I've been tagged!

Jo has tagged me to find 8 random facts about me. So for anyone who is remotely interested, here goes...

• I spent many weeks, weekends etc on the canals as a youngster, and dreamed of living on a canal boat.
• I decided to grow my hair, at the age of 14, when someone asked my younger brother how old his older brother was (I was up a tree at the time!)
• I love my bed, but don't get to spend enough time in it!
• I would love to open a Fairtrade shop with a fairtrade cafe in it.
• I have fallen asleep in many strange places, including stood up at a concert!
• I would love to learn to play the cello
• I would love to visit Machu Pichu, Peru and Rotorua, New Zealand
• I find it very hard thinking of 8 things about myself!

What happens next?

1. Each blogger starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and to read your blog.5. For the recipients, leave a comment for the person who tagged you, so they can go and read your answers.

I am therefore tagging the people who follow my blog (except Jo who tagged me initially!)

So we have Shell, Uma, Joxy, Jacqui, Rachel, Michelle, and nocton4

An Egg!!!!!

Poor Betty, I bet she wondered what was happening to her today. She didn't come out the hen house at all this morning, and I was getting rather worried about her. She seemed perky enough inside, but I was worried about her, and started reading up on lots of nasty things that could be wrong with her (which scared me even more!) By the time I went out to Toddlers she was just poking her head out the door. I thought perhaps the terrorising that Little had been dealing out had got to her, but I was wrong.

When we returned from picking the boys up from school, she was strutting around with Hetty and Little, and I just took one look at her and thought there may have been some developments! Her comb and wattles were no longer pink and droopy, but red. So I went to the hen house, and sure enough there was an egg! Not in the nesting box, but between the roosting bars, and the shell was rather soft, and therefore had broken and spilled its contents. However, it was an egg none-the-less, and I am so proud of her! I just wish I could explain to each of them what is happening to them, although I am sure Mother Nature will step in and guide them.

Resolutions

A bit late in the day, but thought I ought to write down my plans for improvement for this coming year! The one that is always on my list, and always falls by the wayside fairly quickly is to be more organised. By that I mean keep on top of the housework, not just when it gets desperate, spend more time with the boys not just when they demand it, and to generally achieve things rather than just think about doing things!!

Having read through some other blogs, I'm also going to borrow some ideas too. To use things we already have before going to buy more, sounds as if it should suit us to the ground, as the house still seems to be brimming over with "stuff" which has no real use at present. Along with spending more time at home (or down the allotment!), as I really do have more than enough stuff to keep me busy, without going to groups etc.

And a personal one for me, which I had started on prior to New Year, is to eat less meat. Not necessarily for health reasons, but because I want to think carefully about what has gone into my food, and so will try to only eat free range/organic meat, but to have non meat days too.

Ethan has decided he wants to be able to ride his bike up the hill, so a fair bit of practising will be needed as it is a pretty steep hill!

Chickens

My long awaited ladies have arrived today. I was so excited and nervous all at the same time, I really was like a child at Christmas! They are housed in an eglu, which seems perfect for our garden, though I think we may have to find a permanent site for it as our garden is just way too slopey for me to be able to move it around at will, as was my original plan. So some garden design is now the call if the day!

We have 3 chickens. 2 are known as Miss Pepperpot's which are Rhode Island Red/Maran hybrids, and a gingernut ranger, another hybrid I think. The Miss Pepperpots are very different looking, one being black with irridescent green feathers, and the other black with lots of gold neck feathers. They are known as Betty and Hetty respectively. The other hen seems to have established the pecking order, and is ironically known as Little, as in Chicken Little (courtesy of the boys!) Little is a big brown hen, and certainly seems to be ruling the roost so far! However, when they went to roost this evening, there was gentle coo-ing coming from inside the eglu, so peace for now!

The boys were so excited when I picked them up from school, and raced through the house to the back garden where they spent ages watching them, asking questions, and imitating them. They were particularly intrigued with the pecking order scuffles! Some of the neighbourhood children came to look too, but didn't seem quite so excited, although one did suggest his brother kept one on his bedroom!

I am really looking forward to this new adventure for us as a family, especially as the days stay lighter, and we get to spend more time in the garden with our feathered friends.