Little Miss Laverne

I have bad news. I got back from work on Friday to discover Jase in the garden, holding Laverne. She was just sitting in his arms, quietly sleeping. He had been holding for over an hour and she was clearly not right. I dashed to the vets and we discussed what was best for her. I think she had egg peritonitis, which is what both Babs and Shirley suffered from. She had been slowing down for a number of weeks and I think she was just worn out. The vet and I agreed that the kindest thing to do was to send her on her way. *sobs*

The others were calling for her that evening, which was sad. Cornelia was quite upset, judging by the noises she was making. Strange as Laverne used to bully her quite often. Even though she hadn't laid a single egg for over a year, she was the last of my original hens and will be missed.

This is my favourite picture of her. Not good quality, but it shows her silly floppy comb!

RIP Little Miss Laverne.


Work has been busy and after a thick blanket of fog and low cloud, my flight was delayed from Hamburg and they re crewed my Aberdeen nightstop. It was nice to come home. Managed to water the garden and get a few things done, before flying off to Oslo and back yesterday. I have 2 days off now.

Autoglass have replaced my windscreen, as Mortimer is due his first MOT on Saturday and the chip was getting bigger. He has 2 new 'shoes' on the front and hopefully will pass with flying colours! All a bit of a mad rush as I though the MOT was due at the end of April.

The garden is springing to life again. Lupins and foxgloves are popping up everywhere and I need to set up the watering system before we go to Faro in May. The broad beans are doing well, no sign of the carrots as yet, but the parsnips, potatoes and salad veg are all in their permanent beds. The days are getting warmer, but it is still cold at night. A few of my tender fuchsias have frost bite, but they should come back.

I am holding off planting any more seeds for now. I should get the tomato seeds planted but have run out of space in the greenhouse. It is full to bursting with yellow pots of nasturtiums, sweetpeas, squashes, spinach and chard.

My attempt to outsmart the mice hasn't worked. I found a few pea seeds, that had started to germinate, on top of the soil. At least they didn't eat them. I have replanted them and will keep a close eye out. Might be worth sowing a few inside to fill any gaps?

I haven't posted pictures of our egg boxes. Or have I? My brain is not what it used to be, so here you go anyway!




20 minutes to go until my windscreen is 'set'. I have the shakes as we have no diet coke in the house and the fridge is bare. Jase made a list of essentials that we need; tinned tomatoes, meringue nests and red wine! Oh, how differently we think. Hee hee.

As it is so nice outside, I plan to do a spot of gardening. The washing is done and on the line, drying in the breeze. The house needs a good hoover and tidy up, but will do that this evening, with the fire lit.

Jase is staying at a friends tonight, as there is an important union meeting near the airport tomorrow and she doesn't have a car at the mo. He will take her and bring her back again in the morning. Won't bore you all with the details, but it doesn't look good for our Terms and Conditions.

Will treat myself to a healthy, deep fried Chinese takeaway for dinner I think. It has been a while since I had prawn wontons!!

I can hear Agnes calling, so she must have laid an egg. That is 5/5 today. What good girls. Will give them some baby leaf spinach at a treat later.

That's all from me for now, have to crack on. But, (sorry I hate starting with a 'but'), I would just like to thank everyone for their kind comments about my so called 'writing', especially Kerry who emailed me. Will look into writing 'properly' and keep you all informed.

C x x x