Nothing to see here but us chickens

Work is busy……… so there’s not a lot going on Chez Noo, but as today is a somewhat sunny day I just thought I’d show you how grown up my sole surviving chick is now!

 

He is such a sweetheart (unlike the other bully!)  He will be picked up for a cuddle, he’s gentle with his ladies, and crows the sweetest crow.  Not too often though, just a few little outbursts a day! (I may re-evaluate that particular sentence when it gets light at 3am) Look at how big he is now, at only 15 weeks old…. He absolutely dwarfs the girls.  I am really hoping to be able to keep him, as it’s such a bonus to have a gentle cockerel.  I will try breeding him with the girls I’ve got, as it is the most cost effective way of keeping an ongoing flock.  Thereafter, any cockerels will be table birds, and the hens will lay.  He puts me in a very peaceful frame of mind! Daft isn’t it!

(All piccies should be clickable as I’m using Windows Live Writer now which is a tad more consistent.)

The latest Christmas present ever!

My poor sister finally got her present the other week and has taken a photo for me to post. 

This became a bit of a chore half way through (and having frogged 3 times) because I just couldn’t get a nice tension.  The tension on all the patterns I was using was for 2 strands of Drops Alpaca, knit on 5mm needles, but the stitches were very uneven, and loose and generally not very nice looking.  Eventually I gave up on the patterns and used sweater wizard to get a pattern using 4mm needles, which gave a much nicer effect. The edges are all done in moss stitch as again all ribbed variations looked untidy.

I really fell in love with this again whilst knitting it this last time.  The tension is beautifully even on 4mm’s (knitpicks harmonies!!) and it feels warm and wonderfully soft.

Bex has graciously allowed me to show a photo on here.

The good, the bad and the downright EWWWWW!

Are you fed up with hearing about our weather yet??

I am laughing at the difference a day of snow makes.

I have seen normally surly teenagers, laughing playing, giggling, being childish, and generally it’s a wonderful wonderful sight.

Then there’s the people that seem to think that a bit of snow means an end to manners, umpteen people thought it was ok to walk up my drive and pose leaning on my car because it had loads of snow on it, including one person that thought it was ok to “angel” on the bonnet. How Rude!!! I wasn’t happy.

Following on from that again, in my drive the need to pick up snow from anywhere, and sit in undisturbed areas. I had the last laugh though because I happen to know that an equally rude person allowed their dog to foul my drive on Sunday afternoon, and I hadn’t got round to clearing it before the snow came and hid it………… It’s quite possible it got thrown at someone’s head, or even sat in….. I’m still slightly giggling  (yes I know that is really really eeeewwwww but it was always a possibility wasn’t it? where’s the common sense?). It’s not that I’m grumpy about people enjoying it at all, I really love the fun that it brings out in people. But I live on the edge of a HUGE park, less than 1/2 mile from a nature reserve, and at the front of a car park, and certainly the car park had not even been walked across until this morning. 

I also think all the grumps are a bit sad (says she who has just grumped for 2 whole paragraphs) Yes, the country did come to a bit of standstill, but we’re not Canada, or Switzerland, we don’t have snow very often and certainly not this amount. What’s wrong with just going with the flow for a day? I can understand businesses who may feel obliged to pay wages for people that didn’t get to work (I wonder if they have to – should probably check that for my own info), but for individuals, there are very few that are important enough to have needed to get out. (Obvious emergency workers excluded from above statement) I think it’s great to be taken down a peg or two, and that it has taken nothing more than frozen water to do it! Still, the sun’s out now so it won’t be here for long, and I for one am going out to enjoy it.

Final piccies  now, – really!

We are not made of such stern stuff these days

Following rapidly on from my last post…….. I have again been curtain – twitching and have just seen my neighbour (Yes regular readers the lovely 87 year old lady next door) walking home!   She has a friend to lunch every Sunday, a gentleman who lives around a mile down the road and is also alone. She usually drives him home around 9pm as he has had a stroke and she doesn’t like him to walk home late at night in case he has a fall. Having realised the situation outside I was waiting for a knock on the door asking if I could oblige or keep company…… but oh no…… these senior citizens of ours are made of much sterner stuff. Put on a coat, a hat, and gloves, your sternest walking shoes…..and walk him home!  I can’t believe it!  The lady is amazing! I pray to God that I am a quarter of the lady she is……. and that’s now let alone when I’m her age!

Tee hee

It’s only been snowing an hour and LOOK!!!! I’m such a kid when it comes to snow, I love it. But I do think it needs to be treated with some respect, not like the idiot who made me look out the window in the first place when I heard the bang!!! Seriously people… gently does it!!!!