On the way home from College last night I experienced two occasions of Barn Owls flying in front of me!

I just installed an HP OfficeJet Pro L7600 Series printer on my laptop… why oh why is the MINIMUM install 234mb? Surely all I should need for a MINIMUM install is the driver? Everything else should be optional.

Visited Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice again this year; it was very wet. The whole family went for the experience but despite our misgivings with the weather before we set off, the kids were looking forward to it; so we went anyway.

It was very gloomy and very wet. At 8:30pm the stones were quiet so I was hopeful that a projected weekend contingent wasn’t going to turn up. At 4:30am it was apparent that they had. The Stones seemed busier than any other time, and they were definitely messier - the litter was appalling. I do wish some people would have a little more respect for others.

The rain fell for most of the night in some shape or form - came down very heavy just before sunrise. The sun was never visible through the clouds!

The kids spent most of the night asleep in the back of the Scenic; it was just a form of camping to them.

Biggest problem was the two hours it took us to get out of the car park. Normally only takes about 15 minutes. We spent a good hour thirty not actually moving!

It seems the car park was full; I have never seen the cars parked all the way to the back that’s for sure. And I think this created a problem when people started to leave - just nowhere to go. That combined with the little hill heading to the exit being a tad wet and the cars were started to wheel spin on it… I wonder how some of the later cars and vans would have got on…

Something came to me this morning while listening to the sports news on the radio. It was one of those striking moments and here is the result…

EXT – DAY – Edgbaston

Kevin PIETERSEN stands at the crease looking up and preparing for the next delivery. He knocks his bat against the crease nervously. Scott STYRIS stands polishing the ball against his leg getting prepared for the run.

PIETERSEN
You are wonderful!

STYRIS
Thank you — I’ve worked hard to become so.

STYRIS starts his slow run toward the left of the Umpire. He quickly gets into his pre-delivery stride.

PIETERSEN
I admit it — you are better than I am.

STYRIS
Then why are you smiling?

Moments from defeat, PIETERSEN is, in fact, all smiles. STYRIS looks slightly confused as he moves into his back foot contact.

PIETERSEN
Because I know something you don’t know.

STYRIS
And what is that?

STYRIS Follows through and releases the ball.

PIETERSEN
I am not right-handed.

And with that he throws his bat into his left hand and immediately, the tide of the match turns. He repositions and knocks the oncoming ball easily for a six.

The CROWD go wild!

STYRIS shakes his head in disbelief.

We’ve had the chickens a little over two weeks now. And much fun has been observed. The first two nights involved tempting them into the eglu at night to roost as they were getting very agitated, but seemed unable to do anything about it. Placing a torch in the bedding area did the trick. We closed the roosting area for the first few nights while they got used to it, but have left it open since. This allows them to get out into the run as soon as it becomes light enough for them. After the first 3 nights they took themselves off to bed as soon as they are ready. Interesting, Pecker - Jacobs Chicken usually goes to bed around 9pm whereas Rebekah’s bird Egna, will not go to bed until about 9:30pm.
After the first week we started giving them their freedom during the day. So they now spend from about 7am until 9:30pm is wandering the garden. We just wait for them to take themselves to bed and then lock the run.
Having them in the garden has been interesting, they have managed to kill one part of my flower beds - to be fair most of the damage was done by the kids chasing them off the beds!
Egna disappeared for a while on Wednesday, we eventually found her in some of the thick ornamental grass chunks that we have… anyway she had formed a lovely little nest and deposited her first egg! We’ve had one a day since then but all the rest have been in the Eglu. The eggs are small at the moment, but by all accounts they keep getting bigger.