Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "cats"
24th June 2011
Magz had to take my daughter to the doctor’s yesterday. Tammy was complaining about a pain in her side so we thought it best to be safe. Well it was in her right side so we thought it could be her appendix, we were wrong. Unfortunately she was sent to the hospital for x-rays and blood tests as she seems to have inflammation of her hip bone. They also found that she seems to have stopped growing which is unusual for fourteen. She has to go back to the hospital at the start of next month to see the specialist who may have some answers. The thinking is that it may be the start of rheumatoid arthritis as it runs in my family. I only found this out recently as my sister has it and she was able to tell me that one of my aunts has it to. I hope it isn’t, after all what parent wants to see their child in pain? You just wish you could take it from her, sadly life isn’t so simple.
I’ve been battling the dreaded weeds in the garden this week. It’s one that week all lose for they always seem to be back almost as soon as you have cleared them. I have a real problem with Japanese Knot Weed at the little patch where my fruit trees and strawberries are. If you’ve ever had it or suffer from it you will know how hard it is to deal with. All I can do is carefully remove it as best as I can and try not to disturb the roots to my plants too much, not much more I can do really. That reminds me I never told you that I managed to fix my mower last week. Yeah, I got some decarb fluid that seems to have done the trick. It’s even running good, better than it has for years though it still gives an odd cough now and then. Maybe some more fluid might sort that, who knows? Worth a try though.
I have also had a problem with cats digging up one of my tubs. My son suggested tin foil as cats aren’t supposed to like the sound when they tread on it. So I tried it only to find the moggies around my way don’t have a problem with it. In the end I had to use netting to save my carrots from being totally wiped out. At first I thought it was my son’s cat but Calum is still adamant that is Blue had nothing to do with it. Still in the end I stopped them from doing any more damage so no real harm done.
I’ve been battling the dreaded weeds in the garden this week. It’s one that week all lose for they always seem to be back almost as soon as you have cleared them. I have a real problem with Japanese Knot Weed at the little patch where my fruit trees and strawberries are. If you’ve ever had it or suffer from it you will know how hard it is to deal with. All I can do is carefully remove it as best as I can and try not to disturb the roots to my plants too much, not much more I can do really. That reminds me I never told you that I managed to fix my mower last week. Yeah, I got some decarb fluid that seems to have done the trick. It’s even running good, better than it has for years though it still gives an odd cough now and then. Maybe some more fluid might sort that, who knows? Worth a try though.
I have also had a problem with cats digging up one of my tubs. My son suggested tin foil as cats aren’t supposed to like the sound when they tread on it. So I tried it only to find the moggies around my way don’t have a problem with it. In the end I had to use netting to save my carrots from being totally wiped out. At first I thought it was my son’s cat but Calum is still adamant that is Blue had nothing to do with it. Still in the end I stopped them from doing any more damage so no real harm done.
4th May 2012
I put my plants into my tubs as we had some good weather. Unfortunately it is to be quite frosty tonight. Luckily I haven’t put the tomatoes or peppers in the containers for them yet so was able to bring them indoors. The other plants will need to survive as best as they can. I also got given some carrots from a work friend, Norman. He gives me a lift to work everyday so he had them in the boot of his car. They were left over from his garden so he thought I could use them. It was good fortune for me as my lettuce was ravished by a cat or bird. Which ever it was it left none so I had an empty tub. He also gave me seeds he didn’t want anymore so Magz wants me to grow some sweetcorn. It means another grow-bag will be needed but maybe I can grow some more lettuce. Finally I have noticed the beetroot and potatoes are coming up. I had given up on them thinking they had been hit with the frost a few weeks back. It goes to show things take there own time.
It’s a long weekend so I have Monday off. Magz has got the orders in for the grass to be cut. I must admit I was planning on it last week. As you can tell it never happened though it is to be a nice day tomorrow but colder than it has been this week. Still a bit of time in the garden after being stuck in a factory all week sounds good.
It’s a long weekend so I have Monday off. Magz has got the orders in for the grass to be cut. I must admit I was planning on it last week. As you can tell it never happened though it is to be a nice day tomorrow but colder than it has been this week. Still a bit of time in the garden after being stuck in a factory all week sounds good.
18th May 2012
Alan, my boss told me yesterday that in a few weeks I will be get my shift times changed to office hours (nine till five). The work is trying to do away with overtime in a cost cutting exercise. This is the reason why I have been receiving training in the retort as it is mainly the retort that creates overtime as someone is needed to stay behind till they finish cooking the product in the cans. Of course everything is still to be finalized so I’ll still have a few more weeks of training when it can be squeezed in with my duties in other areas of the factory which usually is dicing steak in the butchery. No I don’t use a knife as that would be too slow. No I just throw large chunks of meat into a slot in the dicer and it takes care of the rest. I also have to strip the machine at the end of the day to clean it before putting it all back together for the next day. Not exciting work but it just about pays the bills.
More cats have been digging around my tubs. Magz resorted to netting to keep them out so the plants have a better chance to establish themselves. I got some spray that was supposed to repel cats and dogs but it doesn’t seem to work. Maybe that is being harsh as it has been raining a lot so maybe it would do the job better in drier weather. Anyway the netting should do the job and when the vegs have grown a bit I can remove the nets. Unfortunately with the wet it has also been cold which has meant that the plants that are out in the tubs now haven’t been doing as well as I would like. Saying that the Oregano that I planted a couple of years ago is now flourishing as are the fruit bushes, trees and strawberries. My apple trees are both covered in bloom. I’m looking forward to a bumper crop if all goes well.
More cats have been digging around my tubs. Magz resorted to netting to keep them out so the plants have a better chance to establish themselves. I got some spray that was supposed to repel cats and dogs but it doesn’t seem to work. Maybe that is being harsh as it has been raining a lot so maybe it would do the job better in drier weather. Anyway the netting should do the job and when the vegs have grown a bit I can remove the nets. Unfortunately with the wet it has also been cold which has meant that the plants that are out in the tubs now haven’t been doing as well as I would like. Saying that the Oregano that I planted a couple of years ago is now flourishing as are the fruit bushes, trees and strawberries. My apple trees are both covered in bloom. I’m looking forward to a bumper crop if all goes well.
One Day Late 7th July 2012
Yes I lost track of the week with me being on holiday. Saying that I have also been ill this week with a nasty cold though my daughter got it worse. Add to that that I was building my new computer, which is running like dream now and then setting up my daughters from the parts her brother had. He as you know got my old system, well everything other than the hard drive as I needed that for the storage space for my new system. The sixty gig SSD is great for running windows from but not really practical for keeping everything else on these days. Though getting my system up and running was easy enough it wasn’t so simple for Tammy’s. No for some reason it decided not to power up at first. It took Magz to fix that problem yet it still left us unsure what was wrong. After that it wouldn’t connect to the web. Yes again the wife sorted it out. Over two days of coughing over Tammy’s machine and Magz got it running within a few hours. What can I say?
Over the past two days I have been out picking strawberries. As expected it is a bumper crop this year. Already I must have picked over two pounds in weight from my garden with still more to ripen over the coming weeks. The ladies are baking individual tarts today with those already gathered. I imagine they with eat one or two of the fruits as the cut them into halves as they do love strawberries.
My troubles with the neighbourhood moggies continue. I have taken to sticking canes and bits of wood between the plants to put the cats off. Still they seem to think that my tubs are just some large cat litter trays put out for their convenience. It is driving me to distraction with no remedy as yet in sight.
The council, you will be glad to hear, finally got our central heating working again. It took the engineer three days to get it working again. He thought it was fixed at the end of the second day but no sooner was he away and, you guessed, it stopped functioning. I don’t know why they council just doesn’t replace it after all with all the new part that went into it this week it must have cost them more to fix it. Mind it was good to finally get to soak in a bath so I shouldn’t complain.
Over the past two days I have been out picking strawberries. As expected it is a bumper crop this year. Already I must have picked over two pounds in weight from my garden with still more to ripen over the coming weeks. The ladies are baking individual tarts today with those already gathered. I imagine they with eat one or two of the fruits as the cut them into halves as they do love strawberries.
My troubles with the neighbourhood moggies continue. I have taken to sticking canes and bits of wood between the plants to put the cats off. Still they seem to think that my tubs are just some large cat litter trays put out for their convenience. It is driving me to distraction with no remedy as yet in sight.
The council, you will be glad to hear, finally got our central heating working again. It took the engineer three days to get it working again. He thought it was fixed at the end of the second day but no sooner was he away and, you guessed, it stopped functioning. I don’t know why they council just doesn’t replace it after all with all the new part that went into it this week it must have cost them more to fix it. Mind it was good to finally get to soak in a bath so I shouldn’t complain.
