Confessions from the Fens

It won't make tabloid headlines, but there are a few things I feel a little bad about - I haven't done any exercise for the past four weeks as, although it worked whilst we were in a routine, the last two weeks of the holidays were totally without routine, and we all had a rest, so the exercises went by the wayside. I felt better when I was exercising five mornings a week, so come tomorrow, I will be starting them again. Same time slot in the morning, same DVDs. I similarly fell off the Slimming World wagon as the diet wasn't suiting my IBS stomach, so I am trying to modify it somewhat to balance the needs of losing weight without living two feet from a toilet all the time!

I didn't get the scones made for the village show, either - I wanted them to taste fresh, and thought that the best time to make them was either going to be late Friday night or early Saturday morning. That just didn't happen, as those times were dominated with being tired after gym and then in the morning, with getting everything normal done before I go to gym at 9am. I didn't manage to get up any earlier to fit it all in....

On the PLUS side, I spent an hour and a half today cleaning out all eight pens in the "new" chicken shed - so then all the chooks had a lovely time rearranging the straw and generally doing their own housekeeping - you can imagine the conversations (well, I can, but then perhaps I'm weird!), "What has she been doing to my house? It wasn't this when we went out to lunch, Bruce!" "I know, I know, Betty, but look - clean straw - have a good rummage and if you find anything to eat in then, give me a holler and I'll be in!" "You're always thinking of your stomach!" Bruce and Betty are the pair of Silver-Laced Wyandottes, and they are gorgeous!

The BEST news of the day is that the last hatch of the year has happened - we have 10 chicks in the box under the lamp in the lounge. There are 9 Light Sussex and a brown one - it's either a Brown Sussex or a GPO - we'll be able to tell when it gets a little bigger. There are still another 15 (I think) eggs in the incubator, so there may be a few more chaps in the morning, but I am thrilled with 10 so I won't be disappointed if this is our lot. They are lovely little birds, and with 9 of them being yellow, look like traditional "chicks". Very happy mama here tonight.