Signs of Spring!

I know the Spring Equinox isn't for another six weeks but with Imbolc just past you can really feel the earth waking from her long winter slumber.  I took Action Dog for a walk today, her first proper walk since the operation which saved her life two weeks ago.  We didn't go far, just along a local lane to look at the hedgerows for signs of rebirth.

As we walked the feeling of a change in seasons became stronger and stronger, I could almost smell it in the air.  All around me other humans were responding to the change, probably without even knowing why.  As I walked past a row of bungalows at the start of the lane many of their owners were outside tidying flowerbeds and doing minor repairs.  One was even on his roof jet washing the tiles to remove thick moss!  I found it interesting that people respond to the calls of nature by instinct just like the rest of nature that so many people consider themselves to be so separate from.

Most of the hedgerows along the lane had been recently trimmed but there were one or two showing signs of first growth.  I have Snowdrops in bloom in my garden.  I planted them last year underneath my precious Hawthorn tree which I call my Spirit Tree.  There are Daffodils coming up everywhere in the wood.  They are the only bulb which the Pheasants don't eat and there are massive clumps of them out there.  

The animals can feel it too.  My doves are nesting again.  Mind you they barely stop for the winter, just a few weeks off and away they go again.  I have seen Blue Tits prospecting nest boxes and Robins chasing each other about.  I've even seen Wood Pigeon doing their wing clap display over the house.  

It really is a glad to be alive time and of course that is literal for wild creatures, they really must be glad to have survived the hardship of winter.

Just how hard can it be?

I really ought to be updating about the happenings in the garden but that will have to wait.  I just must get this off my chest.  It's one of those stories that could only happen in this house.  No one else has things like this happen, I am sure we must live on a ley line or something.  Mind you that would be this house and the last which would be too much of a coincidence really.  Anyway, this is what happened yesterday...

We have been trying to sell our camper van on EBay.  We listed it for 7 days with a start price of 99p and a reserve.  Naturally we got all the usual stupid questions about what is the reserve, do we have a buy it now price, will we take cash today, why has it been raised (it hasn't you moron its a 4x4) where is the cooker (look in the pic) and all sorts of other rubbish that I can't even remember now.  Lots of people were very interested and wanted to buy it now but we decided to leave the auction to run.  True to form all of the people who were so desperate to buy it today didn't even bother to bid.  That's what bugs me about EBay, there are so many tyre kicking time wasters.  So the auction ended and the van hadn't reached reserve so we were pretty cheesed off because as much as we love the van we are not using it and it's going rusty with this salty air here in Norfolk.  We want to use the money to buy a boat which we should get more use out of.

Next day The Hairy Person got a phone call on his mobile.  "Hello, my name is (something unpronounceable) I live in Poland and I want to buy your van".  Erm OK so how are you going to do this?  Turns out he intends to fly into Norwich airport buy the van and then drive it back to Poland!!!  Honestly we thought it was a wind up.  He said he would let us know when he had a flight.  We didn't really expect to hear from him again.  But on Monday he rang saying he was flying in on Thursday and would be with us mid afternoon, could we pick him up from a local rail station.  Erm...yeah OK we can do that.

So Thursday arrives and we are still wondering if this is actually going to happen.  Poland is a very long way to come to buy a camper van!  The phone rang about half three, he was at the station so Hairy set off to pick him up.  He took the camper so Polish man knew who he was.  They arrived back at four o'clock and set about going over the van, explaining how things worked and where things were.  Then Polish man wants a test drive.  The trouble is he has never driven right hand drive before or driven on the left!  Hairy said he had the ride of his life with Polish man almost putting them in the ditch at the side of the road at least twice.  He looked very pale under his usual coating of oil and grease when they finally came indoors to complete the paperwork.

It was then that Polish man dropped his bombshell.  In his broken English he announced that he needed insurance to drive the van.  Erm...wouldn't it have been a good idea to sort that out before you left Poland?  Then he asks if he can use Hairy's insurance for a day.  Erm NOOOO!  The next two hours (yes, TWO) were spent with him on the PC and ringing his wife in Poland trying to sort out insurance for one month.  The cheapest he could find was £800...for a month!  After about half an hour I had to run away, I made an excuse that I needed mushrooms and legged it to the shop, I couldn't stand it any more.  It was still going on when I got back and I was informed that he was going to put the insurance at this address and we would pay for it on our card.  Are you mad, Hairy, I asked!!!

Eventually we convinced him that his Polish insurance should cover him to drive it.  Whether it did or not we didn't actually care because we were starting to lose the will to live at this point.  After another conversation with his wife in Poland he was happy with that so we started filling in log books and the horrible form he had downloaded as a bill of sale which was in both Polish and broken English.  

Finally at about seven o'clock we made it outside for him to drive away with the van.  Then he drops his next bombshell.  He intends to drive to London in it (120 miles) to meet his friend at an unspecified train station so his friend can drive it through London because of all the traffic.  The trouble was he had no map.  Honestly, hells teeth...no map!!!  A friend of ours had turned up meanwhile and had been waiting about half an hour and he gave Polish man his own atlas just to get rid of him.  You can imagine things were getting pretty desperate by now.  

Eventually just to get rid of him Hairy drove our car with him following as far as the main 'A' road which is about 15 mins away.  Then they guy points to his newly acquired map and tells us he will pull over on the M11 and ring his friend!!!!  EEK oh no you won't matey!  Hairy ended up going into the petrol station with him, helping him fill up and pay and buy some food and drink before setting off to meet his friend at Redbridge

It was quarter past eight by the time Hairy got home.  Four hours to sell a vehicle.  It has to go down as the most traumatic sale we have ever done and we have sold 100's of cars over the years.  I was starting to think I was going to end up having Polish man stay the night.  At one point I was hissing at Hairy 'He is not staying in our spare room OK!'  Hairy said he would have to sleep in the camper van on the drive!  I had a visions of me taking him a fried breakfast on a tray in the morning.

We were paranoid all evening, or what was left of it anyway that we were going to get a phone call to say he was lost, or crashed.  I half expected to have customs and excise on the doorstep...or Interpol or the drug squad!  What a night!

Introducing Baby Sparky!

Sparky is growing fast.  He is already about 2/3 size of a full grown dove.  These littlies grow so fast.  He is pretty much white now too, that didn't take long either.  It was less than a week ago he was growing his little pin feathers.  It's good that he has his feathers because they will keep him warm now that Esme is not sitting on him much.  Mind you he is so big it would be hard to sit on him!

Baby's first photo!

We are NOT amused!

We had an unusual visitor today.  There are lots of rabbits out in the wood but they never venture into our garden.  When it snowed I went out a little way into the wood, only a few yards and there were bunny prints everywhere but none at all in our garden.  The snow is good for providing evidence like that.  Anyway today there was a lovely flopsy bunny in our garden pootling about as bunnies do.  We were so pleased to see him and were watching him out of the window saying things like "Ah isn't he cute", well I was anyway.  Suddenly Rosie came into view, running at full speed with wings a-flapping, charging like a bull at the poor bunny.  Naturally upon seeing the chooky apparition bearing down on him he turned and ran for cover.  Rosie of course looked very pleased with herself and strutted about like a conquering hero clucking her head off.  Obviously she didn't want bunnies in her garden!

The reason for Rosie's stroppy mood could have been the weather.  It was foul this morning, absolutely teaming with rain.  I had to don full waterproofs to go out there and let them out, feed them and poo pick the house.  Not a pretty sight at 7am I can tell you.  They were all very put out when I let them out.  They poked their heads out very tentatively, peering about as if there was something really wrong with their world.  You would think they had never seen rain before!  Then they came down the ladder making scolding clucks as if it was all my fault and they were telling me off.  They were definitely not amused!

A guest for breakfast!

The doves brought a new friend home to play this morning.  I had just got up and was outside feeding them and the chooks and thought to myself  'There are too many there'.  A quick count up revealed seven birds not including Sparky.  I ran indoors and grabbed my binoculars for a closer look and found that sure enough there was an extra bird on the bird table.  He is smallish, looks quite young and has some dark patches on his head and back, so not quite pure dove but with a bit of feral in there somewhere.  I knew that Hairy Hubby wouldn't be too amused that a mixed bird might be joining the flock (he wants them all pure white) so I decided to tell him that the new boy was a bit grubby.  Sadly he didn't fall for that one and knew right away that they were darker patches not dirt.  Luckily he didn't go too mad about it.  I had visions of him running outside scaring the new boy off.  It will be interesting to see if he hangs around, the new boy that is, not Hairy.

Sparky seems to be doing well.  I heard him squeaking today for the first time.  Usually he just sits there quietly but Esme was on the nest so he was probably harassing her fro more food.  You can see his back quite well from the ground now he is getting bigger and starting to grow feathers.  I reckon another week and he will be pretty much white.  I just love Pidgie babies, they are so much fun!

At lunchtime I was thrilled to see Davey (Daisy) collecting nesting material.  He and May have been 'doing the do' a lot lately so I was hoping for the patter of tiny claws.  My elation was quickly doused when he flew off with the nesting material, over the house and over the road.  What a cheek!  The little traitors are nesting on the neighbours house!  I was gutted.  Heartbroken in fact.  I should have expected it really but I just prayed they would come home to breed.  I suppose really they live over there but just come here to feed and hang out occasionally.  I wish there was something I could do to get them to come home.  I keep dropping very loud hints to Hairy Hubby about making another dovecote.  Maybe if there was an extra one which didn't have the resident Mr and Mrs Lovey-Dovey breeding in it they would feel more at home.  Sadly my very subtle hints ("You need to make another dovecote") went unheard.  It seems that The Hairy One is suffering from that deafness which so often occurs at awkward moments like when their other half asks them to do something....

The almost baby snatcher!

Yesterday morning I was concerned that Esme wasn't keeping her baby warm.  I couldn't get hold of Owlmomma for advice (she was on the phone giving advice about a crippled pigeon) and I was due to leave to go to The Haven for the day.  I made a decision to take the baby out of the nest and take him into The Haven to be cared for.  However, after lugging a solid wood garden chair down to the bottom of the garden so I was tall enough to look in, I found that the dear little fella was as warm as toast and looking pretty good.  He was getting his pin feathers all over his body and was so cute he melted my heart.  I popped him back in the nest and rang Eaglebeard for advice.  After some discussion we decided to leave the little guy in his home and just keep an eye on Esme.  He said it sounds like our little cutie is big enough to be left for a while by his mum.  All I can say is thank heaven that I didn't take him out!  I'd have been a real life baby snatcher.  Poor Esme has waited all this time for her baby and I almost took him away and wrongly accused her of child neglect!  Ohhh the shame and guilt of it all!  Now that I have met him properly I have given the little guy a name.  He will be called Sparky.  I had actually chosen it a week ago but didn't want to risk naming him officially till I knew he had a good chance of survival.  Cross everything for him!

Action Dog's paw seems better now.  It was much less red yesterday morning and looked like something had deflated, there was a sort of burst blister looking patch.   She was still a bit hoppy in the morning but better by evening when I got home so I was happy not to take her to the vet.  I can only think that she had been stung by some rabid insect in the garden.  She has been stung by red ants before but that was no ant sting!

I caught Ivy taking a paddle in the dove's bathwater today.  She was just standing there up to her ankles looking very pleased with herself.  Naturally as soon as she saw that I was there with camera in hand she got out fast and walked swiftly away like a pop star being papped!  I did manage one spectacularly bad pic from a distance, it's zoomed right in so very grainy.

Ivy having a paddle

Munchhausen's by Pet?

Blossom's limp seemed much better yesterday and today when she got up there was no trace of it.  What a relief that was.  It was so nice to see them all healthy and happy trotting round the garden.  All was well in my chooky world.  At least for a little while.

I went out for most of the day today.  Shopping, which is not something I enjoy much but it had to be done.  When I got back Hairy Hubby was screaming his tractor mower round the back lawn and making quite a good job of it.  Oh good less chicken poop for me to pick up in the morning.  Yipeee!  As soon as he saw me he stopped and turned it off.  I knew that had to be a bad sign, it takes a lot to separate that man from his mower!  He told me that the as yet unknown new next-door-neighbour had knocked to tell us that all our chickens were in her garden.  She didn't mind but thought we ought to know.  Oh great!  Two questions...how did the little s*ds get in there? and how was I going to get them out again?  So there was me out in the wood with a jug of corn clucking my head off trying to get the little devils to come home.  Then I realised that they were actually really agitated because they wanted to come home but couldn't find the way out!  New tactics were obviously required!  

After a sneaky wander around their perimeter fence I found a little part of the wire I could lift up a bit.   So praying they wouldn't see me vandalising their fence I pulled it up, rattled my jug of corn and clucked like mad.  Luckily the chooks got the idea and all but two came under the fence and into the wood quite quickly.  Bessie and Wild Child (Maggie) took a bit longer.  I had to walk away to get Wild Child back because she refuses to come within five feet of me!  Eventually she followed the other girls and I piled a load of twigs and branches over the hole at the bottom of the fence so that a) they don't get in there by that route and b) the neighbours don't see what I did!

Flushed with success I went in to cook dinner only to spot that Action Dog has gone lame.  She was fine this morning and I am sure was fine when I came home.  Hairy says all seemed well all afternoon but suddenly she was hopping on three legs and looking very sorry for herself.  On close inspection she has a great big red lump between two toes.  The worrying thing is that it's on her bad foot, the one she had a toe amputated from earlier this year.  I am hoping and praying (yes bigtime) that it is a sting of some sort.  That's all I can think because surely she wouldn't have suddenly started limping like that if it had been there before.  It would have shown itself before this.  If it's still bad in the morning she is going to see the vet, no question.  I'd have been tempted to take her tonight but it was too late by the time I spotted it.  Why on earth don't they sell Calpol for dogs?  You can give your child mild pain relief but not your pet.  It does make me cross.  There are no first aid creams either.  So all I could do was bathe her paw in salt water which she didn't seem to mind too much luckily.

While all this was going on I noticed that Esme was off her nest.  So with Action Dog under my arm I went down for a peek to see who was in there.  I can confirm that there is one baby who seemed to be just getting his pin feathers on his wings.  During all the drama of worrying and paw bathing I noticed that Esme was spending some time on the lawn.  Too much for my liking and I was starting to get a bit worried. After far too long for comfort she got back on so I left well alone.  I find it hard to believe that she sat on a dead egg yet left her baby for so long.  Hopefully he didn't get too cold.  I will check on them in the morning.

So that's my dramatic day.  Honestly I think someone is going to accuse me of having Munchhausen's by Pet!