Barter.

It is always nice when you have something that some one else can use,  in this case feathers.  I have got to know someone quite well who works in one of the little shops in our small town and we always have a chat, mainly about gardening and being self sufficient, he also goes fishing, fly fishing, and makes his own flies but has a problem in getting the feathers to make them.

Two brown and one rainbow trout.

 Well feathers is something that we have a good supply of so I had promised him some the next time we had birds to slaughter, these were the last batch of quail which we slaughtered last week, I saved the longer feathers for  him and he was delighted, so delighted that when I popped into the shop today he came out with a heavy carrier bag, two large brown trout and a beautiful rainbow trout, this fish weighed 2.2oz cleaned so it was a good size fish, enough to well feed four people.

2.2oz cleaned weight.

 I can't help but think that we have had the best of this deal, but he seemed very happy with the feathers and we will continue to supply him when we have them.
We are still waiting for rain, everything is so dry, although the temperatures are now rising we have the easterly wind back which is making things even drier. The wind has done more damage to plants than the frosts and until we have some rain there is no point in planting seeds or plants outside. Maybe we will have to do a rain dance.
The one thing that is surviving well is the rhubarb, we have kept it well covered with straw because of the frosts, this has had the additional benefit of keeping what little moisture there is around the plants.

Monkey doing a Meerkat impersonation.

We love our cats, they all have such different personalities, Monkey is a little black and white half Siamese cat, she and her brother Tommy are now eleven years old, but still think they are kittens, they were both hand reared by us as their mum had no milk for them. Monkey has never accepted that she is a cat, she's not quite sure what she is, but she has always been different, she does are very good imitation of a Meerkat, sitting up on her back legs and begging.  As a kitten she insisted in holding her bottle between her front legs, using them like hands, just like a little  Monkey, hence the name.