Dorothy Oldmeadow

The wind is howling around and the always rather tenuous connection is being sorely tested, again. 

Years ago we lived in a village which held an annual scarecrow festival as a fundraiser.   Tetney village is much larger than this one and the many villagers fell into various factions: the ones who belonged to the Mother's Union, the Women's Institute members, the Church-goers, the Village Hall people, and those who preferred the pub - oh, and there was one other group, they mischieviously  called themselves the T.W.A.T.S.    Tetney W(h)ine and Tasting Society. 

There would be Cream Teas in the Village Hall, a Flower Festival in the church, horse rides on the village green, along with Tombola stalls, face painting, craft stalls, tug of war, raffles and so on.   Everywhere was dressed up with bunting, we all wore happy smiles, though there were always deeper elements and undercurrents...think Midsomer Murder.

Villagers were expected to produce a scarecrow of some kind, then display it in their garden.   It was a big event and raised a lot of money because it attracted so many visitors. 

Worzel Gummidge and Aunt Sally were the ones I decided to make - how I wish I had kept them, the birds are already trying to feast on the tender plants in the vegetable garden.

Ah, well.   Can't keep everything. 

I had to rummage around to find a few old clothes to make a new one for the vegetable garden in the old meadow.    Unfortunately, after my purge of the dressing room  (last year) there wasn't much left to choose from, or nothing I was willing to sacrifice anyway. 

Eventually I found some old bits hidden away in a cubby hole, old fleecey things.  Deeply unattractive, but they do the job.  A bit of spotty fabric for a neckerchief, an old straw hat, and there we are.

Meet Dotty Oldmeadow. 

She's not much of a looker but she is out there day and night doing her best.   Can't ask for more than that.

Internet Problems

Regular readers will already know that here, in the wilds of Lincolnshire, we sometimes have poor internet service - overhead cables, lots of trees, sleepy BT, etc.   The wild winds earlier in the week seem to have caused our current problem.  We have slow and intermittent connection to the internet -  worse than when we used to have the old dial-up system, pages take forever to load, disappear into the ether, etc.

I will respond to all your lovely comments to my previous post, once I can be sure my responses will reach the blog.

At least I have been able to save this post, so even if the first attempt drifts off to nowhere I won't have to re-type.

Fingers crossed we get it fixed soon.
x

Not Stitched or Knitted, a Real Tawny Owlet!

This beautiful little creature had a close encounter with death this morning.    Luckily, son-in-law heard him fall and went to investigate.

This is what he found.     A Tawny Owlet!    Tawny Owls have moved into the owl box again after all these years.   Forget the fights between squirrels and Jackdaws, the Tawnies won!

We didn't have a clue, until we found this little fellow.

He was an awfully long way from the box, but we do know that Tawny Owlets often do leave the nest before they are ready and then spend their time clambering along branches and twigs. 

Normally "the Owl People/Ringers" come along each year to check the boxes, weigh and measure any owlets, then ring them before they fly the nest.   Covid-19 means that this cannot happen this year.

We had a long debate - keeping an eye on this adorable creature all the while - but as he showed no signs of recovery my husband picked him up and simply held him to his chest.    Within a few minutes he began to perk up, opening his eyes and staring.

In an ideal world/woodland, without our marauding cats and boisterous dog, we would simply have  popped him back in his tree.     Unfortunately Sparky and Millie would have made short work of him, so we decided the best option was to replace him in the owl box and this way we could take a quick peek to see whether there were any others - we know that a small amount of handling is fine and will not make the parents reject the little bird.

Out came the long ladders and the hatch of the owl box was lifted...two inside, plus this little one - Triplets!

For now the little owl is back in the box, goodness knows for how long.   We have set the wildlife camera up and hope to catch some images over the next day or two.  Fingers crossed for those adorable little birds.


Owl Wood has owls again, I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me.

Have a wonderful weekend.
x

Self Medicated - Updated with Photograph!!

No, I haven't been ill, apart from having a few days given over to migraine and nausea, but I have been self medicating, without drugs.    I occasionally suffer from the type of migraine which completely wipes me out with pain and sickness, which usually last three days, then they go, leaving me feeling worn out, but pain free.

I know the food/drink which triggers them, so they don't feature in my diet.  However, something was causing this fresh crop of them.   I decided that perhaps it was stress.

My mornings were spent reading/skimming half a dozen British newspapers, of all colours, I like to get a balanced view, make up my own mind instead of relying on the bias of any one journalist or paper with their inevitable political leaning.    I would move on to reading papers from Germany, France and the States.

Lunchtime would see me dipping in to watch an hour of the news on assorted television channels, including RT and Al Jazeera!

In between times I kept an eye on the worldometer, Johns Hopkins, and reading blogs; no wonder my stress levels were increasing.

I admit that I am avoid medication wherever possible, so I decided to try a total news blackout.  Jump off the merry-go-round.  Step away from those things which were winding me up.

I have taken time to enjoy even longer walks with Toby, gardening, organising my (far too many) shelves of books, baking, reading, and I have even watched a few very enjoyable films:  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Bookshop, and The Bookthief. 

It was really difficult to keep away from the news, etc, but I feel much better for it! 

I have emerged a calmer person, free from headaches at present!

The only thing it didn't help with was my hair.   I haven't been to the hairdresser since very early November...so you can imagine how much it had grown.    It should have been cut in January, but the episode of the broken ribs meant that I couldn't do that.

The ribs have healed, slowly, although I still feel as though I have a strong bulldog clamp on one rib.  Time will sort that out, or I will learn to live with it. 

Time drifts, my hair grew longer, which was nice at first, but then it reached tipping point.   It made me feel a mess, which was making me feel grumpy/grumpier.

What to do?   Watch a few clips on U Tube - how to cut your own hair...  It didn't look too difficult.

I searched my drawers, found up an ancient pair of thinning scissors.   Decided to have a practice -  on husband's hair!      At first I was nervous, but once I relaxed and just did what looked right, it became easier.   Result, one pleased and very neat-looking husband.

Time to have a go at my own hair.

So I did.   Result: one slightly asymmetrical Old English Sheepdog-style hair do, just what I was aiming for.  😀 

Cutting the back was difficult, but I just clipped away until it felt right.    I know it is messy, far from perfect, but I love it, which is just as well because now I have to wear it for quite a while!

(Eeeek!  Never mind the haircut, look at that double chin!  Lockdown chin?)