Mundane News

[oldwheels]

A nice trike run in bright sunshine at midday but a brisk cold wind.
Went up my usual route past the Mishnish Lochs as that kept me in the sun.
I had considered a forest track but a part of that is in shadow at this time of day and year. Later on the sun rises enough to get to it but it can be a bit dismal otherwise till you get down to the bottom nearer sea level.
Saturday looks to be sunny with a northerly wind which is cold but should push me back uphill again so I may try then.
Mishnish Lochs was a favourite walk with my wife and we liked watching the variety of waterfowl.
In the recent past the numbers have dropped dramatically and today I saw no birds on or beside the water.
The birding community refuse to accept that sea eagles are responsible for the drop in numbers of all other birds. My wildlife pal was talking to one such person who denied that they took lambs and as they stood there an eagle rose with a lamb dangling as it flew off. No reasonable answer to that other than the unlikely claim that the lamb was dead before being taken.

 

[Illaveago]

It was freezing cold out cycling this morning! I think they are seasonally adjusting the temperatures as they don't feel like the numbers they are saying they are .

 

[Gwylan]

When does a gander become a goose?

When he identifies

 

[Gwylan]

Ki

So, if the species is chicken, what do we call the young ones? Chicken chickens?

Anyhow, I've just voted. Our directly-elected mayor resigned and got himself elected as an MP in Kingswood (Bristol) so we're electing a new one. Voters were outnumbered by election officials by 3:1. They're going to have a long, quiet day.

Kingswood, never been the same since Woolworth's closed.

 

[Gwylan]

The gestapo are still here - last day of an Ofsted inspection. It's been brutal according to colleagues. Lots of very upset staff - they clearly haven't learnt. Should find out the result soon.

Living under the OFSTED regime anywhere else would be cruel and inhuman

 

[Andy in Germany]

Indeed. But that doesn't make calling it a chicken incorrect, in the same way that calling a woman a person isn't incorrect. As I said, we don't have anything other than egg-laying hens, so we don't have to distinguish between one category of chicken and another. So, calling our chickens "chickens" is perfectly OK.

I don't know why but you reminded me of an incident when I worked on a city farm. We were hosting a group of kids from a local school for people with mental disabilities, and one of the girls, who had T21/Downs syndrome went to hug one of our Very Free Range chickens hens. The hen panicked and ran off, as it would, in a cloud of clucks, but at that precise moment it laid an egg which plopped into the girls hands.

I'm still not sure which of them was most surprised.

 

[biggs682]

An evening cuppa and an original jaffa cake went down well

 

[MikeG]

I don't know why but you reminded me of an incident when I worked on a city farm. We have a group of kids from a local school for people with mental disabilities, and one of the girls, who had T21/Downs syndrome went to hug one of our Very Free Range chickens hens. The hen panicked and ran off, as it would, in a cloud of clucks, but at that precise moment it laid an egg which plopped into the girls hands.

I'm still not sure which was most surprised.

An egg on the run! That IS impressive. I'll be sure to mention that to the chooks tomorrow morning when they get their little lecture: only three eggs again today.

 

[classic33]

There is no stage between chicken and hen. They've been chickens for their entire life. There IS a stage between chick and hen, but we bought ours as point-of-lay, so they have been both chicken and hen for the entirety of the time we've had them.

Presumably when they do stop laying eggs, you'll perform a pullet prior to plucking it.

 

[classic33]

So teenage hens at some point then?

I'd say very few get to see their teenage years.

 

[tyred]

Dad is off oxygen at least so that must be progress. Still very short of breath though but he's been plagued with chest problems for many years.

Visiting hospitals is never nice as you see how poorly some people end up. Someone opposite my Dad in the ward needs someone to sit with him all the time.

My uncle in Scotland was buried today. He ended his days with Alzheimer's disease and in a home and didn't know who he was at the end. His wife died from some sort of muscle wasting disease in 2016. I last seen them in the summer of 2015, and she was fully alert but basically strapped upright into her wheelchair. They ended up in a home shortly after that as his mind was already starting to go and he had left porridge boiling on the gas while he went to buy a newspaper and forgot to go back and it started burning and the neighbour broke in after seeing smoke coming out of the letterbox. My aunt could see what was wrong but was unable to do anything about it. My cousin could no longer trust him to look after her and had work commitments and couldn't be there himself all the time so had to put them in a home.

Just last weekend, I was at my parents house and friend of my Dad's came to visit. Probably the strongest man I ever seen, he could carry a hundredweight bag on each shoulder back in the day, yet I had to help him up out of the chair and help him out to his car and I question if he really should be driving.

 

[classic33]

All hens start as chickens then but not all chickens become hens and some become cockerels or roosters but the majority of roosters become soup or stew. Can also be roasted of course.
Old hens have been known to turn into soup as well and the meat has more flavour depending on whether they have been free range or not.

You'd be hard pressed to notice any real difference between free range or those kept in a hen house/shed. The same with the eggs.
Battery hens are another matter.

And cocks are dry meat, compared to a hen.

 

[classic33]

I'm sure we can pullet out for a while before the yolks get too bad.

Im-peck-able.
I think their hendurance is but a bit low, hence their eggselence having flown the coop.

 

[postman]

The Mary Berry raspberry cake,did not go down well.Jack did not like it and to be honest neither did i.So Jack asked would i bring an Aldi cheesecake next time.Of course no problems.

 

[classic33]

The Mary Berry raspberry cake,did not go down well.Jack did not like it and to be honest neither did i.So Jack asked would i bring an Aldi cheesecake next time.Of course no problems.

Did either of you leave any cake behind?