Gosh, doesn't time whizz by? I can't even remember what I did last weekend, except for my course at Jude's that is.
Phil has cut the last of the firewood now, and I just need to decide wheere it is goin to be stored so that I can use some pallets to make a base for the woodpile. I reckon that there's a winter's load there.
This week has been one of those ones where you feel as though the planets are aligned against you... everything has been going wrong. IT issues at work have dragged on and I've been moaned at, even though I'm only the messenger boy; some people will just moan at anything. Still, it's all sorted now.
I've had a bit of disappointment too - a neighbour who is out of work has been valetting cars and doing agood job of it by the looks of things. The van sorely needs doing, and I never have the time to get it cleaned so I asked J if he'd do it for me. We agreed a very reasonable price and he was to do it on Monday - I'd park the van outside his house when I had dropped Rosie off at camp.
I came back at lunchtime and the van hadn't been touched and J was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed that he was planning on doing it in the afternoon. When I came home later, he'd only just started, and I had made it clear at the outset that I wouldl need the van at 7pm to go to circuits. In his wisdom, he'd decided to start on the inside, so I had to drive to circuits sitting on a binbag as the seats were sodden.
It ended up with ajob that shoudl only have taken 2 hours lasting 2 days and the seats were still wet when I got it back at close of play on Tuesday. He has done a good job, but no better than do when I get time to do it.
I've caught a cold somewhere along the line; probably from the IT engineer, he was snuffling on Monday. Started off with a sore throat in the night and I felt bad enough today to go home during the afternoon
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Ever wondered about difference between Guts or Balls...
There is a medical distinction. We've all heard about people having guts or balls, but do you really know the difference between them? In an effort to keep you informed, the definitions are listed below:
GUTS - Is arriving home late after a night out with the boys, being met by your wife with a broom, and having the guts to ask: ''Are you still cleaning, or are you flying somewhere?''
BALLS - Is coming home late after a night out with the boys, smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the arse and having the balls to say: ''You're next, fatty.''
I hope this clears up any confusion on the definitions.
Medically speaking, there is no difference in the outcome,
since both ultimately result in death.
Ruby has been poorly this week - it started in the small hours of Sunday morning, with her choking and gagging. I was worried that she had something stuck in her throat; she's always scabbing and stealing stuff, so that wouldn't have surprised me.
She was no better by Sunday afternoon, and looking listless and not interested in her food, so I called the vet and they met me at the surgery - I was due to start back at work on Monday after a week off, so the last thing I wanted was an emergency in the middle of the night.
The vet wasn't sure about the diagnosis... could be a bronchial infection... could be a thingy stuck in her throat, so to be on the safe side, she was prescribed antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and Benylin cough mixture. Cost me a small fortune! My main worry was that she'd have summat stuck in her throat, which she could have inhaled and choked on while I wasn't around.The foreign object option would have also meant a possible operation to remove it, which I didn't really want to put her through.
I think that the diagnosis of a bronchial infection is the right one - she has gone on to develop excess mucus, sneezing and snorting as well as the oughing and gagging. I've been dosing her up, putting Olbas Oil on the blanket over her crate, and she slept through last nigth for the first time since Sunday, and didn't choke at all.
Fingers crossed that the improvement continues
I've been busy the last couple of evenings...
I had some gooseberries in the freezer (from the Outlaws' veggie patch) and made 14 jars of lovely, pink goosegog jam.
I have started hedgerowing and have made 16 jars of hedgerow jelly (wild apples, blackberries and elderberries).
There are about 3kg of red currants in the freezer (again from the Outlaws) which will become red currant jelly when I get a moment. I am thinking of adding rosemary to the red currant jelly to see if that works.
The Rowan berries are ready to harvest, so will get onto those when I get time, then freeze them to make into wild apple and rowan jelly.
The rest of the elderberries are coming along nicely and the sloes look set to be early this year. Crab apples are shaping up nicely, not too many of my plums have gone mouldy this year - nothing short of miraculous when you think how much rain we've had!
I love this time of year 
I always manage to miss the sweet soft fruits in the early summer, but this time of the year always sees me busy. Some of the jars will be saved for Christmas baskets and odd presents, the others will be sold to Rosie's customers.
It was Phil's 50th this year, and I was stumped as to what to do for him, then I came across this, something I was sure he'd enjoy.
We decided to make a day of it and drove over to Silverstone in the morning to take in some of the races before his stint.
These two - a Ferrari and an Aston Martin were due to go out on 'experiences'; I have to say that the Aston is by far a nicer car.
Just my colour!
The course is full of steep climbs, massive ruts, flooded sumps and inclines that make you think you're going to tip over!
Phil think he's joking when Nigel tells him to go down that precipitous drop.
Our lovely friend 'C' took Rosie and I to see Walking With Dinosaurs in Birmingham, something that Rosie has wanted to see since the tour started.
I have to say that it was totally awesome and far better than I'd expected. The photos that I took, and the video snips don't really do it justice, so I have included below a review from The Telegraph plus a video that is far more professional than mine. It totally absorbed me, despite the target audience probably being about Rosie's age or slightly younger. I wouldn't recommend it for the very young though as the two young lads in front of us were terrified.
It was almost inevitable, in this era of animatronics, that the BBC’s pathbreaking work of popular palaeontology Walking With Dinosaurs would spawn a stage version. Hatched in Australia in January 2007, this gargantuan show is only now making its first appearance in Europe, but what an appearance it is.
The transformation of the TV programme’s great creatures into life sized
puppets has created a genuinely impressive piece of family entertainment.
For sure, the production has its educational moments, as the character of an Australian palaeontologist guides us through millions-upon-millions of years of prehistory. However, he never dwells upon the archaeologically established facts or the scientific conjecture so long that a dinosaur-fixated nine-year old will feel like he is back at school.
Every snippet of educational information is but a brief preamble to the arrival of another wonderfully animated dinosaur. From the smaller creatures (raptors, moved simply by performers wearing cleverly created costumes) to the very largest (massive, mechanised brachiosauruses, which are literally driven around the stage), the sheer logistics of the show impress at every turn.
Although the emphasis is very firmly on entertainment, the show doesn’t sanitise its subject entirely. An early moment of prehistoric brutality, in which a liliensternus (that’s a five-metre high carnivore to you and me) eats a baby dinosaur, strikes a realistic note. The sound effects, too, are extraordinary; the roar of a tyrannosaurus rex had the woman sitting in front of me jumping out of her seat.
A real highlight of the show — in which creature design, sound and computer-generated graphics work in tremendous harmony — is the flight of the great winged dinosaur ornithocheirus. Operated impressively on wires suspended from the ceiling, silhouetted against projected images of a prehistoric Atlantic Ocean, this section of the show cleverly breaks any sense of repetition which might have otherwise developed with the parade of land-based creatures.
None of which is to say that Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular is a perfect show. In particular, the palaeontologist’s script could do with some work; a series of lame jokes, about such diverse subjects as politicians, Steven Spielberg, supermodels and his uncle fail to raise a titter. Not that the corny humour bothers the children, who are, after all, the show’s primary audience. They’re here for the dinosaurs, and the dinosaurs are truly awesome.
video:
This song is on my brain now....
Wonderful tune!
I booked us in for 2 nights at Shute Cottage in Doddiscombesleigh near Exeter. The cottage is deep in the Devon countryside, nestling in between steep hills and utterly divine. Carole, the owner, has decorated it all to a very high standard, and at her suggestion, I booked us into her barn conversion so that we had our own front door and facilities where the three of us, plus doggle, could snuggle down.
The sheer peace and quiet was just wonderful - no real traffic to speak of, no street noises and loads of lovely walking in the morning with the doglet. The barn was newly decorated and very clean too, with a super little bathroom and room enough to fit the dog crate in as well. She has two dogs, who generously allowed Ruby to share their garden; horses in the stables and meadow; chickens too.
We were greeted with a Devon cream tea (we'd been yearning for one all the way down) and then headed off to the beach to see if we could beat the gathering storm clouds.
The beach at Dawlish Warren runs alongsode the railway line and has a gorgeous cast iron bridge across the line.
I love the way that this patch of blue sky reflects in the water:
Tuesday was a fine and sunny morning as I walked across the fields and through the lanes with Ruby and Rosie
This little 'fairy' and her grandma joined us by the stream:
We pottered back to the van via the little village pub, where we sat in the shade with a Pimms and a Chapmans and plotted our trip to the beach to lap up the sun.
We ended up on Ness Cove; a tiny cove accessible only by a smugglers tunnel through the red rock cliffs. It was scorching hot, so Phil and Rosie swam in the sea while I lapped up the sunshine with Rubes in the shade of our little tent/shelter.We stayed there as the beach emptied, then headed back to the barn to get cleaned up and walk up the road to the pub for our supper with the dog, had to leave early though to get back before it was dark as we didn't have any torches on us to light the way.
On our last day, we came back via Cannonsleigh waterfall, which was only about 3 miles away. We climbed up to the top of the waterfall, through the most enchanting forest. 400 feet to the top and the most breathtaking views. The dog hauled me up and then dragged me down again!
Not quite dinosaurs, but nearly as destructive!
I decided to organise a 'lurcher walk' in the Midlands as no-ne on the Lurcher Link forum had done one yet. Quite a few lurcher owners in the vicinity came out of the woodwork.
I thought we'd do an easy first walk, so plumped for my favourite around the Herb Centre meadows and woodlands. My friend Cherryl came too, plus Heather with Myffy (aka Piglet). The woods were interestingly muddy and the ponds were very smelly as we found out when the hounds went in them. No casualties this time, except for Heather, who got knocked flying by the marauding pack and landed on her bum.
These photos are all a bit out of order!
I can't remember all the dogs' nor their owners' names, but here are the pictures:
Zubin's folks with the doggles:
Myffster was very muddy and wet by this stage:
Alfie and Bill; I wanted to take Alfie home:
Look at these gorgeous hounds waiting for their Mum:
A link to more lovely photos from 'The Dogmother' here
It's raining again!
I don't believe it - this morning was lovely.... blue skies... sunshine... balmy breeze. In the space of an hour, we had dark skies and torrential rain. What am I wearing to work? A summer dress and flipflops!!!!!!
I is gonna get soaked going home!
The Holiday Hens are leaving us tonight ; a shame because I'd got used to their cheeky faces and goose like noises. they've been a pleasure to have and the eggs were great too.
I've just totted up all the Race for Life money - both online and on the paper form... a grand total of £470 going to Cancer Research UK. A big thank you to all my friends and colleagues who sponsored me *grins*
A big raspberry though to a colleague who didn't pay up his fiver because I 'hadn't sponsored his missus'. 
I explained at the time that I plan to sponsor 5 friend, each at £5.00 every year, and to make it fair, I sponsor the first 5 to ask me... he was about the tenth person to ask. I hadn't realised that his pledge came with conditions..... so I've taken him off the sponsor form. A very dear friend, who I had moaned to about his meanness has upped her sponsor amount by £5 'to cancel out conditons'; I really hadn't expected that, was just venting my spleen at her.... she's right though - I'd have done the same thing!
Rosie has had a day at home today, as opposed to camp; she's been down the road to get some bits for me, but is now lying on the sofa feelign groggy.. 'appen she's got that flu-type thing that I had last week - mild form of the swine flu if you ask me.
A few doggie pictures to cheer us all up; some of those lurcher pups that a stray has had while in her foster home.
