i''ve just found my web cam!!!

If people think that I actually sit at a desk as I write this rubbish, please think again! This is me typing my blog on the couch this evening, with William trying every trick in his much varied repertoire to obtain my attention

I have just returned from Chicken course session 3,and still my students seem to be learning and enjoying themselves. I think that it speaks volumes that they still are making the effort to attend and all nine of them should be calling in to my field next week for their last practical lesson of feather trimming and vent checking!

I will make sure I bake them a victoria sponge and have Chris on hand with the tea tray! I will grab a group photo too!.....it will look good on my proposed chicken course web site!- cracking vindication of a job well done....tee hee....the group of August 09!

I have tons to do this week. I am working Thursday night. need to get shedloads of work completed for the Saturday Flower Show on Friday and before that we are meeting up with Australian Buddies Nia and George who are visiting family in Liverpool on Wednesday.

There are just not enough minutes in the day

I will have to get a better camera

We had a lovely evening at my brothers party even though the music wasn't quite to our taste Met up with Nephew Chris with his lovely partner Rebecca and our other Nephew pete with his ever cheerful baby Louie in tow. Louie has been taught to "sign" his needs as deaf children are,, which I thought was facinating, apparantly it allows pretalking children to communicate better and reduces frustration and bad behaviour.

He has a whole range of signs for different situations

Good food and too much beer!

Sunshine

We have more warm weather at last and true to form Albert has spent a great deal of his time sunbathing on the lane, only moving when the roar of farm tractors become too much.

I have spent the day strimming, Chris has had a sleep in as we are going to Andrew's big bash tonight...All the family are going so I hope to get a rare TOTAL family photo.

I have already enrolled 2 people on my next "Chickens for beginners " course too!

Bing Crosby - Busy Doing Nothing

I have also been singing this song for most of the afternoon!
I love the harmony achieved in the last "time"
The red faced farmer called in this afternoon and kindly dropped me off some chicken fencing....he almost caught me bouncing around in the grass trying to reach that last note!
I am such a dick sometimes!

Les Miserables

I found myself humming One Day More from Les Miserables for most of the afternoon and I cannot quite believe that I first saw this musical over 23 years ago now!
Much has been said by critics about how Les Mis was a heavyhanded and popularist musical, but I have always loved it , because of the quality of the songs.
I always remember the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, when the original cast belted out ONE DAY MORE at the end of the first act.
The audience went wild!

A hen only her mother could love

Mildred Pierce has never been a pretty hen. Two years ago she lost her feathers after a moult and never really regained them. She also pecks her own feathers (despite having gallons of anti peck spray and violet antibiotic spray covering those sore bits) and has red bald spots all over her body. I have treated her for mites,lice,skin irritations and every poultry illness and disease known to man, and she still looks as though she has been run over by a ten ton bus!
Having said that, she eats well, produces a good amount of eggs and will take on all comers if she feels at risk or in danger, so I have been in a quandary about what to do for the best, to improve her condition.
The vets couldn't come up with anything new, so today, in the warmth of the afternoon, I have treated her with a bath of warm water laced with tea tree oil, then I have treated her sore wings with betnovate. She seemed to enjoy the attention
I cut the lawn and started to clear the huge backlog of hedge cutting and shrub clearing, before Chris and I called in to drop off my brother-in-law's birthday gift. The whole family are getting together tomorrow night for a bash, so Steve, from down the road has kindly taken on hen duties!

My catch up

I have found the last two day shifts pretty busy and very tiring. Today, sudden admissions and trauma cases mean that everyone has to be on their toes, and sometimes I feel I am slightly behind everyone else as I am physically not in the swing of things as much as others, but at least I am cheerful!
The dogs especially feel my absence and were desperate for their walk when I eventually got home mid afternoon.The weather has improved so it actually feels a little like summer, so with the alarms of the intensive care monitors. still ringing in my ears we had a glorious 90 minute walk around the hills and fields.
I didn't get into the field until late afternoon, and after the general jobs were completed, I took the camera around to capture the animals themselves, in the peace and stillness of the afternoon.
The pigs with their "extra" feeds from the locals have now put on a little too much weight, so I have had to limit their treats to vegetables and fruit only ( and NO rich tea biscuits!)....the rest of the hundredweight of burger buns have been shared with the hens. Strangely enough the runners don't like bread too much....it gives them the squits!

The 11 young hens in the main enclosure are approaching point of lay, and seven of them are hens which is encouraging! Five of these will take over egg laying duties from the older hens, and the two others , which are buffs will join the 5 strong group of buff females. Seven girls and one cockerel will be a good breeding colony.

Halleh, is a delight and remains firmly part of the small hen flock. He doesn't always seems to understand why the hens are acting the way they do, but gamely joins in with any activities. Above he is running alongside Linda and his mother Blanche as they chase Nonnie who had managed to grab herself a large beetle

Kate Winslett and her chicks have been moved into the movable outdoor run and I have relocated them to fresh ground. One little Black chick looks a little quieter than the others but all are eating and drinking well, so I will keep a general eye on him/her

I have not had much of a chance to bond with Boris for a while, so when Albert uncovered a nest of baby mice ( which he very cruelly killed), I spent a grizzly (but for Boris a delicious ) time feeding him these little danties whole! He sat at my feet afterwards and belched quite happily!

The five other new girls that survived the fox attack in Lloc, have settled down brilliantly and are great little egg layers!! Below is Araucana Patty, with her posh head feathers.

She lays pretty blue eggs

I watched the animals pottering around until dusk!

Helen and Hazel

Helen (2008) was supposed to be an interesting indie film. The lead,-Helen is a teenage girl who, when asked by the police to play the stand-in for a reconstruction, realizes it gives her a chance to confront her own troubled past and reinvent herself into the sort of girl she would like to be (ie. the victim, who to her had everything in her life)
Yeap sounds a potentially fascinating study of unhappiness...in reality it was a pile of sh*te.
Hazel and I walked out after a long half hour of stilted acting and even more plodding writing. It was ok though, as we spent a jolly hour with a coffee and a beer in a local pub garden discussing Hazel's return to the dating scene after her recent divorce.
She looks great, has just bought a spiffing new sporty car and is enjoying a new job and an even more enjoyable decorated house.....dating at 40, we decided is an exciting new venture for her!....yeap the discussion was a very Sandra Bullock and Stanley Tucci rom com moment
Working tomorrow morning YET AGAIN........hope the shift is better than this morning's!