The farm's been keeping us busy, especially with the soon-to-be arriving parents of the beast. Our latest expansion pack has been a flock of chocolate and blue Muscovy ducks, 22 strong in all (6 adult hens, 1 adult drake, 5 adolescents and 10 ducklings). I've been woken up a couple of mornings to find that the chocolate hen has used their shelter's roof to boost herself over the electric fence and into the pond; the beast has solved this by extending the fencing to enclose the pond. No more blearily dressing and rushing out to chase a recalcitrant duck hen back into the enclosure for me.

The kittens continue to grow apace; Nibs managed to smack me in the face with a claw today when I bent down to tie a shoelace, but as he was aiming for my hair, which I had let down, I can forgive it. Still, a surprising amount of blood from such an invisible scratch.

Wimsey has been yowling a lot and demanding on being involved in anything and everything I am doing until I sit down so he can snuggle up. The rest of the time he is yowling and demanding to be allowed out; his petulant demands go mostly unanswered, although he did get some chicken livers from the roast chicken I made the other night. The chicken scraps and bones went into the pot for stock, some of which helped me have dinner tonight; potstickers and chopped leek in chicken stock, mm. I do need to get soy sauce, though.

And without further ado, the real reason you all read this: pictures.