High Tide

When Storm Gertrude subsided we seemed to have a beach outside the house

Blood and Feathers

As Gertrude rushes by

with turbulent cloud and intermittent sun

while our back is turned, Shelia and Floppy jump the netting and beat up Fanny:

All three are now confined to their houses pending better dividing fences.

Elsewhere there were more peaceful displays of plumage

We take delivery of a useful book

When the ducks and the rabbits start ganging up on you…

The Ducks are getting more and more frustrated at being confined to just one large area while they have their worming week.

Today they decided to call upon Rabbit for help

Rabbit got busy nibbling them an escape route while the Ducks gave her encouragement

It did not take Rabbit long to make a hole big enough for her to get in

and for the Ducks to get out

They got to work grazing the grass outside their fence – which was very similar to the grass inside their fence, but to them it seemed greener

While Rabbit took a tour of the Ducks’ interesting twig collection

The wrong kind of nuts

It was mid-September when the first hole was dug to anchor the new polytunnel

Through various delays and distractions we have pieced it together following the plans

which require a lot of concentration.

A bit of back-tracking today as the door frames had to be taken down and remade, a case of the wrong sort of nuts.  Anyone could confuse an M8 zinc plate with an M10 Nylock, couldn’t they?

Looks like we might need a bit of help when it comes to skinning:

 

Meanwhile, following his fracas with Shelia, Fanny settles into his new quarters with a couple of lady friends

 

Pethan eraill yn y tyddyn heddiw:

Design sense

As the framework of the polytunnel nears completion

our minds turn to designs for the inside

So far on our plot we have mainly kept with the layout we inherited so this is our first chance to lay out a space from scratch – obviously we want practicality, imagination, quirkiness, beauty, surprises, aesthetics… – any suggestions or links to exciting pictures very welcome.

Pethan eraill yn y tyddyn heddiw:

 

Temperatures rise, hormones race

After a few days of proper January weather the warmth has returned

One of the ducks spots a rabbit busy in the long grass

She is collecting mouthfuls

and taking them to a newly dug burrow or stop

She re-emerges

and continues back and forth

Later she covers the entrance

until it just looks like a patch of bare earth

Elsewhere rising sap has been causing trouble in the hen run

Cockerels Shelia and Fanny, who have been living happily side by side for several months, have a bloody set to.

Shelia requires gentian violet treatment

and lots of sympathy from his ladies

Fanny gets locked up

and has a compassionate visit from the ducks

Floppy, cockerel number 3, looks on

Meanwhile the small birds are happy to keep on feeding as if it is still winter

 

Golden chill

Wake to golden sun
ice spikes march along fence tops
pigs uncertain for once. [*]

 

The usual perspective seems inverted as the normally hazy grey mountains become gleaming bright in the horizontal rays of the early sun.

A new record last night (only for this winter as last year’s data was lost in a laptop mishap)

The fence rails are coated in ice crystals

and the meadow grass likewise

The next door sheep take to their mound

To maximise their exposure to the low angle sun

Having been unmoved by deep mud for many weeks, Bert moves hesitantly as his feet meet the resistance of a slight crust before breaking through to the gloop beneath

The air chills the cheek but at the same time the sun, although weak, warms the back. Bert feels that too

Spot wonders what all the fuss is about

A passing rabbit doesn’t waste energy on unnecessary hops, deciding instead to stare it out from beneath a shrub

The bird feeders are swarmed with Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Goldfinches with a sprinking of Green Finches, House Sparrows, Siskins and one Coal Tit

Woodpecker, Dunnock and Nuthatch also visit while birds pause to soak up sun energy

 

——————————————-

 

[*] Thanks to Ros for reminding me about Haiku

 

 

Taming the beast

We have spent a lot of time and effort taming the Beast in the corner of the kitchen

We have experimented with every combination of dials, levers and sliding dampers; we have purged its channels and changed its seals. We have mastered overnight banking.  At last we thought we had its behaviour under control.

Then this morning, as light revealed the snow-topped mountains.

it sulked and scowled, spewing smoke from every crevice. We thought we would let it burn out and then investigate but as carbon monoxide alarms shrilled more insistently we resorted to two buckets of water in the firebox.

The autopsy showed a damper box completely blocked by tar lumps

in spite of being cleaned out only two days ago – we wondered if lumps had fallen from the chimney lining.

By the end of the day, as the moon moved through the ash,

all was cleaned out and the dragon breathed again

 

Pethan eraill yn y tyddyn heddiw:

 

 

 

 

 

Dreaming of making hay

As the sun rose this morning

lighting up the northern hills

and as the ducks started their normal round of activity

and the woodpecker tried to eat a whole fatball

the postman brought a strange parcel

which we carefully unpacked

and examined

Last year we failed to get anyone to mow the meadow.  This year we won’t need anyone else (although, as you will have just seen, ours is obviously not a single grip snath):

At last – whiteness

This is more like things should be in winter