Hmmm since we had Tabitha spayed earlier this week she has taken to pooing on the bathroom carpet....and weeing on any pile of material she finds or can pull down to the floor ( so think towels, dirty clothes, clean folded washing...)
I have asked our Vet if it is a medical problem and the answer is apparently not.....this often happens after a trip to the Vets!
So for now we are having to confine her ( and, unfortunately Sid and Tom also) in the utility room on a tiled floor and keep them shut in overnight, to try to "remind" her to use her litter tray if she wants to "go".
Oh dear...I hope it works! Not only is it not very pleasant to have to deal with poo and wee on the carpet every day BUT we can't have the other cats on the bed with us at night at the moment.....
And to all my lovely blog friends who have been wondering how I am ....I am rather upset with some "stuff" which is happening on a green forum I am a long term member of.....and I am feeling rather frail still from the shingles......AND Compostgirl is being "difficult" again with her ongoing ODD issues... so I have very little energy left at the moment to blog....
Sorry.. and THANK you for your concern....I really DO appreciate it!
I WILL be back..soon....
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Thank you lovely blog friends!
THANK YOU!
To Aromatic for her wonderful e-"get well soon" card, which also solved my big problem of having missed the posting date for a birthday card for another dear friend...I signed up to the wonderful e card site Aromatic used, and sent my friend an e card, well in time for her special day...
and to another friend who made my day with a phone call..she had heard via someone who reads my blog that I was poorly, so she called especially to have a chat....
and another blog friend PM'd me on the INEBG forum, to ask how I was...
I feel very loved, and if it CAN make a difference to my recovery time, I am SURE it will
so THANK YOU lovely blog friends one and all.....
Consider yourselves hugged with a VERY big compost-y hug!
and I wish I could have you ALL round for tea, cakes, chutney, wine and cider!
To Aromatic for her wonderful e-"get well soon" card, which also solved my big problem of having missed the posting date for a birthday card for another dear friend...I signed up to the wonderful e card site Aromatic used, and sent my friend an e card, well in time for her special day...
and to another friend who made my day with a phone call..she had heard via someone who reads my blog that I was poorly, so she called especially to have a chat....
and another blog friend PM'd me on the INEBG forum, to ask how I was...
I feel very loved, and if it CAN make a difference to my recovery time, I am SURE it will
so THANK YOU lovely blog friends one and all.....
Consider yourselves hugged with a VERY big compost-y hug!
and I wish I could have you ALL round for tea, cakes, chutney, wine and cider!
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Hail to the (new, better) Chief
After all the awful things which have been done in the name of the peoples of the US of A ( Iraq, Rendition, Guantanamo Bay etc etc ) I am SO pleased that they have had the vision and courage to elect someone as their President who is prepared to make a difference.
US of America...I applaud you for electing Barak Obama as your next President. I must admit I was praying for this to happen yesterday!
We have heard a lot on the issue of his being the first BLACK President.
I have many friends of "mixed" race and of " ethnic" origins..(oh how I hate those words....BYKWIM) and and I have seen at first hand the everyday, petty, routine, spite, disdain and insult they had to endure, and been told about other stuff they had to endure EVERY day of their lives...and that is in the UK, a so called multi racial society, where we have laws to supposedly prevent that sort of crap happening...
I was born in 1962, so within my lifetime black people in the US of A couldn't vote...or were abused or killed for trying to exercise their legal rights...and UK people had similarly been abused and suffered JUST because of the colour of their skin...
I must say I have some issues with the "First Black President " bit we keep on hearing today in all the media. Obviously I know he IS the First Black President.....but I view him as a man..who has been elected as President...who is ALSO black...
Maybe thats just me being picky about language and its usage, I don't really know?
BUT setting aside that minor point of mine, as a white, celtic UK person I cannot even begin to imagine the difficulties he has had to face because of his colour and race, even though he is both educated, intellegent and articulate.
and as a result of this and his mixed background ( both ethnic, religous and colour) I feel he will be a really shining hope for the US of A's future dealings with the World
I am also encouraged by his pronouncements on Global Warming and Climate Change and his acceptance of such matters as REAL...and I understand he has plans to seriously increase the use of renewables in the US of A?
Added to his opposition to the War in Iraq and I am already a happier global citizen.... :-))
President- elect Barak Obama, I raise a glass to your term in office. May it be as good as you promised it would be!
US of America...I applaud you for electing Barak Obama as your next President. I must admit I was praying for this to happen yesterday!
We have heard a lot on the issue of his being the first BLACK President.
I have many friends of "mixed" race and of " ethnic" origins..(oh how I hate those words....BYKWIM) and and I have seen at first hand the everyday, petty, routine, spite, disdain and insult they had to endure, and been told about other stuff they had to endure EVERY day of their lives...and that is in the UK, a so called multi racial society, where we have laws to supposedly prevent that sort of crap happening...
I was born in 1962, so within my lifetime black people in the US of A couldn't vote...or were abused or killed for trying to exercise their legal rights...and UK people had similarly been abused and suffered JUST because of the colour of their skin...
I must say I have some issues with the "First Black President " bit we keep on hearing today in all the media. Obviously I know he IS the First Black President.....but I view him as a man..who has been elected as President...who is ALSO black...
Maybe thats just me being picky about language and its usage, I don't really know?
BUT setting aside that minor point of mine, as a white, celtic UK person I cannot even begin to imagine the difficulties he has had to face because of his colour and race, even though he is both educated, intellegent and articulate.
and as a result of this and his mixed background ( both ethnic, religous and colour) I feel he will be a really shining hope for the US of A's future dealings with the World
I am also encouraged by his pronouncements on Global Warming and Climate Change and his acceptance of such matters as REAL...and I understand he has plans to seriously increase the use of renewables in the US of A?
Added to his opposition to the War in Iraq and I am already a happier global citizen.... :-))
President- elect Barak Obama, I raise a glass to your term in office. May it be as good as you promised it would be!
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Further musings on cider and chicken poo
Further to my last post and the various kind comments I received ( thank you kind blog friends.....)
I have a confession...we actually made twice the amount of cider shown in the last post.....and have already drunk the first 35 L since May....we actually got through it very quickly...and were a bit alarmed at how fast the levels dropped!
So we left off decanting this one in the vain hope that, IF it was in a 25 L container, ( out in the garage...) we would be less likely to start pouring a glass ( or several ) out from it. As it it bloomin heavy to lift and I don't actually think I could pour a glass out of it....
Or something. Well that was the reasoning. Maybe. Or was it just we didn't get around to it?
Can't really remember.........
;-)
And I really must thank you all for your good wishes, I feel marginally better than earlier in the week but am still very weak and feeble. I have cancelled taking my class for their Forest School session on Thursday AND have said I am not going to do Eco Club after school. Which is a big disappointment for me as I enjoy it so much BUT ....I really don't feel capable at the moment.
I was a bit puzzled at the comment from Thursday about how industrious the kitchen is...then I looked again with someone elses eyes ( well, mine are not much use at the moment!)
at the photo and realised that, with the big container of the old 2007 cider, the new cider bubbling away, the apples and pumpkins, the dehydrator, the jars of chutney etc...it DID look like we have been busy!
Actually, with the chutneys, its just I am too lazy to put the jars away and then have to get them out of the Chutney and Jam store ( yes we DO have such a thing....) to label them and I haven't labelled them yet and am leaving it there in the hope I will remember to get around to making some labels before it gets to be 2009.......
I DID manage to clean out all the chickens runs yesterday, they were all in a bit of a state and I shovelled an AMAZING pile of composted down chicken poo and bark chippings from the runs....it was WONDERFUL stuff and I can't wait to get using it next year! So all the hens now have clean houses and freshly clean runs full of nice composted wood chips from our wood.
BUT I think it was a bit too much for me, as after an hour of doing that I came over a bit wobbly and had to go and lie down for 3 hours and sleep......................
I like the symmetry of cutting down our trees for wood, chipping the twiggy bits and storing them to use as mulches or in the hen runs and then returning them to my compost bins ( with added Factor P for POO) to turn into lovely compost, to use to grow my veg, to eat.....
The Wheel of Life...I feel a "Lion King " moment coming on.....
( sorry....but I AM ill, remember....so am excused normality for a few more days...)
I also have been most amused by the antics of all the hens, they are very funny!
THIS is one of the chicks! She is the no 1 pullet and is VERY brave.....
SO...I am slowly improving ( although am tired , very easily, and have been falling asleep at all odd hours of the day...if I sit down I nod off.)...and life continues on....
I have a confession...we actually made twice the amount of cider shown in the last post.....and have already drunk the first 35 L since May....we actually got through it very quickly...and were a bit alarmed at how fast the levels dropped!
So we left off decanting this one in the vain hope that, IF it was in a 25 L container, ( out in the garage...) we would be less likely to start pouring a glass ( or several ) out from it. As it it bloomin heavy to lift and I don't actually think I could pour a glass out of it....
Or something. Well that was the reasoning. Maybe. Or was it just we didn't get around to it?
Can't really remember.........
;-)
And I really must thank you all for your good wishes, I feel marginally better than earlier in the week but am still very weak and feeble. I have cancelled taking my class for their Forest School session on Thursday AND have said I am not going to do Eco Club after school. Which is a big disappointment for me as I enjoy it so much BUT ....I really don't feel capable at the moment.
I was a bit puzzled at the comment from Thursday about how industrious the kitchen is...then I looked again with someone elses eyes ( well, mine are not much use at the moment!)
at the photo and realised that, with the big container of the old 2007 cider, the new cider bubbling away, the apples and pumpkins, the dehydrator, the jars of chutney etc...it DID look like we have been busy!
Actually, with the chutneys, its just I am too lazy to put the jars away and then have to get them out of the Chutney and Jam store ( yes we DO have such a thing....) to label them and I haven't labelled them yet and am leaving it there in the hope I will remember to get around to making some labels before it gets to be 2009.......
I DID manage to clean out all the chickens runs yesterday, they were all in a bit of a state and I shovelled an AMAZING pile of composted down chicken poo and bark chippings from the runs....it was WONDERFUL stuff and I can't wait to get using it next year! So all the hens now have clean houses and freshly clean runs full of nice composted wood chips from our wood.
BUT I think it was a bit too much for me, as after an hour of doing that I came over a bit wobbly and had to go and lie down for 3 hours and sleep......................
I like the symmetry of cutting down our trees for wood, chipping the twiggy bits and storing them to use as mulches or in the hen runs and then returning them to my compost bins ( with added Factor P for POO) to turn into lovely compost, to use to grow my veg, to eat.....
The Wheel of Life...I feel a "Lion King " moment coming on.....
( sorry....but I AM ill, remember....so am excused normality for a few more days...)
I also have been most amused by the antics of all the hens, they are very funny!
THIS is one of the chicks! She is the no 1 pullet and is VERY brave.....
SO...I am slowly improving ( although am tired , very easily, and have been falling asleep at all odd hours of the day...if I sit down I nod off.)...and life continues on....
Monday, 3 November 2008
Decanting old cider.
I really do NOT know why the photos are so big...I am putting them up as small, as I always have done, but they are coming out huge....?
This is last years cider waiting to be decanted into smaller containers.
We sterilised everything then started the syphoning process.
Mmmm lovely cider
and the end result! The cider tastes good!
We will bottle a demijohn into some glass wine bottles to keep, but the rest can stay in these plastic 5 L containers... they are water bottles but are exactly the same as the plastic demijohns one can buy...so we have recycled them!
That way if the cider is still fermenting there will just be a mess and not a mess AND shards of glass!
This is last years cider waiting to be decanted into smaller containers.
We sterilised everything then started the syphoning process.
Mmmm lovely cider
and the end result! The cider tastes good!
We will bottle a demijohn into some glass wine bottles to keep, but the rest can stay in these plastic 5 L containers... they are water bottles but are exactly the same as the plastic demijohns one can buy...so we have recycled them!
That way if the cider is still fermenting there will just be a mess and not a mess AND shards of glass!
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