Another milestone

This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens and to check on Pop. Geoff has kindly been closing up the greenhouse in the evening the last two days so I haven’t had to go down in the evening.

Both of them were out and about enjoying the sunshine. I put the run into place and opened up the greenhouse door. Leia immediately jumped out and began scratching whilst Pop watched on. Slowly, she edged closer to the back door, clearly wanting to go outside. As yet, she is unable to jump or take big steps. Improvising, I grabbed a spare brick and an odd end of wood and tried to make a temporary ramp and step to help her out. It wasn’t pretty but she managed to get herself outside.

I left her to enjoy herself as I pottered down to the main coop. I changed the water and threw out the treats. When I opened up the nest box, I was amazed to find nine eggs! That has to be a record! I cleaned out the nest box and spotted a couple of mites. Tomorrow I will do another full clean out with a ton of antimite fluid to get rid of the remaining mites.

Back up on the patio, both Leia and Pop were enjoying the sunshine. I threw in some dandelion leaves into the greenhouse. Leia immediately jumped back in and I picked up Pop and put her back in. She wasn’t happy about being back inside and I wondered whether I might be able to build a ramp to help her get outside more easily.

I walked across to the incinerator and found a wheelbarrow full of wood ready for burning. I managed to find two small pieces and took them home to make a ramp. I decided that it would have to have a ramp on both sides joined by a flat piece of wood. This would make it more of a bridge than a ramp but would mean Pop could get herself into and out of the greenhouse independently. Using a small piece of decking board as the centre of the bridge, I then cut two other pieces of wood to form the ramps. Next, I used the remaining overflow pipe from Pop’s wheelchair to make rungs up the ramp, screwing them into place.

By now it was beginning to get dark, so holding the ramp, I dashed back to the allotment. I closed the front greenhouse door and opened up the back to try the ramp. It was perfect for the outside but about half an inch too short on the inside. It’s simple enough to fix as a small slab would perfectly lengthen the ramp and stop it wobbling. Although it was too late for Pop to try it this evening, I look forward to seeing her use it tomorrow.

Before I left, I took a few minutes to enjoy the fresh air and the view. Our allotment is such a fantastic place to escape from living in a town. There is something to soothing to the soul to be surrounded by greenery.