I've had my first week's holiday from work which has been lovely, but actually quite tiring as we've been really busy.  I was back at work today which was a joy of course!  Actually, it wasn't too bad - Sundays have a different atmosphere somehow.  I got called into the Manager's office this morning (gulp!) - apparently, a couple of weeks ago a mystery shopper visited the store and I served her on the till - just what you dread, but you obviously don't know who they are at the time.  Thankfully, she gave me a 100% score and so I was given a bottle of wine which is nice (and a relief).

Anyway, back to my relaxing week off.  The weather turned quite mild so we were able to mix up some lime mortar and point round the door frames on the outside.  This meant that we were then able to squirt expanding foam into the gaps from the inside which seals the holes and insulates.  It also has some adhesive properties and we saw a Grand Designs once where the only thing holding the window frames in was the squirty foam - don't think I'd trust it that far! 

When we put the first windows in the house 300 years ago, we hadn't used this foam before and didn't quite realise what a monster it is.  You squirt a bit in and it puffs up a bit, but you can't help putting a bit more in to fill the hole properly.  Then when you come back an hour or so later it has trebled in size and is all over the place.  Bob did that with one of the little draft hole windows in the extension and the foam ended up covering the whole window!  It was soooo funny! 

So, this is why we wanted to point one side first so it had something to stop it on one side at least.  It still goes everywhere, but at least it is only on one side.  Just look at this ridiculous Mr Whippy effect!  I'm sure this appeared overnight - surely we would have noticed it when we locked up for the night wouldn't we?  You can cut it off once it's hardened but you do have to spend a fair bit of time scraping the residue off the paintwork.  To finish off the sealing-up job we had to put silicone along the bottom edges of the thresholds so rain doesn't find its way in.  The black silicone looked rather stark and shiny, so once we had it sealed and before it went off, I went and swept up some concrete dust and scattered that on to camouflage it a bit.  Sounds a bit bonkers and I suppose on a new house you'd be glad of a sharp, shiny look for a while but it just didn't look right here.

We have also completely insulated the padded cell which means it no longer looks like a padded cell because the bubble-wrap-like tanking is all hidden away.  It took way longer than we expected to do the insulation, but what can you do eh?  This room has a very high ceiling so we have bought a chandalier for in there - thought a bit of blingy sparkly glass would be nice . . . . . erm, no actually we haven't really.  We have a three-headed fishermans light with an antique brass finish which hangs from a chain.  We decided to use a bit of old timber to make a new beam in there to hang the light from - so it is known as the light beam (or I like to think of it as our light sabre!).  I think it used to be a floor joist in the old house - there were only two or three remaining when we bought it - so it is nice to re-use it for something.

On Friday morning I vaguely heard a truck through my sleepy haze at 7.10am and groggily got up to peer out of the rooflight.  I'd completely forgotten that the plasterboard was being delivered and even if I had remembered, they never arrive that early!  So, in two seconds flat I'd pulled on some trousers and a sweatshirt (and nothing else!), dragged my hair into a ponytail and was outside helping the driver unload plasterboard while Bob got dressed properly.  Bob then invited him in for a cuppa and I had to sit there in my dishevelled state chatting about rally driving and rival builders merchants! 

So, we have also plasterboarded the ceiling in the end bedroom which is a real relief - I was dreading doing it.  I just thought it would be so awkward heaving boards up the scaffold tower and holding them in place while we fiddle around getting them to fit.  It was nowhere near as bad as I thought (as these things usually aren't once you get going) - I think we've learnt a lot as we've gone along and are actually getting better at it which makes things easier.  It actually cured the twingy back I've had all week too which is a bonus!  I held the boards in place which involved stretching with arms and legs braced and it obviously stretched the aches out of my back.  Maybe I should start a plasterboard back therapy clinic - could be the next big thing with the celebrities you know!  So, all in all, we had a very productive week and we really feel we've made progress. 

Not much time for socialising or relaxing, but when I have my fortnight off (after this week!) we are definitely going to factor in a couple of days off.  We did go to the Ironworks in Oswestry on Tuesday evening.  This is a pub/bar/venue which has a lot of bands on and we've been meaning to go since we moved here, but just never got round to it.  So this time we did and were really pleasantly surpised at what an amazing place it is.  I guess it must be the old ironworks (clue's in the name) and has fantastic beams, huge arched windows and loads of brickwork - a really nice building.  It's only small - I'd guess 200 max upstairs where the music is.  It was a good evening and they were brilliant musicians although quite forgetable at the same time.  Definitely keep an eye on who's on and go again sometime.  Our little mohican friend works behind the bar there although she was on holiday when we went.

We have Mum and Dad staying for a couple of days tomorrow - lets hope Mum doesn't come down with something nasty and have to spend the whole time in bed like she did last time they came!  So we had the afternoon off from building yesterday to have a major clean up in the house.  The insulation we used (and plasterboard) makes so much dust and it clings to your clothes and gradually drops off as you walk around.  You could see a pathway down the hall which our socks had cleaned with about an inch-thick of dust either side.  It would have been a waste of time cleaning up while we were in the middle of it, but it is so nice to have it cleaned up and mopped now - Henry and Bob did a fantastic job!

Still no mouse - and maybe it won't be able to get in anymore now we have sealed the gaps round the doors.

Marmalade shelves

Yeah, the marmalade shelves are up and full of marmalade, jam, chutney and various alcoholic concotions.  Better not eat any now or there'll be gaps!

No sign of the mouse yet.

Two walls insulated in the padded cell.

Beer half-drunk and meat and potato pie bubbling in the woodburner oven - life's good!

Welsh cakes, woodburner and windows

Well, guess what . . . . I have actually had three whole days off this week!  Can you believe it.  I think this is the first time this year on my new M & S contract (under which I should in theory have four days off) that I have actually had more than two.  I kept expecting to be asked to go in, but it didn't happen until my first day off when they rang to see if I'd work today.  By then though we'd got our schedule organised and so I politely declined.  So, I just have to go in tomorrow (wearing pink because of their valentines promotions!) and then I'm off for a whole week!

So, what have we got done?  We have finally got all the windows done, that's what.  We collected the new glass on Monday morning - all lovely this time thank goodness.  First we did the little window which still looks endearingly wonky and, yes, that strange blackbird has been to investigate it, but still seems to prefer fluttering at the oak room windows.  You can see it's poo on the triangle window ledge!

The opening door in the lounge and the fire escape door in the end bedroom are also done with bolts and locks fitted.  Unfortunately, it hasn't done much to make those rooms cosy because there are still some pretty large gaps round the frame.  Ironically, we need some warmer weather to be able to point them in with lime mortar, then we can squirt expanding foam in and that should all make a difference.  It has been extremely chilly and dank for the last few days - freezing fog.  I think we've got away lightly on the snow front though compared to the rest of the country - we only had about an inch that lasted for about a day.

So, with the windows as far on as we can get them for now, we have moved onto insulation.  We raced ahead with the first layer in the roof of the end bedroom.  That's the easy one, just 1" thick which goes between the rafters leaving a gap between that and the breather membrane under the slates so condensation can escape.  I was in the lounge on cutting duties and Bob was up the scaffold tower popping them into place and calling down the next measurement - a tried and tested system that works quite efficiently.  The next layer goes immediately under that and is 3" thick and will need a bit of shaping to make it snug against the purlin.  If it's not a tight fit, it will also need screwing itno place, so that won't be quite so easy to do.  Then we will have to attach some battens so we have something to attach the plasterboard to.  You just can't get plasterboard screws long enough to get a good fixing through that sort of thickness and we found by trial and error in our bedroom that this was the best way.  We will probably put another 1" of insulation between the battens seeing as there will be a gap doing nothing, so with all that, I don't think we'll lose much heat through the roof!

We have to be careful what order we insulate that room in so that we can get to the bits we need and also so there are no gaps.  So, we've finished the first roof layer and we've started on the walls.  This room had to be tanked as it's built into the hill and so we put metal studwork up which is only fixed top and bottom so doesn't pierce the tanking.  The insulation fits into the H-shaped studwork and it is easier to do that before you screw the studwork together and so needs to be done before the thick roof insulation or we wouldn't be able to screw the top together.  Annoyingly, the insultaion is about 2mm thicker than the recess in the studwork.  I tried just bashing along the edge of the insulation with a mallet to squash it, but it didn't really work, so we have to shave a bit off each edge to fit it which is a bit of a pain.

We had a bit of a slow start this morning.  Firstly we had to go in the 'bat loft' and design a new (much smaller) loft for the little creatures that have never actually shown any interest in the huge luxury living space we originally provided for them.  This means we can reclaim the space up there and have a sort of mezzanine storage/slobbing out area (called a crog loft in Welsh houses).  I also had a quick look through the boxes of Laura's clothes which are stored up there to find something pink to wear to work tomorrow.  Then down to the kitchen where one of the joints in the woodburner flue had dropped just after we lit it last night.  Obviously we couldn't do anything about it immediatley (a little warm!), so that was priority this morning.  The plumber had just joined the pieces of flue with heatproof silicone stuff, but it obviously didn't work too well, so we needed to get some self-tapping screws to do the job a bit more securely, so another trip into town (I made cheese scones for lunch while Bob did that).  We are also on cat feeding duties for Bill, so by the time we'd done that and checked that his ground source heat pump/underfloor heating was behaving it was lunchtime!

We have had a little visitor at night recently which nibbled a potato and some pasta stored in the utility room.  So we shut the door to the utility at night and put a piece of chocolate on the floor which didn't get eaten, but the one in the hall did.  So we assume it can't get in the utility with the door shut.  We hadn't heard anything from it for a few nights and the chocolate in the hall didn't disappear.  Last night though, we were watching TV and heard a little scrabbling noise from a carrier bag by the fireplace so in a co-ordinated movement, I switched the light on as Bob snatched the carrier and the little crittur scurried behind the fridge.  With a torch we could see it's silouette behind there with twitching ears (it actually looked quite cute) before it made a dash for the fireplace and disappeared.  As I said before, replacing the tiles round the fireplace is a job for when we clear that corner to do the stairs and part of that will be patching up the back of the fireplace.  Currently there are lots of broken bits and holes and a cunning little mouse would easily find a way through the unpointed wall in the lounge to the fireplace in the kitchen.  So, we haven't really got much choice but to put a trap down.  I just hope I'm not the first down the ladder to find it one morning!

We have made tea on or in the woodburner every night for more than a week which is quite a good feeling!  I even had a go at making welsh cakes on it last week.  They actually burned a bit, so I did the rest in a frying pan on the cooker - they also burned a bit, so it wasn't the woodburner's fault at all.  I guess because they have sugar in they go from not cooked to burnt in the blink of an eye.  They were good though and I'll definitely give them another go some time.

Evil vacuums, poorly computers and forgetful chickens

One of our woodpeckers seen through the
kitchen window.  It's a bit fuzzy because of
the zoom - sorry! 

As usual, the time has flown since I last wrote.  We've had major computer trouble.  It's not been right for a while, but has gradually got worse and worse and when the anti-virus software stopped working, we thought it was time to do something about it.  So, the laptop has been to hospital for a while and had a hard-drive transplant (££££££) and has gradually been recovering at home - by that I mean we've been re-loading things and altering the settings back to how they were, oh, it's such a boring job, but I think we're just about there and up and running again.

I bet you think we'd have the windows in by now don't you?  WRONG!  All the frames are finished and painted and have hinges, locks and bolts attached.  Bob went to collect the glass on Wednesday and we were all set to fit the first one before I went to work on Thursday and the other two on Friday.  But when we unloaded the glass from the car, we realised that they'd put the wrong colour spacer bars in.  These are the metal bits between the pieces of glass and generally you get them to match the frame colour as best you can, so these should have been black . . . . silver!  Aaarghhh!!  How frustrating.  We get our glass from the funeral directors in town - a good old fashioned place in the old tradition where the local carpenter made coffins too, so they make windows and do funerals.  Anyway, they were really good and could see that they'd made a mistake and so have ordered new glass which should arrive on Monday.  They also said we could take the old stuff back and they'd skip it or we could dispose of it ourselves  . . . . . mmm?!  We decided we'd 'dispose' of it - Bob can have nice big toughened, double-glazed windows in his workshop (so, it's not all bad).

The delay meant that Bob was able to help my friend from work to make a door frame for her house.  She is also renovating a cottage and so she brought the timber round and used Bob's machines and expertise and is now ready to fit her first door frame.  Her house wasn't as bad as this one to start, but she hasn't been doing it full-time and so is not so far on.  They have a ladder instead of stairs too!  But they don't have hot water, in fact when she came round she had to bring a 2ltr bottle to fill with water because their pipes were frozen.  They also don't have much heat and she had to get two more cats to snuggle up to for warmth!

We had a demonstration of pork butchery at last month's meeting of the smallholders group.  It was actually really interesting - a local butcher brought along half a pig and chopped it up in front of our very eyes while chatting about sausage making (we're definitely going to have a go at that as soon as we can get hog casings for the skins).  I made the second lot of marmalade and that also turned out well, so Bob is in the middle of making a set of marmalade shelves for the utility room - we also have jam and chutney to go on them, so they're not exclusive.

Oh, nearly forgot to update you on Elvis's funny little egg.  Well, you know in the past the chickens have forgotten to put a shell on their egg . . . . this time Elvis forgot to put a yolk in the egg.  So, instead of a perfect but tiny egg, it was just white - OK for a little meringue I suppose, but not much else.  She must have heard us laughing at it, because she hasn't bothered since - oops!  They were all a bit miserable this afternoon in the bitter cold with slushy freezing rain and snow, so they hunkered down in the workshop with Bob among the shavings - well, obviously, Bob wasn't in the shavings with them!  We have been treating them to a bowl of hot porridge with raisins for breakfast and they just love it.  Robin the honorary chicken is desparate to get in there with them, but is just not quite brave enough.  I did try putting a dollop on the ground a little way away for it, but the chickens made a beeline for it before returning to the bowl.  The chickens now recognise Phil and Ann when they walk past and go running down to the path to greet them - could be something to do with the fact that Phil sometimes has some corn in his pocket I guess!  The other day Phil got the corn out of his pocket and Bonny jumped up onto his arm to get there first - we have performing chickens!

You'll never believe it, but we have actually been thinking about the stairs, not only thinking, but we have actually bought the wood to make them!  How weird will that be?  Dead posh eh?  We decided on Ash because it has nice grain and we already have quite a bit of oak.  There'll be quite a lot of fiddling around to get the bearers on the walls in the right place and then a lot of shaping and smoothing of the steps (actually know in technical jargon as 'goings' for the bits you step on and 'risers' for the upright bits).  So Bob can get on with that while I'm at work and then we'll have a mad panic when it comes to fitting them because there'll be a point where we can't get up the stairs but won't be able to use the ladder.  I suppose we could always stay in the spare room!  That won't be for a while yet though.  When I'm off for a week we are hoping to get the ceilings done in the 'lounge' and the padded cell, so that's insulation and plasterboard.  That'll definitely be a two-man job because one of us has to hold the stuff up while to other attaches it.  Not really looking forward to the padded cell as it's a really high ceiling so we'll have to use the scaffold tower and there'll be a lot of passing boards up and down and moving the tower around, so lots of logistics to think about.

We have a new member of our household.  He's called Henry and is a cheeky little chap with a smiley red face.  He's really helpful though and happily helps with the cleaning unlike his predecessor the evil Count Vax.  When the stately Lord Dyson (a faithful companion of many years) finally decided that he was too old to be cleaning up building dust and that with his creaking joints and split hoses it was time to retire, Count Vax weedled his way into our lives with promises of superior cleaning abilities.  After just a couple of workouts though his evil ways began.  He'd refuse to work after just one room and whine that his filters needed cleaning and once that was done he'd wait until your back was turned and then spew clouds of dust all over the place.  Once he excelled himself and actually set off the smoke detector!  He was evil in vacuum-form!  And so he had to go and has been locked in the top barn pending a stoppy letter to his manufacturer.  And so now we have adopted the cheap and cheerful Henry and he is a pleasure to have around - I even find myself talking to him as we clean!

The view from the kitchen door last Sunday morning just as I was going to work - spectacular!

Elvis is laying again!

Can you believe it?!  Elvis has laid two eggs in the last few days - just amazing when you remember that we didn't think she'd make it to New Year!  Mind you, you really do have to laugh at today's effort.  You know I've said that sometimes one of the chickens lays half an egg by forgetting to put a shell on it?  Well Elvis's egg today was just half-size - it's tiny and looks so funny.  I was up at the top hanging the washing out when Bob first went into the chicken run and he came out to ask if I'd already been in there because he thought I was playing a joke on him. . . . . . just look at this . . . .

. . . . the other egg is her one from two days ago.

As predicted, I didn't have three days off last week and had to go in on one of my days off and this week I just have two days, and next week I am doing 20 extra hours!  This all makes planning house activity quite difficult, but hey ho.  I have a WHOLE WEEK off in February!  Then back in for a week and then over two weeks off.  Because I haven't taken any holiday since I started in August I have had to cram it all in before the end of March.

The window frames are now all made and are at various stages of painting/wood preserving, so we need to order the glass for them now.  That is usually ready to pick up within the week, so should fit in quite well with painting.  Here's the trial run of the smallest window.  We have left the original wooden lintel in (don't worry, there's at least two new concrete lintels behind so this one is only decorative really).  It is so NOT level!  Bob had to make the frame slope at the top to fit, but leave the casement for the glass square so it all looks really wonky which I love.  I don't actually think you'll notice it as much once it's all painted the same colour.  The new slate sill looks as though it's always been there doesn't it?

We made some marmalade last week which seems to have turned out rather well though I say so myself.  We used brown sugar so it is quite dark and very orangey.  I'm in the middle of another batch, but this time a lighter one with white sugar and a couple of lemons added for a bit of variety.  I invented a new dessert (well, I've not seen it before though it may exist) using the dark marmalade stirred into a dark chocolate ganache on top of a biscuit base.  This was inspired by a cake my nephew made us for Christmas using the same flavours and it worked really well.  Luckily, I wrote down the recipe as I made it up, so I should be able to replicate it.  Phil and Ann came for dinner on Friday, so they were my guinee pigs!  I don't think they minded too much.

Right, this week Tuesday night is my Saturday night (in my M&S work pattern) and we're having curry, so it's time to crack open a beer and get the naan bread dough on the go!

Well, we're back into the swing of working and getting on with the house.  Although my contracted hours at M&S have been drastically reduced, I only had one day off from New Year up until Thursday this week!  So, it was quite nice to have two days off together and then this morning as well.  Next week I have three whole days off (mind you, I thought I had this week, but it didn't work out that way).

I actually got on with some real 'building work' - making mortar and building up the walls around the 'hayloft' door.  The end bedroom used to be the cow barn (it had a trough and everything) and above it was a hayloft with a door to the outside.  Because the house is built into the hill, this door is at ground level on the outside but above head height inside.  The bedroom will have a very high ceiling and this doorway will be a window.  The stonework around the frame was very uneven, so it needed more stones putting in and a lot of pointing to fill in the gaps.  On Thursday we put the glass in which was a bit scary.  We had the scaffold tower up inside, but only had two narrow boards on it because we are using the others somewhere else and we hadn't bothered adding the extra set of bars to make sides round where you stand, so I was on that while Bob passed the big double-glazed unit to me through the opening from outside.  For some reason, I was really nervous (usually I'm absolutely fine).  I think it was because of the glass and the responsibility for holding it because I was fine when the glass wasn't there.  Anyway, apart from my nerves, it went in without any problem and that is another hole sealed.

Bob has finished building the steps to the (extremely low) doorway to that bedroom.  It is not a doorway that will really be used, but because it is a bedroom that doesn't lead onto a corridor or hall, it has to have a fire escape.  The steps are quite steep and curved, they look brilliant - I love curved brickwork.  This little corner gives an idea of what I imagine the rest of the garden will look like.  I think there'll be lots of steps and little walls all over the place.  Bob is now working on the frame for the little window in this picture (this will be the opening window for ventilation in here).  He had to make a sill on the outside, so he cut and split a big chunk of slate we had lying around - I think it used to be the kitchen door threshold.  Like the bigger barn doors I told you about, this will have the little door pinned back to retain the look.

We have done a bit of entertaining this week.  Maggie and Bill who I've spoken about before (just down the lane, renovating a cottage and barns, moved here just before us, daughter with a mohican) have sadly split up.  We knew about this ages ago, but it was kept quiet for quite a while.  Anyway, Maggie moved out just before Christmas and Bill went away for most of December until after New Year.  Things were a little awkward for a while with us seeing both, but having to be careful what we said to either.  So, now Bill's back and Maggie has her own house, we can see them as separate people and things are much easier.  Bill came for dinner on Sunday and told us all about his month away - including learning to morris dance!  Then Maggie and the mohican (which has gone from green through turquoise, red, pink and is now blonde) and the mohican's boyfriend (who also has a mohican), so Maggie and two mohicans, came for something to eat last night.  We could have gone wassailing last night if we hadn't been busy.  A girl at work lives in a village about eight miles away and they uphold the tradition of singing around an apple tree, tying things in the tree and pouring cider on its roots (to encourage a good crop in the coming year) followed by a lantern-lit walk across the hills to a pub - sounds like good fun and it's a shame we couldn't go.



I thought you might like to see where we've put the telly.  When it'off
and all black, it's hardly noticable - not sure whether it'll stay there though.
We have bought some new tiles for the sides of this fireplace with
hand drawn chickens on the picture tiles.  That'll be a bit of a messy
job to sort out though, so we'll probably wait until we're clearing that
corner for the stairs before we tackle it.



We've finally hung the tapestry we bought ages ago at Stokesay Castle with
birthday money.  I've been clearing the caravan out and trying to find places
for everything as I go.  I think this will eventually go in the lounge, but it might
as well be hung up somewhere rather than rolled up under a bed.
It's the Lady of Shallot by the way.



And finally, here's the view from our bedroom window this morning.
The first really hard frost since we moved in and we wouldn't know
how cold it was from inside!  I went in the caravan and it was minus one
inside - tee hee, good isn't it?  I'm not sure what effect it'll have had on
the plants in the garden.  We have all sorts of shoots and buds that
shouldn't really be there and even plants that usually die off and come
back in the Spring that have missed out the dying off bit and thrown
out new shoots, leaves and buds - we'll have to wait and see.



and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Yes, Happy New Year.  Hope you all had a good time and the going back to work/school/etc isn't too bad.  We had a quiet, but good one.  Laura went back to Scotland on Friday - they make quite a thing of New Year at Samye Ling with a huge bonfire and all the one thousand plus butterlamps lit, so she was quite keen to be there for that.  So we were back to just we two on Saturday.  I worked in the morning, then Phil and Ann called in for a cuppa with their son in the afternoon and we followed them out for a quick once around the 'block' for a breath of fresh air before coming back to light the fire and read for a bit.  Somehow, when we 'read' we always end up falling asleep - well we had been up since 6am for me to go to work and we had a late night ahead of us!  We made Beef Wellington with fillet steak for dinner which was just scrummy.  Bob went outside just before midnight with a log, money and bread to throw in as the first things to cross the threshold in the New Year for luck (it's a Northern thing I think).  Then a bit later one of the neighbours called round bearing a piece of coal which was nice.  She stayed for a while and we finally went to bed at about 2am.  All very nice although I will admit to a bit of a fuzzy head in the morning . . . . can't think why?!!  And so we can now say that we moved into our cottage last year - how strange!

On Friday we put the first door-sized window in the lounge.



The glass is, of course, made to measure and is a fairly snug
fit, but it has to have a slight gap all the way around to allow for
a bit of movement in the wooden frame.  Once it's in place you put
wooden beading on the inside to secure it and hold that in place with
panel pins.  It's a bit nerve wracking hammering the pins in so close
to the glass I can tell you!  I'm pushing on the beading to make sure
the silicone we'd put round the frame seals the glass in place.



And here we are looking out of our new window.
The old door frame is still there.  The idea is that
the glass is set back and so is unobtrusive (maybe
when it's mucky and doesn't reflect, that'll be the case)
and we are supposed to hang wooden doors that are
hooked open to maintain the look of the barn it used to be.
Whether we'll ever get round to that last bit, I don't know.



And so we survey our work.  Handy to have Laura here to take
photos of both of us together!  These window thingies'll take a
bit of getting used to, it looks a bit weird.  From the outside, with the light on
in the 'lounge', it's starting to look like some sort of barn conversion!
It certainly confused the chickens when they went in the other door, but
realised they couldn't get out of this one anymore!

The blackbird has been back pecking and flapping at the oak room window.  I think it must have been away visiting relatives for Christmas because I don't think it came while Laura was here.  The bird feeders are now very busy and seem to get empty rather quickly!  That may be because the woodpeckers and jay have found them.  The jay was quite funny when it first found them - it sat on a small branch next to the feeder and then tried pecking at it from there.  Of course, as you can imagine, the feeder just swings away when it does that.  The jay actually lost its balance once and swung down under the branch with one particularly wild lurch at the feeder!  One day we had a herd of redpolls in the birch trees outside the kitchen window, there were loads of them and were thoroughly enjoying the birch seeds.  I don't think they're that rare, but it's the first time we've seen them and I read in the paper the next day that their numbers had declined dramatically in the last couple of years, so I guess we were quite priviledged.  Once again, we have a robin who likes to think of himself as a chicken and hang out with our girls (they don't seem to mind this honorary member of their flock).  Elvis went through a bit of a wambly patch over Christmas and we seriously thought she might not make New Year, but she seems to have perked up.  She's definitely getting old though and needs her regular naps while the younger two go exploring and running around - she's not laying eggs anymore again, I think those few a while back were just a last fling!