Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Running repairs.
Oh Isis!
So...out of all the 17 'chooks' that we have Isis is now my favourite. It used to be Iris as she was the friendliest but Isis has taken over because she is the stupidest.Despite the fact that they have had the new 'chook' pen for ages now she still can't seem to find her way back in in the evening. She could easily climb the ramps to get out in the morning but doesn't seem to remember how to get back in.Each evening, at dusk, I have had to go out and collect her from a little nesting site, that the hens have created under a bush, and show her how to climb up the ramp. Once on the ramp she always knows what to do and hops up and in but the next night I am out there lifting her in again.The other night I forgot and she was out all night, probably under the bush and the next day I could not see her and feared the worse...but, no she reappeared later from foraging in the bush.While we were away we moved them all back into the old 'chook' house and created a 'high security' fence around the pen to keep them in but when we came back we let them out to wander freely again and roost in the new shed.A few days after I found Isis back in the old pen. She must have flown over the 'high security' fence to go and lay an egg in the old nesting boxes. She could do that and yet not climb a simple ramp to get to safety every evening.Since we have been back some of them have taken to laying eggs in Roxy's shed next to the generators.Today Will and I were catching up with The Great Painting Challenge and had put the generator on so we could watch the TV. (We have had cloudy day after cloudy day since we have been back and have been relying on the generators a lot more.)We watched the last two episodes, having got hooked on it while over in the UK, and when it was over I went out to switch the generator off. There was Isis sat on the nest in the shed but her head was over her back and waving from side to side. The stupid thing was sat right in the exhaust fumes of the generator. I picked her up and she just flopped in my arms and I rushed to find Will.She could hardly hold her head up and I kept stroking her as Will frantically looked up what to do in cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in stupid hens. Strangely there was nothing on it as she is pretty unique in her idiocy but as I stoked her she seemed to become more lively. She began to look around and looked less dazed and when I finally put her on the ground she was able to stand up and wander off though she did stumble sideways and nearly fall over a few times.She seemed to pick up quite well and was wandering around pecking at things though did spend periods standing still with her eyes closed.Hopefully I rescued her just in time.I lifted her into the pen again tonight and she did hop up on the perch so we will see how she is in the morning. Maybe the fumes will have put some sense into her though I doubt it. I reckon what ever brain cells survived in her tiny brain she will now be even stupider.
Frogknot Zoo.
Turtle and Grebe.
Scarborough.
So...I have finally begun to get to grips with tidying up this house after a month away. It is clear a number of rodents have been making merry in our absence. On our first day back one cheekily peered down at us both from a hole in the ceiling. The traps are set but the mice are having a laugh as they keep eating the bait without setting them off. I need to get some new ones.It's tipping it down outside, in fact pretty much since we've been back it's been cloudy most days and we've had about 75 mls of rain.Anyway, so here I am getting on with the cleaning, while the Cheesemaker is washing and turning his cheeses 30 minutes away and I am listening to 'Elaine Paige on Sunday' on Radio 2 on the BBC Iplayer and this song comes on.It's written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth and is from the show we saw in London last month 'The Girls'. It's sung by Joanna Riding and I have to say it was my favourite on the night.How lovely is this?....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n68hXNDW7k0