It's a Very Merry Christmas from ...

It's a very Merry Christmas from ... Ginger.

... from Mavis

and from Suky

Ginger proving he can still eat his dinner even while wearing a Santa hat.

The chickens have been a victim of their own success. 

Egg sales have been fantastic and we are wiped out for Christmas, so it's time to shut up shop for a couple of days and build up some supplies again, and talking about shutting up shop ... I'll be back blogging in a few days too.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

from 

Sue and Alan

Suky, Mavis and Ginger

 Jack and his ladies.  xx

"Can I take these off now please?"

Monday Morning Cuteness

Because sometimes on a cold, wet Monday morning all you want is a bit of doggy and pussycat cuteness.

I'm glad the new chair sets of the colour of Mavis and Ginger so well  ;-)

Sue xx

You never know what you'll find on an Aga ....

You never know what you're going to find on the Aga, yesterday for instance it was this weeks huge pan of homemade soup.

It was just cobbled together from pickings and trimmings from the polytunnel and net tunnel with an added onion or two and a couple of slices of celery from the fridge salad drawer.  I even found a marrow that I didn't know was still left in the net tunnel when I was having a tidy up of one of the beds.  I didn't manage to fit it all in the pan so half of the chunks were popped into the freezer for next weeks pan of soup.

I've recently started adding some beetroot to most of my soups, it gives the whole pot this wonderful deep reddish colour.

Of course the Aga is not just a giant soup maker ....

... this morning it looks like this!!

I think Ginger brought a mouse in over night, and the kitchen and conservatory bore the tale of a frantic mad chase of said mouse by a cat and a Jack Russell.  My wellies were knocked over and this one had obviously been used as a refuge, although why it was soaking wet inside I'll  never know ... sometimes it's best not to dwell on these things.

Once it's dried out I'll have to stick the lining back to the rubber and put the whole incident out of my mind.

Sue xx

Chicken at the Window ....

Chicken at the window  ...

... chicken at the door.

You can almost hear Mavis shouting 'hey Mum there's a chicken at the door' can't you  ;-)

Ten minutes later there was a chicken in the house ... cheeky madam!!

Going this way and that, she obviously liked the feeling of the door mat under her tootsies.

Mavis was peering outside to see if any more are on their way while Suky watched on in amusement.

Even posing for a photo ...

... before eventually going back outside.

Strolling nonchalantly passed the old Belfast sink ...

...while over in Chicken World the rest of the flock watched with interest.

"Has the chicken gone yet Mum?"

Just another day in our mad house  :-)

Sue xx

Aga On, Aga Off

The Aga has been switched off for the last month or so because the heat of the mini heatwave we had plus the Aga being on in a very well insulated house was simply too much to bear.  This year I decided to treat us to one of these mini ovens to use while the Aga was off as we cook most things from scratch and the Remoska simply wasn't enough, even with all it's back up friends.

This was an absolute bargain and will no doubt be in use every year if and when the temperature means the Aga can have a holiday. In fact this was cheaper than most of my other gadgets ...

...and Ginger got to claim the box as his own until it went on the bonfire last weekend.

I've used it for all kinds of cooking, both in the oven and on the hotplates, although I do have to remember to adjust the temperature control and read the back of packs of things that we have bought that need warming up, something I'm really not used to doing.  My flapjacks were cooking much too quickly round the edges thanks to me not remembering to adjust the temperature, so remedial action was called for.  The only downside to it that I can think of is that you cannot use the hotplates and the oven at the same time.

Now though, typically, the temperatures have plummeted and yesterday I caved in and switched the Aga back on to warm the house up.  I'd rather have the Aga back on than the central heating as it does so many more jobs other than just heating the house.

So my task today is to declutter one of the kitchen cupboards enough so that this mini oven can sit happily behind closed doors until it is called into action again ... hopefully sooner rather than later.

Sue xx

Mr Purrfect

I sit here because I know I look good.

  After watching the birds fluttering about and teasing me with their jittery antics I meow loudly and Mum comes running out with her camera to capture my perfect image for posterity.

She starts from afar, but she knows this sort of beauty ....

... needs to be seen much more clearly.

I show her my best snooty cat face ....

... then my perfect profile.

I see her about to put down the camera so I try my sad downcast face ....

... then I remember the box on the table and make a dash for continued adoration.

There, I think she's cracked it - absolute puurrrfection  :-)

Ginger xx

Ginger and Mavis Caught Napping

Caught snuggling on the sofa the other day ....

... Ginger and Mavis just snoozing the afternoon away.

Until naughty Mum disturbed them that is.

Sue xx

Alright Time to Start Begging ......

We're begging, as it seems to be the thing to do at the moment .... all started by the shameless hussy that is John Gray of Going Gently fame ...

... and then continued by Sue over at Our Quiet Life in Suffolk, who it had to be said did sooooo much better than John  ;-)

She managed to round her Follower number off to 400 and then it whizzed past by an extra ten.

John meanwhile is still lazing around at the 981 level and continually begging and whining daily ...  nay hourly... to his readers to sign up, sign up, sign up to whiz him up to the dizzying heights of 1000, with a daily drip, drip drip countdown until he gets up to that magical round number.

So I've called in the help of the animals to beg for me ... after all they're so much cuter than me. 

Will you sign up as a Follower if you haven't already ...

... just to get my number up to a nice round and even 800.

Pretty please.

Kiss, kiss.

Or I might just hop in the car with Suky and let her drive us all off into the Welsh sunset.

You'll know if you haven't already signed up by the little box under the images of the current Followers.  If it says 'unfollow' it means you already have signed up (thank you)  ... if it says 'Follow' you haven't ... so click that box .... please  :-)

Sue xx

So THAT'S Where the Mint Went .....

I've always been a brilliant Mint grower, it's one thing most people with even mildly green fingers can grow.  It rampages through the beds, borders and generally takes over anywhere that you set it straight into the soil and not in a pot.  The front bed Mint has done it's usually prolific job of taking over the flower bed by the front door.

But I was wondering what was wrong with the mint that I had potted up near the house.  All Summer it has been a bit straggly, a bit sparse and totally non-useable by us for any recipes.  In fact it was only still there in the vain hope that it would somehow miraculously recover and do what mint does best.

Then I spotted a certain Ginger guy nibbling away the other day.

I guess he thinks this one pot of Black Mint is his own personal snack treat ... and has done since the pot appeared in his line of vision.

Once he saw me watching him and taking photos he sloped away licking his lips as if to say 'oops caught out'.

Sue xx

Rags and Bones

Do any of you remember the old 'Rag and Bone man', I do for sure. 

He used to come round our streets when I was young, with his horse and cart shouting "rag and bone, any old rags".  Occasionally folk would pop out of their houses, catch up with him and hand him a arm full of old clothes (the rags) and household bits and bobs (the bones).  In the days we did it we would get a doff of his cap a gap toothed smile and "many thanks m'dear",  I used to be in awe of the tales the grown ups told of days when he used to handout goldfish and other such child loving treasures in return for your offerings, but sadly we never got to acquire a pet in return for Mum's old curtains.

All this came to mind when Ginger begged for a bone the other day when I was giving the dogs one each as a treat, he licked his for a while and then went back to eating his own food.  Although he loves doggy Gravy bones this chewy one was, seemingly, a step too far.

Just before that I had been sorting out clothes upstairs for the charity shop.  I decided not to store them over Winter for a car boot sale next year but to take them to somewhere they would do the most good, after all there were a lot of nice warm clothes in there and a couple of Winter jackets, and a boot full of bags out of the house is a nice boost to my ongoing decluttering..

So that was my 'rag and bone day'  :-)

Sue xx