Compare the Meerkat birthday card!

I know it's random, I'm away with migraine then back with a meerkat but bear with me, I haven't lost the plot just yet. This is for my father in law, every year I have to try and surpass last year's card which is getting tricky! He's absolutely mad on the Compare the Meerkats, I think he has all the toys and the book, so I thought I'd do him a card. Obviously meerkat stamps aren't available (to my knowledge) so this is my drawing in pen and ink, coloured in with pencils. All I'm saying is little bits of art take as much work as big ones and I know this card will be kept with the others.

One of the reasons I make cards is because in all honesty most of the ones in shops are awful, particularly for men. It's either an outdated watercolour of a cricket bat or something not very funny. This one took several hours so I only get time to do them for people I care about, but at least I know they're getting something much more personal than if I'd just purchased one off the shelf.

Climate, anxiety and depression - a post from the heart

Sometimes I feel like I can't bear to open my eyes and look at the world because I'm so deeply ashamed to be a human being and worried about what's going on. Much as I try to believe in the goodness and humanity in people I am finding it hard to hold onto that faith right now. I think most of the scientific community, barring those who've received a nice sum of money from the fossil fuel barons, agree about climate change. I certainly would never call myself any kind of expert, some of my degree was about planetary science, but like a growing number I feel climate change has probably been vastly underestimated and will be quicker than people think. There are an awful lot of people thinking "it won't happen in my lifetime" who are probably going to be surprised, and not pleasantly so. We actually live below sea level here so I'm very aware of our vulnerability. But it's not just about me, I feel very powerless when I read of people in other part...

How I Wash Fleeces for Spinning

I use some of the fleeces from my sheep to spin into yarn, and through a process of trial and error have come up with a preparation process that works for me. I don't like to over complicate things, so try and keep preparation to a minimum. I sort the locks into baskets, making sure I keep all the tips and cut ends aligned, this helps save time later on. I arrange them in layers until the baskets are full. I do three baskets at a time to save on water. I then put two buckets in the bath and fill with hot water, it has to be as hot as you can as that helps the lanolin come out. Have them both the same temperature to avoid felting. One bucket just has a squeeze of ordinary washing up liquid in it. I'm not looking to scour the fleece completely, I just like it clean enough to be able to spin. I try to keep some lanolin in there as I don't see the point of removing it all then having to spray oil back on the help spinning. I submerge a basket in the soapy water for a...

Open Reach and the saga of rural internet

Blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground due to me having poor or no internet again. This year has been a real battle for us to get internet that's usable. I live in quite a rural location still serviced by copper lines put in when home phones were quite new. Both myself and my nearest neighbours are used to a rolling saga of issues every time it rains even remotely hard with bits of the road having to be dug up because of water in the joints. Our line is pretty shallow and several times that's also been damaged by farmers digging drainage channels into the ditch network. Then there's the ongoing saga of "the hedge"; apparently there is a joint where my neighbours line spurs off from mine under a big hedge. So frightening is the horticultural beast that no Open Reach engineer will tackle the excavation of the thing. In reality a pair of loppers and a spade would probably do the trick but of course it's all health and safety these days - if you can't...

A Little Cottage in the Country

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