Tidying Up

Keeping An Eye Out
Having decided we wanted to spend a few hours at lotty first thing yesterday morning we set off with a flask of coffee for me and John and a bag of things for the Blur to play with. As we got through the main gates we noticed Geoff the teacher stood at the top of the lane. We drove up and stopped to tell him we'd be down in a minute to see him. He told us he was having a look around because he'd heard some strange noises and he thought it might be from a fox, to which John said yeah theres a fox right there. It was walking up the lane towards the car. Once it got a bit closer and realised we were there it quickly ran away. The blur made a point of coming down to the school plot with me in the hope she would see it again. On our way back we saw chicken George (I have just found out that his name is really Pete.) He told us that he'd just seen a fox walk past and we told him that John was still in lotty looking after the chickens in case it came into our plot. Having been back in for a few minutes I glanced over and noticed the fox walking along our fence. The chickens noticed too and one of them started to make a rather loud clucking noise. Slightly later on we heard the same sort of noise from them again and John said they must have see the fox, but I told him one of the girls had just laid an egg and was announcing the fact to the world.

Work To Do
Our main reason for spending the morning at lotty was that we had some tidying up to do. As always John started by lighting a fire while I emptied the Charlton Heston shed and took things out to put on the fire as and when I found them. The Blur spent her time between talking to me in the shed and poking the fire with a pole, and as it turned out she really hadnt needed a bag full of stuff to keep her amused. We had three black bags of shredded paper in the shed and as I went to pick them up I found out that the bottoms of two had been eaten away. I told John that Henry Mouseowski had been in finding things to build his home out of. As id seen the mouse I had only assumed it was him until after moving more things out I discovered evidence of a rat having been there. He doesnt seem to have touched anything other than the paper and a sheet of white insulating stuff, but I very quickly found a bin to keep all of the chicken food in. Talking about it at home John said we'll have to put some traps down, which I did protest about for a bit but I can understand why its necessary to use them and will have to try and get some.
When John had lit the fire he got started on emptying the hut so that could have a sweep through too. We have so much stuff in there and looking at it outside I kept wondering how we got it all in there and how John was going to fit it all back in. But he did manage it and it looked lovely when it was finished.

Stolen Peas
Around Christmas time we planted a few seeds and put them into greenhouse two. I didnt check on them every day because I didnt want to be disappointed when there was nothing there. But I had a peek in at the beginning of the week and to my surprise there were peas that must have started to shoot a few days ago. It was very exciting and gave me some hope for the other seeds. Two days later I went back in to see how they were doing only to find that they were no longer there and in the soil it looked like some one had just poked their finger into it. I know this is a sign of a mouses work so I was none too pleased with Henry and his family. I usually dont have a problem with the mouse as he usually just takes a small amount of chicken food and has a little sleep in the coop, but I think we may now have to take measures to stop him.

Alis Adventure
The most amusing thing to have happened at lotty yesterday was Alis little climbing adventure. Whilst I was starting on the shed I turned round and noticed Ali on the ladder half way up the pear tree. We watched as she tried to work out what to do, and realising the only way was up she slowly ascended the ladder and sat under the Blurs seat. I was slightly concerned she wouldnt be able to get back down but John assured me that she was a bird and although it may not be quite flying she would be capable of fluttering herself down. The Blur stayed and watched then came back to report that Ali had just walked down the tree trunk which is at an angle. I was relieved that none of us had had to go up and rescue her.

The buildings of lotty look alot better now and for some reason I found myself wiping my feet before I went into the hut. The only time we had to amuse the Blur haad been when John gave her a tennis ball and she decided she'd like to play fetch with it and John and I took a few turns at throwing it as far down lotty as we could. Thank you John and Blur for a lovely morning at lotty.