Weekend etc.
Sep. 5th, 2006 08:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulroThe Great (Hamster) Escape
Or, George The Hamster's Awfully Big Adventure.
Went to take George out on Saturday night to discover he was not in his cage, but all the doors were still closed. Either I didn't shut the lid to his bed pod properly on Friday, or he's learned how to open it, and it fell shut when he got out. There is now a pile of books on top of it. Cue a frantic 5 minutes searching for him. We had just about exhausted all the easy places to search when I found him in the mop bucket. There's a lot of junk piled up around the mop bucket, so it's not that hard to see how he got in. There is, however, no junk in the mop bucket, so he was stuck. There is also a step up to the area where we keep the mop bucket, which is a more impressive feat. He screamed and hissed loudly when I picked him up. There don't appear to be any lasting ill effects from his ordeal, but he's noticeably less fluffy around his back end than he was before (long haired hamster).
Fruit Picking
Thanks to the generosity of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aoakley and red_mel and Baby Bel, who allowed us to raid their orchard, I now have a freezer full of blackberries, cooking apples and tiny little plum-like things. The latter are very yummy but mostly stone, so I'm not quite sure what we'll do with them.
There is photographic evidence of me holding the baby. Jason is threatening to send it to my mother to wind her up. I could just threaten to send it to his mother to wind her up, but I think she is less bothered by the fact that we aren't the parenting type than my mother is.
Stuff
Dyed my own hair today for the first time in a couple of years. It's easier than I remembered, but my hair is also considerably shorter now.
The tiny gerbil is definitely a boy. Looking healthier, but not any bigger.
I'm sure there was more, but I'm falling over now. I didn't know it was possible to feel this lousy for this long and still function. For really low values of function, obviously.
Or, George The Hamster's Awfully Big Adventure.
Went to take George out on Saturday night to discover he was not in his cage, but all the doors were still closed. Either I didn't shut the lid to his bed pod properly on Friday, or he's learned how to open it, and it fell shut when he got out. There is now a pile of books on top of it. Cue a frantic 5 minutes searching for him. We had just about exhausted all the easy places to search when I found him in the mop bucket. There's a lot of junk piled up around the mop bucket, so it's not that hard to see how he got in. There is, however, no junk in the mop bucket, so he was stuck. There is also a step up to the area where we keep the mop bucket, which is a more impressive feat. He screamed and hissed loudly when I picked him up. There don't appear to be any lasting ill effects from his ordeal, but he's noticeably less fluffy around his back end than he was before (long haired hamster).
Fruit Picking
Thanks to the generosity of
aoakley and red_mel and Baby Bel, who allowed us to raid their orchard, I now have a freezer full of blackberries, cooking apples and tiny little plum-like things. The latter are very yummy but mostly stone, so I'm not quite sure what we'll do with them.There is photographic evidence of me holding the baby. Jason is threatening to send it to my mother to wind her up. I could just threaten to send it to his mother to wind her up, but I think she is less bothered by the fact that we aren't the parenting type than my mother is.
Stuff
Dyed my own hair today for the first time in a couple of years. It's easier than I remembered, but my hair is also considerably shorter now.
The tiny gerbil is definitely a boy. Looking healthier, but not any bigger.
I'm sure there was more, but I'm falling over now. I didn't know it was possible to feel this lousy for this long and still function. For really low values of function, obviously.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 08:35 pm (UTC)They're a ancient hedgerow tree, and supposedly rare these days, but honestly they grow like weeds round here. That said, we also have a steady supply of cowslips, honeybees, 7-spot ladybirds, field mice, doormice, bats and barn owls, all of which are supposed to be endangered too, so "rare" always seems to refer to elsewhere.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 07:36 am (UTC)The only rare thing we get is slow worms.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 09:13 am (UTC)But the bushes do grow quite vigourously, so I'd imagine a cutting would work well.
Send Jodi up next time with a couple of those gel cutting pots (or just any small pots and some propogation gel) and we'll see what happens.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 12:05 pm (UTC)My mum's currently having her apples tested (they're so old, they're either unknown varieties, extremely rare or thought-to-be-extinct, so some horticultural body are growing them to see how they progress to identify them). I can probably swap the mini-plums for apple seedings. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 07:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-14 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-15 07:35 am (UTC)We put them with an equal weight of sugar and a tiny bit of water in a preserving pan on top of the stove (things like spices can be put in at this point), then boil them until a setting point is reached. As they cook, they soften and we can just pick the stones out with a slotted spoon as you remove impurities (froth) from the top. The jam needs constant stirring, though, because otherwise it'll catch on the bottom of the pan, and burned sugar kills the flavour.
While that's doing, we wash the the jars and lids and get them properly dry by heating them in the oven. Put jam in jars, put jam covers on, put lids on, and as the jam cools the lids contact and form an airtight seal. I've known jam done this way keep for at least a year.
bibliogoths
Date: 2006-09-06 11:11 am (UTC)Here is the longlist:
Don't forget you need to vote for 5 books and if you wish 1 antivote.
Longlist for October meet
Our Lady of Darkness: F Leiber
Neuromancer: W Gibson
Without Conscience: Dr R Hare
After London: Richard Jefferies
Flow my tears, the police said: Philip K Dick
The Informers: Brett Easton Ellis
The five gates of hell: Rupert Thompson
Morality Play: Barry Unsworth
How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft,
Friendship and Musical Theatre: Marc Acito
Dracula: Bram Stoker
The strange case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde: RL
Stevenson
The lovely Bones: Alice Sebold
Good Omens: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen
Atomised : Michel Houellebecq
Frankenstein: Mary Shelley
Neverwhere: Neil Gaimen
Lost Souls: Poppy Z Brite
Conservations at the end of time: Umberto Eco
3 Men in Boat: Jerome K Jerome
Vernon God Little: DBC Pierre
The Stranger:Camu
Silk:Caitlin Kiernan
Edgar Allen Poe: "Tales" (published by nonesuch) + "The Raven."
American Gods: Neil Gaimen
The Great and Secret Show: Clive Barker
The Atrocity Exhibition: Charles Stross
The Wasp Factory: Ian Banks
Love Janine
'Always read stuff that will make u look good if u die in the middle of it'- P J O'Rourke
http://www.gothintra.net/janine
Re: bibliogoths
Date: 2006-09-06 07:24 pm (UTC)