Meet Beaker and Balls

Here we are again, me sat down typing away as A cooks up a storm on her little cooker just along the wall from me, distracting me with the amazing smells of frying mince (of unknown type; lamb, she thinks) which will shortly be assembled into a spag boll. My stomach is telling me how much it is looking forward to this but I'm telling it to wait a bit as it isn't ready. So we'll get on with this typing and see how far I get before I'm stopped.

Saying goodbye to the sun

First of all is a picture A took last night while we were still on the roof after I published the blog. The sunset was just outstanding as it often is and we stayed up there for a little while before heading down to do the watering round (there was no water at all so we made use of the drum of water we had filled for the absent workmen). It was great to go round and see how well everything is doing, particularly my vine. I'm going to have to pay attention to that and make sure it doesn't get too tall before we can mount the metal frame to the wall as planned; I may just prune it back a bit.

Two ducks in a box

I was pretty exhausted last night so I headed to bed quite early, leaving A to sit and watch some tennis. I read for a little while, in the light of my nicely working bedside lamp, and then tried to sleep but struggled without her next to me. Thelma started growling at something as well which disturbed me once more so I got up and then went back to bed when she joined me. We both slept well and I was woken when A opened her eyes to see Louise sat in her cage staring at her. Bless. She got up and let them out and they both jumped onto the bed to see me. I followed A to the kitchen after only a minute; I'm rubbish at lying in even when I'm allowed, and they came with me. It was so nice to see Louise being so bright and cheerful again. After finishing the first cuppa it was time to drop down into town to pick up our final new arrivals; two ducks. We didn't take the girls with us this time but it was a super quick trip involving the market (for the birds) then the feed store (where we showed the owner the ducks and he pointed to a bag of feed) and then the hardware shop for another barrel to store this slightly different feed. While we were there the really lovely man showed us more bathroom tiles and said he'd get his friend to come to the school to see the room and show us his selection of tiles as well. They are just so wonderful here.

Beaker (L) and Balls

Four of our feathered friends

We got back and set to the task of releasing the new girls into the enclosure. They were making quite a bit of noise while in their box but this was nothing to the racket they made when we let them out. They were much more insistent of wanting out of the box than Ginger/Baker had been and set to exploring straight away. I have been over a few times through the day to check on them and they really do seem quite brave - they hid in the shade for a bit and later on had gone into the house to get out of the sun, which has been very hot today. Their names had been decided on last week, in a slight change to my normal avoidance of all political comment on here I want to introduce you to Beaker and Balls.

Apparently these two need fattening up

While we were in letting these two get acquainted I got some really nice pictures of Ginger/Baker having their breakfast. A is concerned as she thinks they are a little underweight so we'll be trying to fatten them up, maybe with some more bread in their seed based feed. They are still sneezing a bit which is a concern and we really do need to dose them with the antibiotic we got the other day.

Duck bath

To allow Beaker and Balls access to water (in the hope they may actually float in it) I dragged one of the opened out car tyres that were scattered over the land when I got here last year into the compound and then we filled it with water. At lunch time when I went down I pulled it into the house as it was getting very hot in the sun. They were making use of it later in the day as well when I checked, though there was no evidence of ducks having a swim.

Louise meets the other girls

The dogs are obviously very interested in what is going on with the poultry and are always close when we go in the compound. Louise was particularly curious today so A grabbed her and carried her inside so she could have a closer look. It would be excellent to eventually allow the birds to roam free but I don't think it'll happen any time soon unfortunately.

She really likes rice

And so it was time for our breakfast (bacon and eggs a la me) and the girls. In a continuation of the "spoil her to get her better" tactic A again heated some rice up and mixed it with dog food and again it worked like a dream with Louise burying her nose and munching away. She is getting steadily better and better though still was not fighting or really engaging with her sister at all.

At first I thought it was dead

We settled down to our working day after all this activity but both of us were feeling a bit distracted and struggling to get a long run without wandering off. While A was making a brew there was a really large "bang" from a bird flying into the window in Room 13 but we thought the bird had flown off OK.When we popped down for a short break a little while later however A found a stunned bird lying in the drains. I dashed down to see and then picked the poor little creature up. It was not looking very happy at all and was barely moving.

It could not hold its head up straight

We put the little bird onto some slates on the table tennis table and after a little while it stood up and looked around but then its head flopped over to one side and it didn't seem to be able to lift it at all. As we were faffing around with the bird there was a shout from the Little Lady, I could not hear her at all so A went to see what she wanted. She was inviting us for a drink on her porch so I went to put shoes on and we gathered the puppies and went over there.

Louise really enjoyed the milk

The drink she offered us was the lovely sweet warm milk that both of us love so much. It was a lovely time sat there in the shade while the warm wind blew past and we talked about the water (or lack of it) and various other things. Both Thelma and Louise were sniffing at our cups while we drank so the Little Lady got a little saucer and they both licked it clean several times over. This was particularly heartening to see from Louise, obviously, as getting her to voluntarily take food has been rare at best. Some other ladies from the village came over while we were there with bottles and to make use of the water as it seems the tap on the Little Lady's porch is about the only one that works at the moment. This complete lack of water is really quite outrageous at this time of year and I'm quite tempted to start kicking up a stink about it. As we were about to leave she went round her bean plants and pulled a bag full off for us as a gift; they are just so generous here.

Another loose tooth for Louise

When we got back to ours the little bird had disappeared so hopefully it had recovered and flown off. We headed upstairs and got stuck in to work again which continued today to be a struggle. It was another hot one today, slightly muggy even at times when the breeze dropped. Louise was continuing to show signs of improvement and at one point was even playing a bit with Thelma and the rawhide but then, typically, she yelped and poor little puppy another tooth had become loose! Despite this for the rest of the day she has kept herself a little upbeat and does not seem to be sinking down as low as she got last week.

Ginger/Baker roosting in the midday heat

I worked late over lunch and then stopped eventually when I had to wait for a colleague to complete a task. My dinner was the rest of the rice from yesterday, and some packets of crisps, and it got me through until tea time just about. As I have said I again went round to the poultry house and found Beaker and Balls inside, KitKat sat down in front of the coop and Ginger/Baker actually inside roosting on the poles. This is very interesting as at night it is KitKat who get in the coop and Ginger/Baker sit in the hay in the corner.

We spent a little time looking around the guest bathroom to decide the rough layout, and where the patterned tiles are going to go, and this is all sorted out now. We also chatted about the doorways from the vestibule into the bedrooms which I made very wide (about 1100mm) and I decided I would try and make some double doors to hang for when the parents are here. When I got round to measuring them a little later however I found that the top of the doorway is about 10mm narrower than the bottom so this will be a much more complicated task than I thought. Oh well.

Still looking cute

Camouflaged puppy

We also went out to the back bank to do a burn of the rubbish we have accumulated recently. It was so hot up there that both the girls laid down almost straight away and didn't move while we got the fire started and then took a little walk up to the apple tree on the top which took a battering in the snow and is not really fruiting much at all.

The tooth fell out

After this it was nose to the grindstone and before we knew it it was 5pm and time to stop work. It hadn't been the most productive of days, what with several technical issues, however I did finish a ticket I had hoped for so that was good. While A typed the last bits of her final file I decided to get Henry out and hoover and clean in the bedroom. I beat the rug out on the balcony and then got the dressing table I had made for A last year and cleaned it up and put it back. I was just putting the final touches on a little hook to hang the water for the girls off (their bed will go under the table) when A finished and surprised me. It was really good to achieve this and now the bedroom is almost finished. Another pretty cool thing was while going through their bed A found Louise's tooth which had finally fallen out.

A raft of cloud keeping us inside

After our run of eating on the roof terrace this evening we decided to sit on the dining table on the landing as a raft of cloud had blown over and was sitting right above us, with clear skies just on the other side. Apparently it actually rained a little bit while A was out feeding Rambo. It's still really warm though and hopefully this cloud will clear again for tomorrow.

Super plate of tasty dinner

As we ate the sun flirted with the bottom of the cloud and now as I type this it is fully underneath. Dinner was outstanding as you'd expect and I had two helpings which is not going to help my belly to shrink. After we ate it was the turn of the puppies and A did a mix of tomato sauce and dog food which they were a bit unsure about but after a few mouthfuls did a creditable effort.

So I'm going to wrap this up now, go and join A outside with the animals, and do the watering round. Have a good evening.