Good morning to you all on this warm but sometimes overcast Monday. Mid 20s but the chance of rain is negligible unfortunately so I did water some of the recently planted plants.
After breakfast this morning a I made a run to the council recycling depot, I had my old fluorescent fittings and tubes, my son’s old computers, plus some old 3G phones now rendered useless with the network shut down.
I was walking down the garden to my car before leaving when I remembered my new security cameras so I turned them on, intending to check the images at the recycling park (ie remotely). Naturally I completely forgot about that.
When I returned home I put the car away in the garage then walked into the house. Suddenly a siren frightens the life out of me and my phone beeps a couple of times!. The AI on these cameras has recognised me as an intruder and set the alarm off. It will all be well when I get used to the system and turn if off before I enter the house.
There is now a 50 second video of a startled looking me trying to work out how to turn the alarm off. At least I know it works very effectively.
Did remember to fill up the car with fuel on the way home but that is probably the extent of my activities for today, might attempt a couple of minor jobs in my garage but will probably do a lot of reading today just sitting in the garden.
Eventually I will have to string together some videos of our Christmas but I am saving that for the public holiday on Wednesday (procrastination it’s called)
I do hope that you have a more productive Monday than me.
Good morning - Today is the day for the big goodbyes. Daughter, Son and two Grandchildren are leaving for the countries they live in. It will be very quiet here once they are gone and I will feel sad for a good few hours. I wish they had stayed local but such is life.
Morning all – yes it is another grey overcast day – can someone please confirm the sun is still out there somewhere!
Did anyone take any notice of the alarms Bruce? I found very few people actually react to alarms or even shouts for help. I recall a police officer once telling me if I was being attacked – and couldn’t run away – to not shout help but to shout fire because people are more likely react!
It is always sad when visitors leave Mart but you can always look forward to the next visit
Feeling better this morning, although still have a blocked nose, but plan to venture out to the shops later. Neighbours have offered to do shopping for me but I feel if I don’t get out of the house I may well lose my mind (well more so than usual!)
Good morning you forum types…
I can confirm that there is a sun Sheila, and it’s shining over South Yorkshire at the moment.
And in a few minutes I’m going to get out the bike and take advantage of it.
I’m not really superstitious Bruce and I don’t believe it makes any difference when you take them down, but after going to the trouble of putting so many lights up, It seems a bit silly to take them down to quick. Similar to you though, I put some coloured lights up around the summer house a few years ago and thought they looked nice, so I left them up, but the ones around the facias will have to come down eventually…
I’ll be throwing a few things into a travel bag when I return from my bike ride so we can make an early start in the morning…Obviously I’ll be looking into the forum before we go…
Although 8 degrees C and sunny at the moment, it’s an abysmal forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday so it looks like plenty of drinking, eating, and merryment…Anyone for Scrabble?
I think the alarm is to scare the intruder away, or at least let him/her know they are being observed. The main thing is the warning on my phone and the video recording.
Actually I was told, many years ago, that the best way to get help is to shout “Fire” that gets everybody running in to look, whereas “Help” gets them running away. Never had occasion to put either into practice so can’t say if it is true or not.
Just returned from an amazing bike ride. Weather was perfect 11 degrees C but a very strong wind on the homeward section. I thought I was doing well outbound, actually flying along, I should have realised that you would have to pay for it coming back…
It didn’t matter though because everything was working perfectly and I felt like going hard and doing some tough training, I felt so good it was an easy decision to turn right at the junction and make it a 15 mile outing.
I passed a racing cyclist stood perusing his phone at the side of the road as I whizzed passed, he caught me up later and we rode together for a while and exchanged a few words, I wished him a happy new year before he sped off into the distance…
There’s a bit of work to do before I can him…
That’s funny! Perhaps there is a frame you can use for next year’s Christmas card? I awoke with a subconjunctival hemorrhage, so I look like the devil - literally - with a cherry-red sclera. If the other one suddenly turns bright green, I have a winner! From what I am reading from Dr. Google, I should probably take it easy today, so it’s a rest from running day, @OldGreyFox. That’s two days off in a week .
This is odds and ends day starting with dog factory, followed by linens and upholstery day. I have a stack of machine sewing that has been piling up, so I think I’ll knock out some of too. The sewing reminds me that it was my dad, not my mom (though she could sew like a dream) who taught me how to use the machine, having rotated through a required stint in the parachute loft when he was a naval aviation candidate. They used to say that the only parachute you could actually trust was one that you repaired and packed yourself. While I am not planning on jumping off the top of the house with any of the linens standing by, I do grade myself on his expectations for perfection - although nothing will come close to the work done by Mrs. @mart.
I taught my kids to both use the machine and made them practice threading the machine which one can only learn by doing it again and again. I wonder in this day of disposable everything whether they will ever find sewing to come in handy.
I am then off to the grocery store to buy black-eyed peas and the ingredients for slaw an savory pancakes, all of which are a southern tradition to ring in the new year. This was not a bad year at all.
Have a safe drive @OldGreyFox and keep that cold moving out the door @SheilaP, and may the rest of you enjoy whatever comes your way today!
Awesome photo Besoeker, I realised that to get a shot half as good as that, I would have had to climb on to the summer house roof. What a beautiful sky, and you have captured it perfectly…
Interesting Bruce, do you still ride?
That looks like an excellent ride and very scenic.
Unfortunately, the prevailing wind usually comes from the west or north west and that would mean riding into and through Doncaster. Very busy with traffic and roads full of potholes…
Riding east takes me out into the country on little used roads (except at peak times and schooldays) but it means facing the wind on the return home. Being a bit rickerty these days I don’t usually go on windy days…
No, I gave my bikes away earlier in the year because they just cluttered up my garage. The only bike I have left is a very rusty unicycle that nobody wanted. It is part of my useful galvanised metal pile.
No I can’t ride it any more, I lost that ability while I was still working. I found I could no longer ride for ks with my hands off the handlebars and my ability to ride the unicycle disappeared at the same time. It was originally my daughter’s when she was a teenager.
I’d love to have a go on that Bruce. Have you seen the videos of the ‘Unicyclist’ who looks in occasionally? I think I’m probably too old with a dubious sense of balance to master it, but It would be a challenge…
I think age has a lot to do with it, I used to be OK with my balance but no longer, as I say it disappeared near the end of my working life. I don’t think my back operations had anything to do with it but I suppose it could have.
I awoke with a subconjunctival hemorrhage, so I look like the devil - literally - with a cherry-red sclera. If the other one suddenly turns bright green, I have a winner! 
From what I am reading from Dr. Google, I should probably take it easy today, so it’s a rest from running day, 
.
