Grrr... brrrr!

All this driving's making me mad!  For the split seconds that I feel like Steve Wright's 'Mr Angry' character when I'm behind the wheel, I wonder what sort of person I'm facing as they pass towards me in flagrant disregard of the rules of the road.

Give way to oncoming traffic when the obstacle is on your side of the road.
Observe safe lane discipline - i.e. don't veer towards the white line in the middle of the road.
Dip, don't dazzle.

I'd have to look them up in the Highway Code, but that's what I was taught.

I was also taught to remember the three 'C's:  Care, Courtesy and Caution.  Not necessarily in that order.  And these also apply well to most situations in life, not just driving...

So I reported the white van man in Faringdon the other week.  He was turning right in front of me whilst I gave way at the roundabout.  As he passed in front of me I noted (i) he'd not indicated and (ii) he was talking on his mobile phone and consequently was steering with one hand on the wheel (the other hand was holding his phone).  OK.  we've seen it before, and we'll see it again, but I thought a few choice words to myself, and noted his tagline on the rear of the vehicle 'Brian Hall, The Complete Builder'.  'Complete idiot' or words to that effect I thought to myself.  I proceeded to follow him as the break in the traffic had allowed me in.  A short way along the road he turned left abruptly, and I further observed (iii) his left indicator wasn't working, or he'd failed to use it, and (iv) two of his brake lights were out (his vehicle was equipped with three brake lights, the only one which worked was the smallest one at the top of the van)....

The above combination of poor driving provoked me into reporting his actions at the police station.  I didn't have his licence plate number, as I was driving, and it was mostly obscured by dirt, but I had his name, and knew he was 'the Complete Builder'.  Job done.

But what irritates me about this is that all the above was absolutely avoidable.  It adds grist to the mill of the argument in favour of a system of re-testing drivers at regular intervals throughout their driving lives.  Say every 10 or 15 years you re-take the driving test / a version of the test.  If you fail or don't meet acceptable standards you're allowed to continue driving on a provisional licence and have to re-take the test within a certain timeframe, say 6 months.  You could have further tutoring during this process.

I think this would (i)  improve general driving standards (ii) provide employment - more tests = more testers required to examine the drivers  (iii) improve safety of other road users as test failure would result in licences being revoked.

There, got that off my chest!

This morning whilst walking Roly in the park the moon was still high in the sky.  Although the sun had got up, it looked like it wanted to go back to bed.  The shadows of the trees were long in the tooth, but in this hemisphere at this time of the year that's what we get.

When I get home from picking Tom up from school, it's pitch dark and the hens have gone to bed.  Well, they normally have.  Tonight one of them had got separated from the rest - she'd broken into the area I've fenced off as it's been so wet - so she was still out when I went to close the pop-hole.  All hands on deck, I got Phoebe to help, and Simon to hold the torch, and we went to catch the hen and put her to bed.  The sky was clear, and the stars were all out, and I don't know how she'd have got on if I'd not noticed she was missing from the coop....  b r r r !

Paint your own impressionist lake!  The wonders of zoom on a digital camera....

That's it for now,  bed and hot water bottle beckoning.
Keep it sweet!  Kat

Knitting with biros...

I kid you not.

At work on Monday afternoon we (my boss and I) were putting the finishing touches to our festive decorations.  We'd taken inspiration from a previous display at Carterton Library, where they'd used old deleted stock (books) to make Christmas Trees with.  Essentially you fold over the pages from the outer edge to the spine a couple of times, and repeat all the way through the book.  This gives a cone form which can then be decorated with glitter glue and the effect is, well, appropriate for a library...

Our version of the trees this year is part of our display in the junior fiction area.  After some experimentation with the glitter glue spray can, we went for gold spray paint sprinkled with glitter. We're all about the bling!  Here's the end result...

In the middle of the display (to the left of this) there's another camel, and a fluffy sheep, and of course, a shepherd...

We also made paper folded angels... there's a paper folding theme here, and it's not origami!

But the 'pee-ace de resistance', our show-stopper, our magnus opus is the snowmen.

Again, more folding of books deleted from the catalogue...  Actually, you'd be surprised how many books we delete a week. Why do we do this?  Well, if the book is over 6 yrs old in circulating terms, and has come to the end of it's rota, and hasn't issued for more than 6mths (fiction) or 1 year (non-fiction), then it's deleted from the catalogue and sent back to central to be sold.   This way they make something back from something that's outlived its useful life in circulation terms.  But, I digress.

So the snowmen were folded slightly differently in order to make the more spherical shape (they're actually a bit pointy in the middle, but no-one's perfect).  Polystyrene balls were purchased for the heads, and twigs were collected for the arms.  So far so so. But, but, but. What do all snowmen need?  What do they call out for in the chill of the night?  What do they want to keep them warm?  A scarf.

We looked in the craft box as Pauline thought there was a scarf already made, but we couldn't find it.  We did, however find 2 balls of wool.  Useful.  If only we had knitting needles.....   IMPROVISATION is a great skill, and one which should be taught in schools.  We used biros.  6 stitches, and you get a really chunky garter stitch.  Nice.  1 hr later, both snowmen were suitably attired, and the job was done.  See what I mean?

Bless, this is Pauline's (my boss) scarf.

This is my effort.  Ho, ho, ho!

So, how we'll cope after Christmas I don't know, in that we've made all these decorations which will more than likely go into the bin, as we're so small there's no storage space to save them.  It'll seem jolly plain once we've taken it all down.

On a more positive note I'm actually looking forward to Christmas this year (after last year's stressy time with the business going into administration and us being redundant...).  My library closes on the Saturday 22nd at 12.30pm, and re-opens on Thursday 3rd January, and it's only costing me 3 days leave.  So here's to Oxfordshire County Council, I'll give them my vote of thanks, and wish them a very merry one!

I'm off to see what's happening in LCL (Lady Chatterley's Lover).  Wish me luck!

ttfn.  Kat  :)

The day my hair went purple...

I missed by blogger birthday.  Last year on 9th November I dipped my toe in the blogosphere for the first time, and I'm still here (just) having my quiet rants to myself...

Busy weekend, went out last night to celebrate Howard's 40th birthday.  He was the youngest of the group and his wife Lesley had organised a meal out early as they're invited to a wedding on his birthday.  The night out was 2 days after Simon's birthday, so he celebrated being older quietly... he was 48. The evening was very pleasant at the Vyne and Spice in Long Wittenham.  Food very good, but I am a stick in the mud and eating late makes me a bit discombobulated. We got home at midnight, so quite tired today.

Today we drove to see our friends Martin and Rachel and their children Eliot and Abigail who live in Carey in Herefordshire. SatNav said 2 hrs there, 2 hrs back, but took 5 hrs travelling because of the weather/traffic.  The worst floods were on the A417 before Faringdon - which I've been driving through all week on the school run.  There was evidence of flooding and flash flooding on the single track roads that lead to Carey, and even though that road skirts the river (can't remember it's name) and was close to flooding we got through safely.  The river was a magnificent red colour from the local  soil, and there was debris floating along a quite a lick, so it did add a little edge to the journey...

That said, had a lovely lunch with our friends and a good catch-up.  Took my camera and forgot to take any photos.  doh.  Must be going potty.

So, for a change I thought I'd colour my hair.  The box said 'rich chestnut, semi-permanent, suitable for less than 50% grey' which I thought ticked the boxes.  Well.  Not exactly chestnut.  More of an aubergine, plum, purple sort of colour, and that was two weeks ago.  'Washes out in 24 washes'...  and it has faded and I'm quite happy with it.  But I hadn't coloured my hair for about 4 years, so it's been a bit of a talking point for quite a few people I've bumped into.  Mostly complimentary, and it's only hair, so will grow out eventually.  I may keep it that way.  We'll see.

Will keep it short tonight as am tired from the weekend's excitement!

ttfn. Kat :)

The pressure cooker.

Everyone's under stress.  That's life in these consumer driven days.  The push push to get more more. Bigger, better, faster, sooner, newer, now, now, now!  The focus on growth all the time.  No wonder we   aren't 'happy' with our lot.  No wonder our children want things all the time.  Was it ever so?

And what does this relentless buying get us?  'Stuff'.  In other words, toys the children don't play with.  More packaging that has to be recycled.  Clothes we don't wear, shoes we don't wear, food we don't eat, books we haven't time to read, DVDs we haven't time to watch, CDs/music downloads we haven't time to listen to...

I'm as guilty as the next person.  I try to justify my spending habits to myself by saying that because most of  my purchasing is done in charity shops I'm: a) supporting a good cause; b) recycling; c) saving money. The fact is that by making the choice to pay for our children's education in the private sector, we have very little disposable income and have to be careful with what we do have.

I know everyone's having a tough time, it's austerity times and all that, and we're not exactly on the breadline, but sometimes, just sometimes I'd like to buy something without wondering if I'll make it to payday without going over my overdraft again.   There. I said it.  Ridiculous really at my age, you'd have thought that money wouldn't be a problem.   But this time last year the business we had went into administration, and we were both redundant for 3-4 months.  So we've still got some way to go before we catch our tails financially. Not complaining, just explaining. That's why it's still stressful. That's why it still hurts.  That's why it's still hard.

And you CAN find some really nice things in charity shops....  in fact I'm a little in love with my latest purchase, my Rohan Ice Pack jacket in lime green.  (I paid £25, which was a lot for me, but I needed a winter jacket as my Helly Hansen Ski Jacket was on it last legs, 8 yrs old or so, raggedy round the cuffs and a couple of seams split and unrepairable... and I was fed up of wearing Simon's old black fleecy jacket thing).

The Ridgeway towards Gramps Hill, near Letcombe

So here's the Ridgeway again, good walk - this is the return leg, we'd parked up by the trees on the horizon.  The Devil's Punchbowl is behind us to the left, there should be a dog somewhere, but he's off doing his to-ing and fro-ing, and missed this shot.

Time for bed - and more Lady Chatterley's Lover!
keep it sweet, Kat :)

Water under the bridge

A LOT has happened since this time last year.   Thankfully mostly good.  I've got a job I love at the Library.  Simon's working very hard and his job is going well.  Phoebe passed her entrance exams and is now attending the school she wanted to go to.  And Tom is your normal 6 yr old boy with the usual passions (Lego, Moshi Monsters, Monsuno etc).

I've learned a lot about myself.  Some good, some not so good.  Some emotional stuff, some personal stuff and some physical stuff.  I've cut out alcohol.  I'd been heading that way instinctively.  I'd stopped enjoying having a drink several years ago.  The taste didn't do it for me anymore, and the effect was to disrupt my sleep and wake me up with a dry mouth - even on one glass of wine... Whether it was the mix of stress and cortisone (stress hormone), or just my middle aged female hormones messing me around I don't know, but since I consciously gave up alcohol at the start of the year I've been feeling more centred, grounded, happier.  And sleeping better as well.

I've cut down on dairy.  Swopped milk on my breakfast cereal for soya milk.  Cut out cheese.  Cut down on yogurt.  This seems to have helped reduce my hot flushes immensely.  Or is it the improved stress levels now our employment issues are resolved?

In all the bother of the personal issues which resulted from the business going down last year, it transpired that I have high blood pressure.  The medication I'm now taking is working well and I'm feeling better, although the hbp was symptom free before diagnosis, so explain that!

Our dog is older and it shows.  He's smelly, as in dog smell and also fartier (is that a word?).  I've been telling other dog walkers that he's nine and a half for the last six months or so, so he must, by now, be ten.  We keep him light to avoid any flare up with his back problem, which is 3 yrs ago this Autumn.  Also if he's lighter it's easier on the joints, and he does seem creakier in himself, when he turns and turns to lie down, he's obviously stiff in places, morning and night.  I'll start giving him cod-liver oil capsules again (dog breath plus fish breath, ugh!).

Autumnal Berries in Ardington

So I'm still reading 'Blaming' by Elizabeth Taylor - will finish it although I don't care for any of the characters, her writing is good - easy and and well aimed, but I'll be glad to get to the end.  

I've actually read another book in the meantime.  'The Paperchase' by Louis Theroux.  This was a good read, although the denouement was actually a bit too clever and didn't satisfy entirely.  

I've finally started reading 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' by DH Lawrence.  Nothing happened yet, two chapters in, but it's obvious what it's building up to, and his descriptive passages of the town and the setting up of the characters and the scene are expertly done, and again, not at all heavy going. Will reserve judgement on the actual 'nitty gritty' so to speak, as haven't got that far yet!

I don't usually read two or more books at once, but the Elizabeth Taylor has me at once annoyed and held captive - I don't really care for the characters at all, but I want to see how it turns out.... which probably says more about me than the book.

On that I'm off to bed.

ttfn.

Kat

For the record...

I finished reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel sometime mid-August.  Phew.  It was a slog, 650 pages, only reading at bedtime, and when tired, so a few pages a night.  But it was worth it.  Absolutely deserves all the praise heaped upon it by so many.  I'll give it 10/10, but will wait a while before having a go at her next one, 'Bring up the bodies'...

Since then I've read 'On Chesil Beach' by Ian McEwan.  What a contrast! both in subject matter, and size.  It's a novella, and had been tempting me, and it was like a cream puff - rich and flaky, and a little guilt-ridden. Actually, a really good read, and I'm now inclined to try more of his work.  10/10.

I've also read 'The Case of the Missing Books' by Ian Sansom.  Very silly story about a Jewish librarian who ends up driving a mobile library in Ireland trying to find the missing books.  I'm looking forward to the next in the series... light-hearted and entertaining, but not one that's going to change the way you think about things.  7/10.

oops, image copied from Amazon, hope I'm not infringing any copyrights...

I'm now reading 'Blaming' by Elizabeth Taylor (the English novelist, not actress).  I heard her recommended on radio 4 (of course) and found a pristine copy of this book in a charity shop, so picked it up and have now started to read it.   It's well written and I do want to know what happens to the characters, but am only 50 pages in, so won't give review as yet.

Right, that's my say for tonight.  Next chapter of above, here I come!

ttfn. Keep it sweet, Kat

Back to life...

...  back to reality (Soul2Soul, 1980-something, or early 1990's)....

anyhoo.

Here we are again.  Routine changed slightly now that Phoebe's at secondary school - she gets the bus to Abingdon, so needs to be out of the house by 7.30am.  At the moment we're walking with her to the bus-stop.  When I say 'we're' I mean Roly and me.  Sometimes Simon takes her and Tom came once, but it's a rush when I get back to get Tom ready and off in time...

I bought a new car.  Just like that! Well. OK. Not 'just' like that.  It was obvious that the Honda CRV was starting to need a little attention here and there - it was 10 yrs old and coming up to 140K on the clock.  And it drank petrol like nobody's business.  I was spending £50 per week on petrol, and usually a £10 top up here and there.  Silly really looking back...

So I am now the proud owner of a Skoda Roomster 1.2ltr engine (the CRV was 1.8ltr) 2010 registration and only 20K on the clock.  It's half at much to tax, half as much to insure and first tank full cost £64 but lasted 2 weeks....  So I'm jolly pleased!!!

Had an odd dream last night.  The bit I remembered this morning was Simon had been to hospital with suspected kidney problems, only to be turned away.  However, problems persisted so we went back, but I had to explain to them that he was parking the car, and could I take his place in the queue/waiting room.. Whilst waiting for him to arrive, the rest of the waiting room became the tiered seating of a basketball arena and the patients waiting there became a 'flashmob'.  They all stood up and were just about to do their thing when an authority figure entered the room and they all sat down. Then I woke up and I'll never know what was going to happen...

Had to attend a lower school meeting at Tom's school this evening, on 'Read Write Inc.' to have the synthetic phonics system explained to us.  Would have been better if this had happened last year, but better late than never I suppose...I'll have a look at the website and try to catch up. Apparantly the letter 'm' isn't called  'em' but just the sound it makes as in 'mmmmmm'.  'Muh' is also wrong as that includes the 'uh' sound.  It'll take some getting used to I suppose.

Here's a photo of the wooden rabbit on Folly Hill (really!) when I took Roly round this morning.

Here's Roly and the Rabbit!

On that note I'll end it.  Synthetic phonics to research don't you know!

TTFN.  Kat. :)

Long time no hear...

Sometimes I wonder how we fit so much in!

It's been over a month since I blogged, and it's been hectic!  The reason?  The summer holidays are upon us.

So Phoebe's play went very well, prize giving went very well, Simon was in USA for last week of term, so, I was, obviously, busy!  They broke up on the Wednesday, and then Simon flew back from USA on the Friday, landed Saturday 7.30am, and then we took the overnight ferry to France at 11.30pm that Saturday.

Actually, that was quite good, because, even though I worked that morning in the Library, I had the whole afternoon to pack, and leave the house how I wanted it before we left.  We even had time to stop for supper on the drive down to Portsmouth, and, for once, I was relaxed about travelling!

We sailed to Le Harvre, different ferry service, different times, different port.  But once there it was good to be back.

We're lucky, once in France, to share a 3 bedroom apartment with Simon's brother.  It's on the north coast of Brittany and overlooks a lovely beach.  We all love it, and it really is a home from home.

The weather remained mostly fair, and not too hot, but warm enough for plenty of paddling splashing and digging in the sand...

We also curtailed a trip to see the aquarium at Tregolet (or something like that), and popped into Treguier for lunch.  There we found the curious cathedral which has the pierced spire, but the children didn't want to go inside, and we didn't want to drag them in that time, so the mystery remains...

Treguier, Bretagne, France, July 2012

The trip was short, only a week, and flew by, but was very enjoyable as we'd not been to the flat for a couple of years, with one thing, and another...

On the return journey we sailed from Le Havre again, and had to cross the Pont de Normandie which spans the estuary of the River Seine.   We were delayed by about 20 minutes as the bridge had roadworks on one side, so there was a contraflow in operation.  The upside of this delay was the opportunity to take photographs, as the traffic was stationery or crawling...  quite pleased with these!

and on that note I'll call it!

good night, will try to bring this blog up to date, but we're off to Legoland Windsor tomorrow, so depends on how tired I am after that!

keep it sweet! Kat  :)

Just a quick one then....

choccie?  drinky-poos? (I don't any more), something else?  ;)

Nope,  just a quick blog on the old blogspot dot com.  I'm sure you've heard me say this before, but things have been really busy recently.

The TV's not had as much impact on the family as I anticipated.  We're quite set in our ways it seems, and although we did watch 'The Devil Wears Prada' (again) last night, it was so intrusively, dreadfully interrupted with commercials that it made it incredibly late when Phoebe went to bed. We did laugh a lot though.  ;)

Simon's away in USA this week coming.  Then he flies back on Friday (13th, I'm not even going there!), arrives in UK 7.30am on Saturday 14th and we take the ferry across to France 11pm (23.00hrs) also on Saturday 14th...  I'm working that morning, so will sort out packing that afternoon, take dog to kennels, make final arrangements with neighbours for hens, vacuum car, as don't want to go on holiday in trashed up car (dog, kids....), if I have time will change the beds, as is nicer to come home to fresh linen... will need a holiday after all that.  Actually we've not had a proper holiday for a couple of years, what with one thing and another....  so we're really looking forward to the break.

Whilst he's away, Phoebe's got 2 performances of the play.  Monday and Tuesday, so I'll be watching it along with Tom.  The skirt I made is in use, and I believe works quite well.  I've not seen the final ensemble, as she took her old school boater (straw hat) to complete the outfit, and she's wearing her hair in a bun.  Here's a photo of the first try-on, Phoebe early morning before school...

And on that note, hens to lock up (as always), I'll bid you good night...  Kat

End of year report... of a middle-aged mum!

I'm writing this early, as next week, when the children 'break-up' (I know it's too early, but that's what you get for sending your children to prep/private school), it'll be much too busy to think...

Things have changed a lot since last year.  I mean, a LOT.

Last summer we were in the throes of the business going down.  It's still difficult to think about it, such a lot of effort, emotion, time and everything, was lost.  And it was incredibly difficult to go through that, and it not to have an effect on us all.  And it was incredibly difficult to go through Christmas with us both effectively redundant....  

I heard on 23rd December that I'd got the job at Grove Library, but the starting date didn't come until mid-January.  Simon went through a very rigorous interview process with interviews at various 'levels' in UK and USA, and started his new job 1st March.  But from mid-October when the Administrators were called in, until 1st March, we were living in limbo.  And that's a cruel kind of hell.

At the same time, before, during and after, I'd been having my 'menopausal' symptoms.  The stress of the situation probably exacerbated things, but essentially I wasn't sleeping (well, I was going to bed early ~ 9.30pm ~ because I knew I'd be awake during the night, and would wake 2, 3 and 4 times and struggle to go back to sleep, and then feel robbed in the morning when the alarm went off).  And being  tired all the time made it very difficult to feel positive...

Going through the process of choosing which senior school to send Phoebe to.  And worrying whether we could afford it if staying in private sector.

Going through the process of objecting to the planning application to build 24 (reduced to 18) houses on the field behind our house.  Yes, it's NIMBYism (Not In My BackYard), but there were valid planning objections, such as drainage, but not the least is that the field is the border of the local Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and as such should not be developed.  'We' were over-ruled at appeal.

And, we were struggling in our marriage, for all the above reasons, and some private ones, and feeling like we didn't want the same things, like were drifting apart....  ANYHOO,  New Year, new start....  We've both got new jobs.  We've had relationship counselling, and things are improving.  

Phoebe sat entrance exams for 2 private schools, and was offered places at both.  We accepted the place at her preferred school when we knew Simon had a job offer.  

I've learnt from some health-checks this year that I've got high blood pressure, probably as a result of the accumulated stress.  I've also learnt that I'm borderline anaemic (probably from my menopausal symptoms, which explains why I felt sooooo tired for much the last 2 years), and I should probably work on my reducing my cholesterol level (5.2).  I'm making changes to my pescatarian  (fishy-vegetarian) diet - more iron, soya, lentils, spinach and chickpeas.  Some eggs, more oily fish, more oats, apples, fruit and veg(!) and no alcohol (not a huge loss, I'd been 'drinking' less and less for much of  the last 3 - 4 years anyway) less dairy.  I'm on tablets for the blood-pressure.  And I'm trying not to be so hard on myself.

So.

Looking forward, things are getting better, and I'm feeling more energised from better diet.  Sleeping better, and, if I do wake up, I generally get back to sleep.  Walking the dog is my exercise - I'm the main one in charge of his exercise, as I'm usually the one around who can do it regularly.  Although we do like to walk him 'en famille' at the weekends (if the children aren't too grouchy)...

Still reading 'Wolf Hall'.  Want to finish it now. It takes me a long time to read, and I've been distracted by low cholesterol cookery books, and such like...  time to put the hens to bed.

Marks for the end of year report.?  I'd give it a cautious 7/10, with room for improvement, but compared to last year, that's a whole lot better!

TTFN.  keep it sweet.  Kat

So it turns out....

... I've got high blood pressure.

Bit of a blow.  I'm not quite 47.  Better to know about it though.

Probably down to stress.  I don't add salt, and we only have crisps/chips 'n' dips every other week, if that.  I'm mainly vegetarian (don't like meat), but do eat fish.  I don't drink.  The rare occasions I've had a drink over last 3-4 years I've not enjoyed it and it's added to my 'menopausal' symptoms (headaches, insomnia, hot flushes, irritability), so, at Christmas, I stopped.  (Feel much better without it to be honest).  I do like a nice piece of cake and cup of tea.  I walk the dog (after school run, you've read about it in previous blogs of mine...).  I'm house-wife, mother, wife (not necessarily in that order).  I'm cutting down on dairy and increasing soya.

Looking back it has been quite stressful.

I mean, 2nd baby at age 40.  (Home birth, brilliant!).  Then, 11 months later, we moved house.  Not just moved house, moved area.  Totally.  Like 75miles distant from support network developed from 1st child's ante natal group.  Oh, yes, and I gave up my job (at RBG, Kew) to move here.  So lost that sense of self.  And we lost my lovely mother-in-law, Verity, to MND within 3 months of us moving house.  And I staggered on through the accumulated grief/stress/rage and doom, because, that's what you do.  When you're the mum.  When things need doing.  And looking back, it seems I don't remember much about it.  And that's probably for the best.

And then when Tom was old enough for school I started to work with my husband, and we struggled to keep the business going, but it sank, and that's when I started to blog, to try to find my voice again, to try to find myself.  And by and by, I went to see my GP, and we found my high blood pressure, and borderline anaemia, (explains why I've been sooooo tired for the last years, and why my feet are cold in bed), which can be addressed.

And looking back I didn't know it at the time, but it was quite stressful.  So, now I'm taking the pills, and some iron supplement, and feeling much better!  But the late nights of the weekend are catching up, and although I could quite happily have gone to bed an hour ago, there's still a hen up and I can't go to bed until they're safely tucked away and locked in for the night... 

We had a manic weekend again.  Richard over from Singapore (not seen him for 4 yrs or so), and other visitors as well.  Cooking, child-minding/entertaining, dog walking, laundry, car wash, work at the library, and not necessarily in that order!

No time to read Wolf Hall.  I'm still round about page 500.  This is why I daren't take long books out of the library.  I can read 10 pages a night, most, before I'm asleep!  And, on the insomnia front.  I think the stress levels are improving, and the sleep is as well.  To those fellow insomniacs out there, it may help to talk.  It did for me.

TTFN.  Kat  ;)

My English country garden, early May.

I sometimes wonder ...

.... if there's an alternative 'me' in a parallel universe somewhere out there.

A 'me' who is good at time management.

A 'me' who is patient with the children.

A 'me' who's got it sussed by now...

and then I wake up!

So, since the robins flew the nest it's been mostly hectic.  

I've volunteered to make Phoebe's costume for the school play.  She's the tallest in her class by a good  head and shoulders, and I'm fairly sure none of the existing school wardrobe items would fit her character.  She's playing a Victorian Lady.... so I'll just knock something up then.

Actually, this is where charity shops can come into their own.  I've found 3 pieces of fabric, 2 the same blue, 1 striped blue and gold, probably curtain pieces, cost £3.50.  I found a black, triangular, lacy shawl, 50p.  I bagged a chunky piece of black plastic jewellery on a chain, 50p - imitation jet.  I got wedding dress hooping 50p, and a black underskirt with net layering, £4.00.

She's got a white blouse which is suitable in its silhouette, but isn't lacy.  I may try for something more high necked on e-Bay.

So I've already got the underskirt hooped, and tomorrow I'll be trying to pull the curtain fabric together! boom boom, all puns intended.

I think half-term wore me out.  It's not easy trying to entertain an 11.5 yr old and a 6 yr old, or stop them fighting ALL the time. 

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee was a distraction, there were stalls and a fair in the park opposite our house (!) on the Saturday.  Also on the Saturday my WI ladies delivered their contribution to the fun - 140 fairy cakes all decorated in red white and blue. On the Sunday Tom and I delivered them to the town square.  We chose a most eco-friendly mode of transport.  A wheelbarrow....

Tom paraded in front of the wheelbarrow waving his union jack flag, and we met the PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) as we passed the barriers to traffic.  I had covered the appearance of the wheelbarrow with a tablecloth, so it was as hygienic as possible!  The cakes were to be given out free to all children who attended the 'Big Lunch' in the town square.   Big wash-out more like it.  We took our picnic, sat down at a trestle table, and the heavens opened.   Once my underwear was damp (from the rain!) we decided to call it a day, and returned home to picnic indoors...

We attended the Grove celebrations (stalls, bouncy castles, tea tent, beer tent, it's a knock-out) on the Monday, and luckily the weather held fair and a good time was had by all.

On the Tuesday we went to Legoland, and although we left home later than I wanted to, we only queued for 30mins before we got to the customer service hatch, and then a further 15minutes to collect our upgraded tickets. Yup.  we upgraded to annual passes.  It actually seems to be a better deal than I expected. We went in April and upgraded on the phone within the 7 day 'offer' (catch you) time.  I'd anticipated our annual pass would be the April to April 2013, but the annual pass commenced the 5th June and expires 5th June 2013.  So that seemed fair.  All was well until the rain started again at 2pm and stuck at it.  Still, we can go again, and again..... and you get discount on the food and shops.

Once the children went back to school I sprained my ankle walking the dog.  (I slipped in the ditch which is the usual shortcut...)  I thought I was going to pass out.  Really.  I ended up lying on a patch of grass so I wouldn't fall over if I did flake out!  The swelling was quite impressive, but the bruising didn't really do the injury justice.  It's coming up to 3 weeks since accident, and it's still swollen at the end of the day and stiff in the mornings, and if I poke it in certain places it's sore, so I don't poke it!

I had a training morning for the library's new self-service unit. Quite a hassle to get to the other side of   Oxford by 9am.  I left Wantage 7.50am and got there by the skin of my teeth... with no sat-nav either.  Navigation's fine if you're in the passenger seat.  If you're driving and navigating it can be tricky...

Anyhoo. The new self-service has been introduced to Grove Library. Grove Library is to be the first of the new 'community plus' libraries which is intended to be staffed by a third volunteers by 2014.  The Friends group are to manage the volunteers, which leaves two thirds staffing by paid staff, hence the self-service to speed things up a bit.  My contract is temporary for the moment, ends 11th December, but I'm hoping to go permanent in the wash!...  watch this space.

On the subject of reading.  I'm still enjoying Wolf Hall, only more slowly.  I'm about 480 pages through now, and want to get it finished, but there's so much to do, and I'm quite tired when I get to bed...

Watched a couple of DVD's recently.  'The Tree of Life' winner of Palme d'Or at Cannes last year.  Must be the strangest film I've ever seen, ever.  I watched it to the end (2 sittings) and couldn't say I enjoyed it, but wanted to see if it would make sense by the end.  It didn't.  So much for Terence Malick, Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.  On a lighter note, last night we watched 'Submarine'.  A funny little Welsh coming of age film which was quite engaging.  Not the best film ever, but I enjoyed it.

Gotta go, school ironing for tomorrow.

TTFN.  Keep it sweet! Kat :)

I'm not obsessed with robins*, but...

photo taken yesterday, 'hot' robin chicks ready to leave the nest....

This has been a special year already.

We've been living in our house in Wantage for 5 years now, and this is the first year that we've had robins nesting. Yes, robins plural, as today we watched the second nest fly the coop.

The robin chicks from the first nest I reported on 'disappeared', and although we'd been incredibly privileged to have made the observations, I was a little deflated not to know the end of the story.  What actually happens on this momentous day in the life of a robin?

Well.  From observations made this morning, I can tell you what did happen.

The second nest was in the box of dog towels on the other shelves I use in an attempt to keep the back passage tidy.  (When I say attempt I should say attempt and fail to keep tidy, but hey-ho, there's no harm in trying...).

Anyway, the second nest had 6 chicks, and they've been very amusing looking like some kind of fluff-ball of squashed little frog-buddhas. Take a look:

baby photo! couple of weeks ago, eyes not really open.. mouth cavernous.

starting to feel the squeeze! yes, there are 6 of us...

So, another hot day today.  I'd noticed them looking quite disgruntled yesterday in the heat, and wondered when they'd be leaving the nest. Turns out today was the day.

I was looking for my gardening gloves (shelf above dog towels) at around 10am today.  I wanted to get some weeding done before the sun took hold again in this mini-heatwave, and I noticed there were only 2 chicks left in the nest.... so I got my camera and this is what happened.

should I stay, or should I go now?

the parent bird calls quite persistently, tch tch tch or tut tut tut. The robin chick makes its first flight, and fly they do. But not far.  The bird we watched only flew down and then seemed exhausted and a bit dazed and confused.  So took time out to recover. The parent bird keeps up its calling, but the baby is taking this new world in.  So far all it's seen has been the wall opposite the nest.  Now, there's overhanging buddleia from next door, our bicycles hanging from their racks, the lawnmower, the black and decker workbench(!), various plant pots of assorted sizes, gravel, old leaves, paving slabs, a kettle style bbq, some logs for the woodburner awaiting splitting, (and those heads which peer in to look at us seem to have rather large appendages below them...).

After what seems an age, the robin chick, in fits and starts eventually makes its way to the parent bird, up on the ledge of the wall, and then into the buddleia.  Except for the last one. He made it our kitchen doorstep, and then flew into the house, landing near to Roly (the dalmation)'s bed.  We grabbed dog by the collar, let the little thing recover a moment, and then he went out by the front door!

thank goodness for zoom! he's on the lawnmower handle.

This final incident of the robin in the house happened after lunch at around 2pm, so it's taken 4 hours or so to get all 6 chicks safely out, and launched into the great wide world.  So that's how they did it.  Here's final photo of the chap who visited the inside of the house:

'nuff said.

Night night! Kat  :)

*all right, I may be a little obsessed...

Damned if I do...

We don't have a TV in our house.

Not one.

We've not had one since Phoebe was about 3yrs and every morning before going downstiars she would ask 'What's on telly?' ...  Nothing unusual about that, but we decided to return the rental TV and see how  life was without it.

Once you've stopped watching the trailers it seems that it's absolutely fine.  We actually have time to do other things, and have enjoyed this happy state until now.

We don't think we've deprived the children, they have supervised access to DVDs and some internet sites.  They don't have pressure from commercials aimed at provoking pester power towards the parents. We as parents think that the lack of visual stimulation of a violent cartoon nature (very hard to monitor) has made for better behaved, less excitable, nicer children. So far so good. The children also see TV at other people's houses and at grandparents.

Now.

This is a unique year.

The diamond jubilee and the olympics.

Both historical events.  Both huge events.  Both televised.

I'd like to watch it.  I'd like our children to watch it.  It's going to be part of their memories of growing up, and I think they should be able to have these special memories.... but but but.

What then???

Can you get a TV licence for 2 months? I'll have to look into that.  If not we'll have to have strict rules about what they can and can't watch, and there will be the commercial element/influences that will be hard to avoid. Tom's already a pester pain.  He's got an argos catalogue and is constantly looking at the lego that he's not got, the tech-decks he's not got, the bakugan he's not got, the transformers he's not got.... I could go on.

So.  Apart from saying 'no' which is what I do most of the time, how do you help a 6yr old to see the value of playing with the toys he has, and not always wishing for the next one....?  Or is this a common problem, and is 'no' the only answer?

On a lighter note, we've a second nest of Robins.... can't remember if I mentioned them here, they're nesting in Roly's dog towels on the shelving. We've counter 6 beaks now, and they're starting to look awkward in the nestas they're getting too big for the space available...

from my kitchen window ...

back to Wolf Hall, page 400, 250 to go... ttfn. Kat

Where did the weekend go????

The weekend flew by.  Again.

After work Saturday morning, home, quick lunch and then we drove to Hampton, near Twickenham, our old stamping ground.  We'd been invited to our friend Julie's 40th birthday party.  This was to be held at 7pm-11pm, but seeing that it's a one and a half hour drive there (and back) we asked if we could arrive early, and leave early.  Oh, and can we bring the children along? as having a babysitter wouldn't have been worth it.

So we turned up at 4pm or so, and spent some time (getting in the way) with Julie and her family before the party started.  It was good to catch up with them all and meet the youngest (18mth old Connor)!  We took the liberty of eating pizza at their home, as the party food wasn't to be served until 9pm, and we'd be on our way home by then...

The party was held in a large community hall, and had a Celidh band, who started playing at around 7.30pm(ish).  So we decided to join in the dancing, and a good time was had by all, especially Tom and Phoebe!  I was aiming to leave around 8pm, to give Tom a chance of a 'normal' bedtime, but there were so many people we'd not seen for such a long time, and it was a great opportunity to catch up, that we didn't leave until 9pm...  got home around 10.30pm.  Bit late for little people  :(

Would have l-o-v-e-d to have stayed longer, but the distance made it difficult.  I don't relax about things like that, so it put a bit of an edge on the evening for me, but it was worth the effort, and was lovely to see everyone as well as Julie!

Sunday.  The weather was fine.  Much gardening to be done.  I set to in the vegetable patch, and dug up two trug-fulls of couch grass/roots in the search for my strawberries...  found them and moved them to slightly better position.  Planted runner beans where strawberries were.  Dug out random nettle clumps, stray weeds and bl***y raspberry runners.  I despair of my raspberries.  I managed to take one row out over the winter, but the row that remains I couldn't get to with the amount of rain we had, and now they're actually in bud, so we may just have some raspberries this year....  I don't know what I do wrong.  Well actually, I do.  I don't do anything, which I think with raspberries is a bad thing.  So last year I think I saw 10 raspberries, and ate around 4.  Not good value to my mind, so they  were going to go.

But, the ones that remain, well we'll see.  I'll net them from the birds, and if I don't get a bowlful then they're definitely going.

Dug trenches and planted my maincrop potatoes. Well, I say maincrop.  Only crop is more like it.  How late is this???  Last weekend we were in Shrewsbury, so this was seriously the first time available with the correct conditions (ie, not raining) to do anything productive...

I also moved my tomato 'house' - one of those £20 kits, tubular frame and plastic cover, the right size to put grow bag and 6ft canes to support in.  It didn't really perform as I'd wanted to last year at the back door - against white wall, in 'sun trap', but the garden faces NW, so suntrap is SE, but not a success. So I've re-positioned it down the garden nearer to the veg patch, where the self-seeded tomatoes did great stuff last year!  It's sheltered by the children's play house.

Well, play house is what we call it, but 'folly' would be a more accurate name.  Some of the previous owners of our home built a breeze block and tiled roof 'L' shaped building at the bottom of the garden, and in a Spanish style.  It's a useful size, but there's no power, so really it's a solid shed. We store wood for the stove in there, and there's some old cast off furniture as well for the children to 'play house'.

So, we'll see if the tomatoes get on there or not...

they want to knock the rackity shed down and build 18 houses over the fence.....

This is the view from the veg patch when I got up to let the hens out the other morning at 6.30am.  The early bird (me!) gets the rainbow!  As the 5 minutes passed there was the faintest attempt at a double rainbow (photo no good), and then it was all over...

After all this gardening, I took a shower at 5pm, and then decided it would be nice to go out for supper, (had no energy left to cook!!!) and suggested this to my lovely husband, who agreed.

In all of this gardening frenzy where were the children???  Well, they were playing in and out of the playhouse, in and out of my veg patch, and in and out of the house.  They're finally of an age where we don't have to chaperone or supervise their every move, which is a huge relief, a blessing, and, probably too good to be true!  No, actually, I'm starting to feel that I can actually get on and do things I want to /need to, and not have to be distracted by the banalities of young child care requirements.... Free at last, free at last....

On that note I'll retire, and have another chomp of Wolf Hall....  nightnight!  Kat

Ssssssssssssssss

Sssss-ausages?

Balloon deflating......

Ssss-ilence.....

I don't like a quiet house.  That is to say, I like to listen to the radio (see previous blogs!).  If the house is silent I don't feel comfortable. I like the way the radio is usually always on in the background, seeping into my subconscious and conscious mind, keeping me company, keeping me sane, and sometimes something for me to shout at (if the children aren't here!).

I'm glad I'm back into Radio 4.  But the news is so bad that I'm certain it adds to the burden of everyday stress, which isn't good for my, or anyone else's health.  But it's really the only intelligent radio available, commercial free, and usually impartial in its reporting. If you don't want the news you can avoid it, and it's the delights of the other spoken word programming that I particularly enjoy.  Women's hour, From our own correspondent, the comedy slot at 6.30pm, the afternoon play, the quizzes, the one-off documentary, it's all of life there every day and all the better for that.

Balloon deflating:  I've just left my Women's Institute meeting for this month.  We meet 2nd Wednesday of the month at 10.30am.  I'm an active member - being the Secretary I have to deliver the notices for the month.  I'm quite irrereverant in my presentation, which I hope makes it more fun, because that's what we're about.

This morning's speaker, Barbara Hately-Broad, told us all about the Changi Quilts - which were made in 1942, WWII by the women interred (by the Japanese) in the Changi prison camp in Singapore.  I'd never heard about them before, but Barbara was passionately informative about the quilts (now held in the archives of the British and Australian Red Cross), and I learnt a lot about embroidery and the previously privileged lives of the women who were imprisoned there.

Next month it's Pat Dogs - dogs which go into hospitals as therapy for patients.  Variety is certainly the spice of life at Wantage WI!.  We've got a website - have a look, you'll get a flavour of what we get up to:  wantagewi.weebly.com

I'll finish here for now, I may get more regular postings going if I schedule it during the daytime!  I'm still reading Wolf Hall - up to page 350, so over half-way.  It's fascinating how the author Hilary Mantel, has got 'into' the characters, they really come to life on the page and I'm impressed by how 'easy' it is to read.

We went to Buscot Park (National Trust, Faringdon) on Monday (bank holiday) and the water gardens were closed due to inclement weather....  here's a photo to whet (all puns intended) your appetite...

TTFN! Kat.

BP!

BP:  Blood Pressure.  Bleeping Poultry.  Bountious Precipitation or Beautiful Pies?

I dream of beautiful pies, but that's another matter.  Middle aged mum trying as per the rest of the population to lose a bit of weight...  so my dreams are of the banal, pie variety.  Sweet pastry pies, as being vegetarian there's not a lot of choice.  No actually the higgidy pies have a couple of good ones, but I digress, and I've only just started.

BP.  Bl***y Poultry (1)

I love my hens.  You know I do.  The new ones are settling in at last, and have finally got the hang of going to bed properly.  They gave in to the inevitable since the rain storms of late.   Their fear of the dominant hens was washed away!!! and they put themselves inside the hen house instead of sitting on the roof waiting for mum/me to push them in...

So tonight, at 8.40pm, it's dark and raining.  The hens must be in bed by now I thought.  I got my coat, hat and crocs (kept by the kitchen door, for slipping on and off when going into/back from the garden) on, and went down to the bottom of the garden.  All well.  All inside.  Except for Brownie.  She's scratching in the quagmire that's their enclosure, looking for worms being drowned out of their holes.  No problem.  She won't be long I thought.  I waited a bit.  The rain came down.  I waited a bit more.  The rain came down, harder. She can't last much longer.  The rain continued.  So did the hen.

Come on.  By this time I couldn't tell if the hen was a shadow and the shadow was the hen.  How much longer???  The rain eased off.  Come on.  Nope.  Well there's no point going back into the house, I'll wait here until she goes in.  Can't be much longer now.  Can it?  The rain came back.  The hen was still out.  I can't actually see her.  Oh, she's over there.  The rain came harder, again.  This is stupid.  Bl***y hen, go to bed.  The rest of the hens are in, do you think you're an owl or something? Finally.  The rain got the better of her, and she sidled off, casual as you like, hopped onto the ladder and off to bed.

Just the quagmire for me to negotiate, close the hen-house door, and voila!  I'm home and dry, in the kitchen, and it's 9.00pm.  TWENTY MINUTES standing waiting for the flipping hen to go to bed.  Really.  Sometimes I just wonder....

BP.  Bleeping Poultry (2)

So on Wednesday I'm off work (our library's closed on Wednesday), and I'm doing a bit of this, a bit of that.  And I look from the kitchen window down the garden to spy on/observe the hens.  I can see a portion of their patch through the yew hedge that divides the garden in two.  And although it's raining, again one of the new hens doesn't look right.

So I get my coat on, crocs on and go take a closer look. Classic unhappy bird posture, hunched, tail down, looking miserable.  Staying in one place - not a normal behaviour for a bird.  So, I trundle back to the rabbit hutch.  Of course, I hear you say.  I've found in my years of hen keeping, that's it's useful to have a hospital/isolation unit.  For this purpose I found a rabbit hutch, and this is kept close to the house, so tending to the isolated bird is easier.

Check the rabbit hutch is clean, fresh newspaper, water, food supplies, and then I go to collect Goldie to make observations and keep out of the rain.  Worried now, when I go to pick her up, she takes a couple of steps and trips over.  Twice.  Not good.  Once in the hutch, she stays where I put her, looking as unhappy as an unhappy hen can look.  I go inside, make a cup of tea and check my hen books.   Nothing quite matches the symptoms on display, but I check back after 30 minutes and hen has moved to the back of the hutch and has quite clear, runny droppings.  Ah ha!  something to go on.  My book tells me lots about the various quality of droppings and what it signifies.

Time tells me that it's time to collect the children from school, on the way home I tell them the situation with Goldie and say we'll wait and see what develops.  Tom asks if the hen dies will we get our money back?  Good question from a 6 yr old, I like your style son!

On return we go to see the hen, and she's still miserable, but has looked at the food.  We retreat to have supper.  After supper, a quick look again, and the problem becomes clear.  She's laid her first egg!  On the hard surface of the hutch, so it's cracked beneath her a little, and she's not moved since laying.  It's lying there between her legs.  I reach in and take the egg.  I'm encouraged.  It must be quite discombobulating laying your first egg.  I give her 30 minutes more to recover and put her back with the other girls.  I throw them some corn.  They all go running for it.  So that was it.  Goldie's first egg.  BP! Brilliant Production.

Pigeon or gargoyle?  Church of SS Peter & Paul, Wantage

And on that note I'll bid you good night.  April was a wash out.  Easter holidays too long, not enough blogging, sorry about that.  Will try to remedy in May!  TTFN as they say, and keep it sweet, Kat  :)

I confess...

I've put down 'The Story of My Life' by Helen Keller.  If I was American and felt more 'connected' to her then I might have persevered with it, but there's so much else that I wanted to get on and read, so I started Hilary Mantel's 'Wolf Hall' (the 2010 Booker Prize winner).

I started it on Thursday and am 100 pages in already.  I'm really enjoying it, it deserves its big reputation (and it's a big book, 650 pages).  She manages to draw you in, so you're a fly on the wall during the important intrigues of the Tudor period, but the writing is so good, it doesn't feel difficult at all.

I didn't get on with 'History' at school, those many years ago, but this historical drama/fiction/'fact'ion makes me regret my 'lack' of knowledge about history.  I'm trying to make up for it now, and there is much to recommend this book.

Hens.

So I promised new photos of the hens - we got our two new girls, 'Goldie' and 'Brownie' on Good Friday, so they were Easter Chicks...

They're having a hard time of it at the moment.  The two speckeldy hens, (Tweedledum and Tweedledee) have been asserting their dominance, to settle the pecking order.  This also relates to the going to bed order.  Unfortunately, the Tweedles go in first, and the two brown hens, the new girls are too scared to follow (there have been some skirmishes in the house when the door is closed).  I hoped they would get over this, and they'll have to, but at the moment, come dusk, when I go to close the pop-hole, the two brown hens are sitting on the roof, and I have to manhandle them into the house!

Luckily, they're quite docile so they don't have me running rings round after them, unlike the Tweedles...

Enough.  I need to go to bed.  (I want to read more Wolf Hall!).  Thanks for reading, keep it sweet, Kat.

Empty Nest Syndrome

Stop press!

The robin chicks have gone.  I just checked the nest box this lunchtime and it was empty.  So not exactly certain when it happened - they were 14 days since hatching on Friday.  On Saturday Simon went early to USA, I worked, the kids were at Kate's and then we were busy with the Grand National shenanegins that afternoon (I had 3rd and 4th).  On Sunday we drove to Shugborough (National Trust) to hand over the children to Grandma and Grandad for the week.

I've been observing the comings and goings from the bird feeders outside the kitchen window, and have seen a couple of robins taking bits and flying to the undergrowth/overgrowth of the left hand border.  Behind the beech tree, towards the overgrown snowdrops/daffodil greenery into the heavy ivy on the fence. I deduce therefore that's where the chicks are, but they're impossible to see, and so well hidden that even Roly couldn't find them if he wanted to.  So I'm confident about the success of the robin family, and wish them well.

Now what to do with the empty box/nest?...

Seems a little strange without them.... the robin chicks and the family!  I'm here on my ownsome - well, just me, Roly, the hens and our lodger.  I think I might like it at first, we'll see how it goes.  Simon's back on Thursday and then we're up north to collect the children after work on Saturday...

I can't keep up with the pace of life these days.  We do soooo much, and there's so little time left to think about it all, never mind write about it all...

We went to the local point-to-point at Lockinge on Easter Monday.  Cold wind, but we got there early as our family tradition now dictates and walked the course with Roly (dalmation) and Phoebe's friend-to-be from her new school, when she starts in September (in as much as, Phoebe made a friend called Eleanor at the school taster day and exam day, and wanted to meet up so we suggested the point-to-point). It's a lovely way to start a 'country' day and gives a deserved appetite for the picnic we (I) pack!

Unfortunately the weather was a dampner, as the hillside was only half full of parked cars - it's been reported in past years that it attracts up to 10,000 attendees - it's one of the largest point-to-points in the country we understand.  The ground was good so the racing fared well - we missed the first race, then there was a couple of 4 horse races followed by couple of 5 horse races, and we left before the last and pony club races.  And it's the people watching that's so much part of the enjoyment, as much as the racing, and even though the weather was bracing, a good time was had.

More to report, there's so much goes on in the Easter holidays - we joined the National Trust, went to Farmer Gows, saw The Pirates and The Scientists have An Adventure (Aardman's latest film), served tea the local half-marathon, and I've had a WI meeting as well.  On all that next time - I've to get ready for work, and the washing needs to be taken in.

Thanks for reading, keep it sweet! Kat

Easter chicks... really!

Happy Easter, early this year!

Our children were out and about around the garden this morning, early, 7.30am, collecting Easter Eggs left by the bunny...  so it's been a long day.

I have been observing the progress of the robin and her chicks.  They're now 9 days old, and it's very difficult to take a photo of them.

For the past few days the parent has been mostly absent, in as much as there's less room for parent to sit as the chicks are growing larger, and as the chicks are growing larger, the parent has to keep them fed.... I did get a shot of Robin with beak full of something wholesome:

yum yum, what's that then Mum?

When I looked at this next image on my compact digital camera (Panasonic Lumix), I thought I'd not got anything  exciting, but it seems I was wrong...  lovely fluff and baby robin beaks - honest.

Well, as the parent is now often 'away' (busy foraging), I noticed that they're responding wide-mouthed when the kitchen door bangs (!) and also sometimes if I make a 'tch tut tch' sound.  Which was how I managed to get this shot:

So, sorry for the blurr, but I didn't hang around to get the photo this morning, and I'm very careful to beat the retreat after inspection!  Happy to confirm that on Friday this week (1 week since hatching) we did observe 5 beaks, which indicates they're all still thriving, and that they must be keeping each other warm. I assume the parent still keeps them warm at night as the temperature does drop somewhat.

I'll tell you all more about our new hens as well next time.  Need to take and upload photos of them first!

TTFN  thanks for reading and keep it sweet!  Kat

Spring chicks!

OK, this isn't a photo of spring chicks.  I've tried to insert it in the appropriate place in the story, but it insists on popping up here. Sorry.  Do read on for explanation!

This is where the blog begins.  They're here.  Hurrah!!!

The robin eggs have hatched.  We discovered them around 5pm on Friday 30th March.  We've only seen 3 that we dare look at, as being very careful not to disturb by our presence!  The parent bird (seems alarmingly solitary, but then all robins look the same don't they? or is that 'robinist'?) still sits on them quite a long time in between feeds, but 2 days since hatch-day and there's still a parent and still chicks (not sure how many).  Photographs that I've tried to take so far haven't come out, as chicks still low down in the nest, and the nest is positioned so as to be very protected under the shelf.

When we get piccys I''ll let you know!

On another bird front, my hens have a new hen house.  I'd been getting fed-up with the ark. It was 5 yrs old, and although still sound/solid, had a few leaks here and there that this winter I covered up with a tarpaulin.  This made cleaning the hen house a bind, but kept the birds dry.  I was also worried about mites for the coming season, and the house was too big as it was designed for 6-8 birds, and I only ever intended to keep 3-4. (The hen-house was a house-warming present from my dad when we moved here - thanks Dad!).

So I'd done a little research on 'tinternet, and instead of a fashionable 'egglu' from 'omlet', I found a couple of suppliers of recycled plastic housing.  One in particular took my fancy as they were established to help farmers recycle their plastics, so there's a rural theme going there.  I've plumped for a maxi hen loft from Solway Recycling.  Downside was they're in Scotland, so the eco value of recycling is lost  somewhat in the transportation impact.

Anyhow, the house arrived safely last Monday, and I locked up the old house and strawed the nesting boxes and laid newspaper and wood-shavings for the roosting area.  Perfect. The size is just right, and the plastic is more portable (hope it doesn't encourage thieves...) so easier for me to move around and clean out.  However, you can lead a hen to the hen-house, but you can't make it roost.   It took 3 nights of me chasing the hens around the old house, catching them, and thrusting the into new abode before they 'got it'.

What to do with the old house?  Well there's the beauty of 'freecycle'.  I advertised it in as honest a fashion as possible, and had 5 potential takers.  The first turned out to be a time-waster, but the second was delighted and managed to arrange collection the next day.  This was a bit of a pallaver, as     we needed to lift the 6ft x 4ft x 4ft ark over the wire fencing surrounding the hen's enclosure and then over the post and rail fence at the end of the garden, and finally, onto the roofbars of the volvo estate.  See start of this blog!

The old and the new hen houses!

Better go now, getting dark outside, and another frost likely.  The last week's unseasonally warm weather has brought the forsythia out quite gloriously, the colour contrast with the skies this week has been very eye-catching...

So a new month, and my new hours at the library start tomorrow - next 6 months will see me at the library Mon 2-7; Tues 10-12 & 2-5; Thur 2-5; Fri 2-5 and Sat 9.30-12.30. This will be interesting as we start Easter school holidays as well.  I may well be worn out next blog. Think kindly of me if I make too many mistakes!

Thanks for reading,  enjoy the spring, enjoy the weather, enjoy the holidays, enjoy life and keep it sweet. :)  Kat