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Slinky – 5 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Slinky is watching you!

Another dull day. Grey skies in the morning with the chance of more grey skies in the afternoon. However, there’s just the chance of more grey skies later! Some days are just fun, fun, fun!

This afternoon Scamp and I tackled another cupboard. Not the most riveting task, but it needs to be done. In fact, it’s been needing done for years. So, just like the chipboard, everything in the towel cupboard had to be taken out into the bedroom and evaluated for:

  1. Must Keep.
  2. Might Be Useful.
  3. Must Go.

I think I filled a whole black bag all by myself. It was a host of jotters and record books. How we will get them all loaded into the wee Blue car I do not know. Meanwhile, Scamp was searching through piles of yellowed newspaper. That was a much more difficult task than mine, but we did find a lot of birthday cards, Christmas cards and other cards from family and friends. It’s hard doing this search and destroy, but it needs to be done.

I eventually gave up and told Scamp I was going to go for a walk. Partly to clear my head and partly to get away from the clutter. Scamp did the same.

My walk took me round St Mo’s and I managed to get a PoD for today. Nothing amazing, just a Slinky sprung child’s game with a pair of evil looking eyes, from the adventure playground.

I walked home with the clouds still looking broody, then the strangest thing. I was just sitting down in the house when the sun came out and there was a blue sky! It didn’t last long, but it was good to know there was light out there.

Tomorrow we may take a break from searching through the old newspapers, or we may go out for a spin somewhere.

Michaelmas Daisies – 4 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was a very dull day today. I didn’t see any signs of sunshine at all.

However I managed to get a photo of some Michaelmas Daisies by some sneaky date and time changes that we won’t talk about. It’s the final result that’s important.

After getting Wordle et al sorted, and after Scamp was finished watching Laura Kuenssberg scare the pants off most of the politicians, we settled down to watch the strangest F1 race where the Bahrain race was run on the Sepang Circuit in the rain. Lots of thrills and spills and a strange mixture of contestants vied for position. Weirdest race I’ve ever seen, but quite interesting too.

I think Scamp spent most of the day working out our travel problems without much success. I spent my afternoon trying to squeeze yesterday’s Michaelmas Daisy photos into today’s PoD. I managed it with help from “A Better Finder Attributes V6”. A wonderful piece of software that allows you to do things to photos that they were never meant to do. I may even purchase V7!

That was about it for today, other than that Scamp had bought a lovely slice of smoked Hake. Not a fish we get very often in Scotland, but it was delicious. Served with potatoes and peas.

Hoping for at least a little bit of sunshine tomorrow!

Dancin’ – 3 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

It was Saturday and that means we’re probably dancing … somewhere.

We were off to Brookfield for our usual Saturday dance class. The first topic was Rhumbumbumba. It’s my least favourite stagger across the floor, tangle yourself in knots waste of time. I could give it the real description I use, but Scamp doesn’t like swearing! Suffice to say it’s absolute rubbish.

Next was the October Waltz. I’m not entirely sure we’ve done this one before, but Scamp likes it and I’m coming round to it now. After a few practices I think it and me could become friends. A fairly gentle waltz that glides along quite easily.

After the October Waltz was a Melody Foxtrot, just to loosen us up, or to be more precise, to loosen me up. Waltzes, especially fairly new ones make me tense and I end up leading with the wrong foot or even worse, standing on Scamp’s toes, but the Melody Foxtrot (which doesn’t have a Foxtrot in it) is an old friend. One that me and it get on well with.

The last part of today’s repertoire was a Butterfly Jive. I’ve never actually seen a butterfly jiving, but if I know the session is coming to an end, I’m quite happy to stagger round the dance floor copying those around me.

That should have been the end of today’s routines, but of course, Stewart was determined to squeeze in a final Rhumbumbumba. I noticed one of the men in the class was sitting it out. That was all the excuse I needed and I sat down facing him. Two old guys smiling at the antics of the dancers and not caring what they thought.

Drove home through a very quiet Glasgow on a Saturday afternoon. I think we only took about 40 minutes to get home. That must have been a new world record.

Scamp was tidying up the back garden when we got home, then Hazy phoned to ask me for some details that she needed for checking some come computer stuff. After a while I phoned her back with the numbers she wanted and she phoned back to confirm that the computer stuff checked out. A big thanks to you and Neil for clarifying that, Hazy. I was pretty sure I’d already checked it, but a second confirmation is never a bad thing. Next check is in April if all goes well!
If all that sounds a bit disjointed, don’t worry. It’s just computer talk 😉.

I went for a walk later and found the seed heads of the Yellow Flag Iris plants in St Mo’s were ripening and some of the seed pods had split open allowing the seeds to turn a rich brown. They appear every year around October in a variety of distorted shapes. That became PoD.

No real plans for tomorrow, at least not yet.

 

Cosmos – 2 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was going out for lunch with Shona in the early afternoon today. I was carrying slabs of Chipboard out to the car and on to the much used Council Tip.

Chipboard if you don’t know is a manufactured wood product made by compressing wood chips, shavings, and sawdust together with a synthetic resin or binder. Those of you who have used it will know it’s really heavy. The largest sheet I was carrying was even heavier than normal because it was backed with mirror glass panels. I almost apologised to the wee Blue car for making it carry that weight!

I dropped Scamp off at the Town Centre and drove my chipboard to the Council Skips. I carefully lowered the mirror glass panels very carefully into the skip because I didn’t want it to break and give me ten year bad luck! The panel slipped in easily without even a chip, so someone else may have collected the bad luck.
The other sheets were lighter and they also dropped into the waiting skip without a problem.

I’d some time to spare before I went home, so I took the Blue car to the car wash and got the bloke to give it a good wash. I’m sure it enjoyed the wash, because it had been really mucky.

I managed to meet Scamp and Shona at the cafe in the town centre for lunch:
Starter: Chicken strips with a spicy coating for all three of us
Main: Scamp had Risotto, Shona had Spag Bol and I had a Burger
Dessert: Tiramisu for the ladies and I had Ice Cream trio.

After a lengthy blether, Shona went shopping while Scamp and I drove home in a nice clean, shiny car.

The day had started with sunshine in the morning, but by the time we got home the clouds were coming in, the rain had started and the wind was getting up. I thought my chances of getting any photos today were nil. Then the wind dropped for a while and the rain stopped. The clouds were still there, but I’d enough time to get a dozen or so photos of flowers in the garden. PoD went to a Cosmos flower.

I think we may be going dancing over the weekend.

 

Dancin’ – 1 October 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Off to Glenburn to do some dancing!

The roads were busy heading out to Glenburn. A lot of roadworks on the way there didn’t help, but we managed to get there almost on time. It wasn’t only the roads that were busy, the community hall was quite well attended too. A lot of faces we hadn’t seen for a long time. Scamp reckons it’s because the children are back at school now and the grandparents are free to enjoy themselves without having to look after the little darlings

The format was just the usual. Starting with a couple of waltzes and then a few tangos and some cha-cha dancers took to the floor too. All this was interspersed with some sequence dances before the tea trolley appeared.

It’s a tried and tested routine that everyone knows and most folk seem to enjoy it. I for one really enjoyed today.

We drove home through Glasgow at a steady, if slightly slow pace that brought us back home again.

I went for a walk down to the shops when we got back and that’s where today’s PoD came from. A selection of colours shining through today’s leaves. Truly, Autumn is here.

Tomorrow I think I’m taking a collection of broken up chipboard pieces to the Council Tip. I thought I’d manage to take them this morning, but time was too tight.

I think Scamp is going out for lunch with Shona.

The last day of September – 30 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

September turned out a fairly decent month. A fair mix of photos, but over run with flowers as usual. Must try harder to get a wider range of subjects.

Today was another day with good intentions that were never really fulfilled. I’d intended to drive over to the Council Tip to get rid of the collection of hardboard and chipboard we’d collected when we disassembled the cupboard in the corner. Unfortunately the rain stopped play and we had to wait too long a while, so the Council Tip will have to wait until tomorrow or maybe Friday before we completely clear that space. Scamp did sterling work clearing the dining table of the odds and ends that were still cluttering it up.

I spent over an hour struggling through all the complicated rules and regulations that made a once great hosting company almost impossible to navigate. It really is a pity when things like that happen. Thankfully I did get a lot of support from Hazy and Neil and there is now light at the end of the tunnel.

I did manage to get out for a walk in the afternoon, dodging the rain showers and the oppressive looking clouds, to find a Red Admiral sunning itself on a leaf next to the path. That was the PoD. The weather is forecast to cool down again as we enter October.

I won’t even get a chance to get out for a photowalk this week, so I’ll have to apologise to Alex and hope we can both get out next week.

Tonight’s dinner was a half and half event. Scamp made the first half of the dinner (Puttanesca Chicken Traybake) and I finished it. Not a great dinner, but interesting. I don’t know if I’d make it again.

We may go dancing tomorrow but only if the weather holds.

Spiders – 29 September 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Actually yesterday’s photo, but it deserved to be today’s.

Scamp was out today to meet Shona for a blether and to give her back her washing that had been languishing in our house while we were off in Jersey. I know, it’s a bit complicated, but that’s the way things panned out. I’m not going to bore you with the reasons for the exchange, let’s just say it worked for both parties.

While she was out, I completed the emptying of the clumsy big cupboard that has been taking up space in the living room for years. It’s amazing the amount of stuff that was in that space. It took me about two hours to decide what was staying and what was going. For once there was more going into the black bag than was staying in the living room. It was sad to see some things going into the black bag, but that’s what we’d planned and we stuck to it.

When Scamp returned, I filled the Blue car with as much stuff as it would hold and drove it over to the Council tip. At first I thought I wouldn’t get in, there were so many cars queued up outside, but the crowd gradually filtered down to my turn. I passed the test of the guard at the gate and told the truth for once. One black bag of refuse and three or four sheets of cardboard. I got a space and did as I was told, dumping things in their allocated spaces, then drove back home before I was told I’d put something in the wrong skip.

The next thing to do was to put some of that expensive petrol in the car. My, how the numbers in the petrol pump whizzed past until I had about three quarters of a tank. I almost closed my eyes when I saw just how big the numbers were!!! But we needed the petrol to get the car home. Also, we are hoping to drive to Glenburn this week for the tea dance and we’d need petrol for that too.

The final task for today was to carefully demolish that old cupboard. Carefully, because there were sheets of mirror glass on the back of it and I didn’t want any of it to shatter and leave shards of glass all over the living room. My little used DeWalt drill made short work of the multitude of screws that were holding the cupboard together

Scamp made a brilliant Saag Paneer Kedgeree for dinner. Absolutely wonderful!

PoD was, as I said, yesterday’s photo of a little spider hanging upside down on its web. Delicate little thing.

I think I may have to speak to the Namecheap experts tomorrow to get them to show me how to Reissue my SSL Certificate. You’ll understand that Hazy. I can never remember the exact method. Hopefully I’ll get a patient expert. Wish me luck!

Back to the grind – 28 September 2026

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Back from a quick holiday to Jersey that we both enjoyed.

I made a suggestion to Scamp while we were on our short break. We really do need to do some tidying around the house, especially in the living room and we both agreed that it needs a fair bit of work. Today we took the first steps to do the first clean up.

I tackled a four shelf cupboard that has been sitting in a corner for almost as long as I can remember. It holds a load of stuff, but to be honest, has outlived its usefulness. Shelf one was the hard one. I knew it would be and most of it is now in a black bag ready to go to the skip.
Tomorrow we should be able to cut through the remainder of the clutter, and after that we just need to disassemble the frame. Some of the contents will stay, but not nearly as much as we had.

While I was starting to empty the cupboard, Scamp was working her way through music books galore, more cookery books than we have looked at in years and magazines, I was amazed at the amount of foody magazines that really should have gone ages ago. We were both working and making changes. It’s amazing just how much in this house is simply clutter.

I got out for a walk in the afternoon in the sunshine while Scamp was deciding what dinner was going to be. I got a few shots over at St Mo’s and the best one was a deep pink Antirrhinum trying to squeeze its way through a wooden fence. That was PoD.

Tomorrow will hopefully be much like today, but with a bit more effort from me at least. There are more plans for other areas on the ground floor that also need tidying!

Hazel Nuts – 20 September 2026

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Today it the first day I’ve seen Hazel Nuts on a tree, in Scotland.

Ignoring the “Fnarr, Fnarr – Oo er Matron!!” group, I’m talking about the seeds of the Hazel tree (Corylus avellana). We don’t get all that many growing around here, so this was a great surprise to me. Hopefully it’s the beginning of more trees round our local pond.

There wasn’t much to do today, with sunshine for a short while, closely followed by rain showers. We didn’t go far, and relied on getting things done at home.

I did manage to get a walk around the pond, and that was where I found the Hazel trees. A very few people out walking. Just a usual Sunday.

PoD went to the Hazel nuts.

Tomorrow I may go out and get my hair cut. That would at least mean I’d achieved something, if I’m successful …!

Seed Heads – 19 September 2026

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Cow Parsley seed heads I found on today’s walk around one of the Cumbersheugh ponds.

It was a dull day. Dull and windy too. We drove over to Brookfield for the Saturday dance class, only to find that the bowling club had the run of the place without mentioning to the time allocated to the dance class had been reduced by a third. It would have been helpful if the bowling club had the decency to tell us the class time had been reduced. Maybe we should have complained to the mayor or lord provost or some such personage. We dancers seem to lose our place against the might of Brookfield’s bowling club. They should be reminded that we, too have a right to use the facilities. We pay for them too!

Actually I quite enjoyed the early finish to the afternoon. I quite enjoy most of the dancing, but Bumbarumba or whatever it’s called isn’t my idea of a dance. It’s a bit of a shambles if you ask me. Most of the folk were struggling to keep in touch with this attempt at a dance. Too fast for some and not exciting enough for others. I’m with the ‘Too Fast’ group.

A quick reprise of the quickstep was very useful and we both managed it. I struggled, as usual, but Scamp just ran through it as if it wasn’t there. That’s the difference between her and me. I struggle to remember these dances, Scamp has them on-tap, so to speak.

We drove home choosing to take the Clyde Tunnel to avoid the delays that usually appear if we try the dreaded Kingston Bridge route. Today it was an easy rung home for a change. I don’t know if that was due to a lighter load of vehicles on the motorway or just a ‘Lucky’ with the extra half hour. Whatever, it worked!

Good to hear from Alex that Carol has arrived home again after her operation on her knee. Hope it sorts itself out quickly Carol.

Today’s PoD went to a Cow Parsley head I saw in St Mo’s. Just because it looked interesting.

Tomorrow we may be packing bags,