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Dog of choice

Wife has been asking her dog-owning friends about which breed to go for and the consensus seems to be spaniel. I expect we'll be off to the Dog's Trust in Canterbury this weekend as she's seen a spaniel X on their web site.

Eagle eye

My colleague, CN, tells me this morning that the Eagle annuals are selling for £000's.

Dad had the first 7 and gave them to me. I've got a sneaking feeling that I don't have them anymore, probably sent them to charity. I must check the loft this weekend.

Too busy

Got so much on at work at the moment. New laptops, disk encryption, data leakage prevention, Apple Mac support outscourcing and all the desktop updates plus the big move to ITIL, a new service desk tool and LANDesk 8.8.

Now how will I fit in taking up my OU degree studies again in November? Gotta book it by the end of Septmber. Aaarggh.

Tea for one

I got a thermos flask so I can have tea on the train in the mornings. I don;t have time to drink it at home in the morning.

The simple pleasures are the best, eh?

Anniversaries

It was Mum and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary on Sunday so we went up to see them for a family get together. All my sibiings were there and the in-laws too. Even C's in-laws-to-be popped along. As ever with these family gatherings there was way too much food.

D cleaned up his fishing gear that he'd left in the shed when he moved out. Little C and me are going fishing with D on the 16th. C is really looking forward to fishing with his uncle and I'm looking forward to spending some time with my brother. I really don't get to see him much now.

It was my 11th wedding anniversary the day before too. We went looking for a pet dog at Last Chance before meeting up with J, N and their kids for bowling at Tunbridge Wells. The lane we had kept breaking down so we got vouchers for a free game.

After the bowling we popped next door to Frankie & Benny's for some dinner. The starters didn't come out together and when J got his tomato and basil soup it had a chicken leg in it!!??!! He was really calm about it and just asked for another soup. I really expected N to complain a lot more, she would've been right but, there you go.

Dog hunting

Just spent the weekend looking for a pet dog in the local rescue centres. They've got a lot more professional since we last adopted a cat. Now they take a lot more care categorising the dogs/cats. Each animal has full details and they list such things as the age of children he/she will cope with, other types of pets, locale etc.

For example a typical dog listing might say:
Name
Breed
Age
Sex
Good with children 10+ or Adult-only household
No cats
OK with other dogs but might be dominant
Some behavioural issues, needs an experienced owner.
Then some blurb on the dog's likes/dis-likes and how playful/taciturn they are.

Much better than it used to be but it does mean it'll take a while to find the right one.

One common theme at all the centres is the large number of Staffs dogs they have, seems they ony really appeal to drug-dealers and teenage boys with insecurity issues.

Howwwlll

I think I've finally given in to all the bloddy nagging about a new pet. Worse, it seems we're getting a dog.

Our elder cat, Emily, died recently and Wife has been on and on about a new cat. She logs into my facebook account and changes my status, leaves messages on my friends walls, get's the kids to nag me too. It's just plain old manipulation as practised by wives around the globe ever since Adam first bit the apple.

I set some conditions though. No new cat until she gives up smoking for 3 months. Well she's given up smoking but somehow the 3 months has become 6 weeks and the cat's become a dog. Life is too short to argue over such minor things, if you're male that is. Anyway, i quite like the idea of a dog but not the tie and the potential cost.

Fit

I started playing badminton on Thursday lunchtimes with some colleagues. It's enjoyable and a good workout.

Not as strenuous as a run but it uses a lot of different muscles, my arse cheeks were killing me for a few days after the first session.

I've taken up the running again with more conviction, at least two runs a week. GC decided to drag TS and I up Primrose Hill on Friday. So I'd run 35 mins on Tuesday, an hour's badminton on Thursday then 50 mins run on Friday. It took me an hour to stop sweating after my shower on Friday and I felt sick. I definitely overdid it by following GC up that bloody hill.

One more chance

I just got this e-mail from my wife:

"Have just had a very stressful half hour with L, which resulted in me losing my temper & I already felt low. She just will not co-operate, I only just made it on time.

She then took the uniform I washed & ironed last night & rolled around in the cut grass, wouldn't stop swinging her bag about & hit H & by the end of it all when I told her once more & I would cancel her friend coming home for lunch...

...she just stood & poked her tongue out at me & told me she got 4 chances because thats how old she is!"

L is a real handful at times.

Hello Dolly

Back from the hinterland, this year has been a bit of a blur.

I've had surgery (March) for a bi-lateral inguinal.

C had his tonsils and adenoids out in July.

L is waiting for her surgery for the same thing.

I've been promoted and am heading up a new team.

C just started his swimming lessons two weeks back.

L started gymnastics last week.

I had to give up this year's OU studies due to all the hospital visits, new workload and so on.

Going through the motions

I got so much else on my plate at the moment that the last thing I need is blogging guilt. I feel like I'm letting the kids down a bit by not noting down things here.

Hell, I haven't got the time so my blurbs here will have to be infrequent.
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The twins are 4 today, only eight more months until they start school WOO-HOO. We're having a party at the bear factory on Saturday. They'll get to make a cuddly toy each. 12 kids at £12 a head works out about the same as hiring a hall and bouncy castle plus we don't have to provide any parry bags as all the kids will have toy to take home.
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My Grandma has finally decided to move in with my Mum. She's 87 and her sister died last year so she's been a bit lonely on her own in Merseyside. Mum and Dad went to clear out her old bungalow this weekend and I got a wheel chair for her from Freecycle.
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Bloody car broke down on Saturday, turns out it was just the battery but it cost £123 to join the RAC and get them to come out plus £71 for a battery. Put this on top of the twins birthday and having just come out of Christmas. January is proving to be very expensive. Roll on payday.

Twang

The twins went to a birthday party in the village hall on Saturday afternoon. Bouncy castle and cake. They had a great time. It was a faries and pirates theme which L dressed up for as a fairy but C wouldn't put his pirate outfit on.

One of the mum's there was wearing a gold thong that had crept halfway up her back and she seemed to spend the whole time crouching and bending to show it off. Every now and then you see someone who has no idea...or maybe she did?

Garbage man

Last Saturday I had planned to pick up a sofabed from Freecycle. I drove up to Chatham for 11am and met the kindly donator outside her house. We went around the corner to the garage where the thing was stored.

Usually I ask for photos before I go and now I'm going to make it a rule. I'm not sure if she really meant for it to be used or if she was just trying to get it to the tip without paying someone to take it away. The frame was OK-ish but the matress was wet, mouldy and it stank.

As I was texting my wife "Going to tip, this thing stinks" I thought about GC at work. He's going to piss himself when he finds out I've driven 50 miles just to take out a stranger's trash. Oh well.

Sometimes you can't make it on your own

From Laura's blog:

I quite like this.

Stay calm

Yesterday afternoon I sat at my desk bored out of my skull. Resting my chin on my hands I felt my pulse.

I haven't been running for a while now so I decided to take my pulse to see how much the resting rate had increased. It used to be about 60 but it's 68 now.

Then I noticed something unsettling. My heart seems to skip a beat every now and then. Thump, thump, thump, pause, thump, thump, thump. There's no fixed pattern to it, sometimes two skips in the space of 10 beats sometimes a gap of 70 beats.

I read something about PVCs, premature ventricular complexes, on the web and this seems to fit but then I'm no doctor.

I've checked again today and it doesn't seem to be happening now. I'm going to the doctor's about it next Friday just to be sure. Probably nothing but I don't want to be in the hospital in 2 years time listening to, "Well Mr. *, if you'd come to us sooner we might have been able to save your legs."

I can see the moon

This weekend was the last chance this lifetime to see the Orionids meteor shower. The next visit won't be until around 2061. So my friend from work, GC, decided to let his kids stay up to watch them.

He did a little research on the web and found a few recommended local sites that would have good views without too much light pollution from nearby buildings.

Around midnight they got in the car and drove to a local park. He turned off the lights and got out of the car first to see where they might stand.

It was pitch black outside, no light at all....
...until another car's headlights were flashed and he saw some others enjoying the late night solitude of the car park. Only they weren't exactly stargazing, they were gazing at something though.

He dives back in a car mumbling some excuses to the kids and drives straight home.

That's go to be a first, taking your kids dogging.

Here we go gathering nuts in October

We stayed at a friends house on Saturday, just a chance to catch up with them.

We arrived in the afternoon and they led us to a County park nearby, Shorne Wood. The rain had been thumping down in the morning but it was quite sunny when we went out so a walk around the woods seemed a good idea.

I haven't been there before but it was easy to see that Shorne Wood has had a bit of a facelift recently. There's a new gift-shop/cafe there with a few interactive display cabinets. They're very keen on green energy so the displays had some narration that was powered by turning a crank in the wall, quite clever and the kids liked it. Solar panels on the roof and a wind turbine int he car-park too.

We strolled about and the kids had a quick go in the playground before we went deeper into the woods. Chestnuts everywhere so my friend (A), my daughter (L) and I collected about fifty to bake and eat later. L loved this and stuffed her pockets with them. There we're loads of mushrooms too but yu're not allowed to pick them in this wood.

Near the car-park there's a small garden and in there is a wooden carving called 'The Green Man'. Apparently you stick you hand in his mouth and make a wish, a bit like that thing in Rome. Anyway I had a go and made a wish, still didn't get any this weekend though. Oh well.

Assembly

F (5) had a class assembly yesterday that parents could come to, I couldn't go, work, so my wife and Mum went along. All the kids were doing a little piece about themselves and it focus on personal attributes.

"I have blonde hair," say some of the kids together.

"I have brown hair," say some more.

"I have ginger hair," says one little girl.

F gets her turn, "I have brown hair and I wear glasses," shes quite proud of this as she's the only one in her class with specs.

Then, "My favourite colour is indigo, my favourite food is grapes and when I grow up I want to be a fairy."

Could you get any cuter?

Blow your nose

The kids have all had colds recently.

"Dad, I got a runny nose," says L.

I turn around to see two thick streams on her top lip. "Well, get a tissue and blow it then."

F's a bit older so doesn't need the prompting.

C, however, spends the whole day sniffing. "C, blow your nose," we repeat time and time again.

"Alright then," he answers before tottering off sniffing away.

About 9pm last night he wakes up groaning and empties his stomach all over his bed. It's like a scence from Ghostbusters.

Well, that's what you get with a belly full of roast potatoes and snot. BLOW YOUR NOSE.