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.
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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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