OH. MY. GOODNESS.

HOW TIRED AM I?

I am now an almost-fully fledged member of the Rat Race, and am contracting initially for three months. 8:30AM – 5:00PM are my working hours. Commuting is a major headache that I would rather not deal with twice a day. But, the work is good. The people are nice. I’m learning new skills. I guess I just wish it was closer to home and that I didn’t end each day with a pain in my neck (literally) and a sore back.

And I wish I didn’t miss my Smallest Smallholding so much.

I get home about 5:40PM, which at the moment means that if it’s not too overcast, I can catch the hens for just a couple of minutes before they go to bed. I miss my hens. I miss my cats. I miss my bunnies. I miss pottering about my Smallest Smallholding if the fancy takes me. I miss the fresh air. I miss the sounds of wild birds and hens. I miss the gentle busy-ness of it, compared to the ‘stressed busy’ of commuting and being amongst crowds of people that are living their lives according to the same timetable as me.

But freelancing in this current economic climate has been pretty tenuous to say the least. And I needed some security for the next few months. So I suppose that means having to make compromises. I just hope my back behaves itself and holds out.

Lots has been happening in the past couple of weeks. Our rabbit Snoopy stopped eating and went into GI Stasis (also known as ileus). This is basically where his digestive system slows down or stops, and he fills with gas which causes pain. This stops him eating what little he might have been eating, which makes the GI stasis worse. Rabbits are designed to eat pretty much throughout the day, so you can imagine how dangerous this is. Snoopy was in the veterinary hospital for 5 nights, chewed through numerous drips, had an x-ray and had spurs removed from his back molars. All to the tune of £400. But Snoopy is oh so very worth it.

So if that wasn’t enough to contend with, we also had a problem with Maureen our hen. She started drinking excessively, just as Pattie had last summer. So off to the vets we went. Maureen had blood tests that showed slightly high levels of uric acid. This probably indicates that she’s starting to have problems with her kidneys – sadly, not unusual for an ex-battery hen. So all we can do now is monitor her, and try to avoid foods that will cause her kidneys to work hard. We think that means avoiding calcium-rich foods (not so much a problem now she’s not really laying) and keeping her foods lower in phosporus. She seems to have stopped drinking for a while and is eating again – we just want to try and maintain her weight and keep her happy for as long as she has.

Which begs the question, do we get any more ex-battery hens now? As I said before don’t want to be left with one on her own.

I’m hoping to catch up this weekend outside. Firstly, that means finishing clearing up after Rich’s next hedge cutting venture. We started last weekend and managed to tackle the most difficult first, but boy are there a lot of cuttings to deal with. Our chipper doesn’t like handling green stuff (it prefers branches, twigs and dried bits), so I reckon there’s a few ‘green waste’ tip-runs on the cards.

I also want to get the greenhouse cleared out and ready for when I start putting out my seedlings. Not that I’ve sown anything yet. That’s something else I want to get started with, especially since the rabbits have shown a taste for various herbs (cheap feed). I think it’s also time to start sowing the peppers and chillis. Heck, I’ve got so many seed packets to go through that I’m sure there’s loads more I can be getting on with this weekend.

After a week in the office, I’m really going to savour it. Especially since spring is on its way. The crocuses say so.