Honey bees

Global warming may be the darling of the apocalypse merchants, but we face a much greater threat that would solve the CO2 emissions problem in the relative bat of the eye.

It was no less a figure than Albert Einstein who predicted if the honey bee became extinct mankind would follow in four years. At the beginning of the 20th century there were one million hives in Great Britain, reduced to 400,000 by the 1950s. Today we can hardly muster 250,000 hives and the trend indicates our honey bee population may be wiped out within ten years.

Increasing use of pesticides and higher levels of pollution have taken their toll over the years, but it’s the accelerated decline that’s particularly worrying. There’s a complex mix of causes as diverse as the introduction of the varroa mite in the 1990s to the more recent high price of wheat encouraging farmers to grow far more than normal at the expense of nectar producing crops. Things are getting so urgent that the UK government has started to take notice with £2million being spent on research over the next five years. Sadly such fiscal activity is normally a good indicator that things have gone too far for recovery and there’s been criticism of it being too little too late after years of underfunding and neglect.

In 2008 the UK honey harvest was down by 50%. Last winter a third of hives were lost. We now import a substantial amount of our honey, but the problem is not just one of honey supplies. A third of the food we eat is depends on pollination from honey bees… hence Einstein’s prediction. No honey bees, no apples, strawberries, carrots, onions etc. etc. And the problem is not confined to our shores. Take almonds for example… 80% of our supply comes from the USA where every year bees are trucked from Florida to California to pollinate those almonds.

Honey bees are fascinating creatures…

• A single hive will be home to as many as 50,000 bees
• It takes nectar from two million flowers and 90,000 bee miles (three times around the globe) to produce one pound of honey

  
• In one trip a bee will visit up to 100 flowers
• The honey bee is the only insect that produces food for humans
• When a good source of nectar is found the bee flies back to the hive and shows its friends where the nectar source is by doing a sort of dance positioning the flower in relation to the sun and the hive

At our last meeting of the Hill Rise Allotment Association committee we were discussing wildlife projects for next year and someone mentioned the increased number of honey bees they’d noticed on their plot. Cue a shy smile from another committee member who’s started his own bee hive in the last year. Think we’ve got another couple positioned around the plots… must go and have a look. Would love to start my own hive, but fear I’d have an easier job trying to fly myself than convincing my wife it’s a Good Thing. Linda has only just started to accompany me up to the plot so the last thing I want to do is scare her off with thoughts of bee stings.

Shared the plot with Sammy on Sunday. The usual den building occupied him most of the time, but initially we had a few trips to the woodchip pile to put several layers on the muddy part of the hen run. Popped in on Ray, the gatekeeper of our allotments since he’s there most of every day, to see his new pond... thinking of putting one on my plot to attract wildlife. Sammy caused some amusement since I’d stuck a pair of gloves on him which were far too big. See video of his daring escapades below.

It was with some trepidation that I switched my PC on this morning. Not sure if you’re up to speed with the Samsung HMX-U10 flash camcorder affair bought for my birthday. Popped the PC in to Antechs in St Ives for a new graphics card since the existing one wasn’t up to the job of displaying the new high definition video, estimate about £50. Later in the day got a call… the new graphics card was so power hungry I’d need a new electricity input at about £30… oh dear. Later still got a call from the boss, Tom… bad sign! They’d also put extra RAM in but had come to the conclusion that the existing mother board fitted a year or so ago at a cost of £200 needed upgrading too. In effect we’re talking a new PC, cost just a shade under £500! Given I only paid £130 for the camcorder I don’t think I’ll go that route, so I’ll have to edit the new video footage using the TV. But fair credit to Antechs… they put my PC back together again and made no charge. I’ve always found them reasonable and honest.

	Caterpillar found by Sammy under some wood.
	Are my hens neat layers or what?
	One of our water tanks, attractive with floating autumn leaves. If only I could have kept my shadow out of the image!
	Huckleberries, a gift from my allotment neighbour, Peter. Haven’t seen them grown before and I’m going to try myself next year… though they don’t seem to have much taste.
	String beans I’ve saved from this year’s crop to plant next year.
	Onion seedlings continue to do well in the shed.
	Newly laid out plots along the front of the allotments. The Town Council are setting up a further fifty plots in the adjoining field, so our veggie community is thriving!

Technorati Tags: honey bee,varroa mite,Samsung HMX-U10

Onion (allium cepa)

Why plant

Easy to grow and store.

Essential cooking ingredient in many recipes.

Grows easily from seed.

Interesting uses

Got cold feet? Rub with an onion to get the circulation going again.

To get rid of the smell of paint from a newly decorated room simply place a cut onion in its centre.

Origins

The source for the plant we know today is somewhat unclear. There are five possible wild plants it could have evolved from, all of which grow in the central Asian region.

Certainly eaten in the Bronze Age, definite evidence of cultivation appears in ancient Egypt about 3000BC with onions being fed to the slaves building the pyramids. Roman gladiators were rubbed down with onions to firm up their muscles, and it was the Romans who named and introduced the onion to Europe… the Latin name was ‘unio’ for large pearl, changed to ‘oignon’ by the French.

The status of the onion rose substantially after French Onion Soup was made popular by Stanislaus I, the former King of Poland. In the Middle Ages onions were such an important food that people would pay their rent with onions and even give them as gifts. Doctors prescribed onions to facilitate bowel movements and to relieve headaches, coughs, snakebite and hair loss.

Health benefits
Onions may be a useful herb for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, especially since they diminish the risk of blood clots. They also protect against stomach and other cancers, as well as certain infections. Onion can improve lung function especially in asthmatics.

Planting

Although onions may be yellow, red, or white, seventy percent of onions grown are yellow. Yellows are good all-purpose onions and the best winter keepers. They also have tougher skins, are more disease-resistant and less susceptible to insects. Reds are the sweetest but are generally the worst keepers. Whites are grown for salad or spring onions, harvested as "green onions" before their bulbs form.

Onions prefer a sunny position with a rich but light soil, but they’ll do well in most soils. Don’t plant in freshly manured soil since they need little nitrogen.

Can be planted as sets (small, immature onions) in spring or late summer. These increase in size and each forms one full-sized bulb when ready to harvest. Generally growing onions from sets is easier and more reliable than from seed. In cooler, damper areas the sets should give a better yield of larger bulbs than if grown from seed, but there are less varieties available and the cost is higher than if grown from seed. Plant 10cm apart with 20cm between rows, pointed end upwards so the tip just below soil level.

My preferred method is to plant Japanese onion seeds (senshyu semi globe yellow) in autumn in drills 1cm deep with rows 40cm apart. Leave until spring, when the seedlings should be thinned to 5cm apart. If leaving late in the season try planting in a greenhouse in trays & transplanting 5cm apart when hardened off.

Spring (salad) onions should be sown thinly each fortnight from March to July in short rows 1cm deep and 10cm between rows.

Aftercare

There’s very little else to do… just keep them weed free!

Harvesting

When the leaves start to turn yellow in mid summer bend them over to encourage early ripening. In late summer carefully lift the bulbs and allow to dry out.

Spring onions are just pulled up whenever needed from May to September.

Recipes

Onion relish

Onion and cheese soda bread

Onion and cheddar soufflés

Onion and tomato soup

Spiced onion jam

Common problems

• Bolting is a very common problem and happens when the onion suddenly puts up a central stalk that develops a seed head. Usually caused by weather conditions… a cold spring followed by a hot summer seems to make it worse. Loose soil can also cause bolting, the plant roots being disturbed the plant thinks it’s starving and reacts by trying to spread its seed. Cut the stalk off an inch above the bulb and use these onions first since they don’t store well.
  
  
• Grey mould on onions in store and general rotting is usually caused by the onions being insufficiently dried out prior to storing or damp storage conditions. Check regularly and discard rotting onions before the problem spreads to the rest.
  
  
• Mould or rust may occur during prolonged wet periods. The bulbs need to be thrown away or burnt. During rainy periods give protection with a cloche, but allow ventilation.
  
  
• Onion white rot causes the foliage to go yellow and wilt… check for fluffy white growths to confirm it’s onion white rot. Plants should be thrown away (not composted) and don’t grow garlic or onions in the same area for at least 8 years.
  
  
• Downy Mildew gives the leaves slightly lighter patches in the early stages that turn to brown as the disease gets worse. Parts affected will eventually fold over and die. When the stalks are affected they weaken and fall over. Use crop rotation and proper drainage to avoid.
  
  
• Onion Fly lays its eggs by the base of the onion which then hatch into maggots who eat away at the base of the onion and its roots. Usually only strikes at direct sown onion onions, being attracted by the scent of them when thinning. Early signs are yellowing and drooping leaves. The only cure is to prevent access using fleece.
  
  

Technorati Tags: Onion,salad onion,spring onion,allium cepa,Japanese onion,onion uses,onion recipes

Spooky garage

There’s definitely something strange about our garage. It’s a dark place at the best of times, but on a stormy night the doors rattle and the wind whistles.

The grandchildren, normally full of noise and action, grow silent when they go in there. Although nice and tidy when I leave, on returning everything is in a mess. My wife Linda hasn’t been there for years, and everything that needs to go in gets left around the front door for me to either move into the garage or keep tripping over.

I’m beginning to realise that keeping my tools in the garage explains a lot of the difficulties I have with DIY. Whenever I try to put a screw in the wall of our house nothing seems to work… wrong screw, wrong screwdriver, wrong raw plug, even wrong wall sometimes. There must be a curse on my toolbox.

I reckon it’s the ghost of rodents past. A few years ago we bunny sat daughter Becky’s pet rabbit while she was on holiday. Brought a bale of hay back from her cottage in the countryside for  bedding and stored it in the garage.

Shortly after I started seeing out of the corner of my eye lightening quick movements up the garage wall... so quick I could never fix on what it was. Then noticed some of the rubbish bags were being nibbled at, We’d got a pest! After trying several solutions I put rat poison down on a ledge running around the top of the garage wall. No more problems. Some while later during the annual tidying up of the garage I found the desiccated remains of a rat. Yuk!

That wasn’t the end of the story. We had our soffits replaced some years later, and while replacing the bits in the porch another dried out rat was discovered. Not only that, but there was evidence of gnawing away of wooden supports… not enough to compromise safety, but if the rats had been around longer goodness knows what damage they’d have caused!

Whatever the spook is, better not mess with my homebrew apple wine or there’ll be real trouble!

The Fiat Panda is going well…. almost hit 500 miles on the clock in six weeks. Wow… some mileage! I’ve noticed a strange tendency for other car users waiting at junctions to throw themselves out in front of me. Think they must take one look and assume it’s an old age pensioner driving, and not the youthful and thrusting racing driver gripping the steering wheel. Having mistakenly decided it’s going to be ages before I reach them they launch themselves with gay abandon even if only I’m yards away.

Still decorating the living room. Madly wallpapering for the last week and determined to finish today. Looks really nice, but I’ve spent so much time in there I now get a nervous twitch in my left eye whenever I go in the room.

Had the first committee meeting of the Hill Rise Allotment Association last week, very productive. You can see the minutes by clicking here to access the HRAA web site, then go to the Forum page (to be renamed Committee page soon) to see all committee business and documents.

Only fleeting visits to the allotment since the main focus has been decorating. Really pleased to see the Japanese onion seeds sprouting, see photo below.

 

	Here are the baby Japanese onion seeds sprouting after about ten days
	Lettuce seedlings
	Fig tree cutting
	Vine cuttings and hop plant
	Mushrooms growing all over the allotment from wood chips laid earlier in the year… to read that story click here
	Strange headgear on a duck at The Waits, St Ives

 

Technorati Tags: Strange,spooky

Weight up!

Two things happen every year on the last Sunday in October. Firstly British Summer Time ends and the clocks go back one hour. Secondly I magically put on a few pounds in weight.

Now we’re not talking about crash diets or anything drastic, but I’m trying to puzzle out what happens to cause this. In the dim and distant PM time (pre-marriage) I weighed in at about 10st 7lbs and ran like a whippet. Nothing to do with fitness, mainly ‘cause I was poor in managing what little money I had. After paying rent and the previous month’s bank overdraft, and having a post pay day blow out of fish and chips and pub lunches, I lived the rest of the month hand to mouth. If it wasn’t for my then girlfriend, now wife Linda, I’d probably have wasted away.

Weight crept up a bit over the years until I peaked at well over 12st and decided the gym was calling. Combined with calorie counting I got down to my fighting weight of 11st 6lbs, before gradually creeping back up to near 12st again.

When my blinking bladder gave us all such a fright in January 2008 and I thought I’d got a battle on my hands it was time to get into fighting shape again. Think I went a bit too far; gym and calorie counting got me down to 10st 10lbs, but I guess it wasn’t the best time to start losing weight at that rate… probably appeared as though I was on my way out, looking a bit gaunt… back up to 11st 6lbs.

So why have I suddenly whopped on a few more pounds? It’s not the lack of activity… still hauling myself around the squash court twice a week, tennis and pitch and putt once a week (suppose the pool & darts don’t count in this context!). Maybe with the nights coming in it’s a subconscious need to stock up for the winter, though I’m not planning to hibernate any time soon. Should I give up my one weakness… McVities Dark Chocolate Digestives, wine, and whisky?

So I’m planning to beat those scales by…

• eating with my other hand, and maybe even using chopsticks
• making sure I’ve cut my finger nails, trimmed what little hair I’ve got and exhaling before stepping on the scales

Of course it could be something to do with my birthday falling at the end of October. Got some lovely gifts, including chocolates, all eaten now, and whisky, which is warming up the evenings. Still struggling to master the new Samsung HMX-U10 HD flash camcorder. Spent £12 on a 4gb sd card which gives me 45 minutes of recording time. Now find the graphic card on my PC isn’t up to the job of displaying the film, so that’ll be another £50 to fit a newer one. Ho hum.

On the allotment it’s dig, dig, dig as I make gradual progress in lifting up all the raised beds. Still waiting for onions seeds to sprout. Took some blackcurrant cuttings. Tomatoes in the greenhouse just about finished… they’re still flowering but the fruit are struggling to turn from green to red. Need a recipe for green tomato chutney. It’s our first Hill Rise Allotment Association committee meeting tonight so lots of plotty type things to discuss.

I’ve started doing posts on specific vegetables so I have record of when to plant and what to do. You can access the details on the right under ‘Labels’ by selecting the vegetable (e.g. garlic) or the season (e.g. ‘Autumn planting’).

 

Technorati Tags: Weight

The Pinnacle of Human Achievement

Horatio Nelson began his naval career at the tender age of 12 and rose through the ranks mostly in constant battle with the French, losing the sight in his right eye in 1793 at Corsica, and most of his right arm in 1797 at Tenerife when it was hit by a musketball. The Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 was Nelson’s last and greatest engagement and saw a decisive win under his command of a combined French and Spanish fleet. Towards the end of the battle Nelson was hit by a marksman from the Redoutable firing at a range of 50 feet. Nelson’s last words were: “Thank God, I have done my duty. Kiss me, Hardy.”

Following a series of successful discoveries David Livingstone returned to Africa In January 1866 to seek the source of The Nile. Thus started an expedition which was to last seven years and end in his death. He completely lost contact with the outside world for six years and was ill for the last four. After nothing was heard from him for many months Henry Stanley, an explorer and journalist, set out to find Livingstone. This resulted in their meeting near Lake Tanganyika in October 1871 during which Stanley uttered the famous phrase: 'Dr Livingstone I presume?' Livingstone did not achieve his objective, but was the first white man to see many geographical features such as Victoria Falls and became a national hero.

If you’re wondering where all of this is leading… during the week ending Tuesday 27 October 2009 John McKinnie (me, myself, the person writing this blog) became the first simultaneous holder of all the family trophies. The pitch and putt title was won against sons David and John on Thursday 22 October, the tennis title was retained on the same day against son in law Barry, on Sunday 25 October the month’s pool and darts title was grabbed under the most unlikely circumstances (went into the match needing to win by three clear games and managed it in spite of an attempt by John to chalk my head rather than the cue), and finally on Tuesday 27 October the squash title was ripped from son David’s grasp (including two 9-0 wins to me!). Disregard the fact that I’m the ONLY one who can hold all titles at once… carefully engineered so there’s a mixture of opponents.  Find the comparison to Nelson and Livingstone a bit tasteless? Don’t see why, I believe they were both rubbish at squash.

So I’m going into this afternoon’s pitch and putt with a lot riding on it and will probably go round in just under a thousand. Now impervious to my wife Linda’s usual reaction to a win by me (awwwww, isn’t David feeling very well?). And I’m not going to react to the scurrilous suggestion that they’re all letting me win since it’s my birthday tomorrow. I’ve been striving for months to reach this pinnacle of specialdom and I’m gonna milk it!

On the allotment I’ve planted garlic cloves & Japanese senshyu onion seed this week,  as well as planting out my lettuce seedlings. Got a surprise when a large brown beetle squeezed its way out of the spout of one of the water barrels. Turned out to be a great diving beetle.

My oldest ancestor

I’ve discovered I’m descended from a unique individual who was born about 6,000 BC. For the first few months after birth this baby appeared no different from any other, but gradually as its first birthday approached something startling happened which made the baby different from any other person alive on earth, different from any other person who had ever lived.

The baby was born to parents living around the Black Sea during the Neolithic period when humans lived in small tribes and were moving from an existence of hunter-gatherers into more settled units who lived by agriculture. A genetic mutation meant the baby had a reduced amount of melanin in the iris of its eyes. The baby was the first human being whose eyes were blue.

Goodness knows what the mother thought as she stared at her baby’s face. Fortunately it appears the mutation was regarded as a good omen, otherwise the baby probably wouldn’t have survived… and I wouldn’t be here.

There’s now probably less than 10% of the world’s population that has blue eyes, under 25% for Caucasians, and it’s becoming increasingly more rare as humans intermarry between ethnic groups.

It was actually my left handedness that brought up thoughts of things genetic. About 8% of humans are cack handed. None of our four children are left handed, not surprising since we should have gone on to have another six before having a left hander. But BOTH my grandsons are left handed, and the jury’s out on my two granddaughters… they’re too young at present to be consistent. Since there’s no other instance of left handedness in the families I know that trait has come from my dad, to me, skipped a generation with my children and landed up with my grandchildren. They also have pale blue eyes like me and my dad, but the origin for that is less certain since I’m not the only family member with blue eyes.

It’s set me pondering about physical traits passed down. Linda has done a fantastic job on our family history, ending up with over 320 individuals on our family tree dating back as far as 1688, and yet more to come when we crack my dad’s side of the family, where we’ve only managed to get back as far as my Irish great grandparents born about 1850. But isn’t it a pity a note of physical traits aren’t kept to help understand why we look as we do. My eldest daughter Becky has the long face of her great grandmother McKinnie (nee Francis Dolan Nicol), passed from my dad, through me, to her. Or my eldest son David, who has the dark features of the Richardsons from Lancaster passed through Linda’s mum.

Was definitely feeling the presence of the dearly departed when making my first night allotment visit of the autumn to tend the feathered fiends. Working Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I won’t be seeing light on these evening visits until Spring.

Parking in the cemetery is probably not a good start to make on a dark and windy night, but all went well until I walked onto my plot. From the corner of my blue eye I suddenly noticed a shadowy image keeping pace with me on the adjoining plot. Nearly jumped out of my skin until I realised it was a shadow cast from the lamp I was carrying. More was to come as I walked back to the cemetery, with shadows rising from the uneven ground all around me.

When I’m doing the chickens I wear a head lamp which gives a false sense of security… all appears bright in front, but of course you stand out for miles and can’t see a thing beyond the edge of darkness. Try desperately not to think of one of my favourite science fiction films, Pitch Black… to see why I’d rather not think of it click here for a short preview.

Had our annual meeting of the Hill Rise Allotment Association last week. Usual ducking and diving when it came to the election of ‘volunteers’ to fill the various posts. I came away with the position of Secretary. To view a copy of our minutes from that meeting click here.

Video clips and photos below from the last week. Thanks for reading my blog. John

Technorati Tags: Blue eyes,left handedness,Pitch Black,Hill Rise Allotment Association

Where did all this debt come from?

Expecting the heavy squad around any minute. Without realising it we’ve got ourselves into debt… serious debt. Just can’t figure out what we’ve spent the money on, let alone how we’re going to pay it back. But Linda and I owe more than £32,000.

And things aren’t getting better. We could cope with the interest of £115 per month, but in August we had to borrow another £630 to keep afloat.

Been in denial for a while about the whole mess. Debt is nothing new since we’ve typically owed about £10,000 in the past. But this is a whole different scale so we’ve had to think really hard about what we can do. Best we’ve come up with so far is a garage sale, when we’ll try and get a few bob for stuff we don’t really need. Reckon it’ll be worth about £630, though we may not get that since everyone’s selling. Hmmm… just realised it’s only the amount we borrowed in August, so obviously it’s not going to make much of an impact.

Sounds bad? Well, fear not… Gordon Brown to the rescue! What I’ve described above is the state of the UK finances. Gordon says he’s the best person to deal with the mess… ‘cause he got us into it??? And when he sells off assets like the Dartford Crossing we’ll find ourselves paying money to private owners to use an asset we’ve already long since paid off in crossing fees… really bright!

So here’s what I’m doing to save money. If you find they work for you and feel generous as a result you might want to consider donating 10% to the family hardship fund so I can pay off my share of the national debt that much sooner!

• My main present this Christmas will be The Road Kill Cookbook.
• All my dirty shirts are now going to the charity shop. They’ll wash and iron them and I can then buy them back for about 50p.
• Don’t be surprised if you find lots of voicemail messages from me. I’ll be ringing when I know you’re not in and leaving a message so you ring me back. If I do find you in the line will go dead after we’ve been chatting for about a minute (‘cause I’ll have put my receiver down). I’ll wait ‘till you call me back (which people always do), express surprise that the call ended, and continue the conversation at your expense.
• Will be living off free samples. For example I’m going to put the contents of free ketchup, salt, pepper and sugar sachets into empty branded bottles so the family don’t twig.

  
• Can save cash in the pub by letting mates buy the first three rounds… by the fourth they’ll have forgotten whose turn it is and at least one will be on halves by then.
• I already wash the car in the rain.
• This year I’m telling everyone we’re going away for Christmas and they’ll get presents when we get back… so I can buy their gifts in the New Year sales.
• I’ve just finished sewing all our teabags down the middle and then cutting them in half.
• My credit card is now frozen in a block of ice… filled a container with water and froze it in there so if there's something I want, waiting for the card to defrost will give me ample time to reconsider that purchase.
• I’m going for an interview with both the St John Ambulance and the Fire Services as a volunteer… can watch free Premiership football matches while waiting for a call out.
• Aiming to be much more attentive while in the supermarket checkout queue. If the person in front of me doesn't have a club card I’ll offer them mine… think of all those extra club points!

 

Technorati Tags: UK national debt,silly money saving ideas

Mirror mirror on the wall

Like a couple of friends who no longer have time for each other, my eyebrows seem to have agreed on an amicable separation to each do their own thing. One has a stony stare Clint Eastwood would be proud of, the other is still on the normal side. Guess it’s all part of the maturing process which means I increasingly see my dad staring out at me from the mirror. Now that’s no bad thing, since my dad has many fine features (and he reads this blog!) but isn’t there a selection menu so I could pick the best bits (of which there are many) rather than leaving it to the genes to decide? Could be worse… she’s a good looking woman but I’m not sure I could cope with seeing my mother staring out at me!

Used a facial ploy during the weekly pool and darts competition with my sons at the British Legion Club in St Ives. As John was taking a crucial shot on the pool table I asked if he’d been shaving his eyebrows. They’re no different from usual but it was enough to put him off. Tried all the other ploys at my disposal… whistling, trouser trumpeting and just generally being dad. Didn’t make any difference on the night since David won, but only by virtue of me throwing away several games on the black. So I’m currently the holder of only the tennis cup, and no doubt Barry will wrest that from my grasp tonight!

Was their first trip in the new Fiat Panther. Cue much fiddling of dials by John in the front, both complaining either too hot (David) or too cold (John). John christened the dashboard the following day on the way back from pitch and putt with a massive sneeze that had me rushing out with polish and cloth when we arrived home. He’s got yet another cold.

You may notice a slightly different appearance to this post. Been mooching around wondering what to get for my birthday… have finally decided on the latest Samsung HMX-U10 compact camcorder. But the torturous path to a decision not only took in various camcorder alternatives, but also the Sony eBook Reader, Pure Radio and various software packages to make my disorganised digital life easier. Am trying out the excellent Microsoft OneNote on trial for sixty days, but happened upon Windows Live Writer, which appears to make drafting and publishing your blog much more easy and stylish. This is the first one using the free program so judge for yourself!

On the allotment I continue struggling to identify the errant chicken who is light in the egg laying department. Still not eggseeding (sorry, couldn’t resist) three eggs per day out of four chickens. My friends to the rescue at the Garden Web forum, who’s wackier suggestions to identify the culprit were as follows:

From marlingardener, Texas

• Attach hairnets to chickens' rears and wait to see what is caught in the net

From heather38’s husband, East Coast USA

• Kill one, if you only get 2 eggs, kill another, and so on, of course the down side is you could end up with one not laying hen
• Weigh the hens the night before and after you find the eggs
• Separate them and use different radioactive isotopes in their feed, and check the resulting egg
• Use a pipette and drip different coloured food dye on their neither regions, to streak the eggs
• You invite them to a meeting, inform them that you are in the process of restructuring and productivity will be taken into consideration taken when downsizing. Each Chicken should be assigned a workstation, and appraised periodically, it may help to ask them to vary the size or colour of their eggs for easy identification. After the consultation period is over the chicken in question, (if they haven't bucked their ideas up) should be given retraining for a more suitable role. A couple of suggestions for retraining are a self basting course or wine tasting for marinating.

Not much digging progress either. Hope to right that this afternoon.

On Monday went round the Michaelmas Fair that fills the centre of St Ives for three days. Lots of rides for the grandchildren, lots of candyfloss eaten. Took some video footage but poor quality… soon by sorted with the birthday present!

Not a sausage from the publishers I sent my childrens’ book to. Give it another couple of weeks then I’ll do another two versions to My Grampy Has A Spider Up His Nose and send it as a series. Might be more attractive that way.

Thanks for reading my blog. John

Technorati Tags: Family,chickens,eggs

The Panther has arrived!

Picked up Monday from the Fiat dealer in Cambridge and drove home, popped over to Pidley for ten pin bowling with workmates in the evening... and it's sat in the garage ever since. Working days on Tuesday and Wednesday meant transport was via the Pashley. But verdict so far is great... nice direct feel, engine quiet (I think there's an engine in there, even if it's only 1.1 litres), comfortable to drive and looks good. See photos below. Major opinion to come today when wife Linda has her first ride in it... even if I'm only crawling along she's usually in the back complete with white knuckles. No more alternative names from the family yet other than Beth's Fiat Pansy, but I'm sure they're just working up to it.

Another major event this week was my winning the pool/darts competition against my sons on Sunday evening. Regular readers of this tome will have noticed a distinct lack of commentary recently on family cups (the winning of)... 'cause I haven't been winning! Really close on the squash and pitch and putt, and only just started playing the tennis again following small things like wedding and honeymoon getting in the way (not mine, Becky's and Barry's). Of course I'm not the actual possessor of the pool/darts cup... David has got so used to its ownership he seems strangely reluctant to actually hand it over and keeps finding all manner of excuses. At least I can claim to be the pool/darts champ (suitable alternatives suggested by sons being chimp and chump).

The pitch and putt match on Monday was an interesting one. With only me and David able to make it we decided to take his young dog Jazz, a Jack Russell Terrier. All went well until Jazz did a dump near the seventh green, resulting in me blowing my chances of a record by three putting and holing in five. Won't be able to pitch to that green from now on without worrying where my ball will land!

Not much been happening on the allotment. No progress on digging the raised beds up. Been so dry you could hardly get a spade in... the official result for September showed we had only 23% of normal rainfall, and that's in one of the driest parts of the country. My weather recording only noted a trace on a single day in the month. But at last we've had some rain in the last couple of days so hopefully I'll be able to make progress and get the rest of the potatoes up as well. Raising lettuce, and the tomatoes are still going well in the greenhouse.

Had a great family get together on Saturday, though unfortunately John's girlfriend Penny and her boys couldn't make it through illness. Stuffed ourselves with pizza, the kids LOVED the picture bingo games, to print them from the web site click here. The mazes were a great success as well, particularly with Sammy, who amazed me by doing the really complicated ones I printed for the adults to try! To access the maze generator click here. See photos below.

Finally, I forgot to complete the tale of John's king sized mattress, sitting forlornly in his flat awaiting collection as the days ticked by to the handing back of keys. Got down to a matter of hours before the deadline with no solution in sight before I made a few calls and fixed up a man with a van to collect and deliver to our house for £25... about thirty minutes from call to arrival of mattress at our house. What would I do without sons to keep me employed!

Thanks for reading my blog, John

	Picture on the front door that welcomed the grandchildren at the Saturday family get together (click to enlarge).
	The grandchildren... from left Izzy, Connor, Sammy & Paige.
	Paige and Izzy.
	After more than a month, at last some sign of decent rain. No wonder it looks really dusty... probably gathered the dust on its way down!
	Greenhouse tomatoes still going strong, even though now dark before 7pm.
	Lettuce seedlings. Think these are cos lettuce....
	... and all year round lettuce.
	The Panther front.
	Panther lateral.
	Panther inside front.
	Panther inside rear.

Bald chickens?

There's been a lot of feather moulting going on in the coop. Puzzled me a bit since I'm sure the chickens have moulted once already this year, at the beginning, right in the middle of the coldest weather. Fortunately the (un)feathered fiends appear to shed coyly and aren't as bad as this poor bird. Think mine are doing their own version of the dance of the seven feathers.

Still not managed to solve the mystery of which chicken isn't laying. Most days I get three eggs from four birds and that's been the case for months. Tried hanging around to spot the culprit but that upsets their routine and I might only get one egg as a result. Thought about placing a thread over their vents, a dab of poster paint... anything to indicate the errant gallus domesticus. All to no avail. Guess I'll have to lump it, but if anyone has any bright suggestions please add a comment.

Must do a note to my daughters... there's a danger they'll go up to the allotment and think they're on the wrong plot, it's looking sooooooooo tidy. The influence of a good woman in the form of my wife Linda, who's started to visit the allotment with me and share the tasks. Now the shed is pristine with all the onions hung up, the mess out the front is cleared and I've finished all the footings around the shed to keep Mr Rat away. Images of this miracle shown below. Linda even smiled kindly on the chickens on Monday as the evening drew ever darker... or maybe it was my imagination!

Nearly got myself into trouble at the Flaming Wok on Saturday. As they shouted out '76' for a customer to collect I got an uncontrollable urge to sing '... trombones led the big parade, with 110 cornets close at hand...' etc. etc. Fortunately my order followed immediately after to save me from embarrassment and possible arrest and sectioning under the Mental Health Act.

Sad weekend though... the last opening of Holt Island, one of our favourite haunts. We've seen all kinds of birds there this year as well as a couple of sightings of the muntjac deer. And on our last visit on Sunday as a goodbye gesture the island gave us a sighting of one of its shyer residents... as we walked over the footbridge to get on the island a kingfisher flashed above the water like a jewel.

Sat in our favourite seat in the warm sun overlooking the water meadow, where I almost fell asleep. Then walked around to the Norris Museum to sit in the garden there in the sun, where I almost fell asleep. You can see there's a common thread in this walk!

Also discovered another couple of places in our quest to list the best places for coffee around St Ives. Favourites up to now are The Dolphin Hotel, where the best and cheapest coffee is served in lovely surroundings both inside and out, and The Axe and Compass in Hemingford Abbots, which serves the most chocolatey tasting accompaniment I know in ancient surroundings. Step forward Slepe Hall Hotel, where last weekend we sat on the terrace drinking great coffee from a pot (four cups) and eating the accompanying mint biscuits, all for £3. What a bargain! Then yesterday we walked to Oldhurst and visited Johnsons Farm for great coffee and a rhubarb and ginger crumble cake. The farm has exotic animals to view and a barn for children to play on toy tractors, but the crocodiles that are farmed are still kept under wraps. To read more on this topic click here.

Things to look forward to in the next week... getting the Fiat Panther Monday (now unfortunately renamed Fiat Pansy by daughter Beth), and Saturday we're having a family get together in our back garden, with a chance to meet Penny (John's girlfriend) for the first time. She's bringing her two sons to join the massed ranks of grandchildren that'll be trying to break the sound barrier. I'm praying it doesn't rain and we all have to pack into the living room. Maybe I should let the neighbours know it would be a good time to have a day away somewhere.

	Shed front looking palatial. (Click to enlarge)
	Inside all spick and span.
	Even at the back the wood stack has been tidied!
	Another example of Allotment Heaven with the best sunsets in the world.
	Who says Paige doesn't like being beaten?