A 3 egg day!

It seems my girls are incredibly consistent! - The middle egg is from my Welsummer (probably Bea) who has just returned to laying...... it's 70g (!) The other two are from the hybrids, who I have to say have laid every day through the winter (apart from one of them having a couple of days off last week, but I think she probably deserved a rest) and they're both 68g! - how amazing is that they are so similar in weight........... Must get to making some ice cream soon!!!!

(p.s. *newsflash* - the silkies put themselves to bed last night - finally!!!!)

BUMP!

Well there was me, trotting round town on Saturday, when I skipped across a kerb to cross a road before the lights changed...... Unfortunately there was a metal hoop laying in the road which caught around my foot and I crashed to the floor!!! - Honestly, I felt like I was 4 again! Needless to say the nice courteous people of Guildford didn't flock to my side to make sure I wasn't run over by oncoming traffic. In fact only ONE person even enquired as to my well-being. I removed the hoop from the roadside in case anyone else should happen upon it in the same way I had, and took myself to the nearest ladies convenience to wash my hands and remove the bits of road from my knees! I continued about my business (buying a joint for Sunday roast, and such) and returned home, slightly shaken I suppose but not really any the worse for wear, apart from the slight grazes.

Well come Sunday morning and I find I can't actually get out of bed...... I had instinctively put my hands out and landed palms first, but that must have jarred the whole top of my body, ribs, arm muscles, neck, chest.... plus the bruises to legs and knees made me a hobbling invalid. And I cannot believe that it did not occur to me, having had an intimate moment with a road surface, not to go and buy Arnica tablets, which are always my first recommendation to anyone in a similar situation. What a dope! - Luckily I do have Epsom Salts at home, so I spent large parts of Sunday and Monday in a hot salty bath. - Today (much to Spot's delight) - I can move again! The only lasting effect is a bruised rib which is right where my bra band is! - Typical! Still, luckily no lasting damage and aside from a few days where I can't go running, and maybe a little more sitting and knitting than I would normally indulge in, life has quickly returned to normal. I do feel an idiot though!!!!!

The chooks are all fine and, as if understanding my hour of agony and self-pity, I got 3 eggs on Sunday!!! - Little angels!

My increased knitting time has meant that Graffiti is finished - well at least the knitting stage is, it still needs sewing up..... but I can't bend over the ironing board for that long just yet. So, I have started on Rogue which was a pattern and yarn I had to hand as I didn't have the energy to make any life-enhancing decisions about what to knit. - One sleeve has been done already! Just as well the housework can always wait in this household!!!! :)

An update for Libby!

Libby has asked for an update on the new chicks - as well she might - I've been very slack with my blogging lately.

Well as you know they've been here a week. And it must be said that possibly Silkies are not hens at all!!! - The other 4 when first brought home needed putting in their beds at night just once or twice to get the hang of the fact that that's where they go when it gets dark..... Not these 2..... absolutely no idea! - I've physically put them to bed every night now for a week, and they still haven't a clue! - I've baited the ladder with corn, I've tried everything! .....

Corn - there's another thing !! - The others (pretty greedy girls it must be said) all got the idea about corn very quickly. My girls get layers pellets in the morning in their feeder, then at tea time they get a handful of corn each thrown on the ground to scratch feed... and boy do they know it's coming! The minute I open the "corn bin" (they even know which one it it) they all gather round the door calling me. - The 2 new ones - NOT A CLUE! - I've given them corn every day and all they do when I approach their run is run around like......... yeah you guessed it....... headless chickens!!! presumably thinking I'm going to chop them up for dinner or something????

They are far more skittish than the others - maybe that's part of what makes them a good breed for mothers - I don't think I'd be interfering with either of them if they don't want me to. They're not scared to show their disagreement by having a peck or two!

So far there hasn't been much noise from the cockeral, a few strangled barks, but no crowing. Although I doubt I will be keeping him anyway. As soon as he starts crowing he's likely to go in the pot... not that there's a lot of him, but I don't want to breed Silkies so he'll be offered up on the forum in case anyone does and if not then he'll have to go. I wouldn't mind a cockeral in principal (and my lovely neighbour is very obliging! - says it reminds her of the old days, when Guildford was a country town) but a Silkie cockeral isn't a lot of good to me really, and I have to remain as dispassionate as I can! Talking of noise though - the Welsummers have started yelling again, which can only mean that they're coming into lay (or, as I haven't been out this morning, maybe they already have) They are a noisy pair!

So that's it - an update. Everything else in the world of Noo is much as always ... a little work, a fair bit of knitting (hoodie nearly finished, which is good 'cos I'm bored with it now!) and a bit of walking the dog and playing with chickens!!!! Have a fab weekend everyone.

Tee Hee!!!!! Valentine's Gifts for me

Aren't they just too cute???? And yes they are as soft as they look. 2 Silkies, male and female..... I don't know if I'll be able to keep the male yet, depends on how loud he crows when he grows up a bit! So, phase 1 of operation chicken is underway!!!

How to find out what they searched!!!

Well it seems a lot of people don't know, and never one to be stingy with information (well I generally don't have any that everyone else hasn't had for several months before me!) Here we go.

I use a site visitor counter from www.statcounter.com If you go right down to the bottom of my first sidebar there is a little counter announcing that there have been 11,074 (WOW How many????!!!!) visitors to my site. If I log into my account at statcounter I can see how many visits I've had each day (the log size is 500, so I can only see the last 500 visits) and their IP numbers (Oh yes, I'm watching you, watching me!) how they got here, how long they spent.... blah, blah, blah. Most come via their bloglines reader, or their own blogroll on their blogs...... but once in a while I get a visit from a stranger via a search - usually on google......... So there you have it, if you're counter doesn't give you such details then maybe you could switch to statcounter.... and if you don't have a counter......... well you'd be surprised how many people visit - it's way more than the comments you get!!!!! ;)

To end today's post here are some piccies of the ladies as they have been sadly lacking from my blog of late. Today was another glorious day and they all looked proper handsome!!!

Primrose:-


Dorothy:-


Bea:


Molly:


Doing what they do best:-


And not forgetting the lady of the house, Miss Spot:-

Fabulous weather

I should have taken a photo..... the day started with a thick frost, but brilliant blue sky, and by 12 noon (having done my 30 min run - with Spot!) I was sitting in the garden (albeit wrapped in a wool cardi, with a scarf), knitting and listening to my latest download from audible. (Falling, by Elizabeth-Jane Howard) I stayed there til 3pm when it got a tad chilly as the sun had gone behind the house - but oh what a lovely thing to spend a February day in the garden......... Perfect!

What do people search to find your blog

Do you love looking at your stats and finding the weird and wonderful things that people have searched for that has led them to your blog? - I find it fascinating!
This month's offerings are:-

Game Pie
Bits on Maths
(ok those two are quite sensible)

Dorothy Hens night Kings Cross
(I really don't think the poor searcher litterally meant "Dorothy Hen", but that is no doubt what she got when she visited here!)

Jim Mcintosh's jazzaholics (I keep trying to tell him to get his own website then people wouldn't end up at mine! - I think knitting might be a bit of a let-down when you're actually searching for Jazz!)

Best gravy with Rabbit Pie (I don't believe I've ever answered this question, so my humble apologies to the searcher.... but personally I'd use bisto (must be the powder not the granules) with water and a tiny bit of medium-sweet cider.....)

Noro Jacket - hope they liked it!

Auntie Noo Noo's cakes - mmmmmm think this searcher may also have been disappointed, I love cakes but as a lone householder, if I made them I'd be the size of my house!!!!

Recipe for veggie and rice pasties - that searcher ended up at my blog-a-long post for last June where I gave a recipe for veggie pasties, but the IP address was from Australia and I doubt they get quite as many winter root veg as we do, so they might have been disappointed too!!


It does seem that quite often my blog is visited by people searching for game recipes, and this has made me realise how badly the world needs decent ideas for what to do with Partridge, Pheasant, Rabbit & Venison..... Perhaps I'll start collecting !

So what do people search to find you? and do you think they find it??

How was January for you?

Well my goodness already a month of the year has gone - where does the time go?

In view of the fact that it seems to have sped by, I thought I'd have a think back over the month to see where it all went!!

Well I have been knitting furiously, so that accounts for a lot of the spare time - the Sunday cardi was finished (I'm wearing it now and it's snug!!) and Mavis was started and finished..... AND I've done the back and one and a half fronts of the Graffiti hoodie. I also made a little bag, for a round robin gift exchange on the forum, and made two dishcloths for another swap, one knitted and one crocheted. Hmmmmm that does explain some of the swift passing of the month then!

In making Mavis I finally learnt how to do matress stitch properly - and boy am I glad I did. I referred to my Stitch n Bitch book (which is great in times of crisis as the instructions are always sensible and easy to follow) and I am so happy with the result. I have always hated sewing up with a passion, not because of the time it took, but because to me it always spoilt my knitting - frankly I was crap at it!!! In recent years I've taken to knitting most garments in as close to one piece as possible and it has for the most part, worked. But knitting huge pieces can be tedious, and in some instances can spoil the shape........ so I'm REALLY happy that I've finally learnt to sew up properly. It did take a long time - and I got dreadful back ache (I was doing it on the ironing board - well let's face it, it needs to feel like it has a purpose in life), but the result was so pleasing and I'm chuffed. (Can you tell?)

I also registered for the race for life this month - and have been training 3 times (yes only 3, but hey it's January, it's dark, it's cold, and the race is 5 months away... and I started the month with a cold (sniff).......... okay I know that's not quite the attitude, but come March I'll be much more pro-active!)

What else happened??? - Well I had to work a bit, which is always time consuming.... and has culminated in the filing of a self assessment online on a website which apparently doesn't work when more than three people try to use it! (Or some other such reason for it being down on the 31st Jan) Honestly the slogan of "tax doesn't have to be taxing" has never rung so untrue!!! - I wouldn't mind but it wasn't my fault it was left to the last minute (something I don't usually do - the last week maybe, but not the last day) but I was let down by the accountant when I needed an answer to a question........ which took him a week to answer. I know it's his busiest time of year, but I was doing him a favour by filing the SA myself anyway - he should have been doing it. Methinks we will be finding a new one!

So that's kind of where January went!

February is already shaping up to being an exciting month! - I have decided to raise some more chickens. Some will be table birds (sorry !!) and some will be to extend the laying flock, especially as apparently the hybrids don't lay too well after a year/18months. I want to raise these new chickens from eggs though, and, what's more, in a natural way with a broody hen, not an incubator. So the first thing to do is to find a suitable hen for sitting, which I think will be a silkie or a silkie/sussex hybrid, which apparently turn broody at regular intervals through the year. Then as soon as she is settled and hopefully goes broody in a month or three I will get some hatching eggs of different breeds. (I really want an egg basket of different coloured eggs, so am looking at Legbars, barnvelders, and Dorkings - for blue/green, dark brown, and white eggs respectively ...... if I've got my breeds right!! and Sassos for the table birds) If the silkie doesn't go broody - well at least I'll get a few more eggs!!! LOL

So that's how the time has passed round here - how was the start to your year?