Pre dawn shenanigans

It was just going light when we all were woken by something screaming its head off in the kitchen. The dogs as though electrocuted, tumbled down the stairs barking and growling and by the time I got there all three had trapped a rather irate Albert on top of the cooker. He had a small baby rabbit in his mouth and the poor thing was screaming like a little girl.
When I yelled at him (above the din of howling and barking) he dropped the rabbit, who promptly leaped off the cooker onto the floor.
The dogs went wild!
I booted George away first (he is the best ratter), slapped Meg out of the way and lunged for the baby as it tried to dive under the fridge. by some miracle I caught it!,(the dogs were beside themselves at this stage) and still in a rather unflattering pair of boxer shorts I took the little thing outside and placed it inside a wicker picnic hamper in the shed (with Lilly and her THREE chicks)
I know nothing about baby rabbits so checked the trusty old google to see what to do, below was something useful


"The baby rabbits leave the nest at approximately 3-4 weeks of age. If the rabbit is as big as a tennis ball (or fully fills your hand), then it is able to survive in the wild. If it fits within your hand or is obviously tiny and small or injured, then it needs to be re-nested or given to a wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible. At 3-4 weeks of age, their instincts to survive in the wild are fully intact. They know how to camouflage themselves, what natural foods to eat, and what a predator is and how to behave around it. They automatically know to run away from a predator in a “broken path” pattern to make it difficult for a predator to catch them"

Armed with this knowledge I picked up the baby, ( still in boxers and t shirt) and walked over to the field where I let it go in my parsnip bed (there is a baby rabbit hole next to it) off he/she went down his burrow and the hysteria of the night was over
Our poor neighbours

I'm Spartacus

It's all a bit silly but Andy Whitfield is so better looking than Kirk Douglas

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442449/

Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir - The Rose (mpeg test 3+)

Tonight at around 9pm, I took the dogs for a walk to the Memorial Hall in the centre of the village, The Trelawnyd Male Voice Choir have their Choir practice every Tuesday evening, and it's wonderfully relaxing just standing outside the hall,listening to them singing their hearts out.

I so want to audition for the choir, but am crippled with the anxiety of not being good enough....another legacy from a pair of disinterested parents me thinks......

regrouping & more babies

I still have felt rather blue today.
Everyone has that special "something" that they can do to re centre themselves. A special treat that restores their Zen and balances the old yin and yang (!) , may be a relaxing bath, a quadruple whiskey....pneumatic sex...a long sleep......trashy food.......whatever it is, it is necessary to make sure you indulge in before you feel as though you are going slightly bonkers.
For me, it is always trip to the cinema, and because I was feeling ever so slightly maudlin today AND it was raining, I thought a trip to a movie would be appropriate.
So what was on at the scala? The Prince of soddin Persia, Sex and the cruddy city 2 and the bag of laughs Bad Lieutenant.....ie bog all good.....so I had to resort to plan B and went to Llandudno (above) for a mooch around the book shops and a proper coffee.

If I cannot get into a movie, a proper coffee, and the smell of a bookshop is usually just enough to make me feel "normal" The coffee shop in Waterstones bookshop in Llandudno is of course one of those plastic chain cafes, but the coffee is passable, the service by the verbally challenged teenage staff is just this side of ok and the books always are on hand.

I treated myself to two cups of coffee and read a few chapters of Nevil Shute's Pied Piper (Thank you to my father-in-law for the birthday book token)....hummm I know I looked all Bohemian and pretentious, sat there with my coffee and a book....but for a hour or so I could pretend I was Carrie Bradshaw and was content with my short "urban" break.

Nevil Shute, is a very readable author. His stories are simply told and organised and although they seem rather old fashioned now, they are a cracking good read. Pied Piper is a kind of adventure story in the Inn of the Sixth Happiness vein. It concerns an elderly English gentleman who is caught in France at the start of the war. Before the fall of the country he continually finds himself entrusted with a succession of children and the novel chronicles their attempt to escape to Britain.

I got home at 4pm more like my normal self and was just in time to catch a visitor to the Churchyard who pointed out some frenetic Magpie activity around the broody boxes. Lilly the buff was still firmly sat on her eggs, but was growling fiercely at the two magpies that were stood right outside her hutch door, obviously wanting to shift her from her nest. I took a quick look and there underneath her were two small black chicks. I have now moved the entire box into the shed, where mother and chicks will be safe. Kate Winslett and her single white chick, Constance seem to be doing well, safely in their closed coop.

Priscilla Ahn "Dream" (Lyrics)

I have been playing this a great deal over the past few days..........

Returning Mojo

I am now bored of moaning. After an early night,(a VERY LARGE wine) and a good night's sleep, physically and mentally I feel a whole lot better.......The busboy Paul Giamatti summed it all up when he said to a depressed Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding "this too shall pass"
and of course yesterday's shitty experiences have now passed into memory.....(er well almost!)
Jane, the slate turkey returned to the field briefly this morning to feed and drink. I was not swift enough to track her back to her secret nesting area, but at least she's still around.

Kate Winslett's single chick is doing ok. I bobbed her remaining unhatched eggs and all 5 were duds...so it's just Kate and her baby.

I don't usually name chicks but this single ball of fluff I have nicknamed Constance. I have done this because the name has been stuck in my mind for a few days now. I understand quite clearly why it has lodged there, Chris stated at some time he wanted another bitch to replace Maddie, and I have agreed but not until next year. I have already experienced just how a change in the dog's pecking order can cause mayhem, and I feel it is vital that we don't rush into anything that could upset the apple cart yet again....

Anyhow it has become a tradition that I name our pets. I hate fluffy bunny type names for dogs ,preferring ordinary down-to-earth ones, and dogs in particular need easily recognisable individual names that they can respond to. If we ever get another bitch then I would like to call her Constance or "conn-ie!!"
Today I remembered just why I like the name Constance. It stems from my childhood movie watching days, and in particular comes from the film The Three Musketeers (1948). June Allyson ( yes she of the deep gravelly lisping voice) played the virtuous Constance Bonacieux who was so unfairly killed by the bitch-face-from-hell ,Lady de Winter (Lana Turner). At around 8 years old or so, I remember thinking just how awful it was that Constance could die, and willed that Gene Kelly got to her in time before Milady stabbed her. It was a seminal moment in a movie going childs life, and in retrospect probably taught me a great deal about the unfairness of death.(as well as teaching me to deal with a bit of a hero crush on Van Heflin who played Athos)

Hummm...on further reflection I probably wanted to BE Constance just a little....she was so sweet and likable but was bound to be a bit of a victim in that Judy Garland type mode.........hey I was sooo gay....even then....and even at eight!

ps

....just checked on the stock before their bedtime..Jane, the slate turkey has dissapeared.....bollocks!

A shitty kind of day

I don't have many crap days, but as you can imagine as it has been a pretty shitty fu*king week, today just had to be one of the shittiest!
It has been an amalgamation of factors that has led to all this...all of them pretty insignificant in themselves..but when you add them all together! It's a big soddin hey ho!

1. Blanche squashing all of her chicks flat on her nest
2. After my sister and I weeded the largest of the vegetable beds: a raiding party of Indian runner ducks have stripped the hearts out of everyone of my little gem lettuces
3. After collecting the eggs, I left the bowl full of them on the field wall. When I remembered what I had done, someone had removed all of the hens eggs (the duck eggs were thoughtfully left!)
4. Two of the bourbon red turkeys went walkabout from their enclosure and had to be chased back up the lane, halting a somewhat irritated farm worker in a large tractor
5. Albert has beheaded another sparrow, thoughtfully in the centre of newly laundered duvet cover
and number 6:

The dogs had a mega fight in the living room! I suppose my guess that the canine pecking order had not been affected by Maddie's death was wrong, as out of the blue William suddenly and without any warning attacked George. I must have overlooked the possible reason for it, but when I got to them, both dogs were locked tightly together growling loudly. Meg hearing the ruckus galloped down the stairs and joined in the attack on poor George, and despite being soundly slapped with an enamel jug ( the only thing that came to hand) I couldn't separate them.

After an age, and several blood splatters on the carpet. I ran into the kitchen, emptied the washing up bowl of dishes and hit all three dogs with over a gallon of cold soapy water, which distracted them all for a split second , which was long enough for me to reach down and drag George to safety.

Apart from a few puncture wounds, no one was seriously hurt, however the living room looked as though an elephant had run amok all over the place! George stalked outside for a sulk (above) and the Welsh settled down as if nothing had happened...perhaps they have been unsettled with Maddie dying....after all her presence always seemed to be the steadying influence within the pack. The fight has upset me greatly

To make it up to George I have just taken him for a drive to the village shop where I treated him to a pack of pre cooked turkey slices...... well it me feel a little better!