hi guys gals non-binary Pals I am finally back um before I get started let me just uh talk about my lipstick shade here today so it's actually a combo of two things um this Avon lipstick um and this Sailor Moon lip gloss I love the details of the moon on um the cap um so actually this might terrify some people but uh that lipstick I just showed you I've had it since high school and I'm 31 so that lipstick is uh close to a decade old and um it still looks the same smells the same and feels the same on my lips and I know that like uh the guidelines for like when to throw out makeup are like oh uh keep you can keep lipsticks for like a few years or whatever but I'm like I'm not throwing it out if it looks and feels and is perfectly fine cuz I've worn it multiple times and I'm fine no rash nothing so I'm like you know what unless it gives me a problem or looks different or it somehow changes in texture or whatever then I'll throw it out but until that day I am keeping it so lipsticks can last a lot longer however I would not take a chance on gloss so you know uh yeah just keep that in mind cuz lipsticks they can dry out and you know um you can keep them in like a dry um dark environment and expand its um lifespan but like especially glosses if you're dunking like the wand in and stuff it's like oh no there's so much bacteria in there and it's just all bottled up and just no don't chance it um so yeah uh that's my little tangent about make makeup oh and also I applied it using this adorable mirror um so I got it from one of my best friends for uh Christmas and it even lights up and uh it's supposed to mimic natural light so um you can tell what your makeup looks like in the most natural light possible um so I love it thank you Jess for that present I get a lot of use out of it um and now uh enough about my makeup up time to get into chapter nine The Crow and the beanfield the sun rose while they were still lying in the thorn already several of the rabbits were asleep crouched uneasily between the thick stems aware of the chance of danger but too tired to do more than trust to luck Hazel looking at them felt almost as insecure as he had on the River Bank a hedge row in Open Fields was no place to remain all day but where could they go he needed to know more about their surroundings he moved along the Hedge feeling the breeze from the south and looking for some spot where he could sit and sent it without too much risk the smells that came down from The Higher Ground might tell him something he came to a wide gap which had been trotten into mud by cattle he could see them Grazing In the next field further up the slope he went cautiously out into the field squatted down against a lump of thistles and began to smell the wind now that he was clear of the Hawthorn scent of the Hedge and the reek of cattle dung he became fully aware of what had already been drifting into his nostrils while he was lying Among The Thorn there was only one smell on the Wind wind and it was new to him a strong fresh sweet fragrance that filled the air it was healthy enough there was no harm in it but what was it and why was it so strong how could it exclude every other smell in Open Country on a south wind The Source must be close by Hazel wondered whether to send one of the rabbits to find out dandelion would be over the top and back almost as fast as a hair then his sense of adventure and Mischief prompted him he would go himself and bring back some news before they even knew he had gone that would give bigwig something to bite on he ran easily up the meadow towards the cows as he came they raised their heads and gazed at him alt together for a moment before returning to their feeding a great black bird was flat spping and hopping a little way behind the herd it looked rather like a large Rook but unlike a rook it was alone he watched its greenish powerful beak stabbing the ground but could not make out what it was doing it so happened that Hazel had never seen a crow it did not occur to him that it was following the track of a mole in the hope of killing it with a blow of its beak and then pulling it out of its shallow run if he had realized this he might not have clasped it like light-heartedly as not Hawk that is anything from a ren to a pheasant and continued on his way up the slope the strange fragrance was Stronger now coming over the top of the rise in a wave of scent that struck him powerfully as the scent of orange blossom in the Mediterranean strikes The Traveler who smells it for the first time fascinated he ran to the crest nearby was another hedg R and Beyond moving gently in the breeze stood a a field of broad beans in full flour Hazel squatted on his hunches and stared at the orderly Forest of small Glaucus trees with their Columns of black and white Bloom he had never seen anything like this wheat and barley he knew and once he had been in a field of turnips but this was entirely different from any of those and seemed somehow attractive wholesome propitious true rabbits could not eat these plants he could smell that but they could lie safely among them for as long as they liked and they could move through them easily and unseen Hazel determined then and there to bring the rabbits up to the bean field to shelter and rest until the evening he ran back and found the others where he had left them bigwig and silver were awake but all the rest were still napping unas easily not asleep silver he said it's too dangerous Hazel replied silver I'd like to sleep as much as anyone but if we all sleep and something comes who's going to spot it I know I found a place where we can sleep safely for as long as we like a burrow no not a burrow a great field of scented plants that will cover us sight and smell until we're rested come out here and smell it if you like both rabbits did so you say you've seen these plants said bigwig turning his ears to catch the distant rustling of the beans yes they're only just over the top come on let's get the others moving before a man comes with a rudoo or they'll scatter all over the place rudoo tractor or any motor they also call cars this cuz you know rabbits can't tell the difference silver roused the others and began to coax them into the field they stumbled out drowsily responding with reluctance to his repeating repeated assurance that it was only a little way they became widely separated as they straggled up the slope silver and bigwig led the way with hazel and buckthorne a short distance behind the rest idled along hopping a few yards and then pausing to nibble or to pass droppings on the warm sunny grass silver was almost at the crest when suddenly halfway up there came a high screaming sound the sound a rabbit makes not to call for help or to frighten an enemy but simply out of Terror also it is never a good thing when you hear a rabbit making any sort of loud sound naturally they're very quiet they usually don't make any sound the most we got out of my pet rabbit was sometimes he would huff at us when he was kind of angry and he wanted us to stop petting him um but it's a bad sign when your rabbit makes a lot of of noise um they can actually die of a heart attack and die of fear so you need to be careful about that um Fiverr and Pipkin limping behind the others and conspicuously undersized and tired were being attacked by the crow it had flown low along the ground then pouncing it had aimed a blow of its great bill at Fiverr who just managed to Dodge in time now it was leaping and hopping among the grass tcks striking at the two rabbits with terrible THS darts of its head Crow's aim at the eyes and Pipkin sensing this had buried his head in a clump of rank grass and was trying to burrow further in it was he who was screaming Hazel covered the distance down the slope in a few seconds he had no idea what he was going to do and if the crow had ignored him he would have would probably have been at a loss but by dashing up he distracted its attention and it turned on him he swerved past it stopped and looking back saw bigwig coming come racing in from the opposite side the crow turned again struck at bigwig and missed Hazel heard its beak hit a pebble in the grass with a sound like a snail shell when a thrush beats it on a stone as silver followed bigwig it recovered itself and faced him squarely silver stopped short in fear and the crows seemed to dance before him it's great black wings flapping in a horrible commotion it was just about to stab when bigwig ran straight into it from behind and knocked it sideways so that it staggered across the turf with a harsh rockish CRA calling of Rage keep at it cried bigwig come in behind it they're cowards they only attack helpless rabbits but already the crow was making off flying low with slow heavy wing beats they watched to clear the further hedge and disappear into the wood beyond the river in the silence there was a gentle tearing sound as a grazing cow moved nearer bigwig strolled over to Pipkin muttering a rebal ala lampon I have no idea what that means um I guess that's more English slang or just English vocabulary that I am not aware of aware of as an American um Hoy Hoy you Embler pray Hoy Hoy the stinking thousand we meet them even when we stopped pass our droppings come on flu he said you can get your head out now having quite a day having quite a day aren't we he turned away away and Pipkin tried to follow him Hazel remembered that Fiverr had said he thought he was injured now as he watched him limping and staggering up the slope it occurred to him that he might actually be wounded in some way he kept trying to put his near side front paw to the ground and then drawing it up again hopping on three legs I'll have to look at him as soon as we're settled under cover he thought poor little chap he won't be able to get much farther like that at the top of the slope Buck Thor was already leading the way into the bean field Hazel reached the Hedge crossed a narrow Turf Verge on the other side and found himself looking straight down a long shadowy aisle between two rows of beans the Earth was soft and crumbling with a scattering of the weeds that are found in cultivated Fields fit charlock Pimpernel and mayweed all growing in the green Gloom under the bean leaves as the plants moved in the breeze the sunlight dappled and speckled back and forth over the brown soil the right the white Pebbles and weeds yet in this um ubiquitous restlessness there was nothing alarming for the whole Forest took part in it and the only sound was the soft steady movement of the leaves far along the bean row Hazel glimpsed Buck Thorn's back and followed him into the depths of the field soon after all the rabbits had come together in a kind of hollow far around on all sides stood the orderly rows of beans securing them against hostile approach Roofing them over and covering their scent they could hardly have been safer underground even a little food could be had at a pinch for here and there were a few pale twists of grass and here and there a dandelion we can sleep here all day said Hazel but I suppose one of us ought to stay awake and if I take the first turn it'll give me a chance to have a look at your paw um hu I think you've got something in it Pipkin who was lying on his side breathing quickly and heavily rolled over and stretched out his front paw Underside turned upward Hazel peered closely into the thick coarse hair a rabbit's foot has no Paws it's true it's just fluffy and furry and after a few moments saw what he had expected the oval Shank of a snapped off Thorn sticking out through the skin there was a little blood and the flesh was torn you've got a big thorn in there halow no wonder you couldn't run we'll have to get it out getting the thorn out was not easy for the foot had become so tender that Pipkin winced and pulled away even from Hazel's tongue but after a good deal of patient effort Hazel succeeded in working out enough of the stump to get a grip with his teeth The Thorn came out smoothly and the wound bled the spine was so long and thick that hawkbit who happened to be close by woke Speedwell to have a look at it fith above Pipkin said Speedwell sniffing at The Thorn where it lay on a pebble you'd better collect a few more like that then you can make a notice board and frighten Fiverr you might have poked the lendry eye out for us if only you'd known lick the place hello said Hazel lick it until it feels better and then go to sleep and that's the end of chapter nine thanks everyone um oh also um before I forget my mom cut my hair so look it is much shorter than it used to be um I think she did a pretty good job I like how um my mom can do layers for me and she can even thin my hair too she has in the past but um because I am in surgical menopause uh and I have H I'm on HRT um but there is no replacement for your own hormones it can be um close but it's not quite the same so um with that have been some changes in like my skin and my hair um I've noticed that my hair is not a little thinner and but but the tradeoff is that it is much less oily and honestly I'm fine with the trade-off of having slightly thinner hair cuz my hair naturally was really thick and I had to thin it whenever I got a haircut otherwise it looked like a bush so I am fine and happy with that trade-off and um yeah those are all the new things with me so um I'll see you guys later bye