Kitchen Scraps Compost Bin

Our local city council has sent out a gorgeous wee brown bin to us, (they call it a caddy) so we can compost kitchen scraps. It came a couple of weeks ago, along with special bags, a list of what can go in it, and special tags to put on the main bin handle to ask for new bags when you need more.

The only thing is, between one dog, three cats, and 523 chickens - what on earth are we supposed to put in it? Don't the council KNOW we are already doing our bit???

It IS a lovely bin though. Just not too sure what to do with it!

FreeCycle Goodness

For the past 2-3 years we have had a ivory-white leather sofa in our hall, gathering dust and junk. It was our old sofa that we ended up hating because of the colour and inconvenience of the seats coming off every time you sat on them. The 2 armchairs went into 2 different bedrooms and gathered their own dust. Over the years we have offered it to several different friends and families but no one ever wanted it.

We always meant to take the whole suite to a charity shop but the idea of having to clean it up and then organise transport put us off. Finally, the fact that the kittens are no longer locked in the bathroom at night made us do something this week. I had brought their radiator bed downstairs and when it was installed there was simply no room between it and the sofa to walk through without banging one or the other.

So it was FreeCycled (although FreeCycle as a name is no longer used) along with a photo of it - and of course, my advert was the best advert ever! I had loads of interested people - all with their own story to tell. The first person pleaded with me to let her have it - she needed a suite so badly and with three children her husband and her just didn't have the cash to buy one - she made it sound like she would just die if she didn't get this. I emailed her back but held back on sending directions until she confirmed which night she was coming to collect it. The thing has been sitting here for 2-3 years but you know what it is like - the moment you make the decision to get rid of it you want it GONE right that very minute. She finally emailed back to say her husband thought she was nuts taking a pale colour and she was going to pass on it.

I finally received a confirmation from the next lady on the list to say she would come on Sunday afternoon with her friend to collect it. And so they did. Margaret and Eddie. They are just away. She was lovely, I reckon if I had felt the need to entertain her, she would have come in for a coffee and a chat and still been here tomorrow morning, talking the hind leg off a donkey!

I just knew the way she disappeared round the trailer that she was going to hand me a present. You aren't meant to give anything when you pick up a FreeCycle item but she had obviously come prepared. Flowers? Chocolates? Fifty quid would also have been very acceptable!

Guess what she handed me. No - think about it for a second - guess.

Half a dozen  "eggs from Eddie's free-range chickens."

I currently have no fewer than NINE boxes of eggs sitting in the kitchen needing new homes. Eggs. Sigh.

-.-

It's the thought that counts, isn't it?

X Factor Chat With Jessica

Mummy, where are all the X Factor judges from again?

Dannii Minogue is from Australia, Louis Walsh is from Ireland.. . .

Yes, yes, it is pretty obvious he is from Ireland, but where are the rest from?

Simon Cowell is from England.

IS HE??? Really??

Yes, Simon is from England, and Cheryl Cole is from England.

Oh. So Dannii is from America.

O.O no Dannii is from Australia.

Yes, yes, same thing.

It is NOT the same thing!

Oh yes, it is AUSTRIA that is in America isn't it?

DUDE! What ARE they teaching children at school these days? Next they will be saying Denmark is the same as The Netherlands!

Fair, Chicks, and Camerabag

So - did we go to the fair? YES!

Did we get rid of all the birds we took with us? YES!

Did we come home empty handed? Umm no, not quite, sorry!

We had ourselves a wee adventure and in the process found that David is quite the wee salesman - he sold four of the birds all on his own and as a reward was allowed to go off to find two black pekins. He brought back two hybrids, one brown and one black. I'm not too sure what the thought process was there. They are taking a wee while to settle in - the brown one is just a nice looking Isa Brown, the black one actually has a lovely green sheen off it - but the bad news is - it might just be a rooster - we will have to keep an eye on that one.

Also, we parked right beside a guy selling Barnevelder chicks. It would have been rude of us not to have bought a couple of them - wouldn't it? What with having a chick run and plenty of chick crumb left over. . .

So, yes, it might just be possible that we came home with more than we started off with. Oops!

In other, geeky, news a new application has been launched for the Mac - one that I have been waiting for! It is the lovely Camerabag. I have been dying for a standalone program that will allow me to change blog photos quickly, so this perfect for me! YAY!

Thursday Night

It's Thursday night, I have the house to myself for a couple of hours, and remember what happens when I have free time? Yup - rats!

Since the last time I told you about them I have found another two! This is good news, show me your happy face please. Keeping on top of the bait situation is paying dividends. The last one had managed to crawl along the bottom of the fence and alllmmmost under it into the next door neighbour's garden. It never fails to give me a start when I see them even though I am scanning for them. This one had wee paws in the air, n'all! Actually, it was pretty gross - I couldn't extract it from where it was wedged and had to get a pair of pliers to pull on a leg. . . just ever so gently . . . the leg came and came and came and I was quite convinced it was going to pull off the body!

After buying the last few lots of rat bait from B&Q this latest lot came from the farm shop. I have high hopes for it - it comes in plastic bags that they have to nibble through and I suppose this helps me see if it has been touched. The one I put out a couple of days ago hasn't been touched yet though. Bummer huh?

Anyway, the thing you need to know about dead rats is - they smell! Don't open a bucket after a week and expect to smell roses!

Tonight I managed to tidy up the run a little bit more and this evening's photo shows what happens when you fill up the water bucket for the second time in a day! You would think they hadn't had anything to drink for a week! Yes! There is one actually standing in the water!

In other news I'm starting to put together our kit for Saturday. The bottles of water are filled, the guinea pig cage has been cleaned out, the wood shavings are ready to put in the bottom of the cage, and I am narrowing down the choice of which hens to keep and not take with me.

Yay for Poultry Fairs! How excited are YOU?