I Think You’re Bonkers

moar More LolCats

Carve one online….

Have fun…

First we dug out the insides… (Dino doing his own, Mimi doing mine - hers turned into semi liquid mush)

Then they designed things for me to carve - No way was I letting them loose with a sharp knife, the pumpkin skins were quite tough really. 

Dino wanted a Werewolf….

Mimi wanted a skeleton, but was happy with a Skull ….

The innards have made a HUGE pot of pumpkin soup for dinner tomorrow.

  Costumes for Samhain on Friday, but being tested out at every opportunity.

We’re vegging today. Telly is on, kids are entertaining themselves and I’m doing my own thing too.

So Mimi chose some colouring and did several pages - she’s really neat now and she’s reading more and more! Dino grabbed a maths book and did a page, then sat curled up with a Horrible Science book. 

After that they decided their volcano from ages ago needed work so they spent a couple of hours working together on that. Yes, a couple of HOURS, working together with no stropping, no arguments and no stress. 

Then it was lunch time - our own fresh eggs, boiled with toast. Yummm.

After lunch they did a bit more on the volcano - deciding that if they don’t set off an eruption they’ll have the thing to play with for ages - they’ve added caves, a river and done loads of work on it with more planned for tomorrow. 

When they ran out of paste and paper (it’s a papier mache volcano with a half juice bottle crater) they wanted the telly back on and we found Walking with Dinosaurs. Dino is suiting his blog name - he catches a glimpse of a dinosaur and he knows what it is before they say which it is. He’s been spot on every time so far, bar one but I bet he doesn’t get it wrong again. 

Today is what home ed should be like. Today is what I want life here to be like. I think I’m going to go and find them a nice rewarding snack. 

Oh, and I seem to have two books on Amazon now…. 

This is Groovy, Dino’s hen. She has lovely red and white markings on her back and an inquisitive nature. She’s often the first to the wire to see if we’ve brought them anything nice to eat!

On the left is Rainbow, Mimi’s hen - a bit paler overall, fairly chilled and lays the smallest eggs of the three. On the right is Red (nominally mine to make it fair). Red is darker, less confident than the others and a fair bit shorter - she lays the darkest shelled eggs.

Red likes to hide in the nest box when the big outdoors gets a bit much and Rainbow doesn’t like going to bed! Yet, she’ll learn…. 

Three more eggs again today. 

Our three hens have been here just about a week and already they know that Dino is the one likely to feed them tasty things like slugs and woodlice, and that food is under the henhouse. They’ve learned that eggs are to be laid in the nest space we made them and tonight for the first time they put themselves to bed before we went out to shut them away for the night. Eggs are erratic but that’s to be expected with new hens, especially rescued battery hens and also the time of year. But the eggs we’ve had so far have been lovely and the hens are settling in well - and we all love them to bits already.

More time wasting on the internet…..

Now, where did she find a chicken…. 

Haynes car workshop manual translations

Haynes: Rotate anticlockwise.
Translation: Clamp with molegrips then beat repeatedly with hammer anticlockwise.

Haynes: This is a snug fit.
Translation: Clamp with molegrips then beat repeatedly with hammer.

Haynes: This is a tight fit.
Translation: Clamp with molegrips then beat repeatedly with a hammer.

Haynes: As described in Chapter 7…
Translation: That’ll teach you not to read through before you start. Now you are looking at scary photos of the inside of a gearbox.

Haynes: Pry…
Translation: Hammer a screwdriver into…

Haynes: Undo…
Translation: Go buy a tin of WD40 (giant economy size).

Haynes: Retain tiny spring…
Translation: PINGGGG - "Jesus, where the hell did that go?"

Haynes: Press and rotate to remove bulb…
Translation: OK - that’s the glass bit off, now fetch some good pliers dig out the bayonet part (and maybe a plaster or two).

Haynes: Lightly…
Translation: Start off lightly and build up till the veins on your
forehead are throbbing then clamp with molegrips then beat repeatedly with hammer.

Haynes: Weekly checks…
Translation: If it isn’t broken don’t fix it.

Haynes: Routine maintenance…
Translation: If it isn’t broken, it’s about to be. We warned.

Haynes: One spanner rating.
Translation: An infant could do this… so how did you manage to **** it up?

Haynes: Two spanner rating.
Translation: Now you may think that you can do this because two is a low, teensy weensy number… but you also thought the wiring diagram was a map of the Tokyo underground (in fact that would have been more use to you).

Haynes: Three spanner rating.
Translation: Make sure you won’t need your motorbike/car for a couple of days.

Haynes: Four spanner rating.
Translation: You’re not seriously considering this are you?

Haynes: Five spanner rating.
Translation: OK - but don’t ever carry your loved ones in/on it again.

Haynes: If not, you can fabricate your own special tool like this…
Translation: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Haynes: Compress…
Translation: Squeeze with all your might, jump up and down on it, throw it at the garage wall, then find some molegrips and a hammer…

Haynes: Inspect…
Translation: Squint at it really hard and pretend you know what you are looking at, then declare in a loud knowing voice to your
wife/husband/partner "Yep, as I thought, it’s going to need a new one"

Haynes: Carefully…
Translation: You are about to suffer deep abrasions.

Haynes: Retaining nut…
Translation: Yes, that’s it, that big spherical blob of rust.

Haynes: Get an assistant…
Translation: Prepare to humiliate yourself in front of someone you know.

Haynes: Turning the engine will be easier with the spark plugs removed.
Translation: However, starting the engine afterwards will be much
harder. Once that sinking pit of your stomach feeling has subsided, you can start to feel deeply ashamed as you gingerly refit the spark plugs.

Haynes: Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal.
Translation: Yeah, right. But you swear in different places.

Haynes: Prise away plastic locating pegs…
Translation: Snap off…

Haynes: Using a suitable drift…
Translation: Clamp with molegrips then beat repeatedly with hammer.

Haynes: Everyday toolkit
Translation: RAC Card & Mobile Phone

Haynes: Apply moderate heat…
Translation: Unless you have a blast furnace, don’t bother.
Alternatively, clamp with molegrips then beat repeatedly with hammer.

No eggs so far today. Hens seem happy though so not worried but I have told the kids to stay out of the pen and leave the poor things alone today.

We weighed Mimi’s pumpkin today - it’s 7kg and it’s turning slowly orange! She’s very pleased. 

Edited to add - Nope, they were just working out the nest box and taking very long turns in there. One egg so far and one hen sitting in there and refusing to come out or let anyone else in. Umm, that’d be Red, and she’s mine. Stroppy bugger.