Happy New Year from Rufus the dog and me

 

 

Two more dogs I walked yesterday

These are the two dogs I walked yesterday at http://www.appledown.co.uk/. It was nice to get out in the fresh air for a couple of hours before doing the shopping.

The first dog was ….

Gabby

A lovely dog who walked well to heal after the initial excitement of being let out of her cage.She knew her command to sit and took treats gently. A smashing dog for someone.

The second dog was..

Pinocchio

Again he was a a well behaved dog,walked well on the lead and would be a great companion for someone.

I must say I’m looking forward to getting my own dog before xmas and have spoilt him already with all the goodies I’ve got him.

Here his is again….

Rufus

I think he will like it here by the looks of his first visit before he is neutered and has his jabs.

At last a dog of my own

Introducing

RUFUS

This is the first photo of Rufus taken on his first home visit to see I was suitable for him.

He comes from a  rescue  home as his owner has M.S. http://www.mssociety.org.uk/  and has had to go into a home. I was contacted and asked if I was interested to take him on and of course I said yes  who could refuse.

He won’t be joining me just yet as he has to have his jabs and be neutered http://www.apbc.org.uk/articles/neuteringmaledogs hopefully before Xmas or just after.

He has a good recall, gets on with other dogs and cats also retrieves items off the floor if they have been dropped. He is overweight as he never got any exercise due to his previous owners health so will be put on a diet and have three walks a day. When he’s settled in I’ll be taking him to  http://www.ckt-agility.co.uk/index.htm  which has a base at  http://www.appledown.co.uk/ where he will be taught agility so he enjoys the rest of his life. No doubt he will be taken to Marsworth for a walk along the towpath and get to meet all the different narrowboaters moored up.

Just glad that mum did not have a bad reaction to him and in fact got a big smile from her.

I think it’s just what the doctor ordered for both of us. I look forward to blog his exploits in the future with plenty of pictures no doubt.

 

 

Narrowboat Just Us at Marsworth

It was too cold and wet for the dogs to be allowed out to be walked at http://www.appledown.co.uk/ today so I took off to Marsworth to see if anything interesting was happening. It seems the narrowboaters had the same idea as the dogs…stay inside except the crew of NB Just Us who were happy to carry on through the locks so I took a photo of them approaching lock 39 at Marsworth.

As you can see it turned out nice once the rain cleared away and all was calm except for the narrowboater chopping his logs up, can you see him ?

Next week I’ll be walking the dogs if the weather holds up.

 

A Walk Down Doolittle Lane With Mr McNulty

Today was a good day,the sitter that takes over from me looking after mum was only half an hour late which allowed me to have four hours off to myself this week, two of which would be for shopping, the other two I decided to go for a walk with Mr McNulty down Doolittle Lane.

Pieces of late iron age pottery have been found down here so it’s been around for a while. Halfway down the lane is Doolittle Mill which is a grade 2 listed building. A mill has been on or around this site since 1086 but the present mill dates from the 18th century.

Fifty years ago a gale blew the mill head off complete with the sails into the mill pond below.

It was a beautiful day with an autumnal nip in the air after last nights first frost of winter.The winter wheat and barley is about four inches high in the surrounding fields and hedgerows are bursting with berries which the birds are noisily foraging on.Horses are in their paddock wearing their protective coats to keep out the inclement weather while in the distance the gliders are being winched up to do a circuit of the airfield below the downs.

All this going on and Mr McNulty ignores it all,oblivious to the sights and sounds of this beautiful part of Bedfordshire.

You see Mr McNulty has just been released from his prison and is suffering from stress. I am trying to relieve his predicament in the only way I can given the restraints on my time away from my caring duties at home.

Mr McNulty is a very fine collie dog who has lost weight due to his confinement and desperately needs to be rehomed as soon as possible. He has been put on three meals a day to help him gain weight but still he does not wag his tail. I hope he finds a home soon as it will be another dog who will be mentally scarred for life.

 

Details of Mr McNulty and all the other lovely dogs can be found at

http://www.appledown.co.uk/

Lock and a Narrowboat at Marsworth

Today I was going to Appledown Rescue Centre  www.appledown.co.uk and walk the dogs but the weather looked a bit gloomy and threatening so I decided to go to Marsworth to see the narrowboats.

Walking along the towpath I noticed a young man with his two spaniels, not very special you would think but then this chap was driving a mobility scooter and the dogs were enjoying themselves running alongside. Dogs are always a good conversation starter so I commented on how nice they were.

I always enjoy a chat and felt very lucky to be walking the towpath after hearing his story. Apparently he was riding his motorbike four years ago and was hit by a young driver who was on drugs leaving him unable to walk. He has four dogs and takes them out on a circuit around the reservoirs and along the towpath. He said he probably would have gone mad had he not been able to get out with his dogs at Marsworth. Just one example of how the canals and waterways can help improve peoples lives.

Back to my walk, here is narrowboat The Cats Whiskers moored at Marsworth.

Walking further along the towpath narrowboat The Muttz Nutz was approaching

lock 43

so I hung around and had a chat with the skipper while they were going through the lock with the help of the volunteer lock keeper who has been boating for 35 years, no wonder he looks nonchalant working the lock.

All in all a nice two hours out from my caring with a sobering thought never to take things for granted.

Shortening Curtains Without Sewing

Now that the central heating is installed I find that all the curtains (or drapes for those in the U.S.) are overhanging the radiators which would restrict the heat reaching the rest of the room. Without access to a sewing machine I decided to use hemming tape, there are various makes but the one pictured below is the one I used.

 

Here you can see the before and after shortening on a set of curtains and for those who would like to do the same I’ll give a guide how to do it.

The first picture shows the rear corner of the curtain before unpicking the lining,some curtains have none so this part won’t apply.

Take a sharp knife and unpick the backing to just beyond the point where the curtain will be turned up for the hem. In my case I had to shorten the curtain by 57cm so unpicked the lining by 58cm.

Now I had to mark the curtain with a straight edge and chinagraph marker measuring from the bottom 51cm to allow a turn up hem to the correct length.

Now cut along the line.

Turn up the hem to the correct position.The picture below shows the hemming tape in position on the corner.

Now with a hot iron and damp cloth press down and hold in position for about 30 seconds.

Being careful to keep the correct measurement for the hem…

Place the tape underneath the turn-up at the cut edge.

Now with the iron and damp cloth press down in steps along the hem for approx 30 seconds each time. Do not use an ironing action as the heat won’t transfer very well.

Now you have a completed hem you can measure and cut the length of the backing material. I used a biro which shows up on the white material.

 

And cut the lining to length

Here you can see the completed corner after shortening.

I made the curtains length so that it would end at the top of the radiator

And rest on the window shelf which allows the heat to rise without interfering with the curtain.

So there you have it, a good job done without stitching and easy to do.

I hope this has been of help to those who think it’s too difficult to do without a sewing machine.

If I can do it so can you.

 

 

 

Some of the dogs I walked last year at Appledown

Lots of other dogs to view looking for a forever home at Appledown

  http://www.appledown.co.uk/

We are here...

Video outside Dunstable and District Boat Club on the Grand Union Canal

This week it was too hot to walk the dogs at Appledown Rescue Centre,  this is their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/68892502164/   so I went down to Ivinghoe walked the towpath and made a little video with my small camera. The quality is not too good but it's a start for the first time,just don't enlarge the frame as the picture distorts and at the moment I don't know why.

Sign outside the boat club.

This is a view towards the boat club.

And this is a view in the opposite direction looking across the fields which are ready for harvesting.

Nice eh! I took several shots of this for a landscape view but yet to learn how to join them all up.

I had a chat with a couple of boaters that were moored up and one wanted a dog preferably a greyhound to keep him company. Unfortunately the rescue dogs cost £150 and he could not afford that. That seems a lot but the vet fees and heating costs are very high and have to be covered somehow. It was nice to get away from my caring duties even if it's only for a couple of hours a week but I always make the most of what time I have to myself, it makes you appreciate the little things in life. Next week it's back to the dogs weather permitting.

Dogs and Narrowboats

Today I managed to get to http://www.appledown.co.uk/ and walk two dogs, but due to the heat I decided to only walk them for one circuit around the field. The first one was..                                                
                                                              Betty

A lovely girl who is looking for a forever home.

The other was…

Squiff

Again a lovely dog and you can see how hot it was by the length of their tongues.

With a bit of time left I decided to go onto Marsworth and see what narrowboats were on the move. To my delight there was one of my favourite tugs named Oakmere in the lock together with narrowboat Andromeda, the crews were having a well earned ice cream from Bluebells Tea Room.

See here for details of Narrowboat Oakmere...
http://www.bcbm.co.uk/boatsaledetails?boat=78

A great result and well worth the visit even if it was for only for 20 minutes.

40 Things you should know about drinking

 
1) Drinking when you're not thirsty is one of the few things that separates man from beasts.

2) Just think, if you drink enough now to get a hangover, you'll have plenty of drinking time tomorrow on your day off!

3) It is morally reprehensible to be on a train for longer than an hour without drinking.

4) People with hobbies arn't drinking enough.

5) If you don’t drink, then all of your stories are frightfully dull and end with: "and then I got home."

6) If you offer to buy a woman a drink and she refuses, she does not like you.

7) If you offer to buy a woman a drink and she accepts, she still might not like you.

8) If she buys you a drink, she likes you.

9) In return however, you don’t have to remember her name, just remember what she likes to drink…

10) Some people will worry about their drinking, but look what it does for their social skills!

11) For every drink you have, you're fighting terrorism.

12) Always finish your drinks! Think of all the sober people in the world.

13) Apologising is fine, even to people you don’t remember meeting, for things you don’t remember doing, in places you don’t remember going.

14) A problem drinker is someone who doesn’t buy rounds.

15) That nagging feeling of missing something when leaving the house is owed to forgetting to put your bottle opener in your pocket.

16) Drinking never affects anyone's job. Some people just need a drink to get motivated for work in the first place.

17) Never turn down a free drink.

18) There’s nothing wrong with drinking alone.

19) If your bed looks very much like a park bench and your bedroom looks very much like a park then “staying out last night” literally meant it.

20) The glass isn’t half empty or half full. It just needs topping up.

21) Most people will sadly never experience just how pleasurable work can be when you take your best friend Mr Drink along with you.

22) “Taking the edge off” usually means waking up in the garden.

23) If you think you might be slurring a little, then you are slurring a lot. If you think you are slurring a lot, then you are not speaking English.

24) One of the saddest sounds you'll ever hear is ice rattling round an empty glass.

25) At least turning up to court will allow you to find out what happened.

26) Gin Rummy isn’t as fun as it sounds.

27) Always stick around for one more drink. That's when it all happens.

28) Always get up at the crack of ice.

29) Don’t take hot showers, the ice in your glass melts too quickly.

30) Being drunk is feeling sophisticated without being able to say it.

31) Anyone with three or more drinks in their hands has the right of way.

32) There's a jar in the best pubs, a huge jar containing funny oval shapes in a murky fluid. Be brave, pickled eggs are a rite of manhood.

33) You'll never waste a single penny on champagne, because champagne is never a waste of money.

34) Never EVER trust anyone who doesn’t drink, and never trust anyone who drinks but never gets drunk, they’re the ones with something to hide.

35) When on a night out be careful who you talk to, I once woke up with a new job.

36) Invent a kids’ TV program drinking game – the extra time you spend with them will go down a treat.

37) Learning other languages is important, concentrate on useful phrases such as: “Excuse me sir/madam which way to the nearest pub?” and “Good morning… err… lovely, who are you again?”

38) Get shag carpets fitted in your abode, it’s so much easier to hang on to.

39) Drinks made at home should only come in two sizes: formidable and catastrophic.

40) Sometimes too much just isn't enough.

Narrowboat Tom Kitten at Marsworth

Just a short post as it was wet and dull so no walking the dogs this week. I went over to Marsworth to see if anything was moving on the cut. The only boat moving was NB Tom Kitten so a couple of photographs just to record the event.

Central Heating Installation

The water heater in the bathroom finally stopped working so it was time to catch up with the romans and get central heating installed. After much research on the internet and getting some quotes from heating engineers it was decided to give the job to http://www.flamegas.co.uk/index.php . after reading about this company on checkatrade..  http://www.checkatrade.com/Search/?cat=10&hiddenIsCap=&location=Leighton+Buzzard&postcode= 

I was impressed by the reports by satisfied customers, and the skill base of the employees. I had got a quote from British Gas but this took a month to be presented where as Flamegas took one day and was very reasonable being £2000 cheaper than B.G.  I was not disappointed in the results.

They had to install seven radiators, remove an old gas water heater from the bathroom and two gas wall heaters in the bedrooms, make good the holes left in the walls and connect up the water and boiler to the existing bath/shower and wash basin.They also painted the outside walls where the heaters were removed and the flue exits.

It was good to see that in these days of austerity they employ an apprentice who was brilliant at installing the boiler.The workmanship in cutting a hole in the brickwork for the flue and condensate was good. As you will see in the following photographs they had to cut through an existing grill without damaging the pebble dash as has happened in other properties in our area. All this was completed in THREE DAYS and it all worked perfectly. A great job done and would recommend them without a doubt.

Heating runs in the floor before insulation was put under the pipes.

This is C.J. the apprentice who installed the boiler.

This is Steve who is the co-owner of the company and has just commissioned the installation.

Pictures showing before and after the exhaust flue was fixed in position. A neat result.

This picture shows the condensate outlet pipe joining the down pipe and the pressure safety pipe above.

This is the Lime beater 2 fitted to prevent damage to the boiler by lime scale.

and a Spirotech MB3 magnetic filter, not necessary in a new system but I had it fitted as a precaution.

This is one of the radiators fitted in the hall.

So if you need any plumbing done in the  Beds, Bucks, Herts, Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes, Hemel Hempstead, Dunstable, Luton,Tring,etc of the UK have a look at this company, I am a happy customer.