Something to look forward to

Over a rather huge limoncello cheesecake (see below blog) Chris and I got to discussing his 40th Birthday which is next year. We seem to have done New York to death over the past 8 years (I still love going) so we were thinking of going somewhere new. Now he has been to the west coast of Canada and loved it, and I have visited Seattle and enjoyed that too so I think we are drawn to a pacific trip.. Many years ago now I did go to San Fransisco and absolutely loved the city ( although I hardly remember a huge amount about it all), so last night we finally decided to book to go!!!!!!!!!

The cheesecake that broke the camel's back

I drink far too much wine and subsequently eat far too much crap, That my friends endith the lesson for today.

Last night we went out for an Italian meal, which was lovely. But as the wine flowed so did the appetite and as usual I shoveled down the biggest limoncello cheesecake, which I didn't really want. This morning I have a slight hangover and a rather nasty bloated stomach as well as the nasty realisation that I am putting on the pounds again, so when I have been indulging myself in bedroom window "thinking time", I have come to a small but significant epiphany.

I am going to cut down my alcohol intake drastically.

It certainly needs to be done as the odd glass of wine or three with crap television can become a bad habit, and I need to remind myself that I come from a set of parents that indulged heartily in bad habits. So from today avid readers you may notice a Bridget Jones style alcohol counter in the bottom label box (every week there will be a weight counter in it too, as a reminder not to give in to alcohol driven munchies.

Now I am NOT becoming a nun, heaven help me if I started down that route,( so you can be sure that my gossipy, wine fueled trips to Sheffield and the odd pub quiz and Italian treat meal will continue)- I just want to cut down on that regular bottle of wine and subsequent huge bites out of the cheese wedge that sneak in to every day life.

Bloody Pet Rescue

I found one of the Andrews Sisters dead in her nest box this morning. All the amber rockets are moulting at the moment, so physically are at their lowest ebb, but a sudden death (number two in a week) is very worrying to say the least. All the hens have recently been wormed, treated for ticks and fed properly, but I still am concerned that I am doing something terribly wrong.

So I drove up to the farm on the other side of the village to pick the brains of Betty the farmer's wife and self proclaimed poultry expert. She has 70 hens,a scruffy dress sense similar to my own and outbuildings to die for, so if anyone could give me some advice, she could. I felt better after chatting to her, as basically she said everything was pretty normal.She also enjoyed telling me some of the horror stories she had experienced with her hens (disembowelment of chicks by a psychopathic bantam), but it is always nice to meet up with a fellow poultry geek.

William is still having skin problems and delightful squits this morning (I had shampooed all the carpets by 8 am), so I took him and one of the remaining Andrew's sisters (who has a sore neck- see pic) to the vets.

I like to think that I am an expert of waiting room protocols now, as I have been up to the vets almost on a weekly basis this year, so with hen in a box, William on my knee and digital wireless head phones firmly in place, I prepared for the banal chatter of oh-too-serious-pet owners that are shoved together in the vets waiting room..

Pet owners can be like any other geeks in this world, as they can exhibit rather questionable social skills. You know the sort.........talks in an over familiar sing song way,always too loudly and always too much, BUT worst of all they talk TO their animals as if they understand EVERYTHING they say. So today we had the bunny lady.............on and on she shouted to anyone who caught her eye, about her pets, their pets, everyones soddin pets.........William sat on my knee watching her carefully as she regaled everyone with horror stories of her pet's illness'. I refused to make eye contact and tried manfully to listen to The Archers. After 20 minutes of this I could have strangled the poor creature, especially when she started to explain to her rabbit ( yes rabbit) why the dog next to her wanted to play ( he was used to rabbits at home)...I could have stood up and shouted "He's a rabbit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!he doesn't understand the concept of dogs playing with rabbits at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!he doesn't even understand ENGLISH....HE'S A BUNNY FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!.SHUT UP..........PLEASE SHUT UP YOU NUTTER!!!!!!!!!!"

Message to self........calm down.........and don't speak.

Anyhow the new Spanish vet diagnosed William with enteritis and field mite (in between his toes), gave me some poultry spray for the hens' sore wings, antibiotics and mite treatment for Will and stung me for 40 quid.in the process......

Zoo update

No rain today! I have been sick and tired of not being able to get the jobs done in the wettest August in 100 years, so today I hit the chores running and finished all field strimming, cleared most of the front garden,washed windows and swept the paths and road. Obviously I still have tons to do, but at least I have felt that I have started .

I received another request this morning for an update on all the animals, so apologies for the score of enclosed photos , I have tried to include every group.

Maddie, looking ever-so-slightly lonely on the beach this morning.

The typical stand off between Meg and William. I got an e mail from Susan (their breeder) the other day. She had entered a photo of the two dogs with George to a dog photo competition an we have won a month's dog food! result!

George, this morning on Prestatyn beach. On the way home I called in to the local animal rescue centre to put in a request for a dog friendly cat to replace Joan. They don't come up very often, which I can appreciate, so I am perfectly happy to wait for the right cat to come along. All the dogs are happy having a cat around, but George out of all the dogs tends to be the one that will "charge" a cat out of playfulness and devilment. Any cat we buy will have to have the skills to deal with him

Broody Nolan has been removed from her chicks today and placed back into the main run. I doubt she will stay long, but it is a start at separating them all, as she is getting ever-so-slightly irritate by the chicks excited natures

This is one of Broody Nolan's 5 chicks. I have not named any of them until I have properly sexed them all. I suspect this little one is a hen, but you can never be sure.

I have put up an advertisement in the farm and pet warehouse, in order to sell many of the 22 runner ducks. Mrs Baxter (the lady who first introduced me to duck keeping) already has a more professional advert up, selling her descendants of Nell and Maude's siblings.So I am wondering just how many callers I am going to recieve. I still have not sexed all the runners as yet.

The 4 youngest chicks are doing well in the shed. The black and white excelsior leghorn hybrids seem to have the same skittish and neurotic personalities as Melanie and Scarlett.

Boris and Grace, are not the brightest turkeys in the field, but seem to be accepting the more placid and friendly Buffs. Above, the little cockerel Clover stalks past a slightly vague Grace. I will let the turkeys out of their run in a month or so. Apparently they are notorious roosters and love to escape, perhaps a long time in the small enclosure will "imprint" them to their surroundings.

Out of all of the animals (apart from the dogs of course), it is the buffs that remain my firm favourites.Because they were hand reared all five of them are incredibly tame, often climbing into my lap when I sit in their enclosure.

At the moment we have 73 animals

Porn star

Now I have just got off the phone with friend Nige, after an hour rant about the state of today's society.( we are like two grumpy old men).
Both of us hate those "baby on board" signs some parents insist of placing into the rear window of their cars. The implication of the sign is to me implicit, as it states that we as other road users should take more care when driving near this notice as if their baby's presence is more important to any other human being, located inside a motor car........anyhow this sign is not my "beef of the day"
When I was in Liverpool the other day, I noticed a young women driving in front of me. She had three young children in the back seat ( all in their child seats) and looked fairly well heeled. There was a sign in the rear of her car, and I assumed that it was the obligatory "baby" sign , but no, I was wrong, to my disbelief the bloody sign read "Porn star on board"..........
What's that all about?...am I alone in thinking that the sign was totally inappropriate to have when you have small children? What possible message does it give them?
In this dreadful age where teachers cannot tell their pupils off without risking disciplinary action and the wrath of new parents who don't want little Jack or Harriet feeling "bruised". can parents like this woman get away with this cavalier attitude to the sex industry............and can quite easily subject their kids to inappropriate messages such as the one I saw....what sort of a mother does this?
hummmm am I missing something?

Sukkar banat

Hazel and I enjoyed the Lebanese film Caramel, (Sukkar banat) (2007), which on the surface is just a middle Eastern version of that gay feast Steel Magnolias . Five women, all with varying problems (closet lesbianism, unhappy relationships,menopause,isolation,etc) live and work around a seventies style beauty parlor in Beruit. Yes, it does sound very like the Sally Field emotional romp doesn't it? ( we even have one key scene where one character takes her anger out on another woman in a pure example of transference- which was lifted directly from the funeral scene from Magnolias), but surprisngly Caramel does have a little more depth to it's humour than I initially expected . The film's title comes directly from the local hair removal product, which is made by mixing heated sugar,water and lemon juice, to make a sticky sweet and sour "toffee" This "caramel", is a metaphor for the women's interwoven stories which are bittersweet.

Keeping well away from the city's troubles, writer, director and star Nadine Labaki gives a glimpse of a culture which you realise with a tiny bit of shame that you know absolutely nothing about. The warmth of the piece, made me want to learn more about an area which is synonymous to the west with terror and violence, and that is the strength off the entire film, It leaves you wanting more.

Nice performances from Labaki as a young woman having an affair with a married man, and a charming turn by Adel Karam (right) as the policeman secretly in love with her.

The whole film is a sweet, middle eastern chick flick.

Uncles and Aunts in the 60's

Today,I was thinking about the experience of having Uncles and Aunts, when I was a child in the 1960s. I suspect that the experience then is very different to the experience of the extended family of today.

Back then, all biological (and the many non biological) Uncles and Aunts had to be referred to by the proper title of "Uncle" and "Aunt".........Uncle Tom & Auntie Judy and, Uncle Bert and Auntie Margaret on my father's side and Uncle Jim and Auntie Irene on my mother's were the main protagonists, but family friends such as Uncle Fred and Auntie Greta as well as the Leslie Philips of the family, Uncle Arthur always seemed to be around at those family parties where pineapple and cheese on sticks were all the rage and every living room was various shades of gold and beige... The men seemed to be always dressed in brown suits, whereas the women always wore a new"frock" , drank babycham and had "big-ish" hair, Everyone seemed to smoke, drank alcohol then drove a car home, and no one ever wore a seat belt!!!!!!

Family relationships were more relaxed then. Uncles and Aunts were trusted, and could love and discipline nephews and nieces without any behaviours being monitored or worried about.

We lived in a simpler, risk assessment free and less paranoid society,or so it seems to me.

I have been thinking about all this all day, as Uncle Bert sadly died this morning. I called round to see Margaret with a flan and cake (I thought it would be more useful then flowers) and was reminded of all those family do's of past years.My nephews and great niece always refer to me as John.........and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I guess some of me wonders what it would be like to be thought of as one of those corduroy wearing,whiskey drinking "Uncles" of the 1960s

Orangina - Advert

I can appreciate that this is a clever Frenchadvert, but why does it leave me feeling rather uneasy?
answers on a postcard please......

Being missed ,catch up and proud to be British

Out of all four dogs, it is Meg that misses me the most when I am at work. With the funeral on Friday and two twelve hour work shifts at the weekend, she has not seen alot of me, so today to make up for the separation , she has shadowed me everywhere, with those sad watery "Margaret O'Brien"type eyes following my every move.

Chris has gone down to Broadstairs to catch up with his family, so I have spent the day on catch up.The hen houses needed washing again (red mite is never far away) and I have prepared a couple of vegetable boxes for sale to girls at work. After cleaning the house (yes still very satisfying after a stint at work), I actually cleaned the inside of the Belingo (believe me the inside of it looked like something out of gypsy encampment ),then caught up with Nu, who understandably is pretty flat and down after Friday. I can't imagine just how she is feeling.

On a more positive note; I am delighted that the Team GB has done so well in China. Being third on the leader board has caught the media by surprise, so we the general public have actually had time and space to actually enjoy their success'.without the usual ballyhoo and inane "knocking"from the Daily Mail reading reporters and journalists.

ps. did anyone else notice that there seems to be an awful lot of gingers that take part in bike racing....just a thought..............

A teenage 60th Birthday

You are never too old for a teenage party. You know the sort of thing I mean. Too much booze,a lot of dancing, 70 people in fancy dress and a great deal of good humour.
Ann and Tim's 60th was a super knock-down, no holds-barred over-the-top BASH. Fireworks in the garden, a sit down meal,booked catering,a huge tent with its own chandelier, a disco and band, as well an award ceremony for the best costume.It was great fun..

Chris cut a bit of a dash as Miss Marple, where as I resembled a horror film type of scarecrow rather the more benign version I had planned from the wizard of Oz

Ann and Tim seemed to have had a cracking time. Ann (with pretty good legs for a pre pensioner) was doing a Sally Bowles were as Tim was Jonney depp.

Janet was one of two Princess Leia's present and Ned was a slightly aging Luke Skywalker (below)

Below is Nephew Chris and Tim

He had the best outfit with girlfriend Becca (as Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslett from Titanic-complete with cardboard ship's bow)

Jayne almost upstaged everyone with her finely designed Cruella De Vil while her mum (below) looked ever-so-slightly evil as her turn as a school girl

Nephew Pete and family

It was all worth a hangover from Hell and I still can't believe I went to work for 12 hours today. It was well worth it though, as nights like the one we all enjoyed last night reminds you that you are never too old to have a good and slightly immature time......