Frost, Chickens & Virus's

A lovely frosty morning this morning!! So here are some frosty pics...








Then we decided to clean out the chickens completely...
So we dismantled the whole thing with Bunty and Bree keeping an eye on things



Then when we put it all back in we took the run off the Eglu, split it in half and covered in, this actually gives them loads more room!!



We where very pleased with this, then we sat outside in the sunshine drinking coffee and discussing where the chickens should be moved too. As I've said before where they are is OK not brilliant!

So I came inside and decided to update my blog and found two pieces of news... Bird Flu is back in the UK, so we may very well have to put the run back together again!!! and this e-mail

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS:
You should be alert during the next days:

Do not open any message with an attached filed called "Invitation" regardless of who sent it, It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch
which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer.

This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list, that is why you should send this e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called "invitation", though sent by a friend, do not open it and shut down your computer immediately. This is the
worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever.

This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero
Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept
SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW ,

I have forwarded this on to everyone I have an e-mail for, but I thought it might be worth popping it on here, so take care folks!!

Mice & Mist!

Look what was charging around my lounge last night.....



can you see him just behind the cat?? No one was in so what did I do? Stayed on the sofa with my feet off the ground until I was rescued!!!
Q. Where were my cats?
A. Sat watching it run around the room!

Q Where was Darius Darkwood?
A. Here......



Looking at himself on the computer!!!! Fat lot of good he is!

Eventually my knight in shining armour, armed with 2 empty pringles tubes, rescued me from the mouse. We all lived happily ever after. That is except for Darius who has been sent on a keep fit campaign and banned from using the computer!!!

I had a most magnificent view out of my window this morning. The sunrise photo I will put on my sky blog but the rest I will put here in the order I took them, including the good and bad ones.....

This one I'm looking out of the front. I managed to get all cables and post in as well, its the bank of cloud that fascinated me, but look in the sky can you see the plane, I didn't, well not until I looked at the photo later.....



Then I swivelled to the right to get the sheep in the mist...



now look what I took next...



wonder what made me take that, odd isn't it!!

To be honest the best ones I took where out the back of the house.....
this is with no zoom or anything



I zoomed in for the next two...





I think they are great!!!

I haven't got much done yet. Tori is off school with the screaming 'ab dabs'. I have been fiffing and faffing around with the camera, computer and blog! Although I did pop out to get my hair done! So I suppose I ought to get some work in the house done! Catch you all later!

Knees, Oranges & The Veg Patch!!

I'm a bit tee'd of today!! I am having awful problems with my knees! I used to suffer quite badly with my knees aching etc, which I could understand, but surely now I have lost two and half stone I shouldn't be having these problems!! I've only really noticed it since I've upped the exercise!! I don't know if its not one thing its another!! Do I let it stop me? Do I flip!!!

So look what I got in Devizes market for £1


Over 3lbs of Seville Oranges!!! Oh! I know I bought some the other day, but with the mincer I bought off Ebay for £10 including postage, winging its way to me as we speak, and they where alot cheaper than the other lot I bought!!

I also bought some 4ply wool so I can have a go at another Japenese Amigurumi Little animal, whilst I sit down this afternoon to rest my knees and watch the DVD Kathryn left behind!!!

Before all of that I decided to start digging over some of the veg patches....



I had the onions in this bed last year and I plan to grow my root veg in here this year! Thats why I haven't put any compost or chicken manure on. I found loads of worms in here. All done!



This bed had my salads and garlic in



I thought I would put the onions in here this year but look what I found..



2 lovely parsnips. This was a surprise because although I planted some last year, I had used old seed! I've since found out this is not a good idea and explains why I thought none had come up!!!

Anyway I stopped here becuase of my poor old knees. But I have a 2 slight problems that I'm hoping all my lovely blog readers may be able to help me solve......



I have put the bird feeder in the middle of this bed! If you look on the ground you can see two different colours, one is the aubiose from the chicken run and the other is the scattered bird food, I did used to have this feeder in the gravel but you can imagine the mess, so where do I put it or what can I put under it!! I don't really want to move it further down the garden because we won't be able to see the birdies and we do have some beautiful ones come to visit! But we do need to get it out of the veg bed!!!

Problem 2
I plan to really sort this bed out but first I need to see if I can sort this problem out





In the first picture you can see some buddleia and the second a ceanothus, can you see how they lean out? To some extent I understand becuase my neighbour on the left not only has a large apple tree in the middle of her 12ft wide garden, but also her lefthand boundary consists of enormous silver birch trees. This is a very sunny border, I am facing south in the first picture with the camera. Any suggestions please as to what to do, what may grow, you can see she has loads growing in her garden and the roots sucker off into my garden I'm forever trying to grow my own plants and not her suckers!!!

Cats, Chickens, Sweetpeas and Ginger!

A lovely sunny day, and its Wednesday so I always do a mid-week clean of the eglu! Assisted by Tango,



and Sassy



Now being half Red Burmese brother & sister they are very talkative. Tango is always telling me where I've gone wrong and what I should have done and please hurry up as I need a fuss!! Sassy on the other hand can be very aloofe, especially whilst her brother is around! She loves being out in the garden with you, but is pretending she doesn't!!!

The chickens at long last have started laying fairly reguarly again, which is a relief. They are obviously alot happier now there is more daylight. A funny thing happened last night.... you may or maynot know I'm frightened of the dark and living in the country with no street lights etc dark is b****y dark!! Anyway I wandered down the garden about 17.30ish as it is not really dark at this time and they where all in bed except Babs....

This is Babs


she was wandering around the outside of the run, so I thought OK, I'll come back later. I forgot until about 18.45 when armed with a large torch I went back down (this is brave for me, usually I would leave it for Mark to do when he got in!)Went in and there curled up (sort of) next to the Eglu was Babs!!!! Stupid bird! Have you ever tried to catch a chicken with a large torch wedged between your knees!!! Well I did!! Eventually I popped her in the run and she charged into the Eglu. and the racket from the others was hysterical, I wished I could have taped it and played it to you!! If you can imagine a bed with 3 people settled nicely into it, then all of a sudden someone else rushes in to join them, is cold, knicks the blankets, says you've got cold feet', stop shoving, etc. etc. you get the drift? Well it was just like that!!!

I also planted some sweetpeas and some Hollyhock seeds and there now under cover in the greenhouse here......



this is the garlic that I forgot to put in last autumn, so its now in pots here..



and I know I shouldn't do this but...... you remember the onions I put into trays last week and popped in the greenhouse? well look.......


Roots!!!!!!!

and finally, because I know I can whitter on a bit! I took Ruths advice and took the Ginger out of the propagator well look at it now....



Smiling here!!!!!

A Little Amigurumi Mouse!

Now you may or maynot know I am terrified of mice, so I came up with a cunning plan to make sure any mice that came into my house would be frightened off by 'Darius Darkwood'. Who is he? Well he is a Gothic Mouse (cos thats the only 4 ply wool I had!)
He's a naughty little mouse and has run off.....



Now come on Darius, all the nice ladies want to meet you..



that was cheeky just running off as I took the photo...
He thinks its a great game! But he is clever because he ran off in a different direction and all I got was his ear this time...



I'm sure everyone will think you a handsome chap, there is no need to be shy...



That was my fault Darius, for some unknown reason the flash didn't go off!! Now if I take another photo and show it to you maybe you might realise what a cute chap you are...


Lol!! you liked that didn't you! Oh! you want me to take some more! Ok strike a pose then!!




I hope you liked meeting Darius Darkwood. He was my first attempt at a Japanese Amigurumi Patterns. I do know where I went wrong and I definately want to have another go! So I'm off to get some more wool today!!!!!

Bits & Bobs and Oranges!

Catching up on housework (blah) and ironing (double blah). I had a go at an ATC, I won't be posting a picture or doing anymore!!!

I am also trying out some 'Amigurumi Patterns' these are Japanese Crochet patterns. Just playing around, if they turn out ok I'll post info on them!!

I recieved some new Yarn through the post the other day from Yarn Yard (link on right)


I will get knitting again very soon, can't say who for or what I will be knitting though!


Doing a bit of research for someone's Family History which is proving to have a twist or two!!!



No I have not gone totally mad and decided to up my Vitamin C intake!!!
These are Seville Oranges, and what do you make with them?????????? Marmalade!!! I have never made Marmalade before in my life and as I am game to have a go at most things I thought I would have a go at Marmalade, well it is a favourite of hubbies!! I am going to freeze these as I have been assured by Lottie that this will be OK. Then when I feel ready we are going to have a Marmalde Day!! If you fancy joining in, let me know and we can all make Marmalade together!!!

The Great Pip Challenge



This is the Ginger, do you think I should take it out of the propergator now???