Warmth

Sunny personalities are attractive.
They draw one's attention,
They draw in warmth .
and they generally galvanise a sort of reciprocal "positivity" in people they come in contact with.

Early this morning I popped out to deliver a weekly order of eggs. I took William with me and as we negotiated the village "green" we met  a smiling Mr "Jones" as he crossed the street on his morning constitutional. Mr Jones is one of those elderly men, who dresses carefully, wears a scarf and hat when out and when he calls a lusty "Good Morning" you just know that he actually means it.
William adores him,
As we meet, the Welsh terrier noticeably starts to skip and will stand up, leaning against the old man's knees, searching his face for a smile and a greeting that he knows is coming.
Animals like people , love genuine warmth when it is offered them.

Mr Jones reminds me of my grandfather.He had a big heart and a gentle way about him too and when I was a child, it was my grandparents that provided the warmth,consistency and sunshine that was lacking in our  rather dour home lives,
Watching Mr Jones laughing as he ruffled Williams beaming and eager face , I was transported right back to those childhood days when grandparents were always our heroes.

....and I realise that I enjoy meeting Mr Jones just as much as William does

Chav Turkey sold!!!

Lizzy (right)

Yesterday Lizzy the bad tempered turkey was sold! She was collected by a very nice couple who needed a mate for their lonely turkey stag. The couple live on the outskirts of a more rural village, and recently have lost many of their animals to a pair of day raiding foxes.
The foxes involved are thought to be a pair of city foxes, that have been recently trapped  and then relocated from a populated urban area, probably by do-gooders thinking they were doing the poor animals a favour. 
Desperately hungry and displaying the usual city disregard of humans, these foxes had no skills to adjust a country existence, and in a matter of weeks had killed a considerable amount of the locals' animals, which of course provided them with the only sure way of survival.
Local farmers shot these unfortunate animals and put a stop to the carnage, but the whole situation raises an interesting question of what can or should be done with urban foxes, who have successfully evolved to a scavenging existence away from the countryside.

Country foxes are much shyer animals, that generally keep away from small holdings until dusk and dawn. In my view any bird out of the safety of it's coop or house at these times can be deemed fair game to the natural predator instincts of a fox....to me that's fair..........the presence of a city fox in a rural location is not fair to the fox itself or to any daytime lamb, hen or duck..and the only answer can be the elimination of the animal involved...........

Do-gooders!
Sometimes there is just not enough practical thinking going on!
Off to rake the veg plots!

Sunday Tearful

Every Sunday I think I will post a piece of music that stirs the emotions
One to get the "emotional jacuzzi" muscles going so to speak
Tonight it will be the Lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth
Enjoy

Small world

After looking after him for around 8 hours my patient looked over his oxygen mask as if seeing me for the first time
"How's your dogs?" he asked with a croak
"Fine" I said without thinking then I realised
"How did you know I had dogs?" I then asked.
"We used to buy eggs from you" he answered..."and my daughter follows your blog"
I was so pleased I left him and his daughter a dozen eggs......

Off do bed for an hour..I am falling asleep writing this.....

ps. Thanks to his daughter Michelle for leaving a comment here .......weird how things come around eh?

The Difference between Need and want

I had a conversation the other day with my friend Nige.
He asked me if I had a hobby?....( I think he thought I had got bogged down just a little with normal ebb and flow of home life)
I was not sure what he was getting at, and sited my animals as my reply.
"No, you misunderstand me" he said
"are there things you just want to do rather than Need to do?"
I then got his drift........ most of us feel that we have to do things....It's the way our lives work. We have to go to work,we have to prepare food, he have to eat it......so many Have tos ....and so many need tos in our lives.......I need to walk the dogs several times a day, I need to feed and care for the stock appropriately.....but Also I know I want to do these things too..........but I understood Nigel's point....sometimes it's just nice  to do something because we would like to......simple as......

Tonight is a work night....so today is a bit of a nothing day....you know the sort day that you are just waiting to "get over" so to speak....Its a bit like waiting for the flight home after a rather nice holiday......
My "have to" jobs were all done.....so while Chris drove down to Prestatyn to get his hair cut....I indulged myself (lol when don't I?) in a brief moment of "would like" time.

I took myself into the Church Yard and with no dogs to watch, no birds to feed and no jobs to do....it was nice to soak up the warm day and read the headstones

A day in the life of...................

Albert stalking baby rabbits on our post dawn walk

A day ago I received an anonymous comment asking what I actually do during an average day...I suspect it was the same person who has left an unsigned and rather pedantic comment before about Comic Relief....so I thought "what the hell" why not chronicle a "day in the life of a Trelawnyd House husband"........If the commentator wanted to underline how lucky I am to spend a great deal of my time being at home".....please comment again, I will  certainly agree with you ten fold....I know I am very fortunate
Anyhow The following is a pretty normal day for me ( when the sun is shining that is!!!)- hope it gives an insight of the pace of the field

I was Up at 7.30am and let out the hysterical Runner ducks for their first drink and swim
All of the water feeders needed filling and all of the pellet feeders needed checking.
All 15 bird houses were opened and every bird counted out onto the field

The runners doing what they do best........being bloody hysterical

The dogs hate early mornings and have to be dragged down the lane for their first walk of the morning


The dogs contemplating the morning

 Then it is medical time!
One of the St Trinians is a little poorly and needs antibiotics syringing into her mouth twice a day. She is receiving a course of Baytril ( 7 quids worth of antibiotics from the vets!!!)

The sweet little hen is eating a little better today and took some cat food ( with some wormer on it) as a treat

Boris needs lifting out of his house EVERY morning (as you can see I do not look too happy so early in the morning...mind you it IS before my first coffee of the day)

I finish most of the "first thing" jobs by around 8.30am

Then the dogs get fed, my household jobs are completed (including a little bit of light dusting !)

This morning I had to change all of the bed linen...Albert had regurgitated the bloody remains of a mouse's intestines all over the quilt!

The kitchen wreck of last nights stir fry.............

.......and after a bit of bleach

 Now it is around 9.20am....and its time for my first glorious cup of coffee of the day.....and then I can enjoy two of my secret indulgences of the day.....a blog check.......and Jeremy Kyle (over breakfast!)
(To those that don't know Jeremy Kyle is an odious slime bucket who fronts a trailer trash talk show)

Then its a 2-3 mile walk with the dogs ( this morning it was the round robin Marian walk past the Gop)




Then home...and a brief moment of gayness.......nicking daffs from the building plot behind the cottage

Then the Ghost hens needed their bottoms cleaned and the bald bits creamed with antiseptic cream
Because of their weight, they spend a great deal of time sitting and less and less time walking
This is the non glamorous part of animal care!

I am never alone of the field for long, this morning Pat called down for a chat and eggs and this afternoon farmers Eirlys and John dropped by

Before lunch ( an apple, coffee and a bagel) I completed fencing in the entire main vegetable patch, which is now safe from prying beaks!

I made a "gate" to complete the enclosure....I can start planting out on Sunday

Then its more SHIT, SHIT and More SHIT.... four of the hen houses needed cleaning out and new bedding (a gift from the ever resourceful Red Faced Welsh Farmer)

After that I collected eggs, Including another giant Goose eg from Winnie

Then I prepared wormer medicated feed for the birds ( It has to be prepared in different strengths for the turkeys)
That little tub of worker cost 20£!!!!

Now its around 3.30 pm!

The dogs, who have sat out on the field all day, are bored, so all four are taken for another walk around the village. I took the chance to deliver another 6 eggs

Meg in the centre of the Village

The Chapel in the late afternoon sun (The building was converted from Market Hall to Chapel in 1701)

We returned to the cottage by 4..00pm ..The sick hen needed another shot of antibiotics, and looked brighter than she did earlier in the day, I grabbed a cup of coffee , downloaded these photos to the blog then I am off to start the process of bedding down the geese, ducks and turkeys for the evening. ( Each group need "showing" to their individual houses)

The hens can be left until later, being brighter animals they take themselves off to their own houses when the light starts to fade, then it is only a case of locking up each house in turn

Chris will be home at 6pm

I have only the fire to light,the meal to prepare and the late dog walk to complete..........

A pretty cool day eh?

What ?he f*^k do you do all day?

I was asked the above question recently
So my next blog will hopefully illustrate a "normal" day quite nicely
Watch this space

Can I Thrust By...I'm a Diabetic

I think I have stolen most of Julie Walter's one Liners over the years and all of her best ones can be heard in this priceless sketch from the 1980s........

I remembered it almost line for line when I was being served by a very lacklustre woman at the service station on my way to my brothers. As I stood waiting for her to notice my very existence (she was chatting to her friend Carol on the phone about a sports bra that didn't fit!) I very nearly said
"You've a look of Eva Braun!"
She wouldn't have understood even if I had