Thursday afternoon I was back in the museum having some more training.  I met a lovely lady, Grace, who’s a biologist and she knows all about sharks amongst other things.  She told me all sorts of things I didn’t know before, for example did you know a shark’s skin is rough like sandpaper? That their teeth fall out about every two weeks and new ones immediately move forward and take their place? That their skeleton is made of cartilage so it’s really light and flexible?  That the world’s biggest fish is the Whale Shark and it’s about 12m long?  I could go on, but I won’t.  I was talking to her for about two hours, we also discussed what would be the best area of the gallery to stand in, what objects I can have on my trolley for people to handle, what other things I’ll have, like pencils, paper, clipboards.  It was all very interesting, I’m really looking forward to going again.  I think next time I go I will actually be standing in the gallery with my trolley talking to people.  Will I be able to remember everything?

I went to the library yesterday and took out a couple of children’s books about sharks.  Danny seems to be really taking an interest and has asked me to read the books to him a few times, he’s even managing to remember some of things I tell him.  We thought we’d go into town tomorrow and take him to the museum, so he can have a look at the Basking Shark which hangs from the ceiling.  I think he’s been a bit put out that I’ve been to the museum twice now and not taken him.  He’s also asking to go to an aquarium to see some real, live sharks.  We’ll have to see about that.  The one he asked to go to was one we walked past in Holland, might be a bit expensive for a day trip.

Last night hubby and I went to see Kasabian in Newport Centre, they were really, really good.  Although I haven’t heard their new album yet so there were a few tracks I didn’t recognise.  We’ve seen Kasabian before in Cardiff, I was about 7/8 months pregnant with Oliver, so I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as I could’ve.

I really like Newport Centre, it’s one of my favourite venues, it’s just about the right size, and I’ve seen loads of fab bands there.  I seemed to go there quite regularly when I was in school, we used to go really early and sit outside for the whole afternoon just having a laugh with the other people in the queue.  I remember my friend and I had gone to see Bush but we were more interested in the support act, 3 Colours Red.  So we made sure we were in the front row for 3 Colours Red, getting very squashed, we were having a great time, then a great big bloke decided to do some crowd surfing and landed right on my head and made me bash my nose on the barriers.  I think I was very lucky not to break it, I did have a huge bruise across the bridge of my nose though.   After 3 Colours Red came off we headed straight for the bar (as I said we weren’t really bothered about Bush), and then typically we got to meet the band.  I must’ve looked really attractive – really sweaty, frizzy hair because of the heat, and a huge bruise across my nose.  Good memories though.

Yesterday, I had a very different day (for me), I didn’t have the kids or hubby with me, and I spent the day talking to people I’d never met before.

Earlier in the year I registered with the Volunteering Wales website, just to see what sort of opportunities were around, lots of things were emailed to me that didn’t really take my interest.  But then I had one about a new volunteering opportunity with the National Museum in Cardiff, which sounded really interesting so I thought I’d apply and see what happened.  This was back in April, but things got delayed due to the gallery manager being off on the sick.  While I was on my hols I received a couple of emails inviting me to an Induction Day – I’d got the job! So that was where I was yesterday.

I was so nervous, I haven’t done any ‘real’ work since having Daniel – nearly five years ago.  I needn’t have been though, they were all very nice, friendly people.  There was seven of us volunteers altogether, and I did start feeling a bit under-qualified, they were all reeling off what degrees they had, mostly in archeaology, which was the reason for them being interested in the post.  Eventhough they all had these fancy degrees they weren’t actually working in the area they were qualified for, they were either unemployed or doing things like selling car insurance.

We spent the morning learning about the Museum security, the basics of what they envision us doing, other aspects of what the museum do, and just generally getting to know people.  The main part of the post will be that we’ll be given a few objects, then be positioned in the relevant part of the museum, and try and get the visitors interested in handling these objects and just give them a few facts about them.  For example, in the museum there’s a life size model of a basking shark hanging from the ceiling, we will be given three objects relating to it, like shark teeth, and a book about sharks so we can speak to the public and let them handle the teeth whilst giving them a few facts about the basking shark.

Once we’re ‘in the system’ we can also get involved with other events that happen in the museum, like the Big Draw, and family fun days where they need extra people to help out.

I don’t know when I’ll be starting yet, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, it seems the first couple of times will be spent getting to know our objects and talking to the specialist in that area.  We can do as much or as little as we want, which is perfect for me, as I was just looking for something that would get me out of the house for a few hours and thinking about something else.

Wish me luck!

Mash has gone completely broody.  It seems she grabbed her opportunity whilst I was away, and has been broody for at least a week before I came home, dad was turfing her off the nest and collecting the eggs when he came round, but he obviously didn’t know what else to do.  She hasn’t laid for well over a week now either.

I managed to get her off the nestbox quite early on yesterday after the other two had laid, and shut the Eglu door so she couldn’t get back in.  She was not happy, puffed herself up and stalked around a bit, she did then go and have a potter round the garden and ate and drank.  I’ve dunked her in cold water a few times and ended up as wet as she was, she really wasn’t happy after that!

I don’t know whether to try some sort of broody cage, I don’t know if I’ve even got anything suitable to use.  Or to carry on putting her in cold water and turfing her off the nest box when I can. Or to just leave her to it, is it 3 weeks they can be broody for?  So much for the theory that Black Rocks don’t go broody, Mash obviously didn’t read that bit of the job description.

Any advice on what I should do gratefully received.

I’m back from my hols.  Two weeks camping in Holland.  It was really good, we had about every type of weather you could think of torrential rain, thunder and lightening, gales and blazing hot sunshine.  The tent did very well standing up to it all.  We didn’t let the weather stop us though and we got out and about to lots of different places.  I even got on a bike!

We saw lots of these.

Windmills in Kinderdijk

These

Canal in Delft

These

Bikes in Leiden

and made quite a few of these.

Sandcastle, Katwijk aan Zee

Overall we had a really good holiday and Daniel already wants to go back.  I’ve just got a huge pile of washing to tackle now.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite photo’s.

Walking back to the tent after a BBQ in the rain at Granny & Grandad's caravan

I noticed over the last couple of days that Mash seemed to be preening a lot more than usual, and scratching a bit.  So yesterday I thought I’d better give them a thorough dusting with the lice/mite powder.  I always have it puffed around inside the Eglu, but haven’t had much luck in getting it actually onto the girls, mostly because they run away as soon as they see the powder, and they wriggle and squirm as soon as I pick them up.

I decided the best way to do it would be to catch them, carry them to the bench, hold them still with one hand and rub powder right into their feathers with the other.  It worked surprisingly well, the hardest bit was catching them – Mash in particular was quite determined not to be caught.  They did seem to calm down a bit once I started rubbing the powder into them.  I couldn’t see anything obvious on any of them, but it won’t have done them any harm.

I think I got just as much powder all over the bench and floor though.

Bubble in the Sun

I’ve just managed to get this photo of Bubble enjoying the sun, I’m been trying for ages but she keeps moving as soon as I appear with the camera.  I’ve noticed she flops down and does a spot of sunbathing at the merest hint of sunshine.  She reminds me of the people who get their shorts on or strip off as soon as it gets slightly warm.

I’ve blogged a couple of times before (here and here), with pictures, of my chickens looking through my kitchen window.  They do it every day now, especially if I have the window open and I’m cooking.  They come and talk to me through the window and try and see what I’m doing.

Well here’s my new addition to the flock.

Oliver the Chicken

He was doing his best chicken noises at the time too.

The next morning, I went outside after the boys had already been out there for a while, and found this.

Daniel thought the chickens needed someone else to talk too.  Do you think they got much sense out of it?

Today, for the first time ever, I made soup.  I’m very impressed with myself.  We went to Tesco this morning with my dad, and as usual I had a look in the reduced fruit and veg bit to see if there was anything for the chickens.  They had cauliflowers reduced, so I got one thinking I could hang it (somehow) from their run, but when I looked at it properly it looked far too good to give to the chickens (sorry girls).  On the back of the packet I spotted they had a recipe for cauliflower soup, so I thought I’d give it a go, they’ve got it online too here.

I didn’t actually use this recipe in the end, after a bit searching on the web I came across this recipe for Cauliflower Cheese Soup.  I thought it sounded yummy (I love cauliflower cheese).  So after Olly went up for his nap I set to work, it was so easy.  I only used a pint of stock, as that’s how big my jug is, and I used chicken rather than vegetable stock as that’s all I had.

Whilst that was simmering I decided to make some bread to go with it.  By the time the bread was in the oven too my kitchen was smelling gorgeous.

When I served it up into bowls I added grated cheese to the top and stirred it in.  It was a huge hit with Oliver, he finished his bowlful before me, with not too much down his front.  It was very tasty, and the melted cheese made it interestingly stringy.  It was made even better with the addition of homemade bread.

Has anyone got any good, easy soup recipes I could give a go?

While I was waiting for the kettle to boil this morning, I was overcome with the urge to clear out my kitchen drawers.  I can’t believe how much junk we had in there.  Firstly in the cutlery drawer I discovered we had 19 plastic medicine spoons, 5 stopper things you put in the top of a bottle of medicine when you’re using a syringe, 4 syringes to administer medicine to babies, lots of plastic weaning spoons that I haven’t used in well over a year, and 12 rolls of sandwich ties that come with plastic sandwich bags.  Why did I keep all these spoons and things in the first place?

In the other two drawers I found I still had a huge pile of bibs that I don’t use anymore, loads of teatowels (some I’ve never used), and loads of instruction manuals.  Out of these instructions I found some that we don’t even own the thing they’re for anymore, including our old washing machine and an old CD/radio player (also found the remote control for this).  I also found instructions for toys that are so easy to use you wonder why they provide instructions, so why did we keep them?

I also found various bolts and screws in plastic bags that are obviously spares for something, but I don’t know what.  I wonder if hubby knows?

We’ve had a few lovely sunny days, and I have had a nice, relaxing time.

On Friday, mum, the boys and I went for a walk around our local lake, it was a bit cloudy, but it was nice to be out.  We spotted the resident heron.

We stood for ages watching this part of the lake because the fish seemed to be going mad.  They were splashing about all over the place, and they were huge.  My mum asked a passing fisherman what they were doing and apparently they were spawning and they were Carp.  We’d never seen anything like it, but it proves there really is fish in the lake, we thought all the fisherman were just there for a rest.  I tried to get a photo of one of the fish splashing on the surface, but I wasn’t really quick enough.

A Spawning Carp

If you enlarge the photo you can just see the fins above the water.

We stayed for lunch at mum and dad’s, and we were treated to mum’s first crop of potatoes she’d dug up the day before.  They were gorgeous.  After lunch mum and I went to one of our local shopping streets, Albany Road, whilst dad took the boys to Roath Park Lake (which I’ve blogged about before).  Albany Road is a really good place for charity shop shopping, there’s about ten of them.  I managed to buy a pair of cropped jeans in the very first one, and mum bought a pair of M&S jeans which still had the labels on – and they fitted her!  I also bought a couple of glass items to paint, and a few books for the boys.  A very succesful day.  The boys had a great time at the lake, apparently Oliver walked a lot of the way, and had great fun going up and down the big slide.  He also tried stroking the geese, which I don’t think were very keen on.  My dad treated them to ice creams too.

Saturday, I had a lovely lay in, before doing our usual Tesco shop.  I spent most of the afternoon in the garden, cutting the grass.  It wouldn’t have taken too long, except I had to try and clear all the stones and twigs and other stuff the chickens had kicked up onto the grass from the borders.  It does look much better now though, although I’m having an on-going battle with my strimmer.  Once finished I let the chickens back out to enjoy the sun.  They’ve chosen a spot in my border for their dustbath and have created a huge hole, if they go any further down they’ll be below the level of the grass.

Squeak

And Action!

Working in the dust

Sunday, I got up early and went to Church.  We had no organist today, and I always think it sounds so much nicer without it, you can actually hear the singing, it was lovely.  I called into mum’s on the way back as I had to collect something, ended up stopping for a cup of tea with her and my grampy, then I got a lift home along with a load of green bean and tomato plants.  I’m off to plant them up in my front garden as soon as I’ve finished here.

When I got back I discovered our neighbour is selling his house, the sign went up this morning.  Although it was lying on the floor when I saw it, hubby has since discovered our neighbour was fuming because he didn’t want a sign so he took it down again.  So anyone want to buy a house in a quiet cul-de-sac with lovely neighbours?

Hubby is now (finally) hoovering the car, and me and the boys just had our lunch sat outside.  Oliver managed to conquer the climbing frame all on his own, much to my amazement.

I think he was a monkey in a former life.