Customer challenges! & Another webcam move maybe?

The Western USA, according to the sky news story looks to be having a torrid time with the weather lately. Las Vegas  was expected to "eclipse the record high of 47.2c this weekend and there are reports of 200 people at a festival needing medical help through heat related problems.

 While this sign near death valley says it all!

The BBC's Readers pictures this week is hanging off the story above with the theme being, sunshine, worth a look

Here's a pic I plucked from our sky view weathercam last Autumn

The customer challenges yesterday at the shop were bordering on a "Brian Rix farce!"  One was describing, "its a bit like a jaffa cake but in the shape of a teddy bear"  she had bought some 3 weeks ago and was sure it was from the cake isle.  After some cajoling and wandering around we finally tracked it down to an "On offer" item in the biscuit isle!
The best one however was one who had only bought the item 2 weeks ago but couldn't remember where she had picked it up from. A long drawn out description could be chopped down into "Like a bun case but chocolate" Armed with this i found our boss, "lets call her TracEy!" and described the item.  She said, Hang on is the customer a small lady? if so i showed her 2 weeks ago!"  The item she said was with the ice cream cones and toppings.
On the way down to the item i mentioned what TracEy had said and the customer replied, "Oh yes I remember her, nice lady"
No doubt today will have its challenges also!

I like this story from the BBC about Steam Trains It recalls the 126mph achieved by "Mallard" the worlds fastest steam train 75 years ago.

Mallard was the same shape as this one called "Bittern" and I remember as a boy seeing a similar shaped one called, "Sir Michael Gresley without realising that it was he who designed this class of train.

Finally - - - By popular request! well not really, Sally's sister stopped off on her way home yesterday and had a cup of tea with us in the garden and she mentioned the current Birdfeeder cam view was all very well but not as good as the old one.  She mentioned liking to see the odd glimpse of us and being able to see down to the house.  I'll give it a go at the end of the week!

Enjoy the day  

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The Taliban Diet! & A story of slugs and the crane fly in our "Micro Climate"

This is a must read story,  Really!  Here's a bloke called Pierre Borghi who is kidnapped in Kabul by the Taliban. He lives to tell the tale after 4 months and 25lbs lighter by being on the "Taliban Diet!"  which helps him escape because by the time he's lost the weight he can take off his shackles!

What a fighter!

"Its time to pull up the draw bridge", I said to Sally, a strange statement but she immediately agreed!   We had visited her "Big sister" a couple of weeks ago who has an enclosed garden and it just seemed so peaceful so we hatched a plan!  Living in a terrace its a cheek by jowl existence and generally you rub along quite nicely.  Sometimes though its nice to "have your own space" and that's what we are intending by fencing off our garden.
We will be doing the west side first then the north side and sit back and think about the south side.  It'll restrict our view of the garden from the house but there are plans afoot down at that end as well!  I may even have to re-sight the garden view cam and even add a new one looking back down to the house!!

This is a creepy story about a bunch of scientists in Japan who have Cloned a mouse from a single drop of blood  I'm sure there's a good reason for doing it but its a bit beyond me!!

I see Mark Webber is quitting Formula 1 Hes moving to "Sports Cars" and joining a Porsche team which was always part of his "Personal Plan"  There will however be plenty of pundits trying to pin his angst with Sebastian Vettel on the move I'm sure !!!!

Go for it!

We were logging the other day and just about to park Boris up near our work area and a crane fly (daddy long legs) flew into the vehicle.  We were surprised at this because we don't normally see them until well into the back end of summer in UK.  I then picked up on this story in the Mail that says the The spring chill keeps the slugs at bay   It mentions that the crane fly is in evidence but claims as the title suggests that "the unseasonal cold snaps have kept the slugs at bay"  I would suggest looking at our Lakeland slate path up the garden populated by an army of slugs that we must have had a bit of a, "micro climate" They have been despatched to the wild patch! No doubt they will be trekking west soon to return!!

Busy day, no doubt, at the "Salt Mine " tomorrow more challenges and opportunities!  more of the former than the latter Imagine.

Enjoy the day  

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I get a penthouse locker & slippy grass at Wimbledon?!

Fracking!  getting gas out of shale! sounds fine but for some reason lots of people are up in arms about the way the gas is recovered.  The Americans have been Fracking for years and the price of gas has "plummeted"  sounds good to me.

Back to work today and I at last moved into my "penthouse locker" .  We all get the standard locker that needs a shoehorn to get your stuff in.  But the way the locker blocks are designed the top most ones have a sloping roof which is obviously meant to stop people stacking things on top of them.  So if you are lucky enough to get one you have so mush more room.  A colleague from the warehouse is off to join the Navy so I arranged to swap my key for his the day he left.

Work was its usual round of challenges with a new procedure to be wrangle with but nothing mind blowing.  Rice Mirin which is a sweet rice wine used for cooking was my best spot today.  A couple of girls from the customer services were searching for it and for whatever reason it had been moved from the "speciality" section it normally resides in.  I finally found it nestling in amongst all the strange vinegars!

I managed a bit of DIY once I got home modifying our rain cover over the steps at the back of the house,  a very satisfying outcome.  You know what its like when you are attempting a fiddly job you always expect it to take forever but this one went very well!!!

I liked the story in the Mail about a Lamborghini getting towed away it is reportedly owned by  a member of the Quatari Royal Family!  worth a look even just for the paint job!!

Finally - - - I cant believe all the press the slippy dangerous grass courts at Wimbledon are getting.  More than a handful are calling the courts dangerous where they have been injured falling over.  The club officials say the preparation has been no different from any other year but a number of the players are not convinced.

Enjoy the day  

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Pensioners out in the cold? & The worm turns in China

There will be much debate and grumbling on the costa del whatever this morning looking at this story in the Mail about Osborne's attempt to stop Ex pat pensioners getting the winter fuel allowance .  This is just the start though of a raid on pensioners in general with bus passes and TV licences also on the agenda!

 Pictures of a puppy and kittens grace this story where the RSPCA claim people are just Abandoning pets amid the financial squeeze  I suppose lots of people do it, oh yes lets get a pet it'll stop the kids being in front of their PC's and TV .  All to often then its the misguided parents who finish up looking after the pets and realising maybe they have made an error of judgement. On the RSPCA I have for some time not been a fan of theirs - - too many hidden agenda's for my linking!

Careers advice - - be a lap dancer and earn 48k  or so go's the story from Sky News about the Welsh "government's" idea of getting youngsters into work. They also advise them to be strippers and escorts!  Half way down the article though there is a line or 2 about some minister appropriately name "Jones" who is "investigating the gaffe!"   - - - brilliant!

The Chinese industrial worm appears to have turned with this story from Sky News about a bloke called "Chip Starnes", he could only be American with a name like that!(sorry USA readers)  being held hostage in his factory there  With the unions in China growing ever stronger its looking like "there maybe trouble ahead" for more western businesses.  To give you an idea why the Chinese have grabbed a huge chunk of the worlds manufacturing, I worked once for a firm who made wheelchairs in the UK the cheapest we could manufacture them was over £100.  We finished up shipping them from China for under £50!

Finally nearer to home - - - the logging is moving along nicely

 I pulled whats left of the tree down the hill a little with Boris to be able to get at it easier

 We shall be moving this pile today up to the stash on the hard topped track 

  And the bonfire of the left over twigs is getting larger and larger.  I'll burn this once it dries out and the birds stop using it nearer wintertime.

In the garden the squirrel seems undeterred at me moving the tray and nuts around the feeder area

Here its using its tail and feet to keep it attached to the top bar while it leans under the grey tray to get at the nuts!

And this Jackdaw has realised it can hang onto the fat ball cage and plunder that!

Back to work for a weeks shifts tomorrow - - - deep joy!

Enjoy the day  

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More birdfeeder adjustments & I must buy a white T shirt!

I noted this morning that the death of Mick Aston has been announced at the age of 66.  He's the guy with the long white hair, normally sporting odd shaped woolly hats and colourful jumpers on the Time Team archaeological dig programmes.  We reckon to have watched most of them!  The cause of his death has not been announced, I fear he will be sadly missed if any further Time Team series are in development.

I'm sure many will remember the murder of almost a whole family in a remote forested area in Switzerland in 2012.  The story here covered by sky reports the brother of the head of the family has been arrested for conspiracy to murder?

My recent adjustments of the various feeders on our webcam let all the "marauding" birds in for a free meal as can be seen in the following pics

This pigeon used the plastic tray to stand on while raiding the sunflower feeder yesterday for almost 45 minutes while it filled its crop. A "Clattering" (had to look that one up!) of Jackdaws also used it to attack the fat ball feeder as well as the sunflower seeds

So earlier this morning with the sun streaming through the trees

I moved the tray higher up in an effort to stem the attacks.

The pigeon flew in took one look and left while the Jackdaws looked a little confused

Before having a go at the offerings on the tray, they have also left now.  Lets hope the smaller birds return

Finally - - - A White T shirt with a single large letter on it can make a man seem 12% more attractive to women.  So that's where I've been going wrong!!!!!!!

Don't forget to take a peak at my  latest 2 minute time lapse video

Enjoy the day  

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NEW TIME LAPSE VIDEO! & No joke for the boat race protester

With the weather being decidedly soggy yesterday I spent some time making up a new time lapse video from all the pics I have been taking of a "View Across the River"  The link will take you to a picasa web album where you just need to click on the single picture to start the video.  Its just shy of 2 minutes long so wont take much of your time.
As I mention in the "description" the weather and foliage changes are quite easy to see but the river level and what's going on in the field over the river might need a couple of views before they are seen. Here are a couple of pics from the video. showing the stark difference between winter and summer.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago the BBC programme about a small village in the south of England where a number of cats were fitted with tracker devices and some with cameras to record where they went and what they got up to.  Here's a follow up from the Owners point of view  There are some funny and interesting stories in there!

The bloke, who happens to be an Australian, who disrupted the 2012 boat race now wishes he hadnt!,he's being refused a continuation of his visa to stay in the UK.  Its seems a bit harsh and coming so long after the event so to speak.  Not a wise decision for him to go for a swim in the Thames on that day!  His reason for protesting seems to be that "he regarded the race as elitist"  foolish person!

Finally - - - The curse of the Pharaohs so often seen on any number of films seems destined to continue when you read this article.  A small statue in a Manchester Museum turns on its base without anyone touching it!  Mmmmmmm

Enjoy the day  

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Joint pain? try a nettle sting! & logging moving along

Its long been a fact that natures remedies for a range of our ills has worked quite well.  Here's an article in the Mail where there's an explanation why the various plants etc work.  I don't really fancy embracing nettles to get rid of joint pain as it suggests but there we go!

I mentioned in yesterdays blog about plants doing quantum physics! well Here's a follow up story from the BBC suggesting they can also do maths to regulate the starch they consume during daylight to last them through the night.  Scientists are "astonished" to learn that plants can do arithmetic division! Mmmmmmm

I've seen this story a number of times over the last couple of days but I'm still confused as to why putting the motorway speed limit up to 80 mph would "alienate women voters".  Each time I have read the story I cannot see an explanation for this quote?  Anyone care to enlighten me?

Showing ID  when buying booze or pills is covered in this little tale where most people challenged about their age are either pleased, annoyed or at best inconvenienced.  Its something that is covered every 6 months at my work in the local Sainsbugs supermarket.  Generally its the people operating the checkouts who challenge shoppers for ID if they think they could be under age when buying age related items.  In the training video a young girl gets an £80 fine and a criminal record for selling alcohol to an under-age person.  I always bang on about why doesn't Sainsbugs lead the way and insist everyone has to show ID in these instances but it go's nowhere.

Trying to get rid of one insect kills 50,000 bees in this story about how a pesticide sprayed on trees to control aphids kills all the pollinators visiting the trees as well.  Yet another case of introducing something to zap one thing without fully realising what it might do others!

The birdfeeder cam  cam is still proving popular with the bigger birds just now here's a pic of a magpie from a few minutes ago, who's going after just about everything on offer.

Finally - - - The logging is going well although it looks as though the rain today might put the brakes on for a little while.  Yesterday I finally cleared away the remnants of the first big tree I dropped and set about lining up the second.

My idea is to drop the left hand of these two trees first.  I'm hoping that it will just fall onto the edge of the bushes and then maybe roll down the hill almost onto the pile of chopped wood in the foreground.  Its quite a straightforward felling apart from the fact there are a couple of dead bits up in the body of the tree that could possibly snap off as it starts to go.

It fell the right way but because of the spread of the large limbs it didn't roll at all.  I'll remove the bits nearest to the wood pile first then pull it down the hill a bit with Boris.
Enjoy the day  

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Floods all over the world & a baby called North West?!

Although the weather outlook was a little grey yesterday we managed a joint effort in moving some of our future firewood from the felling site up to the "stash" site on the hard topped track.  Here's a pic of the "stash" growing larger.

I hadn't realised I was in this picture standing on Boris's bumper and in the reflection from the windscreen.  The wood pile is coming along, the idea is to build up the front "wall" by a couple of feet and then just pile up the rest behind it, the water will hopefully run off the front onto the track once its covered to dry out.

You know how "celebrities" seem to have odd names for their offspring, I had to smile at this one from the USA.  A pair of celebs have named their baby girl "North West"  Thinking of how some of them have used the name of the city where the child has been conceived I wonder if in this case they were "facing" North West at "the time!"  The name doesn't really surprise me though when you look at the parents names "Kardishian & Kanye! Mmmmmm

Apparently the BBC has a weekly readers pictures theme and this weeks has been on the subject of flight, some very nice pics.

 Plants seen doing quantum physics trumpets this article about how plants "gather packets of light called photons" which is then "converted with,  "extraordinary efficiency" I think that means "growing" to us mere mortals! interesting text though.

Spam is a bit of a pain in your "In Box" but here's a way of dealing with it, big time!  A bloke finally has enough of being bombarded by one particular company and after "ticking the boxes" for a "Small claims court" action gets £750 compo and costs

Back to the weather once again, well I am English!  Our weathermen look to have not quite got it right today forecasting cloud and rain and at the moment the earlier complete cloud cover has given way to wall to wall sunshine so its "logging time!" Unfortunately though not for these people in Canada 75,000 people evacuated from their homes in and around Calgary!
In India as well Monsoon rains have caused a number of deaths, one of the factors seems to be that the rains have come earlier than expected and are much heavier too.

Finally - - - I have moved our birdefeeder webcam once again in an attempt to get more shots of the various critters using it and have picked up the following pics this morning.

On this one the squirrel is reaching down to get a nut out of the feeder 

 As soon as it gets one it sits on the top rail to eat it.  

Enjoy the day  

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Summer solstice today! - - all downhill till Christmas!

So its the longest day of the year today, its strange how the winter seemed to be hanging around for ages and here we are in the middle of the year and "looking forward" to the "nights closing in!  A little gem about the solstice and its associated importance with ancient religions is covered by the BBC in The Greeks who worship the ancient gods article.  It has the usual pics of strangely dressed people with odd ideas but the last line says it all for me "after the show the Hellenes dance and frolic in the moonlight" nothing like a bit of frolicking!

I moved our websites  birdfeeder webcam yesterday and this mornings stills seem to indicate the "locals like it"  I still need to adjust the little tray feeder (old paint container lid) so that its more in the shot and i think the camera needs a little more weatherproofing but the early results are fine

 The rail that all the feeders are suspended from gets some good shots especially on the live webcam

This story claims a Million people in Brazil are protesting about their Government and is policies and politicians.  There's an interesting list of things they are protesting about graphically displayed but one item of interest is tucked into the text.  The people are not happy about the money being spent on the countries hosting next years world cup!  could be interesting!

The BBC also covers this story about New Pollution High as Haze Chokes Singapore After Hong Kong, Singapore is my favourite city so clean and well run but the current "smog" situation is not their doing

Our Hotel for a stay in 2010 very swish! 

.  Large fires in the jungles of Malaya are producing the smoke which in turn is causing problems over a wide area.  I remember completing Jungle Training in that area and we were being helicoptered back to our base with huge swathes of the terrain hidden under clouds of smoke from these type of fires.

Finally - - - This gem from the Mail made me laugh.  Storing vegetables in a fridge can take away the goodness because the conditions do not mimic night and day  .  Ok there must be an element of truth in the story but keeping them in the light all the time like in a supermarket which is open 24 hrs is also considered bad for them, or so the story go's.  So if you have nothing better to do today. Rescue your veg from the fridge take them out into the sunlight, but not too long mind.  Give em a drink and have a chat with them they might "freshen up!" - - - before men in white coats appear to escort you away!

Enjoy the SOLSTICE day - - - dont forget all in the UK the clocks go back in 127 days! lol!  

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An idea for the bird feeder & Dreamliner nightmare?

I happened to be looking through the window up at the birdfeeder area this morning and noticed our resident squirrel chasing away the local jackdaw troop that raid the feeders every morning.  It struck me that all this was invisible to the live webcam  I imagined that if I moved the camera to the other side of the feeders and a little farther away all this "action" might be in view.  Its raining today so logging looks to be out of the itinerary, I might try moving the camera! 

Talking of logging I managed to get the first of the 3 large trees in the project down the other day 

The way the tree is leaning means its only going to fall the obvious way.  I have removed "the wedge" which will normally ensure a clean break as I saw directly towards the gap from the other side of the trunk.  The danger here is that as I make the cut the trunk could split due to the lean and a long piece of the trunk can flick up and catch me. 

Similar to this kind of pic.  People have been killed by this type of thing.  

Anyway all went well and its down and ready to be cut up into firewood

A couple of grizzly pics in this story from the Mail about 2 criminals in Kuwait being hanged in a car park just outside the prison they were being kept in.  Tough justice i suppose but having it out in the open really says this is our justice system and it works for us.  Rather than like ours which seems to be dictated by do gooders and a fair amount of EU bullying.

I think this story once again from the Mail is quite funny.  Its an article about what makes women feel good basically a list of 20 things that will make a woman feel good about herself.  Worth a read especially for the "younger man" hoping "to score!"  I wonder how long the list would be if it were a "mans" feel good list!  I always remember seeing this written on a toilet wall, "How to deal with women and kids - Just bullshit your way along!" Wise words or not? - - - I wonder.

Finally - - - A Boeing dreamliner flight has turned into a bit of a nightmare having to be diverted on a flight from Denver to Tokyo to Seattle because of an "oil filter problem" Still better a diversion than ending up crashing! I always remember back in the 50's the De-Havaland Comets seemed to fall out of the sky's regularly but still they carried on flying them?

Enjoy the day

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Or this one just to see  our live birdfeeder webcam

Coffee a sign of mass drug dependency & Mosel cooking oil?

I see Stuart Hall the "celebrity" finally rolled over and admitted his guilt over the allegations about his assaults on young girls.  So pious and dismissive about the allegations at first but now the sad old fool that he is.  He's going to spend 2 weeks in jail for every offence that has come to light - - methinks he got off lightly!   "Next!"

The Health and Safety loonies are alive and well in Tyneside according to this story from the Mail.  A dingy back alley which to all accounts helped "unsocial behaviour" was transformed into a "wildlife corridor" with flowers and shrubs by the locals.  The council even gave them an award.  Then the HSE spectre appeared on the scene and the whole place has been "deemed a health and safety risk!"

If coffee perks you up stop drinking it! says this article along with experts who claim its a sign of "mass drug dependency".  I wonder if this was written by the Tyneside HSE person?
Another drug story is rather well juxtaposed with a rape case that never happened?  Mmmmm . The case of Lindsay Sandiford  the drug courier on death row is weighed against a conviction of "just 15 years" for raping his 9 year old daughter who later died.  He claims to have not done the deed but pleaded guilty to the crime so that "police will no longer summon my family"  - - - Cant quite get my head around that one.  Some of the comments below the story about the story "as usual" are interesting.

Back at work for a couple of shifts now and the new store manager, "lets call him Mat" has been polishing his "new broom!".  The scuttlebutt around the shop is either that he's "getting on everyone's case" or "just being a manager!"  time will tell.

I was approached by an old guy yesterday who was asking for "Mosel cooking oil"  That's a new one I thought? knowing the Mosel in Germany is more renowned for its fine wine, as we shuffled into the isle with the oil.  "Yes", he said "Mosel cooking oil" its here on the Wife's list" waving a scrap of paper at me.  without my reading glasses even I could just make out it said Mazola cooking oil and directed him to the right item on the shelf.  I hope his wife likes the "vintage!"

Not long before the end of my shift a curious looking bespectacled man in shorts, who really with those legs shouldn't be wearing shorts approached me.  He stopped 2 feet away but directly in front of me and said, shifting from one foot to the other, "You can never find anyone when you're looking for something?  "I dont suppose you" but before he could say more I replied, "Well try talking to me and I'll see if I can help" wondering what on earth he could be looking for.  "Custard powder!" came the 2 word reply".  I pointed and explained where it was in plain view and watched as he wandered off without so much as a thank you.  Another challenge dealt with!!!!

Finally - - - Hopefully the tree on the left of this pic will come down safely today!

Enjoy the day

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One tree saved but 2 others - - have to go!

With the Laburnum in the front garden teetering at an angle but thankfully resting against a 3 inch fence post we decided to add another on the northern side to help support it.

The idea was to dig a hole a couple of feet deep and then set a post in quick setting concrete before pulling the tree upright and securing it

So there we are all secure now.  This is the second Laburnum we have had fall (almost) over the ground is not to rocky and we cant imagine why the roots don't appear to go down deep enough to keep it upright.  Fingers crossed now!

We always talk about the weather here in UK but here's a bit of a horror story from Siberia +30c one day followed by a snowstorm the next - - great video.

Here is a bloke who earns £50k a year and lives in a £300k flat but we're paying for his flat!!!!!  This is because he's a a beggar  He sits on his arse all day with the obligatory dog on a string and cons people out of their hard earned money!!!

Mind you this story takes some beating here is a woman who is suing the police because they wont let her be a WPC She "forgot" to mention that she had a conviction for stealing when she became a Police Community Support Officer.  She then gets the boot when the the conviction comes to light. But claims to have "amnesia" about just that single fact in her life and a judge even supports that she was "disabled" when she filled in the form, forgetting about the conviction!!! - - - -

An amusing article which is costing us billions is covered by sky news in this article showing that Useless public sector projects cost 120 billion £s    Scary really that these "buffoons" are allowed to squander our hard earned cash!

Finally  - - - this years "big trees are exposed and ready to be felled.  Here's a pic of the area before I started

Here's the area before I began thinning out the trees in front of the couple of large ones I was after felling.

I finally cleared all the hawthorn trees/bushes in the way and here they are exposed ready for felling there are 2 Oak on the left and an Ash on the right.

The Ash is a lot bigger than it looks in the pic and I will drop that one first before having a go at the Oak

Enjoy the day

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Wind damage in the garden

Having managed a couple of hours at the logging area I was erecting a hand rail up our steep garden steps when Sally came out to tell me the Laburnum in the front garden looked like it was going to be blown over in the gusty wind conditions which were preceding some brief rainstorms.

Sure enough its not looking too upright! luckily its leaning against a 3 inch fence post we had put in to stop it blowing over in the winter but the other post on the right is now far from adequate!  This is a very expensive tree nearly £200!   - - we had one previously in the same location and in replacing it I punctured the plastic gas main to the house! lol!

I looked on the net and its seems to be a bit of a problem with these tree's.  This afternoons job then is to put  a similar 3 inch post in the ground to replace the inadequate one and pull it back upright - - - fingers crossed.

A story in the BBC news will be close to most peoples hearts or more to the point the bottom of their shoes  You see it all the time dog mess all over the place and this article has a bewildering array of solutions which sound like good ideas.  The river and surrounding paths opposite our house have their fair share of poop and its obvious who are the responsible dog owners when they emerge from the paths carrying their little plastic bags - - - Many dont!

Turning to Cats the TV programme mentioned in yesterdays blog, it turned out to be of interest.  50 cats from a small village had the GPS transmitters and a smaller number cameras fitted to record their wanderings.  It was quite surprising to see how many entered other homes to raid the food of neighbouring cats.  So our "Interloper" is not such a strange animal then.  We are altering the feeding of our 2 to make sure there's no food around after we go to bed hoping that will curtail the visits.

James Hunt the Formula 1 racing driver of yesteryear is remembered in this article titled James Hunt: Remembering F1's Swashbuckling Playboy  I used to be an avid watcher of F1 when he was around and there were a number of similar "swashbucklers" to keep us amused as well as some fantastic racing.  Then the likes of Nigel Mansell came along who seemed to blame his failures on anyone but himself!  a lot of races developed into processions and the outcomes were fairly predictable.  The modern rules made it interesting but some of the races are decided on such ridiculous breaches of these rules that its becoming a bit of a drag watching even highlights.

The Australian endurance swimmer provides my first Daily Mail story there are some very good pictures showing the injuries she received from the "Jelly fish infested waters"  She claims to be "not coming back" to attempt another swim of the 160 miles form Cuba to Florida!

 An amusing, well amusing when you think about why its even been reported is this story from the Daily Mail It waxes lyrical about a survey conducted by the University of Pittsburgh into why taking 2 days off when you have flu can cut the chance of your work colleagues catching it by 40%  - - -- Think about it,  they don't get it because - - - your not there!

Finally another garden story, Wisteria you know the plant that adorns the front of old houses looks like a bit of a vine and had long sprays of generally purple/blue flowers.  We planted no more than a stick a few years ago up the side of a bit of trellis and in spring 2012 just as the flower spikes had begun to form a frost killed the lot.  We watched eagerly this year and hoped the frost didn't do a similar trick.  So here it is still on its way to maturity but with the heavy rain of yesterday set to return today I though I had better get a pic before the flower spikes were battered.

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More cat antics! & some lucky escapes plus I ditch the daily Telegraph

Little Sainsbury

had a quiet day yesterday after his 16 hour "excursion" the previous day/night.  His right eye appeared to be giving him some problems as it was half closed but after some pain relief and eye drops it cleared up quite quickly.  He obviously had some kind of fright because he stayed in almost all day and was present last night when, "THE INTERLOPER RETURNED!"

The interloper is a local cat who, realising our 2 are spoiled rotten and always have food available decided to pop in through the cat flap during winter for midnight snacks.  Now Sainsbury is no fighter so he didn't pose a problem. Tom unfortunately is quite deaf to some noises so unless he was up and about its unlikely the interloper would be spotted.

We eventually foiled the interlopers visits by taking the food upstairs onto the landing at night - - - or so we thought!  Last night I awoke around midnight and could hear the biscuits being crunched.  As I opened the bedroom door a black form streaked off downstairs to be followed by the obvious noises of 2 cats squaring up to each other.  I switched on the lights and shot after it to find Tom ushering the interloper out the cat flap and Sainsbury heading for the front window sill very quickly!  We are now wondering how to "resolve the situation?"

A cat story I picked up on is quite intriguing and will be on the TV later today Secret Life of The Cat  has cats with cameras and trackers attached showing their every move! There's a map showing where each cat wanders, I'm sure some of the owners will be surprised!

A couple of lucky escapes caught my eye in the news as 2  workers on a skyscraper in NEW York must have been holding their breath while the rescue went on after their suspended cradle buckled under them.  Another lucky escapee didn't have to hold his breath when his boat sank in 30 metres of water trapping him in I an air pocket for 60 hours!  scary story - - -

Endurance swimming's not something I ever fancied, not liking cold water for long!  I saw earlier in the week that the Australian endurance swimmer Chloe McCardel was attempting to swim the  160 miles from Cuba to Florida the original story told of sharks , jelly fish etc which was relevant because she was going to try it without a shark cage!  Anyway she was zapped by jellyfish after 11 hours and abandoned the swim.  I wonder how many wags are saying "Told you so!"  - - -

Finally - - - I pick up a number of "nuggets" for the blog from the Daily Telegraph newspaper.  I am however ditching this source because whenever I try to read a story I get a banner slide up the screen wanting me to pay for it.  Strange way to broadcast your news by stopping readers seeing it?

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Hey ho - the drama's of owning a cat!

We had decided to go for a lunch over at Hardwick Inn close to Hardwick Hall for a special anniversary lunch to celebrate our 16th married year.  The day however was being overshadowed by the fact that Sainsbury the cat had wandered out at 0730 that morning and not been seen by the time we left for lunch.

This was unusual because he tends to be quite a nocturnal character hunting his way through the surrounding local rodents and wildlife, then spending his daytime's asleep on a bed or cushion in the house.

We went for a short walk and spotted some young calves as we passed through one of the gates, Awwww!

  

The service at the Inn was rather impersonal from the young barmaid who seemed more interested in her chat with another member of staff rather than our order.  The food arrived without some of the order which admittedly came soon after we had straightened things out with the waiter.  

We sat outside in the lovely garden which has been developed in the last 10 years with the M1 thundering away in the background.  The meal was "adequate" in size but considering neither of us was on a diet it looked as though we were, as we finished it then began to rain!  The day was not going well. 

Undaunted we returned home both agreeing we should have stuck to our usual lunch venue The Grouse at Froggatt  Still no Sainsbury around.  I searched the garden and some of his favourite haunts and concern grew proportionally until around 2200, when he was still missing, I was consoling a tearful Sally who was convinced something was amiss.  

Sally, unable to sleep,  got up and had a cup of tea while I went back to bed to get some troubled sleep.  Just after midnight Sainsbury wandered in and started to eat the biscuits we move from the kitchen to the top of the stairs each night.  I awoke to sounds which indicated his return and we fussed over him for a while before going back to bed.  

This morning we noticed he was half closing one eye and put in a couple of viscose drops to ease the irritation.  He's now flat out up stairs asleep! 

Its raining now but there's promise of some brighter weather later, I'll have a go at "my book" this morning and hope to go logging this afternoon.  

Hey ho the drama's of owning a cat!

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Half the Snowdon Horseshoe & dont swim in the Blue now Black Lagoon!

I noticed this article this morning while skimming the news stories.  The main thrust is about a place not far from us in an old quarry where the colour of the water has earned the place the name of "the Blue Lagoon".   I'd never heard of it but it appears it was very popoular with bathers ands visitors even though the water is toxic due to chemicals leaching from the old quarry stone.  The local councils answer was to die the water black to make less attractive - - - -

Would you eat a Guinea pig ask the storyline in this one about a couple on holiday in Ecuador, its quite a long piece but in the end they do, apart from the head!  Its something Sally and I have discussed many times, if you are going to travel to "the foreign" whats the point of not trying the local dishes no matter what they are! 

I travelled across to North Wales on Sunday evening  as planned to walk half the Snowdon Horseshoe early on Monday morning.  I parked up at the Pen y pass car park which is the traditional start of a number of walks to the top of Snowdon.  After sharing my evening meal with the midges I wandered across to the loos to be faced with a notice from "the cleaners", which judging by the smell! were not in evidence and had not been,  for some considerable time.

A feature of the car park are sings about taking your rubbish home and quite a bit of finger pointing at people attempting the 3 Peaks challenge leaving theirs for someone else to remove. 

Similarly then the message from the 2 loo cleaning "Johnny's" was about, taking litter home and treating the loos like you would your own.  Having washed my hands in a non too clean sink I noticed as I strolled back across the car park there are "no rubbish bins" to be seen. 

Ok its going to cost to shift rubbish and make sure the loos are clean, "all the time" but the car park charges are steep enough to cope with this.  £5 for 4 hours (try walking up and down in 4 hours) or £10 for over 4 hours! someone is making a lot of money out of that bit of land!

Enough of this whining though.  After sleeping soundly in the back of Cyril my little van I awoke at 0500 to a clear dawn sky and 10 degrees C temperature.  I quickly made a cup of tea then in my haste to pull out my day sack promptly knocked it over!  Second cup of tea! in hand and munching a couple of energy biscuits i looked up at Crib Goch and decided to take "the easy way up" and come back down the Pyg track. 

After encountering a small group of 3 Peakers right at the start of the walk I didn't see another soul until I reached the summit. I do enjoy the "all alone" feeling of starting early.  Descending the Pyg track directly into the sun was very enjoyable after the lung busting ascent was very enjoyable as was the conversation with an old welsh lady wandering up it.  Further down I encountered the tourist crowds on their way up and all but one answered my cheery greetings. 

I finished back at the car park 4 hours after starting and after a cup of tea made my way back home noticing as i did that back in Derbyshire even the layby's have "rubbish bins provided" in the middle of nowhere!

Here's one pic from yesterday on the way back down showing Snowdon summit in all its glory heres a Picasa web albumn link where there are a few more. 

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Another Snowdon accident & Logging a new area

With the good weather yesterday I managed to finish off the annual job of painting the porch out the front and the kitchen window frames at the back of the house.  Its a job that needs to be done each year to stop the weather getting at the wood and rotting it away.  We normally don't get the weather to attempt the job until July so at least its out of the way for another year.

With that job done I went off to our logging area and started this years project in earnest.  I'm essentially going after a small number of large-ish trees but need to remove quite a few small hawthorn trees and bushes to be able to get at them

I'll be removing almost everything in the pic except the lone Holly tree on the far right which is a favourite of our friend who owns the land.  I pulled down the one on the bottom edge of the copse yesterday to get things going.

The idea then is to reduce it to firewood sized bits a move it up to the hard topped track and stack it up to dry.  I have previously stacked it where its been felled but trying to get to it in winter to replenish our wood store is virtually impossible as there are no real tracks on the steep terrain.

 Finally - - - I'm about to get all my gear together today for my walk around the Snowdon horse shoe tomorrow and I notice in the news this morning there's a report of an accident  yesterday on it.  A group of 4 were attempting the 15 Peaks route and had overnighted on Snowdon summit.  On the descent of Crib y Ddysgl one of them fell 60ft and eventually was choppered off the mountain to hospital.  The area where the accident happened is top right in the pic below.

I'll only use this route tomorrow if the weather is clear otherwise I'll more than likely walk down the pyg track which can be seen in the middle of the pic.

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Its World Oceans Day tomorrow, I wonder if they know!

Quite a nice article by the Telegraph about a 12 hour " live" dive today on the Great Barrier Reef.  Its going to played live on the net and you can ask questions as the dive progresses.  Its being timed to coincide with "World Oceans Day" Worth a read and maybe a peek at the dive link 

Another ecological disaster looks to be on the horizon this time in Liberia where the current President has sold off logging permits for 58% of the countries natural rain forest.  Mrs Sirleaf ( an odd tree related name) the President, won the Nobel peace price back in 2010 I think she should give it back!

Apparently Egypt and Ethiopia might be headed for conflict over Ethiopia's plans  to complete a dam to divert part of the River Nile's water to help irrigation and hydro electric projects.      The Egyptians are complaining Egypt is "Demanding that construction is stopped" and has suggested that "all options are open" to stop it.  They seem to have forgotten their own Aswan Dam project back in 1960 to 1970

Nearer to home there's an article in about how useless our politicians are I don't think we need too many reminders of this but it focuses on how Labour racked up our national debt and how the current Government hasn't the balls to do anything about it.  Not a riveting read but worth a look.

A forward look at the weather for the Snowdon walk next week has made me change it to going over on the Sunday with a dawn ascent on the Monday.

Finally - - - Back home we continue to have the sunny days and try and get a couple of hours in the garden each day.  Today's busy itinerary includes logging, painting the porch, changing the filters sponges on the pond filter and sitting in the sunshine.

3 pics to finish

The River time lapse view was stunning yesterday

Our Laburnum tree in the front garden is at its best just now

And this Azalea on our tp terrace is almost there with its display.  We intend moving this into the front garden in Autumn/Winter as its outgrowing this enormous pot

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Victoria Beckham - Woman of the decade! - speechless!

I nearly choked on my porridge the other morning when I read the story about Victoria Beckham being voted Woman of the decade! I thought it was a serious story until I read "The 39-year-old was crowned the winner in front of a host of celebrities at the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards"  Thank goodness it was only for celebrities!

I picked up on a story about the Marsh Arabs of Iraq.  I had read Wilfried Thesiger's tales of the Marsh Arabs , with their unique way of life and later how they had been persecuted by the Saddam Hussein regime for supporting the opposition.  The marshes were drained and the people displaced.  A major restoration programme is returning it to its former glory .   Worth a read 

The Matt cartoon in the Telegraph yesterday reminded me of our recent meal of some, probably 4 year old food from the back of our freezer! Man looking into freezer and saying to wife "so this coronation chicken has been in here for 60 years!"

Middle lane hogs on the Motorway's are a strange breed but their time is coming to an end if you believe this Story   There's talk of a £100 on the spot fine and 3 points on your licence if you are one.  Transport Minister Stephen Hammond has his say in the article but I reckon its him just trying to justify that he is actually working!

The logging is going well with the first tree almost reduced to firewood and I'm hoping to finish it off today.  Here's a pic of the job nearly complete the other day.

I'm planning a trip across to North Wales next Monday with the intention of doing an early morning walk around the Snowdon Horseshoe Tuesday.  It nice to start around 0530 in order to avoid the crowds that are drawn to the relativity easy walk.  Here's a Link to a number of pics to a similar walk I did in 2011 the video at the end of the pics is particularly good.

I like to complete the walk  "in reverse" approaching Snowdon summit up the southern side and descending down the Pyg Track.  If the weather is exceptionally clear though I will start up the Crib Goch knife edge route and use the southern route to descend.  Any takers? feel free to contact me for details.

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Prunes look like cherries? & Sally walks by the River

The story circulating that you only need 12 minutes of exercise a week to stay fit got a few inches of space in the news the other day.  It does sound like a covert way of getting overweight people, who it was aimed at going out and pounding the pavements.  Or maybe its all these "fitness clubs" that charge a fortune for "you" to run like hell and get nowhere on a machine.  I pass one of these now and again with large windows looking out onto Derbyshire fields and countryside and wonder why the people dont save their cash and just run around the fields outside!

So there I was 7 hours and 20 minutes into an 8 hour shift looking forward to being out in the sunshine that I can see through the windows way off at the front of the shop.  Up walks a "gentleman" carrying a basket with a few items in it and as I look up he adopts a "superior stance" and says, "do you have anything to do with putting things on these shelves?", indicating with his hand the tinned fruit display.

Thinking he's looking for something I mistakenly ask, "what are you looking for?"  He then says "nothing I want to show you something pointing at the top shelf and a long frontage of green labelled cans!.  "They are all Prunes aren't they?" he enquires and without waiting for my reply says "But they!" agitatedly jabbing a finger at the right hand part of the display,"are cherries!"  Why cant you move them along and put something a different colour next to those green labelled cans to avoid the confusion.

OK, the cans are all green labelled but there's a picture of a group of prunes on the prune tins and an even clearer picture of a couple of cherries on the cherry tins.  Coupled with that the cherry tins are bigger and the shelf edge labels are in the right position and clearly indicate what's in the tins above.  I sense a "Challenging" conversation will take place and even with, now, only 35 minutes of my shift left, rise valiantly to the tussle!

I explain that "Well Sir" (it always helps to throw in a sir in these situations) "we get issued things called "Planograms" which show plainly and pictorially where things should go on each and every shelf".  We cannot change these planograms because Mr Sainsbury wants all his stores to look the same.  He even employs people to visit shops and check the shelf agrees with the Planogram.  (heaven help the shop that is out of line!)

Looking really pissed off by now, the real reason then emerges for his rant and the picture immediately becomes clear!  he says "Well my wife picked up the wrong item yesterday and i have had to come in today especially to pick up my prunes!"  Do you know I really thought as I looked at him "Yes you do look like a prune man dont you"

"Well your Palnogram is stupid" he says, looking me straight in the eye he turns on his heel and strides away.  "Maybe its not the Planogram thats stupid" I reply. I check my watch and thankfully note, only 30 minutes left of my shift and wonder if any further challenges are heading my way?

The weather! after all we do talk about it a lot don't we?  Of late, well at least the last  few days has been magnificent, long sunny days with just a few clouds and the occasional cooling wind.  I'm just hoping that it doesn't descend into the soggy summer we had last year.

Sally mentioned she was going to go for a short walk yesterday and I urged her to take a few pics so here's  a link to 20 pics in a  Picasa web albumn if you have the time to look.  If not here are a few below

 Ransoms in full bloom now 

 Buttercups in the meadow 

 And 2 of the River Derwent on its way south here 

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