So, apparently I still have too much free time because today I became a Tree Warden! South Gloucestershire County Council are aware that there is a ‘need’ for thousands of new homes in the area over the next few years, and are aware that many ’significant’ trees could be lost as developers bring in the bulldozers faster than the Council can monitor them. Cue a happy band of Tree Wardens surveying for those ’significant’ trees…
What is a significant tree? Who says so? I guess I’ll be finding out shortly, as the training continues.
I came away from the initial meeting with an armful of really quality books on tree identification, seed propagation and what fungii are less fun than we’d prefer. It is interesting to note that most of the books were sponsored by National Grid, my own employer, and disappointing to note that they no longer sponsor the Tree Council.
By chance, Miss found out that the local farm shop had some ‘Point of Lay’ chickens for sale and we picked up three new girls on Saturday. We now have two Marans - our original Speckledy from 2005 and a new Basic Marans, the two Welsummers from 2007 and two new White Sussex.
The picture is taken from my study, and no doubt we’ll get better ones once the new chooks are a tad less nervous. They’re getting one hell of a sorting out from the established crew - the phrase “pecking order” has very real and painful meaning behind it! Eventually they’ll either sort out their differences and get along or we’ll be burying the loser(s). Nature, red in beak and claw…
The naming of chickens is apparently mandatory (!) and a friend has suggested “tikka”, “vindaloo” and “madras”… The resemblance to our original chickens though means we will probably be recycling their names So welcome Spike-let, Scarlet-let-let and Clara-too, otherwise known as “the Sequel Chooks!”
Oh, and we’re still running the egg spreadsheet… Since we started we’ve had 2535 eggs at a total per egg cost including housing, chooks and feed of 54p each! [grin] Call it £3 per half dozen - you’d be mad not to.
It’s becoming a problem… not a big problem, but a problem. The local wild birds are eating the chicken feed faster than the chickens. I don’t honestly mind; after all we have seed feeders all over the back garden and it would seem daft to worry about a handful of layers pellets getting devoured in the front. I wonder, though, when the girls will work out why they have no food. Perhaps I can persuade the Starlings and Blackbirds to lay some eggs in return…
Back in February 2006 I fitted a Chicken House automatic door opener. Three years on the four AA cells have depleted and needed replacing. Three years service isn’t bad, out in all weathers including days like these… even if the supplier said four.
The girls are having a great time in the snow, building snowmen and throwing snowb… oh, hang on, that’s us.
If only the entire blackbrid, crow and rook population wouldn’t consider the chicken run their favourite diner… I guess, though, that having feeders all over the back garden it would be odd to rant about constantly refilling the feeder in the front.
What an excellent evening, and we had only yards to walk home afterward! If you get the opportunity to see the Graffitti Classics perform their slap-stick repertoire do grab a good seat. The YouTube clip below doesn’t convey sufficiently what a huge grin and belly laugh their performance is.
Certainly it isn’t the sort of thing we’ve been used to at Charfield Memorial Hall, but I really hope it’s set a new standard. Perhaps the best thing about our unsophisticated venue was the fact the quartet played wholly unamplified. Not only did it show the strength of some of their voices, the tone of their violins, viola and double bass shone out. Some of those instruments had wonderful expression and I doubt they were cheap. You miss that when an instrument is amplified, filtered, processed…
Well, cold enough for us over here anyhow! It was minus five when I awoke this morning, on the weather station above chez bish, and we’re in a small dip between hills and shielded from the worst of the winter winds. It’s clearly having an effect on the local wildlife, as we were today oversailed by a couple of buzzards, who normally keep to the woodland. And this evening the heron was back and took up a twilight watching brief beside the pond. He’s been here all week, and with the nearby streams all icing over I guess he’s getting peckish. Ought we let him take a couple of fish…?
So, barely two weeks after the expiration of the two year warranty my Canon G7 camera has died; wholly unresponsive despite a fully charged battery. Is there really a chip buried deep inside, counting down the days to the end of the warranty, to initiate total reality failure shortly thereafter? Sigh.
EuroHiTech have offered a repair estimate of ninety quid, which is about a quarter of the price of a replacement (albeit by the latest G10). Also, I see Canon US have a customer loyalty program which offers upgrade discounts against your old camera… My normal inquisitiveness was crushed when I found the G7 disassembly pages, so I won’t be delving in quite yet!
I’ve had the Toyota Prius for a whole year now (as of 12th December) and I thought I’d make a note of how it’s been. Many folk have asked what it’s like driving a hybrid and what the economy is, and now it’s time to ‘fess up. Read the rest of this entry »
Every now and then they catch your eye and this morning we were visited by about a dozen or so goldfinches, who took to stripping out the seeds from the fennel and lavender. The front garden itself looks more than a little in need of attention, but once you realise how many birds come and make use of the remains of summer it’s hard to rip it out. I guess we’ll have to prepare the beds for next spring before long, but sights like this help the inevitable apathy that settles in about the winter Solstice - that overwhelming urge to hibernate, over-eat and ignore the world. Heh.
So, apparently I still have too much free time because today I became a Tree Warden! South Gloucestershire County Council are aware that there is a ‘need’ for thousands of new homes in the area over the next few years, and are aware that many ’significant’ trees could be lost as developers bring in the bulldozers faster than the Council can monitor them. Cue a happy band of Tree Wardens surveying for those ’significant’ trees…
Well, cold enough for us over here anyhow! It was minus five when I awoke this morning, on the weather station above chez bish, and we’re in a small dip between hills and shielded from the worst of the winter winds. It’s clearly having an effect on the local wildlife, as we were today oversailed by a couple of buzzards, who normally keep to the woodland. And this evening the heron was back and took up a twilight watching brief beside the pond. He’s been here all week, and with the nearby streams all icing over I guess he’s getting peckish. Ought we let him take a couple of fish…?
Every now and then they catch your eye and this morning we were visited by about a dozen or so