the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Say "hello" to Hobbes

Say "hello" to Hobbes, our new cockerel, who arrived last night. As you can see he's a Light Sussex and he was bred by friends of ours, Mhairi and Tim. He's still a youngster, but he's a big boy already.

This was taken last night before he was put in with the girls for the night. The hope is that, by morning, they will think he's part of the flock...

We've kept the girls and Hobbes enclosed today so they can get used to each other. When we got Henry, we let him out on the first day with the girls but they kept running away and leaving him alone, so he didn't go to bed but roosted outside the french windows, resulting in a long chase and eventual capture behind Dan's bike in the garage and the loss of a few of Henry's tail feathers..

Hobbes didn't seem to understand the concept of ladders so had to be "encouraged" down this morning with a sharp push to his rump. However, he does seem to understand sunflower seeds and sardines!

He also now understands when Mrs Leghorn says "move", she means it. He's getting a wee bit of a hard time, but it will soon be time to go back to roost so, hopefully, he'll find his way to bed and they'll be a bit more settled tomorrow.

Copper

Regular visitors will know that our old tortie cat, Copper, was diagnosed with kidney failure a few months ago. She's now on medication and a special diet and has taken on a new lease of life.

She is such a character. She and Felix get along fine except today he patted her bottom from behind, with his paw. That's like "goosing" your granny. Boy, did he get a telling off!

She's a very vocal cat and calls to you from her room to come and play. To let you understand, when we got Homer, we needed to keep him in an enclosed space so he lived in the guest bedroom. When we got Copper, she kind of moved in with him and it's now Copper's room. I expect it will always be Copper's room, even after she's long gone.

It's very nice. There are two windows - the east facing one has a specially made window cushion so Madam can catch the early morning sun in comfort. There is a very squashy armchair and two bean bags on the double bed, which extends the choice of sleeping and resting opportunities. She also has her heated sheepskin pad for cold days. Often, she lies on the bed, watching out the door and calls to us. If we respond, she wriggles around on her back, calling, until she gets a tummy tickle. She's a bit of a tart!

Copper also has her own ensuite facilities - at least, her litter tray is in the shower room. Her food and water is on a place mat by the door. All of this is secured by a toddler gate, allowing access for cats but excluding greedy dogs.

Not that Copper restricts herself to her room. At the moment, she's on Dan's chair in the study, helping me type this. Another favourite spot is on the south facing living room windowsill, on which she has a window cushion and a sheepskin. Horrors, sometimes she has to share this with Cassius! Of an evening, she's usually watching TV on someone's chest. If she's being stroked and wants me to stop, she will quite firmly move my hand with her paw and hold it out of the way.

Yesterday, she was on one of the dining room chairs, which have slatted backs. When Dan went to move her (he had been sitting there, but had moved momentarily), she wrapped her front paws round the chair backs and hung on like a limpet. Eventually, Dan gave up the unequal struggle and got another chair.

Cats, eh, who'd have them...

Spring clean

Spring is maybe a bit optimistic, but I tidied up the shed a bit today and Dan and I started cleaning the greenhouse. We've never done it before but it was looking distinctly green at the end of the summer, so this has been on the "To Do" list for some time.

It was wet and windy first thing but about 10am, the wind dropped and the sun came out. I swept up the courtyard garden and pulled a few weeds, then we started on the greenhouse. To be honest, it wasn't as bad a job as I imagined and it's always easier with two. We've done just over half and might have done more, but as we finished the door, the wind got up again and the rain came on so that seemed like a good time to stop. Also, one of the glazed panels shattered - just like that! So Dan's gone off to try to get a new one.

Looking out the window, the Ochil Hills are black at the top but bathed in sunshine from halfway down.

I think I'll finish the planting plan...

Old seeds, new seeds

Because Dan's busy with work things, I've been delegated doing the seed order. As ususal, we ordered mainly from The Organic Catalogue. I've tried to pick varieties recommended by Sarah Raven in her book "the great vegetable plot". I couldn't get all of them but was pretty close. I've also ordered "Sungold" tomato seeds from Thomson and Morgan - the OC didn't have them and Sarah highly recommends them.

Having placed the orders, I then found a box of old seeds in the shed, not in the "seed box", where I had looked BEFORE placing the order. So I had a very satisfying clear out of them.

I'm now working on the sowing and planting plan. This should be fun since it involves counting backwards - and I'm not awfully hot at counting forwards!

Vegetable Expert

Just came across this advice site which I hadn't seen before: Vegetable Expert. It's got the sort of comprehensive growing advice we always intended to have here (but never got around to!) plus tips on storing and cooking veg.

Smokey is "put to"

Yesterday was big day for us. Smokey took a big step forward in his driving career and was "put to" the gig for the first time. Last weekend, he saw the gig for the first time, sniffed it, touched it and followed it around. Yesterday, we built on that, again letting him sniff and touch it, then leading and longreining him around it.

He was quite calm about all this, so he was asked to stand while Claire brought the gig behind him and lowered the shafts down. He had a wee look behind but never moved a foot. So we hitched him up to the gig and led him around the arena, in walk, with lots of stops (and a few polo mints) to let him think about what was happening.

The only time he lifted his head was when I asked him to turn a wee bit tight and obviously he couldn't bend his body because of the shafts, but he just thought about it and stepped over beautifully to make the turn.

We've a long way to go but he seems pretty relaxed so far, so we'll just take it slowly. I was so proud of him, I had a wee tear in my eye.

Thanks, Claire, for your help. And the photos. And this time we get video too!

My Bennington

Here's the first photo of my Bennington. I suppose, strictly speaking, it's Smokey's Bennington.

He saw it for the first time today and was interested but not hugely impressed. He followed it round the arena - my chum, Fiona, was pulling it - and didn't seem too concerned. We also dragged a tyre up the road - Smokey wasn't bothered by the tyre but the other horses spooking in the fields, spooked him.

When we tried tyre dragging in the arena, Fiona sat on the tyre. Smokey's face was a study as he had to drag something heavy (no disrespect intended, Fiona) for the first time. I'm sure it was heavier than the gig. What a marvellous invention the wheel is!

And here's two photos of Smokey. In the second, he is examning someone's grooming kit and probably trying to remember what all those brushes and things are for!!

My Bennington

Despite the horrible weather. our carriage driving has taken a significant step forward. Today, Dan's Dad and I braved the storm and headed off to Gleneagles Hotel to pick up our carriage!

It's a Bennington two wheeled gig (I think - I need to get to grips with the types of carriages). It's not new, but it will do us through the winter and next summer. Next winter, we'll put it off the road for six weeks or so for a full strip down and renovation. Dan's Dad is really good at these kind of projects and was working his way round it today, muttering things like "hmm, we'll need stainless steel bolts here" and "definitely brass buckles there" and " a nice bit of coachlining will make all the difference".

It wasn't a day for photography, but if it's decent next weekend, I'll get a photo to put up here.

By the way, thanks to everyone who contacted me with help, advice or contacts about vehicles. Much appreciated.

Famous Five

It's not very often that we see both dogs and all three cats together, but the open fire is a terrific draw. Dan caught them all together a few nights ago.

From left to right, Tess, Felix, Copper, Meg, with Cassius in front, in the prime position. If we had smellivision, you would be able to detect the scent of singed cat!

I did suggest running this as a caption competition...