Mrs Dashwood cracks us up on a regular basis. She gets so intensely focused on scratching and looking for morsels that she doesn’t notice the other three have wandered away to another part of the garden. When she finally looks up she is alone and has no idea where everyone went. Instead of going to look for them, she stays put and gets worried. Then she makes this call that sounds kind of like a goose honk that is super loud. We imagine she is yelling, “Hey! Where’d everybody go?” Most of the time the rest of them are too busy to pay attention and ignore her — kind of like when you were a kid out playing in the evening with the rest of the kids on the block and it’s starting to get late and you hear your mom calling but see how long you can ignore her before she gets mad.
What generally happens is she keeps going on and on which prompts me or Bookman to go outside to make sure everything is okay. Then she comes running over to complain about how she is being ignored. And then the other three scurry over and begin chattering about how they are all there and were just about to come over if only Mrs. Dashwood had waited another second or two. Eventually Mrs. Dashwood stops scolding because here they all are, back together again. And then they wander off in pairs or as a whole group. All four of them are laying. Margaret’s eggs a medium brown and I am hard pressed to tell the difference between hers and Mrs. Dashwood’s. Marianne and Margaret aren’t very regular yet so we generally end up with about three eggs a day. They still aren’t full-sized eggs though. It’s harder work to lay an egg than I expected it would be and it seems to take awhile once one of them gets in there and hunkers down. When she is done she comes out of the coop clucking loudly to let eveyone know she laid an egg. If the rest of the Dashwoods are around they join in and it sounds like they are congratulating the layer and having a little celebration party — you go girl!
Bookman and I have been enjoying Alan Titchmarsh Love Your Garden, a BBC show that makes us cry every time. The premise of the show is Alan and Co. go in and turn a mess of a garden into something beautiful and meaningful. The lucky person is nominated by friends or family and always has a story — a vetern who lost both his legs in Afghanistan, a 90-year-old woman who was a Land Army Girl and can no longer bend over to tend the bends — that kind of thing.
It is so much fun to watch the transformation because Alan and his team are incredibly creative. Like in one show they turned an old five-drawer file cabinet into a planter. Take out all the drawers, lay it on its side, paint it and fill it with soil and plant it up. Bookman and I got excited by this because we have an old file cabinet. So now we are thinking we might transform it into a planter next spring for our deck. We have also been inspired to reconsider the layout of the vegetable garden which has become a hodge-podge of mostly randomly shaped beds as we have expanded things over the years. We are full of ambition now, but we’ll see how ambitious we are once it is time to begin the actual work! Unlike Alan we don’t have a big team of helpers, just ourselves and the Dashwoods.
Cycling
No outdoor cycling adventure this weekend. My allergies are so terrible right now I stayed indoors and rode on the trainer. Next weekend, however, I am planning a ride to Marine on St Croix and William O’Brien State Park.
While I was riding on the trainer Saturday I watched a great documentary on netflix called Inspired to Ride. It was about the Trans Am Bike Race during its inaugural year. The route begins in Astoria, Orgeon and follows the transamerica bike route across the country concluding 4300 miles/6,920 km later in Yorktown, Virginia. The race is unsupported, meaning you don’t get a support team to make your food or carry your gear or extra bikes or clothes or anything. It’s just you and your own resources (you are allowed to buy food and camp or stay in hotels or get repairs done at a bike shop along the way). It’s pretty crazy and amazing and inspiring. Also, it made me cringe too as the riders talked about all the pain they were in but at the same time I totally understood why they kept going. The winner that year completed the race in a little over 18 days.
Bookman asked me if I wanted to do the race. While I admit there is something appealing in the challenge, I think I would rather do the route as a tour instead of a race that way there would be time to enjoy the gorgeous scenery. That’s what I say now. I have the right to change my mind later. If you want to know what ultra-distance cycling is like and what kind of people do it, give the movie a watch. It’s only about an hour and a half of your time and maybe you will be inspired to ride.
Love Your Garden sounds awesome! Where do you watch it, Netfix?
LikeLike
Laila, it really is fun. We um, “borrow” it from the internet 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Trans Am Cycling event sounds awesome! But I must agree with you, I would rather do a tour than a race!
LikeLike
cirtnecce, doesn’t it? In many ways it is a tempting challenge. It has a 40-day time limit which means a little over 100 miles a day. Totally possible! but it would be nice to have the freedom to take a day off and rest and relax. Also, being vegan on this race would add an extra challenge since diners and convenience stores in the middle of nowhere don’t tend to be vegan friendly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree… racing seems less enjoyable than touring. I wouldn’t want my first trans US trip to be a race.
LikeLike
wanderwolf, though the challenge of the race is pretty motivating though much more painful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
True. It may take a race to want to get through a trip like that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mrs. Dashwood sounds like quite a character! I’ve never seen Love Your Garden, but I’ll definitely check it out.
LikeLike
AMB, all of the Dashwoods have great quirks that makes me love them silly. Love Your Garden is a great show. I wish we had garden shows like it in the US.
LikeLike
So is Mrs Dashwood the one most gregarious? Which is the most quiet and introspective? It’s so funny that you have chicken stories to share and I actually have a sense of what the girls are like! Do you have to winterize their coop? I have heard Alan T. on the BBC and I enjoy those shows very much. I have found a number of BBC radio programs I like–I often will stream them from my ipad–good stuff! Do you still have many bike races left this season or is it more just enjoyable at your leisure rides? Do you have a ‘cupcake ride’ like Rebecca H?
LikeLike
Danielle, because Mrs. Dashwod is head chicken she gets concerned when she doesn’t know where the others are since it is her job to keep the flock together. Margaret is the one that is most shy. She likes to hang around with Elinor. Elinor is very independent and calm and tends to like to do her own thing but she likes to hang out with me when I am in the garden and talk to me. She also doesn’t mind being petted. Marianne is impulsive and kind of silly (she still likes to jump up on my back!) and likes to play at being the one in charge ordering everyone around. It’s fun that they are all so different, I didn’t expect that. We built the coop with winter in mind so it is insulated and everything already. We just have to hang a hook inside the coop in case we need to use a heat lamp in there over the winter. We also have to get a heater for the water to keep it from freezing. Other than that, we should be good! My bike racing is done for the season, now it is just fun rides on my own. I unfortunately do not have a cupcake ride since out away from the city there aren’t any vegan bakeries that I know of. So I take my food with me and that’s ok. Really long rides are “pancake sandwich” rides 🙂
LikeLike
Poor you with your allergies!
What beautiful birds Marianne and Mrs Dashwood are. You could be writing a weekly column for a newspaper about them – they are entertaining, and you convey it so well.
And, that garden program would appeal to me. I think we have had a sort of landscape makeover program here but to was on commercial TV and I hardly saw it. I suspect a BBC one would be more appealing.
LikeLike
whisperinggums, why thank you! I like telling stories about their antics. All of the Dashwoods have turned out to be beautiful birds. Margaret looks solid black in the photos but in the sunlight she has gorgeous shimmering blue-green feathers and Elinor’s red coloring is rich and has black feathers in her tail and her neck that catch the light. They are all so eager and simple — not in the intelligence context but in that they are what they are and don’t make devious plans or try to hide things or pretend they didn’t do something (like my cats when they knock things off shelves!). So refreshing. If you can get Love Your Garden in you area I bet you really would like it.
LikeLiked by 1 person