MrsB Meet

Flash was feeling fit enough to join Angie, Sultan and Luna for the morning ride. As usual, I then got a call to pick him up after 30 minutes or so. As I pulled in to the agreed track, saw MrsB's car and in the distance MrsBhurrying towards me with dog Donna and 100m behind her Angie & Co. Donna while being a big softie with humans can be tricky with other animals - made worse in our case because when MrB visits he has to keep Donna in the car because of the chickens and so the dogs never get any contact and can only bark at one another.

Once Donna safely in the car, Angie arrived and not having seen MrsB for a while we had a catch-up chat. I broke it up as I had to get to the local small dairy to get my supply of Cheddar/Chester cheese. The shop has strange and very short opening times so I was very pleased to find them open. There are always the same two ladies working there but they are always somewhat surprised by my order - the cheeses are all in blocks and most ask for 100g portions and I buy nearer to 1000g.

On the kidney stones managed a further 18 stones in one single session today, bringing the total to 23 in 24 hours and these are only the ones I managed to capture. For those of a curious mind, I have special filters given to me by the hospital when I have an inkling there may be some action. I do not carry a filter around with me so there are almost certainly many that escape unseen. I have become so insensitive to the things that only those of 5mm or more are "felt"!

On the food front, I tried out beer batter mushy peas. Helped a tiny bit. Then had lots of batter left over and looked around for a victim and went for an overripe nectarine. Well, at least it was sweet. That was my dinner! No wonder I have kidney stones and tummy problems.

On the chicken front, forgot to mention that last Monday, daughter Kate had been up early while the rest of us asleep and went to let the hens and geese out. She found a dead hen half pulled through the link fencing with its head gone. We couldn't work out what had happened. Today we found out - a marten is at work.

Since the events on Monday, I had been closing a small trap door to the outdoor, wired in, covered run where a few brooding chickens have taken up residence (the rest are in the coup with an automatic opening/closing light-sensitive metal door). Last night Angie closed up shop and didn't close the little door which we normally don't. In the night the brooding "Easter Egg" laying hen was hauled out of her nest, bitten in the neck and blood sucked out. The eggs she had been sitting on gone. A clear sign of a marten.

While we always see signs of martens around the sheds, we haven't had any problems for years. One says that a marten doesn't attack things on its own patch. So assume we have a visitor which also means our cars are at risk although so long as it is warm, the marten doesn't need to bed down in a warm engine compartment and nibble at tasty rubber hoses and wires.

Will have to ask MrB for one of his "living" marten traps ie one that traps but doesn't injure them. On the very far right of the photo at the bottom of the trees is one of MrB's tall hunting hides.