Birds, Bones and Valentine's Day

On Saturday, I had a doctor's appointment to get my usual three monthly prescription medicines and also to get something for the cold/cough that my delightful little grandson

brought for me especially from Cornwall. This is him playing on the Wii with not a care about the germs he's passed on to me!  I was given antibiotics, so hopefully they'll kick in soon and I won't get a chest infection this time around. She was sorry to hear about my new tumours and asked me to contact her if I hadn't heard from the endocrinologist by the end of the week.

I have Googled my parathyroid tumours as it looks as if there are definitely two and possibly three.  Three would mean I wouldn't have any parathyroid glands left and they are essential for calcium in the body to be controlled.  It seems as if they might take a tiny healthy bit of gland and implant it into a forearm muscle, where it would continue to work hopefully.

The temperature has risen and there was no need to break the ice in the animal water containers yesterday or today. How easy it is doing the animals when the water's not frozen. The animal bread will run out before the end of the week, I must remember to go into the supermarket bakery and get another sack. I usually take one or two baguettes out and make breadcrumbs to keep in a sealed plastic container for cooking - every little helps.

My worker dug out my duck pond last year and left a large heap of earth, a very large heap of earth, next to the boundary fence.  You can see it along the right hand side of the photo above.   Yesterday evening I went up to the field to put the animals away. I started with the ducks, but there didn't seem to be enough of them - I counted several times and could only make out nine - there should be ten.  I shut the nine into their playhouse and then could hear a duck quacking outside the boundary - I presume she must have launched herself from the waste earth heap.  I could see her but not reach her as the bank from the road is high and covered in brambles.  Clearly she couldn't be left there for the fox so quickly I drove down to my neighbour, Christian, who kindly came up and with the aid of a bashing stick to squash down the brambles, managed to reach her and hand her to me. Before he reached her, he threw two pieces of jaw bone with attached teeth to me. 

He said they were from a cat, so presumably that was one of my missing ones - a horrid end. The bones were really white and the teeth in perfect condition, so not an old cat. Most of my cats don't go up to the field, but Mimi spent hours and hours up there, often not coming back to the house at night, but sleeping in the polytunnel or just in the grass.  obviously that one did.   Here she is helping me round up an escaped chicken.

My Houdini-like duck was soon safely installed in the playhouse. I just hope she doesn't keep doing the same thing now she has a taste for freedom. My worker is currently in Devon and not due back before the end of the week, so it could be a few days of difficult bedtimes if she chooses to play up again. The bonus was that it took so long getting the duck back that the hens were all in their shed when I went in to lock them up so no hassle there.

When I went up to the field this morning I walked over to the boundary near where the jaw bones were found.  There is a very large rock just behind the fence and it was strewn with the rest of the cat skeleton.

It may seem rather macabre, but in a way I'm pleased to have found this.  Mimi went missing two days into a trip I made back to England in October 2010 and not knowing what has happened to an animal is horrible.  Not a good end for her, but at least I now know.

There was a beautiful bird song coming from a tree across the lane and finally I managed to spot the bird responsible.  It's not a clear photo as it was rather far away for my little compact, which was all I had with me at the time.   I'm pretty sure that it's a song thrush, but am checking with my friend in Nailsworth, who is a proper bird man.   I think it is a resident here as I heard it last week too when I was walking up the lane with Charlie, my grandson.

On my garden wall, which they use as a launch pad for the bird table, were a pair of magpies today. I find them very difficult to photograph as they are off at the slightest movement from me, but did get a decent shot of one of them.

Lastly, here's a photo, especially for Valentine's Day, of the three cats, in harmony, with two hearts dangling above them.

Three things I like:

1.   A haddock fillet, lightly dusted in seasoned flour before frying, for my lunch today.
2.   Getting a bag of yesterday's bread from SuperU bakery.  I was late and didn't expect to be lucky.
3.   Watching all the birds visiting the bird table from the comfort of my armchair.