Tuesday 24 March 2009

The lure of a female in Spring

Yesterday morning, from about 4.45am, our darling little duck!!! Poppy was calling and calling and calling and calling until I almost got up and made some orange sauce. We were quite expecting the neighbours to come and hammer on the door to make us stop the noise....... When we got up, Richard shouted, "they're back", and yes, we looked out and there were THREE ducks in the garden. Poppy obviously knew what she was doing when she was making so much noise, and it worked. I'm not sure if you can see from the first photo, but one of the drakes was always being chased away so we had to do something. We called the friends who had given us the ducks and they said they would call round in the afternoon and we would try and catch the drake and he would have to be re-homed. Bless him, it seemed such a shame but we knew it had to be done, they do say that a good ratio is 5 ducks to 1 drake. Out comes the big fishing net again and it was time to catch a duck; in actual fact it was very quick so he was popped into the cat carrier and later taken away to our friends house to find another home. So...... harmony reigns at the moment with a very content pair of ducks, one of whom has been clipped (Poppy) and I have to say there is a lot of "activity" if you know what I mean, so perhaps there will be some nest making soon. Once Thomas has settled we will catch and clip him as well, but we will let him just enjoy himself at the moment. (Lucky little duck I hear you say) He! he!

The weather here has been fantastic, shorts and t-shirts in fact, but today it has changed for the worse. We have been preparing the vegetable patches and we have planted 6 raspberry canes, a redcurrant and blackcurrant bush, plus a rhubarb; again the first time for us, so fingers crossed. We are harvesting the leeks so it's quite exciting. At the market on Monday, we are going to buy some lettuce and more herbs so slowly we are building up the food we can pick from our garden.

One of my oldest friends, (Vicki's godmother in fact) is coming to visit with her husband just before Easter. They are in a camper van and travelling through some of France and asked if they could come and see us and we can't wait to see them. They haven't been here, they just saw the photos when we were buying the house. Vanessa did make me laugh when she asked if we had finished the house.....they will soon find out that we haven't.

Vicki has her in-laws to stay for a couple of weeks as from tomorrow and I hope they all have a wonderful time. They haven't seen the girls and William only when he was 2 so they are in for a very busy, fun time. Enjoy your grandchildren Bill and Cindy.

3 comments:

aims said...

So glad you got your ducks all in a row Hazel. Hope the odd man out finds himself a good home and settles down.

You always think that renovations are just going to go as quick as a wink but they never ever do. They are much harder than first imagined and something always goes wrong - then there is the fact that the energy needed to continue at a feverish pace isn't happening anymore.

As long as you are content to live there - that's what matters.

apple tree quilter said...

I like aims' statement about ducks in a row! I know what you mean about renovations. We worked on our first house for nine years and still sold in unfinished. When you do it as you can afford to, it will always take longer than you had planned. But from your pictures, I think you've made marvelous progress. And besides, you're have such a wonderful time. Jealousy reigns!!!

Living the Dream said...

aims: you are so right about the energy level going down, mine seems to have slipped out right through the soles of my feet!! We are happy here though and people must take us as they find us. Hope you are feeling well.
Sharlene: Is a house ever finished, I don't think so