Winter overnight.

It seems to happen up here every year.   We have a long spell of days when the weather is quite warm, when there is little or no wind and when the last of the Summer flowers flower their hears out.

Then one morning you wake and it is seriously cold.   Today is such a day.   Gone is the pleasant Autumn weather and in its place is a sunny (finally) but breezy and cold day.

In town this morning for our usual coffee meeting, I intended to buy bulbs to plant for Spring in the large tub the farmer prepared for me with totally new compost as the old stuff was choked with weeds.   I planned to make groups of various dwarf narcissus interspersed with purple striped crocus (my favourite).   Alas the crocus were just not available anywhere in the town, so I bought three lots of dwarf narcissus (different varieties) and must now leave them until I can find some crocus.

Because it is so cold I can't say I am all that sorry not to be out well wrapped up and busy planting.  Tomorrow is another day as they say. 

Do you remember that a couple of weeks ago we bought ten new pullets?   We have finally let them out and they are happily foraging round the paddocks near to the house.   The farmer has rigged up a light inside the hen house (low wattage), just enough to fool the hens into thinking it is daylight for a little longer.   Now we have eight or sometimes nine of the pullets laying.  The light comes on on a time switch so is no effort.

The eggs are small, a deep brown in colour and a delight to eat.   Because the older hens are really old the white in their eggs does not coagulate well and any attempt to poach the eggs is doomed to failure as far as a neat egg is concerned.  These new ones make such a tidy round egg when poached and when boiling them (my favourite way of eating them) the white is strong and firm and the yolk is still runny - perfect.   They have fitted in so well with the existing hens and are now all sleeping in the same side of the hut (although the new hens refuse to go anywhere near the perch, they sleep on the floor!)