Eggs to stave off Diabetes & and the tent saga continues

cant seem to pick up the Express front page this morning but its "Another" diabetes story saying 4 eggs a week can slash your chances of getting diabetes ! - - - 

 mild temp stats this morning 

a very overcast weathercam this morning with forecasters unsure if we will have rain or not today 

The boots and tent saga continues - - - the boots arrived early yesterday but the tent was not at the designated Tesco pick up point and the rather less than helpful member of staff informed me "it will be here tomorrow".  Not having the young mans confidence i e mailed Tesco and asked if anything could be done?

While watching a thrilling finish to the days Giro di Italia i had a phone call about the tent. 

A very efficient and helpful Scottish lady said she would re-input the order to be delivered to the house on Friday.  I will be involved in some "alternative activity" that day but Sally will be "on station" hopefully to receive it. 

just finishing off the sky terrace yesterday before a lunch break 

no sunshine on our lunch break! - - -

Enjoy the day

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El Nino on its way! & boots and tents!

More EU issues on the front page of the Express with Mr Cameron hinting that he would like to renegotiate our membership and bring forward the in/out referendum vote before the end of 2017.  The latter however has a comment of "but he recognises the renegotiation could take time"   - - -

  Here's an interesting prediction that does have some dgeree of fact behind it Britain set to be battered by fierce snowstorms as El Nino cycle begins
Although "predictability" about an El Nino event is low at this time of year both Australian and Japanese Meteorological organisations are predicting the UK could have a severe winter! - - -

 I did a little training walk on Kinder Scout yesterday and it was a different story from my last visit in the sunshine.  The Temp was around 6.5c and the wind was really cold 

 I spotted this carving and a few others from long ago just off the main track.  This one is dated 1845 

 arriving at Fairbrook Naze it is still quite cold and the sky behind me is getting darker 

Down in the valley a short while later with Fairbrook Naze just above the small tree the first drops of rain arrive 

by the time i cross the river bridge the rain is starting to lash down and i get into the cover of the trees quickly 

My trip to the Lake District next week with an old mate is drawing nigh and here's hoping the weather is kind.  In preparation i had ordered a tent from the internet which didnt arrive!!!  My alternate plan was the same one from Tesco direct which will be ready for pick up today not yesterday as i discovered after misreading the e mail about delivery and stood in the shop with a confused staff member telling me it wasnt there! 

I'll get a new pair of boots i thought looking down at my old Hanwag GTX boots which have a number of stitch breaks on them and really should have been consigned to the bin years ago.  http://www.myhuntingshop.co.uk/ came up on the google search as being the best priced Hanwag's and "in stock" "despatch in 4/5 days sounded ok 3weeks ago!  

I then start to get e mails from myhuntingshop.com in Germany!  Telling me there is no stock and will i take a different colour of the same boot.  

No i wont i'll have another style i say, - - - No stock until the end of May.  Because they already have my money i switch back to accepting the "different colour boot"  "OK they tell me, we will order them they will be 3 to 4 days before we despatch them"  doesn't "in stock" mean "in stock" any-more? 

Finally DPD are scheduled to deliver today! - - - use myhuntingshop.co.uk again?  Mmmmmmm - - - 

 nice Temp. stats this morning 

great weathercam pic although we appear to have a spider on its web in front of the camera.  All the predictions are for a hot afternoon 

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders

No to boat migrants? & shed going going gone

With yesterdays headline about Britain to get tough with EU, today sees the new government saying  they will not take the EU quota of Mediterranean boat migrants - - -

 having emptied all the contents of the shed at the top of the garden we determined one day to take it down.  We had already promised it to the Peak Organic girls so it only needed to go onto their land for us to be rid of it 

 with part of our back fence removed all we had to do was dismantle it and carry the bits through the gap 

 almost done and Jenny from Peak Organics come to inspect here new shed 

 putting the fence back up poses no problems as the board positions are already marked on the cross pieces 

now what shall we do with the space left by the shed.  We are calling it the "Sky Terrace" but do we deck or gravel? - - - 

 warm Temp. stats this morning 

quite an overcast weathercam pic and forecasters are predicting  "light rain" until around mid afternoon 

Spending a lot of time in our garden we like to watch the swallows swifts and martins wheeling about the sky.  This year their numbers are down considerably.  Swifts are normally the first to arrive but I commented at not having seen any over the garden but then promptly saw 4 or 5 wheeling above the main road on my way to the shops in the afternoon. 

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders

post election hype now & will we see the sun today?

A note of optimism in the headlines of the Express although the text supports it to some extent with hints of tax cuts - - - the EU in/out vote will have to sit idly by until 2017 from the looks of things - - -

Brian Khoury's pic of a tornado in North Texas go along with the reporting of one death and considerable damage done by the twister as it touched down.  Tornado warning were however cancelled as the weather front weakened moving towards Fort Worth - - - We were out in the garden yesterday and a huge weather front approached with what we thought looked like a developing tornado way off towards Sheffield but nothing was reported - - -

 The Saudi's have continued their bombing of The Yemen although this time in the far northern province of Saada.  The city of the same name sitting in the Dammaj valley looks to be getting most of the Saudi'e attention.  It would appear the targets are Houthi rebels who, it is said have been shelling over the border in Saudi Arabia - - - No mention in this story of IS or Al-Queda who seemed to be their main focus earlier in the year? - - -

 not bad stats this morning 

the weathercam shows some cloud but it is set to thin out and let us have some sunshine after the particularly dull day yesterday 

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders

lots of "falling on swords & a busy day for us

with "failed" politicians falling on swords in almost every party the Tories plod on with their work of the last 5 years - - -

there's going to be an enquiry into why the predictions and opinion polls failed to deliver the correct result - - - why not just admit You were just plain wrong - - -

deciding the previous evening to do a Kinder Scout walk i was surprised how nice the weather was as i crossed the bridge just below the Snake Pass Inn

 walking on into the sunshine I picked an uphill start to the ridge way above me 

 around 45 minutes later i'm on the ridge with not a breath of wind and can hear a cuckoo calling in the forest way below me 

 A hare runs through the heather and can be seen on the skyline just right of centre in the pic.  It has just a little of its winter white fur left 

 10 minutes later i spot another in the centre of this pic completely devoid of its white fur 

 half way around the ridge and looking towards where Fairbrook Naze will lead me back down off the ridge 

 just down from Fairbrook Naze i take a rest stop sitting in the sunshine watching the Curlews wheeling low over the heather below me.  I'll avoid the obvious track in the pic through the heather because it is very boggy.  My route will cut off right at the bottom of this steep bit and descend down the re-entrant track  

 just onto the re-entrant track and looking back up to Fairbrook Naze the weather just gets better and better 

 this tree at 400m Alt has just about started to put out its leaves 

 while a 100m lower the leaves on this tree are enjoying the sunshine already 

 almost down now and i take a look back up to Fairbrook Naze 

crossing the bridge once again i finish and look back towards my start track winding its way up and around the spur in the distance.  Later on the weather, true to form and forecasters would turn very wet 

 the "new shed" is now fully stocked with all the items form the one at the top of the garden, we can dismantle that one and get rid of it and get on with preparing our "Sky Terrace" lol - - - 

 the anemometer for my weather station had been looking a little "awry" for a while so i decided to sort it out.  All the screws securing it had come loose and the wooden pole had started to deteriorate 

 sawing off some of my old windsurfer mast and with the anemometer fitted into the top of it i prepared to put it back up.  By now though it had been raining for a while! - - -  

 with Sally in charge of photography she decided to take pics of our unusual tulips 

 and a general shot of the garden 

 with the rain coming down a pace the job is finished 

we tested the new foldaway seats i bought in the morning under the new carport roof before retiring for dinner - - - such a busy day! - - - 

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders

Its The Counting! & cool stats this morning

With The Counting started of the polling results , The Express are "counting chickens" as are most of the press indicating Mr Cameron will be returned as PM, still a long way to go yet though in the counting - - -

 A high number of Tornado's have driven across the US Plains region causing damage and a report of one death where a woman drowned when her storm shelter became flooded. - - -

a break in the weather yesterday allowed me to finish reducing the first pile of branches to fire wood

the next, much larger pile will take a few days to reduce! - - - 

 back to cool Temp. stats this morning 

the weathercam shows a scattered mostly cloudy sky with most forecasters indicating some heavy rain this p.m. - - - 

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders