Chickens, meet Peacock

News got out yesterday about a pet peacock running lose in the village. His name is Michael and he likes chickens and peanuts. So was it any wonder what came walking up our drive...

And through our gate...

And down the path...

 to meet our chickens.

Chickens, not understanding that Michael the peacock likes chickens as FRIENDS and not DINNER, immediately began their defensive cry they usually use to ward off crows to see how it would work on a peacock...

Michael, sensitive to the misunderstanding, took perch on the fence to mope...

but was startled off by the well meaning farmer man on his grass cutting machine.

Chickens can now rest easy...

And Michael continues his hunt for friends.

(We have spoken with Michaels owner and we are hopeful he makes his way home. But SHOULD WE CATCH HIM (? uh, yeah right) we should return him to her)

ALSO, 8 more sleeps til Howdy gets here! He is a labrador and will be 8 weeks old when we bring him home. I AM DYING I am so excited! We got his cage (to sleep in!) today and I have been reading up on how to train etc. Martin is suppose to be reading the same book I am so when I tell him to do things he will know why, but so far he hasn't and this has already led to "discussions". However, I am someone who functions well with rules, where as Martin kind of thinks training a puppy doesn't need real structure, that it will somehow, magically, work itself out. In this case, structure will prevail, I don't want a naughty dog!

Look what boredom gets you...

A PUPPY!!!

We were going to wait until we got on the farm to get one, but as the sale keeps getting delayed, and we don't have a whole lot to do, we decided, screw it, lets get one now!

A neighbour of ours knows the breeder and we decided if she still had some puppies left, we would get one. A phone call, drive and a deposit later, Howdy, as we will call him, was ours! He was keen to come home with us straight away but we don't get to take him home for another two weeks...

And although we are both quite excited, I am slightly worried Martin is too excited. Hopefully his love for me isn't replaced for love of dog...he never smiles in photos!

Rain's a comin

It actually turned out to be sleet. In May. Plththththth

Mouse

Unfortunately since being home we have discovered we have mice. We didn't have them before and now we do. They poo everywhere and I am totally grossed out by it.

Last night as I was reading my book and thinking to myself, well, at least we never SEE the mice, guess what just happens to run across the floor.

Me:  eeeeeeeeeeeeek, MOUSE!
Martin: Where?
Me: Over there (point frantically to arm chair across room) under the chair!
Martin: I don't see..oh wait, there he is. Awwww, he's so cute!
Me: Not cute, catch mouse.
Martin: But look at him, he is so cute!
Me: Repeat, not cute. Poos everywhere, GET MOUSE!

Skip forward several minutes of finding mouse and trapping it in the bookcase. Martin for some reason turns squeamish about catching the mouse and actually squeals at one point when he sees it in the bookcase. I spent a good 20 minutes waiting for it to come out of its hiding place and into our trap, but I was getting tired so decided to catch the mouse myself. And I did. I trapped it into a very nice large clear plastic container and put 15 books on top to make sure it didn't get out.

Me: Can you please get rid of it, some place far away.
Martin: I will tomorrow. Should we give it some food?
Me: WE ARE NOT GIVING THE MOUSE ANY FOOD!
Martin: Well, we should at least have a little opening so air can get in. He might suffocate.
Me:
Martin: Just a little...
Me: Ok. (move books a millimetre to let in precious air)
Martin: I think it would be nice if we could give it a nice mountain scene for him to look at.
Me:
Martin: Here, I'll just book this book at the back so it has something nice to look at...

This morning Martin got up before I did to discover mouse dead. I'M NOT SAD. Martin seemed a little sad until he found out that the reason our dishwasher wasn't working was because mouse ate hole through one of the pipes. NOT SO CUTE NOW IS IT.

He is coming home with proper mouse traps later today to catch mouse's friends and family.

Ducklings

Last weekend Martin and I were in charge of taking care of these little fellows...

They belong to our Henry and Camilla and they sound like little squeeze toys. Constantly chirping, it is rather hard not to fall in love with them. We thought we would have a little fun and so put them in a bath full of water. It was like they said, they took to it like a duck to water!

They are gone now and now we are getting ready for our big move to the farm. We don't have a move in day yet but we are hopeful it will be end of May, beginning of June. The sale is with our lawyers now and we are hopeful they will move everything along quickly, although more likely than not it will take longer than necessary.

We had a great time in California. The weather was fantastic, and apparently while we were gone it rained cats and dogs in England, so our timing was perfect. Now the weather is still pretty miserable, but rumour has it there is sun in the forecast for this weekend! All of our plants our growing beautifully in Martin's dad's greenhouse, and they will need a home to be planted out in soon. Otherwise Colin might have more tomatoes than he knows what to do with. We are especially excited about all the cut flowers we are growing, and can't wait to get on the farm and start digging everything in.