OneGuyFromBarlick

Enjoy your kayaking with the dolphins tomorrow Maz. Ruby is here with us with her sister and we are about to start making chocolate buns. My other two grandchildren are coming over later and we will all be decorating eggs and then going up Letcliffe to have a bit of fun rolling. The chuck is in in the oven ready for tea.
We have a large collection of dressing up clothes for the kids, Ruby and Neve have tried lots of them on this morning. Ruby can't find the "Punzle" dress so she settled on being a temporary witch and then morphed into a fairy princess. Should be fun when we start chucking the flour about.

We used to roll at Letcliffe as kiddies! ( about a half a century ago)
I am looking forward to the dolphins. We keep a decent distance, but if they choose to come closer it is up to them. Mind you, just seeing them play is spiritually uplifting somehow. Magical creatures. Any encounter is humbling.

I agree Maz, lovely creatures. No dolphin encounters in Barlick. Height of my ambition today is to build an oxtail based sauce good enough to go with rice or pasta.....

Watching the nurse at the diabetic clinic to see if there is any reaction to the fact that I have lost weight!

Comrade, I hopefully will enjoy a similar experience soon. 4lbs more and I've lost 3 stone since mid January. Nolic

That's good Comrade and I'm pleased for you. I have stalled temporarily because I have hit the syndrome you know so well. I got a bit overconfident about my progress and slacked off slightly on portion control. Not put any back on but reduction is stalled. It means more attention and more will-power! My defence against this is to re-motivate myself by reminding myself of the benefits and noting the size of some of the serious bottoms we see every day. Losing weight is more than intake control, it's a psychological battle and I think we are both up to it as long as we keep clear heads and address the goals. Not as serious but just as hard as a drinker trying to cut back, I am addicted to good food! Onwards and upwards Comrade!

If we did not eat so well we would be slimmer & richer but would not have the same enjoyment.
Well done Colin.

Three stone since mid January, how is that possible. Well done,

Weight Watcher's points plus and keeping under the allocated points. Nolic

Sue, he has obviously got an iron will when he remembers to put it in gear!
Get some milk, deliver urine sample to surgery. Get my prescription that they forgot to get ready for me and perhaps write another article. They've changed the format of the BET and it's interesting having the extra discipline of trying to convey a concept meaningfully inside 500 words. I don't like it but I suspect it's good for me.

Driving to Stratford and back, time for the girls to go home.
A good day for it, roads sound OK according to the radio. Will check with the AA before we set off.

Safe journey - I shall be playing with my 'cleaned up' computer!

Has Pluggy speeded it up? We are lucky to have access to him. (Mind you, me card reader is still duff!)
Bit of cleaning I think......

Doing a lot of cleaning

Been gardening here in Rochdale. Cleared all the dead leaves and stalks away and dug the soil over. Well not finished but it looks better.

I chickened out on the cleaning..... wrote another article instead! Today will be busy, several matters vying for attention! (Not least, Mick's questions about engines on Shed Matters....

I made a start on the cleaning. It would be lovely to open windows & doors to let some fresh air in, but no chance of doing that just yet without blowing away or freezing. Something has gone wrong with the central heating so I'm heading down to the Archive Room this morning where it is lovely and warm, leaving Col to drain down the system and replace the faulty bit.

Funnily enough I did just that yesterday Wendy but it was forced medicine. I'd left Jacks mince cooking on the stove in the front room and forgotten to close the damper. I got so engossed in showing off on Shed Matters I didn't look until I smelt the burning! The shafts of sunlight coming through the back window down the stairs were quite beautiful........
Washing bedding today, could be the last good drying day for a while.....

Stanley...SMOKE ALARMS...not working?
Either get them hard wired or at least get ten year batteries. You should have at least three in the house ( we have four...all hard wired to the leccy). They could save your life. Carbon Monoxide one should be installed too...
I am deadly serious.
Are you listening?
( especially as you often leave the oven on all night!)

The Lancashire Fire Service will come to your house and supply and fit the 10 year smoke alarms free. We had them round about a year ago and they also advised about escape routes, etc...

http://www.lancsfirerescue.org.uk/fire-safety-check/

There you go Stanley... no excuses !!

No excuses at all.
We don't get them free here. Cost about £70 each for the ten year battery ones a Nd you can instal them yourself.
Costs about £150 each (!)for the hard wired ones and you must have an electrician instal them.

Reminded by this very good advice to test my three fire alarms. They are mains powered with battery backup and had to be fitted when I had my loft conversion done. A detector on every floor, with designated emergency egress points on first and second floors. The door into the attic is a heavy 2 hour fire door. They make quite a racket when I test them as they are all linked.

Gardening today. Tidied my pots, planted 18 primula s round the edge of the front garden, finished tidying the back garden. All is now set for the Spring growth spurt.

The soil in my garden hasn't thawed out yet Sue, though the sunshine today should have made a bit of difference. It's been lovely today, and we have just been sitting out enjoying a glass of wine.