Flip-flops and photography foolery.

What a day today. DFS woke me by ringing half an hour before my alarm was due to go off and it was raining. I’m fed up of the rain. The kids wanted to go swimming so I dropped them off and when I came back I popped over to the neighbours. I only meant to have a quick coffee but that turned into almost two hours leaving me only 15 minutes to get ready to go collect the kids.

I want to save some seed off the hollyhock so when I went home I  thought, despite the rain, that I’d nip out before I had to go and collect the kids to take a photo so I remember what the flowers were like. I grabbed my fleece and a rain hat, slipped on my flip flops and ran outside. It was hard taking pics with my left hand but because of my right wrist, I couldn’t use it properly. I  couldn’t get a picture through the fence anyway so I went around to get closer. Getting soaking wet, aware that I would be late to fetch the kids if I didnt hurry, I stepped into the overgrown grass and felt a sharp pain in my right foot. Looking down I saw the end of the plank of wood in the grass and I knew what I’d done. I went to pick up my foot but the wood lifted too. I tried to pull the wood off with my one good hand (remember my bad wrist that’s been in a support for two days) and realised avplanter of sweet peas was on top of it. So I had to try to balance on my left leg,without moving the right, put the camera in my pocket and lift the planter off the wood with two hands but without bending my right wrist nor taking too much weight with it. Achieving this, I had to pull the wood off my foot. The nail that had pierced my flip-flop and foot was very rusty and bent. I semi-hopped (have you tried hopping in flip-flops), semi-limped, and semi-skidded in the rain up to the house. Then I did my best to clean it but there was now mud that had splashed from the downpour mixing with the blood trickling out of the tiny hole and I now had 3 minutes to get to the sports centre to fetch the kids. Typically, the plaster I put on wouldn’t stick so I had to tape it on! I limped to the car, pulled off the wrist support which was now soaked and tried to get in the landy. Not fun with a right hand I can’t bend – hence can’t pull myslelf up – and a right foot painful to weight bear. And guess waht? The wet floor must have caused some type of suction with my foamy flip flops becuase as I lifted my left foot up to get into the landy, the bottom pulled off the bar that goes between your toe leaving the sole hanging off and getting wrapped around my foot! In frustration I flicked it off my foot and drove bare foot up town in a rush as I was now late. The kids were even later and I sat outside (couldn’t go out with only one shoe and a limp on the other!) for another 10 minutes.

When i got back I realised the khaki cambell drake had escaped and was wondering arounf the garden. I left him out. It was still raining and I wasn’t in the mood to chase ducks.

By this afternoon the rain was coming down in gallons and we had our annual eye tests. I took them up and the same as last year, we were split up – I don’t like that. I should have asked more qestions but wanted to get to see what was happening with the kids but the short version is that I need glasses for both reading and driving. I’m not sure why I need some for driving. I know reactorlite will be usefull for me because I really suffer with bright light but prescription glasses? My reading ones i was expecting because I find myself pulling things further away to focus on them – it’s my age they told me. I will research my prescription to see what it means. It seems I also have astigmatism.

I will put my results here if anyone wan’t to explain then (when I can be bothered to go and get  them!)

My foot’s throbbing now. As my nan used to say. I am in the wars!

I think I’ll save seed from these too:

Rain stopped play

The rain, that we wasn’t supposed to be having today came down in dribbles or downpours so I gave the allotment a miss today – it will probably do my wrist good, which is still quite painful, .

Instead, I’ve spent the entire day trying to sort out discounts for the allotment then a way to send out the information I have! I scanned the discount seed catalogue we had from NSALG which ended up being 30 mb and I tried to upload it somewhere, anywhere, for members to download. The only place I could put it was on my website and I didn’t really want to lose my anonymity by giving everyone my web address. I dont even know thats me! I signed up with Yahoo groups but I dont think everyone will want to sign up, I found a free web hosting service for community groups and charities which looked great but I found out that it wouldn’t host files  once I’d set it up.

I  managed to get the file size down to 1mb and made another accoutn with another free provider but despite it saying it accepts files up to 8mb, it wont accept it.  Then I tried to use my BT digital vault. I tested it by sending an invite an alt email of mine an invite but 2 hours later and i still hadn’t had one so i did it again – that was an hour and a half ago….

so I’ve given up and sent the files via email – i hope I don’t upset anyone.

I was really pleased with the potato company I mentioned yesterday. They were very helpful and patient with my questions and sent out a list that I’ve also sent to everyone. I hope people order from them because they have been very accessible and friendly, responding quickly to my emails. I would (and am to the association) highly recommend them for service alone – lets hope the spuds aren’t rotten! Just kidding.

It doesn’t seem like I’ve done much does it?  Blimey, How time flies..! it’s 1/4 past midnight and I’ve been at my computer since about 1 this afternoon!
I have to go to tesco now to get something for dfs’s lunch tomorrow…what fun and just for a change, i’m tired.

In a follow up to the wasp and worms, i think the towel did the trick. Not sure because the rain today might have kept them at bay – hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow

what a plot of messing about!

Over 3 hours, yes three hours,  this morning it took 7 of us to measure the plots and it turns out that we can all have one the same size despite the illusion that the site tapers. DDJ came with me and must have been bored silly! The plots will be good sizes  at 10.6 x 26 metres with 1 m paths between each. We’ve allowed an extra metre on the one side of the site to allow for the conifers (I’ll have to get someone to hazard a guess as to how tall they are  but I’d guess, maybe, 30 feet?) and it leaves a good sized path up the centre of the plots. We didn’t hack into the brambles today to measure the last plot but the person who will be cultivating it has lots of machinery to do that himself. The posts don’t look like they line up but anyone is welcome to grab a tape measure and check their plot size!

After measuring I came home to sort out dinner and went back later for an hour before it got dark ( by 5 to 9 tonight it was too dark to see what we were doing – wait winter, I’m not ready!) . I was really disappointed because I went to have another go at digging the bed for these potatoes on my own plot and my right wrist is quite painful. I tried for a while and managed about 2m x 50cm which was hard going because I couldn’t get my fork in past all of the stones but in the end I had to give up because of my wrist. I’d already bent my fork trying to dig and I’m really tired because I kept waking last night; maybe I wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as I have been.  Anyway, I didn’t do much and now my wrist is painful to move. I’ve taken ibuprofen and I really hope it’s better tomorrow – they’ve forecast rain coming on Tuesday.

Just before we came home, DSK (whom I’d dragged over to keep me company even if he was just sitting on a deck chair with his nintendo ds!) and I went to harvest some comfrey leaves from the pathways to use on the potatoes. I’ve read you should line the base of your potato bed with them so I’m going to do an experiment (1). While we were wondering up the site, I noticed a fairly clean crisp packet blowing about and, thinking someone was littering the site, grumbling and went to pick it up. When I did I noticed the expiry date was 1996! The packet is older than my kids!

• Other news today:

• I emailed a well known potato supplier yesterday to ask about allotment discounts and gave the link to our newspaper article to show what we were doing (or rather, the papers take on what we were doing) and they have responded immediately and positively. I am very pleased and would publicly praise the company but I’m not sure they want hundreds of people requesting discounts!
• I’ve also been volunteered to be on television as the BBC are coming to do a story about what we’ve done. I really don’t think I can do it. I couldn’t even do a presentation at uni.  The thought makes me feel sick and what do I say?! It’s only next week too so I’ve got some thinking to do.

(1). I have two 4m x 1.5m beds to fill with these potatoes. I’m going to plant half in each bed with a lining of comfrey leaves and half without. Then one bed will be mulched with the hay that we’ve cut and left and the other bed will be earthed up with soil. Then we can compare whether comfrey makes a difference and whether we find earthing up of mulching to be a better way for us to grow potatoes.

wasps and worms

I thought I was finally getting the hang of the worm bin I set up before and was beginning to add large quantities of kitchen waste. Every time I took the lid of a mass of worms tried to bury from the light. Recently my kids discovered jam making and badgered me to buy fruit. So off I went and bought punnets full of strawberries which sat in the fridge for two days and went off. I threw them in the worm bin which has encouraged hundreds of wasps. I hate wasps.

When I was a teenager I was sat upstairs on the front seat of a full double decker bus. I could see the wasps on the front window buzzing around. Occasionally one would swoop across the seat at me and I’d try not to fly up in the air. Then one landed on me and I tried to brush it away gently but it kept coming back. In the end it flew up and behind me out of the way. A short while later I felt something crawl down my back through the neck of my top. I tried to arch away from it hoping I wouldn’t squash it. I was in my terrified creepy crawly stage but trying not to look like a raving lunatic on the bus! Of course it stung me and wasn’t satisfied with one sting but went on to sting several times across my back and my dignified appearance was the furthest thing from my mind as I bounced and jumped about.

Anyway, it means that if I see a wasp now, I normally run, arms flailing and squealing in the opposite direction. OK maybe that’s exaggerated but I try all evasive manoeuvres. And now I have wasps in small swarms just feet from my back door. The aren’t happy staying there either but want to come in the house and the car and follow you around. The lid to the wormery has gone brittle (cheap but very effective worm bin) and the clips on the edges have snapped off which means I can’t shut the lid snugly and the wasps are crawling through the sides. I noticed them last week but there has been more wasps each day. This morning I thought it was quiet on the waspish front as there weren’t any flying about. I wanted  to gently open the lid to check and then move the wormery down the garden away from the house and back yard. Of course, as soon as I flipped the lid up a miniature cloud of yellow and black burst into the air accompanied by my hasty retreat.  Once they’d settled back down to a particularly decomposed grape, I hesitantly approached to return the lid. Managing this with thumping chest and running shoes warmed up I reached for the broom to push the lid a little more firmly from a distance and managed to push a bloody big hole through the top!

Today DFS has had to shoo over 20 out of the kitchen and I was complaining about them to my neighbour who told me that they’re having the same problem but on the other side of the street. So maybe my worm bin isn’t to blame. This afternoon as I came through the back door from being at the lotty, I noticed a shadow on the rim of my baseball cap right above my eye and I realised what it was just as DFS went to warn me that I had a hitchhiker. With lightning speed I’d managed to whack the front of my cap with my palm and realise that it wasn’t going to come off as my pony tail was through the fastening hole at the back. A split second later I’d gained almost panic status trying to rip off my cap without touching it and within 3 seconds of being in the back door I’d hurled the cap with the offending insect right at DFS! Luckily the wasp had taken quite a impact as it hit either DFS or the kitchen cupboard and was walking around slightly concussed instead of trying to revenge itself for it’s treatment – get em before they get you I now feel.

Although I don’t like killing things and I know they do a good job, I have put up a wasp trap. I’ve baited it with overripe strawberries in the hope that it will distract them from the wormery and I can begin using it again for our household waste, or move the wormery or, if the trap is very successful, move the trap away from the house.

Once it got dark tonight, I’ve taken the lid off the wormery, placed a folded towel over the top and replaced the lid. I hope that stops them going in. I also moved the trap to the other side of the garden. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Ebay woes – what a con!

What are they up to?  I haven’t sold anything on Ebay since DFS reluctantly sold his CBR due to cash flow problems and that was bad enough – restricted paypal account, etc .

I’ve now decided to have a clear out. A) because I am sick of all this clutter. It gets to you. Every room is the same but thats another post in itself, and B) to generate a bit of cash now that even our child support has been stopped (yet another post). So, to start off  I have 6 items to sell on ebay using turbo lister.

I ‘m selling a rotovator, cash on collection because I don’t want to pay insertion fees, and final value fees and paypal fees on top. Ebay says no… you can’t have cash on collection as a payment method. Why not? They get their percentage out of the insertion and final value fee. Why should I have to wait – again – for paypal which has restrictions on it because I’ve sold over £1000 – the bike.. Why am I forced to use this payment method and give them yet anothe slice of the cake?

I wanted to put a book on there. It is a heavy, hardbacked, cookery book. It needs to be sent as a parcel which starts at £4.41. I put the postage as £4.50. Ebay says no… you can’t have postage of over £2.75 for anything in this category. I was selling the £12 book , brand new  for 99p! It’s heavy to post. I offered collection as an option- but obviously not cash on collection. It would have cost me to sell it. I’m not selling it now.

I had a coat to sell. It was in the womens clothing section under jackets. Ebay says no… you can’t advertise it in that category! It’s a ladies jacket. What category is it supposed to be in?! I just kept changing it and resetting it to the same category and in the end it went through.

I have another book to sell. Ebay said no… (oh good grief!) you can’t have a cheque or postal order as a payment option anymore. Only electronic payment methods – i.e. PAYPAL! WHICH EBAY OWN! All of the auctions had cheque, postal order, bankers draft, cash on collection, direct bank transfer etc and it decides it doesn’t like this one.

I was going to start an irrate thread on the community forums in particular about ebay setting limits on the postage and packaging for a book  (when I can find auctions for 01p with £20.99 postage?!) but found people on there complaining of forced free postage and packaging. How can they do that?! It wouldn’t be so bad if Ebay compensated  the p&p but expecting sellers to pay ebay for the privaledge of selling items and cover the costs of sending it themselves is ridiculous! The reason I don’t sell on Amazon is because I don’t see how I could cover the cost of posting my heavy books (all of my nursing, psychology etc books weigh a ton!) and now ebay are doing it. I’d rather give them away than give Ebay the profits.  At the end of the day, Ebay is a service we pay for! They shouldn’t be dictating the details such as how much it costs to post etc. I know people get conned all the time but buyers have options. If you think that £20 is extortionate for the postage then you don’t have to buy it. Sellers aren’t being given  choices (just look at the feedback system now where you can’t leave negative feedback as a seller) . Ebay are telling me that if I want to sell my book through them, I have to cover £2. of the postage myself and make a loss of £1 and that’s before they take out their insertion fee and final value fee! Oh yes, and you can bet your backside that paypal will take a percentage of the full fee paid through them which will, of course, include p&p… I’m sure there must be some trading standard organisation that can see they are taking major advantage of their monopolisation.

If I could find a competitive auction site I would swap. Anyone recommend a good one in the UK? I looked at CQ Out but I found it hard to reduce the search options* (apologies for terrible english and spelling, i’m really tired now) so ended up with 5900 ads to trawl through when I just wanted to see what hatching eggs were on there just to see what range of items were for sale. Come on google or any of the other big players. Make some competition please!

*Narrow my search! That’s the phrase I was looking for. I think I should go to bed now. Night.

Two rings in one year!

Quick post – to be improved later!
first ring of death (rod) was green and on my xbox 360. lovely Microsoft, repaired and returned with no hassle and little waiting.
2nd ring was blue and was last night. went to get phone when i went to bed; the  lights were on but no one was in as the saying goes but this time literally! There were blue lights around the keys and the camera lense and a red light on the power button but the phone was unresponsive. Tried this morning – same result. removed battery, sim, memory, cleaned and replaced; repeated but no joy. I googled it and discovered BROD or the blue ring of death.
Read that there was a fix using sony’s update so I tried seus – sony ericson update service – and hit a problem: cannot download due to security zone policy? on firefox? another google and I discover a bug so I have to reset the Internet explorer settings that i’d increased due to regular attacks/trojans/popups despite not using the bloody software – another post.
I can then download seus. I  follow the instructions on screen but the phone is not recognised. Thanks again google! I then discover that i need to plug the phone usb into the computer not via usb hub. Ta-da! Phone recognised and currently updating. fingers crossed folks. i can’t not have a phone over yule!
okay, I was typing this and heard the noise xp makes when a device has been unplugged. I went to the update software window and it was showing the starting screen, I looked at the phone and it was dead. I tried to turn it on but got nothing. I unplugged it from usb and reconnected power in case the battery was dead but nothing. I disconnected and removed/ returned the battery and still nothing. I reconnected power started typing this and looked at the phone to see it had a bar going across the screen with “please wait” above it. now it’s gone off… now what?! I’ll try turning it on again. It says please wait in a blue square with a full bar below it. what’s it doing? I need coffee…

it’s turned on.. its lost everything. no contacts, no messages nothing. my best friend moved house and sent me her new phone number and contacts. another friend sent me new number last week – i’m gutted…

two lessons from this

first – back up your phone!

second – don’t buy sony ericsson. this is my first sony phone. have always hated the look of them but wanted the blogging feature – which doesn’t work on this phone/network for some reason and the customer services at orange uk haven’t heard of blogging… but still i’m stuck with this phone for 18 months.

christmas lights switch on

DSK came home tonight and asked if it was ok for him (and us) to go to the local village christmas light switch on. He has joined the choir and they were going to sing some carols. We went last year when DSJ was in the choir. On a side note, she has opted out of being Mary this year at her new school. This is  her biggest part ever as she was always a sheep or something similar at her old school. She is worried because she struggles with her words and stammers sometimes. BAck to DSK, I couldn’t say no to him but wasn’t in the mood. We went at 10 to 6 and were the first there, suggesting we’d got the wrong time, day or any other excuse to go back home. Then someone else turned up and we had to stand about. It was awful. We didn’t know the words, it was in an odd key for me so was either too high or too low and it was absolutely freezing. At 20 to 7 the teached said we were singing the last carol; hoorah, they’d turn on the lights and we’d go home but no. He announces that we’ll sing jingle bells for the second time whilst walking to the church.  Last year, we sang, turned on the lights and then people went on to the church for a drink and something to eat. This year it was backwards. I’d been in the middle of cooking tea when I’d came out; leaving instructions for DSL to finish it off. So, much to DSK’s disappointment, we came home. Thankfully and in a very unexpected moment of thoughfullness, DFS turned up to fetch us in the car. I was frozen and we didn’t even get to see the lights!

hens, greenhouse & rabbit

Sown perpetual spinach and white lisbon spring onions in 3in pots in the greenhouse

Fed hens very small amount of layers pellets, they’ve eaten some but not much

last night I “jointed” my first rabbit and left on low in the slow cooker with just enough water to cover. I’m hoping the meat will drop off the bones and I’ll be able to make a stew, or casserole or pie with it later today. I wonder if you can freeze it once it’s cooked.. hmmm…. yep I can. Cook it, allow it to cool, pack it, store it.

Mixed 1 dsp bicarb of soda with 1 dsp of water and applied to face. I read that it is good for acne. Left for about 5 minutes and rinsed off. Face felt a little sore and tingly but very clean. Need a moisturiser now.

Found these on Yahoo from Fabulously broke in the city:

Baking Soda Mask to Fight Acne
This is so easy to make and can work wonders if your skin likes it. (Remember, not every cause of acne is the same, so you need to try different remedies and masks until you find the ones that work for you.)
All you need are two ingredients. Baking Soda (ie bicarbonate of soda NOT baking powder) and water.
Mix a little together in your hands after washing your face with a mild cleanser and apply gently to your skin. Once you’ve coated your face with the baking soda and water mix, let it sit while you do other things around the house, or relax and read a book.
Rinse the baking soda film off your face and feel how soft and clear it feels. If your skin enjoys this recipe, and your acne improves, then you may try it several times a week to help clear your acne.

Egg White Mask
This is simple and quite frugal. There have been many instances of people reporting excellent results from trying it.
What is it? Egg white. Simple egg white.
All you need to do is separate the yolk from the egg whites. Then whip the egg whites until it is nice and frothy. Apply it to your clean face (using clean hands). Leave on for approximately 20 minutes and wash off with warm water.
The result? Tightening of the skin, clearing of red spots.
Possible side effects? If you’re allergic to eggs, of course, avoid this one.

Egg Yolk Mask
Egg Yolks contain Vitamin A which is good for scarring. To attempt this method of acne treatment, whip up an egg yolk, apply it to your skin for 20 minutes. Wash off.
There is some discussion as to whether or not you can catch salmonella from putting egg yolk on your skin. Do a little research before trying this one.

Acne Tonic with Basil
2 to 3 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1 C. boiling water
Steep basil leaves in water for 10 to 20 minutes. Cool, then apply to face with a white cotton ball.

Blackhead Remover Mask
1/2 cup fuller’s earth
1 tsp. tincture of benzoin
distilled witch hazel
Combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly. Apply the mask to your skin. Let mask dry and harden – about 30-40 minutes. Soak a small hand towel in warm water and lay it across your face.
When the mask starts to soften up, gently rub it with the towel in a circular motion. Rinse with plenty of warm water.

Sea Salt or Table Salt Mask
Swim in the ocean (or buy sea salt and make a mask). Or just gently wash with salt & water mixed.

Oatmeal Mask
Another kitchen remedy. Blend some oatmeal with water and gently spread it onto your skin. Leave it until it dries (10-15 minutes). This mask is gentle and safe.

Made measuring stick for seed sowing. Used a broom stale and measure inches on one side and cm on the other. I coated the markings and numbers in clear nail varnish.

Badger hit by car

DFS told me today that he saw someone in  a car hit a badger last night and they just carried on driving. He was several cars back all of the others carried on. He stopped but didn’t know what to do; he didn’t want to touch it but it looked dead and he was on his way to work. I looked it up today on the wildlife trust site and they recommend covering them and calling the RSPCA. I don’t know about you but I don’t didn’t happen to have the RSPCA number to hand but I have now looked up the RSPCA national number and put it in my mobile phone.

For those of you that would like it, it is 0300 1234 999

You can ring it for advice or if you suspect mistreatment of animals etc.

If I see you injure a protected animal I would have no qualms about reporting you. It’s not that I’m a “do gooder”. I see nothing wrong in culling pests or killing to eat meat but there is no reason to be cruel. There is no need for torment. Some animals are protected for a reason, hunting seasons are to enable management of some species but death for “fun” or just plain callousness or carelessness is needless. Aren’t we supposed to be the higher species?

I burnt myself :(

10 days ago I burnt myself on the breadmaker pan trying to shake a loaf out of it. It was sore but I didn’t think it was as bad as it was. The next day I developed a 4cm x 2.5cm blister. It popped and reblistered several times and continued to be sore. It was covered and had germolene on it but as it was close to my wrist, the covering kept getting wet or snagged on clothing. I took it off and it started to heal and dry out. Today it developed a crack across it which was quite sore.  The red/healing area is still around 4×2cm.  I redressed it with some more germolene to try to moisturise the cracked wound. Now it’s itching like crazy! It’s driving me mad. I thought I’d look up anything to soothe it on the web but failed.  Oh and here’s a tip. Don’t put burn crack itch into google unless of course… never mind, I’ll leave it with you.