Amber has been pestering me for a hamster for ages, despite her having two rabbits already and my dislike of small rodents...I've got enough of those in my chicken run. We looked after our neighbour Camilla's hamster when they were away last year - he was called Point, presumably as he didn't have one otherwise. He spent the time gnawing the bars of his cage and smelled of rather pongy feet so my opinion has not improved since I was bitten on the thumb by somebody's hamster when I was about 8. Amber however appropriated a box and made a nest in it and after a couple of failed attempts, I managed to come up with this:

I know, it doesn't exactly look like a hamster, more like an Ewok, but Amber is thrilled and has called it Pippa.

Rosie's guinea pigs needed cleaning out so I gave them to her to look after while I did their hutch. I knew she had taken them into her room, but hmm...

I'm sure there are a lot of health reasons why the guinea pigs should not be allowed in her bed but they all looked so happy :-)

It's no worse than the dog sleeping in my bed surely? My poor children, they have such a schizo life as when they are with their dad there is no mess, no mud, no animals and lots of white clothes. I don't know how they cope with the extremes!

Charles came over to help me sort out my upturned pots and trays in the greenhouse as I felt too despondent to tackle it on my own. It has been cold today and it's pretty squishy underfoot but at least it wasn't raining. We managed to salvage most of the sweet peas and 3 of my lupin seedlings. I also finally got round to eviscerating my gro-bags and putting the contents on my plant-less border where the ducks were. We also planted up lots of bulbs and I Sarah Ravened my semperviviums and put them in a shallow terracotta dish. Rescuing some fallen Scots Pine branches from the woods, I was able to prettify my new candle, although I need some holly berries for contrast. So I now have 15 hyacinth bulbs on the go and 5 more paperwhite narcissi. The house should smell lovely once that lot comes in to flower.

It was so lovely to spend some time outside in the garden, very therapeutic. We also mended the cold frame so that is now stocked to the brim; I hope the slugs don't find it.

Ooh Strictly Final Results!! Seeya!

Changes

Rosie did her Brownie Promise last night, which she was thrilled about. She has lots of activities and badges to work towards which will keep her busy. Speaking of keeping busy, I will hopefully be back working at the bee farm next spring as I have been asked to look after the WBCs in the rose garden, and I have a number of projects I'd like to do in the garden with the children.

With the Home Education inspector due imminently, I have been wanting to put together a plan for next year as the children's needs are very diverse now and rarely does one subject or lesson fit them all. T has announced he wants to take GCSEs after all, so it looks like we'll be tackling English, maths, history, the three sciences and possibly Latin over the next 18 months. I have decided to put my studying on hold for now as the children need my focus and at least their level is easier than mine! I also need to devise some sort of agricultural studies curriculum for Amber, although I was speaking to a lady who works at a dairy farm yesterday and Ams might be able to go round and see it all in action which would be good. Luckily Rosie loves workbooks and is still young enough to enjoy the simpler things so hopefully I can concentrate on the older two for a bit while she carries on exploring and having a more holistic approach.

It has been incredibly windy here and the gate to the poultry run keep blowing open, mixing up all the hens. Luckily I got to Henry before he properly er, introduced himself to new Maud and the chicks. I have tried to steer the ducks towards their tub so they can have a proper wash but they hop in and hop out again, not that I blame them. I gave the mallards calls some water in a planter; they were in heaven:

Rose brought the guineas in and even Tristan got involved:

Ahh, they are very sweet and seem to induce a surprising amount of sibling harmony.

London, Gloves and Guineas

I had a tutorial at the London School of Economics today for my Open University geology course, Understanding the Continents. I had to get up at some unearthly hour to get all the animals up - including the children. Having thrown Tristan, Amber and Rosie at my parents with a couple of dozen croissants as a contribution to breakfast, I got to the station, boarded the train and settled myself down with my knitting. The conductor came past and said he was very impressed, and that knitting was 'a lost art' :-) I realised afterwards that my gloves were on my lap, the gloves that I got from Great Dixter last year:

whereas what I was actually knitting was some little mini mittens...I have a nasty feeling he thought I'd knitted my gloves! Oops.

The tutorial was great, and I met Dr Jason Harvey who is about my age and has done a huge number of exciting things but hey, I bet he doesn't own ducks. He went through the basics of geochemistry and ternary phase diagrams and got all excited about peridotite, it was fab. Although I did get a bit lost trying to find the loos before the lecture so frankly I was pleased to make it back to Room 3.21 to be honest. I also met a couple of people I knew from other courses which is always nice. I hadn't seen Steve since we did a Summer School at Malham Tarn and we spent our time freezing out on the moor; he's from Kent so it was a bit disconcerting for us soft Southerners to have snow in May. Anyway, I charged back to London Bridge having elbowed my way through all the Christmas shoppers and got back in daylight, so the poultry had a leg stretch.

I cleaned out all the animals yesterday, so while I was doing the guinea pig hutch, we made up a little run for them to have their first taste of grass:

There was a lot of squeaking but they did have a bit of a nibble on some clover. Rose then brought them in to the lounge for a cuddle, and ended up with a sort of guinea pig neck-warmer. She said they were a bit tickly!

Ducks Galore

Charles had a day off today so we took him to Arundel Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, as he'd never been. It's a special place for me as it was where I realised that with so many superb resources around us, the children would benefit from spending their time at places like the WWT reserves rather than stuck in a classroom, and my decision to home-educate was made. It also reminds me of my childhood as we used to visit there when I was little and feed the Hawaiian geese...I think they are probably the same geese as they are very long-lived. Tristan even put down his iPod long enough to feed them:

As did the girls:

I was in duck heaven :-)

It was a beautiful day, unbelievably mild for November:

How anyone spots a bird in that lot is beyond me, let alone fathom whether it is a sedge, reed or Cetti's warbler...

They have electric boats at the reserve and we took a trip, and the guide stopped the boat for us to watch one of the resident water voles in the bankside vegetation. It is such a lovely way to see the wildlife as it is silent and drifts along gently - a bit like a hot air balloon but on the water. The ducks were starting to roost in the reeds as we went past, so it was a great way to round off our visit.

Charles also had a chance to see the guineas:

Milly

Molly

Cute aren't they? All my ducks were fine in our absence, and I had let the big chickens out for a run this morning before we left. While they were in the field I put lots of treats in their run for them to enjoy through the day, but as soon as I went back in the kitchen I heard Henry bok-bokking in the run and he was picking up all the sultanas and corn and showing the girls. Well I tried :-/

Ups and Downs of Pet Ownership

When Rosie woke up I was able to tell her that the bad news was, I might not get round to crocheting her a guinea pig for Christmas, but the good news was that I had got her two real ones!  They are completely adorable, 8 weeks old and called Milly:

And Molly:

Molly looks like she's had a perm or been crimped; she is really soft but I can see her getting matted if we're not careful, so we got Rose a grooming kit as well. She wants to be a hairdresser when she grows up so what better practise. I can hear her now telling future clients: "Don't worry Mrs Smith - I used to style my guinea pig's fur..."

That was the good bit of the day. Scruff had an unfortunate incident with some barbed wire whilst out on our early morning walk which culminated in a rather traumatic dash to the local vet and a tetanus jab for me. He has been stitched up but his vet phobia has escalated to immense proportions and I am really rather concerned about me ever being able to get him to go back. It wasn't the usual practice I go to so that is something to be thankful for so hopefully he won't baulk at returning to the usual place for his routine vaccinations etc. He is lying next to me looking as sorry for himself as it's possible for a spaniel to look, which is a lot. An awful and horrible experience for both of us.

Moving on: I finished my bauble:

I have also found a really good pattern for a crochet scarf using 'granite stitch' - geology and crochet! Two of my favourite things! Gotta make something in that! :-)

I have also cast on a 'Smarty' hat in Debbie Bliss' Paloma yarn which is a lovely soft baby alpaca/merino blend knitted on 10mm needles so fast and easy. Two more of my favourite things...