Iain has returned from visiting the hospital with good news. Nanna is now sitting up and although appearing a little confused earlier in the day she is now able to hold conversations, opening her eyes a little at a time, fully aware of what is going on and thankfully totally forgetful of all the horribleness of the past couple of days. She has no recollection of the fall either which is probably for the best. It is unlikely she will rib Papa about leaving her lying in the hall all night now!

Big sigh of relief and girding of the loins now for the return home and us doing a care-tag-team over the next few weeks.

Thank you to everyone who has offered support and sent their best wishes - all gratefully received I can assure you.

The Thing I Would Like

This is the one thing I have been excited about for the past while and which I have been dying to tell you.

The idea kinda all kicked off when we started to get the garden under control again and we dedicated one part of the garden to, what we laughingly refer to as The Allotment. You now know that I have brocolli, carrots, pumpkins and strawberries in that part with more carrots and brussel sprouts in seed there now too but there was still one small area of garden which was not going to be actively used and that bothered me.

A couple of Saturdays ago I delivered Jessica out to a friend’s house for a play date, literally in the back of beyond and in the 3 minutes I was there realised that I would love to have a less “building site” or developement” type garden. You know the type: a cul-de-sac of houses, backing on to another cul-de-sac of houses with a rectangular garden, times two, between neighbours. Jessica’s friend has low level walls built of stones and a lawn here and a smaller lawn over there and all very natural looking and some kind of peace about the landscaping. Yea, I know, I wouldn’t have the energy for theupkeep of such a place but dude - it would be fun trying huh?

I came back from that visit a little unsettled but still not knowing what I could put in the empty space. Then I received an excited phone call from my Uncle David - aren’t all phone calls from Uncle David excited? He had just ordered a weird thing called an Eglu and urged me to look up the web site that sells them and to look at the wonderfulness of the whole thing . .. This is a chicken run with attitude and he planned on getting 4 chickens to go in it too.

I caught his bug and started to think along the lines of *anything is possible* for a while, planning the garden around MY Eglu until reality took hold and I realised that there was no way I was going to be able to afford a new one and second hand Eglus are umm like umm hen’s teeth in this part of the world and although there are plenty in England through eBay they are all listed as Pick Up Only due to the sheer weight and size of them. Then I had a shift in thinking about a run and we headed off to B&Q to buy a shed which we will kit out as a coop and then build a run round that too.

So far we have the base in. We were supposed to have the whole shed built and in place last Sunday but the rain started and forgot to stop. At one point Iain insisted in continuing on with the laying of the blocks and I was determined not to leave him to it so Bailey and I sat under a large golf umbrella on a patio chair and encouraged him on to lay the blocks faster. When the rain got too heavy he joined us under the umbrella much to Bailey’s delight and got his face licked dry for his efforts. Iain - not Bailey.

We stood in the rain trying to work out the shed plans but as the paper got wetter our determination got damper and we gave up. We will finish it another day.

Since deciding to get chickens in the garden I have learned loads and done much research and know new technical words. I have been thinking ahead and am so obsessed with the idea have actually gone to the window at night to make sure *the girls* have been put to bed for the night and have on more than one occasion asked the kids if anyone has let the chickens out yet in the morning. I hate buying eggs now - preferring to wait for the FREE ones when they start arriving and am getting such a kick out of the whole *eating free food from my own garden* malarkey.

I even went to the fishing tackle shop last week and bought a pint of maggots for them, got home and THEN realised WE. DON’T. HAVE. CHICKENS.YET!

Today we ordered the wire for the run and I even ordered some special food which will create less-stinky poo which is better for the garden. I have even ordered 2 new compost bins from the council! And yes, I have names shortlisted. This may surprise you when you remember that neither of my children were named for three weeks after they were born!

It has been fun! I joined the Omlet forum and have found the people there to be really nice and full of advice. I have no doubt that they will keep me right when the chickens finally arrive. That may not be for a while though - can’t have them arriving before the run is ready - can’t have the foxes having Chicken Tonight!

I am thinking that the final part of my Reader Interactive Task will be tomorrow now - am too tired to add much more this evening. I have had a couple of sweet replies to my plea for things that you like about me so thanks for those

You like my Thing I Would Like? Would you like regular updates? You want photos? This is a good thing to want - yes? You are jealous - yes?

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

Tags: Chickens, Memes, General