Little Critters - caching in the sun

Alice and Chris decided they fancied a walk in the countryside today.  As I was planning on doing some caching I asked if they would like to join me, which they did.  It is always nice to have some company on my walks, although I am equally happy to go on my own.

So after our lie in this morning we headed off on the 20 minute drive to the start.  We took Millie with us as she is very easy to walk. Diesel is just hard work especially when you don't know what you are walking into.
We found most of the caches okay; just two that we did not find.  A few muggles made the logging a bit tricky at times.  The sun was shining and it was a nice 16 degrees.  The rape was in full bloom which when close to it can make your eyes sting a bit. Thankfully we didn't have too much of that to walk through.

The caches were mostly little insect toys with a very small log book. We couldn't find two easy ones but found the difficult hide very quickly.  Millie behaved herself, although she did manage to dip into two ditches.  I think Chris and Alice enjoyed the stroll. It did take us quite a while to walk the three miles though. I am so slow and the ground was very uneven.

Chris and Alice decided they fancied a barbecue and offered to buy the meat.  Alice phoned Andy. He had already bought a leg of lamb for a roast but was able to change the plans and got the gas BBQ, garden and chairs organised whilst we went shopping.  Whilst Andy was cooking Chris Alice and I sat outside and chatted.  Sev was still playing a game on his PC which was starting to wind Andy up.  Sev eventually came out after his game had finished and after we had already started to eat.  It was a lovely BBQ; loads of food.   Andy gave the dogs a bone each and they merrily munched on those for a little while.  Sev took a video of Diesel chomping on his bone.  If I can I'll load the video up on here, but it is on youtube. "Diesel enjoying a bone".  Turn the volume on; it is quite funny.  We then had a lovely raspberry roulade for dessert.

After eating we were all a bit stuffed and sat int he living room for a while.  All the time Alice wanted to play a board game but Chris and Andy are not too keen on board games.  It's difficult to play a game with three people.  After about an hour we managed to persuade Chris to play Monopoly.  Now Sev ALWAYS wins at Monopoly.  So I already knew the outcome before we started. But then I nearly always end up drunk when playing, but didn't this time.  After Chris and Alice merged, Sev and I merged.  Then of course the inevitable - Sev won. 

After that we all chilled out in the living room again before I went up to have my bath and get ready for bed.  Altogether an enjoyable day.   Back to work on Monday and Wednesday and then I am off all over Easter and back on the following Wednesday.  Hooray.  two weeks with two days of work and then at the end of April a whole week off.  Yippee.

Life. What have we got to show for all those years at the end of it?

Recently a very old and dear friend of Andy's died.  We visited her husband and daughter to offer our condolences and any support we could give.  Whilst talking we considered the thirty years that Andy had known her for.  Her husband struggled to remember what they did during a period of time in their life.  After chatting and putting pieces together we surmised that they did what most couples do before the children come along.  Potter about, enjoy lie ins at the weekend and mostly just go to work Monday to Friday.    We talked about keeping diaries to remember the little day to day things. One remembers and takes photos of the big events in our lives. You know the ones.  Christmas, Easter, summer holidays, birthdays and any other significant event.  But we forget to note the little daily things in our lives.

What did our bathroom look like way back then?  What did I do most weekends during a particular decade.  Since I've started geocaching I guess most of my weekends have included a caching trip somewhere. But before then?  Probably taking the kids somewhere - the beach or the park.

So after some contemplation since our chat yesterday I thought I might start up a little diary of my daily life.  It probably wont be terribly inspiring, but at least it will note the small day to day things that occur.  The summer is just starting so at least it might be a little bit more interesting than during the winter as at least I can get outside after a day at work.

So begin my little diary.  Yesterday we drove up to see Andy's friend's husband and daughter. It was a lovely sunny day but we spent most of it in the car or in the house. We went to Costa for lunch and I told them about a cache nearby  but we all agreed it was too far (1000feet) to bother with today.  Before we drove back home Andy and I stopped near a river so he could collect himself before driving home.  I suggested a short walk - to pick up a cache. I know - I'm shameless.  But we both enjoyed the walk through the meadow.  There were sheep with their lambs. It was a delight to see the lambs basking in the sun.  Found the cache quickly.  It was a church micro so I was pleased to find it.  We went back to the bridge looking over the river and just enjoyed the view and the peace and quiet for a few minutes before the long drive home.  Sev and Alice were home and we ordered pizza as no-one felt like cooking. After stuffing our faces with a pizza each I shared out some sweets - revels and starmix.

Earth Hour

What are YOU doing at 8.30pm on Saturday 26th March? Millions of people from around the globe will be switching off their lights in a silent campaign to reduce global warming.

Check out the WWF site for more information - http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk

Earth Hour

SNOW

It's been snowing for three days and the temperatur hasn't risen above zero so we have loads of snow still. I can't believe how deep it is. I don't think it has snowed this much for a very long time. Cars are just about getting around now and Andy and I went shopping yesterday and today. But otherwise we have all stayed in - fortunately no-one has had to travel in to work; although Andy is working in his office in the garden. Andy's route to work-

We took the dogs for a quick run over the green. Millie loves the snow and had a fantastic time chasing snowballs. Diesel was just a bit bemused by it all.

Millie getting completely covered in snow -

Both Millie and Diesel waiting for a snowball to catch.Millie having fun in the snow.

Frosty morning

When I woke up this morning I noticed the heavy frost and when I was drinking my tea the sun started shining. Remembering that today was my last chance to get some photos done for the Facebook's Photography Trading Card Group, I leapt up and went outside with my camera. I left the dogs behind as I wanted to concentrate on the photo shoot. The car needed defrosting first!
There were some really cool frost patterns on the car windows.

Going straight to the woods, I started snapping; here are some of the photos taken today. It was a lovely morning and I was really surprised at how many golfers and dog walkers there were out at 9am on a very cold Sunday morning. I like these two the most. The posts lead the eye along the path to the man walking his dog right at the end. And this one is of a hedge covered in frost.

Then, I came back and collected the dogs and took them for a long walk. It was hard work trying to get some good photos of them both in the same shot!!

Early start

Bleurgh. It is 7am and Andy has already dropped me off at work. However, I can't get into the office until 7.30am so am sitting in the cold 24 hour computer room waiting for the receptionist to arrive so I can get to my desk and start work. When Andy dropped me off early last time I actually started doing some work, but I wont get paid for it, so I'm not doing it this time.

So where were we with the films? Argh, no I haven't got my list, it is on my laptop at home. I will just have to continue this tonight.

Films - cont'd..

Carrying on with my list of films watched in the past couple of years.

The Boy in the striped pyjamas

Set during World War II, a stry seen through the inocent eyes of Bruno, the eight year old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

We hired this film one evening from Blockbusters. It's a very sad film,

Coraline
A very strange film, along the lines of a scary fairy tale. I enjoyed watching it, if only because it was so different from the usual. The voices are from Dakota fanning, Teri Hatching, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

When Coraline moves to an old house, she feels feels bored and neglected by her parents. She finds a hidden door with a bricked up passage. During the night, she crosses the passage and finds a parallel world where everybody has buttons instead of eyes, with caring parents and all ehr dreams coming true. When te Other Mother invites Coraline to stay in her world forever, the girl refuses and finds that the alternate reality where she is trapped s only a trick to lure her.

The day the earth stood still

To be honest I don't remember much about this film. I checked a trailer out to remind me. I recall Keanu Reeves being in it, so apart from that I guess it wasn't that good!

Christmas cake

Well the Christmas cake is in the oven and I have a four hour wait until it is ready! When I popped to the supermarket to get some of the ingredients the shelves had been mobbed of flour and dried fruit. I think everyone is making Christmas cake this weekend.

countdown

In the countdown to Christmas, 6 weeks, I'm told, I thought I ought to check how much time I have left to complete my 101 things to do in 1001 days. I had a slight panic that I might be fast running out of time.

I started this challenge on 9 Jan 2009 and it is due to finish on 8 October 2011, which happens to be my mum's 66th birthday. So that means I have already had 673 days and have only 329 days left. That means 47 weeks or 10 months and 25 days. Or 7396 hours.

Now 10 months sounds alright, but consider this. I am likely to spend 4 months of that time sleeping (more if I get a chance!), 2 1/2 months at work and probably 2 1/2 months wasting time on my laptop. So that only leaves me just over a one month to finish off my challenge.

As I review this challenge, I notice how much my priorities have changed over the past 673 days. There are some things on the list, that I am quite unlikely to do now, although at the time, I thought would be feasible. I am unlikely to go to Tai Chi or Pilates, much as I would like to - I just can't afford it. I am still working on getting Andy to join me in salsa dancing lessons. I'd love to do this dance, it is so sexy and means you get up close to your partner. Maybe in January? We'll see.

Well I think I have cracked number 73 on my list -watching all those films, so I had better take another look at my list of things to do and see what else I can do within the deadline.

list of films

Right, Sev and I have just gone through the alphabet and compared notes with regards to listing films we have watched from a to z.

He keeps strange hours and watches late night films and watches chick flicks with his girlfriend.

So here are both our lists. I will go into mine in a bit more detail over the next day or two.

Mine---Sev's
Angels and Demons --- Adventure Land
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas --- Batman Returns
Coraline --- Click
The Day the Earth stood still --- Dirty Dancing
Evan Almighty --- Epic movie
The Final Destination --- The Final Destination
Great Escape --- GI Joe
The Hangover --- Happyness
Iron man 2 --- I am Legend
Julie and Julia --- Jarhead
Kill Bill --- Kick Ass
League of gentlemen --- Love Actually
Mama mia --- Marley and Me
Night at the museum 2 --- The Notebook
One hour photo --- Oceans 11
Panic room --- Pirates of the Caribbean
Quantum of Solace --- Quantum of Solace
Rock school --- Road Trip
Star Trek --- Star Trek
Time traveller's wife --- Terminal
United 93 --- United 93
Van Helsing --- Van Helsing
Wall-E --- Waterworld
X-men origins - Wolverine --- xXx
You, Me and Dupree --- Yes Man
Zulu --- Zombieland

I've cheated a bit with G and Z, I couldn't think of anything that I have watched in the past 18 months beginning with these 2 letters, so have included a film that I have seen, but not for a while. Everything else I have seen recently.

films

Number 73 of my 101 list of things to do in 1001 days.

I have neglected to keep a log of all the films I have been watching over the past year or so. I must check my deadline too!

Number 73 of my list is to watch 26 films beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Strangely enough I have managed to tick off some of those I thought might be difficult, like x and i. I have even managed to watch a film that was a number! How's that! LOL I usually watch films on SKY or normal channels, rarely going to the cinema - it is just too expensive.

So here is a quick rundown of my list so far. As mentioned above I have neglected to keep a log of films I have watched, so this list is retrospective.

2012

Starring John Cusack the storyline is that Dr Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns the US President that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fracton of the world's opulation, the entire race is doomed. The world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the imending catclysm whilst volcanic eruptions and earthquakes wreak havoc around the world.

In my humble opinion it was okay - your average American apocolyptic film with the usual good effects. Not something I would be in a hurry to watch again, unless there is nothing else!

Angels and Demons

Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor are two of my favourite actors and they were great in this film. I have read all the Dan Brown books, so was very excited when this film came out. We did go and see it at the cinema and I have seen it again on the television.

Storyline - When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetro, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr Vetra's daughter, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four altars of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals and murders each of them painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searing for a very destructive weapon that could kill millions.

It has everything I like in a film - my favourite actors, mystery and suspense and some gory deaths with a twist at the end. Great. Definitely would watch this again.

Aliens in the attic

This was hilarious, we watched this about a month ago on Sky, I think.

Storyline - An extended family go on summer vacation. When they have problem with the television image the kids go up to the attic/roof to find the antenna dish destroyed. They find out that there are four alien invaders preparing to invade Earth using amind control weapon that only affects adults. The group of children lock the four aliens in the attic and try to force the adults to leave the house so they can deal with the aliens. One of the aliens doesn't want to harm the people on Earth and helps the children to fend off the baddy aliens. Because they are small and their vulnerability is depictedin the film, it is really quite funny. The children have fun with the mind control weapon on an annoying older sister's boyfriend who is quite obnoxious, that was hilarious too.

I will do the rest of the list another day.

Photography ATCs

Here is my favourite of the six photography ATCs that I received this week.





and here are the ones I sent out:

Am itching to get out and start to take more photos ready for this month's swap.

What to do this weekend? Too many things to choose from! Geocaching, geneology or photo-taking. Andy and I are going to help Sarah move into her new flat. Lo and behold there is a cache not 500 feet from her front door! heehee. Also if the weather stays dry tomorrow, and I'm in the mood for it, I might take Millie for a walk with me - and perhaps pick up a few caches.

I have been researching Andy's family history for a while now and have done all that i can on the internet. So now it is down to the parish records. Luckily his family have all lived in the same county for generations, so that makes it easier to research! YAY. So I might go to the County Records office tomorrow to do some more searching of births, deaths and marriages in the parish records. First of all though i gotta get up early and take Alice to work for 8am. GROAN. Well I can have a lie in on Sunday. Monday morning we are up very early to go to Sarah's. (Hi Sarah!!)

The photo-taking comes from my recent recipt of some photography ATCs. There is a newish group on facebook where people can swap their photography on ATC sized cards. I got a nice collection this week. Will upload them over the weekend. Add that to my list! LOL. So I got to looking on the web for photography themes. One person has photos of takeaway containers. On their own, each individual photo would be a bit odd, but a collection of them looks okay. Like a set. Some ideas i got from looking on another site http://www.danielgallant.com/Photo-Theme-Series are windows, door knockers, texture in nature and texture in architecture, water images, clouds and trees. I don't want to do boring or cutsey photos, like of the dogs or scenery. I want to do more artsy type photos. So we'll see what comes out of this wekend.

Diesel

After getting back from walking Millie last Saturday, my mum called to say that someone had a 2yr old boxer who needed a good home. So that night we drove up to meet Diesel. He is very excitable, about the same size as Millie. They seemed to get on, and both Andy and I liked him. So we brought him home that night. He has been absolutely brilliant and has settled nicely into our routine. I think he likes being with Millie and Andy all day, as previously his owners were out at work all day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imBjcjI1Nhw

They love to playfight together, above is a video of the two of them playing in the living room. At first we walked Diesel off lead in a secure park as we were not too sure if he would come back easily. Thankfully he seems to realise we are his "pack" now and follows Millie everywhere. So when we call them, they both come back.Yesterday and today we have walked them both off lead in the woods and open park. He has been very good and has come back, albeit not as well as Millie does when he is distracted, but we have not struggled as yet.

A walk in the park

Just been for a very lovely walk with Millie. We went about three miles along the sea wall. I managed to find four new caches, all quite easily, but we did have to climb up two very steep hills during the trip. It was a gorgeous sunny day, which certainly makes a walk much more enjoyable. We did have to pass some cows though, which always makes me nervous. Thankfully, with Millie on the lead we got passed them without too much bother. As always she needed a shower when we got back as her feet were quite muddy and she managed to roll in one of the many cow pats. Smelly dog.

Mum rang yesterday about a 2yr old boxer who is looking for a home. So after having phoned the owner, we have agreed to go and visit the dog tonight. I am quite excited about Millie having a playpal, but we will see how it goes.

chatting

Had a lovely chat with Sarah over the course of the day. First of all by email at work - which was fun. She was in the Uni library - bored! Then we chatted on the phone. That was nice, because no-one was at home, so I was a bit lonely.

I was sitting in the living room quietly playing tetris on facebook, after having popped upstairs to do a pee, when I heard some moving around upstairs. At first i wondered who/what was up there as everyone was out. Then I realised Millie was not in the living room. The daft dog had gotten trapped in Alice's bedroom and could not open the door. LOL. So I wen to rescue her and she was pretty excited to see me again. She was funny.

PS
Hello sarah :D

Pizza cake

It is Sev's 19th birthday tomorrow and I wanted to make a "pizza" cake. I saw this decoration for a cake in a cookery book at Andy's mum's house. As Sev likes pizza I thought it would be a fun thing to do. So I made a some small cakes yesterday to trial out the decoration. I made these with icing sugar and water mix, but today when I made the bigger pizza cake, I used butter icing which gives a better finish, I think.

Hope he likes it.

10/10/10 CITO Event

It is geocaching's 10th year and so 10th october 2010 was a very special day that needed to be celebrated big time. Over 76 thousand people logged a cache on this auspicious day, smashing the previous record of 50 thousand in April this year.

Needless to say, I joined in too. I went to Essex's first ever CITO event. CITO = Cache in Trash out. So this meant clearing out any rubbish, or trash, that was lying around in one of the country parks. As it is a stunning beautiful area that I visit regularly, I felt I ought to do "my bit". So off I went and met up with over 20 other cachers and between us we filled a trailer full of rubbish - it was quite unbelievable just how much rubbish there was.

Thankfully the weather was wonderful and dry. It was a little windy in the country park, but the sunny and dry day more than made up for a bit of wind. In fact it was such a lovely day I persuaded Andy to come for a walk with me and Millie in the late afternoon. After going round in circles in a field full of cow pats getting lost, and being chased by a herd of cows, I only managed to nab one more cache. And Andy was not impressed with the walk at all. But all in all it was a good day.

just a normal weekend

Had a nice day today. Andy and I had a lie in, after getting up at 6am every morning this week, it was a treat to lie in bed until 9. After a bath and a leisurely breakfast we took Millie for a walk. We tried to find a geocache which involved crossing a field with some horses. Now I am not too scared of horses, but when a bigun come running at you, just a week after another horse tried kicking Millie, it is a little scary. So I told Andy to walk quickly with Millie to get off the field, whilst I walked as quick as I could with the horse at my shoulder. So needless to say, i didn't get the cache. I will just have to try again without taking Millie with us.

So we went on to a country park just a quarter mile further and had a lovely walk around there. It had a nice cafe, shop and three trails. The three different trails took you around the country park with a focus on three different things, like sculpture, WW2 and explosives. The park used to have a factory on it which produced dynamite, gelignite, and other explosives, so it has quite an interesting history.

One strnage thing we did see was some very old style houses, like 15th century old, in a sort of circle with the intention of making a village and village green. One house had been transported from Stansted area when they built Stansted airport. Apparently the house was sold to the current owners for 50p. How bizarre. Even more bizarre the house is currently being protected by chipboard, so it looked very strange with a chipboard house and thatched roof.

Needless to say Millie managed to jump into a very smelly ditch, so she needed a shower when we got back.