Snippets

In the village there is a somewhat "entertaining" elderly lady who owns a rather large and at times bad tempered dog.

This animal goes on walkabout on a regular basis and eventually returns home after its owner blows lustily on what can only be described as a large police whistle

Late  one recent evening some friends in the centre of the village were settling down in their living room when the said whistle went off suddenly. The wife, who is recovering from illness turned quietly to her hubby and quipped with a broad Lancashire wit
" ey up...theres been another murder in Whitechapel 


Well it made me smile

"Come on if you think you're hard enough!"

21 escaped her pen this morning, she is still a bit of a runt compared to 12 and is still  agile enough to squeeze under a depression in the pig fencing ( after a little bit of digging). Neighbour Mandy caught me first thing when I was out with the dogs to let me know. She was all a bit fraught given 21's hen eating abilities, but as all but one of the birds were still inside their houses, there wasn't much damage that could be done.


I found her looking at the one hen on view. It was Eric the feisty bantam cockerel , who was stood facing her off  on top of his little hen house. He was safe as his home is now Inside a badger proof cage, but typical of little men from all over the world, it was clear that he wasn't doing to back down! Screaming at the top of his lungs for the pig to "bring it on!" he launched himself time and time again at the slightly astonished pig, who just stood there watching him carefully with her hard little Shelley Winters eyes.
This pantomime continued until I called 21 and she trotted after me like Mary's soddin little lamb.
Peace was restored when 21 was safely installed back into her run, the fence was repaired and Eric given an extra portion of corn.
Sometimes you've just gotta smile at "little man syndrome"

This morning, after the pig/rooster stand off, I took CJ and Badger out of their shed and placed them into the garden for a sunbathe. I removed the tape that Pat and I had so carefully applied to his deformed "angel wings" a week ago now and stood back to survey if our nursing care had worked.
As you can see, we now have a little Canadian Goose with NORMAL wings!
A little victory I am hoping.


...and as for Mary still sat quietly in the shed?.....
She's still with us! I have fed her carefully with a syringe every few hours,...it's a case of "little and often".....if it works great......if not......at least the little sweetie is hydrated.......watch this space....
Its bloody like a scene from ER here this morning


ps....My sister has been busy being our official PR lady!
see the following story!


The Rhyl Journal Editorial

Now Voyager

Watched this last night on TCM.......here's to the Charlotte's of the world!

Flogging A Dead Horse

Mary in more robust days

I have never liked the above phrase.To me, everything about it sums up all of  the harshness' and poverty of the Victorian Era ( For reference - it was first "officially" coined used by a British orator John Bright in 1867) 

The the term is a blunt one but it is also apt  especially when I think of what modern intensive care medicine can sometimes do with some frail elderly patients who are just fading away in the twilight of their lives. Because we can aggressively support a patent's vital signs by invasive drugs, procedures and ventilation, sometimes , just occasionally do we forget to ask the question, should we be doing so?

Like Mary, the bantam in the shed, some people just "go light" and it's that lack of a certain spark which can signify that "it's their time to go" Of course it's such a hard thing to call. When people are ill , of course they need to be treated and treated appropriately ( which does at times mean an aggressive regime of care) but common sense needs to show her apron here..... especially when someone is dying.

A spade needs to be called a spade, and it has to be said with sensitivity and with kindness.

Yes, it's a big think, isn't it?

I have been mulling over it ever since I checked on the animals last night. Little Mary the sick bantam who has been "light" for over a week now, raised her head from inside her crate in the shed.

She hasn't eaten for days but her eyes seemed brighter than they did, so on impulse I lifted her out and fed her some cool sugared water from a syringe. 

She drank it carefully, and I repeated the process after two hours and again twice this morning, but this time with some baytril and a few mls of raw egg added to it, and although the outcome for this little scrap will not, I suspect be any different, there was something in me that needed to try.

Perhaps this is the answer to my first discussion point about old people in intensive care. All of us, fundamentally have an in- built need to try and help when and where we can. Perhaps its not objective or sensible or even right, 

......................but it's there.......

Weather Problems, Good Will, A Canada Goose? and "going light"

Now I won't bang on too much more about my Open Allotment day...
Even I am getting somewhat jaded with it's organisation
Suffice to say that after looking at the Met Office Weather forecast ( and around 10 other on line predictions) I have decided to postpone .
It's only a week further on ( the 24th of July) so hopefully my small army of cake bakers can reschedule their baking for seven days or so! New volunteers need to be conscripted, extra gazebos need to be organised and I need to re flyer the village again, but apart from being a royal pain in the arse ( I am working night shift next Saturday!), the "move" is do-able.
The forecast was for rain all day and blustery wind.......not a good backdrop for an outside event ........so I am hoping that the 24th will provide slightly better weather.I have a great number of people to contact today

Just a quick insertion here!...I have just contacted all of the cake makers from the village and all bar one is able to bake for the ammended open day date! Several have volunteered to fill in the gaps in staffing and I have also had three others offering to make more cakes for the day!

In addition I recieved a parcle from Dronfield in the Peak District  this morning filled to capacity with home made aprons and other needlework........thank you Kathryn for your contribution to the day....it is much appreciated

Anyhow on to nicer things
CJ the gosling is doing fine. He/she has now almost lost all of his baby down and is turning ( for the most part) into a somewhat beautiful black goose!.
With the lighter markings on his face...I am begining to wonder if he actually is a Canada Goose? perhaps someone could enlighten me?
 The "angel wings"  that I taped up, remain in a "normal" position , and by this weekend I will remove the bandage to see if he "looks" better.
Badger, the hen (you can just see him behind CJ'S neck) remains a constant companion, and by next week the two friends will be set up in their own  run outside with the three new bantam hens.
It is so sweet to see the two of them together.

Speaking of bantams, sitting quietly in the shed, and waiting to die is one of my old girls, a sweet natured bantam called Mary.
Poultry keepers will identify with the strange phenomenon of "going light". This occurs when a hen slowly starts to loose weight and her appetite and literally starts to disappear over a period of days or even weeks.
It is obviously due to some illness, but despite antibiotics, extra rations, TLC and other poultry  tricks of the trade, there is generally nothing you can do for these sad little birds except make them comfortable and wait for the inevitable to happen.
It is almost as if they give up totally and just fade away....

Funny...I have seen the same thing occur in patients sometime, it's as if the spark of life has left them in some way

This morning I removed her from her cage and placed her with the benign CJ and Badger. A bit of company won't do her any harm in her last days....even a dumb bird deserves a bit of companionship at the end eh?

Animal Injuries

I keep getting told by my more loving of readers that I have a big heart.
Now, I do know I am a sucker for an animal sob story
and I must also admit that I do look after my animal charges somewhat better than I do Chris on occasion

Then why, dear reader do the creature hordes of the field conspire sometimes to put me in hospital?
Today is a case in point
This evening I have been pecked by an irate broody hen who actually drew blood,
tripped up by a particularly hysterical Indian runner duck when I was cocking my leg over some electric fencing and got head butted in the goolies by Russell the goose when he thought I was attacking said duck (as it screamed and ran in useless circles).
To add insult to injury pig number 12 gave me a particularly uncomfortable wedgie when he took a mouthful of grey underpants and tugged hard when I was bending down filling his water feeder.
I limped back to the house for 10pm only to find out that Constance had peed her bed ( she has sleep apnoea and sometimes "forgets" to wake up to go) so I have spent the last 25 minutes  disinfecting the urine stains......

sometimes a girl dreams of a vodka martini at the Waldorf
(and before you say anything Tom..yes I have experienced both.......TOGETHER!)

Runners... all in need of valium

Executive Decision

It's been a lovely day today (weather wise) and a rather disappointing one (real life wise)... as after a troll through the Met Office' weather forecast, I now have to face the fact that on Sunday we should be experiencing some heavy rain and an afternoon of rather nasty blustery  conditions.
The question remains ...should we continue with the Open day or should I reschedule it for another Sunday?
I have to remember that an awful lot of people will have invested a great deal of effort contributing to the day. Mrs Trellis (she with the big smile and the uncontrollable dog) has offered her vintage morris minor up for a  "name the car"competition; my neighbours, the Barkers are opening up their extensive gardens for public viewing and local landscaper Chris has offered his historic gardening machinery up for show. 

My neighbours designed their own signs for the Open day

Add to the mix the forthcoming cake making marathon from around 50 villagers and the work of at least 10 volunteers on the day to make the day run smoothly and I now feel dreadfully responsible if everything goes "tits up" because of some atrocious weather.
I think it prudent that we re schedule....the thought of a few old welsh ladies being laid low by a few escapee gazebos brings a shudder to my risk assessment orientated mind...so after a re review of the met office website tomorrow, I will make my decision and will let everyone concerned know.
Hey ho

The allotment fades at dusk tonight

I will leave you with a famous Welsh saying By Gwyn Thomas

There are still parts of Wales where the only concession to gaiety is a striped shroud

I thank you!

Kindness of "strangers"

Forgive my use of the word "strangers", I use it here ONLY as way in to introduce this blog entry as I couldn't quite think just how to title this initial THANK YOU to the kind bloggers that have gone to my sister's Motor Neurone Fund Raising website at supportingandrew. and donated nearly 100£ so far in the SAVE THE PIG competition. They , of course, are strangers to Andrew, our brother, who is suffering from the effects of this dreadful disease.....but generously they have donated to this, slightly frivolous, fund raiser that bares his name.
Thank you all , so very much.
You have entered the spirit of our open day with the gusto of an Auntie  Gladys, and for that I am very, VERY grateful