Skip to main content

And Then There Were…

 …five! I can confirm today the sighting of FIVE baby swallows in the laundry nest, which means all five eggs hatched - hurrah! However, when I tried to take a photo of the five (not four) babies, one of them sunk back below the edge of the nest saying, ‘You ain’t seem me, right?’ so I only caught four on camera.


Here they are, looking very cross with life. But there are DEFINITELY five of them! Not four. I find it amazing that they can grow from baldy-wobble-headed-yellow-beaked-jelly-blobs to fully-fledged-aerodynamic-sleek-flying-machines in the space of two weeks. They will fledge in the next day or two, of that I have no doubt. I don’t blame them for not fledging today because a) it’s been wet and windy and therefore not conducive to successful maiden flights and b) there was a lot of slurry spreading yesterday in the surrounding fields and it’s been, quite frankly, eye watering. Even I haven’t wanted to go outside because of it. Luckily, I have my zesty lemon candle on hand to ward off invasions of acrid poo smells into the house. 

However, I did go out today, despite Stinkageddon. Firstly, I went into town to purchase a sack of sunflower seeds for all the baby birds that are taking over the dovecote, and a couple of bags of cat litter for Bambino. Then I went to the supermarket to get a weekly shop. 

And then I went to meet a friend for a coffee and a natter. I don’t know why I say ‘coffee’ because I don’t drink the stuff, it’s vile. I have tea. But my friend had coffee, and it’s just what one says, isn’t it? ‘Shall we go for a coffee/ have a coffee and catch up/fancy a coffee break?’ I also had a cheese scone, and my friend had a toasted tea-cake. 

And then I dashed home for a quick lunch (soup - it really is THAT cold here at the moment) before piling Andy and Nell into my car and driving us all to the eye hospital in Stoke because Andy had an appointment there and was told he wouldn’t be safe to drive home afterwards, presumably because of having eye drops which would dilate his pupils. This turned out to be a big fat lie because no eye drops were used and he had his scan and was finished within ten minutes. He has to go back next week to see the eye doctor person for the verdict, and says he will drive himself.

Whilst Andy was attending his appointment, I took Nell to Pets At Home (obligingly, she did a poo and a wee en route) where we purchased a new toy called Monkey (because it’s a monkey) because, sadly, her previous squishy toy, Daisy Dog, is dead, by which I mean annihilated. Daisy Dog lasted two months, which is good by Nell’s standards as she has been known to destroy a toy on the day of purchase. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for decent longevity for Monkey. 

Came home, did some Italian learning, made dinner, ate dinner, did washing up and I am now communing in my office with Bambino who is feeling unloved at being abandoned all day. Tomorrow, my son-in-law is coming over to service my car and change the taps on the bath, which have been dripping in a most irritating manner for WEEKS now. ‘Have they?’ says Andy. ‘I hadn’t noticed…’

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Frosted Dawn Enigma

The decorators are in at the moment. Stairs and landing. Given my previous history of 'Hoo Ha Occurring on Stairs ' - reference the Trapped Under the Sofa Incident and the Foot Wedged Between Bookcase and Stair Rise Debacle - I thought it wise to pay for professionals to decorate the stairs and landing rather than get myself in a mix with ladder and plank combinations and achieve the Magic Three of staircase accidents. The decorators are a father and son combo who go by the  names of Craig and David. This automatically causes me entertainment. 'Came in on a Monday, prepped, filled and undercoated, back on Thursday, first top coating, by Friday finishing touches...' Okay, not as frisky or well-scanned as the original song, but you get where I'm coming from. Anyway, before they started the job Craig asked what colour I wanted for the walls. 'Same colour as the downstairs walls, please,' said I. 'Dulux Frosted Dawn.' And then white for all the woodw
2 comments
Read more

Day 1 - Decisions Are Made Beyond the Author's Control.

‘Well,’ I say, looking at the expectant faces gathered around the huge table in the Great Dining Hall of Much Malarkey Manor, ‘I didn’t think it was going to happen this year, but it is!’ There is a sharp intake of breath as everyone wonders of what I speak. I’ve been muttering about all sorts recently, and I’m not talking liquorice here either.   ‘The Much Malarkey Manor Annual and Traditional Christmas Story!’ I say, and wait for the expulsed air of relief to settle before I continue. ‘I thought we had done it all. I thought we had covered every Christmas story there was. I’ve been wracking my brains for a full two months now, trying to come up with something we haven’t done before and then it hit me! We haven’t done a version of one of the Great Christmas Films of Yore!’ ‘Your what?’ says Mrs Slocombe, who is more interested in the selection of pastries I have brought to this breakfast meeting, because that is what one does, isn’t it? Eat pastries at breakfast mee
8 comments
Read more

Launched!

  I was going to wait until tomorrow to launch the ‘Hallo Tarot!’ website, what with tomorrow being 1st July and, therefore, a nice tidy date for a beginning. But this afternoon, I became involved in a flurry of final tidy loose ends activity, and thus ended up cracking the metaphorical bottle of champagne against the ship of which I am Captain and whoosh! Off she went into the World Wide Web!  You can find it here : www.hallotarot.co.uk The blog is moving there, too, so unless things go horribly wrong, this will be the last entry here.  I hope to see you on the other side then! Let me know what you think. 
Post a Comment
Read more