Happy Easter

A little but early but Happy Easter

Good day for ducks

Today the rain kept Angel inside as it is not good weather for cats, but it is a good day for ducks.

They compound looks like the Somme so they jumped at the chance to get out in the garden. They are getting braver and have realised there are some areas that they haven't explored. This includes the house!!!

We have a lovely duck that Katy brought us back from her trip to Cornwall but Maisy and Emily couldn't work out why one duck is allowed inside and they aren't.









Angel went to have a look what was going on but by this time the rain was so heavy she thought they were mad. Maisy doesn't seem to agree as she waved at her - I think she was saying 'come on in the water's lovely'

Bird bath

I found a lovely pot which unfortunately had a chip one one side but I though would be a lovely bird bath and cat drinking bowl.

As soon as the ducks found it, it beacme a duck drinking bowl and beak washing bowl. Within a very short space of time, it is practically empty and full of mud.

My favourite flower

I always look forward to the Auricula coming into flower. I love the range of colours they come in. Unfortunately, when I sewed seads two years ago, which were supposed to be mixed, they all appeared as the same colour.

I may have to invest in some others.

Visitor

The ducks had an overnight visitor at the weekend. We found this poor frog swimming in their pond and it obviously couldn't manage to get out on its own. It was scooped up in a bucket and placed over the hedge out of harms way.

Aparantly ducks love eating frogs so I just hope it doesn't come back but finds a better pond to reside in.

You must be yolking

For those of you who are used to chicken eggs, this is what a duck egg looks like. The bright yellow yolks which are much much bigger than that in a chicken egg speaks for itself as to how good they are for cake making.

No that's what I call an egg

The ducks are finally realising that it is Spring. We had three eggs yesterday (two white, 1 blue) and four today (three white, 1 blue). There is a big difference in size and shape.

One of them is hugh and looking at how light and sprightly Fennel looks today I think it was hers.

I couldn't resist

I found a fabric designer that I have put at the top of my list of fave designers. Martha Negley.

I decided to treat myself to a couple of small pieces of her fabric.

It at least reminds me of the allotment even if we haven't been there to do any work.










Talking of which. We really are hoping for some dry weather over the weekend so that we can carry on clearing. We have done two beds so I should be able to get the first early potatoes in and the spring sown onions which are starting to sprout in a basket by the front door.

I am looking forward to seeing if the fruit bushes trees are showing any signs of budding. The blueberries certainly were last time.

Another job which is essential is to cut down the raspberries. There are a lot of them and they are worse than rose bushes so I think the strimmer will be the best option and then rake them up. We are going to put ground cover down in the fruit cage to stop them shooping everywhere so Nick will need to dig those out but we will leave a strip along the back as these are the biggest and best raspberries that we have.

The sewing room

I know I said part of my therapy was to spend at least an hour in the sewing room - well.... it is weeks since I have done any sewing but I started again this week. I have joined a quilt along. This is called Pinwheel Party so every block has at least one pinwheel.

The patterns are released on the internet one at a time every Monday. As it is from the US these appear quite late in the evening. Even though I had signed up, I didnt get started until this week.

I spent Monday cutting and Tuesday sewing. Considering this is the first time I have done some piecing and my first, second, third and fourth pinwheel, I am fairly pleased with myself.

The requirements were six fabrics and a background. I don't do white backgrounds but loved this spotty green.

Spring must be here

It must be spring as the field mice are about - and Angel fancied a take away.

She was so proud of herself and came in to show me. She then proceeded to play with it in the lounge before taking it outside again. Bless!!

Bath time

We have had a worrying few days with Daisy. She has been very heavy underneath and walking badly - this left us with no alternative but to bring her in for a warm bath and a good oiling to her vent.

The bath went well but trying to oil her vent was not so easy as she has so much down and thick feathers that we couldn't exactly find where to apply the oil. So a liberal soaking was all we could do.

The great relief was that this morning a little egg was found in the nest.

She was looking much better this morning but this evening was waddling badly again so we hope that she is just starting to clear out and developed a new egg durng the day.

We will keep a careful eye on here and if necessary another bath and a night in a big box on her own may be required.

The Colour Purple

As there is a shortage of yellow flowers in the garden (having been eaten) the purple crocus are wonderful and responding to the sunshine we are seeing at the moment.

I have written to the Indian Runner Duck Association to find out if there is anybody else who has had the same experience and if they know whether the different colours taste different.

I must be getting better if I am pondering such randon things.

Hide and Seek

I couldn't resist sharing with you the fun that was happening in the garden yesterday. It looks like Maisy and Pixie had become friends with the pair of ring necked doves that seem to live in the garden and had challenged them to a game of hide and seek.

From where I was sitting, the doves were outwitting the ducks.

Teabag spoon

The last time we were at Detling I found a silver plated spoon. I am not sure of its original purpose was but I call it the teabag spoon. I use on average 10 bags a day so it is a great way of getting the bag out of the cup or pot without taking a spoonful of tea. I refuse to squash the bag against the side of the cup to get the most out of it as it gets bitter so this way I get the best of tea but letting it drip.

It is also very pretty.

Teabags will of course all go into the compost with some saved and dried to sprinkle around the onions as it seems to give them a boost.

Dont believe what they say

Every article I have read about keeping ducks in your garden say that they dont touch plants so are good for a garden. Well..... I don't know where that idea came from but wherever it was can you please tell our ducks. I had a wonderful show of crocus in the back garden - mainly yellow with a few purple. I now have a few purple and no yellow. Aparently ducks go made for yellow crocus flowers.

They come out in the garden for a forage every day but I try to keep them away from the beds. They dont seem to be eating any other plants but they have big wide feet that trample everything in site. It is impossible to take a picture of them as they are heads down the whole time. Emily has her wonderful winter plumage still but it shouldn't be long before they start moulting so so will start to go pale soon.

The bottom lawn is beautifully mown but the problem is that they are fertilising it as they go so you have to watch where you walk.

Spring on the way

The last to days have been sunny and it made me realise that in previous years we have spent a lot of time at the allotment and it is ready for the new season.#

This year we haven't even packed up for Winter so there is a lot of work to do.

At least we have the potatoes chitting on the bedroom windowsill and they are all looking very healthy.