Mopey hen and other birds...

Sundays just fly by round here, even rainy ones.  Up, late for me, 8am.  I'd like to lie-in, but I'm nervous/cautious of the dog now he's over 11 years old.  We've come down to the odd accident after 8.30am, and I don't like to chance it - not a good start to a morning really, is it?

So all fine downstairs, and I let the dog out, walked down the garden and let the hens out, back in the house, fed the dog, made tea and went upstairs to let Simon know the time - 8.20am, and he's usually out with his running group at 8.30am.....  it wasn't pre-meditated that I didn't tell him the time/wake him earlier, but I didn't get much thanks for letting him know either.

Washing machine loaded and on, breakfast at a leisurely pace, read a chapter of my book, dressed and Tom dressed, and as it was raining we set to and tidied Tom's room.  Knocked up a pan of leek and potato soup, washing load out, had lunch, and after humming and ha-ing decided to bite the bullet and walk the dog in the rain.  Forecast for heavy rain all day, so had to do it sooner or later.

Back home from dog walk, both of us soaked, towelled the dog, and then I thought I'd check on the hens, in particular the one in moult with the knitted jacket I'd made - to see how it was holding up in the rain.  Actually we'd noticed yesterday that it had developed a baggy gusset - she must have been pushing at it with her feet, but I was more concerned about the rain.

Turned out I was wrong to be worried about the rain. She'd managed to get the baggy gusset twisted round her legs somehow, impairing her walking, and worse, rubbing her legs on the wet wool, or the safety pins.  I was worried that she'd impaled herself, and as she was sheltering under the table which keeps the food dry I managed to catch her quite easily.

No. The safety pins were intact, but her wings looked rather raw as well as the legs, so I decided to take the jacket off. Some feathers have now come through, so she should be OK.  No. Wrong again. Funny things, hens.  Her companion had taken to pecking her.  I observed and it was obvious that this was more of a problem, not the jacket.  She had taken a pecking and her confidence was gone, so she was an easy victim.

I don't like having to do this, but I separated them.  Past experience has shown that when hens peck other hens it's a slippery slope if you don't act quickly.  Luckily I've got a rabbit hutch (no rabbits) which I use as my 'hen hospital'.  So I quickly gave it a spruce up, and with help from my daughter we moved her in.

Cup of tea, and the weather had brightened up, so I took the opportunity to sit at my kitchen window and observe the birds for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch annual survey - see link:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/

From my kitchen window 2pm-3pm today I saw:  bluetits, great tit, long-tailed tit, robins, chaffinch, starlings, sparrow, blackbirds, great spotted woodpecker, wood pigeons and collared doves.  I didn't see our other usual suspects - magpie, greenfinch, goldfinch, bullfinch and jay. But I did have my camera - the woodpecker was incredibly camera shy, even through the glass, and wouldn't pose when feeding but I caught him a couple of times...

It's really not easy taking photos of birds through a kitchen window..... but I tried.

Nighty night.  Kat :)

My weather report

It finally rained yesterday.  Woo-hoo! We'd been in the throes of a proper summer heatwave. Which in this part of the country meant over 3 weeks of hot hot sun and no rain.

By hot hot sun think over 25'C and some days peaking at 29'C, (and in my car the temperature reading was 32.5'C and as  it's a basic model it has no air-conditioning other than to wind down the windows), no wind, dry but sometimes humid, and staying warm at night, circa 20'C.

Now.  I know that sunshine is nice and it makes most people happier,  but... it's hard not to sound like you're complaining when I say 'it's too hot'.  I should add the epithet 'for me' to that statement.

I was going to say that in this type of weather I'm a typical English rose and wilt.  I'm good for nothing much and have to avoid the burning rays as much as I possibly can by staying indoors with all the curtains drawn.

Actually, on closer observation of my garden, I noticed that my roses hadn't really wilted in the heat, but my tomatoes had... so what does that make me?  LOL! as my daughter would say, although probably she wouldn't say, because she's rather say 'Mummy, you can't say LOL'.  Ah, me.

Dog walking needed to be done early before the sun got too high, and Roly actually submitted to a hosedown to help him cool down, so it must have been hot.

But that's all behind us now.  The forecast for the next week or so is for rain, with maximum temperatures of around 20-22'C. Much more acceptable.

So, here's a thought.  Where do bees shelter from the rain if they're caught out?  I'd been photographing the bee activity on the echinops flower heads in my garden ... and when I went to lock up the hens during a lull in the rain they were hiding on the underside of the globular form of the echinops, very clever those bees.

Didn't have my camera in the rain, but thought you might like this one before the 'storm'...

more later
Kat :)

Deflation subtract effort equals knowledge

By rights I should be feeling deflated.  I didn't get the job I applied for.  I didn't get the interview.  I did get the sift interview - whereby to whittle the 41 applicants(!) down to 5 to interview they held 'informal 15 minute discussions' with 15 of the candidates.  I was one of the 15, and then one of the 10 who got the letter saying we'd not got the interview.

So essentially I got the elbow.  But did I?  What I did get was an updated CV, always useful.  Interview experience, always useful.  And did I really want the job?  I wanted a job in school because working 'term-time only' makes childcare less expensive.  So I had a reason for wanting to work in administration in a school, but was it reason enough?  Obviously not.  So food for thought, which is also useful.... and my CV is up to date.

My poor hens have had a rough time of it.  The quantity of rain that fell on this country last year was record breaking.  We're all now aware of the water-table and aquifers that supply our water, and the floods that have happened up and down the country, but what does this mean in hen terms?  What effect has all the rain had on them?  I''ll show you.

This photo was taken a week ago. There had actually been a lull in the relentless rain of late, a few days of dryish weather, recovering from the snow melt, which wouldn't have helped.  Then one day of rain and  quagmire again. The land is so wet, so sodden, so squishy, there's no where for the water to go anymore.  Even the local park had floods...

Wantage Memorial Park Recreation Ground, flooding Jan/Feb 2013

above Faringdon new Cricket Ground, looking towards the Vale of the White Horse in the mist

So morning dog walks are feeling a bit more hopeful, there's Spring in the air, full of birdsong, leafbuds sprouting, snowdrops and daffodils straining, and yes, even a glimpse of blue sky, the promise of Spring, the start of something, a new beginning, again.  And it feels good. The recognition of the cycle, the groundedness of belonging to the routine of family, the routine of work, the routine of routine.

Kat.

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 :)