nearly time for london town

worrying about sharing a room, worrying about time off work, worrying about terrorist attacks. So, looks like I'm ready for my tiny break in the big city. Horse performed some excellent dressage moves during schooling tonight, quite by chance as far as I can tell, but absolutely momentous collected trot, collected canter, walk to canter, trot to halt, walk on long rein and even willing to jump...must have been taking lessons whilst I'm at work is all I can assume. Made me feel like a bobby-dazzler of a rider anyway, which doesn't happen very often! Boys both had first day of pool life-guard course - 6 day course to achieve qualification if they can pass. Fingers crossed for them, they seem to be working hard towards it anyway. They feel a bit cheated to be studying during the Easter hols. Might have had a vacuum cleaner stolen from a unit today, obviously it was a brand new one with no miles on clock. Can't be absolutely sure until tomorrow morning, and if they took it home they will be receiving a bill shortly. Just helped big boy to move his silver pheasants from garden into a pen in the orchard. The cock bird is a fearsome avian, and his spurs have gouged a hole in John's palm. Nevertheless they will be much happier in the bigger aviary, which has been vacated by golden pheasants who have now gone to market to find a new home. The silvers are so very handsome they look like they have permanent residence. So, only birds now left are about 20 laying hens, 8 or so bronze turkeylurkeys, these 4 silver pheasants and the 24 chicks bought for the salt mines - hmm, that seems to still add up to quite a lot of feathery garden ornaments - more disposal necessary I fear!

easter chix

Every year big boy has provided a hen with chicks, or just a batch of chicks out of an incubator to display in Salt Mines Reception for the visitors to look at, squeeze, and generally drool over. Today a Grandma brought in her two young grandchildren to look at the Easter chicks, only there aren't any... Big boy not permitted to hatch this summer, only sell birds as he may well be going to Uni in September and I don't want to be left with 100 chickens to look after. Guests suitably disappointed at lack of chick stroking facility, so emergency telephone calls have resulted in the purchase, at a princely 40 pence each, of two dozen 'table bird chicks' from a local hatchery. How lovely are they! Day olds, collected this afternoon, and presently sitting in a big box on top of the Aga to keep warm. Tomorrow they are coming to the coast with me in the car to be admired at the salt mines, then after Easter weekend back here to grow and fatten. We shall, I suppose, have to eat all the cockerels, who should be ready in 12 weeks, but will at least have missed the horrors of the battery shed. The hens we will keep, as they will lay eggs, so long as they don't get so big that they can't live a normal chicken kind of life in the yard. THese are the hybrid birds you see on TV in huge battery sheds pecking each other and growing so huge they can't walk. These little fellas should have a much nicer time with us. The biggest of the 24 weighed in at 48 grams 5pm today, and the smallest 28 grams. Will be interesting to see what they weigh in 12 weeks time.

Campers beginning to pour in, hoping the rain holds off over the weekend, it snowed last Easter so they deserve a bit of sunshine this year.

The Skipster a very polite horse tonight, nearly dark when we got in from riding. Oops.

OMG! Son brings in pile of ducklings!

Tonight a lady duck brought her brood to sleep in the chicken shed. In the following furore, the lady duck flew off in distress, leaving a pile of tiny ducklings. They are now living in a cardboard box in the kitchen. Oh dear. Duckling progress reports will follow. Here they are: