The Bear is HAPPY!

Bear has just sampled our first home grown eggs for her tea. I think they must have been fairly tasty as she went back to lick the spoon and scrape the pot! Looking forward to mine...

Bear has not stopped beaming since she saw chucks and quacks in her garden - no photos on-air due to my phobia of cyber bogeymen.

Meg was hysterical - no photos because I was wetting my pants! Picture said cute boarder collie in pointer pose with a deep frown and her nose going twenty to the dozen. She couldn't have said "WHAT is that and WHAT is it doing in MY garden?? more loudly. She's still scared of them.

Chucks away!

Muck spreading - finally getting going!



The Quacks! Bear's new best buddies the muscovy ducks.



Chucks in their house



Chucks outside



This is our cockerel (rooster for my American readers!)which although pre-named "Sale-or" as in sale or return (to maker!) did not wake us up at a ridiculous hour (we have Bear for that)

Bear's been busy...

This is why we have locks on our doors and this is also what happens when we forget to use them!! She did have a lovely time though...

We have LIVESTOCK!!!

Firstly, I am pleased to say we're back to normal, our normal, and my mother has gone home. We love visitors but they are a distraction...

Of far more importance and interest is the news that our family has swelled! We are now the proud owners of 3 muscovy ducks, a dozen assorted chickens (for eggs) and a cockerell. They arrive next Wednesday so of course I will post pictures of their arrival.

Poly tunnel news - some numpty (Hmmmm who could that be? Me? Surely not!) forgot to turn the tap off on the hose, which then burst, and turned it into a swimming pool. Still, the strawberries won't need watering for a while!

I almost dare not report that the weather has been pretty decent of late.

Easter Holidays, Recycling and Visitors

News in brief - the kids went back to school in Tuesday, Bear managed to go without a sick bowl but Scrumpy needed a shot of it on Thursday and had to stay home Friday. She seems to be recovering better than Bear did, most likely due to the fact she is easier to keep away from food than the Bear.

Hot-hubby's latest creation is now in pride of place in the poly tunnel. We had to carry the propagator which includes at least two bags of sand over wellie eating mud and get it up onto the new workbench. We fell, we lost boots, we have injuries but it is in place and waiting for seeds to be planted. The bench is a work of recycled art and is in fact Bear's old bed with the legs cut down a bit. She had a high bed for a while, you know, one of those ones that has a chair underneath as we thought it would be a safer way for her to be high (as opposed to climbing on top of the wardrobe which she was doing) but she bounced on it too many times and it died.

We have also recyled by shopping at the charity shop to get a garden table and bench set that is too heavy for Bear to move, we think, and some planters for herbs. Needless to say it poured with rain when we had to pick it all up.

Last news - my Mother is here. Enough said, excpet she goes again on Wednesday.

Crises averted!

One of the things that happens to you when you have at least one autistic child is that your senses seem to step up a gear. You can smell trouble at 100 paces if not further and you develop bat ears for the wrong kind of noise.

Today it was all quiet, in a good way, so I decided to take a moment to myself and catchup on a couple of emails etc. All was well but then I smelled it. The unmistakeable smell of toothpaste. I sped to Bear (aka prime suspect) and found the cutest thing so far this holiday. She had found the toothpaste all right but bless her cotton socks she had only got the veg brush and put a wee bit on it and was sat in the sunroom brushing her teeth! I scanned as only autism mums can but there was no trace of the tube - off to the bedroom with dread in my step - still no toothpaste. Mystified I went back to the kitchen regrouping my thoughts along the way and found she had put the tube back on the windowsill with the top on. See, she can be good!

Subtext lesson of this story? Don't forget what you put in a temporary safe place when you're unpacking the shopping!

Never mind the honey....

Bear's love mud! Well, mine does anyway. Lots of icky sticky squishy mud. The icky stickier the better. We had a rough night last night, Bear had a tummy bug which gave her agonising cramps and vomiting - bad, but she learned how to get it all in the bowl - good!

Feeling up to taking advantage of the warm spring sunshine (yes, I said warm spring sunshine!) Bear decided to check out all her wallowing holes just to make sure they still worked - which they did - in her pj's. She "found" a "stick" which was attached to my cherry tree and looked amazed when I explained it wasn't a good idea and if she left it where it was she could have cherries later in the year. The face said "Mum, it's a stick. I see no cherries."

This just in - there are plants in our poly tunnel and they aren't weeds! I have dug up and potted 127 strawberry plants ready to be replanted in a lushous enriched ridged bed. (We're ridging everything this year,lesson learned last year) and hot-hubby is, as I type, putting the finishing touches to the propergator which will have temporary residance in the front lounge. I am now taking bets on how long the seedlings will last with Bear's "help".

Please note I have not said we have had three days of pretty decent weather and I did not report having washing drying outside two days on the trot so the rain dancer doesn't need to break out the tap shoes again. OK? OK.