The Wasp Nest

Who decided the perfect spot

To build the nest, was it Dot?

Was she the one, on bended knee,

To plead to her inflated Queen?

Or did a host of cheering wasps,

To the throne, raise Dot aloft, and

Carry their newly elected Queen

To boss them about

And live her dream...

In this her treetop paper palace?

Tea-time With Marilyn

The other day, I went to my friend's house to enjoy a nice cup of tea and soft, sweet conversation with Marilyn and her dear mother, Betty. The table was set so prettily with beautiful china that had been Marilyn's grandmother's, who lived in Wales. How clever that Marilyn made some jam tarts out of a Tasha Tudor book that I had given her for Christmas a while back...Tasha Tudor had corgis! Corgis/Wales...

And just look at the exquisite centrepiece! It's a shooting-star hydrangea...so beautiful! A gift to Betty from Marilyn for Mother's Day...

Chicken House Project - Phase V

Now things are really beginning to take shape!! I love the shape of this very fine chicken house...it looks like a robot head, complete with square mouth, square eyes, square ears, and a nice square brain vent in the back! Those nesting boxes are big enough for broody ostriches!! What lucky chooks...

My best friend is going to try to pull a piece of granite from the old barn to lay down under the door, to make a nice step...

Framed-in Nesting Boxes

My best friend is nibbling away at the Hen House Project, using up every single spare moment in the course of his very busy days. Here he is, with his cheer leading team, after he framed in the 4 quite large nesting boxes this afternoon. Think eggs!

Still Waters

...He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul...

Hen House - Phase Three

This is what the hedgerow looks like now! All cleaned out and free of barbed wire fencing ! But this is what it looked like before I got in there with my trusty pruning saw, strong arms and cable cutters:

The rafters are up!!

What a clever friend I have!

I think we're supposed to tie a tree

to the chimney at this point...

Here chook chooks!

Chicken House - Phase Two

Since my best friend started the hen house we had a foot or so of snow, but now we have clear skies and another bout of ambition! So here's the next phase. While Larry was hammering away, a hawk was screeching at him from the tippy top of a cedar tree right above the hen house!! He seemed to be screaming: "When will they get here? I'm starving!!" We'll have to seriously make provisions for anti-hawk attacks from above!

I have been working hard on the hedgerow, too, removing all the old barbed wire fencing, and the dead scrubby brush. It's beginning to look quite smart.