The real ducks arrived..

Introducing  Blueberry and Sophie..

This time it was my LOVELY nephew's job to name the feathered chums and the ducks arrived and they were named after said nephew's favourite fruit AND current girlfriend!

They are brilliant.. they are not however waterproof yet and so have to stay in the garage until A. they love us, B. they are waterproof and their down is gone and C. they are fat enough not to fly away!

Love it so excited. I LOVE them and here they are.. Sister of mine.. you are a complete star  you made your little sister one giddy woman!

We have put them a pool of water and a duck house in the garage so that they can still bathe and sleep and possibly lay a duck egg??

so exciting !

can't wait to see them bob  along on the pond/lake..

Their pretend pond until they are waterproof

the house crafted by Mr W 

Christmas has truly come!!!!!

Now not to underrate any of my Christmas gifts all of which were absolutely fabulous but today the gift of Christmas really gave when the GIRLS LAID EGGS.. 2 EGGS!!!!!! .. check them out!!

I note that the medical glove situation could look like Mr Waen has sinisterly squeezed the eggs out but I promise that he didn't the gloves were to clean the girls out!! xx

New Bird Feeder

Speaking of my Niece and Nephew as I just was.. and look what they chose for Auntie Waen's Christmas.. A bird feeder for Apples.. LOVE IT!! thanks my lovely chums..you are brilliant xxxxx

Mr Waen also quite pleased.. apples are much more reasonably priced than peanuts! xxx

BIG BIG BIG AND VERY EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

So Mr Waen has been crafting something in secret and I suspected it to be a duck house but he insisted it was not.. so when we were with my fabulous sister, niece and nephew on Christmas eve I was telling her of my suspicions she looked at  me a bit strange but I put that down to the fact that as ever I was prattling on.

So we went to bed with all duck chat forgotten until Christmas morning when my sister presented Mr Waen and I with our adjoined Christmas stockings (cute) and inside were these guys...

Now don't get me wrong I like a rubber duck.. but an odd gift I thought until then sister looked at Mr Waen, Mr Waen looked at sister and WHOO HOO.. it turns out that my incredible sister/ best friend has gone and done the most brilliant thing and bought both Mr and Ms Waen  a real duck.. WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!

We are off to choose them on the 28th.. I think I want Aylesbury ducks.. they look like Jemima Puddle duck.. and who doesn't love her!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! and lovely sister of mine.. I LOVE YOU!!!

Celebrating a section of Garden

Think I may have already told you that when we first moved here Mr Waen's dad told me that as I was so overwhelmed with the unkempt garden to do a section at a time.. the section I started in November I was keen to get smart and sorted for Christmas and today I finished.. YIPPEEE!!!!!  Next section in the new year..

from this overgrown land

and these untrimmed bushes :-)

to this.. everything trimmed and cut back for winter.. new plants added and bulbs in ready for spring

and the rockery actually has rocks!!!

Clean dogs for christmas

Living here its impossible to keep a clean dog.. I am considering cling film suits.. but as its Christmas and they are travelling north to the land of my Mam's very clean and lovely house I figured its bath time! How to annoy 2 dogs in one hour..but so worth it they now smell of Oranges rather than mud, chickens and pond.. Much more festive!

not happy mammy

NO NO NOOOOOO

NOT HAPPY!!!

Our Reward.. new christmas beds in our cosie corner 

The girls are leaving home but other feathered friends are moving in

There is about 2.5 acres of land here for the girls to play in but clearly its not enough and they are wanting to roam further into farm land.. as they were found this morning having crossed the cattle grid and pootled onto the lane..

COME BACK!!!!!!!

 The window bird feeder is however still proving to be a bit of a hit .. there is a queue forming in the bush behind too.. Archie the cat is absolutely fascinated.

Yum!!!

 And for give the rubbish picture was driving at the time but look who I spotted on the lane.. Mr Duck.. answers on a post card as to how I get him and his Mrs onto the lake?????

There is a lovely lake just around the corner Mr Duck please move in. 

Birthday's are ace.

It was my birthday yesterday and I have been spoilt with cards, a cake and lots of pressies.. thank you to my fabulous family, friends and Mr Waen.

All of my pressies were so lovely, things to spoil myself with, things that made me smile and the garden / chicken themed things.. Lucky me!

Some of my things had a garden theme, a chimnea, some tools and a scare dog and insect house! I am a spoilt woman indeed so in my new earrings, clutching my new mug full of tea, off I popped to put scare dog and insect house in their new home!

Insect House

Scare-dog protecting the raspberry bed!







And the BEST gardening gift of all .. instead of going out for expensive lunch  Mr Waen  gave me  2 whole hours of gardening time.. He did well for his debut.

Planting an orchard.

 In the hardest frost ever last week I had 3 apple trees and 2 pear trees delivered.. typical!!! Was a bit worried about how I would manage to get them in the ground within the stipulated week from delivery. I was thinking of ways to manage this during a couple of days up north (was lovely to see everyone) and then the rain Gods.. (usually not my favourite) decided to lend a hand. Love them!!! So with the ground now unfrozen (but slightly soggy) and whilst Mr Waen went shopping (I think we have gender role issues) off I went to plant my new mini orchard... with the help of Winnie.. also a woman what is that all about!!

bit of fertilizer to help them along does this mean they wont be suitable for vegetarians any more????

tree roots soaking all tools gathered.. plus the assistant in the form of a filthy sheep dog and we are good to go.

dig some holes

they have to apparently 3 times as wide and deep as the root ball! I think the first three were!!

5 stakes in the ground and 5 little trees planted.. in 4 years time I will be fighting off the scrumpers!!! (I hope)

Now you may be wondering where the assistant got herself too! Well in a non helpful fashion she managed to find herself at the wrong side of the garden fence!

Errm. so can you help me back???

The girls like porridge!!

I heard via a friend of another chicken keeper that Chickens like porridge.. I raised an eyebrow but on a morning as cold as this one thought would give it a go and so at 08:30 this morning there I was cooking porridge for chickens.. Now there is a sentence I never thought I would say.

I took it out and wished them good morning and they looked at me and looked at the porridge and looked at me and then walked straight THROUGH it to get to their layers pellets (LAYERS pellets now there's a laugh!!! but no-one sells lazy free loading pellets).

So slightly miffed that my plan to make the girls smile and be warm and toasty I made my way back to the house.. BUT THEN... when I went back out with water half an hour later all gone was the porridge ! Yeah.. A triumph.. I am just cooking them a post bedtime pot now!!

Cooking the porridge

Borrowed Lolly's spare dish for the girls.. Lolly is a good sharer

You need porridge on a cold day like this 

Don't fancy that will walk through it to get to the good stuff.

Layer pellets much more yummy

Will sniff it to keep the woman happy 

ONLY JOKING.. Yum thank you 

BREAKING NEWS -Town Mouse Wellies ruined in the country!!!

And the lesson here is.. bring rubbish clothes when you come to visit and expect to leave looking like a country mouse.. Fun times and we did get her out!!  :-)

The biggest single drop waterfall in the UK

We ventured out after purchasing the monster truck to Pistyll Rhaeadr, At 240ft (80m) high it is the UK tallest single drop waterfall.. and it was beautiful.. if not slightly chilly, I stupidly and in Town Mouse fashion wore a wedge heeled boot so the walk wasn't to be but never mind because the sandwich and chips in the Tan-y-Pistyll (meaning little house under the waterfall) was yummy. They have a B+B there too.. how amazing to wake up and see these views.. get booked up at http://www.pistyllrhaeadr.co.uk. 

For those recently engaged (they know who they are) look - they do weddings xxx

What an amazing B+B venue

A new type of road inconvenience

So we have had cows, pheasants, we now have sheep (they move too fast to snap) and the latest.. is funny farmer type on a quad bike.. Don't think would go down well in the city but seemingly perfectly normal in these parts..

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas ..

I love Christmas . and it's nearly here.. Mr Waen went pottering off with his dad at the weekend to do sophisticated things so whilst his back was turned I, my lovely friend and fabulous Godson who I had a brilliant visit from went mad and christmased the house.. in an unsophisticated, tinsel and red feather Christmas wreath kind of way!! whoop!

The tree and parcels!!

LOVE having this cool fireplace to decorate!

Purchased my Christmas fire guard when my Mam was here  -  we both love Christmas - Mr Waen not so keen :-)

Monster truck..

So worried about the fact that the whole country is covered in snow Mr Waen was set the task of identifying an appropriate car for Ms Waen so as not to go skidding off the edge of death valley along the lane or worse not being able to get to Mammy Waen for Christmas dinner. He did not disappoint and we now have what I am loving calling Max the Monster truck. I have NO idea how I will park it I can't park my Citroen but I guess I will just have to woman up and get a grip.

The Girls helped to sort out my little Citroen car   skip.. bless them.. and bless the dealership who seriously gave us a grand for it!!!

Not so monster from the front 

The side view looks much more monster-ish!!

Thieve's at Waen

I was wondering why the bird food at the feeding stationed was emptying so quickly and this morning we spotted the reason.. the fat pheasant who has so far escaped the shoot!!! 

Chicken Run ..

As previously reported Mr Waen built the Girls a bit of a fence.. to keep them out of the oil.. well.. so much for that .. here are the feathery little free loaders pottering around the flower beds having such fun. They hopped onto the nesting box then the roof of their home and then out to freedom.. I am a fan of an independent woman..and here are my feathery independent women.. now PLEASE lay me an egg girls xx

Bonkers mad cat..

Our funny black and white cat is scared of everything.. but recently he has been heading out on a night.. seems fairly silly to give up a warm Aga kitchen for frost and rain to me but he is a bit odd. Was a bit worried on Thursday as he hadn't returned but then as I went out to check the oil pads on the lake I heard a lot of loud meowing .. looked all around and not a cat to be seen so went in to get the treats .. shaking them never fails.. and nor did it this time..

here he comes from UNDER the decking.. silly furry fool!

Did I hear BISCUITS???

I reckon I did!

Ooooo look that woman I live with left me some!!

For biscuits I will come out of my comfortable den??????????