Nearly 47

Gardening is the best cure for a hangover. Today I have planted beetroot,fennel,succession plantings of broad beans and sweetcorn and the day has been gloriously warm and sunny.
In the garden the Ceanothus I planted two years ago has flowered beautifully and for the first time it seems to be covered in butterflies and honey bees! I am praying for a warm dry summer this year, our last two miserable ones decimated the butterfly population.

I cannot believe I will be 47 on Monday! I am three years from reaching my HALF CENTURY!!! I am reminded of the Julia Fordham song "where does the time go?" and I realise that the older I get the quicker time seems to be passing by. It is a slightly depressing thought as I don't really feel middle aged-what ever that may feel like?

My aunt is comming to dinner this evening...Chris is cooking! bliss....

Chicks in the Lane

Well William chanced his arm this morning and managed to sneak into the shed where the chicks are housed, it was a feat of ingenuity as I had no idea of what was happening until the first of the chicks appeared in the lane!
Somehow William had broken into the crate and had scattered the chicks. Luckily their numbers had confused him a little and as he grabbed one of the whites the others made a break for it amongst the plantpots by the back door. As fate would have it, located behind the pots is a drain which leads through the wall into the lane and like ferrets up a drainpipe most of the chicks burst through it to safety.
Luckily the white chick which William has grabbed, put up a loud and spirited defence, and by sheer lung power kept William at bay until I could arrive and give the terrier a swift kick up the rear end.
It took ages to round up the chicks, apart from a slightly battered and very wet white, all of the others looked a little shocked but unhurt. I made sure the shed was locked and bolted all day.
William has sulked all day.

The alliums in the garden have all started to flower and look lovely. I didn't get around to complete the back garden weeding today but I hope to get stuck in tomorrow. I did plant out french climbing beans, have weeded the remainder of the allotment beds and have patched up the holes in the buff fencing. The sun has been fierce today.......I have actually worn a hat!
Off to Hazel's this evening for a gossip, glass of wine and a birthday bitch!

Supporting

I got quite sunburnt today, I decided to ignore my back pain and get on with my list of jobs outside, I have cleaned windows, mowed the lawn and weeded the front garden. I have also strimmed the field and cleaned out the pigs latrine as well as barrow loaded chicken manure from the hen houses to a purpose made manure heap (complete with wood borders to stop the hens from digging it out)......I am typing this on my new netbook (my Birthday gift from Chris albeit three days early) and know that I stink to high Heaven.
Repetitive jobs such as digging and strimming allows the mind to wander and today I have been thinking about support!
Yesterday I was thanked for supporting someone who had been going through a stressful health scare. I didn't do a great deal - a few phone calls, a potted plant, a knowing "look" perhaps ,just enough to be of some small help, and this got me to thinking about a time when I found supporting a friend almost impossible to do.
10 years ago a close female friend of mine was rushed into hospital suffering from some vague neurological symptoms. She was frightened and distressed, and as her condition slowly deteriorated I found that I was totally incapable of supporting her effectively. Friends and colleagues rallied around with visits and kinds words, whilst I called into the hospital a couple of times and remained ever so slightly distant.
In hindsight I think I realised just how serious my friend's condition actually was and I presume that my only coping mechanism then was one of denial. The guilt of not being "able" to provide a friend's support remains with me to this day, and strangely I even find it hard to remember the entire scenario of events of that time... I would have liked the opportunity of discussing this with my friend but sadly we lost contact just before we moved to Wales
It is weird what you think of when your minds wanders isn't it? It is also interesting what you "choose" to remember.
Perhaps I had just too much sun.....Albert and Nora(below) had the best idea...they slept most of the afternoon

Albert, asleep in the Sun

Nora, asleep standing in the shade

Childish Behaviour

The chicks in the shed have been driving William wild all day. Typical of young animals, the troupe of twelve spend most of the daylight hours chasing each other around their huge dog crate. From outside the banging and clattering seems to be amplified greatly, so much so that a group of walkers stopped to listen as they ambled past, whispering together as they guessed what was going on inside!.I was pleased to let them see the robust little birds as once you indulge them with a look and a group "ooohhh" and "arrrhhh", walkers always seem to buy all my spare eggs up.
I have not got a great deal done today, no it wasn't my painful back (which is still in spasm from time to time), just a succession of visitors and distractions to deal with.
Often my hardy group of customers like to stop and chat,which is truly lovely, but it can be a little frustrating when there is jobs to do.In between "chats", I managed to re pot some of the cottage planters, plant out young parsley and re position my pumpkin seedlings to an area more which is more sheltered before another neighbour needed a lift to Rhyl.

Non nobis domine

Now I just love a good "tracking" shot in a movie, and this one from Henry V is one of the best.
It looks terribly simple at first glance, but isn't....a great piece of cinema

Oh the pain

Well getting a pair of socks and pants on this morning was a Herculean affair! I could not bend or stretch at all and had to employ certain occupational therapy "tricks" from my spinal injury days to remain dressed and decent! (I won't go into details of how "difficult" it has been sitting on the loo!!)
The only answer to back pain is analgesia and mobilisation, so I have completed all the daytime jobs but have done so VERY.....VERY...SLOWLY. From time to time I have had to lie down in the grass to stretch my back muscles, and I must have looked a sight rolling around the dirt like an over-the-hill turtle on his back. I am getting just a little frustrated with the pain, I have tons of things to do this week..and all entail bending and lifting!

I had another enquiry about my poultry course this morning. As strange as it may seem, I now have 8 people who say they will attend my sessions that will start in July which is pretty exciting!

I designed some posters on the computer to advertise the allotment open day which is booked for the 5th of July and delivered them to the lady in charge of the village notice board as well as dropping one off to Jenny in the post office.

There was one other customer in the post office at the time, who encouraged Jenny to go! she had done so last year and had very much enjoyed our cakes!! "Very high quality" she remarked.

I can't believe that I blushed!

The sun came out this afternoon, and I caught up with some of the more "static" and less backbreaking jobs such as de-lousing the hens. I could only treat the more docile and tame hens, some of the older and more wary girls (like Whoopie Goldberg above) just hid away in the grass.

George tried his usual trick of egg stealing and came across an somewhat irate Lily sitting in her nesting box...after a brief stand off she chased him clean across the field. I doubt it will put him off.

Below is a photo of Pirrie. The little fella is too small to mate with the bigger hens in Stanley's enclosure, but he constantly gives it a go......even the most docile hen can batter him without worrying of any repercussion....bless he is just not up to the job!

Bariatric trauma

I pulled my back last night. I guess it was bound to happen to someone as we were short staffed and had three emergency patients admitted who all weighed between 250 and 350 pounds each!
By the time we had moved,sedated and re ventilated the last one, I think we all were on our last legs, and I am now paying for the cumulative wear and tear of bariatric nursing care .

I has a short sleep when I got home then somehow pained and resembling an old man, I watered the hens and ducks then set the buff cockerels up in their own run again. I have come to the conclusion that Clover and Popppy will have to go. They are beautiful roosters but are far too aggressive to the hens when mating. One of the buff hens (Kate Winslett) has a very nasty gash on her back, which I have had to treat with antibiotic spray, so in the interest of fair play the boys will have to go. I will of course keep the gentler and more friendly buff cockerel Scotty,who now allows me to pick him up every day.

The weather has been glorious today.(pic is the ancient 14th Century prayer cross in the Churchyard)

Is it me?

Now, when I am on two consecutive night shifts, I do not do any cooking, dog walking or housework. I will however sort the animals out on the field and have fed and watered them all this morning and again this afternoon.
So it is up to Chris to cook the main meal, and it is up to Chris to walk the dogs (albeit briefly down the lane).......and what an unholy palaver we all have to go through for the simplest of household chores to be completed.( he forgets that I usually complete 99% of the jobs)
We have the "tut,tut,tutting" syndrome when I use a glass and don't wash it up. We also have the Mrs Mop "take you wellingtons off before you come into the house...I have just cleaned the floor!!!!!" shriek, after I have been on the field!
Then I have to go through the hoops of stating how beautiful the Sunday meal is "I have slaved over a hot stove allllllllllllllllllllllllll afternoon!!" he says wiping a sweaty brow........and that is all before we have the long sighs at the amount of washing up he has to face afterwards.....
Sometimes I feel as though we live in the sixties!!!
bless........