Trying to catch up a bit

Well, hopeless task to go right back to Easter with this, seems like ages ago now, I had a nice weekend, went to some good places, the weather was fab, and I took some photos, but other than that can't really remember what or where until I sort through them for this!

At present, am doing the farm, only four days this time, and of course the weather changed in my honour, turned wet and a lot colder but still.

Bird stuff, well a first, a pair of Redpolls on my niger seed feeder, been coming a few days now. Not a very good photo cos it's only through the glass window, didn't dare open, they would have been off, but it's a proof shot more than anything!

Frank still coming and taking plenty of worms, had to buy another £3.50 on Saturday in the Pet shop, his babies must be at least 11 days old now so due to fledge shortly I would think. Mrs Frank getting a bit bolder but still won't come too near.

Had an upset this morning, a pair of blackbirds have been nesting in a large bush out the back, I checked the nest last week and she had 4 lovely eggs. Had another look this morning as I noticed she wasn't sitting, and all that remained were the shells, perfectly broken in half. I wonder if a hedgehog would have climbed up in there or maybe a rat, grrrrr. I suppose could even have been a magpie, have noticed one around a bit more lately. Thank goodness the babies weren't being formed properly, that would have been awful. Only hope the hen is ok, not seen her today but no feathers around.

Emma still doing good, been lively and happy. Her last blood tests show her albumen levels still slightly low, but Damien says to keep her on the same diet for now and re-test again in about another 2 months. Her weight is staying stable so that was a relief, wasn't sure if I was giving her too much or not enough. Oh, she is on some other heart pills now too in addition to the Fortekor that she's been on for a couple of years, wonder how much they are going to set me back. Still haven't received any insurance money for this lot, but that seems to be Damien's fault slightly, he promised to get the forms sent off last week, and the week before that and .....bless! (No comments...) He said it was his next job when I saw him at 4.35 last Tuesday, as he glanced at the clock (they shut at 5)

I've been really busy getting stuck into doing some gardening again, last year it all got left apart from basics like grass cutting, but have got the bug again and bought a new greenhouse cover a few weeks ago, and have got cucumbers tomatoes and strawberries on the go in there now, going to buy some bedding plants this week and get my tubs and hanging baskets sorted out. Done a new rockery in the front garden, and a new border near the aviary with Sunflowers, Lupins,Red Hot Pokers and asters coming along, and the steep grassy bank round the back which has always been a nightmare to look after I've planted out with lots of wild flowers, bluebells, primroses, violets, forget-me-nots and chucked a lot of wild seeds in which may or may not come up.

Can't think of anything else much to catch up on really, so will post all the photos that I can find out from the phone and memory card and put what they were beneath if I can remember!

Redpolls

Unwelcome visitor from a couple of weeks back

Mouse in the shed, inside a polythene bag, they think you can't see them lol



New Rockery

New Passion Flower with trellis, Flowering Currant and Teasels

The bank with wild plants

Emma at Easter, Teifi marshes Nature Reserve, Cilgerran




Walk along the coastal cliff path at Aberaeron Easter weekend









Walk along the coastal path at Llansteffan, Sunday 19th April























Visit to Red Kite Feeding Station, near Llandeilo, Sat 18th - Great close ups of the Kites, better than at Gigrin Pete, not such a nice set up though, no tea room!

















And finally.....

Emma had a bath! I'm fed up with people saying she is fat. She isn't. She has a wide ribcage and is stocky. You can feel her ribs and her spine. The fur makes her look tubby. When she is wet all is revealed. So there.

Okay, I know I have lost the plot....

It's about Frank. Again. Well to cut a long story short, I ran out of mealworms on Tuesday lunchtime. 100gms gone since late Friday (and that's a lot of worms) As I was out a lot on Saturday and Sunday, I hid some and showed him where the pot was so am pretty sure it was mainly him taking them.

I had to go to the Vets at 4-ish on Tuesday so I thought he'd have to wait till about 5 when I would have some more, wouldn't do him any harm, he must be finding other things to eat anyway, or will have to at some stage. So I go in Pet Shop and she's sold out! None till Friday. Not in the least bit sympathetic or helpful, which upset me a bit, I spend lots and lots of money in there. She didn't know where else I could buy any.

So I came home and got out the phone book. It's 5.15pm by then. I knew which shops didn't sell them, and started to go through the list of next nearest ones which might. No luck with the first, struck lucky with the second. Woo hoo. The good news is he had 8 tubs at £2.20 a tub (cheaper than my normal one), the very good news was he was open until 8pm, but the bad was it meant a 72 mile round trip to get them. Oh well, what else was I going to do all evening! (Well actually I was going to go to Tesco, so it worked out okay)

I got 4 tubs, and he's now gone through one and a half of them. He's also now bringing Mrs Frank with him. I thought at first it was a rival, but the Git is still here chasing him off each time but this one is actually taking three worms as well from the pot with Frank at the same time and they fly off in convoy. She is terrified of me though which is a shame. He will come on the windowsill and she is staying back on the wall, and if I throw out a worm for her, she flies off, so I've got another pot in the flower border alongside the wall.

The things we do eh?

Frank's a Daddy!

I've got so much to catch up on since I last blogged, can't even remember it all so will probably resort to posting a few pics with a brief note on what I did and when etc, but the most exciting thing of all that's happened is my little Frank is a proud dad! No idea how many, only a rough idea of where, but oh boy is he working hard to provide for his family. He heads off with the mealworms I am supplying, taking three at a time, right down to the end of my road, across the next and then into a garden where I lose sight, he could be in that garden or beyond, but it's around 200 yards away at least. Since Friday when he caught me out gardening, he has been back and forth countless times, around every 5 minutes, sometimes even quicker. Having to dodge the three other resident robins at times too and I have been protecting him. Most times, I am leaving him a pot full which is hidden, only he knows where it is, well that was the general idea, but one of the others has found it now too, lol. Mainly though he still prefers to come to me and take from my hand, must feel safer, knowing that the other gits can't get him there! It's a bit of a worry with him crossing the road at high speed, would be preoccupied, and not see a car I think, but it is a cul-de-sac so not that much traffic but still enough if he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Can't wait to see if he brings his babies up to feed after, but think it unlikely due to the territorial thing with the other ones here. So proud of him though and so privileged to be part of it.

Bought him 100gms (£3.30 worth) of live worms on Friday, and they've nearly all gone. He won't be fobbed off with the dried version either, even though I've tried soaking them. I've got to go get some more tomorrow now. I wonder how long till the chicks fledge, lol. He may well have been looking for me before Friday, that was the first day I was around much last week, so perhaps they are getting on a bit hopefully.

He is catching the odd thing himself, arrived with a fly once, and a spider yesterday morning. Not in the least bit interested in earth worms though, took one and spat it back out. Charming. ;o)

Latest news

Well I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath, but good news about little Frank. He appeared in the front porch one day last week, but I didn't report then because I wasn't 100% sure it was him, he hid from me at first (or so I thought) then he came on the wall, took ages to decided whether he would take the worm from me, and then when he did, he flew off with it in his beak like a rocket, so I was half convinced it was an untame one, and he was just plucking up the courage.

Anyway, there was repeat performance on Saturday morning, but this time he was more laid-back, took three worms, but on the third one, another robin appeared from the junk stored in next door's porch and chased Frank off across the gardens, so maybe that was what was freaking him out before.

So anyhow, today, was in the kitchen earlier and looked across to my bird feeders up the garden, and a robin was there - he saw me and flew over instantly to the windowsill, took 5 mealworms, two suet pellets and then went! Relief. He's fine. :)

Okay so other stuff, been really busy, had a great weekend with the weather. Saturday we went to Lampeter, had lunch and then took Emma for a nice walk along the Peterwell forestry, haven't been there since about last May, no bluebells out yet but they won't be long by the looks of things.

Sunday we went to the big car boot sale at the Showground and then onto Laugharne another place not been to since about Easter last year or maybe the first Bank Holiday Monday, can't remember. The place was absolutely packed, it could have been mid-summer and height of the tourist season. Nowhere to park, all the cafes full, anyway had a lovely walk, lunch out, ice creams etc.

Photos below are of two of the lovely Camelia's in Alan's garden, and Laugharne Castle, Emma in the moat, and a view across the estuary.

Today it's been raining. Been trying to get something done in the garden but had to give up at 2-ish and come in for lunch. Bored stiff ever since!

Frank

Well little Frank has been back and forth lately. He went missing for almost 2 weeks and I was fearing the worst, the mealworms were down to the last few and I wasn't going to get anymore, then suddenly on Tuesday morning, he appeared at the kitchen window, and devoured the lot, good timing as I was about to go to the pet shop that day when I could buy some more.

Anyway, he's been around every day since and twice today. Was at the living room first thing, and then when I went up to do my aviary about 10.30 he was there too, so I had to traipse back indoors in my wellies to get the worms, so took the camera too, and he posed nicely for me.

However, had an awful shock, I can't be sure but just after I'd given him his 5th worm, my cockatiels all went barmy and screaming, and this bird flashed past my face between me and Frank, and shot up behind the aviary. It was all so fast I didn't get to see, but I think it was a Sparrowhawk, and I can't be 100% sure it didn't get Frank! I am now worried to death. I don't think it did, and not even sure it was a hawk, because all the other birds didn't appear to be phased by it, the Chaffs were still in the tree nearby and Goldfinches on the feeder at the back, everything normally disappears for ages after a hawk has been about.

Just hoping upon hope now that he's ok. Will update as soon as I have any news.

Now better get on and do something I suppose. Sigh.

Back to normal

Well my three week stint at the farm has finished and as usual, now feeling down in the dumps. I can only dream that one day my life will be to have my own smallholding with a few sheep, chickens, goats and maybe a donkey and Shetland pony to care for (not forgetting a dog of course, maybe even a couple of cats.....!!)

As much as I loved the walking exercise with the dogs including Emma, my best times and the most fun were with the sheep, particularly Daisy, the little one I helped to raise with the bottle feeding last year. She is so dear and affectionate, and I confess I was spoiling her rotten by saving her some of the sheep feed in the bucket so she didn't get squashed at the troughs in the mad scramble with the other 21. She became attached to my leg most of the time I spent in the field and barn, and tried desperately to follow me out of the gate most days. I used to tickle her ears and hug her, and she gave me a few kisses on the nose. Awwww.

Anyhow a couple of pics from my last day up there yesterday. Will be popping up later this afternoon to see Kate, they got back safe last night, but I won't be interacting with the sheep of course, and with summer coming along and they don't need the feed, just eat grass, well I guess I wouldn't be seeing so much of her anyway.

I wouldn't want the commitment of doing it as a permanent job, twice daily, but I would be happy to do three or four mornings a week, but it would be awkward for Kate I think, not sure whether to suggest it or not. I just need a reason to get up and do stuff, otherwise I just sit around here in the morning waiting for lunchtime, nothing to do apart from housework which doesn't interest me in the slightest. Doing my own birds etc only takes about half an hour. If Alan lived a bit nearer it would be ok but 35 min drive down and I can't stay there all day and evening that often in the week, completely impractical and unfair to my pets. I am seriously wondering if I should look for a little part time job. I mentioned it to him though and he wasn't very happy, thought that I would be spending more time with him and helping with his garden once the farm was over. Oh gawd. Can't win.

Barra

My Daisy



Cats in the cradle, well hayrack...

Busy at the farm

At last have a few minutes to spare to do an update. Have been looking after my friend's farm for just over two weeks now, and trying to fit in all the normal life things that I always do, and am afraid the internet and blogging etc has had to take a back seat. The weather has been fabulous so that's meant every available second has been spent outdoors, making the most of it. Alan has been here a lot of the time too so not fair on him for me to be online all the time like I would normally when I'm stuck here on my own. As it is, I still found a bit of time each day to do my online quizzes, to which I am well and truly hooked!

Everything has been going okay at the farm apart from a shock the second day. Went up to find one of the ewes had produced twins! Well nothing unusual in that I suppose, but for the fact that the young last year's rams (Frank and BeBop) were castrated last year. Apparently it's not always 100% successful, and they needed to be rechecked in October, but this wasn't done. So mass panic set in, as I wasn't sure whether the mum could feed them, how many more were due to drop etc. Phone calls back and forth and a chap came up and checked and said that at least 6 of the ewes were in lamb. Oh gawd!

Anyway, long story short, another chap who has been doing some work up there for my friends came and took the ewe, her two lambs, and two other ewes who were about to drop in the very near future, away to his farm after the first week, and I let out a big sigh of relief!

The Red Kites are building their nest in the tree in the lane same place as last year, the nest that blew down and left a chick for Kate to rescue. Seems they haven't learned their lesson sadly, just have to hope it doesn't happen again this year.

One of my hedgehogs from last year is back, been around for over two weeks, due to the mild weather I guess. Been feeding him in the front porch, but he hasn't shown up early on the webcam now for ages, never been before I go to bed.

Today I had my record number of Goldfinches at one time on the feeders outside the living room window - 10 of them. Fabulous sight. Also have 6 Siskins coming regularly.

Apart from that, everything else in life going well, relationship-wise, and Emma- wise, so not really much else to say, so I won't!

Just a few photos I've taken up there over the past fortnight then.



















The Place of the Skull lol

Sunday - National Botanical Gardens

Well finally gotten round to posting some of the photos I took on Sunday at the above. Had a nice day out, a repeat of last March 1st of course except I wasn't alone this year. Still didn't feel all that well though like last year, and still haven't done since either. Just can't seem to get warm, or at least I am either too hot and sweating or shivering with cold. It's like I have a cold that won't come out. Been a bit achy too. And now I have to brace myself and get motivated because as of tomorrow evening I have the farm to do for the next three weeks. Not at all enthusiastic about it really this time, but I always say that then when I start doing it, soon get into the routine. Not sure if I will be staying up there this time, doesn't seem worth the hassle really, feel more comfortable here, Kate doesn't mind either way.

Other news, Emma is doing well. First photo here was taken in Alan's garden one day last week. She had one morning with a bit of runny poo but otherwise no problems at all, and is still very lively.

Was getting worried about Little Frank. Hadn't seen him since last Friday morning, but then I was away for the weekend, and thought maybe he'd been round and had no luck so had given up, but he came today twice, much to my relief. I had a horrible shock yesterday when I came in at teatime to find a huge area of the grass by the bird table covered in feathers and a leg, claw and a bit of intestines. I could see it wasn't a Sparrow, too big, looks like a poor female Blackbird has been killed, I had a feeling there was a hawk around again, the feeders aren't getting emptied very fast just lately.

Weather turned back to winter after a lovely February, had snow yesterday morning, hailstones and minus 5c overnight. Previously two days of rain, so back to squelching around in wellies after a lovely dry few weeks. Roll on May. Unless it's like last year's of course, then forget it.

Some good news

Went to see Damien this morning. Emma's blood test results still weren't back, a real pain, but he managed to get them faxed through eventually, had to wait a while, go up the shops for half an hour and then come back, but the good news is that her level of urea is back to almost normal. Her protein level is still a bit low, so he wants me to continue with the Hills kD food as her main diet but to add some other things to it to increase the protein a bit. Sooooo, this means I can now give her the odd doggie treat or some chicken in her dinner or some proper dog food as long as it doesn't make her sick or have diarrhea again. Obviously have to be careful still and not overfeed. Got to take her every two to three weeks just to be weighed and then have another blood test in about two months time. Will make life a lot easier from now on, fingers crossed anyway that she doesn't get upset stomach again. I'm still going to keep her on two or three small meals a day instead of what I used to give her, which was just dog biscuit treats really throughout the day and then her main meal at around 6pm. It means that I shall be able to use up all the other dog biscuit meals that I have here in sealed containers bit by bit instead of giving them all away, will save me some money. She still isn't very keen on the tinned version of the kD food, so maybe will just stick to the biscuit meal version and I can add a small amount of proper tinned dog food. Yay. Relief.

So today, she's had her normal ration of the diet food, plus two mini marrowbone treat biscs, and a thumb nail sized bit of chicken from my dinner. Two walks, once while we were waiting for the fax and this afternoon up the farm with Kate and the collies. So now she's fast asleep down the side of the sofa, snoring as usual!

Deja vue

Had a lazy day today, need to unwind, relax and get my head straight about things. (Not sure if I have with the latter but still) Watched the FA cup game on tv then afterwards I took Emma to my favourite place in all the world, have published many photos on my blog of this place over the past few years but never tire of it. You know, the spooky place where weird things have happened? None today, but just blissful peace, the only sounds I heard were the occasional bird singing, and the sound of rushing water.

Heron standing across was in the same place when I left as when I arrived - don't know if he'd managed to catch anything in that hour or whether he was just taking a nap!

Emma's blood test results weren't back yesterday. Had a long chat with Damien again and he will ring me Monday now or else go to see him again Tuesday to see where we go from here on. I asked him about giving her the occasional dog treat biscuit - big no-no if it is kidney failure. This time I understood the explanation, won't bore you with the all details but in simplistic terms, there's too much protein in normal dog food, and the kidneys can't deal with it, so it causes the upset stomach etc. He said really only fruit and veg has low or little protein, but I said what about human biscuits but he didn't know so I said I would check it out. Anyway, long story short, I looked on all the contents of various packs of biccies in Tesco and find that Rich Tea finger biscuits only have 0.4% protein per biscuit. So if I break one into four bits, it's presumably 0.1% as opposed to about 20% in a normal dog biscuit treat. So will ask him if its ok of course, but in the meantime, she's had some! She's also back to eating the biscuit version of the kidney food, but still off the meat version, although has eaten a little today. Damien was concerned when I told him that she'd only eaten about half of the amount all week that she was supposed to eat. Will try to update when I know more but in the meantime, she's doing okay, seems happy and lively enough.