Category Archives: memes

memes, personal

Unblogged October

Sun 1 Good grief, we’re 3/4 of the way through the year! Although it’s quite warm, it’s getting dark and dreary – the dismals (ie. SAD) are beginning to get me. Arrggghhhh!!!!!
Mon 2 It’s time to think about Christmas cards. As some here will know for the last 20 years we’ve had our own cards printed, as large postcards, often using one of my photos. We’re investigating something different this year; if it works it’ll still be a postcard but of some collage. We’re experimenting.
And as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, postcards work extremely well. Printed in bulk they’re cheaper than cards, they avoid all the faff of envelopes, and they hinder the writing of “family letters”.
Tue 3 A few days ago, when watering the plants on the study windowsill, I managed to water the scanner – rather more than I thought. In consequence it had some significant water ingress and despite mopping it out there was obviously water damage to the electrics as the scans didn’t properly. So buy a new scanner, which arrived today. It’s cheap and cheerful; not yet convinced about the quality of the scans, but it’ll do for a while.
Wed 4 N’s birthday. We went to dinner wih a long-time friend, and very pleasant it was – made better by it being our first social outing in in seems like forever.
Thu 5 Late abed last night, so had the luxury of a lie-in (well more like a good sleep-in) this morning. Consequently not much got done, except we did manage to audit the freezer – and just as well because the running log was 50% wrong!
Fri 6 How can the supermarket so comprehensively bugger up our delivery. 75% of what we ordered was just shown as unavailable. Of what we did get (ie. not a lot) we got milk which we hadn’t ordered, and double rations of two varieties of cat food. Central Customer Services didn’t know what had happened and had no reports of anything – but did help by creating a repeat order for tomorrow. Customer Services at the Fulfilment Centre rang me later on, but she still didn’t know what had happened and was demanding the warehouse find out – we both suspected a computer glitch. But everyone was duly apologetic and agreed it really shouldn’t have happened under any circumstances and we’d none of us seen anything like it before. Luckily, having worked so long in IT, I understand that these things can occasionally happen.
Sat 7 Fortunately today’s repeat supermarket delivery was fine, barring the expected odd couple of items unavailable. So a great cook-a-thon happened this afternoon – using all the old apples and tomatoes (not together), as well as making mincemeat & apple tart and a sausage and veg traybake for dinner.
Sun 8 At last the Jerusalem Artichokes have got a good display of small yellow sunflower-ish blooms. They’re only about 10cm across, but rather pretty. This isn’t surprising as they are very closely related to sunflowers; they’re all Helianthus spp.Jerusalem artichoke flowers
Mon 9 Having casseroled all the surplus tomatoes on Saturday, today they were turned into tomato & bean soup. Tomatoes pushed through the Mouli; onion & garlic sweated in butter; add the tomato, various seasonings & herbs, and a tin of blackeye beans. A substantial evening repast with some added grated cheddar and hunks of bread.
Tue 10 02:45. Fox barking out in the street. Can’t see it, but it sounds as if it’s a short way away. Actually I’m not sure there aren’t two – one in each direction. Probably territorial; it’s a bit early for fucking season.
Wed 11 Decided that my dermatology appointment scheduled for tomorrow would be a complete waste of time – it’s only a follow-up from January and there’s nothing worth looking at. So I cancelled it.
Thu 12 There’s something odd in the air round here at the moment. A couple of evenings ago one of the local pubs was burned out. It created absolute chaos at the time as it’s on a busy main road – and of course there was the usual crowd of sightseers. It’ll be interesting to see the conclusions of the fire investigation.
Then yesterday a family of beavers (2 adults, 3 kits) were released into an enclosure by the canal, about a mile away. Even the Mayor of London turned up! Said beavers are supposed to be re-engineering the water/marsh there, but I don’t see that there’s enough tree habitat for them. I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll give them 3-4 months before some thug has either culled them, or they have to be rehomed.
Fri 13 Our Christmas cards have arrived. They’ve turned out better than I expected. But you’ll have to wait to see them.
Sat 14 After a summer hiatus, another excellent literary society online talk, hosted by yours truly. We’re getting too good at this.
Sun 15 Why doesn’t it get any better? There’s always so much to do, and however hard you work you never seem to make any progress or reduce the length of the to do list. It’s almost always a case of you really need to do A urgently, but before you can do that you have to do B, and that needs C and D doing – but D can’t be completed until A is done! Arrggghhhh!
Mon 16 Oh bugger! Woke up this morning with a headache and dizziness – so much so that I was slightly queasy. That scuppered accompanying N to her hospital specialist appointment. Bloody labyrinthitis.
Tue 17 Rinse and repeat – although some of the soapiness has been washed out.
Wed 18 It’s raining. How unusual! The Rosie Cat has just come in and she’s sparkling in the light from tiny water droplets in her fur, almost as if the kids have sprinkled her with glitter. Really a rather fetching look!
Thu 19 Oh God! It’s crap IT month. First a dead scanner. Then a dead printer. And today my PC won’t start. No time to try to find out what’s happening, so I have to try to do everything from the laptop, plus the backups (on the server) which, of course, didn’t run last night. I don’t need this!
Fri 20 What a nightmare week. I feel completely shell-shocked. I’d like to say I’ll have a quiet weekend, but if nothing else I need to investigate what ails the PC. First I have to extract the tin box from its corner. Lucky I had the laptop pretty much ready to roll – although I keep having to drag files off the backup server and install odd bits of software, so everything is taking extra time. But we’re getting there.
Sat 21 Result! After lunch I bit the bullet and attached my wounded PC. It was refusing to boot; clearly not picking up the boot drive. Ensure everything inside is firmly plugged; and it has power OK. Swap the two drives to see if the cables are dead; or maybe the boot disk. Nope. Nothing. So I wonder if the power cable is dead; try plugging into a different socket on the power distribution. Yes! Everything works. So clearly one channel in the PC’s power supply has died; but (for now at least) the rest are OK. And we’re back in business! Job done in an hour, including recovering the updated files from my laptop. Phew!
Sun 22 After all that rain and gloom the second half of the night was clear – at least it was crystal clear at 06:30 with Saturn shining really brightly in the western sky. It was, however still overcast at midnight, so we missed the display of Orionid meteors.
Mon 23 What happened!? I actually managed to pick up a project rewriting web material for the literary society I’d not touched for over a year, and which should have been done ages ago. That was after I’d spent ages on IT support for the society.
Tue 24 Spent half the day looking at new laptops for N and maybe a new PC for me. More money! We’re having an expensive month. Luckily we have the money – but not for long at this rate.
Wed 25 Wasted so much of the day, again, looking at laptops and PCs. Nothing much usefully achieved other than the grocery order.
Thu 26 So finally I managed to get our new PCs on order. Laptop for N, and a new high-spec PC for me.
After this I discovered that somewhere in the IT chaos I’d lost the records for half a dozen new members from the literary society membership database. So that wasted a good hour putting it right.
Fri 27 Things are definitely weird round here. I’ve never been one for dreaming a lot; I could go weeks or even months without being aware of a good dream. But recently – say the last month – that I’ve been dreaming much more than usual. Well at least much more than I am normally aware of. And it seems to be mostly before waking in the morning rather than the middle of the night. I’m not one for recording dreams, trying to store them in memory, or trying lucid dreaming, so I don’t have much of a handle on what these recent dreams contain. I just have this vague memory that they’ve all involved some bizarre synthesis of school, university and my former work – pick any two, or even all three. I cannot explain why this is happening. There’s no obvious trigger: no change of medication; I get really good scores from my CPAP machine; I don’t watch horror movies or read horror stories; I don’t eat late at night. But there must be something triggering it. It’s very odd.
Sat 28 All children should be microchipped at birth. Discuss over dinner. Well we do it for our cats, dogs, horses etc., so why not our kids?
And the rest of us can get a catch-up chip with our flu jab or the like.
Sun 29 Evening meal: Roast chicken thighs with pork stuffing, with bubble-and-squeak du maison; followed by apple & mincemeat crumble & cream. And a bottle of very nice Greek white wine.
Mon 30 It’s no bloody wonder the counrty’s in a mess. You book the guys to come and take away a pile of rubbish. Yes, they say, we’ll be there between 13:00 and 16:00. Are they? Not a chance. It’s now 19:40 and pitch dark, and they’re now supposed to be here in the next 10 minutes. Ah, door bell; they arrived as I typed at 19:45. One lad; but very efficient; here and gone in 20 minutes. Job done, apart from some sweeping up to do in daylight. Phew!
Tue 31 Is it my back? Or my bowel? Or my bladder? I can’t work it out, but it’s bloody uncomfortable. I foresee another trip to the doctors. One is not amused.
memes, science

Ten Things: October

This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.

Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.

Great Biologists

  1. William Harvey
  2. Charles Darwin
  3. Aristotle
  4. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
  5. Carl Linnaeus
  6. Alexander Fleming
  7. Edward Jenner
  8. Robert Hooke
  9. Hippocrates
  10. Gregor Mendel
amusements, memes, personal

Unblogged September

Thirty things what happened during the month but which I didn’t write about elsewhere.

Fri 1 At last. The insurance has decided they’re going to cough up for Boy’s expensive vet visits. Of course, that’s all except the £140 excess. I have to admit to being surprised: we changed insurers earlier this year from PetPlan (ouchily expensive) to John Lewis (acceptably cheaper) for apparently the same cover. I thought they’d look at Boy’s history and decide what he had was a pre-existing condition and not covered; but clearly not. Now we just need the money in the bank account.
Sat 2 The blue tits are back. I’ve not seen a (feathered) tit in weeks and weeks. But lunchtime today there was one pecking industriously at the peanut feeder outside the dining room window; and another flitting about.
Sun 3 ‘Twas the day to retrieve the wasp traps from season 2 of Big Wasp Survey. And we have … a null result. I do wonder if this season is actually too early; wasps are still around but still seem to be hunting prey rather than sugar. Suggested to Big Wasp Survey that we maybe need to run session 2 a couple of weeks later. So, in part as a test, I put out another 2 traps for this week, which will still count for the survey.
Mon 4 Why does mouthwash have to taste so vile?
Tue 5 Woke up with a cracking headache having had a bad night. Why always before a busy day? So rearranged this morning’s optician’s apointment for next week. Went back to bed for a couple of hours dozing and felt much better.
Wed 6 Bloody hell it’s hot. I’ve been sitting here all day, with the windows wide open, absolutely dripping wet – might as well have been in a sauna. Actually it’s not the heat that’s the problem, it’s the humidity making everything close and sticky. We need a good thunderstorm, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get one.
Thu 7 Harvested the first of this year’s chilli crop. So far just one small red scotch bonnet from the one remaining of last year’s plants. But something over a dozen yellow ones. There are a few more coming – maybe another 10 – but I don’t think we’re going to have a bumper harvest this year. Not that this matters as we still have a large bag of last year’s chillies in the freezer.Chillies
Fri 8 44 years ago today it was a lovely bright, sunny, warm late summer day; just glorious as early September usually is … and just right for our wedding at St Peter’s, Acton Green. That day was so nice we both walked the 400m round the corner to church. Today we’re melting because for the fifth day in a row the temperature has topped 30°C. How did any of that happen? We still don’t know how we got here!
Sat 9 We’re melting – again! For the sixth day in a row the temperature has topped 30°C despite the fact that autumn must be here. The lovely Gleditsia tree outside our house has it’s first autumn coloured leaves. It’s always the first to change colour: to a glorious golden yellow. Within a week or two it will be completely golden. It’s amazing how it does so well as it is one of the last trees into leaf and the first to change in autumn. But well it does; it grows 30-50cm a year!
Sun 10 Another disappointing null result from the wasp traps this week. There are still wasps around, but I guess it is too hot for them to be winding down yet.
In fact it’s so hot one feels dopy in the head, incapable of movement and not needing much to eat. The seventh day of getting to 30°C, although it did cool a bit during the afternoon and there was a bit of drizzle.
Mon 11 What’s happened? What day is it? I’ve totally lost track. I’m completely in limbo. Turning into a zombie. Totally disengaged. Completely anaesthetised. Probably a combination of stress and depression.
Tue 12 This morning, Tilly cat decided it was time to keep the printer in its place. Who would ever think she was 10 earlier in the summer.Cat on printer
Wed 13 This morning happened my much delayed repeat eye test, with the head guy at my opticians. We’re both slightly puzzled but he could see some possible explanations for the aberration of the new left lens which is totally out of focus. After a very detailed test he’s tweaked my prescription, including reinstating the removed astigmatism correction, and is remaking the glasses (thankfully at their cost!). What I’d never realised before is the extent to which eyes can vary even during a test (as mine clearly were), and the possible slight variation of test results between different optometrists. The former must in part be due to the extent to which one’s eyes are watering etc.; and I guess the latter is partly down to the subjective way in which they do the tests and the dependence on the patient’s responses. Fingers crossed that it’s all OK this time.
Thu 14 Trip to the hospital for an audiology appointment this morning. In and out before my appointment time. Waiting outside afterwards to be picked up, I stopped to photograph a couple of pretty flowers.Hospital FlowersHospital girl
Fri 15 Feeling stressed. Too much happening. Not looking forward to tomorrow. Not my monkey but too much to go wrong.
Sat 16 Bugger. We both got up feeling Meh! N worse than me and queasy. Neither of us felt up to travelling, so sadly we had to miss the unveiling of the plaque to AP on his house in Chester Gate (report here). Not pleased. And continued to feel rubbish all day; if no better tomorrow we’ll have to test for the plague.
Sun 17 Rain! Right on cue at 13:30. And dear God it was dark – it could have been a December afternoon.
Mon 18 Thunder and lightening, not very frightening – to paraphrase Queen. Even though it was at 01:00. Again as predicted. But it was a fitting opening to a very crap Monday, although we did get our Covid jabs booked for later in the week.
Tue 19 In a few days over 6 months I’ve now passed 50 Postcrossing cards received as well as 50 sent and arrived – with another eight still travelling. In round numbers that’s two in and two out a week. The quality of the cards received and the messages on them is very variable, but that isn’t the point – it’s more about communication and enjoyment. Most cards have been to or from Germany, followed by the US – but only one sent and one received from the Southern Hemisphere (Indonesia and Australia respectively). Otherwise a spread across Europe, Asia (including China & Russia) and North America. So far complete blanks for Africa and South America. Here are cards 1-50 on our corkboard.Postcrossing cards 1 to 50
Wed 20 Off to see the wizard … well to get a Covid jab. Bookings opened on Monday and, having been tipped off by our neighbour over the road, we were able to book our jabs (and she hers) at the same time and the same pharmacy. So we all went together in the same minicab. The other two also had their flu jabs, but I declined as it always knocks me out for a day or two and I can’t afford that this week. All very efficient and quick (which is why we chose that pharmacy a couple of miles away); we were all 3 in and out in under 20 minutes. I subsequently booked my flu jab at the doctors for next week.
Thu 21 It’s an ill wind … The boiler man cometh. Oh no, the boiler man cometh not. Apparently he’s managed to hurt his head this morning so has had to cancel. Luckily all we need is the annual service. At least it took the pressure off the day.
Fri 22 Another small crop of chillies today. Two small red scotch bonnets, a couple of large yellow Jalapeno-like, and three slender hot lemon. Some will be used right soon; the others will go in the freezer. Only another 3 or 4 obviously on the way, but there may be some small ones; and also not a lot of flower now. Mind the plants screen about half the study window; they’re a good curtain!Chillies
Sat 23 It’s all right innit when the cat gets a 3 course meal and you only have 2 courses! All three cats had cod for their tea (an occasional treat) followed by some titbits of lamb from our roast. Tilly then had a third course of half a teaspoon of cream – she’s a grazer and eats only small amounts at a time, but wants a regular supply; the other two just eat. We had roast lamb with jacket potatoes and steamed mixed veg; followed by some nectarines.
Sun 24 I still do not understand why things are so knackering. Spent a good chunk of the day sitting at the desk doing mailing etc. for the literary society. And a couple of hours writing blog material, plus keeping an eye on the gardener, and trying to catch up on things which weren’t done during the week and should have been because more urgent stuff intervened. Exhausted by dinner time.
Mon 25 Collected my new glasses, and they’re fine. Everything is just that little bit sharper, and I’d adjusted to them even before I left the opticians. Result – at last.
Outside the opticians there’s this crazy 2 foot length of double yellow lines.Silly double yellow lines
Tue 26 Today in 1969 (when I was just about to go to university) saw the release of one of the great albums of all time: The Beatles, Abbey Road. The studios and “that zebra crossing” in Abbey Road, NW1 still draw crowds of tourists despite being nothing special.
Wed 27 Flu jab day. Lovely nurse at the doctors as efficient as ever. Why do they put a silly little round plasters over the injection site? There and back in under 30 minutes. I await the after effects.
Thu 28 Not a lot got done today ‘cos I felt “meh” and out of sorts yesterday afternoon and today; beginning to clear a bit by teatime. Probably the effect of the flu jab, which has otherwise just given me a slightly sore arm. Hopeful that with a decent night’s sleep I’ll be OK tomorrow.
Fri 29 Oh FFS! It’s the depression again! Unable to do anything useful, let alone think. It’s well past time for a new head and a new body.
Sat 30 Cometh the gardener, and it’s apple picking day. Just a dozen from the small Falstaff tree but nothing from Pinova – although we’ve already had a couple from each. So only a small crop, but worthwhile nonetheless.Apple crop
memes, science

Ten Things: September

This year our Ten Things column each month is concentrating on science and scientists.

Where a group is described as “great” or “important” this is not intended to imply these necessarily the greatest or most important, but only that they are up there amongst the top flight.

Things Science got Wrong

  1. Alchemy
  2. Earth-centric Universe
  3. Babies are conceived entirely from male seed
  4. Luminiferous Ether
  5. Four Humours
  6. Disease is due to miasma or the four humours
  7. Phrenology
  8. Martian Canals
  9. Phlogiston
  10. Electrons as tiny balls
memes, personal

Unblogged August

Tue 1 Why do banks have to make internet banking so byzantine? Liberating a small amount today from a savings account into daylight, took two transfers (via an intermediate account), and I lost count of how many authorisations, texted security codes etc. Even then it will still take overnight to be rescued.
Wed 2 Boy Cat to the vet for repeat x-rays. Sounds like they’re clear. More ouch of the wallet though; hope the insurance coughs up.
Thu 3 Joyful annual trip to the opticians – they’re always a helpful and friendly bunch. Eyesight (mainly distance vision) has improved a bit, as it tends to with ageing – and improved enough that new glasses are advised, which I was going to do anyway. But yet more ouch of the wallet: almost £1000 for specs, and that’s after a 20% discount: good rimless frames are not cheap (there’s no room for any error as they have to be drilled) and neither are varifocals; Nikon have stopped the lenses I had in favour of their more expensive ones; and the various coatings have also been “improved” at a cost – all round that’s £300 more than last year. But blimey, £3 a day to be able to see!
Fri 4 Yet again, I’ve been convinced since lunchtime that it’s Saturday. Why I just cannot fathom.
Sat 5 Dear God! What a dismal day all round. Not very warm. Peeing with rain all day. Stygian darkness, so we have to have the lights on in the middle of the day in August! And we’re both feeling meh – in N’s case due to poor sleep; dunno why for me. Gawdelpus!
Sun 6 Today’s the day for putting out the wasp traps for week 1 of this year’s Big Wasp Survey (now in its 7th year). As usual I have 2 traps, one up near the house, the other by the pond. They’re made from the usual plastic water bottles and spiked with a bottle of Newcastle Brown divided between them – I never know what’s the best inducement to use.
Also today I finally managed to get a (not very brilliant) photo of a speckled wood in the garden.Speckled Wood
Mon 7 Comes the gardener, complaining about the lack of Piccadilly line trains on our branch. He did do some gardening, but also fixed the shower door and decreed the dishwasher beyond economic repair. Yet more money going out, this time for a new dishwasher.
Tue 8 Quoth N, on Sunday midday foresooth, “‘Ere there’s three geezers digging up the road outside”. And lo, they were. Electricity board navvies; ripping up a large chunk of the pavement; right outside our house. In the process they’ve chopped into some big roots of our street tree; hopefully it will recover. They appear to have made some major repair to a cable (happily not the one which feeds us). They went away leaving their hole and piles of dirt etc. exposed to the elements and yobbos, and surrounded by virulent green plastic hurdles. It’s all still there today, two days on. I’m contemplating opening a book on how long the hole stays there before it’s filled in. One is irredeemably reminded of Bernard Cribbins.Hole in the ground
Wed 9 An Alice Through the Looking-Glass day: having to run fast to stay in the same place and ever faster to get anywhere.
Thu 10 The hole is no more. Noisy truck and geezers filling it in at 07:30 this morning, and taking away the debris. 10 ton truck parked right in the middle of the road. All we need now is the paviers to put the paving slabs down. Mind the men have left several of their hurdles standing on our neighbour’s paved front – he’ll be wanting to charge them rent; he’s that sort of guy.
Fri 11 Yet again, according to my brain it’s Saturday.
Sat 12 What are these guys on? When ordered, new dishwasher scheduled for delivery today 07:00-17:00. Refined yesterday (as promised to a 2 hour slot: 07:00-09:00. Up at 06:00. Guys ring at 06:14 to say they’ll arrive in the next half hour! New machine installed & old taken away; job done by 06:50. Well we are only 3 miles from their warehouse!
Sun 13 It was really nice sitting in the sun, but out of the worse of the stiff breeze, this afternoon. Just sitting, accompanied by a sun-warmed cat or two.
Mon 14 10 o’clock on an August morning in London, and it’s so gloomy you (again) have to have lights on to be able to see what you’re doing. Mind it doesn’t help when half the study windows are swathed in chilli plants!
Tue 15 Good evening wood pigeon! And your point is?
Wed 16 Yet another of those days with too much to do and then more, even more urgent, piled on top. Consequently quite a bit didn’t get done.
Thu 17 A successful hunt of the 1921 census for relations of my godparents. Well why not? Godmother needed only few details and it seems daft to shell out £200 to look up 4 records, especially when I already have access. One pleased godmother.
PS. My godparents are both younger than me! Yes, really! Work that one out!
Fri 18 I seemed to spend all day in the kitchen. First up the supermarket delivery. Then we had loads of surplus tomatoes (I always buy too many) so they were turned into tomato sauce. A blitz clean. And then cook spaghetti bolognaise (using some of the tomato sauce), which went down well for dinner with a bottle of red (some bolognaise left to freeze). That was followed by summer fruit salad with ice cream and a blackberry sauce I did earlier in the week. We’re both now stuffed and knackered.
Sat 19 A morning spent asleep. An afternoon spent sending Postcrossing postcards.
Sun 20 Having made tomato sauce a couple of days ago, and having 2/3rd left … tonight it was turned into a hearty tomato soup, with 3 leftover small potatoes and a small piece of pork chop from last night plus some fried onion and some mushrooms. Hearty it certainly was, served with grated cheese, hunks of bread and a bottle of Rioja.
Mon 21 Hot baguettes and brie for tea reminded me of one of the things my father (when I would have been in my 20s) liked for tea: hot buttered crumpets, camembert and a couple of glasses of hock. It worked surprisingly well – as did G&T with fish & chips.
Tue 22 I do wish I understood why there are some days (weeks even) when I’m depressed and unable to bootstrap myself to do anything. Most of the last week has been like that; just going through the (minimal) motions. Really no clue why.
Wed 23 Damn. Go to collect my new glasses. I refuse them. Something has gone awry with them. The left lens is useless; everything is totally fuzzy – worse than my (weaker) right eye with no correction. It was like that time when you try on someone else’s glasses and everything is totally out of focus and misty. I know the prescription did change but not that much – I’d expect the usual short (hours?) adjustment period but not a totally fuzzy lens. And the lens is said to be what was ordered. Have to go back for a second eye test in a couple of weeks time. We’ll see what transpires.
Thu 24 Hot and sticky with yet more Windows updates.
Fri 25 Another day, another week, another … something.
Sat 26 Well that’s the first time in a long while we’ve had a decent thunderstorm. It really only lasted half an hour, although odd rumblings continued. But it did include 20 minutes of absolutely cascading rain – real waterfall stuff.
Sun 27 You see these triffids, poking their lighter green heads above the passionflower covering the archway? I can just walk under that archway.Jerusalem artichoke plantsWell they’re Jerusalem Artichoke plants. Here they are from the other side: one set in the middle, one at the left, and another leaning off the right edge.Jerusalem artichoke plantsAs you’ll see, they’re in a raised bed, so the plants are actually about 10 feet (3 meters) tall – maybe a bit more.
We stuck a handful of (past their best) tubers in the ground in the Spring; and they’ve grown like … well … triffids. They’ll die back in the winter and it’ll then be interesting to see what sort of crop we get from them.
When I was a kid we always had a few Jerusalem Artichoke plants; they grew in a small patch of poor soil and still got to six feet. These are in good soil, with regular watering, so no wonder they’ve taken off. And they’re still growing – by rights they should have sunflower-like flowers at the top, but no sign yet.
Mon 28 They say today was a Bank Holiday; essentially the last of the year. But no-one around here seemed to notice or care. It was just another Non-day.
Tue 29 This cat has definitely got the right idea.Boy Cat dozingApart from going out for about half an hour in the middle of the day, he’s been in this state all day. As I write it’s 19:40 and he hasn’t yet even bothered to stir himself to demand tea. Unlike the two girls who’ve taken it in turns all day to tell you they’re starving.
Wed 30 Well who knew that foxes like digestive biscuits? Last evening N put out a plate of remains for the fox: bones and scraps from our lamb chops and a few digestive biscuits we don’t like from a box of biscuits for cheese. She reported that, bar half a biscuit, the plate had been cleared within 2 hours. Now I can believe a cat or two may have salvaged the lamb scraps, but unlikely all the bones or the biscuits. But as I observed, a digestive biscuit isn’t that far removed from a dog biscuit – and I’ve certainly seen of people whose foxes like custard creams. Cheese puffs anyone?
Thu 31 I was watching the squirrels this lunchtime and being impressed by their industry. They were busying themselves burying acorns from our oak tree in a nice friable piece of soil. They were digging for Australia; disappearing up to their shoulders in the hole. Then very deftly, with lots of scrapes and patting down, filling in the hole. Each one took a matter of seconds from start to finish. Busy little tree-rats filling their larder of winter!