After the Great freeze...the Big Thaw

The snow stayed on the ground for 24 days before finally melting, in the process it managed to turn to ice and then deposit great sheets of the stuff through my greenhouse roof shattering six panes of glass and covering the fig and the overwintering geraniums in shards of glass.

The ice on the track still remains in places, at one point the track was like a bob sleigh run with ice three or four inches thick, treacherous underfoot and difficult to  move about on. The chicken run is still a quagmire with icy puddles remaining. However the chickens have moved on and have been adopted by a friend and are now happily living at Earlshall Castle  in an oak wood with three big cockerels and 60 other hens for company. I was finding looking after them just too much due to my incapacity with my ongoing arm problems. I may get some new hens in the summer once we have had a chance to look at the drainage of the run and maybe install some boards for walkng on to keep me out of the slippy zone, having mild panics about slipping since my Lucian banana adventure. Am actively looking into getting a pig to rear on for 20 weeks for some good home grown pork and bacon for the winter, the run is large enough and the stock fencing pretty strong so it would make a good short term home for said pig!

The doos are as prolific as ever and I have had to remove 5 eggs this year alone. Two are now happily sitting on plastic eggs none the wiser. I am going to have a go at selling on any youngsters that we do get and will convert the little Hilton Chicken House into a temporary house for them.  At the last count I had 21 doos, more than enough for a garden like ours. I am having to rethink the feeding strategy as the hopper which was a good idea for holidays now never stays full for long as all and sundry are feeding from it, a new lighter coloured pheasant has joined Percy with the limp and we have also had a weasel and a rat. Herb saw the rat off with a well aimed shot, it leapt a foot into the the air before it succumbed!

The veg garden is still producing stuff and today I picked two lovely cabbages destined for tea tonight, the red curly kale looks healthy enough but has not grown overly large. The sprouts are coming to an end but we still have plenty of gorgeous leeks for cock a leekie soup! If only I culd persuade someone to like Jerusalem Artichokes, just have to store them until the pig arrives!

Today it is like a spring day up here, blue sky and sunshine and we have not put the heating on for the first time since we got back from St Lucia. I will light the fire later as it is bound to get chilly  later. Snow forecast for later in the week, ho hum, life goes on!

Happy New Year from the Menagerie!!

Christmas came and so did the snow. We had a fairly full house for Christmas with Mum, Stu and Sam and Sarah and Fiona and Nicci and Carmen popped in now and again too. All that was missing was our Soldier, out being a Bah Humbug  in Afghanistan. Stu built the Snowman above in his honour it is a Snow Muz!

We all  had a ball, no fights, apart from snowball fights. The boy Cousins decided that the girl cousin should be treated appropriately and everytime she left the house she got snow down her neck! Boys will be boys!

The doos seem to be really enjoying the snow, it makes them slightly less of a target for the hawks although just this morning we saw a very graceful Peregrine swooping low over the garden, it set the doos up but they all seem to have come home. The doos have definitely not read the Dove book as since December 1st we have had five babies with more on the way if the bonking is anything to go by. We are going to remove all the eggs that get laid from now on, a bit of a task for me as I am still unable to fully use my hand despite being out of plaster for two weeks. The doves continue to take daily baths in their drinking water even when they have to break the ice to get in!

The chickens are still laying well and loved being looked after by Fiona over Christmas. They are totally free ranging at the moment as Roly is in Kennels!

Moonzie is looking lovely at the moment although the ice is treacherous, the track is like a bob sleigh run.

                                        

The one thing we have noticed with all this freezing weather is the fact that many more animals and birds are in the garden. The pheasant and hare are regular visitors, as are the hundreds of Fieldfares, a sort of Scandinavian Thrush. We also have a pair of woodpeckers, all the usual suspects and today for the first time spotted a weasel darting about under the doo cotes. We think it was a Weasel and not a Stoat. The difference being a weasel is weasily recognized while a stoat is stoatally different!! There has been a fox  prowling about too but so far he has steered clear of the chickens, we saw 6 deer in the field beyond the orchard the other day too so the cullers never managed to get the lot.

That is about it for today, it is still way below freezing so no chance of me venturing too far and there are masses of left overs yet to be consumed, I just love left over Moet accompanied by left over Quality Street.

                                              

Happy New Year!

Hatches, matches, dispatches, thrill and spills!

Just to get the glamour picture out of the way right at the start!!

Well since I last blogged in October there has been such a lot to tell. The Broody Ronnie got sorted by simply denying her access to the comfy house for a few days and she turned from being Mrs Angry to being nice sweet natured old Ron once more.

At the end of October having left the house, the doos and the chickens in the tender care of Dan and his Mum, Herb and I headed off for a month long break in St Lucia. Break in this case was  very apt as will become clear later. We arrived in St Lucia after a good flight and also a welcome catch up with a very dear old mate from Brize Norton days.

  

 The plan was that after a couple of days with Jan and Jeff we would take over the care and security of the house, the dogs and the care of three lovely boats while they headed back to UK for Fionas Graduation ( she won the Sword at Cranwell!!!!), a haircut and lots of shopping.

                                    

                                          Getting into the swing of things with two arms!

We really enjoyed our first ten days but sadly one day when Herb was despatched to harvest the bananas I came cropper and managed to fracture my wrist rather badly and damage a couple of teeth to boot. This was all sorted in Tapion Hospital, St Lucia, things wired together by a wonderful surgeon by the name of Dr Horatious Jeffers! Thereafter things were not so comfy for me but Jan and Jeff duly came back with Fiona and after a few discussions it was decided that Herb, Jeff and Fi would do the planned sail to Mustique and Bequia whil Jan and I did relaxing stuff at home. We were lucky enough to be able to celebrate Flying Officer Bullens birthday while there and the champagne for breakfast complimented the pain killers admirably!

                         This is the skipper and crew drinking MY cocktail at Basils Bar on Mustique.

Once the sea dogs got home we set about catching up  on socialising and we ate the best Coconut Prawns I have ever had in a strange restaurant perched high on a hill with an assault course to get to the loos, I decided that I would forgo the experience but the others all made it unscathed.  We also met up with an old mate from Herc days, here seen with the whole gang at a lovely bar called Chatea Mygo.

We all had a good time doing our stuff and all too soon it was time to come home, no amount of grovelling would get us an upgrade but we got good seats for the disabled and the flight home was uneventful.

Once home it was great to be met by all the boys especially Murray who was home on mid tour leave. We had great time all together, Morrisons had put Bolly on at half price for the occasion so we bought lots of bottles, drank them all and saved none for Christmas. Since I have nbeen back I have had two new casts, the first a rather bright shade of pink but the latest is up to the minute purple with glitter, all courtesy of the NHS!

The first night back we had a bit of a disaster as VooDoo our Lucian Doo was attacked and scalped by the Bloody Hawk, it removed all the flesh down to the skull bone and also did irrepareable damage to his wing. I decided that with only one arm I would be unable to care properly for Voo Doo  even if he survived infections and stuff and reluctantly we decided to cull him. On a brighter note we have had three new babies since we went away, not quite planned, the china eggs fooled nobody and they had all been unceremoniously dumped out ofthe nesting boxes. The new doos are Voo DooToo,  HoratiousDoo and  Dr Doolittle.


A couple of days ago I amazed myself with my speed and agility as I saw  the hawk grab a doo midflight and tumble it to the ground, I ran out purple plaster waving about madly, brandishing a fishing net and I was able to get the hawk to release the doo on the ground and they both flew off! Hurrah Success!!

We have a had a few additions to the Moonzie Menagerie of late, we are regularly having a pair of Spotted Woodpeckers in the garden, have hundreds of mice in residence and today have discovered that we do not have supermice in tackety boots but we have a grey squirrel living in our study walls! All suggestions gratefully received for his prompt removal.

 This is me and  Jan my lovely sister who gave up her holiday to the Grenadines to look after me, very grateful  for that, she was  a great nurse/companion. When I win the Lottery and get even more doddery she can have a job! The picture below shows a tiny humming  bird that the self same nurse revived and liberated, good with birds, (big and small )dogs and everything!

So all in all quite an eventful time. This has taken ages to type as I am still one handed so if I do not blog before Christmas can I wish you all a very very Merry Christmas anda Happy, Peaceful and Safe New Year.

Ronnie has gone Broody!

No, not Ronnie in Eastenders although those that follow the soap will wonder at how life echoes Eastenders!

Ronnie, of Ronnie, Roxy and Peggy fame, my three little red hens, has overnight turned into a snarling demon as she sits on eggs that get laid and repels all boarders who try to claim said eggs. She has gone broody. It is amazing how a docile gentle hen can turn so quickly into a demented, troubled soul ( just like Eastenders characters actually).

Going Broody is when a hen has had enough of just laying eggs that constantly get taken away and wants to sit on them and hatch out baby chicks. Alas as we have no cockerel this is never going to happen but poor Ronnie does not know that ( again a bit like Ronnie Mitchell not knowing her sperm donor boyfriend Joel had had the snip). Now we have a problem with poor old Ron, we could just let her sit until she comes out of it but that could take weeks. The other option is to get her back to normal by giving her a boot up the backside figuratively speaking. She can be dunked bum first into a bucket of cold water, made to sit on ice packs or put into a cat cage with no comfy straw and left in a draughty place for a few days. However I am going to leave her for a few days more and see if she comes out of it naturally. This could go on for weeks and weeks and meanwhile she will get very little food and become thinner and thinner, not what I want for her with the cold weather coming on.

Meanwhile I have excellent news about Fondoo who is now flying with the rest of the flock and apart from looking a bit lopsided with a droopy wing is holding his own and doing fine.

I have had to remove ten eggs over the past few weeks from the nests as despite my best efforts they are all still bonking like mad. Hopefully once it gets really cold all this canoodling will stop. A flock of 19 is more than enough for anyone. They are ranging far and wide now and love the field of corn stubble on either side of the track, they are a little too obvious for my liking as the bloody peregrine is a common visitor as is the sparrowhawk and also the buzzard. The buzzard has been scooping up the voles who feed on the dove food and last week I caught a sparrowhawk picking up a vole right in front of the lounge window.

I have got the feeding down to a fine art now and have bought a long covered feed hopper that contains enough feed for about 6 days so no more rushing around first thing in the morning to feed them.

Everything else in the garden is rosy!

Update on Fondoo

The sun is still shining and there is not much wind so after a first abortive attempt at letting Fondoo go solo a few days ago, I have yet again put him into the air, droopy wing and all.

Things were looking pretty good and as I sat in the lounge watching him pecking at grain on the ground I could not believe my eyes, a bloody Peregrine Falcon landed in the garden close to the well and also took a great interest in all my doos! A couple of years ago I would have been delighted but of course now my views have changed a little. I will admit he was magnificent, just like in the book but NIMBY! Well he set the doos up and all flew, Fondoo only managed to get as far as the guttering on the roof but he was safe as the hawk was after sport today and not just an easy kill and he headed after the others. Well, he was not that good as after a bit all 18 fit doos and one sickie were on the roof looking suitably ruffled.

We have also had two juvenile Common Buzzards at the end of the garden on the posts but I think they may be looking into the field for voles and mice as the corn has been cut and stubble remains. It will be there all winter so good for kite flying and walking and next year we are to have broccoli planted in the two huge fields on either side of the track. Very handy for collecting to check when it is ready, might have been nicer to have had spuds in one and broccoli in the other though. Onions and carrots would not have gone amiss. Must speak to the man who actually own the land!

Harvested some lovely blackberries yesterday from the bushes behind the rhubarb and last night we had a good old Moonzie Apple and Blackberry Crumble. Smashing, to quote himself!

Fondoo remains grounded unlike the Arrows!

The Air Show this year was fabulous, the sun shone for the whole day, it was 22C all day and we were able to be outside, All Day! Quite a record for Fife in September.

We have had to move Fondoo into the Little Hilton Chicken House so that he can exercise his leg and wing and so that hopefully he may be able to fly again. We had a few tosses into the air but he just flew sideways into the bushes and lay there stunned. The Hilton will give him space to stretch and move about and we will try and fly him in a few days. If we cannot then we may have to cull him. I really don't want to but as a grounded doo, life would be grim and probably very short.

I have recently bought a long galvanised grain hopper for the doos so that I don't have to feed them every day. The doo feeding trial started today to see how long a hopper full will last. Of course I will have to take into account the sparrows, blackbirds and hare that also seem to think I feed them.

I harvested the plum on Saturday and we celebrated the somewhat limited harvest with a bottle of champagne courtesy of Mary and Eric, thank you! When I say harvested the plum, it was only one plum, but we are hoping that next year from three trees we may get considerably more!

The apples are great though, the Discovery from the BBC Beechgrove tree looked great, tasted wonderful but have gone off very quickly so definitely not keepers. The Bramleys as ever are superb and today I picked and froze seven batches as stew and apple sauce. I have spotted that the Blackberries behind the compost bins are ready so will make a crumble and freeze it to await the next batch of visitors.

New Stitches

Just a quick picture of the new stitches, the yellow stuff is iodine.