I ambled down late morning to the allotment armed with supplies for lunch. Before I started any jobs, I sat with Geoff, Darren, The Plod and Cliff about the AGM tomorrow morning. It could be quite an interesting meeting as we haven't had a committee meeting in over two years. Hopefully it will be a straightforward meeting without any issues!

Next I checked on the chickens. The Weed Destroyers were in fine form and I let them out to explore. In the main coop, apart from being hounded by Flora, all was well. But in the new coop, I found that Snap, our elderly black rock, had died. She must have been in excess of seven years old as she lived with Geoff for several years before coming to us. Always a gentle bird, she wasn't the loudest personality in the coop, but the others knew not to mess with her. Without doubt, she was the most beautiful black rock I have had as her feathers had a wonderful iridescent green sheen to them. Over the past few weeks, she did seem to be slowing down and I suspected she might have had arthritis in her legs as she moved a bit stiffly. Snap was the last of our five rescued hens from Geoff and although we have Cora in the main coop, it seems odd to look in the coop and not see her sitting in her favourite corner.

By one o'clock, it was time for lunch so I wrestled with lighting the stove as Liz, Sarah, their mum and Andy joined me outside the shed. The heat of the day was rather oppressive, so for the first time this year, I got out the sail. Sitting underneath was lovely as we all chatted. Cliff joined us and as the sausages sizzled we put the world to rights. There is something about eating outside which makes even the simplest of foods taste delicious. It didn't take long for all of the sausage sandwiches to disappear, all washed down with a cold drink.

Alan and his wife swung by to say hello and show us a rather spectacular looking courgette. Rather unbelievably, it had grown into the shape of a duck! We all had a great laugh about it and I wonder what animal Alan will grow his next courgette into!

As everyone headed off to their own plots, I herded the Weed Destroyers back into their run and began to pack up. Two weeks ago, I had brought a large Tupperware box down to the allotment to refill it with corn for the chickens at home. When I got home that afternoon, I realised I had forgotten it. Ever since, I have been searching high and low for this blasted box, knowing it had to be somewhere! It wasn't at home, in the shed or greenhouse. I hadn't left it in the chicken food bins or in any of the coops. I had pretty much given up hope of ever finding it. Realising how badly the rhubarb was blocking the path, I began to pull some of the worst offenders out. To my utter surprise, hidden underneath one of the large rhubarb leaves was my Tupperware box! I must have put it down and in the couple of weeks I had lost it and the rhubarb had grown over it.

So the plan for tomorrow is to clean out the chicken coops and dig over the soil in the main coop.

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