Everything Happens For a reason...

.... although sometimes it's hard to see but there is usually a plus to even the most annoying or disappointing of occurrences.

 

I have been stalling on getting chickens for my Eglu Cube...

It has sat on the lawn for what seems an age waiting patiently to home some feathered ladies... and I have constantly made excuses to myself why I should wait a little longer... wait till the kids are on holiday... wait until the kids are back at school.... well it would be better if I waited till after bonfire night... then I realised that I was just ever so slightly nervous of the responsibility and the unknown... and to be honest I have a slight fear of flappy things! lol

Well I have over the past few weeks started using Facebook... (regular followers are welcome to be my friend! Alex Samways is my real life name! lol) and a lovely lady I met through blogging has become my friend on Facebook and we have been chatting and we have met a few times in real life as she lives very near me... Karen of Karen's Playtime emailed me via FB and asked if I had gotten any chickens yet... Karen has 5 chickens and she needed to re home them and wondered if I would be willing to take 3 from her... I was unsure to begin with but then I remembered something that someone once told me, that sometimes when an opportunity comes your way you just have to grab hold of it and hold on tight and see where it takes you... so I swallowed hard and took the plunge!

On Friday Daniel and I drove to Karen's house and her husband kindly caught the 3 ladies that would be moving into their new modern home... and after farewells and a deep breath they were loaded in their cage into my car... and I drove very carefully home...

The eglu had been cleaned and while the girls sat on the lawn in their travelling cage taking in the sight of their new home I made good their modern plastic cube house...

Apprehensively I reached into he cage and gently picked up the smallest chicken who I think is a Wyandotte hybrid I can't remember the name Karen gave her (Daniel has renamed her Rosie)... and I placed her in her the coop... she shot straight for the door and down into the run... 

one down 2 to go... 

this time I gently removed the largest of the girls I think she may be a Barnevelder her name was Rusty (renamed by Jamie to Amber) she too was very calm and I placed her into the coop and she headed out into the run....

 

last was the white Sussex called Kate (renamed by me to Daisy, my favourite flower!) Daisy was not so calm... 

but I calmed the flapping chook and gently subdued her escaped flapping wings and placed her in the coop... I expected her to head for the door too... she decided to check the joint out and headed for the nest box... and made herself comfy! lol

 

The other 2 started pecking and tearing at the dandelions and grass and scratching around for bugs and worms... then Amber hopped up the ladder and went in to find her mum... you see Amber was hatched from an egg by Daisy and they are connected with a very strong mother daughter bond... as dusk fell I checked on the girls and eventually they hopped up into the coop and I slid the door closed...

Saturday morning Mr P and I got up made a coffee and headed for the garden... 

I slid open the door and the girls emerged.... and low and behold in the nest box was a beautiful egg...

Daisy is our number one layer ... her daughter hasn't yet started laying and Rosie hasn't laid either... (she's too busy running around bullying Amber! lol)

By Sunday morning we had 2 eggs and Daniel and I ate like kings! lol

and this morning there was another egg... daisy is a wonderful layer...

 This is Daniels bossy Wyandotte hybrid (I think its a hybrid!) I will have to ask my Cousin as it turns out Karen bought her and the white Sussex from her... what a small world it is! ;D

 This is Daisy and her daughter Amber... Daisy has dug herself a hole and promptly spent the morning rolling in it and her daughter was very comically copying her! lol

I spent this afternoon clearing the garden of toys and garden machinery and I have chicken proofed the gate and checked the wire fence in the hedge for holes and gaps and an hour before dusk I opened the door on the run and sat back and watched... they eventually realised their play area had grown and wandered out...

they wandered and scratched and pecked and I worried and felt like a parent letting their child free in the big wide world for the first time... wondering what I would do if they found a hole and got into a neighbours garden... but as the blackbird sang and dusk fell Amber collected her mum and they raced to the run and hopped up in the coop... Rosie the grumpy Wyandotte hadn't paid attention and for a few minutes panicked at her inability to find the door into the run but eventually she sussed it and hopped up into the coop and I slid the door closed...

I do apologise for going on about something as simple as a few chickens... but I am so pleased that Karen's impending arrival of her second child has in a way meant that I have been pushed into dealing with the fear of the unknown... everything really does happen for a reason... and Karen can visit her chickens and be happy in the knowledge that I have fallen in love with these comical characters...

Thank you Karen... x

On a completely different note.... Do you remember when you were little and your bed seemed huge and comfy

 

I envy Daniel... lol

these days I sleep fitfully and sometimes lie listening to the snoring bed partner beside me considering the merits of twin beds and possibly separate rooms! lol

if only we had a spare bedroom! ;D

Mr P, Jamie and Daniel have this chesty cough and cold thing that is doing the rounds... I seem to have a sneezy nose at the moment but no cough as of yet...

The car has died, and my brother has kindly said yes to coming and giving Daniel and I a lift to school in the morning.... I dare say I can catch a bus over to pick him up...

Life continues to throw a curve ball every now and again but everything needs balance so I am happy to deal with the rough so that I can appreciate the smooth...

and as us Brits seem to revel in the depressing and the bad side of everything and the press love the dark things and ignore the good things we have... this household will be celebrating thanks giving on Thursday and sitting down together for a roast turkey dinner, (I have even asked Mr P to get home earlier so that we can have dinner together for a change) with butternut squash, sweet potato. peas and corn on the cob... I will make an apple pie and as I am intrigued to taste some... a pumpkin pie... 

Wishing you all a fabulous week

Take care

Alex

x

Lost in my own little world

 Thank you Rose from Second Hand Rose for thinking of me when she passed this award on... I have to admit when she contacted me to let me know it kinda kicked my arse to get me blogging again... Do pop over to see Rose she's a lovely lady and her blog its a real treasure trove... 

Where have I been and what have i been up to...?

well nowhere really and not a whole hell of a lot really ...

I have been milling about in my own little world of late.... 

sometimes its been a nice place to be other times its been horrible and grey... 

I have however been crocheting and trying to be creative but the things I am ignoring are starting to get me down...

Those jobs that you know are necessary but are no fun, never get noticed or appreciate by the anyone else... the things that are expected and demanded of you, but leave you tired and unable to do anything that you'd actually like to do...

However Mr P has finally gotten his unit... its a few miles away from us but he's all excited at the prospect of having a fairly big space to play with all his tools and gadgets and has all these fantasies of doing up cars and servicing and rebuilding his motorbikes... Can we afford it...? probably not.... do you still have to pay business rates even though its for personal use and your not going to make any income whatsoever...? oh yes... its free this year... next year we have to pay although we'll get some kinda discount... he doesn't really mind and I dare say we'll manage...and to be honest I am looking forward to having weekends to myself... I was thinking that it was going to be a bad thing but realising that I seem to stress about the children being noisy and winding him up all weekend its probably best that he's off doing his thing and at least when we do see him he'll be cheerier and hopefully more patient with the children... at least once all his stuff is shifted out of the garage I can have it removed as its an asbestos garage and has more holes than a colander... and perhaps replace it with something more useful.... perhaps a studio ... a playroom for me!

if I ever did get a space of my own... my head says I should save up for a wooden construction and plonk it on the pad where the garage is...

  Something like this but a bit smaller....

however a good structure will cost a few thousands... 

 

 

and my heart says "buy an old , yet watertight, caravan " and use that as a studio... at least when I have had enough I can hitch it up and go gypsy... lol

and it would be about £500 if I was lucky...

and if we ever move I can take my studio with me!

pipe dreams and day dreams are my absolute talent!

My friend Joanne has been going through old photo's and she found something very rare indeed...

pictures of me! lol

would you like to see?

now be kind and unfortunately I don't look much like these photo's anymore... I haven't grown a second head or anything its just that 2 kids and too much chocolate have left their mark over the last 14 years... lol

 

I popped down to Cornwall in 1996 to visit Joanne when she was working in a lovely little seaside village hotel...

 

I think the picture on the left was the same time but I can't be sure... memory isn't as good as it use to be and all that... well I am getting on a bit now ...

I'll be forty next August!

It's a lovely village and the old boat house that Joanne and a few other staff stayed in was right opposite the restaurant next to the sea.... I would have happily stayed there forever... shame I can't remember the name of it... see... its that dodgy memory again... lol

Well I had better shift my fat rear and get tea done and light the fire... its surprising how the temperature drops when the sun goes down... 

Hope you are all well

take care

Alex

x