Pears

I had a lot of pears that needed using up so made this sticky toffee pudding. It looks and smells good so I hope it taste good!

Unbelievable! Found!

As we arrived back from Sheffield the phone was ringing. One of our neighbours said "we have one of your hens in our garden" It was last nights escapee. Safe and sound!

The funeral was very sad .Another humanist one with some of the same people who were at Naomi's funeral. It was nice to meet up with cousins that I haven't seen for years.

sheila x

Unbelievable!

We had the new hen for 5 hours before she disapeared without trace despite being locked in a compound with 7feet high walls. Is this the end?

Another mate.

We have just been and fetched yet another "mate" for the survivor and Graham has double checked all the garden to make it fox proof. Lets all keep our fingers crossed!
Tomorrow will be the acid test as we have to go to Sheffield for a funeral and we will leave them all alone.
Last night we watched Gary Nevilles Testimonial which was Man u. versus Juventus. man.u lost 2-1 but it was a nice match to watch.
It's just started spitting with rain. We haven't had any rain for about two months. At least we haven't got the tornados that are lashing the states. I do feel sorry for the victims and I hope my family keep safe.
Sheila x

hen at window

Here's the "survivor" come to look at us through the window. She absolutely refuses to go up the garden now and prefers to hang around the house.

what's for dinner?

hen on a swing.

In her determination to be close to us the surviver has taken to the swing. Blow the picture up to see her peeking over the top.

Cake!!

Whenever I am upset my thoughts always turn to something sweet so I have made this Almond Orange upside down cake which we will have with custard. To balance things out we will have this healthy vegetarian dinner!

Weird!

Last night as Graham and I were in the lounge watching T.V there was an almighty bang at the window. My first thought was that a pidgeon had flown into the glass as they sometimes do. Next minute the survivor chicken flew onto the window sill and began frantically tapping on the glass. Now this is weird all by itself as she was supposed to be in the compound which is some distance from the house and supposedly escape proof. Also how did she know which room we were in?
Anyway I went out to get her, only to find that she was cowering and allowed me to pick her up without a fuss. I looked for the other chicken, in vain, she was gone. The weird thing is that there was no sign of any struggle. No feathers. Nothing. Just gone without a trace. Graham again went into the dyke at the other side of the fence. nothing! The survivor refused point blank to go into the shed. I had a least 5 goes before I managed to lock her in. If it was the bl##'y fox then I didn't want her going the same way.
It looks as though I shall have to stop having chickens as all this is too heartbreaking.
Sheila x

what a performance!

Oh god i'm too old for this sort of malarky! Last night as it was going dark I went to lock the chickens away. when I opened the door to the shed there was only one hen there. I searched high
and low. I could hear the new hen clucking when I called but couldn't see where the noise was coming from. I got Graham and asked him to go into the dyke at the other side of the fence. He wasn't best pleased about having to wade through chest high stinging nettles armed only with an old clothes prop. When he got level with me there was nothing there. he couldn't hear the hen but I could and I was very puzzled as to where the clucking was coming from. Eventually I thought to look up and there she was cleverly camaflaged some 20 feet up a Hawthorn tree. I didn't have a stick long enough to reach her so it was a question of rattling and shouting until she finally came down. I managed to poke her over the fence and guided her to Graham who managed to get her back into the compound. Both graham and I were covered in scratches, nettled and covered in leaves etc. To add insult to injury Graham missed a quarter of an art programme that he had been waiting all night to watch! All part of lifes rich tapestry so they say!

A mate.

Yesterday, because we were feeling sorry for the surviving chicken who seemed so lonely and sad, we decided to go get her a mate. Just the one, because I dare not let them out into the field now that the fox knows where they are. So Graham and I drove to the nearby chicken farm and intended to ask if they could let us have perhaps a rescue hen. There were several escapees in the front garden of the bungalow. The hens were allowed out for an hour to conform to regulations and had escaped through the electric fence. The woman wasn't there but her daughter was and after conferring with her mother on the phone she invited us to take a hen as they were escapees and no one would know. So we acquired a free hen and brought her home in a box. She tried to escape from the box several times on the journey home but is now at home with the surviver. There was an initial stand off but they seem o.k. now.
Sonia just rang to give me the news that Diane, a girl that used to live with my mother, has died yesterday, after a short battle with cancer. My mother thought the world of her and would have been very sad. I don't know how old she was but I would guess not yet 50.Such a waste.

Another in the who is this? series.

We can't decide if the dog is called Peter or Rex. Note the miserable faces.!

Cup final

There we were,having just enjoyed the cup final. I went into the kitchen to start dinner. Where I was shocked to see a fox eating one of my hens. I screamed and Graham came running. he was of course unable to do anything and when we went out into the field there were no hens left, only piles of feathers in the dyke. Graham got his gun and went after the fox but it had gone to it's lair in our neighbours wood. As my daughter Gina said " The fox doesn't know it has done anything wrong and it is being a good mother feeding her young" She is right of course. It's nature but it still upset us.
As there was nothing on T.V. I decided to go and clean out the hen hut so that we could shut it up until we decide whether or not we will have any more chickens. to my surprise there was one of the hens cowering in there. she must have escaped and been hiding. She will have to be kept as a prisoner I'm afraid in case the fox comes back.
At least I have learned one lesson. There will be no more expensive hens. it will be cheap and cheerful from now on.

Highs and lows.

Yesterday was a day of intense emotions, both good and bad, It was of course my great niece, Naomi's funeral.
We travelled up to Sheffield, where we haven't been for a couple of years, and went to my sister Jean's for lunch. It was a great delight to see her as I have been so worried about the illness she has acquired. she didn't look as ill as I had thought she would although she has lost a lot of weight. Also my daughter Gina and son in law Andrew came for lunch which was lovely. I do miss having a gang of people eating and ribbing each other.
When we got to the crematorium at Grenoside it was back to sadness again. My brother in law Val walked down a path and we didn't recognise him. He looked so old and careworn. We were all in tears by the time we had all finished hugging him. His wife, my sister Pat is still in hospital having had major surgery.
Then there was joy in seeing all my family again. All my sisters, their husbands and their children and grandchildren. Some of the kids are so grown that they are like giants. Liam came, bless him. He is about six feet tall and still a daft lad.
The crematorium was full and Naomi was carried in to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"
There were wonderful eulogies from naomi's grandad,friends and Naomi's old headteacher, who mentioned Liam in passing!
It was hard to realise that we will never see Naomi again. She was such a vibrant, intelligent and focussed girl. I hope she rests in peace.
Afterwards it was good to sit and talk to all the friends and family. Naturally the best conversation was outside with the smokers!
Naomi's dentist made us laugh when he congratulated Graham on his " dentists being down in the mouth joke" He said he hadn't heard it for years.!
Soon it was time to come home. I am so glad that we no longer live in Sheffield. You only realise what you have got when you contrast it with what my sisters have got. i.e crowded housing, too much traffic and noise etc.
It is sad that I don't see my family very often now but it's a trade off between living here and there.
All in all it was a sad day but that's life!

bug screen

I am absolutely thrilled at the bug screen Graham has made. That should stop the little b..........s

Plan B

Here is the sweetcorn that the chickens won't eat. I have made a sweet vinegar syrup so they should be nicely pickled!

lemons

Never one to resist a bargain I bought a sack of lemons for 75 p. I also bought a sack of baby sweetcorns for the chickens but they have refused to eat it, (thats another story) Anyway. the Lemons. There is only so much lemon you can put in your Gin or martini, so last night I decided that I would make some marmalade. Cutting up 6lbs lemons (half the sack) is no easy task. I then left them cooking all night in the slow cooker and this morning I made 13 jars of Caribbean marmalade. It's the addition of a bit of rum that makes it Caribbean! Now all I have to do is find something to do with the baby corn. A pickle perhaps?
We have just been to the garden centre and bought some bedding plants for the new planters I have bought. As we were coming out, there was a stall of books. I asked the girl on the checkout how much they were. Oh they are free, she said. Take as many as you like. so I did and have brought home an armful. I told you I couldn't resist a bargain.