Jobs and Blogs

The day has been cold and blustery, so much so, I had to hide inside the duck house to eat my lunch. True to form Boris ambled over to share what I had, but strangely enough so did the reticent Gloria, who actually took part of a bagel out of my hand.I repaired at least 50 breaks in the electric fencing (Rabbit activity coupled with natural wear and tear),set up the nursery run for the new chicks (below).and finished edging the vegetable plots.

Chris has taken Janet to ballroom dancing classes this evening. So I am curled up in front of the fire with the latest Patricia Cornwell novel-Scarpetta.

In some ways I enjoy reading Cornwell's novels in the same way, I enjoy reading some people's blogs...and that is their attention to detail".

Blogs, if they are done well, give the reader a unique glimpse into the bloggers' life,thoughts and feelings, ok It may be a touch narcissistic and certainly is voyeuristic in nature but that is a what its all about. Cornwell tells you in minute detail, what her heroine Kay Scarpetta thinks, feels and acts........but also (and more importantly) tells the reader what she cooks,what her house looks like and what her work routine entails. I love this comprehensive view of someone that is far more interesting than myself. What she buys at the grocery store, what she does before bed,are, to me as fascinating as how she catches the serial killer..

At last!!!!!!!!!!

A bloody happy ending on the news...............that makes a welcome change

San Francisco

Sometimes it is nice thinking of something rather than hens,broken cats legs and and the importance of compost. This evening I have enjoyed a few hours surfing the net and have booked a nice looking hotel for when we go to San Francisco. I can't remember much about the city from a former visit over a decade ago, so exploring will feel all new and shiny! tee hee

Update

Albert has left his cage for a brief hobble around the living room. His leg looks incredibly swollen and I tried to assess its neurological status but apart from feeling it was warm I couldn't get that near to it. He seems listless and uncomfortable so I may take him back to the vets for a check over tomorrow but he has eaten his chicken today and amid a huge show of excitement (how sad am I?) had had a large bowel motion!.......(you wouldn't believe that I actually used to run a busy spinal injury ward...would you?)

Maddie and George have spent the day in the allotment with me. Mind you they have become terrible thieves and the above pic is them scoffing two duck eggs they found somewhere in the grass. Miss Kinsale (one of the new hybrids is watching them both closely hopeful for a titbit or two)
I cleared another of the vegetable beds this afternoon....

Questions

It is very flattering to have this rubbish read and even more flattering when people across the pond find our little lives here somewhat interesting. In reply to the e mail I received today, here is an overview of the "field" population so far!
I have three hen enclosures, one large and two smaller ones
The large run has 25 hens overseen by the white cockerel Stanley (he is a bit of a big girl's blouse!). These hens are my "original" girls and now are reaching late middle age in hen years! (3-6 in our years) All these hens have names!
The two smaller runs are populated by my own hens bred last year, each run is overseen by its own cockerel.
Clover is the lead buff cockerel (with the quieter Beta male second in command Poppy) his hens are Elizabeth, Shelley, Lily, Sorrel and Violet. The flock has just been augmented with 4 sub adult buffs raised recently in the shed, I have not sexed these hens yet so they are not named
The final hen enclosure birds are what I call the dog attack survivors all these hens (with the exception of Bunny the runt) are named after the characters in The Poseidon Adventure! Their cockerel is called Rogo and the hens are Belle & Nonnie (the two girls who spend their day in the graveyard) Jane, Miss Kinsale and Susan The is also another white cockerel in this pen but he is leaving for pastures new very soon so has not been named. All of the dog attack survivors were hatched at the cottage last year.
Boris and Gloria, the turkeys live separately with the 18 runner ducks. The 10 bantams in the shed will be joining the field numbers in a week or two.
(pic) William sleeping

The Reader

Theatre Clwyd's cinema was overbooked yet again! So desperate to see something interesting, I went to Llandudno to see The Reader (2008).
The film has so many onion skin layers! by the end of it I was turned slightly inside out! It touches on humanising part of the Nazi regime which does leave a slightly bad taste in the mouth and has something to say about the pain of romantic trauma.
The Reader can also be seen as a study of how damaged people survive in life, an essay on personal and collective guilt or indeed could be viewed as a statement of how powerful the written word actually is. Yeap it all sounds a bit of a complicated mix doesn't it?
Kate Winslet, carries the film with a fierce brittleness and intensity in her performance, I also quite liked David Kross tender portrayal as her teenage lover, but as I was driving home all I was thinking of how good the actors were, rather then the actual messages lurking within the narrative. 7 /10

Bunny attack

Albert's painkillers seem to be working well, and obviously they are sedating him nicely. I have fed him titbits throughout the day, which he has wolfed down, but generally he has spent his time in the cage sleeping. I have spent most of the day clearing the vegetable beds ready for the spring planting with the help of Broody Nolan (below) who has eating her weight in earthworms every time I turn over a large sod!

While I was working, a couple of large crows decided to attack the diminutive Bunny (top photo centre) It is the first time that I have seen this aggression aimed directly towards her, although when the buffs were small, they were attacked in a similar way. Unable to run Bunny hunched over and cried out loudly as the two crows pecked at her again and again. Before I could gallop over (with visions of another vet visit!!) two of the other hens, Nonnie and Belle bounced over and launched themselves at the crows clucking , shrieking and slashing at them with their claws ....this of course galvanised Rogo the cockerel into action and he chased off the attackers. I have often seen the cockerels in attack mode but not usually the hens. The whole event was incredibly interesting to watch.

Bunny survived her attack with a few pulled feathers, being the runt guess does have its drawbacks.

Belle and Nonnie have become two of my favourite hens, they are two of the survivors from the dog attack last year (Bunny and Rogo survived also) and strangely for hens they have become inseparable. Daily both girls slip through a hole in the electric fencing, and spend hours foraging around the graveyard in a tight knit little group of two. Many of the visitors to the Church have commented how sweet they look

Hazel

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008) was bloody well sold out when Hazel and I got to Theatre Clwyd which was a real bummer. It is only showing again for one more night, so I will try and get to see it tomorrow. We had a look around the art gallery then had a drink and a proper chat, something that we haven't done for ages!
Hazel is just emerging from a very messy divorce, and is doing so with a great deal of dignity, so we had a "girly" time discussing her dating needs and the like.
Hazel is my only friend in Wales that loves arthouse cinema....and thank god I found her! I couldn't cope with life if I couldn't have a pretentious chat about the whys and wherefores of a certain film's narrative or structure!

I got home just before 10pm.....Chris was in bed knitting Janet a scarf. Albert was asleep in his cage, snoring gently to himself.......with William lying next to him on the outside of his bars, with his nose pressed hard against Albert's fur