Duck pens

I really wanted to get the new ducks' pen sorted out today as I got about half way with it yesterday. I did finally finish it and have put John and Jean (the grey calls) into there as they are more used to ramps...all will be revealed with a photo tomorrow as it was too dark this evening by the time I'd finished! I'm slightly conscious of cross-infection so I've put the new ducks onto new ground but next to the others as then I only have to get the hosepipe to one bit of the garden, plus they do like some company to compete with in the loud shouting department. I had to shift the pens around a bit though as John and Jean are busy excavating a trench:

They love it, and take it in turns to paddle around, ankle deep in sloppy mud. They get pretty grubby:

You can just see the blond chick in the background - I was talking to my neighbours this morning and they reckon we have 2 girl chicks and possibly a boy (Blossom) so that was helpful. They are wonderful neighbours and I showed Richard my new ducks - they also have a bit of a poultry addiction so totally understood my desire to get two more - and he then helped me get the bunnies in who had escaped. Scarlet can't go too far as she's pretty porky and has to stop for a rest but Willow always heads for a hedge or a beehive so I had to recruit Scruff to flush her out. Poor dog doesn't know whether he's coming or going as far as the animals are concerned.

So I am hoping that now my ducks are secure and Maud won't keep nicking their food I can focus on revision. I did say to Charles today that I would also tidy the house to help clear my mind but my first exam's on Tuesday and it'll take me til then just to do the dining room table. Charles very kindly helped me with my geology revision about the periodicity of Milankovich cycles (how the Earth moves in relation to the Sun) which went something like this:

Charles: So what is the periodicity of the obliquity?
Me: Er, 19 thousand years?
Charles: No
Me: 26 thousand years
Charles: No
Me: 121 thousand years
Charles: No. Are you just guessing?
Me: No! Aha - is 121 thousand years the periodicity of precession?
Charles: Which one?
Me: Axis?
Charles: No
Me: Orbit!
Charles: No

Etc etc etc. I didn't do very well at that. I have been reading my Module Forums too but it's a bit disconcerting when people are having great in-depth discussions things that I vaguely remember doing at some point in the dim distant past, or worse, when someone flags up a typo and there is lots of backslapping about how it couldn't possibly be how it is written on the graph as it's 6 orders of magnitude out or something and I hadn't even noticed. I'm hoping to be a bit more organised (!) with my next course but I will take a week or so off and catch up with some knitting and talk to my children before I start, although I have downloaded the PDFs so I don't have to lug the textbooks everywhere. There's 5 of them...