In memory of George Freeman

Wednesday we had sad news George our neighbour died in hospital at Lincoln,I used to give him an honorary title of Sir George and he was a great bloke,as well as a whisky drinking partner,as Hemingway put it ,"Ask not for whom the bell tolls,it tolls for thee".
The Le Blades brought three of their grandkids round and they fed the chickens and were then treated to Sheila's buns and bottles of pop,two are from Sheffield and one lives in the village,they had a scrounge round our garden and I think enjoyed the countryside a little.
We were on the beach with them a couple of days and enjoyed football and cricket on the sands,apart from a little difference Sheila had with a 14 year old grandkid ,he tangled with her splashing pop on her and she won the battle by pouring pop all over his head,Montana will know that it pays not to tangle with her.(cold baths come to mind)

Hay!

Two half days at the goose farm loading bales of hay have left me with tired muscles,I think next year I shall give it a miss,the weather was in the 80's both days which is a bit warm for working,though i used to run in half marathons in such heat and still would if I could,I missed out on Jean and Normans visit but Sheila fed them the "ulster fry" in my absence, which is a breakfast of gut busting dimensions,and organic free range eggs from Audrey and co.
The sea mist rolled in last night and is just starting to disperse a little ,so it could be another hot day,fence repairs will be continued,albeit at a much less energetic pace than humping bales of hay.
It seems that my little article re- Al,was taken literally by one reader,as my old friend Mos. the journalist used to say "don't believe anything you read" though I did only embellish the events a little in this case.
The Montana saga is drawing to a close,so no more mountains for another year,and back to billy and sofie as the main attractions.

Chicken Al Dundee

The bucolic bloke pictured is "Chicken Al Dundee"the poultry worlds equivalent to Crocodile Mick Dundee,he is fearless when faced by an outraged mother hen,and can wrestle a full grown cockerel to the ground in minutes, his main role is however chicken sexing,as some of you may know it is very difficult to determine a chickens sex when it is young,but if you ever have the need of his expertise,Al is ready and waiting,he can only be contacted through my blog,this is because he is plagued by groupies(of a non feathered nature)in fact in certain quarters he is known by the nom de plume "sexbomb".

He visited yesterday with his dear wife and we had a pleasant lunch at which we talked about all things avian,though his long suffering wife has a fear of feathered creatures,after a childhood scare with a feather duster,actually I made the feather duster bit up,in the afternoon we visited the goose farm and I stayed at the gate with Mrs Dundee while the other two looked at the goslings,Bob the goose then gave me the unwelcome news that the hay is ready for baling,yours truly is roped in to load them on and off the transport to the barn,I tried to pass myself off as my twin brother but he was not deceived,and it looks like I have got the job.

Earlier in the week Le Blade and me played golf on a nine hole course near the village,they were all par 3 holes but we decided that our respective golfing abilities meant fixing our own par ratings and we were regularly par or below on every newly rated par 9 hole,more talking than playing and chatting with other "golfers" who in general were equally as bad,though I was handicapped playing with an upside down walking stick,Le Boffin would not have been amused were he present,as he is a real golfer and takes such matters seriously,as indeed he does bowls.

It,s all a bit too much like a flatland version of last of the summer wine.but is I suppose part of reaching an advanced age and entering your second childhood,which reminds me ,at the bowling last week,we were doing our double act as the bootleg chuckle brothers whilst rolling up the bowls carpet,Le boffin was on the winding handle,me and Le Blade directing the carpet as he wound it in,so immersed in our "to me,to you" act were we that we neglected to control the carpets direction ,and the upshot was,Le Boffin went of in a huff tutting all the while,I visited the air museum with Le Boffin and others since and all seemed forgiven,but Le blade has yet to encounter him,luckily for us there is little in the way of psychiatric practitioners in this area,and so we remain(for the moment) at liberty.

Rocky Mountains,Alps, and Marshes.

Almost finished the chicken hut,it needs painting and maybe some roofing felt on the laying box cover,visited the two oldies on the caravan site,and we gave them some eggs,our first chicken to lay was named after Audrey,so it seemed only fair to take a few eggs.
The weather changed from a nice partly cloudy day with sunshine to raining, around 4pm this afternoon,it looks like an hour of Everybody loves Raymond at 5pm,and maybe a little glass of wine(Mary Sue please note),no food police here.
I like the look of the Amtrak train ,we did look at taking the train from chicago but I think it was a lengthy journey,we discounted it for some reason,Whitefish Montana seems to get the same weather as Pinerolo in the Italian Alpine foothills where a number of our friends live,thunderstorms I think caused by the mountains,and then sunshine.
Coffee morning at Le Marsh tomorrow,getting all the latest gossip,and feeling sorry for the poor farmers(I know you are reading this farmer joe).
At the bowling on tuesday Le Blade came up with the idea of a walking and camping escapade somewhere in England,Le Boffin was not entirely convinced by his arguments,my suggestion was to contact Channel 4 so they could film us and help defray the cost,"3 old chuffs soaked to the skin in a tent"as a possible title,though not feeling much pain due to alcohol induced insensibility.

Brigg again

Montana Mike is questioning my capacities for woodworking,he should know I am a very complex character,and multi skilled,quite apart from being one of the top 20% most intelligent Britons. Today I bought enough timber at brigg auctions to finish the little chicken hut,I almost bought 2 chickens for 50p but I thought they were a little over priced.
Bob the goose was forthcoming about his army service,and has seen active service overseas where he was wounded in action,he skirted round the regiment he served in,which is usually a sign that special services come into the picture.
Sheila is very happy now as all the chickens are laying,so its six a day from here on in.

Wet Day

Raining this morning,we had a visit from Jean and Norman on Saturday,they went on to their caravan down the coast,still trying to stop two new little chickens escaping,they are about small pigeon size so are able to get through the 3" mesh which keeps in the hens.
The little hut I am building should be ok for them,and one is possibly a cock so leaving the outside nest box till later,I am held up for wood,which I may get at the Brigg auction on Thursday if Bob the Goose is going with the pick up truck.