Chicken school

There is something rather benign about Chicken keepers I always think. 5 of the 6 course students attended my first "teaching" session this evening and they were just like my "first" group from last year!,in so much as they were cheerful, informed, slightly obsessed with animals and attentive. (yes I know.........sort of mini-mes in the making!)
The session went well, (even though I forgot the coffee) and the course fees will pay for this month vet's bills and two sacks of pig food!

Chicken Course II

I am in the process of topping up my depleted caffeine levels, as it has been a weird kind of a day. I worked last night and have not had any sleep this morning as I have been battling the on line NHS Jobs website as well as negotiating a somewhat unhelpful HR department by phone. (I have been debating applying for another job)

This afternoon I have been dog walking and field working and at 6.30, I am due to teach the first session of my second "chicken keeping for beginners" course at the village hall, and I feel completely knackered.

hey ho, after a few cups of the lovely black stuff and a hot bath and I shall be right as rain.

Phil Archer RIP

It's the end of an era. Jill Archer spent a rare day out with Peggy Woolly and Christine Barford and came home to find her 82 year old husband dead in the living room armchair.

It has been a long time coming as actor Norman Painting, who has played the Ambridge farmer for over 58 years, passed away last October, and I must admit I wondered just how the BBC would "get rid" of one of their most loved and respected characters!

In the end, Phil was found by his wife, in a peaceful understated scene which , as it turned out , was incredibly underplayed, brief and rather moving........The BBC does it again, as when it counts, this wonderful old soap comes up trumps again

dawn in Trelawnyd

It is usual for me to go back to bed for an hour after going the "chores" on a Sunday morning....Let me paint you a picture! There is Chris, sipping coffee and.....reading a biography of the Queen Mother whilst listening to radio 4 and the Sunday service........
and there is me, covered in dogs, listening to my digital radio ( the bitchy steve Allen on london talk radio) still in my woolly hat and longjohns.......
Happy Valentine'd day!

Inglourious Basterds

I am not a lover of Quentin Tarantino movies, but I must admit I have a sort of grudging admiration for the guy after sitting through the world war II revenge movie Inglourious Basterds.

Every Zig zagging Tarantino trick is used in this movie....the audience is wrong footed time and time and time again, as characters are suddenly introduced, then seem to seesaw back and forth in their own power struggles and importance before being dispatched or dropped with an icy cold and very violent regard.

As usual the plot is convoluted and cram packed with overly "clever" dialogue (the opening 10 minute exchange between French farmer (the very attractive Denis Menochet) and Nazi Jew hunter Landa (Christoph Waltz) is a particular standout, but it is in certain tension cranking set pieces (and I am talking about the scene in a pub basement where a British agent,Michael Fassbender is unearthed as a spy) that Tarantino really flexes his muscles to the greatest cinematic effect.

I enjoyed these moments of the movie greatly but hated the gratuitous violence within other parts of the film. I also found Brad Pitt'S performance ( as the Jewish hit squad leader) rather uncomfortable and irritating to watch, but must add that Christopher Waltz was a revelation as the charming,unpredictable and psychopathic Col Landa and the two women in the film,Mélanie Laurent as a Jewish survivor and Diane Kruger as a German double agent are also particulary good

An interesting, uncomfortable,sometimes irritating and occasionally exhilarating movie 8/10

(photo Denis Menochet- sigh)

Dry stone wall geeks

Saturdays are usually a day for the weekly shop, a massive cooked breakfast at Sainsburys and a long walk on the beach. It is a day for Chris to "come down" after his busy week stretching his brain to excess at the University, and is also a day that I usually don't have to cook anything! (I am not the best of cooks!- but I can bake).
Anyhow when I returned to the field to check on the stock, Steve (above) had already started on the Herculean job of preparing the foundation of the repair of the Church wall. I have said before, he is going to teach me how to dry stone wall, but I guess he couldn't quite resist getting stuck in.
He figures that the original wall was constructed in the 1700's, and when I asked him what would be our course of action if we come across a skull or a pair of feet from the ancient Graveyard as we continue our repairs.... he wryly stated
"we stop!"

Tonight is a night in with lasagna and a movie. We are watching Inglourious Basterds, which I will review tomorrow (I hope Alex, Bel and Victor H will review it too!!!)

I have been given three young Rhode Island Red's from a friend in the village. Which was a awfully nice thing for her to do! The young girls will help plug the hole left by the fox attack two weeks ago!, and I will pick them up on Wednesday.

Guilty Pleasures & reorganisation

There was another burial in the churchyard this morning, so leaving the gravedigger and his lorry parked on the field, I went to Prestatyn to complete some jobs for Chris and to walk the dogs. Chris' moped broke down on the way to work today at 6.45am, but our phone is not working properly so didn't ring when he called for assistance! Subsequently he had to get my sister and her husband out to help him as I slumbered!Suffice to say he was not happy!! hey ho!

Now today's blog is entitled Guilty Pleasures ..... and no I am not reviewing some trashy tv movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery from the 1980s (My friend Nigel would be upset that this is not the case), I am actually referring to those little treats that you afford yourself to from time to time.....
This morning was a case in point.
I lost one of the dogs' leads on the beach this morning, so I called into "Home Bargains" ( the cheap shop in Prestatyn) to buy another one. When I was waiting in line to pay I notice jars of frankfurter sausages for the knockdown coast of 49p and on impulse bought one! Now all this is not particularly interesting, I would admit...but I have to be honest when I say I am rather partial to these cheapo amalgams of offal, even if they do look like dead man's fingers!)

Sitting back inside the car at the car park, I opened the jar and gave each dog a hot dog of their own( this can be a difficult procedure as the hot dogs are slippery little buggers and are surrounded in saline)- then I sat back comfortably and chomped my way through the 6 others with great pleasure.
I even have a particular way of munching the hot dog without even holding onto it, a feat which drives the dogs wild with excitement!
The whole event was watched by an elderly couple, who were sat in the car opposite....they must of thought I was some sort of lunatic!
I thought I would list my other "guilty pleasures"

Proper coffee,
custard slices,
Judge Judy
Chopper coppers (or any other tv police reality show)
Reading "home and antiques" on the loo,
Magnum ice cream
Cinema visits in the afternoon,




Anyhow enough of all this navel gazing. This afternoon I set the buffs up together again into a small breeding group. I had originally separated Scotty ( the cockerel) from the 5 hens as their feathers and skin were in a dreadful state after being covered constantly by the old cockerel Clover ( who died last year).Now they are in tip top form and look quite beautiful, so I have decided to put the birds together so I can collect some fertilised buff eggs for the incubator and to replace the two buffs that were killed recently by the fox. Scotty (above) is a sweet natured cockerel and is not quite as rampant than Clover, so, hopefully the girls will be left unscathed. It will be nice to have some chicks again.

Anyhow the gentle pace of the day continues. I am off now to start clearing the next vegetable patch and have arranged to start repairing the foundation of the Church wall next week with Steve. I am looking forward in learning how to lay a dry stone wall

Lonely

http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/ is an incredibly funny blog site that displays wry. pithy and often hilarious notes left by the general public.
Tonight I noted this rather sad message left by a college student on his/her bedroom door......
and my heart broke just a little......a brief message...but it says so much.....