Author: Zogman

Out for a drive – 6 January 2025

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Just messages and some printer paper, not much else.

While I was buying the printer paper in Curry’s, Scamp was looking at fridges upstairs in the shop, but she wasn’t impressed with the selection. I still sense a purchase may be imminent. I’m surprised a freezer isn’t also on the purchase list. I’m actually surprised that we need a fridge and/or a freezer. I believe if we built a box in the back garden and filled it with what’s in the fridge we could keep them at sub zero temperatures in Scotland for the foreseeable future.

From Coatbridge, we went to Morrisons at The Fort and that was just for messages and a couple of bottles of beer and a couple of bottles of wine. The roads were cleared of snow and ice, but the pavements were covered in frozen snow and ice.

After lunch I managed to get out to take some photos, but the light was getting low and although I got a few sunset photos, they weren’t the best quality. I really need to get out and take time to take photos. I feel I’ve just been snapping shots to cover the 365 and that’s not what it was intended to do. Soooo, I’m intending to continue with blog posts, but I might be more selective with the photos. If I don’t think a particular day’s photos aren’t worth posting, I’ll replace it with one taken from earlier in the year, or even from last year.  After all, it’s my 365, so my rules!

Hoping for some warmer, or less cold weather tomorrow.

A Coot goes for a walk – 5 January 2025

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Like most of  the days recently, Very little happened today.

We did get some snow, but although it lay for a while there wasn’t a great deal of it. Not even enough to make a tiny wee snowman.

Scamp had finished a complicated jigsaw with the strangest looking pieces made of thin plywood. They looked and smelled like they had been laser cut, but I think their laser must have been blunt because the gaps between the pieces were much wider than from an ordinary jigsaw.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s with the A6500 toting a 70-180mm lens. I got a few good few shots with the combination and most of them were of birds wandering about  on the frozen ice of St Mo’s pond.  PoD went to a Coot walking across the snow covered ice, looking like it was just about to fall into a hole in the ice.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening an heard about Simonne’s upcoming visit to warmer climes and the weather.

Tomorrow I’ve more ideas for fixing this poor maligned iMac.

I told you there wasn’t much happening!

Icy! – 4 January 2025

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The ice from yesterday had melted slightly during the night

However, early in the morning today it froze solid, leaving treacherous black ice on the pavements and on the roads. We weren’t intending going far, but we did need milk and something for tomorrow’s breakfast, so we would need to go out at some time today.

I spent a lot of time pruning down the catalog that almost worked yesterday in the hope that it would just work, but it didn’t, well not completely. I left where it was, not wanting to destroy about three year’s work and helped Scamp.

Today the tree and the decorations were coming down and being packed away. Technically it’s not twelfth night until tomorrow, but Scamp was ready to get started today. With two of us working on it, it didn’t take too long, about an hour all in including the time to record the number of cards we’d received. That was a bit of a cheat as neither of us had sent any cards this year. When it was done, the living room looked a wee bit bigger and a big bit emptier. It’s always the same every year.

Later in the afternoon we decided that there had been enough of a thaw and we’d walk down to the shops. As always, the estate paths and roads had not been salted and the paths were quite treacherous. But we made it there and back again without too much trouble and I even got a photo, a single photo of a wee weed growing from a gap in a low wall.

I fancied making Paella for dinner and coincidentally Scamp had the same idea. While I was waiting for the chicken to defrost I sat down at the disaster that is the iMac and completely removed all the photos I’d carefully placed yesterday and then started clean and it’s looking a lot better. Not perfect, but definitely much better.

We may get some white stuff tomorrow.

Dining out – 3 January 2025

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But not until about 6pm. Until then we’d need to starve.

We were going out to dinner at John and Marion’s, but were a bit worried about the weather. No snow as yet, that was due for Saturday or Sunday, but there was ice on the paths and no guarantee that we wouldn’t get some snow.

I’m still struggling with the iMac. Ever since New Year I’ve had problems getting the catalog and the photos to work together. I’m beginning to think the old catalog I’ve been cleaning out and reusing for the last three years has become corrupted somewhere along the line.

I spent most of this afternoon finishing off the calendar photos. It took longer than usual because of the problems with the Mac. I think the basic calendar is more or less complete now and I might try a test print tomorrow. No time for one today because it’s getting near time to drive over to Hamilton.

Scamp was looking out the window just now and there was a fox in the front garden. She said it calmly walked across the grass without a care in the world. I didn’t get a chance to see it, but it was time to drive to Hamilton.

Had a great time with J&M and the food was excellent as always. John had even made a loaf of bread for the meal. I was really impressed. He admitted that it was Bread Maker bread, but that doesn’t matter, it’s the taste and the thought that counts. We came a bit earlier than usual with worries about the weather still in our heads.

Later in the evening, when we were home we hears strange noises coming from the bushes across the path from us us and I caught a quick view of a fox. Just a small, young one. We guessed that it was lost and that was reason for all the Yip, Yips coming from the bushes.

PoD was a photo of a Kissibel apple I’d halved and left in the back garden for the blackbirds. I think it might have been frozen solid and was too hard for the blackbirds.

Hoping for a thaw tomorrow.

 

Winter is coming – 2 January 2025

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Well, that’s more or less what the weather fairies said.

It was frosty this morning when I was making the breakfast. The weather machine in the living room read -3.3ºc and it looked like that at the backdoor. Frosted grass and the blue tits taking turns to feed from the fat brick hanging from the rowan tree.

We decided it was time to lag the overflow pipe from the boiler. Scamp came up with the idea of using an old piece of expanded PVA foam to do the job and once I’d cut it to size and wrapped it round the pipe with cable ties holding it in place, it looked the part. I don’t expect it will get so far below zero, but it’s better to be ready, just in case.

My brain must have been working on the problem of getting last year’s catalog and photos out of the iMac and into my old external hard drive, because I came up with an inelegant solution that will do the job until I can figure out a better way or I am forced into buying a new computer. No point in explaining it here, but I’ve left myself a note explaining the procedure in case I have to do it all again next year DV. What amazed me was how much the hard drive slowed down the procedure. Old tech.

I went for a walk in the early afternoon, partly to get some photos and partly to clear my head of computer nonsense. I walked down past St Mo’s pond and got today’s PoD which was a bunch of grass leaves poking out of a frozen pond. As I said on Flickr *”Crouched down on the edge of a frozen pond in sub zero temperature, photographing grass. Is it any wonder Photogs get a bad name!”

From there I walked down behind St Mo’s school and on to the shops where I got some fruit for Scamp and a lovely soft Mothers Pride loaf which, with a couple of bananas fed us for lunch.

I think we’re all going soft. I have lost count of the number of weather warnings I’ve had on my phone for SNOW. It doesn’t seem that long ago, snow was expected every January and February. Now the news broadcasts make it sound as if it’s something unusual and something to be frightened of. It all seems a bit sensational. We live in Scotland we expect snow.

No definite plans for tomorrow, but I might have a look at getting a hot air blower to heat up my cold room, allso we will soon need a box of photo paper to make calendars. All that, if we don’t get trapped in a snow drift! 😉

The first day of a new year – 1 January 2025

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It’s always a pain in the backside for a variety of reasons.

You have to parcel up the previous years photos and catalogs and save them off somewhere safe before you build a new catalog and populate it with new photos. This year it was made even more difficult by Apple changing the rules again for third party apps. Which meant I wasn’t able to use my NTFS based storage drive to save the last month’s catalog and photos. I’ve got another way of doing it, but it takes up computer time and my patience. It’s half done, but that will have to be good enough for now.

The actual day was a wild mixture of torrential rain driven by strong winds in the morning, sleet in the afternoon and now everything is calm for a while now, but the temperature is below zero and that means ice to contend with tomorrow. However, I did get some photos over at St Mo’s and PoD was what are sometimes called Cleavers (Sticky Willies in Scotland) and are really irritating little balls covered in tiny hooks that attach to your clothes, especially woollen clothes.

Dinner tonight was vegetarian “Mince and Tatties” for Scamp and Steak and Kidney stew for me followed by Sponge with a Salted Caramel Sauce and Brandy Cream. I’m beginning to regret it now and may have to break out the Gaviscon before I go to bed.

I’m hoping for a walk on a clear day tomorrow, with no ice nor snow nor rain, but the chances of getting away with it are very unlikely.

Goodbye 2024 – 31 December 2024

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A bit wet and windy for the last day in 2024.

The morning was devoted to cleaning up the dining room table and it did look better for a while before I messed it up again, but I did get two of my three targets on my To Do list ticks off and another one partially ticked off. It’s an on going list of shortcuts to use in Lightroom.

It wasn’t a day for going out anywhere, even if it was the last day of 2024, but of course I managed an hour out in the park, because that’s what I do. Managed to get two half decent photos, one of which with a bit of jiggery pokery became PoD. It’s a view down that path I’m addicted to. This time it’s sepia toned with a couple of spots of colour to catch the eye.

I bumped into an old friend from school in the park and we walked around St Mo’s discussing the world and our various aches and pains. It’s been ages since I’ve seen her and I thought she was looking a lot older – she probably thought the same of me. We said our goodbyes as the light was failing, she headed back to the park to walk her dog and I plodded off home. Hope you get better soon Susan.

Dinner tonight was a pizza from M&S that was getting near its use by date, but a tin of anchovies on it cheered it up nicely.

I think that is as much as I’m going to do tonight. I might read another chapter of the book Hazy gave me. Really enjoying it H. You always pick such good books. Strange, but interesting too.

We might treat ourselves to a glass of something to see in the bells. I pity the poor folk in Edinburgh who have had their fireworks display cancelled at the last minute because of the high winds and torrential rain that’s predicted for tonight. Or the Australian couple we met on that ill fated train on Friday who were going to Edinburgh hoping to travel to Inverness for “The Bells”. Hope you managed to get there in all the snow, rain, thunder and gusty winds.

That’s about it for now. Hope all our lot and anyone else who reads my ramblings are well and have a Happy and Healthy New Year.

 

Sweeties – 30 December 2024

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A day of blog writing and posting as well as Flickr posting, but almost up to date now … I hope!

Another windy day with bins blown over and rain lashing the windows. Definitely not a for going out anywhere. That’s probably why I sacrificed it to the great god Catch-Up. Four photos posted on Flickr and about the same number of blogs written and posted.

Because of the weather, it was a still life photo for today. A tub of Jelly Beans produced the subject and a small sherry glass was the support. Lighting was courtesy of a small COB (Chip On Board) light. An old piece of velvet covered the parts I didn’t want anyone to see and eight photos and just over half an hour later I had today’s PoD. I actually like it.

Scamp and I had Chicken and Pea Traybake for dinner. A very easy dinner that works well, because everything is cooked in the oven with minimal fuss.

In the late afternoon the wind died away and so did the rain, although more rain is predicted for tomorrow, but thankfully the snow warning has been removed for our area.

We watched a woeful special Christmas episode of Death in Paradise. I could just hear Simonne cringing at the accents.

Maybe we’ll get out for a walk tomorrow, just because it’s the last day of 2024.

Blustery day – 29 December 2024

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A windy day with quite fierce gusts.

Scamp was feeling better today. I don’t know what it was that caused all the bother, but it did seem to take the feet from her. Hopefully she’s on the mend now.

We walked down to M&S in the afternoon. Scamp got some Kimchi and a tub of Kefir yoghurt, both of which seem to be good for gut health. On the way back I carried the bag halfway home and Scamp took it the rest while I went for a walk in the gusty wind over St Mo’s and got a photo of a little mushroom. That made PoD.

We watched a complicated and almost totally unbelievable first of two episodes of The Split, a series we’d watched for the last two years. This one however felt just a little bit fake. We may watch episode 2 tomorrow.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening and did our best to explain the chaos that was Friday. Hopefully we never have another day like that again. He agrees that we need to write a letter of complaint to LNER.

Another recovery day today, but snow forecast for Wednesday.

A day to recover – 28 December 2024

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We had earmarked today as a day to recover and that’s what we did.

The furthest we got on Saturday was a visit to Tesco for the messages. Nothing fancy, just restocking the fridge, freezer and the storage cabinets. It was a dull wet day and neither of us wanted to very much.

In the afternoon, we managed to organise Scamp’s photos into some semblance of order sorted by date. I hate PCs!

Scamp is still not fully recovered from the bug she picked up, but hopefully a day or two of Scottish air will sort her out.

PoD was a wee bluetit building up its fat reserves in the garden.

Tomorrow we may go for a walk if we’re up for it/