Caught with my pants (off)

After five hours of lugging wheelbarrows of stones from one side of the field to another, I was left tired and incredibly dirty.
I have been tipping the scree from behind the Church wall into the pig enclosure, by the gate to provide the girls with a mud free platform upon which they can be fed and checked over.
And although the work has been back breaking, it feels rather satisfying to have completed a large and necessary job.
When I got back to the cottage, I peeled off my filthy work pants, socks and underpants and put them into the washing machine, and dressed rather bizarrely in just my "Poseidon Adventure" T shirt, I made myself a cup of coffee!
Now why have I told you this small nugget of personal information, I hear you ask? well, it is only "interesting" as I hadn't noticed two Scottish Electricity workmen standing at the back door window waiting to tell me that they were about to work on our power supply cables!
I don't know who was more embarrassed, them or me!!.......as I dragged the dog blanket out of the basket to hide my modesty, I babbled that I was cleaning my dirty pants and that's why I was nearly naked......The two middle aged workmen were not impressed! (by anything!!!!!!!!!!!! erhmmmm!

The guinea fowl survived another night,even though I did catch Alf walking around the churchyard under the glare of the street light from the lane at 9.30 PM!!! I chased him up into the elms and he too made it safely to morning.
Above Alf with Hughie with the small shy Ivy hiding behind!
Ok enough of fowl...we are finally off to see Up in the Air later!

Life IS a movie

Bel-Ami was right when he likened the struggle for life here on my little field as something from a Lillian Gish movie.........ok my animals have not bounced across an ice covered river in their stocking feet, but the last few days have been rather dramatic for a few of the more junior members of the animal population, that is to be sure.

This morning, I walked out into the sunshine with a heavy heart as not one of the guinea fowl could be seen waiting by the hen houses for their morning's ration of corn. I fed and watered the pigs and then called out in the churchyard for Hughie and there was still nothing!

So I as I started to open the first of the hen houses, Rogo the cockerel inside let rip with a lusty crow, and suddenly I heard a familiar chatter from the field wall and there stood Hughie, calling out excitedly with the two surviving junior guinea fowl (who I have now named Ivy and Alf -after my great uncle and Aunt) in tow behind him.

It was just like the end of Lassie come Home!,and all that was needed to complete the scene was some soaring violin strings and a box of Kleenex.

Mr Bel Ami, you ARE right sometimes......"life IS a movie"

ps All guinea fowl are safely up in the tree this evening! (jazz hands!!!!)

Duvet fights

My sister called up this evening in a gesture of support. Both of us watched with baited breath, as Hughie led his new small family band up into the Churchyard elm, and both the little blue male and the tiny black female ( I worked out she is a female as she has been calling the typical two syllable call of "buck wheat" all day.) scrambled up behind him with a great deal of difficulty.
The 13 hen houses have all been locked up tight, and extra door latches have been attached as well as extra heavy stones repositioned in front of poop doors and on roof openings.
Anyway, enough already........I have done all this to death on the blog.....Fingers crossed that everyone is ok by morning!


The cold weather has increased the surreptitious nocturnal events of "duvet jumping" in this household.....and the whole thing, as small scale habits often do, has gotten completely out of control!
Duvet Jumping is the term I give to the sport indulged by the dogs to illicit the most prestigious and comfortable part of the bed in the middle of the night. Now only George has true permission to sleep on the bed at night as he alone curls up well out of the way of legs and bums at the very end of the duvet. Yet over the past few months Meg, William and even Albert have now joined the merry throng, which has caused us many warm but uncomfortably "crushed" sleepless nights.
For Meg, it is purely a need to be close to me at all times. for William, it is a joyful game, which starts when Albert uses the cat litter tray in the middle of the night. Albert will open the kitchen door in order to reach his tray, thus giving William a 3 second window to wake up from his bed on the floor and negotiate the rapidly closing door in order to allow his entrance to the rest of the house.
He will then joyfully swallowdive onto the bed (making as much noise and fuss as possible) and will try to oust Meg from her position of power in beteen Chris and myself. Meg will cling to her piece of the duvet with the tenacity of a limpet, and will usually win this almost silent power struggle
Only Maddie, has any sense at all ( and I include Chris and I in this) as she always sleeps peacefully AND ALONE on the couch....
we must be mad

More Bad news

The fox returned last night.
This morning a small circle of blue feathers marked the spot in the Churchyard where another of the guinea fowl met a sad end.
At dawn, when I returned home, only one blue and the delicate little black male survived the night, but at least both have "teamed" up with the old hand Hughie.
I am gutted.
But dogs need to be walked and pig food needs to be bought....
I will try to blog a little happier blog later

ps.

I have just come in after locking up the stock. I have reinforced most of the coops that required it, and have had to leave the field in a state of nervousness, as the last surviving guinea fowl prepare for the night.
Two of the three birds were injured by the attack of last night, but I just could not capture them to check the extent of the damage!
At dusk the two more robust blue fowl followed Hughie up into the Church elm (albeit just into the low branches), leaving the shy little black male on the ground. I just couldn't bear the suspense of waiting for him to join the others so I bolted for the cottage. I am working tonight so cannot watch over them.....mind you we were both out last night, when the opportunistic fox or badger struck!

Me and my BIG mouth

Me and my big mouth! Yesterday I blogged that all the animals were fine (and specifically mentioned the guinea fowl) and last night the adolescent birds were attacked in their coop by a fox or possibly a badger!
Two birds were taken (a blue and a pied) and the body of the little white female was disemboweled and left inside the house. The three survivors were sat outside the runs with Hughie, when I went out this morning, and all looked quiet but unhurt.
I am gutted, as I had become quite attached to the little characters chattering around the place like the old ladies from Cranford.
I only wish that the birds had learnt to roost earlier, rather than to return to the coop. The trees would have provided a slightly safer place for them to sleep.
I took Chris to the station early this morning, as he is off to London to see The Jersey Boys with a friend from work. He was a little preoccupied to show me much sympathy....which is perhaps for the best!
hey ho!

Dancing

We had forgotten we had signed up for a trip to the Liverpool Arena with the Prestatyn allotment group..so tonight Chris, I and Janet joined in for a fairly happy-go-lucky night watching the "stars" of Strictly Come Dancing!
It was all fairly good natured, completely scripted fun, with 8 thousand applauding, gay friendly women enjoying tv celebrities dancing rather well with their almost-as-friendly professional dancers

The night was great fun......nothing overtly amazing......but very good fun......especially as we downed a large amount of gin and tonic in the minibus!

I have had withdrawl symptoms from the field today as I have been on a moving and handling study day ALL day!... suffice to say that the girls,pigs and guinea fowl are all fine!!!

Worth Repeating

Cassie left a note on my previous blog about a family dinner that was not so happy for her....
I replied with this, one of my very first blogs, which my sister Ann has just read for the first time...
I think it is worth repeating!

little actions of kindness

Today I have been thinking of something that happened many years ago.It was a little action of kindness that had a profound effect on me and made me believe in the humanity within man.One Sunday, I think it was around new year, we were having lunch at home, all of us "visiting" my parents. My twin sister and I would have been around 26, my elder sister and her husband in their forties. My mother was a not-so-secret drinker and was pretty smashed as I recall. She carried on preparing the lunch and serving it as though sober, but it was all too apparent to all how much she had indeed drunk. In typical English/family secret way we all tried ignore her slurring and clumsiness, but as she tottered off into the kitchen my father could not bare it anymore and burst into tears.We were all mortified!, and concentrated on our lunches as though they were the only meals we had ever been presented with. Only My elder sister reacted. Immediately and gently, and without undue fuss she lent over and cupped her hand on my father's cheek. It lasted but a moment, but in that one tiny act of kindness she gave him her support,affection and control, it quietened him and he carried on his meal as we all did.That gesture strengthened us all, and I have never forgotten it, it was something unique and special and these things are often surprisingly overlooked in our self absorbed lives.I am glad I remembered it