pies

I am writing this blog very late on Sunday night. I have caught up with the field jobs after a very long day at work, walked the dogs and have made a large savory flan and apple pie for Richard to hopefully enjoy later in the week.
Tomorrow I have absolutely tons of jobs to do. There are more "Richard meals" to prepare for the freezer, the over long nettles need strimming on the allotment before they get too unruly and all the coops will need cleaning before we go away. If Blanche has been sin binned enough, then the large cage needs to be cleaned and set up in the shed ready for the ducklings to be set up. They are only three weeks old and still need the warmth of a lamp until their feathers start to grow.
All the water butts require filling and every enclosure's bird feed needs bagging up and labelling to make Richard's job easier. Laundry and house jobs can be fitted in around a doctor's visit and shopping.
I have drunk too much diet coke, so am writing this watching an ok film The Interpreter (2005) on tv. I need a good sleep

State of Play

Despite looking shopworn, over weight and rather slobby,Russell Crowe gives his performance as Washington hack Cal McCaffrey in State of Play , a sense of purpose and a definite lightness of touch. Crowe clearly has moved from action leading man to character actor, but the irresistible twinkle of the eyes still flicker from time to time in this intelligent and well crafted political thriller, so much so that I almost forgave him his worst hair cut in recent film history.
The rest of the cast support Crowe ably. Helen Mirren turns up, and swears a lot in a Prime Suspect-ish way, Robin Wright Penn has an effective but all too short role as a wronged congressman's wife and relative newcomer Rachel McAdams balances Crowe's authority and confidence as a newbie journalist blogger.
I gave the whole thing an enjoyable 8/10

Slutty Blanche

This morning I am waiting in for the lady to collect the unwanted cockerels. Finally the rain has come, which has been welcomed greatly, as my seedlings are all in need of some watering.
Blanche remains broody as hell, so has been "sin binned" as promised. As you can see , she is not in the best of condition at the moment, as she is half way through her annual moult, and this moulting takes a great deal out of hens physically, so much so, that they can sometimes deteriorate health wise as well as stop producing regular eggs!.
Sitting on a clutch of eggs whilst in this condition would probably finish her off (Blanche does not eat or drink well when incubating)
Richard (Chris' dad) is arriving on Monday for a crash course in animal care.Not only has he the hens to watch over, he will be looking after the scotties and Albert, as well as the pigs, ducks,ducklings and turkeys. The broody Elizabeth sat heavily in her rabbit hutch could well be a little labour intensive, as she has to be gently taken off her eggs three times a day to feed and water, so bless him, I suspect he will be more than knackered when we return.
I am very grateful for his kind acceptance to "babysit" as having a group of people coming in to check on the stock often results of something being missed, and with ducklings and broody hens that could well result in the death of an animal.
I am working all day tomorrow, so will have a cooking day on Monday, to ensure that Richard will have a ton of homecooked pies and puddings to munch on..it's the least I can do.

Music to cloud watch by

I listened to this beautifull piece of music when having my five minute cloud watching moment.......today I was joined by Mildred Pierce rather than Boris.......I think he doesn't like the cello

Bette Davis lives

As usual my trip to Sheffield comprised of too many white wines and a great deal of gossip. Mike and Jane were typically urbane , chatty and fun whilst Johnny H was in one of his outrageous "Bette Davis in full flow" moods, which is always worth the price of an admission ticket. It wasn't a late night, but an overdue one. I am glad I made the effort to catch up with them

Before I met them all, I had the chance to do some birthday card shopping at Cole Brothers, then took a quick stroll around Hillsborough Park to see the snake sculpture in the playground (below) before going to Johnny H and Bev's for tea!

As usual I got home early this morning (complete with the obligatory hangover) and went back to work on the field. Elizabeth Spriggs (below), one of the buffs has gone completely broody, so I have set her up on a half dozen eggs in the rabbit hutch. Blanche remains broody also, but is out of condition and moulting, so to save her any longstanding damage I have tried to keep her out of the nestboxes all day. Angry and vocal she has stalked around the compound and ever time I got on with a job or two, she popped back into her nest. Tomorrow I will "sin bin" her in an effort to knock the broodiness out of her.

(Sin Binning is the practice where you put a broody hen into an "uncomfortable" wire cage for a day or so to break their nesting urges)
Susan is still with us by the way, but is hardly eating at all. She remains pathetically thin, and if she doesn't buck up by Monday, I think I may need to be kind to her and have her put to sleep.

This afternoon I have planted more onion sets (below), marigolds and have transplanted strawberry plants. The weather remains warm and dry, so much so, I have had to water all the seedlings by hand, which is a backbreaking job with a slight hangover!

Chris has gone ballroom dancing with Janet tonight.....I am resting with crap tv!

Early Blog

Just a quick note this morning! I am off to Sheffield this afternoon for a long over due friend meet up. Susan looks quiet today, and has not eaten anything, Things are not looking good. Hope Chris will be able to cope with her until I get back tomorrow

Susan update

She still looks dreadfully ill, but has eaten some cat food and corn from me today. I have sat her in her own coop with her own flock, and they have accepted her back (hens can pick on and indeed peck to death a poorly hen), so at least she has company.

An average traveller

I am not one of those people that complains I have not travelled as far and as wide as I would have liked, in actual fact, these days, I quite like being a bit of a home bird! But today I received an e mail from a friend which had attached a powerpoint presentation of a holocaust memorial on the banks of the River Danube, and I was reminded of a visit to Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic many years ago. This memory got me to thinking about the places I have had the fortune of visiting over the years, and although I have enjoyed several foreign jaunts, the list of my trips isn't that long!
During the morning coop cleaning, I day dreamed about knackering boozy ski holidays in Switzerland and Austria, sunshine breaks in Spain,Turkey,Malta and Greece and a civilized city jaunt to Paris (when Chris got pissed off with me and finished our relationship!)
I remembered with affection "nun counting" with Nuala in Dublin and Galway and the excitement of watching a small whale in Puget sound Just off the city of Seattle and I got to wondering what my top 5 favourite places would be if I had to make a choice.....
so here goes.....

My first choice would be a bit of an obscure one. Kutná Hora is one of the sleepiest and deserted historic towns I have ever seen. I visited it for a day when a friend and I had a city break in Prague, and I remember being quite overwhelmed by the slight sense of menace I felt as we explored the town's empty streets and squares, I cannot quite remember just why the place seemed so deserted, but I do remember feeling as though I was actually an extra on a huge film set......I was reminded of the that 60's tv series...The Prisoner.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to the "flying spires" of the Church of St. Barbara (below)....the whole cathedral was silent and empty when we entered.....it was a very surreal experience and quite a moving one as I think we then had a chance to process the previous day's emotional journey of visiting the Theresienstadt concentration camp, which was a terribly harrowing and humbling experience

New York will always be my favourite place on this earth. I have enjoyed the big apple now on 10 occasions and it always retains its excitement and vibrancy. I think I would quite happily live in Manhattan if we didn't have the menagerie
I know travelling to Derbyshire, isn't exactly jetting off to San Fransisco, but Chatsworth House comes a very close second to New York in my most favourite places to go. An amble around the ancient house, beautifully crafted gardens and world famous farm shop was a weekly treat from my busy manager days in nearby Sheffield, and over my 16 years in Yorkshire, chatsworth became a constant in my life. I miss it dreadfully.

Pittsburgh was the first place in the US that I ever visited. Through pure cheek and just a little chutzpah, I managed to arrange my month long elective placement from the 6 month Spinal Injury course I was on in Southport in the Pennsylvanian city!. Now this pissed off my fellow students who all worked on a local intensive care, but I didn't care!!

I had a cracking time experiencing this small, friendly and totally interesting city.My final fav place to go is of course the posh, laid back and sunshine town of Sitges just south of Barcelona, Spain. For years Chris and I have eaten delicious sea food, on the wide Promenade, washed it down with copious amounts of Rose wine and still had room for the odd whiskey cake or two. It is here that we have spent many hours relaxing, reading and people watching in the sun.....bliss