Week 43 The New Chook Shed

Gas Prices

"Every mild week in winter is a God given," an EU official quipped when speaking to EUobserver on condition of anonymity.

On Friday, it was 20 C - we haven't had the central heating on at all yet. Our gas company keeps putting up the monthly pre-payments - we can only hope that we at least break even when the yearly calculation is made.

I mowed the grass yesterday - unthinkable this far into October - and expecting 20 C again today.

My walk this morning...

More or less at peace with the world on my 72nd Birthday!

My Sunday Roast Lamb and lemon cheesecake are not going to be spoilt by the war or energy prices!

The gerrymandering in the USA, however is even more of a worry. They'll probably take the rest of the world down with them, unfortunately.

This week discussing the book Laboratories of Autocracy by David Pepper

https://alfranken.com/the-al-franken-podcast

Water Tales

Over the last couple of weeks there have been some terrible incidents involving the water...

The first one touched us the most as it involved a young girl in care and her principal carer - they both went missing at the end of a normal day. There was a big search and a few theories going around - but a couple of days later someone spotted some skid marks near a very busy roundabout - their car had gone off the road and into the water.

The second one involved a collision between a water taxi and a fast ferry near Terschelling - one of the Frisian Islands - a few dead, including a 12 year old girl who had been allowed to "go with Dad in the water taxi" - going to school.

Third was a car that seemingly just drove off the road into a canal - there is normally a car ferry - one theory is that Google Maps may have looked like a continuous road - that claimed 4 lives.

And lastly, just last night on the tv news was a story about a car going into the water in Heerenveen - the chap was just parking and his foot slipped - the main point of the story was that he had a hammer in his car and was able to break a window and get out. These hammers are made for purpose and are freely available - the recommendation was to "mount it properly" in the car and not just chuck it into the glovebox. (Janny won't park at the edge of canals for this very reason).

The New Chook Shed

(All from recycled materials)

As if to prove the point that "life goes on" in the face of war, Nuclear threats, food and energy prices...we made a new chook shed!

Janny's Mum has her 90th birthday coming up, so I thought it might be a nice present to give...I mean what 90 year old woman wouldn't want a new chook shed for her birthday?

At morning coffee show and tell I related one of my early recollections of Grandpa and Grandma's chook shed at one of their houses in Ormond. I must have been 3 or 4 and yet, for some reason, I can remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday. It had a row of nesting boxes along the side with hatches that could be opened from the outside to retrieve the eggs. It was also white-washed occasionally.

I also had reason to open "The Lizzie Letters" and read again about Great Grandmother Lizzie Peelman taking her chooks (and her kids) with her on the train from Melbourne to Ballarat.

1885

Dear Ben,

we have arrived safe here last night. I never came up with such little trouble. I felt fine and so I do today. The fowls came up with us. I gave them water in Ballarat. Everyone that sees them say what fine ones. The Station Master is quite in love with them. A good advertisement for me. I had a gander given to me this morning. Not so bad.

Anyway, that was my idea in making this nesting box and at an easy height for Renny to get the eggs.

The only thing we had to buy is an automatic feeder...they stand on the platform and a flap opens. (keeps the mice and sparrows out).

Tjeerd also tidied up one of the outside areas and made a chook playground...

(Tjeerd has one for his chooks at home - he says that they use the swing all the time!).

...yes, a swing!

There's another outside patch, but we have to be careful with that as there is a bit of Bird-flu going around - they're not allowed outside when there are advisory warnings.

Birthday Cake

Anyone having a birthday has to supply the cake!

Tjeerd had his last week and my turn tomorrow...

Ben in Thailand

He had to do a another fashion parade for the Thai Princess...

...and he had a meal with Lyall ( a friend from Canada who did a boat trip with us in 2018).

Ben went for a trip to Chiang Mai, where Lyall lives very well by stretching his Canadian pension.