seeing

As the laptop is in the bedroom with me, I felt the compulsion to get this little vignette of village life "on blog" as it were.
I slept for four hours then got up with my t shirt the wrong way round to make sure the animals were all watered and that Boris got his extra titbits. My friend Geoff and some visiting family called around for eggs so as I was seeing to them, I hardly noticed four walkers standing my the cottage wall. A young man was linking arms with an older man and both were admiring the back garden, so I left them to it,said a quick hello and went inside to collect some egg boxes. It was only after I had passed them for a second time did I realise that the younger man was blind and that the older chap was "showing" him a buddliea flower by describing it carefully as the blind man felt and smelt it.
I had almost overlooked this little moment in time due to over tiredness..hey ho
Off to bed again

Bliss

It is ages since I have done two night shifts together.
Unlike my normal "no sleep and get on with things", I have got to go to bed during much of today so that I can face another shift tonight.
So Chris has just fed me a nice cooked breakfast, I have no dogs to walk and have just fed and watered the birds so I can climb into a clean crisp bed without the guilt of jobs to do.
Our bed is quiet! and empty.....without the usual cacophony of grunts,farts and dog dreaming woofs it is now a haven of peace and tranquility where I can spread out in peace and decadence....
bliss

The Ghost

Today is wet and misty. I am working night shift tonight and tomorrow night, so I wanted us to "do something" this afternoon to ensure that the weekend was not a total bust.

So we went to theatre Clwyd to see Polanski's The Ghost.

It wasn't a half bad thriller , well that is for a rainy miserable afternoon that is and I liked the showy cast of thesps:.Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams ( a particular fav of mine), Kim Cattrall (a nice cool and sassy performance here) and the ubiquitous Tom Wilkinson, not to mention surprise pop ups by an almost skeletal Eli Wallach and a bald James Belushi.

The plot centring around the ghost writer for an ex British PM's biography, a CIA plot and murder, is far fetched to say the least but the direct comparison with the grinning Tony Blair is pleasing enough for the audience to enjoy and Polanski's use of a wintery New England and a strange colour tint to the filming makes for an interesting movie.

Don't look Nigel

but I gave it an 8/10

The raping of the hens

Chatting to neighbour Mandy over the compost heap yesterday, I was in an ideal position to see the sex crazed drake Halleh molesting another juvenile Hen. Being adopted by a hen, has given this handsome drake a penchant for nubile young chickens and 2 poor hybrids Ripley and Newt have been repeatedly flattened, mouthed and harassed by him
Mandy watched open mouthed when I interrupted our conversation with a sharp "oi!!!!!" and on impulse and with some frustration I lobbed a metal feeding bowl at the duck as he tottered past with his mouth full of hen feathers.
The bowl unexpectedly clacked Halleh on the head, and the poor thing stopped and immediately fell over, shaking violently.
"Bloody hell!" I cried to Mandy "I think I've killed him"
Mandy got on with her weeding, used to the somewhat bizarre goings on on the field, but as I checked on Halleh she did ask "well?............is he alright?"
In fact he was alright.....well, eventually that is.
He came around slowly, shaking his head from side to side then went to sulk in a patch of nettles for the rest of the afternoon.
Gawd I felt guilty, and checked on him occasionally, just in case he suffered a delayed subdural haematoma.
Every time I found him, he watched me warily with beady black eyes following my every move.......

Post Office Gossip, George and Dan's duck eggs

I bumped into Aunt Gladys in the post Office this morning. Deaf as a post but with her eyes bright and interested in all village gossip and news she eagerly asked me how the open allotment went. (although I am sure she had already had a detailed run down of the day)
When I informed her that her 60 "world famous labelled" scones had been sold within minutes of our opening I was delighted to see her beam with pride and mischief.
It is this almost childlike quality of enjoying life's little victories that seems to keep Gladys "younger" than most people in their twenties, and her genuine pleasure over the success of our open day was rather moving.

The only other bit of drama of the afternoon was the fact that George got a twig stick in his throat when we were out for a walk up the gop. A blue light dash to the vets, a quick anaesthetic , a nifty twist of a set of magills forceps and thirty five pounds later he was returned home non the worse for wear.....
These animals will be the death of me.......

......and finally....... the second batch of this year's duck eggs have just had a clean and polish and have been set up in the kitchen incubator!
I am hoping to hatch out a score of ducklings for a guy that attended the open day and for Dan, a fellow blogger over at http://allthatcomeswithit.com/, who is risking divorce by agreeing to add several runners to his back garden menagerie!
hey ho

ps welcome to another village blog reader at Anchor house!!

But. . . he's gay!

couldn't you just kiss her?

Crossing the Stone (Tros Y Garreg)

I heard this traditional Welsh piece of music on Classic FM this morning and it kind of stuck in my head.

Traffic cones in the Graveyard and morning observations

After the council workmen had cut the old Churchyard grass yesterday three brightly coloured traffic cones appeared much to the consternation of the guinea fowl, who crowded around them chattering furiously.
I ambled over to have a nose at what was going on, only to find that two of the older graves had collapsed into themselves, leaving rather creepy dark cave like holes in the grass.
I have been asked several times do I ever get nervous at living right next door to the Graveyard and I can honestly say no.
Now I am no goth here! I don't get my kicks wandering around, dressed all in black and musing about death all of the time, but there is something rather peaceful and almost comforting about the presence of old tombstones and graves.
No doubt the health and safety boffins will be swarming around the Church with their clipboards and red tape tomorrow!

Boris is slowly improving but still remains weak and pale after his collapse of last week. This morning he ambled over to stand under my arm as I fed him titbits of left over dog food and a piece of wholemeal bread and although quiet, I think the improvement I saw on Tuesday is continuing.
I have given him the wonder drink of apple cider vinegar in his water,wormed him, and sneaked him tasty morsels but the recovery remains slow.
Perhaps some of the turkey owning blog readers could suggest things that may well help even more?




On the other hand, the Ghost hens are going from strength to strength! Fat like ducks they waddle out of their coop every morning eager to face the day. They resemble a gaggle of old fashioned (mack and headscarf- you know the type) ladies that are off to do a bit of shopping as they do their circuit of the vegetable patches. Then, when they realise that they have daringly walked some 20 yards from their hen house, they look at each other, raise their heads in mild panic and then break for home (right pic)
I know I will not cull them now, the joy of seeing them turn from sick, sad little birds to robust bouncing hens is such a tonic, that the thought of eating them literally leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth....I have an idea....If they continue to improve, I will set them up with Jesus when his leg mite problem has improved. - Hopefully they will breed some impressive eating birds who will also lay