Friday 22 February 2013

Review: Dragon's Blood


Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood by Todd J. McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



It has been several years since I last read a Pern novel and I have to say I did enjoy Dragons Blood. It is nice that Pern is being kept alive via Anne's son Todd.

The book goes between two time lines which are easy enough to differentiate as each time change is marked at the top of the beginning of a chapter

Dragons are dying of an illness and Lorana embarks on a journey to find a cure for them with the help of others in the Weyr.




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Tuesday 19 February 2013

Busy in the Garden


We have been very busy in the garden making way for our new pets as well as preparing the garden for growing our own veggies.


Colin (on the right) and our friend Phil having a break whilst reading instructions and Lindita Stinky Rita being nosey lol.


One chicken coop!

Hopefully we will be getting our three chickens over the next week to ten days. We will also be adding a run to the coop but we have been advised to keep the chickens in the coop for the first 3 to 4 weeks.


Phil made us a lovely bird house!


Birdhouse and Coop in situ.

Colin also put together a frame for either the runner beans or peas.


There is still absolutely tons to do in the garden. And I have to say that my house resembles a green house as we have propagators on nearly every window sill in the house lol.

Sunday 17 February 2013

Review: Medusa


Medusa
Medusa by Clive Cussler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I did enjoy Medusa but it wasn't one of my favourite Cussler books.
The start of the book was good but then it seemed to be a bit slow for a while.
All in all, still a good book to read.



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Wednesday 13 February 2013

Excited

My chicken coop is expected to arrive on Friday :-)  Colin and our friend Phil will be constructing it on Saturday and hopefully it will be in its designated place by then.
I know we are well ahead of ourselves to when we were originally going to keep chickens, but it just makes it all the more nicer.

Today we planted our strawberry and red pepper seeds. The window sills in my house look more and more like greenhouses lol.


My sweet pea's are growing very nicely.


My beet root seedlings.

We still have lots of seeds to plant!


Tuesday 12 February 2013

Sweet Peas

Saturday we went to our local D.I.Y store and brought some more vegetable seeds, propagator trays and some 8ft canes, which will be for the green beans, peas and sweet peas. I also brought a small lavender bush which still needs to be planted into the garden.

All the seeds we have planted so far have produced seedlings, which are:
Sweet Peas
Tumbling Tomatoes
Beet Root
Chives
Oregano 

I just love sweet peas, they are one of my all time favourite flowers!


(Not my image but a royalty free image)


The chicken coop might be making an appearance quicker than we thought due to one of our best friends, Phil Birbeck, who has offered to build one for us as he built his own one. This will be so much cheaper for us. To start with, it will be a basic coop but eventually , I hope to have a fancy one for them lol. I want one of the hens to be called 'Doris'. Don't ask me why because I don't really know. It just seems like a good name to name a chicken lol. The birds will be primarily pets with the added bonus of eggs.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to be able to get my strawberry seeds into the propagators and my mint seeds too.

We have watched three films since Saturday, The Green Hornet which was quite funny and it was one the twins wanted to see. We watched it on LoveFilm Instant. Last night we watched Avengers Assemble (Avengers in the USA), I quite enjoyed that one. Tonight we watched Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Now that was one funny film. It is a horror send up and I don't normally watch horrors, but it was done with a different take on things. So very very funny!

Stitching wise, I finished a little ornament, my first finish in months!


Sunday 10 February 2013

Review: Cave-Trolls and Amazons


Cave-Trolls and Amazons
Cave-Trolls and Amazons by Jonathan Pidduck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was riotously funny! Had me giggling out loud quite a few times. If you love witches, wizards, dwarfs, scantily clad Amazonian women and trolls, this book is definitely for you!
A must for all Pratchett lovers.
Looking forward to the next instalment!



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Saturday 9 February 2013

Review: Black Silk


Black Silk
Black Silk by Jan Gordon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was a freebie and not the kind of book I would normally read, but I really enjoyed it.



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Thursday 7 February 2013

This and That

Not really done much these last couple of days. The weather has been OK but dark and dismal. I really can't wait for spring to come along.

I have finished two books :


Life of PiLife of Pi by Yann Martel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not my usual cup of tea but I did enjoy it.

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Black SilkBlack Silk by Jan Gordon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a freebie and not the kind of book I would normally read, but I really enjoyed it.

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Some of our seedlings have started to shoot, mostly the chives, but it is a start.  We are hoping to start the runner beans off soon and we need to build some wigwams using canes for them.

Can't think of much else to say right now so I shall leave it there.



Tuesday 5 February 2013

Horrible Bosses

Last night, we watched Horrible Bosses on DVD from LoveFilm.


I really enjoyed it. I thought it was really really funny. It is about three friends who work for different horrible bosses and they concoct a plan to get rid of them with hilarious results. Definitely worth watching, but not for children!

I haven't really done anything today apart from stitch, but that's a good thing, right? ;-)

Currently Reading: A Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Monday 4 February 2013

Garden Changes

+Colin Nash  and I decided we would like to start growing our own fruit and veg.  We have a relatively small garden.


View from the bottom of the garden looking up at the back of the house.


Bottom of the garden.

We have already made a start on an area which will be for green beans. We just need to build a frame for them. Also we will be growing Sweet Peas between the beans :-)


So far we have seeded Chives, Oregano, Tumbling Tomatoes, Sweet Pea's and Beetroot. Halfway through this month will be when a lot of sowing takes place. We are going to do most of the growing in containers and vertically. I have bought sacks for growing potatoes in.



We are saving to build a chicken coop at the bottom of the garden. It will be a raised coop so foxes and badgers are less likely to be able to reach them at night. We are hoping to have the coop done by this time next year.

We bought a good book to help us out and give us ideas.


It was not very expensive either and gives good practical tips and ideas, as well as lots of photos.

I am looking forward to growing and producing the fruit and veg. It will be satisfying!