Going Gently

The Ghost hens.

For Maugre!

Here is a brief video of the ghost hens ( sorry Nigel) As you can see they are buxom, slow and rather mute birds but there is something quite benign and sweet natured about them

I have one gay male friend ( well only one officially gay friend that is), and that is my good mate, city living Nigel
Tonight we had a chin wag.
He is pretty stressed at the moment as he is battling through his PhD, but after a bit of brief bitching about deadlines and the like, we finally reduced the quality of conversation to subjects that would elicit some humour and silliness
The subject of my blog came up and he wryly commented on my heavy livestock biased writing
"when I see a photo of a chicken on one of your blog posts...I skip it!!!!"
Message to self....re: tomorrow's blog"
...............no more hens.........

Getting Chris to relax, a fortress and good news

Sometimes you experience a day that keeps you busy but doesn't sound that exciting...well not to anyone but me I suppose.
Chris left for a week's holiday in Broadstairs this morning, he needs the break, not only has he working extra hard over the past few months, he has been intermittently smoking again, which doesn't do well with someone's stress levels especially as he has been playing around with his nicorette patches! A week with his family, at the scenic beach in Broadstairs will, I hope, recharge his batteries.....having said this...my request that he leaves his work laptop at home fell on deaf ears!
If I can eventually find a house sitter that can look after the field, we both will be able to take a break sometime...hopefully in Sitges in Spain..........but for now I am on hen watch.....it's going to be a quiet week ...both my friends here Geoff and Hazel are away on holiday...hey ho!

Anyhow this morning my neighbour John helped me collect my new second hand hen house, which was a snip at 10 quid! It had been displayed at a local feed wholesaler and needed a little work to get it back into shape, but essentially was a huge, robustly made coop.

I painted it this afternoon, and fixed the broken doors and then bought another ridge tile to cover the heavy house tiled roof. After an hour or so, it looked mighty fine and sturdy enough to catch the eye of a visiting farmer!

"Do you think it will keep out a fox?" I asked him....and with a chuckle he stated "The only way that a fox would get into that house is with a f*cking hand grenade"

I used the left over paint to tidy up several small enclosures that had been donated to me by the animal rescue centre at Trelogan. I know it is slightly presumptuous but I want these ready for the hopeful next hatching of ducklings that are due in twelve days or so

By 6pm I was buggered. and had a quick moment of cloud watching before Lily clambered up onto my tummy....who said hens can't be affectionate?
The anonymous fruit leaver has continued to drop kind offerings off for Boris. He loves these little treats and today sucked out the centre out of each tomato with delightful relish ( I had to break them open for him.....of course...remember Turkeys are thick as mince.
The great news of the day is that my friend Nia has just had her second baby over in Australia! Little Molly Seren ( Welsh for star) is a real cracker and I am so pleased for her.....after looking after Leo for a five days, I now feel as though I am an expert in child care.....and can talk about babies without my usual reticence!!!
Humm another skill tucked under my belt.....

Off to lock the birds up now....I suspect this week I shall be watching a great many dvds and all the cupboards in the cottage will be cleaned out at last

Tiny Chick Robot

I hate to say this but the women sat in the library, stroking several poorly constructed obese robotic chicks need to get a f"*King life ......sad sods

Catching Blogs

My sister can be a big Luddite where computers are concerned!
Her stress levels have been pretty high, but with some patient counselling she has now banged out her own blog site which supports an excellent cause!
So if you have a minute, pop over to http://supportingandrew.blogspot.com/ and leave her a message of encouragement...... she is doing a sterling job selling charity wrist bands in support of the ALS association (above Chris sporting his band)

Thank you!

Anyhow I was on night shift last night and the Intensive care Unit was quiet which made a change. I didnt have a patient, and offered to go home to return another night to cover a short shift, but my request fell on deaf ears. Today I have sorted out Janet's blog and bought a second hand hen house from the animal wholesalers! I now have 18 hen houses !

Red Bracelets name the actors

I have posted before that my brother has a version of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is often referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis)

His walk down the Mountain of Snowdon went a long way to highlight this syndrome and other health conditions , and it provided my sister with a springboard to publicise The ALS association by selling their distinctive red band bracelets to everyone she can.

Her added challenge is to photograph each person she sells the bracelet to and to publish the photos on a specific facebook page (I need to find it out!)....she even wants Boris to "sport" one of them..which will be a first on facebook I suspect.......

Above is a photo on Andrew's facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1448484955#!/photo.php?pid=31521543&fbid=1561383961704&id=1448484955)
He has set a challenge up on it for anyone to guess the actors in the above photograph (My brother is third from left next to the Welsh pop star Mike Peters (second from left)
The winner will be sent a free ALS Bracelet!

Below me sporting my ALS bracelet during yesterday's cloud watching moment

Post Show thinking

I had to go for a sleep this afternoon as things kind of caught up with me. As usual William (above) and Meg joined me for the afternoon siesta and the "catch up" was much needed believe me. I thought it prudent to keep out of Chris' way, as he is suffering from nicotine fueled irritation (the odd fag coupled with incorrect nicorette patch usage
...hey..bloody .....ho!

In between jobs, I indulged myself with a bit of cloud watching. As I lay there watching the clouds bounce by,I spent 30 minutes giving the flower show a post mortem and was joined by Winnie who has been transformed into one magnificent goose. She ( I am still not sure of her gender..although she has the most beautiful blue eyes) waddled over to me as I lay in the grass and honked loudly in my ear, though just stopped short of rubbing my neck with her beak as she did when a gosling.

We have not worked out costing as yet, but I am sure that although attendance on the day was down ( remember our sister village of Llanasa was staging their all singing and all dancing scarecrow festival at the same time)...entries and raffle ticket sales were up on the day which I was rather proud of. Mind you Auntie Gladys personally trolled round the countryside and sold nearly 350 quids worth of raffle tickets all by herself.

What WAS nice is that a nice cross section of new participants won prizes in the show. One lady from the village sheltered accommodation was tickled pick to have won the best hydrangea bloom with her last minute entry which I heavily encouraged her to enter and almost lost the power of speech when she won the Judge's "special" rosette for the best in show flower entry.

It was nice to witness her reaction

Yesterday I met a great number of very nice people.

Two ladies from a nearby town, were a case in point; they entered a score of show sections without any experience of either our village or show protocol. Their enthusiasm for the old fashioned feel of our set up, I thought , was rather infectious and they have promised to enter more produce in the Show next year.

As for family and friend "winners" Geoff nabbed several firsts for his cakes;My sisters won for floral displays and garden flowers and my cousin Carol ( who always supports us very well) got a second for her tomatoes.

Apart from my embarrassing second for my quiche (that's still smarting!) I won for herbs, flowers and of all things my courgettes...and nabbed second places for my boiled egg,apples (nicked from the orchard behind the cottage) and cactus)

The Trelawnyd Flower Show 2010- Quiche failure

The Flower Show maintains it's successful 37 year run.

It has been a hard days slog, but with a group of positive and helpful committee members and a host of affable helpers, as usual we have produced a show which has increased its entry numbers and one that remains popular with the village and surrounding areas.

Below are a few photographs of the day

Some of the kitchen volunteers under the guidance of cool as cucumber committee member Ann Malthoff ( Centre)

Some of the Flower Entries

Arts and craft table ( my friend Kathryn won a first for her handmade card)

Irene ( The Show Treasurer) walking beside the cut flower section

Yes those onions ARE massive...some of the vegetable entries before the show opened

The miniature floral displays

One of my favourite winners Mrs Jones (from the farm down the lane) and her crocheted blanket.

The School childrens' art work, backing another of the vegetable tables

Mrs Parry, who wipes the floor in all the domestic classes, gets a sneak view of her numerous first places!
My aunt Judy won the five decorate cakes!!!