Category: Beasties

Off the leash – 14 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Scamp was going for coffee with the Witches. I was left on my own for a few hours.

Spent most of the morning writing a reply to two of Alex’s recent emails. I’d berated him for promising photos and delivering a description of what was in them, but not the photos themselves. He made up for that omission by sending me two emails worth of recent photos. Quite impressive photos too. Anyway, I used my time this morning wisely and sent him a few of my photos and the story of my week so far, which you, my readers already knew! That and a bit of jiggery pokery on Photoshop and Lightroom took up most of the morning. I did have a notion to do a bit of painting, but never quite got round to it. “Not getting round to it” is an art in itself I think.

While Scamp was out, a lady came to the door with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, addressed to both of us. I was quite taken aback and couldn’t guess who could have sent it. Then I though of Isobel and her run in the country. I left the bouquet for Scamp to unwrap, and sure enough the card with the flowers had a message from Isobel. A lovely surprise.

When Scamp had recovered from the surprise and arranged the flowers in two vases, I decided it was time for a walk, so I retraced my steps from yesterday and walked down to the shops by the long way through the long grass behind St Mo’s school. I found some interesting shapes in the seed heads of the Flag Irises that have now all gone over, but the PoD was a tiny little fly on a hogweed flowerhead. A really tiny thing that must have measured about 3mm long. While I was photographing the Iris seed heads, a cleg landed on my lens hood. Just to be sociable, I squashed it. The swelling on my wrist from yesterday’s attack has now disappeared although it was quite red this morning.

Watched the final episode of Slow Horses tonight. Sadly that’s it finished until season 2 arrives some time later this year. Although I’ve read all the books, I’ve still enjoyed the story of The Hub and Slough House. It’s not often a TV version of a book stays so close to the original.

No real plans for tomorrow, although we may get a chance to walk down to Broadwood Farm for a carvery lunch and a glass of something alcoholic.

 

Driving Miss Robinson – 11 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Well, actually Mrs Robinson, but that’s just splitting hairs.

As a birthday treat, we were taking Isobel out for lunch. We drove down to Gouldings in Rosebank on Clydeside. It wasn’t quite as sunny today as it was yesterday and Saturday, but it was plenty warm enough.

Before the outing I took Scamp to the chemist to speak to the pharmacist because a cleg (horsefly) bite yesterday had caused her elbow to swell overnight and she needed something a bit stronger than Piriton tablets and Anthisan cream. The pharmacist gave her a course of penicillin tablets with a recommendation to go and see her doctor if it wasn’t improving in three or four days. We drove back home to let her take one of the tablets then we were off to pick up Isobel.

We drove down the M73 and the M74 to Larkhall where we took a detour through Larky, partly to avoid roadworks at Garrion Bridge and partly to let Isobel see where we used to live. We continued on to Netherburn and down to Clydeside then along to Gouldings which was quite quiet for a change. It was still morning, so the crowds hadn’t arrived yet, but they would. Got parked easily and waltzed in to find a table. Since Isobel is coeliac, her choice from the menu was a bit limited. She settled for Sweet Potato Soup while Scamp and I had Fish ’n’ Chips. We had a dessert too. I had a slice of Rhubarb pie and the other two shared a gigantic meringue with cream and strawberries. Then it was a walk around the plants, because as well as being a restaurant, originally Gouldings was a plant nursery. The ladies eventually bought five dahlia flowers between them. Scamp got a radiator brush she’s been looking for since January and Isobel got a hose connector to replace her broken one. Then we were off again.

We left Gouldings and drove along the Lanark Road to Lanark itself. Drove through the town to Lanark Loch and sat there for a while before we headed for home by the ‘Top Road’ through Carluke, Newmains and Airdrie before dropping the birthday girl off at her house. It’s not really her birthday for a few days yet, but that, again, is splitting hairs! I think she enjoyed her day out ‘in the country.’

We drove home and I changed into shorts and took a walk in St Mo’s while Scamp pondered where to put her new flowers. I saw a strange looking insect on a hogweed flower head. It had long dark brown wings folded over its body, a yellow abdomen and a black head with an orange spot just behind the head. After asking Mr Google, it turned out to be a Red Necked Footman moth. I think it’s more orange than red, but maybe it’s just a bit bleached in the hot summer sun! Anyway, it was an obvious PoD. In all I took 132 photos of that moth and a couple of other insects. Those 132 images have now been reduced to a more manageable 44.

When I got home both the dahlias were sitting in a large pot, still in their original pots because Scamp isn’t sure yet where they will go. We may find out tomorrow. Just the outside chance of some cooling rain tomorrow while the south of England swelters.

The swelling on Scamp’s cleg bite is much reduced tonight which is a relief. No plans for tomorrow yet. I hope it won’t involve driving, because that was a long run today, but very enjoyable.

Painting – 9 July 2022

Posted on by Zogman

No artistry involved, just a tin of paint a brush and disposable gloves. That kind of painting!

After sitting around doing nothing this beautiful morning, waiting to see if Scamp wanted to go anywhere in particular, but knowing in my heart of hearts that she didn’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam, going to and/or coming back from the seaside, I doubted it. I was right. She decided this was the day to cut the grass in the back garden. Really sensible decision because it had been dry for a few days and therefore the grass would be easier (not easy, easier the difference is important) to cut.

I felt bad that she was doing work in the garden while I was playing Angry Birds on my phone. I’d already sanded down the door to the bin shed, so today I sanded off the remainder of the scabby paint and changed my long trousers for a pair of shorts. Then took my tin of exterior gloss, a brush and a pair of disposable gloves and went out to paint the door, or at least to give it its first coat. As it happened, with a Florence and the Machine in my headphones, I quite enjoyed the morning slapping paint onto the door. It’s the same colour of paint that was on before. It’s good stuff, but the sun had crazed the old paint and the rain was getting in to the wood. It really needed don and it really needed two coats. The first coat took half a double album and I was thinking as I was cleaning up, what a boon disposable gloves are! The few spots of paint I had on my hands were easily removed with Swarfega.

By the time I was finished, Scamp was finished too and it was lunch time. After that and after some discussion about dinner tonight, we settled on a quiche. We’d some smoked salmon that needed using up. A broccoli and smoked salmon quiche sounded good. That meant we needed some broccoli, cream and probably some frozen shortcrust pastry. That meant a walk to the shops, which suited us both. It really was a beautiful day with just enough breeze to cool us down without blowing us away as it almost did earlier in the week. As it happened, we had to go to three different shops to get all the ingredients (and some beer). On the way back a cheery wee man offered us ice lollies out of the box he’d just bought. Scamp eventually gave in to his offers and took an ice cream ice lolly we used to call a “Mivvi”. I felt it was unfair for us to take the poor bloke’s lollies and thanked him, but said no thanks. Just a nice wee man. Afterwards as Scamp was eating her lolly I wished I HAD taken him up on his offer!

With our work done and the frozen shortcrust pastry defrosting in the kitchen, we sat in the garden and enjoyed the sun. I got tired of reading after a while and went for a walk around the garden taking photos. I’d got one or two of a ladybird this morning before I started the painting, but I wanted more. Then I remembered I’d wanted to take some photos with an old Zenit 58mm lens which apparently gave excellent ‘Bokeh’ (out of focus blobs which delight photogs.). I soon had the lens cleaned and working and sure enough, it did create some strange effects. A photo of a little lupin flower with a strong bokeh background got PoD.

It didn’t look as if the shortcrust pastry was going to be ready today, or even this century at the rate it was defrosting, so we revised our plans and instead we had Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti with some fried Potatoes. It’s a store cupboard stand by when nobody can think of anything else to have. A family staple. It was perfect for today. Maybe quiche tomorrow. More reading and sunbathing later, but eventually it got a bit cool and we had go adjourn to the house.

Tomorrow looks much like today according to the weather fairies, so I may give the door a quick sand down and then put on another coat of that paint, or we may go for a walk somewhere. We’ll see how we feel in the morning.

Out for a curry – 8 July 2022

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Not a good one though.

We drove to Hamilton today to see if the car still worked. It doesn’t do much driving these days with the price of petrol. The other reason we went to Hamilton was to have a curry for lunch. Bad move.

We went to Bombay Cottage just after midday for lunch and it was awful! I had my usual Chicken Rogan Josh. It was tasteless, the sauce was watery and the chicken had been sliced up, usually it’s in chunks. Scamp had Cauliflower Shimla Bhaji and it too was tasteless, but hers was oily. The naan bread was smothered in oil, not ghee and left a smell like paraffin on my hands! Scamp thought it was maybe from firelighters they used to fire up the tandoor. That seemed likely because we were there just after the place opened and maybe they had just started the tandoor. The waiter apologised, but it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t make the curry. We’ve been going to this restaurant for years and have always had good food, but not today. I realise that the hospitality sector, and restaurants in particular have had a hard time in the past two years, but these days, you’re only as good as your last meal. We will give them another chance, we will go back, but not for a while and only because their past record has been so good.

Back home, I took an old friend out for a walk along with my Sony A7iii. The old friend was an Olympus E-PL5, a compact little half frame camera with a Panasonic 30mm macro lens fitted. It worked hard today and produced about 70 photos, all of the inside of my camera bag! My fault. I forgot to turn it off and also forgot just how sensitive the shutter button is. It also captured a few macro shots of hover flies and a series of shots of a grasshopper. Not quite good enough for PoD which went to a wide angle shot of what I thought was a children’s toy, but which turned out to be a dog toy in the form of a gnome. The Laughing Gnome wasn’t laughing any more!

After my walk, Scamp and I sat in the garden. Her with a Pimms and me with a bottle of Estrella. The last bottle. Note To Self: Must go to Morrisons soon to get another box!

Unfortuantely the sun was getting mugged by too many clouds and we had to call a halt to the seat in the sun. However, by that time the the Pimms had been drunk and the Estrella was well gone.

Hazy, I meant to say yesterday that the risotto spatula worked its magic again, and was responsible for that very nice Prawn and Pea Risotto.

The other thing I meant to mention was that the solar light looked really nice casting their glow across the garden. All at different heights and angles. Truly ‘fairy’ lights.

Tomorrow we might go out somewhere if the weather is as good as the weather fairies say. The problem is, they sometimes promise things they cannot provide!

 

Crowned – 7 July 2022

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Queen for a day perhaps.

Scamp was out to the dentist today, not in the morning as I’d mistakenly reported yesterday, but in the afternoon. That left the morning free to speak to Hazy for half an hour or so. Things seem to be plodding along down south, but slower than they’d like. Dozy deacons were part of the problem and over lengthy exam answers were another. But one of the was the diet that Tilly (one cats) was on seems to be a success and she has reached her target weight. It was when we were talking to Hazy that I realised Scamp’s dentist appointment wasn’t for another four hours! Oops.

After we said our goodbyes, Scamp and I walked down to the shops to get some messages. Just something for lunch and a loaf to put it on because there was no bread in the house, at least, no bread that was eatable. On the way back we got some solar lights for the back garden. They don’t provide much useable light, but they do look pretty at night.

After lunch, Scamp steeled herself and walked over to the dentist to get her new crown fitted. It’s been a protracted issue this tooth. It all started back in December when she needed a filling, but because of Covid it wasn’t done then the dentist retired and she had to wait until another one was appointed. Oh, I could go on and on, but so did the wait and the bill got bigger and bigger, as did the cavity, until the new dentist said the only way to fix it was with a crown and that was the crown that was fitted today. Thankfully it worked and to look at it you’d never guess it wasn’t a real one.

While she was being crowned, I was out walking in St Mo’s better armed today to capture some insect photos. It was a lovely warm summer’s day.  Not at all like yesterday with its gale force winds. I took the big heavy macro lens and got a few ‘keepers’, but a lot more ‘chuckers’. My favourite was a little fly feeding on some pink blossom. It was the contrast between the dark flower and the pale pink of the flowers that swung it for me. That was PoD.

Back home it was warm enough to sit in the garden and make plans for alterations to the planting that might go ahead next year, all being well. Sitting making plans with a bottle Birra Moretti for me and a glass of Yellow Tail Merlot for Scamp is as good a way as any to spend an afternoon. Dinner was a very nice Prawn and Pea Risotto.

We watered the garden after dinner. It really needed it and I think the plants will look a lot better tomorrow.

The Boris Saga continues. Today he resigned as leader of the Tory party, but intends to stay on as a caretaker PM. Why doesn’t he just go? Nobody wants or trusts him anymore. It’s quite sad really.

We might go out for lunch tomorrow, but that’s as far as plans go.

 

Windy Willie – 6 July 2022

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Windy Willie was out and about today, gusting around the houses and making the trees sway. Thankfully he’s now away to annoy some other people, but he was a nuisance for a while for photographers trying to capture images of insects on flowers.

Unbelievably, despite the occasionally torrential rain we’ve had recently, the back garden was suffering a drought. Because of the wind, using the hose wasn’t practical, so Scamp and I were carting full watering cans around the garden to refresh the poor plants. I think the potatoes were the worst and that wasn’t obvious until we emptied on of the ‘tattie bags’ and found the soil was bone dry right down to the bottom. The bag produced enough potatoes for dinner tonight, but a lot of them were the size of buttons. That’s what gave us the idea to just water the whole garden.

After lunch I thought it was time I shifted my backside from the couch and went for a walk. Unusually, Scamp agreed to come with me. I know that she doesn’t really enjoy a walk round St Mo’s, so I suggested we walk down to Broadwood and walk over the dam and up past the exercise machines. That got her approval. Out of the wind, it was quite pleasant with temperature in the mid teens. In the wind it was a different story. On the final leg of the walk, Scamp suggested she would go home and I could do a circuit of St Mo’s. That sounded like a good idea. The best of both worlds.

My first circuit didn’t raise any interesting insects or, indeed anything. On the second round, there was more insect life on the hogweed and cow parsley. That’s where today’s PoD came from. It’s just a wee hover fly, but it was in focus and it was sharp, mainly because I was sheltered by a few trees which stopped the flower heads from bouncing around. Also, I was using the kit lens, not a dedicated macro lens, which meant I wasn’t going as close as I’d have liked and this helped the sharpness of the photo. It wasn’t the most productive day with 34 photos taken and 28 of those rejected for various reasons.

Dinner tonight for Scamp was Omelette with Cabbage and New Potatoes, for me it was Wild Boar Burger with Cabbage and New Potatoes. The potatoes were really very good. I only wish I’d earthed them up earlier and, of course, taken more care with the watering.

Boris still bumbles on despite having almost no support from his colleagues. He’s a bit like the visitor who doesn’t know when to leave the party and has to be ushered out the door. Maybe he needs the money!

Tomorrow Scamp is out in the morning to the dentist, hoping to get the long running saga of the broken tooth finally sorted.

An injured dog – 3 July 2022

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This morning, Scamp suggested a walk along the Forth & Clyde Canal. I agreed.

We drove to Auchinstarry and got what was probably the last space in the car park. I’d decided to bring two cameras with me, one with a macro lens and one with a medium long zoom, to reduce the need to change lenses out in the wild. That meant I needed the new rucksack. Actually, it worked out quite well, because although there were patches of blue sky, there were also a lot of heavy looking rain clouds. Having the rucksack meant I could carry my rain jacket but be free to walk with just a jersey and trousers. Boots, of course were mandatory for both of us and of course, Scamp chose to wear her rain jacket, just to make sure it wouldn’t rain.

Lots of folk walking dogs or walking in family groups and loads of cyclists. I couldn’t blame them, it was a lovely morning. I’d only seen a couple of hover flies in St Mo’s during the last few weeks, but there were literally clouds of them along the canal. I think the reason for that is the cow parsley and hogweed flowers are out along the side of the towpath and those flowers are very attractive to hover flies. I’d put the 50mm macro lens on the A7, but it was having a hard time focusing on the insects because there was a stiff breeze which made the big flower head bob about a lot. I wished I’d packed the long, heavy 105mm macro instead. But I carried on regardless and did manage a couple of shots that were sharp enough to keep.

We walked as far as Twechar where we left the canal tow path and crossed the road on to the old railway line and walked it. There are some lovely landscape shots to be had there and I decided I’d remove the macro lens and stick on the kit lens instead. I was half way through the transfer when a cyclist appeared heading the way we’d come. He said he thought I’d an injured dog when he saw the brown and dull green rucksack. Scamp told him “No, it’s just a man who always needs to change things!” He laughed and said that was perfectly all right! I apologised and we went our separate ways after I’d taken a few landscape photos.

For the last four or five years a great amount of work has been going on to improve the flow or the Garrel Burn. It’s finally finished and although the path I used to walk has not seen a great improvement, it would appear that the burn now meanders rather than flows through the wetland. We walked part of it on our way back to the car. Maybe next time we’ll take the Wibbly Wobbly Way and see what improvements there are.

We went home via Lidl to get a chicken for dinner and came home with about £50 worth of chicken, bread, cherries, kitchen scales and a bottle of gin. How I wish we had a Lidl rather than a manky Aldi in Cumbersheugh.

We watched an action packed British F1 GP with dangerous looking crashes and the lead changing hands with every second that passed. Glad to see that Max isn’t having things all his own way.

Spoke to Jamie and heard how the roof problem is still on hold until the bats survey is complete. Glad we don’t have bats in our belfry. Also got advice on completing the mandatory LF test for boarding the ship. Thanks for that Jamie.

PoD was a picture of an, as yet unknown bright pink plant growing by the side of the railway path. If anyone recognises it, an ID would be appreciated.

Tomorrow we have no plans.

 

 

Squaring the circle – 29 June 2022

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were in the market for some supports to help stop the sag.

We drove to Torwood and argued about discussed the various options for a support for at least one of Scamp’s roses. They really are massive and a bit lanky. Eventually we settled on two different, totally different support systems. One was interlocking metal rods that create a pentagonal frame for a basically round bush in a square pot. The other was three bamboo hoops, so essentially six legs, again supporting a round bush in a square pot with the addition of some coarse garden twine. We’ll see how they survive the summer into the autumn.

With the roses now better supported and feeling uplifted ourselves we drove back via Tesco for some real essentials. Just stuff for dinner which would be the leftover curry from yesterday with the addition of one of those ‘real essentials’, decent Garam Masala. The stuff we’d been using was 90% cinnamon and 10% floor sweepings. Not good. On the way out I spotted Fred buying some flowers for Mrs Fred and we had a wee blether for a while, comparing books we’d lent each other. I knew Scamp would be waiting patiently in the car for me, but I made my excuse and left agreeing to phone Fred later in the week.

After we’d both cut ourselves to ribbons squeezing the rose bushes into their new cordons, Scamp pruned some of the plants that were running to seed and I pruned the highest of the roses that were also going over.

With the garden work done just in time to avoid a heavy shower, we waited a while for the sun to come out and went our usual ways. Scamp went to do more rearranging of plants in the garden and I went for a quick walk round St Mo’s. Two circuits gave me what I thought was a skinny little flying ant, but what turned out to be a Sabre Wasp. That became PoD.

I’d a painting to do today for one of our dance teachers. It’s been promised since March and I kept putting it off to do other ones. Today I finished it, mounted it and framed it. We’re intending to go to a Tea Dance tomorrow, so I can deliver it to him then. Hope he likes it.

Later we watched the Sewing Bee and Scamp correctly predicted the winner. Because the SB was on at the same time as Andy Murray’s second round match, we missed the thrilling second half, having watched the first half earlier. If you don’t want to know the score, look away now …

Right we’re back again. Since anyone who was interested, already knows who won and the rest of you aren’t interested, I’m not going to tell you.

Scamp was really pleased that one of the plants she’d been given when we were down at Jamie and Simonne’s was flowering. It’s a little pink geranium. She sent them a picture of it and also a picture of a rose called “Simply the Best” that looks quite startling just now. Of course she got good comments on both and she deserves them.

Tomorrow, as I said, we’re hoping to go dancing at Paisley. Other than that, nothing much planned.

Showers – 28 June 2022

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It rained today, not all day, but occasional heavy showers all day.

We spent the morning looking for a pair of glasses. My glasses. My good glasses, not the cheapo readers I use most of the time, the ones I’m wearing now. No, they were the much more expensive ones I got from the opticians and the ones that, I now realise, don’t give me eye strain. We searched high and low for them, literally. We searched up on the top of cupboards and down under the settee in the living room. We looked in the kitchen, in the toilet, in the bathroom and worst of all in ‘my’ room where strange things are buried under more strange things. Eventually we gave up and had a cup of coffee each and didn’t speak about where they could be or where we hadn’t looked yet. For about half an hour we tried to put the glasses out of our heads instead of on our heads. Finally I frisked the bed for the second, or was that the third time? There, in the middle of the bed I felt a bump that shouldn’t be there. That bump was my glasses. They had been playing ‘hide and seek’ with me, and had chosen a smart hiding place, where I’d left them after I was finished reading in bed this morning. It only took us about three hours to find them. The good thing about the search was that it vastly increased my step count for the day. So, if I found my glasses, why am I wearing readers? Because the ‘lost’ pair had been bad and have been shut in the bedroom all day as a punishment. Furthermore, they have been warned that if they try that ‘hide and seek’ game again, they will be banished to ‘my’ room with all the terrors it contains!

After a lovely lunch of fried potatoes and the leftover chicken goujons from Sunday, Scamp declared that rather than go for a walk round St Mo’s, she’d rather do the ironing. I chose St Mo’s and took the Sony with its big, heavy macro lens, hoping for some wet weather shots taken in the sun during one of the dry spells. The dry spells occurred, but the sun was absent today. Instead I found a Ringlet butterfly, some more spider nests and best of all, a Plume Moth. So small and insignificant you’d pass it by, but if you look closely at this insect you will see its wings are far to narrow to carry it aloft. The reason is that when it lands, it doesn’t fold its wings along its body as most moths do, it rolls them up neatly and holds them out at its side, making a sort of cross shape.

Two of the great things about the Sony A7iii are Silent Shooting and Continuous Shooting. I won’t make Jamie yawn by explaining what they mean, although you can probably guess, I’ll just say that it means you can take lots of pictures in a very short time if you keep the shutter pressed. I managed to take about 200 shots of the Plume Moth in about two minutes. That meant I had 200 shots to look through when I got home.

After I’d done the first cull and got rid of about 150 of them, I started making tonight’s dinner which was Carrot and Lentil Curry. An old favourite and although it wasn’t as good as Scamp’s version, it filled a wee space.

PoD went to the Plume Moth.

Almost felt sorry for Serena Williams getting beat in the first round at Wimbledon. That must be a tough fall from grace.

No plans for tomorrow yet. Weather looks similar to today with perhaps less rain.

 

 

Thirty years a slave – 27 June 2022

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Scamp reminded me that eight years ago today I retired after thirty years a slave.

My good (for ‘good’ read ‘only’) suit was going to the dry cleaners today, hopefully to remove some mysterious marks on the jacket. Since the dry cleaners is next to Tesco, it seemed a shame not to go and get some messages and Scamp’s meds. So we ended up with a fair load to bring back.

Back home Scamp started phoning P&O to check when we could book seats on the plane, only to find after 45minutes hanging on the phone that we do that through Jet 2. However, at least the procedure on Jet2 was really easy. One down. Next we had to get proof of Covid vaccination printed off. Two down, but still more than a few to go.

After lunch we went for a walk round St Mo’s. Once round for Scamp and twice round for me. One of the little green spiders with a red spot near its spinneret caught my eye. Pretty colour patterns on a reed leaf also appealed, but it was a Honeysuckle flower I saw on my way home that got PoD.

Spoke to Jamie tonight and heard about gardening in that enormous garden of his. Also, preparations for moving to a new job are high in his mind.

After dinner we watched Andy Murray get safety through his first match at Wimbledon.

Not a lot done today, but important things ticked off the list. Oh yes, and Scamp has a tiny baby tomato on her plant!

Tomorrow’s activities depend greatly on the weather.