oh nooooo!

Loads of new pictures but my camera won't download!!!?!! Peahead had it last, I'll kill him.
Back a.s.a.p. xx

4000 Hz (hurts)

I may be trying to save electricity, but it got me back today with a belt that put my right arm out of action for a good few hours. As I stepped over the electric fence (which normally gives me bit of a buzz in the leg - just enough for me to know it's still working) I lost my balance and put my arm out to steady myself on Oscar......who just happened to be soaking wet from the snow.
Normally my wellies do the trick, but grounded by a wet goat 4,200 V smarts a bit. I think he felt it too. It didn't half make a noise - me, Oscar and the electricity.
I won't be doing that again in a hurry.

Still snowing

It's still snowing. Going down to tuck the babes in was fun tonight.

Who's who

Spoke to my mum on the phone today. She seemed a little confused about who is who in this zoo of mine, so just for the record:


The original Kitty Mitty, the most beautiful pussy cat in the world. Aged 13. Adopted at the aged of just 2 weeks in Nottingham.







Loop poop Ganu. Little Flat face. Aged 11. Sold to us by a middle aged goth/witch in Manchester.





Bert. Suspected Bearded Collie cross Manchester mongrel. Smells, scratches, eats and sleeps. Approx 5 years. Adopted from Manchester dogs home.







Dolly Rocker. Rehomed from Mountain Bike Tina and Gog in Salford. Aged approx 2 years and now 95% titanium and bionic after road accident and £1,000 worth of surgery.






Oscar. 2 years old. Shows off and squeals like a baby.









Bosie. 2 weeks younger than Oscar. Mummy's boy. Shy and quite.






Spike. Retired play boy who used to live with friend Will in Manchester (upstairs from our first flat). 11 years old.





White Cat (a.k.a Canada) appeared from nowhere. Age unknown.

First reading

Eco experiment

I like to think that we are pretty eco-aware and do our bit, but I'm sure we use more electricity than we need to (especially on computers - although I tend to use a laptop) so I'm gonna try clocking it for a while just to see.
I got the idea from 'Living the Good Life' - an experiment where an Australian family tried going self sufficient for six months a couple of years back.

Anyway......this is what they suggest:

Conduct your own power experiment
Take meter readings over a few days or a week to identify how much power you are currently using. Enlist the family to try and reduce power as much as you can over a week and record daily readings, eg 7.00am each morning. We've been doing this for several years now and have gone from using 20-25kwh daily down to an average of 5 kwh.

Some of the things we (they) have done are ...

-we use solar hot water
-flouro bulbs (and turn them off when not in use)
-clean the condenser behind the fridge (around 5% more power efficient)
-made a gridded hole under the fridge so that cool air is drawn up from under the floor and over -the condenser to increase its efficiency (around 10-25% more power efficient)
-use a Sabco mop/broom instead of the vacuum cleaner
-use a laptop rather than a desktop computer (90% more power efficient)

Hum..... I wonder if it counts if you save electricity on heating, cooking and TV because you opt for the pub for the evening?

Disobedience

I said "NO CATS ALLOWED ON THE BED!!!!"

Sick

Today I am sick. Just a cold, but I don't get sick very often and it is getting me down. I had today booked off work to do some uni stuff but haven't got much done. I think I'm gonna have to call up tomorrow and take another day.

Peahead said we could go on holiday this year, so I am trying to think about this to cheer me up. We have been together for about 12 or so years and have only ever been on one proper holiday (ie more than a couple of days). I'm sure this must be a record.

Too many cats

A blue day

Today was one of those beautiful days when the snow is crisp and the sky is bright blue.
















I love going down into the field after it has snowed to see who has been sneaking under the fence to pinch the babes food. Today it was mostly rabbits. I guess this is where they get in.



The cats have been following the rabbits.

This looks like some kind of bird.

For breakfast, Oscar and Bosie enjoyed the roses peahead got me for Valentines. Recycled love.



Bosies feet still don't have any fur after the mites. He didn't seem to mind the snow, but I'm sure it must be very cold for him.

The only thing to spoil this lovely day was seeing that the demolishion of lots of old lovely buildings has begun in the town centre. Soon to be replaced with more of this.
Cheap, bland and claiming to be retaining the towns historic character by using a bit of stone to skin the concrete and steel beneath. The planners should be ashamed of themselves.

March already

It's March already. I can't believe it. Still slacking with my posts, but it's been a busy few weeks.
So, what's been happening.......





















Lots of snow. Bert loves it. I make sure I keep the bird table stocked up for the birds. This little robin was eating some left over pastry.

Since it's still not fit outside to garden, I have been planning what I'm going to grow this year and amusing myself by trying some of the recipes in Monty's 'Fork to Fork' gardening/cooking book. His pizza base recipe is really good and the tomato sauce too.
Since I never seem to have much success with baking cakes, I decided to try and master pastry instead. With a little help from Nigella I made a cheese and onion pie.
Both the pie and the pizza were so good I didn't manage to take a picture of the finished things as we ate them, but here they are pre-oven!

I spotted a massive old minerals map hanging in the geography department at Uni. Codnor Park Iron works is on it. It's hard to find Codnor Park on a map these days, but it definitely exists as I was born there and my mum, dad and mama still live there.

Went to Lytham this week as part of my course to view the sea front. It's a really pretty place but it was incredibly cold on the jetty.

Also - White cat is still with us, looks like another permanent member of the family. Bosie's ankles aren't getting better as quickly as I would like so I'm going to get the vet to visit again.