Camp Rosettes

The rosettes have arrived for the Flower Show Stewards, Show Secretary and me the Chairman......Humm they can only be described as being well....large........showey and just a tad......well camp!!!!
God Knows what the committee will say when they see them!

Chicken Course 2010

Another small group of affable despots completed their "Chicken Course for beginners" this morning. Today I had a chance to reinforce some of the areas we covered in the three weeks "theory" sessions and the "students" had a chance to closely examine a live chicken (Lily the tame buff was poked and prodded by a load of eager fingers!!!)

I taught them how to check for mites and lice then they had a go at wing clipping and general health checks, before I let them loose on the chicks.

It was all very relaxed and good natured fun.

Spring pace

It has felt a little like summer this afternoon.

The planting of more beans, cabbage and beetroot has been pleasantly interrupted by neighbours' visits and chats, so the pace of the day has felt somewhat plodding and pedestrian.

Ann from round the corner came to feed the pigs with her grandson who was wide eyed with silent admiration after he held a couple of the new chicks, and neighbours Ian and Helen from the Mill house from down the lane called in for eggs and a hopeful mention in today's blog!!

The red faced Welsh farmer dropped off a load of shavings for the hen coops as another neighbour Pippa ambled past ( she called around last night for eggs and taught me where to look in the night sky for Venus and Mercury)...earlier in the morning I talked to the widow who buried her husband earlier in the week , as she visited the graveyard, I had waved to her almost daily for months as she was always a regular visitor to the Church, but never had spoken to her before. It felt good to be able to offer my condolences

Let's hope this fine weather continues, it certainly lifts the spirits

Lambs

The guy that wanted his lambs rearing suddenly wanted payment for them and seemed unwilling to provide appropriate paperwork....
Given the nature of DEFRA regulations....I have now told him I am not interested
Hey ho

Dragon

I had the oddest dream last night.
It was a surreal story about my fraternal Grandmother, who died thirty years ago now.

When I was growing up I was lucky enough to have three grandparents living. My Maternal grandparents Gran and Grandad Fry, were huge dominant forces for good in their grandchildrens' lives, and we saw them constantly when growing up in those long hot days of childhood.

My father's mother, the diminutive Granny Gray, was to me , a benign and slightly more distant figure in my life. To us children she was a jolly, white haired , bespeckled, spherical old lady with slightly bowed legs and a handbag the size of her head.

She kept a folder hankie up her right sleeve of her cardigan, always smelt of talc and bought Battenberg cake for us to eat every Thursday afternoon, a day she used to "come for tea".
As Children, she remained a rather sweet, slightly bland old lady that never quite came up to scratch against a more robust, ham armed, big hearted Gran Fry, who seemed to eclipse everyone with her all encompassing maternalism!

Anyhow I digress. I thought it strange that I dreamt about Granny Gray last night. I have not really thought about her for years. But last night, there I was in my dream, stood in her 1940's style kitchen. On the walls were the over painted wooden cupboards filled with cups on hooks and flowery plates. The massive American style "refrigerator" was still motoring away with the old fashioned milk bottles inside it and on the drainer I could see glasses of sweet RIBENA all poured out to drink.I must have been 11 (coughs ...in 1973) when I last experienced this sight
The kitchen smelt musty and "old lady-ish" and the kitchen door was open so I could walk down the steep back door step into the sparse sun backed garden, where regimented rows of "old lady flowers" (carnations, hydrangeas and dahlias) lined up next to the brick path bordering.
Now in the dream, I knew what I was after. I walked to the front garden (through a green slatted gate) to find the small red stone Welsh dragon which sat against the path. I always loved this small garden figure, and when I grandmother died, I was always sad that I hadn't asked for it, now in my dream I was suddenly busy digging it up and off I went, with it tucked under my arm, stealing it!!!

Where the hell did this dream come from?
A few weeks ago I walked past my grandmother's old house ( her family had built four identical Edwardian houses for the siblings of the family in the centre of nearby Prestatyn). I remember thinking about the dragon (long since gone now)......

It would have looked lovely in our garden

Cabbages & houseperson blues

There was a funeral this afternoon at the Church, so I stationed myself in the field to prevent any bothersome turkey and runner duck activity as the mourners gathered around the graveside

I know just what to do now to minimise mourner irritation! The junior turkeys are locked away in their shed, and all of the poultry are fed spaghetti an half hour before the funeral starts; thus happily stuffed with carbohydrates the birds all retire to sleep in the field margins and minimal distraction is caused!

As the funeral took place, I planted row upon row of cabbages which all have been covered with netting. Then several rows of broad beans and peas followed as the sun shone down. The allotment is now completely back into shape if not just a little behind last year's growing schedule.

Now as blog readers be aware, I never complain about my allotment, and I am perfectly comfortable with my adopted role as "househusband"..but do you know, after today I feel just a little unappreciated with coping with the more banal aspects of home life.......now I expect just a little solidarity here by those, like me, who have to cope with the mundane and boring !
Today I had to wait a wasted hour or so for the car to have its MOT (which it bloody well failed), fanny-arsed around for an absolute age with my hand down the patio drain in an effort to clear a blocked pipe, scrubbed the lounge carpet with biological washing powder to remove George's uncharacteristic piss stain before mowing the front lawn ( a neighbour commented that it was looking scruffy), washing the cottage windows, and bleaching the kitchen floor free of grubby paw prints for the second time today before bagging up 7 bin bags of rubbish for collection tomorrow and dettol scrubbing the patio!
Chris (on his way to cosmopolitan excitement in London) was less than happy with the fact that the Berlingo failed, and my ill conceived presumption that he was "being all urbane and sophisticated" coupled with the fact I could actually smell just how bad my sweat shirt smelt after a good half hour's pee scrubbing...has made me feel a little undervalued....
I would really mind if I drank gin all day and watched Jeremy Kyle
Oh I wish I could always walk around the house baking pies and wiping my fat arms on my apron with a smile.............
or am I just being a little queeny again?

Wire Coathangers!!!!!!

I can be queeny as the rest of them!
However, if I do have "words" with a friend...I usually pride myself in sorting an "issue" out in a civilised, adult and only s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y Mommie Dearest kind of way!
Today was a case in point.
I have not heard from Hazel for a few weeks! no reply to my texts.....emails went unanswered and all this was pretty unusual...so yesterday I called again asking if everything was ok.....now when I got an eventual answer it was an email that did not acknowledge any reason for her silence and so I had two choices.....I could have said "well that's just Hazel!" and forgot about it....or I could have done a Sally Field from Brothers and Sisters and make a statement!
Of course I made a statement and I told her that I was upset by her apparent silence
I have always generally been able to share my bad feelings with friends as well as the good. I feel there is no point letting things fester....., done, that..worn the T shirt.......and boy, it doesn't work at all well and always seems to come right back at ya.
No, I think when you are pissed off with someone, you should endeavor to let them know it
and so I had a few words...
....and of course it was gratefully received....
Apologies were made,
Group hugs were initiated,
and we are going out next week....
.....hummm yes....I AM just as queeny as everyone else....

In just one day....we have GREENERY

At last spring has sprung. The flowering current in the garden has burst into life almost under the cover of darkness, and the field has turned from a dull lifeless brown/green to a warmer and more vibrant olive green. Accompanying the change of season has been a lift in my spirits. This is not just due to the warmer weather, the allotment itself has been under a bit of a threat recently, and this threat seems to have been resolved today.....and all I can do is sigh.

Anyhow after spending much of the day sorting out the trusty Berlingo for her MOT tomorrow (4 new tyres, new windscreen wipers etc), I sorted out some more chicken wire to nail to the dividing fencing between the field and graveyard. A couple of the more enterprising runner ducks have just developed the knack of sneaking under the smallest of breaks in the present day fencing...so with a bit of elbow grease, I should make the Graveyard a no go area.

Five more Chicks hatched out last night, so I have ten robust multicoloured hybrids squatting under the heat lamp in the shed. It is so nice to have some more babies again . In the post I received four goose eggs and some more guinea fowl eggs , so in a month or so, hopefully the next group of babies will be ready for some shed rehabilitation.....

The circle of life continues.

Finally, I must say a big thank you to Joanna (http://boonedockswilcox.blogspot.com/ ) for her thoughtful gift!..I have never had a gift from the Appalachians before!!