Doggy Bathtime

Suky loves a good bath, although we don't do it too often as she takes a long time to dry and is not fond of being damp for long periods.

A good scrub behind her ears is her favourite bit.

Poor little soggy doggy.

Mavis had already had hers and was busy in front of a roaring fire sorting out her feet, and making sure that Dad had rearranged her beard and eyebrows to her satisfaction.

Sue xx

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?"

Suky in a Hat

Mum bought Suky a couple of hats from a charity shop a few weeks ago.

  She likes seeing Suky in hats.  But it's a real challenge to get her to wear them for modelling purposes so the other day when she was cosy in her bed, all alone with Mavis upstairs with Alan in the office, I snuck up and put the first one on.

She hummphed ... but was resigned to being photographed ...

... so I got the other one.

She just looks resigned doesn't she  :-)

So I put the first one back on and got another shot.

Sue xx

Mutton Dressed As ....

Is this the best dressed sheep on a Welsh hillside .... well we think so  :-)

After speaking to the vet yesterday our course of treatment for this sad looking sheep is the best and only one open to her, so we were advised to continue to spray her with the antiseptic spray which is suitable for animals.

We were discussing her after the phone call and both agreed it was a shame she was nibbling at her scabs as soon as they form.  Alan said we should put a cone over her head the way the vets do for dogs after an operation so they don't nibble at their stitches, I said not to be so cruel we don't even do that for the dogs, we always get them a little t shirt to wear instead and it has always done the trick.

We looked at each other with grins on our faces!!

In Llandudno a few hours later, we called into one of the charity shops and stood debating what size our foster sheep could possibly be .... we guessed a medium.  Later it took us only a few minutes to catch her, check and re-spray her sore side and then get her dressed, adding the snazzy band of tape so the t shirt doesn't dangle and risk tripping her up or get wet when she 'spends a penny'.

Suky is amazed at her snazzily dressed friend.

And the sheep appears to quite like her new attire, and is not even slightly bothered by the fact that she is now fully clothed   :-)

  We moved the sheep into the Orchard as the grass there is in brilliant condition, and she needs all the nourishment she can get. 

Instead of watching me working in the polytunnel earlier ... Suky was on sheep watching duty, she just can't get over the now dressed sheep living just through the fence

Sue xx

Keep Fit Chicken

Remember me .... I now come in on a regular basis.

I've discovered my people have exercise equipment ...

... I'm really getting the hang of it  :-)

But I've suddenly realised that if I build up my leg muscles too much, the man of the house might start seeing me in a whole new light !!

I'm off.

Mabel xx

Hands Up

Hands up if you walked on the newly painted grey floor in Dad's workshop.

Yes Suky .... we know it was you!!

Sue xx

Having Fun

We went into Llandudno yesterday morning to go to the Cenotaph at the end of the prom for 11am, along with hundreds and hundreds of other people. 

After the service we went for a coffee and a little mooch along the high street.  Once we'd done all that we started walking back towards the car park,  we had fifteen minutes left on our free parking time so we went into the arcade and there to the background sound of a few games of bingo we played on the 2p 'Tipping Point' machines and added to our collection of little plastic Halloween characters.

We are grown ups ... honest  ;-)

Sue xx

Weekend Pictures

Let's all go this way ....

... or we could go this way!!

" Mum, I think the chickens need feeding. "

" Did someone say feeding? "

There's not a lot happening here at the moment in 'coldsville' ..... can you tell?

Have a good weekend.

Sue xx

Eggs and Followers

We got a cute little egg the other day, one of the girls obviously not in the mood for a full sized version.  They are no good for eating as there is usually only white in such little eggs, the hens body simply hasn't released the part that develops into the yolk but usually something goes through her system picking up the white, the shell and the bloom on it's way out .  

It's not really going to be eaten or for sale, but I popped it briefly into a box to compare it to the others  :-)

I'm off out now to pick up my creosote brush and get stuck in with Lovely Hubby to finishing off the workshop cladding.  It needs to be finished this weekend due to the colder, wetter weather and also due to the fact that I'm sick to the back teeth of the smell of the creosote.

A massive thank you to all those of you who joined in with the fun of getting my Follower numbers up, and congratulations to John on getting his to over the magic number of 1000, he's currently standing at 1001.  Sue who's also in the game is now at 419.  It's been a bit of blogging buddy fun.  Thank you.

I was only aiming for 800 so I was really pleased to shoot past that number ..... it's just that now 900 is only 18 away .... so any more of you that haven't joined in please feel free to do so  ;-)

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

Holding Hands

 

It's funny I don't remember ever holding hands with my first husband, sad really as we were together for 26 years!!  I wonder if it's an age thing or just that we were never 'touchy feel-y' people.  Me and Lovely Hubby have always held hands ...when we're walking down the street of course, not when we're mucking out the henhouse or digging the veggie beds ;-)

 

I think it's lovely when you see very elderly couples walking along together holding hands, and we see it a lot when we're walking the dogs along Llandudno prom in the evenings, romance at the seaside.

 

 I guess we're well on the way to joining them.

 

 

 

Yep ..... that's me  :-)

 

Sue xx

Bank Holiday Chicken World Improvements

Chicken World is looking pretty picture perfect at the moment, and when I nip out and take another photo later on today will be looking even neater, because the stones for the pathway have just arrived.

The house has been cleaned out, sprayed and Diatom'd to make sure there are no bugs to annoy the chickens, and it has been filled with fresh bedding ready for their return, with an extra thick layer in the nesting boxes for their egg laying comfort.  The roof was re-creosoted a couple of weeks ago to keep out the rain and preserve the wood, and underneath the house the dust bathing area has been filled with freshly sifted soil ready for them to use to keep their feathers clean.

It's a shame we have to put the chickens back in there, they'll just make it look .... well like Chicken World again  ;-)

Sue xx

Lovely Peas .....

For the first year in ages our pea plants are doing really well and we are getting to eat lots of their lovely green peas, both snacking while we're working outside and bringing a few in to add to various meals.  We will never have a panful the way we have when we cook with frozen peas (which we still have lurking in the freezer) but they are enough to add their lovely freshness to so many dishes, things like fishcakes and salads.

However, the same can't be said for the Butternut Squashes  ;-)

Sue xx

That Certain Age

We were walking down the street in Prestatyn the other day when Lovely Hubby was accosted by an elderly lady.

She said "Were you?"  

He looked blank, so did I for a moment, then I remembered that he was wearing this T shirt, and pointed it out to him.

He laughed and said "I was" ... to which she replied "guess how old I am".  Lovely Hubby, not being in the know, gave a very good guess at 85,, so I stepped in quickly with 76 .... "I'm 86" she beamed.

As we walked away I told him that next time an elderly lady, or any lady for that matter, asks you to guess her age guess low.  If she's over a certain age she'll want to boast about how old she really is and if she's below a certain age she'll simply be very flattered at being younger looking.

I wonder though what that certain age is!!

Sue xx

This t shirt and many more equally brilliant ones are available from http://www.shotdeadinthehead.com/

This is NOT a sponsored post, this t shirt was Lovely Hubby's birthday present from me back in January!!

                                                   

A 'Non Chicken'

I got on the computer pretty sharpish this morning as I needed to send out some emails, it's always a good way to have breakfast on a Monday with the dogs snoozing at my feet after their walk around the paddock.  After I had done my 'work' I thought I just had to show you this ....

... a certain little 'non-chicken' eating with the girls first thing this morning.

Did you spot a certain little cheeky Jack Russell in amongst the hens at the trough feeder.  She came away when she noticed that I had spotted her :-)

Just click on the photos to enlarge them.

Sue xx