Catch up

As there is yet another Party Political Broadcast on the TV it's given me time to update this blog. If there's one thing I can't stand it's politicians bleating about how marvellous they are and what miracles they'll perform if we're daft enough to vote them in.

Well I'm pleased to say old Midge has made a wonderful recovery. She came through the operation very well, and had 2 teeth removed and the others scaled and cleaned. However the next day she wasn't at all well, so unwell I had to ring the vet and take her into the surgery at 11pm. The vet listened to her chest, and told me her lungs were very congested but her heart was still ok, even though she has the heart murmer. She had three injections and a fortnights course of antibiotics.

That night she was no better, and back to the vet we went in the morning, another two injections and back home. At 3am in the morning I had to ring again and take her into the surgery. Driving along narrow country lanes at 3am in the morning is usually quite good, you can get up to speed as you can see any other cars coming towards you by their headlights. Thankfully there were no other cars out at that ungodly hour, and the road surface was covered in thick ice, so as much as I needed to get to the surgery as soon as possible, it would have been madness to put my toe down and drive hell for leather like a maniac.

When we arrived at the vet's she had another two injections, more antibiotics and an appointment for 9am the next morning.

After a sleepless night, with poor Midge moaning and groaning all night I managed to get about an hours sleep altogether, and at 9am were back in the vets waiting room. Her breathing was still quite bad, and the vet thought that when she was having her teeth extracted that some water had entered her lungs and caused the problem. So what she was experiencing was similar to bronchitis and pleurisy. No wonder she was in such pain.

She gradually improved day by day, and I'm pleased to say she's back to her usual senile but happy self. After the final check up at the vets last Tuesday, she has to come off the heart pills, which I don't quite understand, but stay on her arthritis pills. The latter being the size of golf balls almost, and not the easiest things to get her to swallow.

My other dog, Bonnie the Westie, who looks at the moment like an explosion in a pillow factory as she's in dire need of a trim, is in season. I'm still wondering whether to have her speyed or not, it's not like she's ever out of my sight, and the only male dog she encounters is my brothers little dog Gizmo, and he's been doctored. At the moment her season isn't a problem, apart from her trying to hump the cats at every opportunity. They're not too keen on her amorous attention.

Nothing really exciting has happened since my last blog session. I got a second hand double glazed front door and frame, but when a double glazing guru arrived to see if it could be fitted, it was 1" too wide. So it will be going to a new home shortly, at the moment it's stashed in my shed.

The other 'new' possession is a beehive chicken house. Made by a man who makes WBC beehives as a business, one day he was feeling artistic and made one with nest boxes on the back and a perch inside instead of bee stuff. It's a lovely little house, made from cedar so will last for years, and made as well as a cabinet maker would make a good piece of furniture with dovetailed joints and finished perfectly.

I won't be getting any chickens yet, as after pondering which breed to keep (the little house will only be big enough for 2 or 3) I couldnt decide which breed to go for. Pekins are my favourite chickens, like little feathery footballs with feathered feet and very tame and docile, but the eggs are not very big and the birds go broody at the drop of a hat and can't be persuaded back into lay. You could tie them to a rotary line for a week by their feet and they'd still want to brood eggs afterwards. Not that I've tried that, but you get the gist.

Finally I decided on Bantam Araucanas. They're lavendar grey in colour, with fluffy hats, fluffy cheeks and fluffy beards. Quite pretty feather and colour wise, but rather eagle eyed so not really the prettiest of birds. They are very hardy and cold tolerant though, and the don't eat as much as some other breeds, and the plus is that their eggs are huge, like extra large hens eggs and the shells are a pretty blue colour. So Araucana's will be here in about 3 months time. I'm having 3 from someone on my Pekin Heaven website who lives down this way. At the moment they are only a month old, so she is growing them on until they're old enough to bring them here.

I won't be giving them names, as they'll all look identical and I won't be able to tell them apart. So they'll all be known as chook. They will have the run of the garden, but if I find they rip up my plants then I'll have to consider making a run to confine them. Hopefully they won't be too distructive. I'm used to picking up bark chippings from the lawn after the blackbirds and thrushes have scratched them about looking for breakfast.

 Talking of birds, I bought two new bird boxes for the garden, as the three I had already put up on the fence are already occupied by pairs of bluetits. I'm not sure if these new boxes have been adopted yet, in the mornings pairs of tits do an inspection and a bit of housekeeping, peck around the entrance hole and then disappear for the day.

When I was at my brothers this week I pulled a lot of moss out of his lawn to bring home, so I could put some in the new boxes to try and encourage them to nest. It was a rainy day, so the carrier bag of moss is now hanging in the airing cupboard to dry off. I just hope they haven't already started nest building in them, or the poor female bird will end up with a couple of inches of moss ontop of her when I poke some through the entrance hole.

The ying yang frog spawn has started to evolve. It looks like they'll be normal frogs and not Chinese ones after all. I'm still not sure why the original spawn resembled ying yang, but I'm pleased to say the little round dots are now little crescent moons with a tiny head forming. The clump of spawn I left in the pond hasn't been touched by the fish. So much for people telling me the fish would eat the lot. They're not interested in the slightest. The two clumps of spawn in the half barrel are at the same stage of development as the pond clump. If they all hatch out I'll end up with thousands of baby frogs in the garden.

I think once they're ready to hop it, they'll all leg it down the garden, across the field at the back, and make their way down to the river at the bottom. It will be interesting next January when they all return to breed. A migration of thousands is on the books, I can see it now.

Well I think I'm going to leave this now, before you fall asleep at the computer. I'll write another 'episode' soon, not sure if it will be one of the tales of my life on the small holding, or something current yet. But whatever it is, I hope you enjoy reading it.