Mixed Musings

Thundering at the moment here on the prairie,we escaped most of the rain affecting the rest of the country,but now its arrived ,it turns your thoughts to sunnier climes in particular I think of hot Italian summers with the occasional minute cloud drifting across a blue sky,as I look out a shower of rain has arrived.
It seems everybody who is blogging are shopaholics,all out spending ,do you really need all this stuff?clobber ,then wardrobes to put it all in,never to see the light of day for ages if at all,at least with grub and booze it gets used up and so makes space for the next lot,and we still have'nt seen the green bag,and matching shoes purchased at great cost in Brisbane's finest emporeums.
Sam the Pom is joining in the spirit of it all and looking to buy a new car!most of the football fraternity are buying baby bentleys,will he be following the fashion?will we see photo's of him and Sandra punching the aussie paparazzi,for daring to take photos of them blindo?
I think the sooner I get to Oz to help them mend their ways the better,the least I can do is help out with the wine drinking and counsel them on the clothes situation.
Paddy our local tramp has now taken to laying all his belomgings out on the entrance to green lane a grass track about 100 yards from the house on the prairie,no wardrobes for him it's carrier bags only,this is since he was "mucked out" at the barn up the road where he is a squatter,obviously he has mental problems but is harmless other than distributing his wordly goods all over the countryside, he walks miles carrying bags and is fed chips by the shops in Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea,it's a sad sight but maybe he chooses to live this way so if he's happy who is to say he is wrong?
Thats all for now , graham

Red mite and the former scoutmaster

Unusually for Olde Englande,it is a little cloudy today,with the possibility of some precipitation,but the forecast is for decent weather friday and saturday just in time for the visit of Gina and Andy,the hens are scrubbed and pomaded,and yesterday we had a visit from Alan of Withern our chicken sitter in the winter,he came to tell us he was treating his hens and their abodes for red mite,Sheila told him she had done the same but we have no sign of them,though he did check out our hen hut and came to the same conclusion.
His location is pretty much like ours up a lane but much quieter than our road,and I think a much older and quaint property,though very small,his wife is a potter but has not done much work as she is recovering from an illness,he was a merchant seaman and ambulance driver among other occupations,unfortunately for him he told me and Le blade he has been a scoutmaster,thus condemning himself to much mickey taking,such as "and do you have the police record to prove it"which I hasten to add is not true and just mischevious chatter,luckily he has good sense of humour and gives as good as he gets,both him and his wife are vegetarian so there is no fear of him"necking" our chickens for food during the winter,if they die it will be of natural causes. So thats it for now Dib Dib Dib. Graham

Computer literate or what?

So I went to the dentist to have a broken tooth repaired,It's a village about 10 miles up the road,the dentist himself seemed a bloke with a good sense of hunour,and is a couple of years from retiring to go part time,so a man of much experience,job done and Sheila had a fun time listening to his dad in the office who is 95 years old and was waiting for his lunch,the dentist gave me an injection the second of two as it was a little deep,and said "back in a minute just off to check my lunch is ok,not a thing you usually encounter in the big city places,oops... can we say that about big cities?
He is an art lover and we talked a little about art,apparently his house is full to bursting with pictures he purchased,when I say we talked ,he talked and I tried to reply with grunts as he was drilling away at my tooth.
We are now awaiting our visitors Susan and Trevor,Sheila has made a curry which we hope they are not averse to,though I can't imagine Trevor being averse to anything,also she stocked up on Stones Beer,which I think is now brewed in Burton On Trent.
We had a problem with the wireless contact on the internet yesterday,if I turned on my new laptop it worked OK,but the pc of Sheila's would not let her onto the web,after thinking about it today whilst in the chair of pain,I figured that the location of the router might be the problem as it was below the pc,so decided to try connecting the pc to the router by cable,HEY PRESTO! it works,and I pick up a wireless signal on the lap top,probably I could just relocate the router to give a better signal to the pc,but as it is everything is ok,and nothing to do with skype as suggested by Montana Mike,(he has a down on Skype).

Pomodori e Basilico

It seems the little corn flies have departed,and its nice to be able to sit out without lopping,even the hens were pleased,though they tend to eat them off their feathers,I shall give that a miss,weather is windy but very warm,I am back from farmer joe's where I am looking after the place for a few days,his neighbour across the lane came for a chat and to remind me about his garden party on saturday,he throws this event every year,though last year I ws haymaking and missed it,it's a good booze up and barbecue, two oildrums made into barbecues and tons of grub,probably some game shot by his son,who used to bring us pigeons until I said we were a bit full up with them and requested rabbits and hares,but he can sell these to the local butchers so they are hard to come by.,but we have a farmer in the village who gave us one a while ago,so more free grub could be forthcoming.
We have started harvesting tomatoes from the green house so when Gina and Andy arrive there could well be a more abundant supply,and I have basil plants on the go for Gina to take home ,the new laptop is causing some frustration and tempers have been a little frayed,but we are trying in every sense of the word,and holding back on phone calls to the Preston IT centre advisor.

Nelson and Me

Reading the blog from colorado,it seems that the trick cyclist is having problems entertaining his grandkids,I suggest dressing up in the borat outfit which would result in them becoming highly amused or alternatively scaring them into silence.
On the subject of multi tasking,males brought up in the Rotherham area are skilled in multi tasking,they train at an early age in the art of hitting somebody with their right hand whilst ensuring they do not spill a drop of beer from the pint pot clutched in their left..that's multi tasking!
The forecast was for heavy rain today ,we had rain during the night but at the moment are enjoying sunny spells(10am)yesterday was a nice day but the little crawling insects we used to call corn flies when I was a kid are out in force and I think are keeping the hens and remaining two chicks busy de lousing themselves.
We had the le blades visiting yesterday evening with their little grandson,he came to see the chickens,it is the start of the school holidays tonight and he is looking forward to being entertained by his grandparents,though they are not as enamoured of the idea as he is,I remember many moons ago being ecstatic at the start of the summer big holiday,and scrounging around the south yorkshire countryside in gangs ,fishing for sticklebacks,or "minners" as we used to call them,and trying to ride on the pit ponies which were brought out of the pit for a couple of weeks,and left in fields on whiston meadows,swimming in the River Rother a highly polluted waterway at that time,and occasionally swimming in Ulley Reservoir,which was highly dangerous due to its depth and coldness,and the water board patrol chasing us off.
The only seaside outing was the Brinsworth Working Mens Club day trip to Cleethorpes and a ten bob note to spend,crisps and pop on the "Charrer"Charabanc, I believe was their actual name,posh buses really(though we did once or twice get to Bridlington and Scarborough),but it was usually Cleethorpes,which is just up the road from us now about 40 minutes drive.
I should mention that it's my birthday tomorrow a birthdate I share with Nelson Mandela,though I am not quite as famous yet.

Here's to the barley mow

Been very busy trying to raise funds for the OZ trip,but so far there are no offers on the flight webs,we shall have to wait till nearer the date and see what comes up.
It looks a bit cold in Colorado,everyone is wearing jackets,even in the alpine resort of sestriere,it was 82 f in august,and there was no snow at all.
I don't think we shall have a jacket problem in Oz this winter which suits me fine,the weather here is picking up and it was hot enough for the air conditioning in the car on our trip to skegness today,( madam was sweltered,and probably gagging as well),we bought a bread maker as ours packed in ,though they do get a lot of clog in our house.
For over three years we have been driving to Louth to pay in cheques only to find out from Dodie Le Blade we can pay them in at Mablethorpe as they do, makes you feel daft doesn't it?
The wheat and barley fields are turning to gold and being eyed by the hens with deep longing,they do like a little feast of fresh cereals,and after the harvest will be out in the field next to our little house gleaning for all they are worth.
I was reading the colorado blog about the cycling , and wondered if the Tommy Simpson of Kansas is wearing the borat outfit to entertain the locals? if so can we have a video of it to cheer us up?

Showers and Sunny Periods

Finished my posters and they are now on their way to Sheffield courtesy of "SUPERNORM" who called in with his gap toothed wife Jean on their way home from the caravan,the weather has taken a turn for the worse,ie showers and sunny periods just as I was getting used to Italian style weather,I think its all these people who complain that its too hot who are to blame.
Not much else to report except I shall probably be bowling with the elderly tomorrow(tuesday)and being regaled with the holiday experiences of Le Grande Edwarde,who has been on a caravanning holiday to cornwall this year,he is a little fed up with the French at the moment they will insist on speaking French and make no effort to learn English!!
hats all folks Graham