I'm not entirely sure where December has gone. I was at work for the first two weeks, in a flurry of activity leading to a deadline. My last day was the 15th - a complete luxury, which I planned for, as I only took a week off over Christmas last year and it wasn't long enough. We had some lovely weather at the start of the month. Beautiful, but very cold, and of course that was the very moment our boiler decided to conk out. All fixed now, thank goodness, and without too much inconvenience. We also had a spell of freezing rain - a bizarre type of weather, where it's so cold that the rain freezes instantly and coats whatever it comes into contact with in a layer of ice. Absolutely treacherous, and I was glad I didn't have to go any further than the chicken run. My thoughts, unsurprisingly, have been on keeping warm. I finished a couple of my thermal blinds and got them up in the kitchen. I'm delighted with them, they make the room far more cosy, and they're bright and cheerful. I bought the thermal fabric for this project, but all the other material we had lying around, bought in charity shops many years ago. We've got another two to hang in the kitchen, and two in the bedroom. While I had the sewing machine out, I made a load of present bags from a couple of festive table cloths I picked up in a charity shop recently. I love using present bags instead of wrapping paper - I made several last year, but they weren't particularly festive, and my technique has improved the more I've made. I finished my Christmas shopping on 23rd December, which might not sound early, but is an improvement on most years, when I usually end up buying the final things between Christmas and new year, or even after that. Not this year though. I'm really pleased I had time for some pre-Christmas cafe trips and general hanging around, because since then, things have gone rather awry. Peter has been ill since Christmas eve, and now I'm full of cold as well.
Before I got ill though, I did manage to squeeze in a race with my sister. We've done this race before, in 2018 - it lasts from sunrise to sunset, and you just do as many laps as you can. I love the concept of keeping going for the whole of the daylight hours, in the shortest days of the year. We managed 21.5 miles, and were giddy with success, and then I somehow got locked in the car park, which resulted in an hour traipsing around the playing fields in the dark and rain with another woman who was also trapped, until we managed to squeeze our way out of a pedestrian exit. That, combined with the race itself, and a two hour drive home during which I could not get warm, combined to make me rather stiff, and unsurprisingly, I caught Peter's cold, so now I'm poorly too. Since then, we've been cooped up inside the house, spending our time in separate rooms, each with a box of tissues and our choice of mindless tv, occasionally rousing ourselves to make a cuppa or take the chickens a treat. What a way to end the year. I'm glad I took over three weeks off work, because it means I've still got nine days left before I go back, and I'm going to need that time for family visiting, doing all the little jobs I vowed to do while I was off, and generally recovering. Back soon with some reflections on the outgoing year and some plans for the new one...
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We got Poppy Chicken in November last year, one of a gang of three rescues we collectively named The Troublemakers. Poppy didn't seem able to stand when we got her home, and although she otherwise seemed cheerful enough, we still worried. Fortunately, we were able to ring the British Hen Welfare Trust advice line, who told us that often, when chickens are rehomed from factory farms, their legs can sometimes be damaged in the process of removing from cages into crates for transporting to rescue centres. We were advised to put her on 'cage rest' for a couple of days - shutting her into a dog crate with her own food and water, so she could see the others, but they weren't competing for food. Poppy was bright, and keen to eat, and on the morning of the third day we went into the run and found her standing. There was never any sign of a bad leg again after that. Poppy was full of mischief, and in many ways she reminded us of Rusty Chicken, who we'd lost not long before she arrived. She was friendly and fun, and always up to some kind of mischief. Poppy was curious, and was the only chicken to have ever jumped on the table and stuck her beak in the sugar bowl. She seemed poorly once, and we booked a vets appointment, only for her to make a miraculous recovery on the day of our visit. We took her anyway as a precaution, and she charmed the vet, jumping onto the scales by herself, and peeking through her legs as the vet was examining her. Poppy took well to free range life, and loved a nap. She always felt comfortable hanging out with us, and would often have a snooze on a blanket in the garden. I once looked out of the window and spied her on the swing seat, swinging away happily all by herself. In early November, we planned a trip to a friend's wedding - the first time we'd ever been away from the chickens for more than one night. My sister was coming to stay with them as Treats Provider. I'd picked up a friend from the airport who was coming with us to the wedding, and as we were showing him around the garden, we found Poppy lying dead by a wall near the house, with Sunshine standing over her. We don't know what happened. She'd shown no signs of being ill, and had been pottering around happily with the others. There was no sign of a flurry of feathers, and the others weren't harmed, so it wasn't a fox, although after a frantic search Budgie and Bessie were found in their house so they must have been startled by something. We think there was a stoat - they're common here, and Poppy had a wound to her neck, but it would be unusual for a stoat to attack a full grown chicken in broad daylight, especially when there is plenty of other food around. It's possible she collapsed for another reason, and a stoat just happened to be passing after. We'll never know, and it was very sad. Our friend had to attend his first (and hopefully last) chicken funeral, and it did put a dampener on the start of our holiday. We asked my sister to keep the others shut in the run while we were away, and the avian flu lockdown came into force a couple of days after that, so that was the last time they were out. I've never been much of a believer in the afterlife, but I'm comforted to think there's one for chickens. So Poppy Chicken is now in the Great Dust Bath in the Sky, along with Bunty and Bonny who we lost earlier this year, Rusty, Beaky and Chippy who we lost in 2021, Mildred and Maud in 2020, and Hermione and Luna in 2019. So fly free, little Poppy-o. I'm glad you got a year free with us, a whole summer of delightful wandering around the fields with your pals, eating worms, digging up the garden, preening on the sofa, and causing general chaos. We're down to three chickens now, and while (touch wood) they all seem well, it does seem rather precariously small for a flock. We despaired for a while, but fortunately the British Hen Welfare Trust has started rehoming again (with appropriate avian flu restrictions of course) so we've put ourselves down for a couple of new ladies in January. We miss all the ones we've lost, of course, but we're looking forward to giving a home to a couple more soon.
November began with a chicken tragedy. We were all set to go away for two consecutive nights for the first time since getting chickens. My sister was coming to stay to keep them well stocked with treats. We picked our friend up from the airport, and as we were showing him around, we found Poppy Chicken dead in the garden. An utter shock - she hadn't seemed ill, and they'd all been seen wandering around together just half an hour earlier. It wasn't a fox - she had a wound in her neck which fits with what I'd expect from a stoat. We do see them regularly here, but I wouldn't have expected one to attack a full grown chicken in broad daylight. We'll never know if it attacked, or if she died from something else and the stoat was just passing after the event. We were, of course, distraught, and our friend's first visit here involved a chicken funeral. I'll do a separate memorial post when I can get at all my old photos. In the meantime, on to the rest of November. An exciting trip Like October, November began with a trip - two nights in Edinburgh for the wedding of some friends. Our excitement was marred by losing Poppy Chicken of course, but we had a good time nevertheless. Other jaunts We seem to have done a fair bit of galivanting in November, as we followed our Edinburgh trip with a visit to a friend in Lincoln, and then a wander down a local-ish canal. November also involved tea in some different places, and a visit to an exhibition of an artist whose work I'm very fond of, Sue Prince. Oh, and a trip to Trentham Gardens, where I've never been before, and where apparently I took no photographs. I did do quite a bit of Christmas shopping though. Sewing and more sewing November involved yet more sewing of thermal blinds, although I don't seem to have taken any pictures of the kitchen ones yet. You can see the cave-like window in the corner of this picture - it'll be so much nicer once there's a cheerful blind in front of it! I also picked up a couple of large pieces of festive fabric in a charity shop and while the sewing machine was out, made a few present bags ready for Christmas. Flockdown Sadly, the start of November brought the latest 'flockdown' - a housing order put into force by DEFRA to try to stop some of the spread and damage caused by the latest round of avian flu. Last year it started in early December, and lasted until 1st May. This year, it started on 7th November, and if it lasts until May again, the chickens will have been shut in their run for a full six months. Their run is big, and sheltered, which is great in this weather. We'd still like a bit of space that is more 'outdoors' (although still with a roof), and while we'd planned to start that last year, and even bought some materials, we never got round to it. Before flockdown started, we staked out where the posts with go - although I confess we still haven't got any further than that yet... I think that was it for November. Between jaunts and sewing and a work deadline or three, the month just whizzed past.
And now here we are, almost in the middle of December, which seems to be whizzing past in equal fashion. Only four more days at work before I break up for Christmas, and I am SO very ready. I like to spend the break plotting and scheming about the next year, so expect to see some of that here at some point soon. I should probably concentrate on getting the Christmas tree up first though. Gosh, that was a long time away from my little blog! My ancient laptop was behaving very oddly, and eventually just gave up altogether, and I've only just got round to replacing it (and figuring out the new photo software). Anyway, now we're here, let's go back in time to October, which feels like rather a long time ago now. A trip to the seaside October started with a much-needed trip to the seaside. We were there for less than 24 hours, but goodness me it was refreshing. The sun shone, we wandered a couple of miles along the beach from the hotel to the tower, munching chip butties and doughnuts. Then, once it went dark, a crowd of people formed - unknowingly we'd arrived during the World Fireworks Championship. Sadly this turned into a literal damp squib, as a downpour arrived not long after the start of the show, but we still had a marvellous time and returned home nicely reinvigorated. Exploring closer to home I met a friend for a walk, and we went somewhere close to home but new to me. It reminded me how I planned to do more exploring this year, and never really got round to it. Something else to add to the list for next year. Carpet fitting October's big project was fitting a carpet in my study. I spend a lot of time in this room, and it's one of the coldest in the house, partly because it barely gets any sun, but mostly because of the ceramic floor tiles. I did have a rug down, but it wasn't very warm, and there was still plenty of tile visible round the edges. We realised we had some spare rugs in the loft, and I thought I'd throw a few down to see if I could get the room a bit warmer. We retrieved some rugs from the loft, and at some point, Peter realised he'd got an entire carpet from Freegle a while back, and it was still sitting in an outbuilding. Would it fit the whole room?? Yes! Well, very nearly, and certainly more than the assortment of rugs would have done. But wait! If we're going to the trouble of putting down an entire carpet, we might as well put in some decent underlay and do it properly. Did you know underlay has a tog rating, like duvets? I didn't. This is 3.6 tog, 15mm thick, wool underlay, and it is SO warm. I've never laid underlay before, but how hard could it be? Obviously everything was a bit of a fiasco, as with all these jobs, especially when you don't really know what you're doing. The first thing was to lay carpet gripper rods, and because of the tiles, these couldn't be nailed to the floor, but had to be glued. We took all the furniture out of the room, and I was reminded yet again that life sometimes seems like one long game of House Tetris. After gluing the gripper rods, we decided to remove the giant bookcase from the room (I was originally going to go round it, to save the hassle of dismantling). Yet more faffing - especially when I realised I'd painted the room AFTER installing the bookcase... Gripper rods down, bookcase dismantled, gripper rods under the bookcase removed and re-glued, first coat of paint. The original cream paint was eggshell, and I was painting matt, so it was really patchy to start with, and I realised that even with two coats, it was going to be a slightly different colour than the rest of the room. I ended up doing one coat on the missed bits, and then another two coats round the whole room to even things up. Finally, it was time to fit the carpet! I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor like this, despairing. Why had we FOLDED it before putting it in the outbuilding? Who folds carpet?? Certainly not professional carpet fitters. Still, the aim of this project was warmth, not perfection, and a lumpy carpet is better than no carpet at all. Slowly, after some rather unconventional smoothing techniques, it was starting to take shape. Yes, that is indeed an upturned coffee table filled with heavy things, and if you imagine me lying face down and essentially using this as a giant iron, you won't be far off the truth. The carpet didn't quite fit into the final alcove, but I did a bit of patching with the chunk cut out for the fireplace, and it doesn't look too bad. I'm definitely considering this a triumph. I've put the original rug back over the top, and I've not had the electric heater on while I'm working since the carpet went down. I can't tell you how thrilling it is to be able to work at my laptop without fingerless gloves on. We decided not to put the bookcase back in. Instead, we moved the sofa bed, so it's now possible to have the bed folded out and still use the rest of the room, which is very handy. It does mean that all my books are temporarily in a different room (House Tetris again), and we now need to build some more bookshelves. Still, I have learned some new skills, and we now own a knee kicker for the next time we need to fit a carpet. Thermal blinds October was apparently the month I turned my attention to the impending winter, as the other project I started was also all about warmth. We don't have curtains in either new bedroom or the kitchen/dining room, and not only does that mean things get decidedly chilly at night, especially in the kitchen, but it doesn't feel cosy to sit there looking at giant black squares once it's gone dark outside. Curtains would have been the easiest option, but Peter's not a fan, and I don't like the way you end up tucking them behind radiators. Instead, we decided to go with simple blinds, and because we try to avoid paying for things we can do ourselves, I declared I'd make them. I measured all the windows, six in total (two upstairs, four downstairs), and ordered some thermal fabric. This isn't fleecy, it's just really tightly woven. I started with upstairs - that way they would be mostly out of public view if my experiments didn't quite work. We found some fabric we'd bought years ago in a charity shop, and some bits of wood for the top and bottom. Then I started scratching my head (and swearing) as I tried to figure out how on earth to put everything together. The fabric is beautiful, but shiny and ever so slightly stretchy. There was also only just enough, meaning no room for excess seams. I wanted the pattern to be straight, I didn't want it too bulky at the sides where it would be rolled, and also the three layers of fabric really needed to be attached together all the way across so it didn't go saggy. The first one was quite painful, but once I'd figured it out, things went a lot more smoothly. These are red and gold on the front, black and gold on the back, with a layer of thermal fabric in the middle. They look fantastic, and, as is the way of things, they are still not hung up at the windows (that's a job for this week...). They do go very nicely with the ridiculous gold and orange walls in the bedroom though. The ones for the kitchen use a different pair of fancy fabrics, but they didn't get started til November (and still aren't finished). Fungi So, back outside, and on a wander round our fields with a visitor, we discovered a wealth of fungi. I confess I don't have a clue what any of this is, and I never did get out the identification book to check. Maybe next year. So there we are - a potted run down of what was happening here in October. I didn't spend much time outside, and did nothing much in the garden. Still, a trip away, learning how to fit a carpet, and redecorating an entire room isn't a bad list of achievements for a single month.
November to follow soon... |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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