Bernard Matthews

Interesting article from the The Independent about how factory farming may be a contributory factor to the growth of the H5N1 virus...

Cennin Pedr

It certainly doesn't feel like it, but we are starting to see signs of spring!

Newyddion

Thanks to everybody who keeps asking about Big Boy -- he is doing much better. I tried to take some pictures of him this morning, but he looks better than the pictures made him look, so I am not going to post them, and I will try to take pictures again tomorrow.

The shed is coming along nicely -- we have finished the foundations and now need to start building the frame. Shiva has inspected the work and she approves... :)

The new cockerel has settled in nicely and is having lots of fun with his harem:

As I've already posted a picture of Shiva, I should post one of K as well so she doesn't feel left out -- why does she insist on drinking from the weirdest places???

This lovely flower is growing out of the wall near the gate -- can anybody identify it for me?

UPDATE: Tony thinks it's a periwinkle, and I agree that the flower looks like one, but the foliage on mine is much more variegated than that in all the pictures of periwinkles I can find on the internet. Any thoughts anybody?

Do they have any way of communicating with each other???

Mae'r eira wedi mynd...

So after those lovely pictures I posted on Thursday morning, it warmed up a bit, and by Thursday afternoon, it was starting to look a bit pathetic -- until we woke up on Friday morning to find that it was snowing again! It snowed pretty much all day on Friday, so here is another load of unedited snow pictures:





I know everybody needs to learn to drive at some point, but this seems an odd vehicle to choose... :)

The next farm down the road from us started lambing about a month ago maybe, and there are little baby lambs running around in the snow! They were really funny to watch because the snow was so high they couldn't run properly so they just kept belly-flopping...


The garlic is now completely gone!

Right, this is a stack of 2x4s (or, as they say here, 4x2s), so if somebody is bored, you should be able to calculate from the size of the wood the amount of snow stacked on top of it and work out how many inches we had...

Or you could try to calculate the depth based on my shoe size (7)!


Inside the greenhouse was very eerie because of all the snow on the roof:

Towards the very end of the day, it finally stopped snowing and the sun came out:


And of course by Sunday it was nearly all gone...

This is what was left last night when I went to bed:

And now even that is gone and it is raining again... :(

Ieir ac Eira

Am very happy this morning for two reasons:

1. I woke up to find that it is snowing again! Yay!

2. Apparently, the bird flu outbreak in Suffolk was not caused by a wild bird, but rather by some potentially dodgy practices that Bernard Matthews was following to do with another plant they have in Hungary -- which means that our chickens are safe! Yay again! :)

Eira!

Today is one of those days where my inability to edit images makes itself prevalent again...

Have you ever seen sheep covered in snow?

It's convenient that they're black, rather than the usual white, as it makes them easier to find! I have given them some food this morning, and will feed them again later, but they are making holes in the snow and finding food there as well. They should be fairly hardy -- they are the descendants of the ram who survived the blizzard of '47!

Shiva, on the other hand, wasn't too keen about getting covered in snow... :)



This is the view up the lane. I was outside for about an hour this morning, checking the animals and just generally enjoying the snow, and ordinarily, at that time, there would have been at least half a dozen vehicles driving past -- today, not a single one. I was talking to the post woman yesterday morning when she came and she said not to expect her today...




Good thing we weren't planning on working on the shed today!

This is the garlic in the raised bed.


You can see here how deep the snow is! The poor chickens don't want to come out and play -- this is the only hen who ventured out this morning...



This is the view from the top of the field, looking down the valley.

Poor little daffodils! They just don't know what's going on...



Something was outside earlier than me this morning...

Sied

It is starting to look like a shed now! Had a very productive day with Dave -- I learned how to mix cement, lay blocks, cut wood, and hammer in nails, and, if anybody is interested, I learned that the frame anchor bolts will stop the shed from being blown away in the wind...

Defaid a Ieir

Mark writes that the new cockerel, "has always been fairly quiet in
comparison to other cockerels," so I won't worry then! He is integrating with the hens well...


The lamb on the left here was the littlest lamb when we first got her -- she was not much bigger than the cats! Gobethio ein bod ni'n oena cyn bo hir...

Adeiladu

Right, we have now poured the footings for the new shed.
Before:


And after:


Big Boy is continuing to improve:


And we have bought a new cockerel for breeding from Mark:


The mystery kitten that I wrote about some time ago is back again -- she has been in this same spot in the backyard every time I look out the landing window for nearly a week now!