That Friday feeling.

Whilst many people were stuck in traffic, dying to get home for the start of their weekend I was having the best hour of my week. Having worked long hours throughout the week meant I finished work today at 4.30 so I nipped through the ever building traffic and parked up in the garden centre car park. I went straight past the full price plants and nipped over to the seasonal reductions because I was feeling in the mood for a bargain. Straight away I found lots of tobacco plants in lime and blue for a pound apiece and several Nigella (Love in a mist) which is worth getting for the name itself. But the jewels in the crown were two dwarf fruit trees. For ten pound (50% off original price) I bought a morello cherry tree and then found a Braeburn apple tree for the same price. I always wanted to make a wall of fruit and up to now we've got our bank of raspberries, our alpine strawberries interspersed with the normal sized strawberries and encircling the old chimney pot which sits just in front of the blackberries and to the side of the red currants. Once we plant up our cherry and apple we should be looking forward to making our own Summer Pudding in a few years. Is it too much to suggest Luke will make the bread for the pudding too?
A joyous half an hour was spent browsing all the sale items and I came away with £50's worth of plants which took up half my boot space in the car. It didn't help that I came straight from work and was wearing a silk dress. I should have got changed first but I wanted to get it all around the side of the  house and into the garden. This weekend we have full sun forecast so I shall enjoy getting everything planted and watered.
I should be working on paint stripping the stairway but the thought of sunshine after so much rain is too good to miss.

 

Whether the weather.

So here are the statistics for April and May 2012 thus far.
Below are headlines from The Daily Telegraph and The Huffington Post. We are still on official drought warnings in parts of the UK due to the last two years being so dry and it's been stated that we need continual rain from now till September to fill the reservoirs. At this rate they'll be full by July! Wet, cold and now tornadoes - almost unheard of in Britain.

April Officially Wettest Since Records Began, Say Met Office

"Coldest May in 100 years", forecasters predict Britain could be facing the coldest May for 100 years, with snow, bitter winds and freezing temperatures putting summer on hold. 

Prepare For More Storms Warn Forecasters, As Hailstones And Tornadoes Hit South Midlands

Yet still the hens are desperate to be let out of their run to nip the tips of the grass that is shooting up with all this rain; The peas are loving the wet weather but the wind blows down the caged protection and that means that Mega chicken can get to the shoots.Still, we all need our greens, don't we and her eggs are totally delicious.

The good news is that this weekend is meant to be sunny and dry; gardening weather!!

Take your opportunities when you can.

The rain is back with a vengeance and is set to last all week. Good news for the plants I turfed out of their pots yesterday to plant up into the ground, bad news for me because I can't get out to garden. It's way too wet and the ground will just get compacted if I stand on it.The big hens are out though because it's not daunting for them when there's a chance of picking up the dropped wild bird seed or the odd errant worm.

 I got to help out with torpedoing the great trunks of pine we had stacked up by the wood store. We'd got down to our last handful of wood so some serious chopping was required. Luke did three sections of trunk before encouraging me to have a go at the last one. He also swung the axe to get some smaller pieces of wood but I couldn't get the hang of it at all. Here, the wood store is replete with great hunks of wood and blue Ikea bags full of small twigs and branches to use as kindling. I've put all the pots' contents into the borders to tidy the area.
Today I have spent 90 minutes ironing all the clothes I washed yesterday - now it's back to DIY and housework. Charming!
Ah well, I think I'll have a look at the photos of our chicks on the Chicken Soup post (put on last night but already you have to click on Older Posts, it seems I have done too much 'talking' for one page!)

Perch and ramp

Whilst Lunar is up the ramp and ready for bed Poppy is happy on her makeshift perch. It had been used to hang the food container off the ground to keep the food clean but Poppy decided to sit on top of it so now we've put the food back down and left her the perch to sit on.
Check out the 'chicken soup' post that I put on today so see the girls up close.

Late tulips in a riot of colours.

Shooting up.

New life springing up.

The grass is also shooting up, here is the first cut right through the middle of the lawn.

Chicken soup.

I'm going to overwhelm you with chicken pics. Much better you just view them then listen to me rave on about them. After all, they are only chickens.

See the difference in sizes? I think they are about 7 weeks, 8 weeks and 10 weeks old.
Poppy is the gold laced (black and tan), Lunar is the lavender (pale grey) and Mrs Bun, the baby, is buff laced (brown and white). The lacing is on the edge of their wings. They get better looking as they get older.

So now, one by one, let me introduce you to the new babes.

Lunar.

Lunar seems to have some trouble with her eyes. 

A cloud on legs.

I love this photo. It's merely Lunar having a dust bath but it looks like the two have had a punch up, Lunar has tumbled and Mrs Bun is doing a runner. (do click on the photo for a larger view and check out those little feet in the middle of fluff)

 Lunar and Poppy looking for tidbits on the greenhouse frame.

So, onto Poppy.

Like Shakira, our beautiful original gold laced bantam, Poppy likes her food.

I think she may be the Houdini of the gang. She does like to investigate.

She has a lovely clear round eye.

Poppy and Mrs Bun eating grass.

Last but not least, it's Mrs Bun.

This blade of grass is almost as long as her.
As you know, I have my doubts of her sexing but I do hope she is female.

Right now, she's our Baby Blue. Like kittens, chicks start off with blue eyes. She still has her whistling tweet too that the little ones lose as they grow into pullets.

Not forgetting the big gals.

 Buck Bucky and Lola below (doing her dorsal fin impression). 

Just like the little ones, they are always happy to eat. Lola hasn't learnt to eat with her beak closed.
Messy!
 

Doesn't it look like they are painted clowns with these comical beaks?

Lola shakes a tail feather!

 
This is how it should be. See at all the lovely eggs she gives us. One a day.
 

With the biggest bird of all. Me.

Mrs Bun finds food.