,and the story of the sexual politics and dual standards of the day is interesting enough, but the film generally has very little warmth and soul in it which is perhaps an unfair criticism as the story is indeed a very unhappy one.

The whole film would have been a whole lot better if Hayley Atwell (stunning as the "third" one in the Devonshire marriage -Bess Foster) would have been cast in the lead role..

Bring back Pride & Prejudice (2005)

Jam

Rogo and Linda with Stanley's chicks in the background

Broody Nolan's "Poseidon" chicks (Rogo,Susan,Belle,Linda and Nonnie) now have their own large enclosure, complete with electric fencing. They now live along side the four 5 week old chicks, housed into the old Buff ark, so hopefully the two little flocks will gel nicely in time. I sorted out the new enclosures at 6.45am, and it was interesting to watch 6 pheasants wander into the field to pick over the crumbs left by the runner ducks. The runners on seeing the game birds, slowly formed themselves into a tight flock and quietly (usually they scream and shout at any threat) followed the pheasants' every move, step for step. When the wild birds stopped, so did the ducks, when they ran a few steps, so did the ducks. I wish I had taken the camera out, as it was the funniest thing to watch.

After walking the dogs on the beach,delivering eggs and collecting the out-of-date veg from Prestatyn, I got stuck in to Jam making, and I surprised myself with actually achieving the "crinkle point" before ladling the mixture into jam pots.
I picked the rest of my onions from the allotment as well as the parsnips (which didn't do that well).

This evening we are off out for a meal in Prestatyn and tomorrow we are going to see The Duchess

Remembering

I can't believe it has been 7 years since 9/11. I will always remember that day.....Chris and I sat dumbfounded on our old Marks and Spencer's couch in Sheffield,unmoving for hours, watching the disaster unfold minute by minute and hour after hour. It was a pivotal memory for both of us................

Collecting Blackberries

Chris is not back until this evening, so with the sun shining and Jess merrily chomping through 4 of the 5 dog leads in the kitchen I have strimmed the field and planned for all the new chicks to join the field population as the hens got back to normal after their shock the other day. Still no sign of the marauding dog today, I will be out early tomorrow on sentry duty yet again but at least egg production is now back up to normal..
I also made an hour free, so I could collect blackberries for Jam making tomorrow. I must have collected berries as a child but for the life of me I can't remember doing so, so this afternoon, with bucket in hand and with fingers covered in purple juice I had an amble down a nostalgia lane that perhaps never really existed.for me.
It was fun