Sunday, 25 April 2010
Aspirations
I thought I would share a couple of photo's of Willow and Tangent watching Crufts - I hope they were taking notes! Especially as Tangent has a show on the 3rd of May and another on the 30th May. I have also been toying with the idea of taking Willow out of retirement for one last show. I'm still undecided, but it will have to be a local show as I don't want to travel too far with her with her arthritis - She will be slightly more than cranky if she then had to do a whole day at a show!
Chocolate!
We have now been in the new house for about three months and things are starting to settle down nicely. I even had the inclination to make some more chocolate, which I haven't done for months!
Below are my most recent efforts: An Easter egg - which quite frankly was the thickness all Easter eggs should be, not this half-centimetre rubbish! I also made some chocolate spoons which I was quite proud of as the tempering went very well so they are the 'shiniest' chocolates I've made to date. Finally, some white chocolate rats that came out with a frosty appearance so I must've got the temperature wrong somewhere.
The Easter egg
The spoons
The rats
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Fornicating frogs!
The house we have moved to has a pond which is more algae than water. However, it seems to be more than adequate for the sudden arrival of heaps of frogs! The pond's surface looks like a jacuzzi with the frog's amorous activities!
Our landlord appears to be a very nature-loving person as there are bird-boxes and tables in the garden too. He advised us to put a tin of tuna (out of the tin!) in the pond to help the frog's spawn. The adults would eat their young without the alternative food source. So we are looking forward to spring and the emergence of the new baby frogs that will bring now. I will add photos here soon, but I'm not sure how many people are going to be interested in the sex-life of frogs!
Our landlord appears to be a very nature-loving person as there are bird-boxes and tables in the garden too. He advised us to put a tin of tuna (out of the tin!) in the pond to help the frog's spawn. The adults would eat their young without the alternative food source. So we are looking forward to spring and the emergence of the new baby frogs that will bring now. I will add photos here soon, but I'm not sure how many people are going to be interested in the sex-life of frogs!
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Long absence!
Wow. Has it really been three months since my last post!? In my defence things have been rather busy. Since I last blogged, I moved house then started a new job four days later. We've been in the new house about 6 weeks now and things are starting to find permanent homes - I only unpacked the last box a week ago!
It was such a good decision to move. Both Gareth and I are so much happy and calmer in this house. It has a very cottage-like feel so it's easy to feel relaxed. Plus the absence of bedbugs certainly helps with anxiety levels!
My job is going well and I actually get supported training (as opposed to being thrown in and expected to be soley responsible for an area I know nothing about!). The people I work with are great, and one of the the benefits of my job entails free entry to Bristol Zoo!
The dogs are doing OK, although we do have a minor concern with Willow as a urine sample showed elevated levels of protein, glucose and some blood. It may just indicate an infection, but we need to get a further sample to the vets soon. She isn't being co-operative and as the sample needs to be tested an hour after taking, it's proving difficult!
Tangent is doing well at Dog Club, and is starting be more creative with the behaviours he's offering for livercake.
I'm off to Crufts this March too, to watch the Obedience and partake in the splendours of the stalls! The tickets arrived this morning so I'm counting down to then!
I will endeavour to update this blog more frequently than quarterly from now on!
It was such a good decision to move. Both Gareth and I are so much happy and calmer in this house. It has a very cottage-like feel so it's easy to feel relaxed. Plus the absence of bedbugs certainly helps with anxiety levels!
My job is going well and I actually get supported training (as opposed to being thrown in and expected to be soley responsible for an area I know nothing about!). The people I work with are great, and one of the the benefits of my job entails free entry to Bristol Zoo!
The dogs are doing OK, although we do have a minor concern with Willow as a urine sample showed elevated levels of protein, glucose and some blood. It may just indicate an infection, but we need to get a further sample to the vets soon. She isn't being co-operative and as the sample needs to be tested an hour after taking, it's proving difficult!
Tangent is doing well at Dog Club, and is starting be more creative with the behaviours he's offering for livercake.
I'm off to Crufts this March too, to watch the Obedience and partake in the splendours of the stalls! The tickets arrived this morning so I'm counting down to then!
I will endeavour to update this blog more frequently than quarterly from now on!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
End point
We viewed a second house yesterday... and we move in early next year! Whenever we go and view places we tend to verbally rip it to pieces so we are not blinkered re. any problems. However, we were struggling to find negatives with this one. It's such a relief to see an end point to our current living situation - even if it does mean we will be abandoning a lot of our stuff as we don't want to risk taking bugs with us.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
When enough is enough
After putting up with a lot of issues with our house, which in isolation would be easier to cope with, we have decided to start looking for somewhere else to rent. Our minimum tenancy is almost up, and we are so depressed whilst here it's unreal. I actually feel worse returning home in the evening than arriving at work first thing in the morning! Skewed!!
The final straw came when we attempted to turn the heating on with no luck for 20mins. The heating has proven tempermental before in that once you turn it on, it is pretty much guaranteed to turn itself off again within an hour. As it's now November and getting cold, it ain't good! Especially as the heating unit is located in the bedbug-ridden dining room, so you have to strip off in the cold before even entering the room in case one of the blighters hitch-hike's its way to other rooms.
So, after waiting 2 months for the shower to finally get fixed; 5 months of waiting for the bathroom window to get fixed (still waiting!); co-existing with bedbugs that were already resident in the property before we were; the heating dying and the general state of neglect - although the latter we were happy to ingnore as tht's why the rent was so low - we have decided that enough is enough. It's even worth paying the letting agent administration fees again to get out of this house.
I am a concerned about moving during Gareth's Masters, but he has said that he finds it hard studying here anyway due to the atmosphere etc.
Tonight we are going to look at a house about 10mins drive from this one. I expect it will be smaller, but if it means that we will not be paranoid about every black speck of dust, it's worth it!
The final straw came when we attempted to turn the heating on with no luck for 20mins. The heating has proven tempermental before in that once you turn it on, it is pretty much guaranteed to turn itself off again within an hour. As it's now November and getting cold, it ain't good! Especially as the heating unit is located in the bedbug-ridden dining room, so you have to strip off in the cold before even entering the room in case one of the blighters hitch-hike's its way to other rooms.
So, after waiting 2 months for the shower to finally get fixed; 5 months of waiting for the bathroom window to get fixed (still waiting!); co-existing with bedbugs that were already resident in the property before we were; the heating dying and the general state of neglect - although the latter we were happy to ingnore as tht's why the rent was so low - we have decided that enough is enough. It's even worth paying the letting agent administration fees again to get out of this house.
I am a concerned about moving during Gareth's Masters, but he has said that he finds it hard studying here anyway due to the atmosphere etc.
Tonight we are going to look at a house about 10mins drive from this one. I expect it will be smaller, but if it means that we will not be paranoid about every black speck of dust, it's worth it!
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