Harmoniums, hens, fish and rodents..

Summer is upon us. The hens arrived in February and are making the garden their own special playground. Lots of plants are just stalks, other areas are well turned over, no weeds, just well raked soil as the girls seek out interesting nibbles during the day.

We have two cream legbar hens and two light sussex hens, they all have names and very different personalities, and are laying well.

The local rodents seem to like hens so there have been some more close encounters of the rodent kind. I now have so many traps around I could start a pest removal business, if only I was better at catching them.

The fish are down to two koi, the koi have almost as much kit as the kids now, with lotions and potions for water quality and tonics for better health. The pond has a new filter and new plants for the summer season. We also got some goldfish to keep the koi company, we bought ten but there are only 6 left :-( But I am trying to keep the rest alive with yet more tonics specially for goldfish.

And the harmonium collection gained a new entry. A rather lovely Estey harmonium that we picked up from Edinburgh. It has the vox humana and lots of fancy stops. Apparently it is the other type of harmonium, I think that the difference is that one blows and one sucks the air over the reeds. Apart from which it is a beautiful piece of furniture. I've located a care and repair manual and I'm hoping to find a quiet moment to take it to bits and have a look inside. Tis a lovely thing. I can't look at ebay for harmonia because I might find another one and get tempted again. My mum has already asked how on earth I can play all the instruments that are collecting about the place, but I have to say that playing them is not always the point.