Can't live without you anymore........

Oh, I do miss me hens. So, we have six point of lay pullets arriving in February. This merry little band, on the wall, have all gone now. There were six of them. One got mown down on the road, two killed by dogs, one showed us that hens get worms and can die from them, and the last two we assume a fox fed his family. As the last two hadn't laid any eggs for over a year, well nature can be harsh, they became part of the food chain. Not to say we weren't upset.
So the next wee flock will not be free range. Sad, but necessary. We do have a very large run, which can be moved to keep the ground 'fresh'. So be it. When we kept hens before, years ago in the countryside of Yorkshire our hens were only let loose in the winter, and always shut up at night. Our last two here refused to return to their hoosie at night and so paid the ultimate price.
My one consolation for keeping the next lot penned is that it is far, far better than what they would be getting elsewhere. They will still have fresh air, daylight, bugs a plenty and all the other stuffs hens love.
We were reluctant to supplement the flock previously due to not knowing if/when/where we would be moving. But you can't carry on hanging fire like that. And even if we moved to the smallest house imaginable I would insist there was room for our poultry.
Whether there would be room for the geese I would love to have and whether Mike would allow me - as he has always said no! Well, I am working on it.....There were some fine specimens at the New Arc Rescue Centre. He wouldn't have to mow the lawn! Now theres a good enough reason. I believe they eat grass - and according to him they wouldnt allow him to cut it anyway but would chase him off. Hmmmmm. Oh, he also maintains they would be noisy for the guests.....
no - the Americans would lurve it.
This is a man who is scared of cows, despite my telling him the cows were just curious bullocks (check - no udder) and you just have to stare back and wave your arms around. Cows with calves are a different matter and should be avoided.
I remember many years ago, when my eldest daughter was small and I was a childminder with another small person in tow. We came across a man lying on a footpath at the side of a field. Scared the kids to silence. He had been attacked by a cow with a calf at foot and was in a bad way. I had to run, with difficulty, with two in shock toddlers, to the nearest house and get them to call for an ambulance. Shows how long ago, no mobile phones then. He recovered, though it was a few weeks before the kids did. It took me quite a while of reassuring them that the man wasnt a mad scarecrow and it then suddenly struck me that we had been walking through that field daily with the cows and the calves. Perhaps they saw me as a cow with calves? Scary.
Well - down to business. Another couple in last night from Aberdeen for a family celebration, ceilidh in the church hall. (We have two churches and two church halls, no pub, but you can't have everything.)
The big bummer was in yesterdays Press and Journal, our daily local paper. The company who have been so dilatory in paying me over the last few weeks, and now owe me A LOT, have gone bust.
Tomorrow morning I will be trying to find out if I am to be paid or not. If not, well it really grieves me a lot, in that they phoned the week before Christmas to say their men would be with us tomorrow for the week, and when I said, and WHEN am I to be paid? I was assured this would be chased up. I cannot, in all honesty, think of a bad enough swear word.
Anyway, back to more positive things. Lucy, remember, I Love Lucy, is bringing us the new flock of hens. Lucy is an avid visitor, customer of car boot sales. One of her many bargains was a pair of beautiful green velvet curtains which she paid a pound for. With one of the curtains she has had eight dining chairs reupholstered. Professionally. Whoooo. The other curtain she has given to me. In return she wants a bag of carrots. This means I have to (sorry - Mike has to) creep out in the dead of night and get a bagful of carrots from underneath their covering of straw and black plastic. The curtain, I think, is big enough for me to make a bed spread, a very posh bed spread! Worth it. So I have told Mike "Get out there with your gite". I think this is doric for garden fork.
If nothing else I extend your education.