Yesterday was bee day!
After completing my beginners course back in April ish, hubby and I negotiated over having a hive of bees- he said I could have some next year, for my birthday in November this year.
Last week the association newsletter came out, with an advert saying someone was selling their colonies off in Nationals for a very very modest price, so at the earliest opportunity I phoned her. Now, before phoning, we agreed amongst ourselves that one hve was enough. After the call I had reserved 2.
Fast forward a week, and yesterday we spent the day frantically trying to buy hubby a bee suit as he wanted to help collect them. 3 hours later we found a red boiler suit, which I then modified, and we set up a hive stand made of pallets (salvaged from the side of a road). last night at dusk we went to collect the bees, and we brought them home in the dark, all 20,000 ish of them.
I will add pictures soon, but later today I will do my first hive inspection- how exciting!
Saturday, 21 September 2013
Tuesday, 17 September 2013
Roll Call
Current total:
8 chickens (4 ex batts- 1 broody with eggs and 3 pekins)
10 quails
2 guinea pigs
1 snail
1 gerbil
2 goldfish
8 chickens (4 ex batts- 1 broody with eggs and 3 pekins)
10 quails
2 guinea pigs
1 snail
1 gerbil
2 goldfish
Another new house update
We have moved in!
After weeks of plumbing and electrical work, we have finally moved in. Beds are built, internet, phone and TV all installed. (Small Boy and Small Girl are watching cbeebies as I type).
Small Boy has started in foundation at the local school, and Small Girl has increased her nursery hours slightly to help me do all of the work that the house needs!
The garden is wonderful, if currently a little overgrown. We have largely neglected it over the summer, but it looks ok, if a little jungle-like :)
All in all it is going rather well.
After weeks of plumbing and electrical work, we have finally moved in. Beds are built, internet, phone and TV all installed. (Small Boy and Small Girl are watching cbeebies as I type).
Small Boy has started in foundation at the local school, and Small Girl has increased her nursery hours slightly to help me do all of the work that the house needs!
The garden is wonderful, if currently a little overgrown. We have largely neglected it over the summer, but it looks ok, if a little jungle-like :)
All in all it is going rather well.
Friday, 9 August 2013
Timothy, the accidental gerbil
Just before I say any more, I want to say sorry for my complete lack of ability to blog regularly. there are mitigating circumstances, namely that internet access could be described at best as sporadic, and at worst non existent. We are still not moved into Tiny Trees, 3 months nearly after purchasing it; the electrics have been undated, and the new boiler went in today, so hopefully we are making progress.
The animals have all moved to Tiny Trees now, and we have stayed a few nights, although not at the moment because there is no water or gas. Things are looking good though...
So, on to Timmy. He is not accidental in in the sense that he used to be something else (Squirrel? mouse?) and turned into a gerbil, more accidental in the sense that gerbil wasn't on my 'must have' pet list.
We were on a trip to our local pet shop to see if there were any stick insects left, and we left with Timmy. He is old, and he couldn't be looked after by his owner anymore. His owner was a rather elderly looking man who asked the pet shop to take Timmy, but they wouldn't, but said that they could offer him to the pythons. I them stepped in and said that he could come home with me. The pet shop lady shrugged and said that was fine, but he looked to be so old he wouldn't make it past his first bag of food.
Not sure what hubby thought when I brought Timmy home- we haven't had little tiny rodents before. So, I borrowed a large fish tank from a good friend and Timmy now lives on a shelf, spending his day shredding toilet roll tubes and eating sunflower seeds. He is a happy, and incredibly tame gerbil :-)
The animals have all moved to Tiny Trees now, and we have stayed a few nights, although not at the moment because there is no water or gas. Things are looking good though...
So, on to Timmy. He is not accidental in in the sense that he used to be something else (Squirrel? mouse?) and turned into a gerbil, more accidental in the sense that gerbil wasn't on my 'must have' pet list.
We were on a trip to our local pet shop to see if there were any stick insects left, and we left with Timmy. He is old, and he couldn't be looked after by his owner anymore. His owner was a rather elderly looking man who asked the pet shop to take Timmy, but they wouldn't, but said that they could offer him to the pythons. I them stepped in and said that he could come home with me. The pet shop lady shrugged and said that was fine, but he looked to be so old he wouldn't make it past his first bag of food.
Not sure what hubby thought when I brought Timmy home- we haven't had little tiny rodents before. So, I borrowed a large fish tank from a good friend and Timmy now lives on a shelf, spending his day shredding toilet roll tubes and eating sunflower seeds. He is a happy, and incredibly tame gerbil :-)
Saturday, 15 June 2013
The new house... Again...
The new house now legally belongs to us. This is good because we have already started making big changes. It is bad because we now have 2 sets of bills, but hey ho.
Project House appeared to be taking shape, and then we realised that it needs a new heating system, which puts the whole project back a bit. Too much to do, decreasing amounts of time to do it in.
Upside- the garden looks great, if I may say so myself. We have lots and lots of things plated, and all is going v v well. We have fruit setting on the trees, the chicken run/coop is ready for occupants, the shrubs are looking leafy, and have planted little veggie plots in haxnicks raised bed bags. We have gone a little planting crazy actually, with mini corn, radishes, courgettes, beans, cabbages, broccoli, beetroot, rainbow chard, shallots, salad onions, sunflowers, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, horseradish and strawberries all planted up and doing well.
We have put a gazebo in the garden too: The navy blue Karlso one from Ikea. It is sturdy and does a great job of shutting out light.
Downside- I am getting bored of not getting much done.
Project House appeared to be taking shape, and then we realised that it needs a new heating system, which puts the whole project back a bit. Too much to do, decreasing amounts of time to do it in.
Upside- the garden looks great, if I may say so myself. We have lots and lots of things plated, and all is going v v well. We have fruit setting on the trees, the chicken run/coop is ready for occupants, the shrubs are looking leafy, and have planted little veggie plots in haxnicks raised bed bags. We have gone a little planting crazy actually, with mini corn, radishes, courgettes, beans, cabbages, broccoli, beetroot, rainbow chard, shallots, salad onions, sunflowers, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, horseradish and strawberries all planted up and doing well.
We have put a gazebo in the garden too: The navy blue Karlso one from Ikea. It is sturdy and does a great job of shutting out light.
Downside- I am getting bored of not getting much done.
New pig
After the death of Woolly, I was immediately worried about Tig.
So... We have a new guinea pig.
Matthew was a Pets at Home adoption centre guinea pig, who had no name, so I named him after the guy in the shop.
After a few little spats Matthew and Tig are best buddies (well, actually, let's not overstate it, they are just less likely to kill each other than they were a week ago).
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Another small death in the family
I know it has been a while since I last posted. I also know that the last time was when we had a death, and acknowledge that only logging into write about the demise of another pet is bad blogging.
However, I couldn't just let this sad occasion pass. Woolly, one of the Christmas guinea pigs, died on Friday.
One hour he was happily munching on a carrot, the next... Well, you know.
It upset me a great deal, it always does when the piggies die because it is always so quick.
So, that left Tig, who I didn't want to risk being lonely. The next day we all went up to Ikea to buy things for the new house, and on the way back we popped into Pets at home. We popped out again with a small box containing a tiny little pig from the adoption centre. New pig looks like he was made from all of the left over scraps of guinea pigs and has pink eyes. He didn't have a name, so I called him after the shop assistant.
We hope that Matthew the guinea pig will be happy with us in his new home.
However, I couldn't just let this sad occasion pass. Woolly, one of the Christmas guinea pigs, died on Friday.
One hour he was happily munching on a carrot, the next... Well, you know.
It upset me a great deal, it always does when the piggies die because it is always so quick.
So, that left Tig, who I didn't want to risk being lonely. The next day we all went up to Ikea to buy things for the new house, and on the way back we popped into Pets at home. We popped out again with a small box containing a tiny little pig from the adoption centre. New pig looks like he was made from all of the left over scraps of guinea pigs and has pink eyes. He didn't have a name, so I called him after the shop assistant.
We hope that Matthew the guinea pig will be happy with us in his new home.
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