Central Heating ......at last

It was April, we had this little pile in the sitting room.  And a few days later....it was this

And for the final check today it was this -

So much power in one little cupboard.

Today was the day to see if everything worked - and for the first hour or so we had to run the radiators at 30 degrees.  Seemed a little excessive since it was already about 25 degrees outside, but the radiators needed flushing out before the final treatment was added. 

I spent the next hour watching the meter spinning round at a rapid rate, and quickly calculating on my fingers how many units, and how much so far have I spent so far. 

What a difference though.  We haven't had proper heating for nearly 30 years.  Now I have to work out how the timer works.......somehow the instruction leaflet has been lost... hopefully the Internet will help me out and I will be setting this up for the winter.

Next project tomorrow is a new immersion heater for the hot water.

Long awaited desert.....

I have been promising a home made desert for weeks, but just did not get round to making one - so OH has had to resort to shop made cakes and pies.....which I loathe.

So last night I popped down to the shop and bought some ingredients to make one.  I only use recipe books as a guide so I have no idea what to call my desert.

Perhaps Strawberry chocolate cream gateau would be a good name.  The base is a chocolate sponge, the double cream is whipped with a little icing sugar spread across the cake and sliced delicious big strawberries on top, finished with melted chocolate.

I made two - we have already eaten the first one!  It was delicious, but rich and I now wish I sandwiched together the two chocolate sponges with chocolate sauce, then as you cut into the whole lot with a spoon you would have chocolate oozing out all over the place.....Yum! 

Perhaps I will do that next time. 

My first attempt at baking bread.........

an absolute disaster!!!!

That was meant to be a 2lb loaf of bread 

My OH was complaining this morning at breakfast about the bread he buys from the supermarket.  He said should we buy a bread making machine....to which I replied I would still need to put the ingredients in it, so why not just bake one by hand! 

Worst day I could think of doing such a thing....I had a heap of things to do, but since I said I would make it, I found a simple quick recipe - so I thought.  There was no kneading in this one, which is why I think it came out "heavy", or at least that is one of the reasons.

It said to mix the dry ingredients together and add a beaten egg and 6 tablespoons of oil and stir in and place in an oiled bread tin....which I did.  Then it said to cover with teatowel for an hour til it rose (which it didn't - not much anyway). 

Then it said heat the oven - which I did - and bake for 45 minutes.....which I didn't!!! I baked it for nearly two hours!!!  Why? 

Well I made a quick phone call to a friend - except the "quick" turned into 30 mins, and by the time I pondered over the phone call, I suddenly realised that my bread was still baking!!!

I took it out of the oven, turned it over and tried with all the effort I could muster, to knock it out of the tin, but it wouldn't budge.  With ten minutes or so of huffing and puffing, it came out, minus its bottom - that was left in the tin.

So when lunchtime arrived, I sliced this poor pathetic loaf and placed it on my OH plate, together with his grilled bacon and his boiled eggs (his favourite lunch) and placed it in front of him. 

His comment was "What is this?" 
 "Its home made bread". I said. 
"Well it looks and tastes as if it is not cooked properly"

I doubt if any more will be eaten - so perhaps I should use it as a brick for the new garden wall....or maybe give it to the dog for her tea......or as I hate wasted food - I could turn it into a bread pudding!

An unsual tea on a hot summers day

My OH said "Whats for tea?".  I said "What do you want?".  He says "Something light".

Well I could not be bothered with cheese on toast, or egg on toast and I did not have salad for a sandwich. 

So I decided I would make pancakes - this time I used Gluten Free flour.  We had three big ones each and I placed these on the plate and at the side I added a spoonful of ginger preserve, a spoonful of stewed apple, one sliced kiwi fruit and a handful of blue berries. 

For me I swapped the stewed apple to cooked prunes.  And I squeezed some lime juice over the pancakes and OH added some sugar to his. 

Surprisingly it tasted delicious, and was a nice light tea - so refreshing - and filling.  Perhaps three pancakes was a bit excessive, but I didn't want to waste the already prepared batter.

Amber and the Pumpkin.....

on a hot summers day! 

Amber.....

 She is laying in the very hot sun.  Amber never seems to eat anything during the hot summer weather, and does lose weight, but she is chirpy enough and drinks plenty of water.  As soon as winter comes she puts on weight again. 

Amber's mummy and daddy were field cats....she was pretty wild when she was young and did not like humans.  She spent most of time out in the garden - day and night and there was nothing I could do about it.  But since she has grown fond of us, she now likes to curl up on a chair or in a quite corner for an afternoon nap and rarely goes out at night now.

She is my little swan, and when I call her this and she is sitting up, she puffs out her chest.  Amber loves a good brush, and I bought a small bristle shoe brush just to do that - most days.  She wriggles about on the ground, so that I cover every inch of her fur. 

And then there is my pumpkin.....no relation at all .....but I picked it out of the garden this afternoon and Amber thought I was giving her a ball to play with....but I just wanted to show how big my pumpkin is. 

Amber is a small cat, so it doesn't say much for my pumpkin.....lets just say its as big as a football. - it is really.......I must get this one eaten soon as I have plenty more to pick.

Yummy.......blackberries and...

plenty of them.   Now got to get on with making those pies and puddings.  Perhaps I may have a go with apple and blackberry jam. 

I was bought up on blackberry and apple jam, in the days when you could buy an enormous tin from the grocery store.  Fresh baked bread and jam - thats what we used to have for our tea. 

Dad would sit at the head of the table and be the first to pull the loaf apart - never knew how they managed to bake the bread with two "humps" so perfectly.  Dad called the "flakey" middle the "maggoty bit".  We never was allowed to have this piece, it was Dad's. 

The bread was baked in a bakery about seven miles away.  I never remember how it got to us, only that our names, one of many families living on the sheep station,  were written on the  white paper wrapping and we collected it every day from a huge wooden box high (only because we were little) in a tree with a lid that opened upwards.  The lid was on a spring, so often needed two of us to hold it open, while we found our loaves of bread. 

I am getting distracted here.....but then as we get older we do think about our younger days - mmm - now where was I?  A sure sign of getting old, if you can't remember....... Ahhh yes the blackberries I picked today.  I will freeze some as there are far too many to eat over the next few days and I will make some pies. 

Not so sure about the jam though, I will have to think about that.  Never been successful, so best not try - yet. 

A Dop Called Kitty - Bill Wallace

I picked this one up amongst a box of from Freecycle.  It caught my eye because 1.  It was a small book in size and also had only 137 pages and the font was a good size for me to have as a quick read.  Except it took me over a week because other things got in the way.

Description on the back:

The puppy was small and fuzzy with a friendly, wagging tail - and Ricky was afraid of him!  No wonder, since he was attacked by a dog when he was just a bay.  So when a stray puppy comes sniffling around the farm, Ricky tells it to get lost.

But the puppy keeps trying to play with Ricky.  and every time Ricky's Mom feeds the cats, the little dog comes running. The cats aren't sharing their food, however, and the poor pup is slowly starving.

If Ricky does not overcome his fear, the little puppy may die - but if he lets himself get close enough to feed it, he may find the best friends he has ever had!



It was only when I was half way through the book, that it dawned on me that it could be a children's story and so I read the "About the Author" and he was a fourth grade teacher in America, who could not find a book to read to his students to hold their attention long enough, so he decided to have a go, and since he liked animals, this book is one of many he had written.

This is the saddest book I have ever read - I never thought I would ever shed a tear over a book, but I found myself almost sobbing - like one of those hic/sniff  kinda feeling.  Absolutely recommended read for animal lovers. 

Sadly Bill Wallace died this year.  He lived in Olkalhoma.  This is the first time I have heard of him, but it has made such an impression I will be looking out for more books by this author. 

Alright for some in this heat.....

Absolutely beautiful day today.  Very hot which I don't normally like, but I knew it is time to hack away the wilderness in the garden.  Not sure if I will get it all done this summer, but worth a try.

Getting started on this patch - first - thats all gone now, except for a few blackberry plants up in the corner. 

Now to attempt to put up the pagoda.  I just happen to have one that is at least 15 years old, when you had a bag full of numbered poles, a silly instruction sheet, which is so difficult to follow, some pegs, string, stands, joins, and last of all the plastic sheet to go over.

There is only me to do it - not that there isn't anybody around, they decided to be just an audience and make jokey comments.  Not my husband I hasten to add, he was busy in another part of the garden. 

Well here goes.....

Hey some of the numbers have come off the poles.....oh no.....which goes where?  I scrabble around for the instruction sheet, only to find out that it had got damp in the shed and here I am pressing out the creases so that I can just about see the number poles to go where???

Whee - so far so good - now the tricky bit, getting the last two poles onto each corner.  Thats three poles to hold this up on each corner.  Oh no the wind is picking up.......huff and puff......holding on the whole thing with one hand and trying to place the poles in the corner......

I have done it!!!  Well done me. 

Oh look you can see beyond the pagoda where I have been working today.  Lot better, but still got at loads of "patches" to do. My patches are about 3 meters square. I couldn't cope with any more than that in a day.

Our garden has an abundance of self sown blackberry bushes, everywhere.  I won't allow them to be dug out til I have harvested every blackberry there is.  Only then can the roots be dug out - because at the end of the day it is a weed, a weed that spreads with the help of birds - cos they like blackberries too and spit the pips out somewhere else...and presto another blackberry bush for the following year!

Ahhh here I am sweating bucket loads......and here is my companion -

Resting in the sun......Its alright for some!

The Boy in the Burning House - Tim Wynne-Jones

Description on the back...

Someone was trying to blackmail father.  She did not expect it would be easy to find proof and no one was going to believe her without it, so she searched when and where she could and watched and listened......

Ruth Rose is the wild and troubled stepdaughter of the local preacher, Father Fisher.  She thinks she knows the truth behind the sudden disappearance of Jim Hawkins' father, but Jim does not want to believe her crazy theories - he would rather carry on slowly rebuilding his life in peace.  Eventually Ruth Rose's burning conviction sparks in Jim an equally fierce determination to root out the truth, no matter how painful.  And when they start to uncover a web of guilt and deceit he realizes just how dangerous Father Fisher is. 

Father Fisher says his step daughter is a crazy, and has her on medication to quieten her down, but she suspects her step father is not what he should be, a local preacher.  Ruth Rose is just 16 and she believes that her step father is a murderer and with the help of Jim Hawkins she sets out to prove she is right.  Will Jim believe her....since it is his father who was killed??.......

This was a great book! Kept me at it til the end. Thank goodness I had some time to read on my trips to see people. Just 272 pages, good print and the line spacing wider than most which made it comfortable to read.  Recommended. 

July challenges....

Have I met my personal challenges this month.  Lets see...

1.  Photo a Day Challenge - started fine, stopped abruptly and then could not get started again.  Not good.  Must try it again.  I do enjoy thinking outside the box - keeps the brain active.

2.  Cooking - well did not even reach first base.  Oh yes we always have our meat and veg every night but we haven't had a home cooked pudding or cake, not one.  Hubby seems to be having withdrawals, as I see there is loads of Mr Kipling cakes in the cupboard.

3.  Read Quicker - well almost got there - 4.5 books read (I didn't finish the last one - found it a trifle boring).  This gave an average of 45 pages a day.  Better luck next month.

4.  Getting on with something I really like doing.  mmm not got far on this one - does thinking count?  Our front door kept sticking for a whole week, and with a little bit of attention it is working again, but whilst I was fixing it, I looked at the front, and could not believe that the wood was so dry, I hadn't oiled it for over four years!  Now I am thinking should I rub oil in it again  or give it a good coat of paint. 

I love this door, it has this knocker which has the shape of a bat at the top.  Many people - postman, policemen, salesmen, etc.  always want to rat a tat (loudly), even when I have the door open!!! Small things please little minds....however the saying goes.

Whoops getting carried away here.  So have I started anything constructive in the home.  Well I did have a go at the wilderness in the back garden, but not sufficient enough to take a photo - yet!

6.  A trip out at least every two weeks - two trips not bad - more next month I hope. 

The solution is to keep on track of my personal challenges, is to make time.  I am still struggling to find a little leisure time in my very active life.  I really thought I cracked it, but not yet, I still to learn the word "NO".