Operation Wedding Reception
The trains are getting through to Sheffield , so with trusty wellies on feet
Operation Wedding reception is on!!!
The Mist Revisited
The Mist is an interesting and underrated movie which took a cross section of the American public and documented just how they fared when faced with the deadly threat of supernatural monsters ( the monsters being an obvious metaphor for the terrorist threat post 9/11)
In a similar vein the few Atlanta survivors of the Zombie threat in The Walking Dead have to face their own demons, prejudices and sense of self as a result of disaster.(though the characters are not quite as defined as they were in the movie)
The survivor group comprises of rednecks hunter and cop Norman Reedus and Jon Bernthal , moderate career girl Laurie Holden and liberal old guy Jeffrey DeMunn as well as the usual mousy housewife, obligatory nice black couple and couple of cute kids and it is slightly unfortunate that we don't see quite enough of the psychological hoops the cross section of this American population has to jump through when faced with a terrible non homegrown threat.
I will watch with interest how this cracking and at times terribly tense tv series will turn out in the newly commissioned second series.................hummm if the same thing happened to me...I would be the soft as butter East Coast Liberal hiding behind the redneck holding a crossbow!
The first casualty of Winter
One of the ghost hens is looking a little worse for wear. The freezing weather, I am sure, has not helped at all.,but with her comb now a deep congested red, it is obvious that something cardiac is going on with her.
I know the ghost hens have already out lived their allotted time; to be honest they should not have really survived into Autumn, but survive they have, and I am still hopeful that three of the girls out of the original six will live to see 2011.
The sick ghost is now holed up into a nesting box with water and feed. Her three sisters have refused to leave the warmth of the house and are presently eating a load of white bread which has been thoughtfully donated to me by neighbour Joanne
I am slightly saddened by the hen's deterioration.....I have so much affection for these fat old girls
The rest of the birds with the exception of the Bourbon turkeys are coping well.
The old hens, who are old hands at this snow lark, migrate daily to one particular field border where they manage to stand in the weak sun for all of the daylight hours, but the turkeys being thick as mince have not learnt that trick as yet. Both females Lizzy and Jane are moulting too, which is unfortunate, as the poor girls have huge bald patches on their chests and necks. After a bit of bribing (with apple) I have encouraged them to shelter in the duck house for the morning
The weather here remains cold but at least we have no more snow. I will hopefully get over to Sheffield tomorrow by train, yet need to fill the water butts today, in readiness for Chris to look after the stock, tomorrow.....The exterior water tap is still frozen...so , I have the a mammoth job of bucket carrying from kitchen tap to field!
hey ho
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| The Ghost hen's borrowed time was finally up this afternoon |
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| The Front Garden |
I know the ghost hens have already out lived their allotted time; to be honest they should not have really survived into Autumn, but survive they have, and I am still hopeful that three of the girls out of the original six will live to see 2011.
The sick ghost is now holed up into a nesting box with water and feed. Her three sisters have refused to leave the warmth of the house and are presently eating a load of white bread which has been thoughtfully donated to me by neighbour Joanne
I am slightly saddened by the hen's deterioration.....I have so much affection for these fat old girls
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| Bingley feeling the cold |
The old hens, who are old hands at this snow lark, migrate daily to one particular field border where they manage to stand in the weak sun for all of the daylight hours, but the turkeys being thick as mince have not learnt that trick as yet. Both females Lizzy and Jane are moulting too, which is unfortunate, as the poor girls have huge bald patches on their chests and necks. After a bit of bribing (with apple) I have encouraged them to shelter in the duck house for the morning
The weather here remains cold but at least we have no more snow. I will hopefully get over to Sheffield tomorrow by train, yet need to fill the water butts today, in readiness for Chris to look after the stock, tomorrow.....The exterior water tap is still frozen...so , I have the a mammoth job of bucket carrying from kitchen tap to field!
hey ho
Black eyed piss head
If you have not read the previous post then this one won't make too much sense!
Apparently I should have been wearing specs when I was a child!
Or so said the nice, Father Christmas -ish ophthalmologist who tested my eyes this afternoon.
He was so sweet and full of positive reinforcement statements (every time I read out the correct letters from a line he murmured a reassuring and heartfelt " well done!!" I found myself rather enjoying the whole experience...and so eager I was to please I actually forgot about the invasive lurking with the eye torch and the peppermint breath on my cheek.
When I lived in Sheffield ( yes THE Sheffield which is now under a two foot blanket of snow) I used to wear glasses for reading..they were awful Harry Potter monstrosities which were almost destroyed by an over indulgence of fine white wine at All Bar One ( as I was reminded in the last post by the elephantine memory abilities of Mr Bel-Ami)
The toilets of All Bar One are thoughtfully situated in the basement...and to get to them Joe Public has to negotiate a wooden ( YES wooden) staircase which resembles a ladder!
Many MANY moons ago Bel and I were putting the world to rights over several bottles of white and Red!
I vaguely remember being urbane and witty (with a big fat red face) and Bel was being all mysterious and Diva-ish when flirting with (what we later realised) was a psychopathic bar man!
Towards the end of the evening I tried to answer the call of nature and literally took flight halfway down the staircase!
My specs went for a burton (the barman found them later and mysteriously kept them!!!!) and all I remember was that I headbutted the door at the bottom of the staircase with my left eye! before bouncing back to my feet ( like drunks do) as if nothing had happened......
I must have looked a right lush when I returned to the table as though I had slipped out for a brief chat .........for I sported a HUGE black and rapidly closing eye!!!!........ and I can't believe that we continued our evening like two old ladies enjoyed a cream tea!
oh the silliness of youth
Apparently I should have been wearing specs when I was a child!
Or so said the nice, Father Christmas -ish ophthalmologist who tested my eyes this afternoon.
He was so sweet and full of positive reinforcement statements (every time I read out the correct letters from a line he murmured a reassuring and heartfelt " well done!!" I found myself rather enjoying the whole experience...and so eager I was to please I actually forgot about the invasive lurking with the eye torch and the peppermint breath on my cheek.
When I lived in Sheffield ( yes THE Sheffield which is now under a two foot blanket of snow) I used to wear glasses for reading..they were awful Harry Potter monstrosities which were almost destroyed by an over indulgence of fine white wine at All Bar One ( as I was reminded in the last post by the elephantine memory abilities of Mr Bel-Ami)
The toilets of All Bar One are thoughtfully situated in the basement...and to get to them Joe Public has to negotiate a wooden ( YES wooden) staircase which resembles a ladder!
Many MANY moons ago Bel and I were putting the world to rights over several bottles of white and Red!
I vaguely remember being urbane and witty (with a big fat red face) and Bel was being all mysterious and Diva-ish when flirting with (what we later realised) was a psychopathic bar man!
Towards the end of the evening I tried to answer the call of nature and literally took flight halfway down the staircase!
My specs went for a burton (the barman found them later and mysteriously kept them!!!!) and all I remember was that I headbutted the door at the bottom of the staircase with my left eye! before bouncing back to my feet ( like drunks do) as if nothing had happened......
I must have looked a right lush when I returned to the table as though I had slipped out for a brief chat .........for I sported a HUGE black and rapidly closing eye!!!!........ and I can't believe that we continued our evening like two old ladies enjoyed a cream tea!
oh the silliness of youth
Personal Space
This afternoon I am going to have an eye test!
It is about time.
The Laptop screen has been blurring on occasion, reading drug labels at work is suddenly rather hard work and driving at night has become a little bit of a nightmare!
So I will give myself a good wash, brush my teeth three times and give myself a couple of small squirts of "clinique Happy" in readiness for the invasive eye exam....
Is it me? But does anyone else feel that eye tests are totally embarrassing and a challenge to one's personal boundaries?
The last time I had such a test, I burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles when the examiner peered so closely into my eyes I could see the sweat stain on the inside of his shirt collar and smell that he had been sucking on "tunes" cough sweets before meeting me.
As a nurse I am constantly touching patients in an intimate yet perfectly acceptable and consensual way. This physical closeness is of course extended to relatives and visitors that often are stressed and traumatised and are in need of comfort and human contact, yet in everyday life, I have realised that there are very few moments that physical intimacy with a stranger actually occurs!
Having an eye test is perhaps one....... having a haircut or even a massage are others......But we as a race ( and a Northern European repressed race at that) live so much in our little bubbles of isolation that even the old fashioned contact customs such as hand shaking seems to have all but disappeared.
I have blogged about this before, but we Brits could all take a lesson from the peoples from more demonstrative climates...............and break this non touch "keep off me" taboo.
Bring back hand shaking as the norm that's what I say..... Yes that's it....break the ice with a firm grab and shake, that will solve the Nation's woes!
.....mind you...having said this......I still will be giggling with embarrassment when that eye examiner approaches me with his ophthalmoscope poised!!!!!!
Hey Ho
It is about time.
The Laptop screen has been blurring on occasion, reading drug labels at work is suddenly rather hard work and driving at night has become a little bit of a nightmare!
So I will give myself a good wash, brush my teeth three times and give myself a couple of small squirts of "clinique Happy" in readiness for the invasive eye exam....
Is it me? But does anyone else feel that eye tests are totally embarrassing and a challenge to one's personal boundaries?
As a nurse I am constantly touching patients in an intimate yet perfectly acceptable and consensual way. This physical closeness is of course extended to relatives and visitors that often are stressed and traumatised and are in need of comfort and human contact, yet in everyday life, I have realised that there are very few moments that physical intimacy with a stranger actually occurs!
Having an eye test is perhaps one....... having a haircut or even a massage are others......But we as a race ( and a Northern European repressed race at that) live so much in our little bubbles of isolation that even the old fashioned contact customs such as hand shaking seems to have all but disappeared.
I have blogged about this before, but we Brits could all take a lesson from the peoples from more demonstrative climates...............and break this non touch "keep off me" taboo.
Bring back hand shaking as the norm that's what I say..... Yes that's it....break the ice with a firm grab and shake, that will solve the Nation's woes!
.....mind you...having said this......I still will be giggling with embarrassment when that eye examiner approaches me with his ophthalmoscope poised!!!!!!
Hey Ho
Bored, Bored , Bored
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| The valiant little group of hen houses face the snow |
The farm tractors have compacted the snow into sheet ice and this coupled with incline of the lane has meant that only 4 x4 s and farm traffic have managed to get through!
Having said this I was gob smacked yesterday when Della from pen-y-cefn-isa shot right up the lane in her tiny nissan Micra, without stopping once!!!
That certainly knocked my masculinity!
So armed with a spade and my fisherman's socks, I am just about to try another lane run to escape the village for an hour or so.Earlier the dogs followed Constance's example and all peed on the back patio (she looked at me sternly this morning as if to say "you've got to be f*cking kidding") when I took them all for a walk at 7.30...and then promptly opened her bladder like a horse two inches outside the back door!
Yellow snow is not a pretty sight.
I am due to go to Sheffield on Saturday to attend a wedding do! ( the daughter of the famous Bel Ami!!!) I just hope I can get there!!! I need to shed my wellies for an evening in the city at least once this year!!!
Just before 5am
Chris is flying up to Glasgow this morning and got picked up by his taxi from a snow strewn main road hours before dawn.
The dogs remained firmly asleep. The three terriers all hiding under the bed eiderdown and Constance in her crate bed in the kitchen but I couldn't get back to sleep, so am presently drinking coffee in the living room whilst watching the snow fall in worrying amounts on the lane
I don't want to be be snowed in today! I am almost out of poultry feed and desperately need to go to the feed shop....and although the snow is only 3-4 inches deep so far , the steepness of the lane just before it joins the main road, means that cars will remain effectively stranded until the lane is cleared!
Anyhow the only good point of dragging myself out of bed at 4.45 is that I saved a young cockerel from freezing to death. As I tried to take Constance out for a pee (she was having none of it) I heard a cockerel call from the field, the call was louder than the usual more muffled ( inside) calls, so I went to investigate and found the youngest of the cockerels ( the one that escaped the cull of last month) crouched forlornly in the snow next to his closed coop. The poor bastard had obviously been late to roost and had been locked out all night.
I picked him up and tucked him head first under my armpit inside my coat to perk him up a little before sliding him into the middle of the ghost hens.....fat hens give off more heat!He should be ok!.............that bloody cockerel is living on borrowed time
I hate bloody snow
ps
Just have to give a big up to Terry, our neighbour and fellow Flower Show committee member, who went out of his way this morning to take me up to the feed shop to stock up on corn and pellets.
A former police driving instructor, he was the ideal person to navigate the minor roads here, which can be treacherous!
A few eggs seemed a small price to pay, for the peace of mind knowing that the animals are now all well fed and insulated against the cold
The dogs remained firmly asleep. The three terriers all hiding under the bed eiderdown and Constance in her crate bed in the kitchen but I couldn't get back to sleep, so am presently drinking coffee in the living room whilst watching the snow fall in worrying amounts on the lane
Anyhow the only good point of dragging myself out of bed at 4.45 is that I saved a young cockerel from freezing to death. As I tried to take Constance out for a pee (she was having none of it) I heard a cockerel call from the field, the call was louder than the usual more muffled ( inside) calls, so I went to investigate and found the youngest of the cockerels ( the one that escaped the cull of last month) crouched forlornly in the snow next to his closed coop. The poor bastard had obviously been late to roost and had been locked out all night.
I picked him up and tucked him head first under my armpit inside my coat to perk him up a little before sliding him into the middle of the ghost hens.....fat hens give off more heat!He should be ok!.............that bloody cockerel is living on borrowed time
I hate bloody snow
 |
| Terry at the flower show |
Just have to give a big up to Terry, our neighbour and fellow Flower Show committee member, who went out of his way this morning to take me up to the feed shop to stock up on corn and pellets.
A former police driving instructor, he was the ideal person to navigate the minor roads here, which can be treacherous!
A few eggs seemed a small price to pay, for the peace of mind knowing that the animals are now all well fed and insulated against the cold
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