Purple Dragon

When I was younger, and even until recently really, people used to weed the spaces between their flagstones, cobbles and slabs religiously.

I have just recently discovered that the new fashion is actually planting between them.

Apparently between slabs is a great place to grow mint.

SEE IF YOU WOULD BE GOOD ON A JURY

LOOKING AT A PICTURE OF A PERSON YOU HAVE TO DECIDE IF HE IS A COMPUTER GEEK OR A SERIAL KILLER. GO WITH YOUR GUT FEELING AND CLICK ON YOUR CHOICE. THERE ARE 10 PHOTOS. YOUR SCORE WILL BE GIVEN AT THE END.

http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz

I only got 5 out of 10! Yikes!

Check this out

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/30may_starsandplanets.htm?list890823

Looking forward to this!

I think everyone has heard of this book, and if they haven't they've seen the movie.

I think that G was unfortunately portrayed in the film by Ollie Reed. I think Reed played himself rather than G - the G in the book was much more - hmm, human. Less obsessed by sexual passtimes.

I think this is a really sad book. If they could have put the sex behind them, then they would have had so much more fun. G was disappointed because he didn't get the Lucy he expected and Lucy was defensive because she knew she had played a role in order to get the place with him for a year.

A sad, sad book. So much opportunity missed simply because two people expected more than the other was prepared to give.

Mad thing about it is - I nearly applied for the same advert - or one very similar. I was staying with a friend for a few days in London, and I can remember laying on the floor reading the adverts in the paper, because my life was at a complete standstill and I could see no way forward. I wanted something extraordinary to make my life start again and go forward in an extraordinary way. I read the advert, read it to my friend who immediately said "God, don't be a frickin idiot - he may be a mad axe murderer or torturer or something. You'll spend the year tied to a tree" and continued in that vein until I gave the idea up.

The person who shared said flat with my friend was gay, and poorly. This was also my first experience of someone with Aids. He died. When I asked my friend what he died from, he said "Oh, something we gays get sometimes" and we never spoke of it again. Such a throwaway statement for such an awful illness.

How naive I was in those days. Thank goodness I never answered the ad. I would never have lasted a week!

Gosh, I've been flooded with memories from those days. I was so young!

This stuff just knocks my socks off!

The kink at the edge of the solar system
The outer boundary of the solar system is distorted as though it has been punched from below, according to NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft

New Scientist

http://www.newscientistspace.com/channel/solar-system/mg19025534.100?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19025534.100

Well, I have been tagged (voluntarily this time) by Ally http://duckingforapples.blogspot.com/ for the Letter meme.

You have to write 10 things starting with said letter that reflect 'you'.

She gave me the letter 'R'

1. Red which is my favorite colour, and I try and wear it whenever I can. I just bought a new red t-shirt, and I can't wait for the nicer weather so I can wear the flippin thing

2. Rubenesque although not quite yet, I'm getting that way with the scoffing of the peanuts, biscuits, butteries ...

3. Rosicrucian Used to be, anyway! I had to stop because I couldn't afford their fees anymore. That, and they were rather elitist, which made me uncomfortable

4. Reincarnation - I so believe in this. I just can't believe that this is one life we get.

5. Regression - me and our trampoline. That is one huge asset to having kids - you can join in and be a big kid as well

6. Reading Well, if you know me, you know I've always got my head in a book. I refuse to pass a day without having sat down and read even a couple of pages. Man, I wish I could write! What a talent to be able to transport people into a whole nother world!

7. Reaper Man Death is one of my absolute favorite characters in the Discworld series, and this is his very own edition

8. Somewhere over the Rainbow way up high, there's a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby

9. Relic This is a great word. It not only describes what I am slowly becoming, but also one of the big interests in my life - archaeology

10. Rambling A fine descriptive of the way my mind is going nowadays. As shown splendidly in my blog entries

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged, leave me a comment, and I will allocate you a letter all of your very own

I don't know what to entitle this entry.

My mind is mush and I'm on edge.

I happened on I'm not sure how information about Lyme Disease. There were photos. There was information. There was history. And there was a section that said that folk with Lyme Disease were often misdiagnosed - as having multiple sclerosis.

Not long before Sue was taken ill with 'MS', she had exactly the same 'thing' on her back that is displayed after being the meal of a tick carrying Lyme. The Dr didn't know what it was, and she was eventually treated with the same drugs they use for that flesh-eating bug thing. It didn't clear up after treatment, but eventually cleared up.

The thing is - we have been told that Sue is incurable, and that her massive deterioration is permanent, and will continue until, effectively, the damage to her brain will no longer be able tell her body to breathe or whatever.

BUT

if she has Lyme Disease - they can help make her better, maybe not completely, but enough to function, to speak, to see, to move under her own volition, to swallow, to have control of her limbs again. She might still need care, but she won't need to be in a care home. She can be looked after in her own home with a visiting nurse.

I've sent information down to Mum, who has highlighted the relevant parts (the stuff that relates to Sue's history) and she is sending it to her neurologist.

We shall see.

Oh, God, if they can make her better.

I really wanted to sit and watch his speech this afternoon. They had it on Sky on a repeat play. He had a lot of interesting points to make, and I agree with a lot that he has to say.

The unfortunate thing is - he is such a rubbish public speaker! Oh My God. Drone! Dull dull dull.

I just couldn't manage the whole thing, which is a real shame, because if I couldn't manage it, then those poor people in the auditorium must have found it excrutiating! You could actually see some of them holding their heads up with their hands. Such a pity that he was trying so hard to make his point about integration, and he would lose his audience because his presentation was so DULL!

Here is the link to an article I read just now about scams. Opened my eyes about a couple I didn't know about!

http://money.uk.msn.com/MyMoney/Insight/Money_Spinner/article.aspx?cp-documentid=231455

Also gives you a couple of emails addresses to report scammers.

I just got a letter thru the post. I wasn't addressed to me specifically - just To all householders in the United Kingdom

Fine - we all get junkmail.

What struck me was the back of it. Am I the only person who is bemused by this?

Please open with care - time sensitive documentation inside

What is this? Mission Impossible? Are the contents gonna explode if I don't open them before a certain time?

Bloody nonsense!

I got tagged by suboh http://scotchbonnetsmess.blog.co.uk/ and Sarah http://parlezvousanglais.blog.co.uk/ to list the Top 10 Fantasy Shags.

The idea is that you list the top 10 people you would do the horizontal with, but they have to be fantasy people, not real people. So .. here goes! Not in any particular order

1. Sawyer
There is something scrummily bad and disrespectful about him. He kinda makes you think he would be good in bed, but you wouldn't have to make him coffee in the morning - mainly because he would have crept out in the middle of the night.

2. James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser
Now, some of you will know who I'm talking about, so I won't need to explain this to you!
Those of you who have no idea - read the Outlander series of books by Diana Gabaldon, and be prepared to be swept off your feet

3. Alan Titchmarsh
Okay, some of you may think this is a bit of a weird choice. I'm ashamed to admit that I would actually be using his body in order to gain full access to his gardening knowledge and enthusiasm. Someone who is that passionate about their subject, a subject that interests me too, is worth it!

4. Vita Sackville-West
Her passion. Her commitment. Her refusal to conform.

5. Sayid
Ah, now you gotta admit - what a kind, gentle, romantic guy. Yeah, I know he tortured Sawyer, but the guy deserved a slap! He is so calm!

6. Mr Darcy
What can I say? Ooohhh, Mr Darcy

7. Giles from Buffy
Nuff said

8. Spike from Buffy
but only in full makeup

9. Belgarath the Sorceror
Simply because he can do magic, is more interesting than the magicians in Discworld, and is cleaner (and dirtier) than the other sorcerors in The Belgariad.

10. Ricky Martin
Yeah, I know he's real, but as I'm not likely to meet him in this life, he might as well be fantasy so I'm picking him, so there

Right - so - who to tag? Hmm...

Drumboil
KarenF
Nonny
Jon-the-Man
Ally

and anyone else who wants to!

I have been asked a couple of times how I changed how my blog looks, and the colours of the fonts and so on.

Go to the top right hand corner of the blog and click on 'my blogs'

choose 'settings'

choose the 'design' tab

choose 'edit' (it is a big spanner)

you have a list of options on the left hand side and one of them is 'style' and this is how you change you fonts. I chose 3-column, so when I go into style I get options :

general / heading / centre / left / right

It takes a bit of fiddling about, but it's fun.

Well, I finally got to go to my Drs appointment this morning. They are really fantastic in our surgery - caring, kind, considerate. Really nice folk.

The Dr did some tests, for which I shall have to wait 4-6 weeks for the results. He can't treat me (obviously) until the results come thru.

He is also referring me to the consultant in Aberdeen, as he thinks there might be some underlying problem that doesn't immediately present itself, and that might be either causing or contributing to my current condition. Apparently this is a 16 week waiting list.

The also discussed my age (I'm 41 btw) and mentioned that, at this age, I must consider myself pretty much pre-menopausal. The last time I got told that, I was pregnant with Rachel.

Another one of her fabulous books. I really can't fault her imagination or writing style. She totally takes me in and makes me believe it.

This book is set on Earth after The Happening - an asteroid collision with the planet. Very entertaining.

Her novels are the old-fashioned kind, despite their futuristic settings; the kind that wrap you in their embrace, take over your life, that make the world disappear

Village Voice Literary Supplement

You know when you are waiting for something, and it just never comes?

Background : I belong to a group of women who all gave birth to a child in October 1999. One of our number lost her son to JMML, a form of leukaemia. Here is a link to their CaringBridge site, that I've mentioned before.

http://www.caringbridge.org/canada/conorford/

Anyway. Another of our mums has had her daughter tested for something else, and the bloods have come back abnormal, with a very low count. Naturally, any one of us whose child has a goofy blood result of any sort straight away thinks of wee Conor.

So - the new tests for the wee lassie are today, and I keep checking my email every 5 minutes, hoping for the all clear notification from my friend.

I can't imagine what she must feel like.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE

Just got the email - apparently it was a reaction to the meds she was on for the other thing she had. Phew!

Bonnie : cheap, ugly Saskia, who is gonna be voted out early

Pete : arse. Needs a bigger hat. I dont think he will last

George : dull dull dull, and vaguely horrified at being there. I think he will last, and he reminds me a bit of Anthony from last year

Shahbaz : love him - fab bloke. Currently hope he wins

Lea : chip on her shoulder, scary tits, aged Barbie, could've combed her hair before she went on

Imogen : seems normal

Mikey : arrogant

Dawn : I don't believe her line. No one can be that bitter

Glynn : if he is the sexiest lifeuard in north Wales, then God help north Wales!

Richard : reminds me of Bruce Willis. Yeah, I know Brucey-baby isn't gay

Grace : normal. Said 'Big Brother watch out'. Why

Lisa : I like her, but folk who claim to be different rarely are

Sezer : funny but he really fancies himself

Nicki : Saskia the 3rd. Bimbette

Okay, I will admit it. I'm gonna watch tonight.

For goodness sakes - don't tell Gerry!

I stole this from Rachel at http://www.newness-of-life.com/

Accent: Well, it depends who I'm talking to. When in England, I talk a bit like the Queen.

Bible Book that I like: Erm. Hmm. Erm. I'll get back to you on that one.

Chore that I don't care for: Ironing. I loathe and despise it. To the extent I used to have someone do it for me. I'm reconciling myself to it now though.

Dog or Cat: Oh, definately cats. I am a real cat person.

Essential Electronics: Couldn't live without my PC. Telephone. Mobile. Apart from that, I'm easy.

Favorite Cologne: I quite like UltraViolet, but not the perfume - the body cream

Gold or Silver: Hmm. Gold I guess, although I wear a lot of silver.

Handbag I Carry most often: I have this black suedy type one.

Insomnia: Only when I'm churning myself up. And I get a lot of nightmares. Otherwise, it's like waking the dead (unless one of the kids moves)

Job Title: Mum

Kids: Anthony- aged 6. In Primary 2 and doing very well thank you. Laura, aged 3, in Playgroup. Not liking it much. Rachel, 18 months. Strong willed cheeky girlie

Most Admirable Trait: Do I have one?

Naughtiest childhood behavior: Skiving off school.

Overnight hospital stays: Op on my knee aged about 15. Exploratory op aged early 20s. Two of my 3 kids. Sterilisation aged 41.

Phobias: Oh, man, spiders. Yeuch.

Quote: Oh, you should have asked me this half an hour ago. Now I can't think of one.

Religion: kinda Pagan I guess

Siblings: One older sister

Time I wake up: 7am

Unusual Talent or skill: Ha! Like I'm gonna tell YOU!

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Pretty much all of them, really.

Worst habit: Choice between laziness and comfort eating

X-rays: On my knees before my op; head after a car accident; shoulder after I pranged my motorbike; finger after I trapped it in the ironing board (told you I hate ironing!)

Yummy stuff I cook: According to my kids - nothing.

Zoo animal I like most: Don't like zoos unless they have a breeding/ release programme.

I have just been out into my garden, to dig a trench with the idea of planting some seedlings out.

Unfortunately I have come across something I have never seen before and I don't know what it is!

There are small, dark green balls, about the size of quarter of a pea. They are dark green and look artificial.

My Mum reckons they are slug eggs, but I looked them up online, and they aren't them. They aren't in cluster - they are by themselves.

I have a feeling it might be some sort of weed killer, and if they are, then there is no point in planting seedlings there!

Anyone?

Well, I have just sat and removed the folk who didn't reply to my contact about staying on my friends list.

One or two folk didn't reply but I chose to leave them on anyway.

You know, I removed 10 people? Sad.

Incidentally, if you are still on there, and don't actually want to be (for example, if you didn't omit to reply thru oversight, rather thru not wanting to reply) then go ahead and remove me from your end.

I just sat and streamlined my tags a bit more. I had loads of tags that only had one entry, and they were taking up heaps of space on my page, so I renamed a load, and have deleted another load.

Man, I waste time sometimes!

I'm a wee bit tired today. I stayed up last night, ironing, in order to watch Tremors the old B movie.

What a great film. I must've watched it half a dozen times, but it is one of those sort of films I can watch and watch.

It is so tongue in cheek. The monster is probably, IMO, one of the inspirations for the Alien monster - you know - the heads and mouths inside the head of the big monster.

And apart from the gratuitous kiss at the end of the film, there is no weakening romantic byline. I hate that in films. Where you get some helpless, screaming female who has to be repeatedly rescued by the big, strong hero. Blech! At least the attractive female in Tremors is resourceful and intelligent, and doesn't scream at every available opportunity.

When they made it into a series, I watched every one of them.

Yep. I'm a fan

The story of Elaine who has reached a certain time in her life, when the experiences of childhood explain her reasons for being now.

Very powerful book, but don't read it if you don't want to be reminded of your own past tortures!

Topically, I got this email this morning from The Reality Zone.

Very interesting link :

http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020132sinclair/vaccinaion.htm

I've been laying in bed thinking, so I thought I would come down here and try and type things out instead.

I'm reading a book by Margaret Atwood. The first one of hers I ever read was The Handmaid's Tale, which had a profound effect on me. This one is much like it. It is opening memories and doors in my mind that haven't been looked at in years. Forgotten about. Swept under the carpet for being too messy, too emotional.

You know how they say "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Bollocks! I say it to my kids. I hope it doesn't affect them the way it has me. To be silent, to hold it all in, not to scream and shout and stamp and rail at the world about the things that piss you off, hurt you, humiliate you.

To not show the tears that are boiling over under the surface, hiding them away in shame and fear of - what? Rejection? I think so, I really do. If I show emotion, then I will be rejected. Excluded.

I've been thinking so much about this. There is a girl in the book called Cordelia. Just a made up character, but God I know Cordelia! I hung out with her. Her name was Jackie, Maureen, and so many others. I just can't begin to count them. The girls and women I allowed to treat me like nothing. Like they were important and I wasn't. The memories of their innumerable humiliations are flooding back, now the gates are opened. This is like piercing a boil - the pus is spewing out and I am appalled at how I allowed this to happen to me.

But this isnt important. They did what they did, for whatever reasons they had. Most likely they were insecure so they chose the girl who was even more needy than them, and they proved their 'superiority' by bullying. Coz that is what it was - bullying.

What is important? It is that I have made a lifetime habit of holding it all in. Saying nothing. Biting back the rage and pain and waiting till I am feeling more reasonable, then discussing things. Or just letting them lie when the heat has died down, forgetting about them, pushing them under the carpet of my facade until I am ready to fucking EXPLODE with the build up of it inside me.

I have typed about half a dozen different analogies for how I feel. How I feel ready to burst out of my skin with this inside me. No words can express how I want to stand in the front garden and scream at the moon (which, incidentally, will be full tonight I believe), throw dishes, scratch someone's eyes out, take a sledgehammer to something made of glass just to hear it shatter into pieces - like the inside of me is shattering into pieces every time I deny my emotion.

I need to express this.
I need to run till the blood is pounding thru my veins and in my ears and I can't go any further without throwing up.
I need to drive fast with something loud and raucous on the stereo.
I need sweaty, scratching, biting sex.
I need to make a noise that can be heard coast to coast, so people will notice me and know that I'm not this meek little fucking mummy person, all neat, who gardens and sends her kids to school with a balanced healthy lunch and discusses mid term reports in a sane, considering manner.

I need to get it out before I implode.

This is a reply to KarenR from a comment she made on the MMR/Autism blog entry the other day.

The information to make an informed choice is also not readily available.

You are so right about this. I have found that you seem to have two camps - the fors and the againsts. The fors are completely brainwashed by the system and the againsts tend towards the hippie weirdo types. There doesn't seem to be a group of normal folk with no axe to grind.

For instance, having read loads of research, I decided that in this country the chance of getting nasty sequelae of any jab (hey, not heard 'jag' for ages!) was greater than the chance of getting a side effect from the diseases.

Yes, I think a lot of the carriers of the vaccinations can be worse for folk than the actual disease. Mercury is a fun example (although I think they've stopped this, now, haven't they?). There is a Dr in America who has done several MS studies, and have decided that MS is triggered by too many heavy metals in the system, starting originally with vaccinations and continuing thru hair dye and so on. I don't know whether he is taken too seriously though - i think he's been painted with the 'fringe medicine' brush.

However, if he heads off to another country, I will reassess the danger. For India, he'll definitely need ditheria/tetanus anyway, so he's getting those when he's five. That's another thing they don't tell you - you can hold off vaccinations until children are older.

Well, yes, but the chances of me and mine going abroad are slim to non-existant because Himself and I hate to fly.

I think MMR versus single vaccines has actually been a bit of misinformation that has hidden the entire issue of vaccines - I don't believe MMR is any more dangerous than single vaccines, because the single vaccines have all the inherent dangers of any vaccine. At least MMR is only one dose of preservatives. Then again, it's probably not a good idea to inject lots of different stuff in a little body at once.

I think the protest about the MMR joint vaccine is because they are given all at once, and if the body reacts against them then it is likely to be three times as bad than if they react against one jag. Vaccine overload. Now they have the 5-in-1 there is more of a risk of this.

The major problem with all the vaccine studies (climbs on soapbox) is that they compare children having a vaccine with children having a different vaccine.

Now this is very interesting. I didn't know that. I thought the comparison children we un-vaccinated. That is just stupid doing it the way they do, then!

Another thing I have been told by an old health visitor is that the original study done, that raised the MMR/Autism link, was only done on 19 children. Hardly a huge cross section of the population!

There is also that thing that you only do an investigation when you are pretty sure you'll get the answer you want(gets off soap box).

Yes, this is something I believe as well. The folk who pay for the study are generally quite happy with the results IMO.

I suspect that a lot of autoimmune stuff may be due to vaccine remnants lodged in tissue.

Interesting. See my MS comments, above.

Craniosacrally, autistic children have tight membranes, probably due to inflammation, and this inflammation could be caused by vaccines in early life. But craniosacral therapy is poo-pooed by 'scientists' (anything they don't understand cannot be science, is the way they think).

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. How can you tell? I took Laura for cranial osteopathy when she was a baby, which I think we have discussed before, but this is a different field to you, isn't it? A lot of this stuff is poo-poohed, which drives me nuts because so much of it is beneficial. I think it all comes back to the witch hunts of hundreds of years ago, by the Church. Only 'serious' science done by (and approved) men is The Truth. Anything that isn't mainstream can't possibly be right.

People are also not told that vaccine protection wears off after so long - so come age 20, children are no longer protected - and nor are their babies.

I was told this by my GP, after I had kicked up the stink about having Anthony get a blood test to test immunity. Man, did that go down like a shit sandwich! I finally had a sensible conversation with a decent, broader minded GP, and he admitted this. I just told him that Anthony could then make his own decision about what vaccinations he wanted.

The medical profession really really wants people to fit in, and do as they are told, don't they? I had a similar, disapproving experience when I decided to birth Rachel at home. Off topic. Sorry.

Babies of those of us who miraculously lived through all the childhood diseases without injury are protected by our immunity. Hence the increase in measles in babies.

Now this is interesting. Can you expand upon it?

The whole herd immunity thing means we also vaccinate babies against things that don't harm them (rubella, mumps for girls) for the sake of those who may be harmed. In fact, even with boys, if they get mumps as children, they are less likely to have problems than if they get it as adults, when their vaccine immunity has worn off.

I had this conversation recently with someone I know, who insisted that girls needed to be vaccinated against these things as well because they could carry them and spread them around.

In fact, governments are totally gung ho with vaccines - as you say, not checking immunity before giving 'boosters'. These are actually not boosters at all - they are extra vaccinations given to all children because some will not gain immunity the first time around.

Thank you. My thoughts exactly. They want everyone to do the same thing, rather than treat each person as an individual. I think a lot of it comes down to money.

Then there is drug company pressure. Chicken pox has got much less horrible even during my lifetime, and is now relatively innocuous, yet we are being told it is a killer - strangely just as a vaccine has been developed. Fear is used to drive our behaviour. These messages about how deadly and damaging measles is weren't around when we were kids.

I have actually had measles when I was a kid. I'm still here (although some people may wish I weren't!). Another thing is the huge disapproval one gets stepping out of the norm. Not just with peers, but also with the medical profession. Most people have the sheep mentality, and people who deviate from that are viewed as weird, negligent or just plain stupid.

My Experience of The Day

Last night, I did the Beavers trip – both dropping off and picking up, so I was in and out a lot. When I got back (7.30) I bathed the kids and put them to bed, then went round locking up. I had left the side door to the garage unlocked, since I had been out gardening all day, so that was in my ‘lock up’ routine. Didn’t bother opening the door, just stuck the key in the lock, turned it, and went off to lock up other stuff.

Drove the boy to school this morning, and got back home about 9am.

I had got up late, and missed my morning bath, so when I got back I went into the bath – Rachel went into her cot for a nap, and Laura messed about upstairs between the bathroom and her bedroom.

Pottered around the house, had lunch, then went outside to take Laura to playgroup (12.30) and found my garage up-and-over door open. It was in the horizontal – and our door is quite stiff, so it hadn’t blown open or anything – someone had been there and opened it.

There are only two explanations.

One : I locked someone in the garage last night, and this was them making their escape. I can only think a vagrant would do that, but we don’t get many of them around here – we’re too rural.

Two: Ger didn’t close the door properly at the weekend and someone gave it a push on the off-chance, and managed to open it. Was checking out the contents, heard me starting the car at the front of the house, and legged it.

There is nothing missing that I can see. I had the police round, and they checked everything, including the doors and windows of the house to make sure no one had tried to force any of them.

My big fear now is that they have alerted their friends to the contents of the garage and will come back tonight to empty it.

I have locked our gates as well as they can be locked (although it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to open them!) and have parked my car in front of the garage door so that it can’t be up-and-over’ed. Trouble is, a couple of hefty blokes could probably lift my flippin car and carry it away with no one noticing!

Another thing – I was telling my friend Hazel (who also has rural property) and she said exactly the same thing happened to her yesterday, but she thought one of her boys had been negligent in closing it. Even though she was sure she checked in the morning when she left, it was open when she got home. Nothing was missing from hers either.

They are oystercatchers.

Here's a link to pix of them

http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?species=Oystercatcher

The last time I spotted a 'different' bird in my garden, I found a website where you could type in the characteristics of the bird, and it identified it for you.

Can I find it now? What do you think?

Anyway - the bird.

It is bigger than a blackbird, and only slightly smaller than a crow.

It is black with a white chest and underside.

It has a long, curved beak that is orange. This implies to me that it is a water bird of some sort. Looks like a fishing beak.

There are a pair of them in my front garden.

~~~~~~~~~

Did I tell you about the bird I saw in someone's garden the other day?
We were driving past and I saw what I took to be a statue of a heron in their shrubs.
It was very colourful, and I kinda thought it looked a bit fake and that someone had badly painted a plastic garden ornament.
Then it moved!
Just goes to show

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=692602006

Here is another report in the Scotsman regarding the alarming increase of autistic spectrum children diagnoses recently.

The %-ages are frightening!

This refusal by the government to even allay the fears of parents by allowing the single vaccinations is one of the reasons I don’t trust them that they are telling the truth about this. I don't necessarily think it is MMR causing the autism increases, but I really think that someone needs to find out what IS causing it. At the risk of soudning like a conspiracy theorist, it makes one wonder if they DO know, and don't want to/can't do anything about it.

I shall certainly do with the girls what I did with Anthony – check their immunity with the blood test, before I have the booster. That they just give the children the booster willy-nilly, even when they don’t need it, infuriates me. Money again.

In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet ...

That's the old story everyone knows and loves (even if they don't really believe it. But now the Carpet is home to many different tribes and peoples and there's a new story in the making. The story of Fray, sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet. The story of power hungry mouls, and of two Munrung brothers, who set out on an adventure to end all adventures when their village is flattened. It is a story that will come to a terrible end - if someone doesn't do something about it. If everyone doesn't do something about it ...

This was originally written by Terry Pratchett, aged 17, and re-written when we was 43.

Nice wee book. Another children's book, but I quite enjoyed it. Interesting concept.

Dom Sabalos had a lot of advantages.
As heir to a huge fortune he had an excellent robot servant (with Man-Friday subcircuitry), a planet (the First Syrian Bank) as a godfather, a security chief who even ran checks on himself, and on Dom's home world even death was not always fatal.
Why then, in an age when prediction was a science, was his future in doubt?

I am usually a fairly staunch Pratchett fan, but this was rather disappointing. A lot of Discworld type references (Small Gods, Hogswatch) but is was obviously an older work, and his writing was naïve. I think he was just starting to formulate the Discworld stuff and using some of it in his other work, and (having hit on a winner with Discworld) this is when he took off.

Not especially recommended, I’m afraid.

Well, this is my 300th blog entry.

I am trying desperately to think of something wise and witty to put down, but - guess what - it ain't happening!

I shall put my mind to it and see what I can come up with.

Well, it turns out that the ‘thing’ sticking out was a haematoma.
They removed it under a general, sewed him back up, and they reckon he will be fine now.
It was quite sore for him apparently (as I should think it was!) but he should be fine now.
He’s got a course of pills which are gonna be fun. A pill and a half, twice a day for a week.
Anyone seen that ‘How to Give a Cat a Pill’ cartoon/joke? Fun.

I got sent this, this morning. Thought some folk on here would want to climb on board too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This appeal is to ask the respected TV presenter, Carol Vorderman, famed for her mathematical nous, to, after nine years, stop doing secured loan adverts.

Please sign the petition
(Please forward/tell friends and family about this)

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/carol

The "Carol Vorderman: Secured Loan Ads Don't Add Up" Appeal MSE

Supported by debt counselling charity The CCCS and money education charity Credit Action

The British public now collectively owe a massive £1,100,000,000,000. The secured loan market has increased five times over the last five years and the growing normalization of these loans is a danger to our society. Sold as a 'cure all' where people place all their debts together, secured loans are often actually potentially expensive debts, which trap people in for long periods, and if you can't repay, they can take your home.

For nine years Carol Vorderman's advertised these loans. Advertising works, that's why companies pay for it, and over time her powerful advertisements will have contributed to the growing normalization of this form of borrowing. I believe this is truly worrying, as secured loans should only ever be seen as loans of last resort. I would like her to stop and I'd urge all who agree to sign the petition to let her know.

Read/sign the online petition: www.moneysavingexpert.com/carol

Please forward/tell friends, colleagues and family about the petition. The more supporters, the more impact it will have.

The appeal also calls for secured debt firms to develop a charter of responsible advertising that only targets the limited number of niche individuals who could possibly benefit from the product.

Read more about the appeal, how secured loans work, and why Carol?

This appeal is supported by the UK's largest debt charity the Consumer Credit Counselling Service and the money education charity Credit Action.

Thanks (I hope) for your support

Martin Lewis
MoneySavingExpert.com

OK - question.

Is there such a thing as a feed that will send me an email to my inbox to tell me someone whose blog I follow as been updated ? I don't want to have to go to another site to get my feeds. I'm far too lazy!

Is it just me, or is that guy truly scary?
That poor girl he’s engaged to.
He is totally dominating her.

Her giving birth in ‘almost’ silence was scary enough (I moaned, groaned and growled throughout all mine!) but her baby is just two weeks old, and he has signed her up for that Beautiful Brides thing (or whatever it’s called).

Some sort of exercise group – apparently he told her that he wanted her to be the most beautiful bride ever.

So – she’s a mess now, then, right?

If Ger signed me up for some exercise thing I’d thump him one!
What an insult!

He should try giving birth.
Arrogant git.

A Merrily Watkins Mystery.

This time, based in Ludlow, with kids falling off Ludlow Castle - or are they being pushed? And what has Belladonna - aging gothic rock singer - got to do with all of it?

Poor Merrily is forced to submit to a Deliverance Panel, none of whom she trusts or gets along with, while dealing with the hidden agendas of mayors, Deans and rogue psychiatrists.

And who has got it in for Lol and Merrily and is spreading rumours around Ledwardine? Ask Jane and Irene!

Poor wee Anthony has an ear infection (likely picked up from me) and tonsillitus.
Took him to the Dr this morning, and said his tonsils were a bit sore and icky, and that he had a bit of an earache.
The Dr looked in his left ear and pronounced it quite fine, but when he looked in his right ear he said “Oooohhhh, yes, oh dear, yes. Ear infection for sure” and then he looked down his throat and made lots of plumber type noises to indicate a nasty throat too.
He usually gets a 125ml dose but he’s given him 250 instead coz it’s a nasty one.
So – no Beavers tonight. He’s laid on the couch looking for cuddles and feeling ghastly.

This was written by my friend, Kristy.

http://www.jmmlfoundation.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=70