It was a mite chilly last night so I turned on the electric blanket but really needed a blanket over the top of me, but the dog was lying on my dressing gown so that was not an option. I rearranged the dog and the cat and huddled in for the long haul. As a result I slept in this morning.

I checked on the broody girls and they were still on the nest and fed them and the rest of the menagerie before throwing the dog in the back of the car for our trip to Ellendale to collect eggs. Stopped briefly at Bothwell and, as a result, missed the turnoff. I had only a vague memory of my last trip and was sure I had driven a way out of Bothwell before the turn off to Meadowbank, but none of the scenery looked familiar, so I doubled back to the turnoff to Ouse that I had seen and followed that. This turned out to be very much the scenic route, being a dirt road that meandered throgh several pastoral properties, where the sheep had right of way and the road edges were whereever the grader decided to finish work. Still, although it was a long and circuitous journey it was, at least, very attractive scenery - though they do seem to flog their pasture out that way, and many of the trees are dead skeletons.

Finally got to Sharons and collected the eggs, had a chat and set off homeward. This time i had a longer stop in Bothwell and explored a cemetery and had a cup of coffee at a place Jean had recommended. Nice coffee, nicer raspberry and vanilla slice ...

Home once more I popped the eggs under the broody girls (who couldn't believe their luck and now have them all tucked up and cosy). They had obviously been out for a constitutional during the day as there was a big poo in the cage (times two). That is actually a relief as it did occur to me this morning that the hole into the run was a bit small for them.

Then I returned to potting up yesterday's purchases and planting some tomato seeds for future plantings. I have about a dozen each of Roma and Grosse Lisse planted, as well as a tommy toe (I had one pot left over from the herbs) as well as rocket and parsley for the kitchen bench. I concluded it will be necessary to substitute a shelf for a window-sill so spent some time thinking about suitable designs for that.

Then a quick circuit of the fruit trees and hedge to ensure nothing was dying of thirst and back inside to settle down for the evening. Fingers crossed for a good hatching, though I at least have an incubator as backup if things go wrong in the mean time (chooks dying of heat exhaustion, starvation etc as they are wont to do).

Weather permitting tomorrow, I will try to establish a couple more raised beds in a terrace where the soil fill slopes down to natural ground level, so I am ready to plant out the tomatoes when the weather is a little kinder.