The Barn Conversion

May 2010....

Well that was a waste of time! Flat on my back since the 17th April.

It's now the 28th May and it's Lynne's Birthday. I'm a bit better and I'm booked into the Physio on Monday. Now you may well ask why I've waited this long! My only explanation is that I'm a man and expected my back to heal much quicker than it has.

To catch up on other news we have two ducks nesting, one right outside the front door and the other a little further along the front of the house. The duck by the front door has 16 eggs and the other 12. The duck with 12 eggs started hatching on the 19th and took two days to get 4 hatched. That was it, the other 8 were sterile.

Today (28th May) is Lynne's birthday (and the anniversary of her mothers death). She always a bit down on this day. We were sitting outside in the sun and I was driving her mad as she read her book. "Lynne, do you like this bathroom sink?", "Lynne, do you like these floor tiles?" , "Lynne do you like ....".

She got up to prepare lunch and she went in, she came straight back out as she noticed a movement under the duck by the door. There was an egg, broken in half, with a duckling emerging. We watched for a few minutes, took some photos and carried on with lunch. After lunch she noticed something on the pond and called me to see two large frogs sitting on the water. As I approached the pond a slight ripple announced the arrival of a snake. Yes, a snake. It slithered off the bank, into the water and swam across the pond to the overgrown bank on the opposite side. So, in the space of an hour we had new ducklings, two frogs and a snake. All we need now is for baby Coypu to arrive. I'm sure the adults are having young as they are in the pond but not showing themselves.

These are the 16 eggs outside the front door. That's the boot wiper by the side of them.

This is the other nest. Duck with duckling just peeping out.

Mum No. 2 with her 4 ducklings. 3 follow her diligently but the fourth just goes off wherever he/she wants.

One of the No. 1 ducklings. Probably the one that just swims off on his/her own.

No. 1 mum. Now this duck is one of the 9 we raised by hand in the bath 2 years ago. In fact this is the one that had the hot bulb fall on her head as you can still see the bald patch the scar has left on her head.

The snake Not much I can say about it as I know nothing about snakes other than to keep away and don't walk in long grass. If anyone knows what type it is leave a message on the visitors book.

One of the new hatched from mum No. 2. You can still see the shell this one emerged from. So this little bundle of fluff is but a few minutes old.

A few hours later and we have 2. The one on the inside kept "kissing" the outer one. I wonder... I know they talk to each other so maybe they show affection to each other as well.

Mum inspecting mum. The lounger has been put there to keep the sun off.

June 2010

It's now the 17th and whilst my back is much better I haven't restarted digging out the barn floor.

However, as we're dealing with wildlife these two pictures are creatures seen on our farm. The Hoopy's were outside the house and the photo was actually taken through the window. Then this morning Lynne shouts (from the loo) that the deer is in the orchard. She takes the camera and gets this picture.