Itisi

Before I begin, the Cast That Classic meme has been posted here.

Chickens. I’d like some. I have discussed the matter with Mr Blogs, but he doesn’t seem keen. The problem is mostly the bird flu thing, so maybe once that is over with, I shall approach the subject again. He wasn’t keen on getting a dog, and now we have two, so as you can see, he is easily persuaded. Anyway, I have been thinking about getting some chickens for a while, and it really does make sense. Although our garden isn’t large, we do have the space, they aren’t hugely expensive to feed, or tremendously difficult to care for. Plus, they have the advantage of providing eggs which you know the origin of, and also make a good form of garden pest control.

I really like the idea of producing more of our own food. I already ‘do veg’ but I’m going to expand the range of fruit I grow this year. At the moment, I only grow strawberries, red currants and blackberries, but I’m rather drawn to apples, plums and pears. Standard sized trees would be far too big for our little patch, but there are dwarf varieties that would fit perfectly. In fact, I could probably manage a veritable orchard of them. I would love to hear from anyone who grows this type of fruit tree, because I’m wondering what kind of harvest you get. Would there be enough for a few pies, and a batch of jam?

Another project for this year is to get into home brewing. Maybe not the nettle beer I mentioned in an earlier post. So far, I have had a huge problem convincing anyone that making beer out of nettles is a good idea. But, there are many other alternatives, the afore mentioned blackberries would make very good plonk, and I’m sure that one I have investigated further I will find other great options. I’ll let you know how I get one with this, and hopefully, pass on tips and recipes.

In the News:

During a routine security sweep, police found a small quantity of cannabis at the home of Defence Secretary, John Reid. Mr Reid has denied all knowledge of the drug saying “I have no idea where it came from, or when.” Coincidently, memory loss is one of the side effects of cannabis use.

The Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, is still under pressure to resign following his failure to deport criminals from overseas. What I want to know is, why on earth did they ever give the job to a man who looks like a malevolent version of Big Ears?

Other Stuff:

I noticed this little gizmo, when I was visiting Ally at ducking for apples, and I was quite taken with it. You can see mine in the column on the left, and you’ll notice it highlights all the comments I have made recently. This is great, I find it hard to keep up with which blogs I have left comments on, so it’s nice to have some way of keeping track.

I’m also trying another blog posting thingy, the other one was very good, but I couldn’t work out how to insert images while using it. I haven’t tried that yet with this one, but, fingers crossed, it will be easier to do. As far as I can tell, it only works with Firefox, sorry to any IE or Opera users.

Technorati Tags: meme, chickens, fruit, dwarf fruit trees, home brewing, beer, wine, john reid, charles clarke, big ears, coComment, performacing firefox blog tool

powered by performancing firefox

It seems to be my week for aches and pains. Yesterday, I woke up with a bad back, that has improved, but now I have a huge bruise on my leg, another just below my elbow and a sore shoulder, thanks to a rather undignified stair incident. I was walking downstairs, when my slipper fell off, in the process of trying to retrieve it, while simultaneously avoiding the overhang* I lost my footing, fell in a heap and slid down the last six steps. Ouch!

In the News:

The IPCC have upheld a complaint from the family of Hayley Richards, who was killed by her boyfriend a week after reporting him to the police for a previous attack. It seems so terribly wrong that in the 21^st century women are still dying because domestic violence reports are not being taken seriously. A sizable number of schools are without a permanent Head and large classes are on the increase. Fortunately, my Boys go to a village school where class sizes are limited, because the number of pupils is relatively small, but I sympathise with anyone whose child is in this situation. It’s really not good for pupils or teachers.

Other Stuff:

I’ve just signed a pledge over at Pledgebank, promising not to leave my mobile phone charger plugged in when it’s not in use. This is a bad habit of mine, and one I am determined to break. Five more people are needed to make the pledge a success, so visit this page, and sign up please.

Feeling musical? Well, have a go at this. It really is a lot of fun, even for the non-musically inclined. I have to admit my own composition was more than a little discordant, but on the bright side it would have gone down well at a jazz festival. Well, that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it LOL

* Low ceilings are one of the perils of living in a cottage, and the overhang on our staircase is very low. In fact anyone over 5’5” has to duck to avoid banging their bonce. This also makes moving large items of furniture a problem.

Listening to: You Do Something To Me – Paul Weller

Technorati Tags: domestic violence, ipcc, education, large classes, pledgebank, online musicmaker,

Hello Dear Reader. I awoke this morning with back ache, poo. I am guessing I must have slept ‘funny’, by that I mean in an awkward position, not that I was telling jokes the whole night. Anyhow, I am shuffling around slowly, and all of my plans for today have been put on hold.

A report examining the use of new technology in the UK has revealed that t’internet use is higher in rural areas than urban ones, although country folk are still more likely to use dial-up connections. I’m guessing this is due to BT’s reluctance to upgrade rural exchanges . . . in this village we had to have an organised campaign before they would let us have broadband, and I would think that smaller places would find it difficult to get enough signatures to persuade them that it was worth their while financially. It seems a shame that so many are missing out on the benefits of a fast connection simply because a large corporation wishes to make even more profit.

When did you last see a hedgehog? It seems the prickly but cute creatures are in decline. Help to track their population by visiting Hogwatch.org.uk and recording any sightings. If you haven’t seen any in the last year or so, they want to know about that too.

BTW not only is John Prescott the world’s most unlikely womaniser, he also seems to have a pretty huge ego. Last night Mr Blogs informed me, that some time ago, Two Shags declared Marlon Brando the ideal choice to play him in a film about his life. Quite why anyone would wish to make a film about him in the first place is a bit of a head scratcher, but the idea the JP identifies with Brando is even more puzzling. Here in the Blogs; household, the consensus was that Les Dawson would have been a far more believable option.

Listening to: The Archers

Tags:

• broadband
• technology




• hedgehogs
• john prescott
• marlon brando
• les dawson

Today is the 20^th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I remember the event clearly, Number One Son was a baby at the time, and the event caused a huge amount of consternation. Could you still breast feed, or was formula milk going to be just as bad because it came from cows which had eaten radioactive grass? Did this mean a whole generation were going to grow up with the threat of an increased risk of cancer hanging over them? As it turned out, most of these fears were unfounded, although printing them probably increased newspaper sales enormously. Most of the ill effects have been confined the the former Soviet Union, where it is estimated that there will be between 4000 and 93000 deaths due to radiation levels. Oddly, Wales did suffer as a result of the explosion, apparently due to some kind of freak weather conditions which sent the radioactive material over England, before bringing it down in the Welsh valleys. As a result there are still numerous sheep farmers whose livestock is subject to restrictions because of the effects of radiation. Bearing all this in mind, one does hope that the government will refuse to give in to the calls from the nuclear industry to build make nuclear power the fuel of the future. Their argument that it is the only reliable ‘green’ energy supply really are bogus, especially when one considers the results should it all go horribly wrong.

Am I the only one who finds the whole John Prescott affair thing a bit odd. I know they say power is a huge aphrodisiac, but, the man has a face like the proverbial wasp chewing bull dog. You just wouldn’t, would you?

It’s a well known fact, that many men become footballers, or join bands in order to win favour with the girlies. But, what about those poor unfortunates who don’t have the talent to do such things? Well, they perform bizarre, and slightly dull escape stunts instead.

Any bloggers reading this . . . and I think that is most visitors*, might like to take a look at this blogging tool thingy, that lets you post from your desktop. I’m just getting to grips with it, but it seems pretty easy to set up and use, and works with a range of blogging systems. It does other things too, such as adding tags, so seems pretty useful overall.

* With the exception of Mr. Blogs friend, Dave, who stubbornly refuses to get one. Come on Dave, really, it’s even more fun than a website, and if don’t I’ll start calling you Mr Stuck in the Past.

I’m a little worried about the result of this quiz, considering the kind of movie that brought Paris Hilton to prominence . . .

What Would Paris Say About You? LJ Username Age Style Prep Punk Goth Classy Emo Girly Color Hair Brown Blonde Black Red Strawberry Blonde Do you like Miss Hilton ? Paris would say .. Wanna Make a movie? This Fun Quiz created by keiera at BlogQuiz.Net

Sagittarius Horoscope at DailyHoroscopes.Biz

Listening to: Mozart’s 7th Symphony

Tags:

• chernobyl
• nuclear power
• john prescott affair
• david blaine

Good Morning Dear Reader I’m beginning this post with info about an issue that is all too prevalent, and which I personally take very seriously. Over at Ducking for Apples, Ally has highlighted the problems of date rape and domestic violence, in the form of a post containing a range of resources for anyone affected by these issues. These is also a follow up post which you will find here If you have ever experienced anything like this pop over, you may find some useful info. If on the other hand you are thinking this doesn’t apply to you, please remember sexual assault and DV can happen to anyone, whatever their age, social class or gender. Really, don’t believe the stereotype of feckless teenage girls with a victim mentality*.

Date rape isn’t something I have experienced, but I have several friends who haven’t been so lucky. On the other hand, domestic violence was a problem during my first marriage, and really if it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. I’m intelligent (well apparently so) articulate and confident. I come from a loving family, and had certainly not been brought up to think that kind of thing was normal. Ironically, this seems to be a common factor amongst ‘victims’ (I even know a 15 stone rugby player who was regularly assaulted by his GF.) Any assault of this kind is about one person dominating, or having power over another, remember that and it’s natural that abusers will aim for a confident, outgoing, bubbly person who could be seen as a challenge. There is no sense of accomplishment in having that kind of hold over someone who already feels that being a victim is their lot in life.

Sadly, there are still a large number of people who buy into the ‘she was asking for it’ idea. According to an Amnesty survey, 34% of people believe that flirting is a justification for rape! Following this logic, taking out cash or a credit card , or using a mobile phone in a public place means it is ok for someone to mug you. Do you think a mugger would get any sympathy if he stood up in court and said ‘Well your Honour, he was flaunting an obviously expensive piece of technology, and I couldn’t resist the urge to punch him senseless and take it’. I don’t think so.

OK, back to the usual drivel . . .

The post has just arrived amongst which was an ‘invitation’ to receive discount laser eye treatment. For some reason the company send me these on an almost weekly basis, although I have no intention of ever undergoing such a procedure. Not being a superhero/underwear pervert, I really can’t see any need for me to have the ability to zap lasers from my eyes.

Watched second part of Sharpe last night, and wasn’t disappointed. The finale featured plenty of action, and lots of shots of Sean Bean striding manfully about, uttering profound Yorkshire expressions** ( ee by heck and so on) and naturally, his shirt became ever more unbuttoned as the story unfolded . . . be still my beating heart.

* I find the whole concept of victim-hood quite irritating, yes, this happened to me, and it was horrible. But, it isn’t the be all and end all of my existence. It goes in the same category as the time I got knocked off my bike by an idiot who didn’t bother to stop to see if I was ok, or the time the dentist gave me a filling without waiting for the anaesthetic to take effect. Life goes on, it was an unpleasant experience, but it’s over.

** Actually, most Yorkshire expressions are more than just slang or lazy speech habits. In this part of England’s largest county people speak a dialect left over from the Vikings, and it can be tricky for incomers to understand. So much so, that a couple of years ago, the local health authority produced a guide book for doctors from overseas who had come to work here, believing they were fluent in English only to discover they could not understand a word their patients said. I can relate to this, I came here from the Midlands, and lived on the east coast for ten years, and genuinely believed I understood how Yorkshire folk spoke. However, then I moved here, and realised that people on the east coast are in fact, terribly posh, and don’t have much in the way of an accent at all. Thankfully, Mr Blogs is a native of these parts and could act as a translator.

Listening to: silence, it is very quiet here at the moment

Tags:

• domestic violence
• date rape
• laser eye treatment
• sean bean
• sharpe
• yorkshire dialect