What a week it’s been

A couple of happy events to report this week.
The big news is the hatching of a new chicken to add to the menagerie. This little boy or girl is a lavender Aracauana and is the sole hatching from a batch of six eggs purchased on Ebay. I’m hoping this will turn out to be a hen rather than a cockeral as the main claim to fame of the Aracauana is the laying of pale blue eggs. This will give me a good selection as I already have Welsommers which lay a brown egg and Wyandottes that lay white.

The second thing worth a mention is the removal of the previously mentioned cabbage smell by the harvesting of the oil seed rape. There is, however, a downside to the annual harvest season. All the little creatures whose homes in the field have been reaped and pillaged invariably decide to move in with me. My four cats have wonderful time chasing all the mice and voles. But I have a less wonderful time clearing up the numerous body parts that they leave around the house.

Worse are the creepy crawlies that are making their own way in. Already I seem to be knee deep in assorted beetles and spiders of all sizes. Yuck! Of course, I always remember the little rhyme recited by my superstitious mother: “If you wish to live and thrive, let a spider run alive.” So I’ve been busy with a tumbler and postcard catching each one and relocating them to the garden. I try to point out to each one as I carry them out that they are likely to be eaten by a cat if they hang around the place. But they dont seem to be passing this information on to their friends.