last choice George

The Berlingo has suffered another chip to the windscreen so I arranged for it to be repaired this morning. Because of space I parked the car on the field and as usual as the 2 workmen worked on the screen, they slowly became surrounded by a host of dogs,hens, ducks and cat!
One of the workers was tickled pink when George was chased out of the main hen enclosure with a very irate and dishevelled Mildred Pierce pecking at his bottom.
I always feel a little sorry for George.
Despite a brief power struggle with William a year or so ago, George has firmly and consistently been placed on the lowest hierarchical rung of all of the animal populations. Now this is easily accepted with the dogs (as he is the smallest and the youngest) , but it is also actually correct with Albert and dare I say most of the chicken flock.
Oh the shame!...poor George is even lower than the most bedraggled and sad looking chicken!
Yesterday I noticed Albert greeting the dogs after their walk. Each dog will receive a head rub and cheerful purr, but Albert cannot quite stop himself giving George a playful face box or paw slap! It is as though he does so, just because he can!....it's a bit like a good natured bully, giving a fellow schoolboy a slightly painful but benign slap on the bonce---

Clover leaves, St Trinians Pullets and a backward wave

Clover leaves for pastures new today, he has been adopted by a chap who bought Duncan last year and will have a small group of females to watch over. The pullets from the shed are now happily sorted in the old buff house (above with Clover in the foreground)
They remind me of a bunch of St Trinian school girls, as they are constantly noisy and constantly in motion, Both Poppy and Clover have found all the excitement totally baffling and have stood outside their run for hours watching the hysteria.
I have taken an inventory of the field population this morning as I was watering the vegetable beds. The numbers of birds have fluctuated with a few older birds dying off recently so now I have 23 old birds, the original 7 dog attack survivors in the top run, Bunny,Mary and Roger the bullied bantams,Blanche and Haleh in their own little run,the 5 runner ducklings which are almost full grown now,the 9 original runners,Scotty, Poppy and the 5 female buffs, and the 12 new st Trinians hooligans make up 74 birds (Including Boris and Gloria of course oh....and the two unknown chicks in the shed)
I found a pretty neat Laura Ashley carrier bag tied to the garden gate this morning. In it was an egg order and a little package of cooked penne pasta all wrapped up nicely. It was a gift from a neighbour who heard that Susan the run down hen was having special "pasta" dinners to build her up. People can be very sweet can't they?
Chris is happy to be home and I am happy that he has returned after a week away. As he left for work this morning (he takes his moped to the local station down in Pretatyn), he gave me a small backward wave as I was walking back from the allotment.
It was a small gesture, but it moved me greatly.
After nearly a decade together, it is so easy to take each other for granted. It is also easy to let yourselves get lost in the every day life of bill paying, work pressures,home routines and family .
Sometimes a little moment like this morning's wave of goodbye can reinforce the bonds that tie you together, and because of that, is a small but vital lesson to realise!

여보세요 당신이 있게 좋은 후에

여보세요 당신이 있게 좋은 후에
(HELLO...NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK!)

Just at the right time

I have to give Cassie a big thank you today. I worked a bloody awful shift last night and had to deal with one of the most traumatised families I have ever worked with in recent times.
I got home this morning tired and rather shopworn, so it was lovely to find a late birthday gift from blog supporter Cassie waiting for me by the back door!
I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful gift......herbal foot cream and wait for it.............PROPER COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Idaho blend and Loose Moose Far North blend!!)
I was tickled pink!
Thank you again Cassie....it made my day

Temper

I managed an hour in the garden, but as it is with too many jobs and not enough time, I completely over faced myself with things needed to be done. The sun is incredibly hot this afternoon, and all of the animals are either hiding in the long grass or crouched in the shade of the hen houses. The 12 juvenile hens in the shed need to go out in their own run desperately, and hopefully tomorrow will be the day that my ultra cheap chicken wire (bought from ebay) will be delivered! I will construct a temporary run for them and they can be acclimatised to the old buff coop.
The two baby chicks who were rejected by Lily yesterday are doing well under the heat lamp by the way.

I have just been thinking about a rather unpleasant conversation I had with a villager in the week. I won't go into details but this person felt as though they were entitled to some information which I thought they were not privy to. After a brief exchange of views, I ended up being rather snappy
I cannot abide bullying, nor can I abide little man syndrome, so when I am on the receiving end of such behaviours I can lose my temper quite easily, which is not always the best thing to do in a small community.
I wish, sometimes that I didn't react so quickly. I envy those people that can balance themselves and then are able to put someone in their place with a dignified one liner. I just get angry and flare up, but hey at least the people on the receiving end know exactly where they stand on a particular issue which is perhaps the only positive to be had.
It may sound a little ironic but despite my slightly battling nature, I don't enjoy conflict at all

Chickens may safely Graze

The weather again is beautiful, and I have started to thin the cottage plnting in the back garden.
Sunday is always a time for Radio 4, The archers and Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs.......today we had a very old but sprightly sounding Dennis Healy and "sheep may safely graze"...
Night shift tonight
Chris Back tomorrow

Caerwys Show

I decided to take George to the show rather than the usually over active William, and seeing that there was literally hundreds of other dogs milling around, he was beautifully behaved throughout the day. He seemed fascinated with the shire horses and sat still and rapt as they thundered through the show ring, only stopping briefly when I brought out the lunch box

The poultry winners made most of my girls look like Hillbillies but at least my Buff cockerels looked on par with the buff winners, or so I thought!

As we watched the dog show, one of the Judges called over and said I should have entered George in the terrier class, "That is a good, well balanced dog" he said

"He comes from a good well balanced owner!" I replied.

We wandered around for a few hours, and although quite small, the show was incredibly traditional. Whereas the narration over the loudspeaker was in English for the horse judging, in a neighbouring field the commentary for the cattle and sheep was in Welsh.

We came home mid afternoon, I needed to drop off some fertilized hens eggs to a chap in Llanasa and managed to swap two day old chicks for Poppy the robust Male Buff cockerel. The day olds I have secreted under Lily.....here's hoping she will "adopt them"

worried

My blog reader from Korea hasn't logged in for a month now.....I am worried.....