February 2006
Egg update
Thursday 2 February, 2006
We got our second egg today - or, should I say, the dogs did. Felix rolled the first egg off the worktop on to the floor, so the dogs got that one. Today's was broken, so they got that one too.
It's not fair...
Marmalade and potatoes
Thursday 2 February, 2006
Well, I made marmalade for the first time this week - 8lbs of it. It's rather nice (thank you, Delia) and I have enough oranges to make another 16lb, which will be enough for a year and then some.
Dan's chitting his potatoes, so out front hall is now full of the bench, egg boxes and potatoes. They are bigger but fewer in number than in previous years (being sold by weight, of course) - I don't know if we'll have to buy more to keep the stocks up.
Further adventures of Felix the Cat
Tuesday 7 February, 2006
Felix has been up the chimney again. Fortunatley, he "swept" it so well last time that he wasn't half as dirty this time. We've closed the wee flap, so he can't try that one anymore.
He also seemed to have been paddling somewhere - he came rushing in, from outside, we think, because he was cold, wet to the ankles (or the cat equivalent of ankles). Our first thought was that he had fallen down the toilet - he's quite interested in the toilet - but investigation confirmed that all toilet seats were down. It wasn't wet underfoot outside, so the best we can come up with is that he has somehow fallen into the birds' water dish. With Felix, nothing is impossible.
Effortless gardening
Friday 17 February, 2006
This week I've achieved so much - sown loads of salad, herb and tomato seeds, lifted piles of parsnips and leeks, moved compost bins, planted out strawberries, weeded beds, bought straw for our incoming pigs, and plenty more I don't even know about. And worked a 40 hour week. And never had my wellies on once.
The secret? Write a list on a Sunday night, give it to your wife (who now happens to take school holidays due to childcare arrangements) and by the following Friday, with a bit of luck, it's all done! Who said this gardening lark was hard work?
A tale of two poorly pussycats
Thursday 23 February, 2006
Dan took Cassius for his annual check and booster last Tuesday (Valentine's Day - don't say I don't know how to spoil a bloke!). When he came home without him, I was a little concerned. Cass has been sneezing for a couple of weeks - dry sneezing, not snotty ones like Felix. He had a sneezing fit at the vet's and burst a blood vessel in his nose, poor boy.
Anyway, the vet had a look and thought he had something stuck up his nose (more like something that would happen to Felix, really). It turned out that he had a rotten tooth that was making his eye and nose run. We had noticed the runny eye and nose, but were just bathing them wth salt water; we had been told previously that he had very deepset eyes that might be prone to mattering. The offending tooth was broken when we got him but it wasn't extracted because it wasn't giving any problems at the time and, being a canine, woudl have had a really deep root.
Reservoir Hens
Thursday 23 February, 2006
We leg ringed our hens last weekend. We've never bothered before but I thought we should have some means of telling them apart. I envy people who can identify each hen - ours remain a kind of collective. Obviously, I can tell the Brown Leghorn from from the five RIR but the RIR are sufficiently similar that I can't tell them apart easily; likewise the Light Sussex. To be honest, sometimes I confuse Tess and Meg with each other and Cassius and Felix (if they aren't together).
Anyway, our hens now sport nice coloured leg rings in pink, purple, blue, green, yellow and red. They're like Reservoir Hens!!
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