Hermione lays her first egg

Hermione Hen has laid her first egg, which weighs 36 grammes. Progress!
She was strutting around this morning looking as if something momentous was going to happen. She disappeared into the Eglu for half an hour and then wandered out, leaving this little egg behind.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was useful and fun. Best bit? Hillsborough Castle.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

I am in a hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland, waiting to link up with colleagues tonight. I am looking forward to a Guinness and a meal...

Northern Ireland

I am off to Northern Ireland tomorrow for a meeting of the UK Volunteering Forum. This is comprised of the Chief Executives of Volunteering England, Volunteer Development Scotland, Volunteer Development Agency Northern Ireland and normally me for WCVA. We meet with civil servants from all those places and discuss volunteering issues.

After our meeting we are going to an official reception at Hillsborough Castle, the residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, which should be 'good crack'. It certainly looks an impressive place, built in the 1770s with extensive gardens, and it is a privilege to be going.

Then I plan to go to a conference on volunteering at the Stormont Hotel, with David Blunkett MP and others speaking.

By the way, the hens seem to be doing fine so far. No eggs yet...Harriet will probably be the first to lay.

RNXS

I am astonished at the number of people who reach this blog as a result of searching for the RNXS on Google. It is clear that the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service is of interest to many and it is a pity it doesn't function any more.

Twitter

I have removed Twitter comments from the right hand side of this blog, but I am still there under the user name protecttjd.

Gloucestershire and hens

We have had a brilliant time in the county of my birth and upbringing, Gloucestershire, staying with Rosie's old friend Yvonne, whose 50th birthday it was on Friday. She lives with her husband Jeremy and offspring Steph and Greg in Wotton under Edge and we stayed there for 3 nights and went to a fun party on Friday evening. On Saturday Rosie and I went to see her 86 year old Uncle Ron, near Devizes, and my Uncle Grenville and Aunt Georgina in Salisbury.
On Sunday we went to Newark Park, a National Trust place in Wotton, which was very interesting and kept us there until about 4.00pm. Then we drove home to north Wales via La Dolce Vita restaurant in Rhos on Sea, arriving home at about 10.00pm.
Today, Monday, we collected Hermione, Harriet and Hepzibah hens from a farm near Rhyl and they are now settling into their Eglu. They are all pullets, although it may be a little while before they start to lay eggs, with the youngest being 16 weeks and the oldest at 19 weeks. We shall see.

Ellen and Duane

I phoned my natural mother, Ellen, last night in Florida, where she lives with her husband, Duane. He is an American by birth and Ellen became one in the 1970s. They have two sons, Keith and Peter, both of whom are also in Florida. Ellen gave me up for adoption soon after my birth and I traced her much later. We are all now firmly in touch and we get along very well.
My main reason for phoning was that Duane had been in hospital to have a stent fitted into an artery in his heart, something which happened to me four years ago. However, the medics decided it wasn't necessary, after all, once they were able to look, so that is a good thing.

Greenwood Forest Park

Today Jennie and I went to Greenwood Forest Park, where we linked up with Kathy Beard, Mike Forbes-Buthlay (married to each other), their children Matthew and Erin, and some pleasant friends of theirs from Penmaenmawr. We have had a great day on the roller coaster, firing arrows, building dens, drifting on a boat around a water circuit and other entertaining simple outdoor activities. We were only showered on a couple of times, otherwise the sky was blue.
A welcome surprise was bumping into a muddy footed Bryan Collis, the WCVA Senior Research Officer, who was at Greenwood with his daughter. They had just completed the new barefoot trail.
The Eglu is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

chilling and work emails

I am at home with Jennie today as she is on her Easter holidays, and we are just chilling out. I have taken a look at work emails (which I shouldn't, of course), but I am going to try to avoid that for the rest of the week. I am not a workaholic, but I do like to know what is lurking in the wings.

entertaining weekend

Busy weekend - entertained next door to dinner on Friday evening, which was successful.
We spent Saturday morning lazing, followed by Jennie's ballet and she went off to a friend's house until 10pm while I had the garage doors repaired. They now work like a dream. Then Rosie and I entertained Julie, another friend, to supper, a tasty spag bol.
Today we joined friends in Pantasaph for lunch and a healthy stroll around the Franciscan Friary. Jennie fell off a tree branch into a holly bush (ouch!) which led to tears, but they were soon forgotten.
On our way to Pantasaph we dropped in to a farm store, at Rhuddlan, and bought chicken feed and some grit. It won't be long now before we have chickens.

Eggcited about hens

The Eglu is ordered and will arrive next Wednesday. I have also found a 'layers mash' supplier (chicken feed) and someone phoned me today to say that she has some point of lay (POL) pullets available, albeit they are only 14 weeks old. They are a Light Sussex/Isa Brown hybrid.
I hope I am sounding very technical and knowledgeable about hens, because I am actually anything but that. However, I am eggcited, as is my daughter. We are committed to being farmers now, well on a very very small scale.

letter of intent

I had a letter today from the Government department, mentioned before, telling me that they intend to award WCVA the contract I have been negotiating. Good.

On the brink

What a day! Negotiations with Government, more negotiations and then yet more to get some issues resolved prior to the start of the new financial year. Watch this space because I should have something real to say about this soon.