Reasons to be cheerful

Sandrine said:
Ahah that is funny ☺️
Here is Suzie, my puppy dog when we first got her and now enjoying a snooze in the sun... She is a little over 6 months now.
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Suzie is absolutely adorable. looking very well behaved
 
Gorgeous dog, Sandrine. I bet she will demand a lot of exercise when adult. Collies are such quick learners and need so much training - looks as if you got her just in time to get to know her in lockdown.
 
Today's "reason to be cheerful" is that I only have another couple of face masks to make! I've made a stack of them for myself, mum, dau, grandson, step grandson, and now just have son in law's to do. Although I might be tempted to do a few spare. I've been experimenting with fabrics/combinations of fabric, with permanent, sewn in filter and with just double layer of tightly woven cotton with a filter pocket so you can add a filter if you want. The one with the middle, filter layer, would obviously be "better" in that, although not tested, it's nearly as good as the N95 ones. However, it's very hot and not comfortable to wear. And I do think that, as social distancing and hygiene etiquette will still be in order, and as none of us will be going anywhere we don't need to for quite a while, the double layer is more feasible. Certainly not good enough for a hospital environment, but good enough for going to shops. And they can be hot washed and reused, so won't contribute to the mountains of waste that disposable masks are going to create.

And on that subject of waste, a local Surgeon here has developed and had tested a reusable ppe gown. It's now going into production. He said that when he started out, all gowns were reusable, and he feels it's much safer to go back to that, rather than depend on what he referred to as a "long supply chain" from one source.
 
Good for you, you have put a lot of thought into it.
We keep seeing masks and gloves lying on pavements, and roadside verges. We always pick up litter along the lanes, but are loath to pick these up. Noticeable how the litter has appeared now people are going back to work and takeaways are open again.
Back in the day nothing in a hospital was disposable, and all the hospitals had their own laundry. Mum remembers the horror of either a stone cold bedpan or red hot from being sterilised.
 
Hen-Gen said:
Beautiful hen Shadrach. Is she a Mottled Poland?
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She's a bit of an unknown mixture. She has some Marans in there and after that it's anyones guess. :D
 
Suzie is absolutely adorable. looking very well behaved
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Well she may well look it... ??
 
Marigold said:
Gorgeous dog, Sandrine. I bet she will demand a lot of exercise when adult. Collies are such quick learners and need so much training - looks as if you got her just in time to get to know her in lockdown.
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She does need a lot of exercise now already to be fair both physically and mentally... And if she doesn't have her naps like an actual toddler, she goes mental! Well like an actual toddler! ?
She's a chicken watcher... For now anyway... Her herding skills need a little... Refining shall we say ?
 
Reason to be cheerful today... I've rescued a baby bird from certain death by "Jaws" (aka Suzie my puppy lol). It was stuck in the bushes next to the po d and Suzie was eager to help it out though don't think this was out of her concern more out of her greed... Lol

Well unfortunately that was about an hour after another bigger baby bird flew right into my daughter's window, flopped in the patio... I rescued this one from Jaws too but I m afraid both knocks were a bit too much for the little creature...
 

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As the owner of a short haired sheepdog with a wonky ear I can sympathise with your struggles with a rebellious puppy/teenager. But be assured it will become the most intelligent and responsive dog. I was trawling through my dog keeping history a few days ago and of a bloodhound, cairn terriers, Irish terriers and Weimaraners, Skip my collie is the best.
 
We had a Bee-eater fly across the garden on Saturday, OH heard it call and looked and there it was it flew around with the Swallows, and then exited West. Now that is a garden tick. There was an influx into UK at weekend
 
Wow! Such colourful birds. You and Mrs BYM are obviously bird experts, the casual phrase ' heard it call and looked and there it was' might as well say 'I flew to the moon' as far as I am concerned!
My only reason to be cheerful today so far is that we harvested some more elderflowers for cordial. The last batch was excellent and very easy to make. There are trees dotted about, but you don't always see them as they are down in the valleys where the springs and streams are. This means a bit of careful walking, and sometimes on other people's land (not that they are about and in any case its very opaque as to who owns what, and some of it is communal land) but its idyllic, with crystal clear water and lots of green.
 
OH is the expert. She is a recorder of birds locally for the RSPB, Essex Wildlife Trust and British Trust For Ornithology. She is pretty good on bird calls. I have trouble remembering anything common let alone something off the wall. But even I must admit it was a stunning bird.
Mum used to give us elderberry cordial in the winter and put some in fruit pies to ward off colds. We grew up pretty much cold free I recall. So all that vitamin C either worked or we were just healthy children
 
After the day that I've been having, I'll be sterilizing my Kilner jar ready to fill it with elderflowers and gin!

Today hasn't been all bad mind you; I've been battling admin outside in the sun, listening to a song thrush smacking snails against the drive to "unwrap" them...
 
I think you could probably go through the whole year steeping the seasons goodies in gin!
I bought a motorbike! Well its a big scooter really - a Suzuki Bergman 400. Its been a long time since I last had one and I'm absolutely loving it! What held me back was that the last bike (a Bantam) I had to wheel through the house to keep it in the back garden and thought I wouldn't be able to risk keeping one on the street. But asked around and now have two neighbours that are happy for me to park it on spare bits of land that I can see from the upstairs window but off the kerbside. I thought that it was out of MOT, which was fine but as it happens the MOT has been extended to October. Runs like a dream but well in need of a service so armed with the full manual am enjoying the Zazen of motorcycle maintenance again.
 
The battery in my everyday car was getting a bit old and tired and the few short journeys I made weren't enough to charge it properly. I have one of these amazing little power packs which will start it even with a totally flat battery. It is now completely dead and I looked on-line to see which battery I needed and the cost. The next question was could I fit it myself and while I was pondering that, the car was parked on the drive with the bonnet up. Fast forward to this morning and my neighbour rang offering a battery. It's comparativley small - I couldn't take the battery out of the other car (for which I've cashed in the tax) as that was quite a bit bigger.

Turned out the battery he had, which he'd been given secondhand, was the same make and model as the one in my car, but a few mm longer and not quite so high. So the plastic cover to make it look neat won't fit and the metal bar holding it in place is packed up with a thin piece of plywood. The battery is such a snug fit it isn't going to move anywhere.

So that has saved me about £90 and Mike fitted it for me!! So I definitely have a reason to be cheerful!
 
Very good! What a coincidence, not only a kind neighbour with spare battery, but a battery that sort of fitted your car! And Rick’s motorbike sounds great - not only provides transport, but entertainment and meditation.
I expect there was a national epidemic of flat batteries after people began to move out of lockdown. Tony has been putting ours on charge every week to keep it going in case we have to drive somewhere in an emergency - and looking forward to the day when we can actually go out and visit family and friends.
 
I'm celebrating having had a warm shower today. Our hot water cylinder had sprung a leak & we (OK, my husband) had to drain both the cold and hot water cylinders and then wait for the plumber to get and fit a new one. After a week with only one mains water fed sink & loo, & nothing but cold strip washes, we can have hot showers again and use the downstairs loo for good measure!

Oh, and as a bonus, we now have the details of a decent gas-safe registered plumber for the future! Definitely something to be cheerful about :-)
 
Icemaiden said:
I'm celebrating having had a warm shower today. Our hot water cylinder had sprung a leak & we (OK, my husband) had to drain both the cold and hot water cylinders and then wait for the plumber to get and fit a new one. After a week with only one mains water fed sink & loo, & nothing but cold strip washes, we can have hot showers again and use the downstairs loo for good measure!

Oh, and as a bonus, we now have the details of a decent gas-safe registered plumber for the future! Definitely something to be cheerful about :-)
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Always good to have the contact details of a local reliable tradesman, Icemaiden. When we moved here and needed things done we asked each tradesman to name others so we now have a list of electricians, plumbers, builders etc.
 
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