We're on holiday for two weeks.  Yay!!!!!

However, there is an ENORMOUS backlog of jobs to be done.  Never mind, at least I can plod through them at my own pace.  My husband has made a good start on the garden in the last two days.  He really wants to go down to the allotment but he is being very good and helping here first.  I've been sorting through all the stuff that gets left in the living room and found some things that I'd mislaid : )  And the living room actually looks tidy now too.  I've also reduced the washing pile considerably but as a result of that the ironing pile has become a mountain :(

The hens are still laying for England.  The oldest hens have cut back on their output and are laying just the one egg a day between the three of them - taking it in turns to lay.  When the spring flurry of laying is over, I don't suppose that they will lay more than the occasional egg again.  The young ones who took so very long to realise what laying was all about are now producing a reliable 7 a day from the 7 of them.  So I am stockpiling eggs, persuading the kids and their families that they want eggs with everything and giving them away as presents.  I was wondering about pickling some eggs.  I've read how to do it and about leaving them to mature for a couple of weeks but I haven't found any info on how long they keep once the jar is opened or how long if the jar is not opened.  There is no space in the freezer for some packs of beaten egg.