Category: family

Jetwash

My girls and wife went out to the craft shop earlier, getting stuff to decorate their Easter bonnets. I jetwashed the patio – this time with the lance rather than the usual brush with rotating jets.

Not the best idea I've ever had; there was mud everywhere; along the path down the side of the house, on the walls, sheds, plastic wendy-house, in my shoes, socks, jeans and undies; there still is some along the side of the house.

And…

I flooded the utility room; the hose/tap adaptor is rubbish.

Thank goodness for fluffy towels!

Sperm

As my youngest daughter started to read one of her homework reading assignment books, 'Amazing Whales', I have to admit I struggled mightily attempting descriptions before she got the book's true facts.

It's something we attempt every reading session; try to guess, then read, then debrief.

This time though one word in particular made me pause…

…and, silently, admit defeat.

  • Easy to describe: Dolphin; Killer, Blue, Grey…
  • Intermediate: Baleen, Beluga…
  • Hard: Sperm…

Luckily my wife was out walking Ruby dog, otherwise it could have got rather messy.

In other news, Bob The Builder seems to have had a makeover for 2016.

Sacrilege!

Haircut

The mobile hairdresser paid a visit today. She tidied the girls' fringes and hair at the back, did something with my wife's and, rather odd this; dropped a load of greying hair on our kitchen floor after she'd cut mine.

I feel a lot less scruffy now. Maybe I should shave; back to a goatee?

Mothering

This Mothering Sunday (aka Mothers Day) we went to church – it was the Brownies' and Ladybirds' Flag parades too.

I thought about my dear departed mum and the sacrifices she and dad made to keep us comfortable and to support me until I started to work…

During the service the choir sang Psalm 127, and the temporary vicar asked us, with a smile, to follow along too – if we could.

Yeah, it's impossible without choral training and a safety net, so I simply traced the words with my index finger. I was lucky that I could read the words; I'd taken my reading glasses along this time!

So, here it is, Psalm 127, from the King James Version:

1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

3 Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.

5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

I occasionally have dark thoughts about the results of my quivering arrows, but overall, in a non-spiritual sense, I've been blessed by my 2 girls.

The thing is, I don't really care if I've misinterpreted the Psalm; I took something good away from it.

Spacetime

I got married late in the third quarter of 2006, but this isn't about anniversaries, family, lazing about in a tropical paradise, no; it's about technology. Again.

I gave away a phone; I don't recall whether it was before or after my wedding, I just know when I got married I no longer had it as a daily driver, and I know what I replaced the phone with.

The chronology of all this isn't particularly important.

What is, is the fact that around 9 or 10 years after I stopped using the device, the lucky recipient sent his first SMS. Not first on that phone, but first ever.

Last week.

I'm someone who believes it's an absolute necessity to be always connected to the Internet, or at least a mobile network. Always able to communicate with family, friends, people who can do jobs for me, my girls' school, etc.; so it's not an overstatement mentioning it was quite the revelation.

A life without convenience.

I don't intend to change the way I approach my current state-of-the-art portable computing device on the strength of this new understanding of our modern life, but it's an interesting concept. A life without alerts, without beeps and blurps and bloops; it sounds relaxing.

But could I cope?

I'll probably never find out, not unless the power and phone grid fails.

Nerdity

Another short one today; it's been a 'nothing' weekend outside my ongoing Raspberry Pi playtime.

Here's a repeat link to what I wanted to do with it, what I've done, and what I've actually accomplished so far – which is actually now 2/3 of the total.

My Raspberry Pi Setup – at GitHub.com.

So, what else have I accomplished?

  • Walked Ruby dog,
  • Helped with the girls' homework,
  • Bought a pair of walking shoes to replace those that Ruby chomped,
  • Washed, dried, put away clothes,
  • Changed the cat litter,
  • Been shown a paint colour chart; my wife's chosen a new colour for the hallway…

In-short, underperformed.

Tosser

Daughter 2:

"Mummy, daddy's good at tossing!"

My wife, deadpan:

"Yes, he's a born tosser."

It is of course Shrove – AKA Pancake – Tuesday.

I haven't lost my touch.

Apart from the last, the one poured too thickly, the one I burned.

Nope

Another summary post, this of a wasted day:

Personal

The lady who was supposed to visit my oldest daughter today didn't show up on time. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I rang 1-1/4 hours after the scheduled start time.

"Oh, she's been off sick for a week-and-a-half, can you give me your daughter's name please?"

I did so.

"I'm just looking at her diary, it seems we missed you."

I then launched into a rant: 'I took the day off, my wife's stayed awake after her night shift, you've got a disappointed little girl here; tell the manager we're yet again dissatisfied by your lack of organisation…'

Home

A local tradesman tasked with a simple home visit 'around teatime', to fit his schedule, to quote us for 2 new radiators failed to show or call or text.

Ruby

(The dog this time!)

She's chewed her second pair of my Gore-Tex walking shoes. The girls leave the shoe cupboard door open, have no concept of…

My wife seems to think the total destruction of one side of the heel padding is fixable. I'll hover a finger over the Amazon 'buy again' button.

Ruby

(Yeah, computer stuff.)

Another day, another Raspberry Pi reset; the fourth in 4 days. Rather than do what I wanted to with the computer, it's perhaps a good time to re-evaluate my single purpose; blogging support.

It would gave been sustainable, there's enough scope in setting up a web site to fiddle with, fine-tune, break and fix. But problems with Ruby (computer program dependencies) are getting tiresome. Next step though: check out @mlv's 'strings (1)' comment.

Luckily the Raspberry Pi community has a huge amount of imagination and skill, for example Jonathan Duerig's (@duerig's) book scanner.

Stuff

I went shopping on my own while my wife slept and the girls watched streaming films. I didn't miss much either. The best thing to happen all day.

Depleted

Not exactly a perfect storm of events, not by any means; nevertheless, we ran out of:

  • Cat litter,
  • Dog food,
  • Dog treats,
  • Cat treats,
  • Carpet urine absorber powder,
  • Dog toys even vaguely resembling their initial, as-purchased, state.

It's Ruby Dog's first birthday on Wednesday; a visit to the pet superstore is perhaps in order.

This, though I might refer to it in the store, is not a shopping list.

Valentine

In a couple of weeks time it'll be Valentine's Day. I'll be buying a card and some flowers for my wife, and maybe even a small gift?

I really don't know what to buy; maybe the two things'll suffice? Heck, I'll be second-guessing myself with that one until the day. And afterwards.

The problem is simple: I peaked in 2006.

We found a bona-fide Scottish castle* to spend a couple of nights of romantic whatever-we-used-to-do-before-the-girls-arrived at. A typical utilitarian design externally, set in extensive grounds, with its own lake.

The Honeymoon Suite. You know?

I rang, booked, sat back looking at my wallet. Easy. Girlfriend-as-was was happy.

Then the phone rang.

"Hello Mr Turner, we made a terrible mistake with your booking…"

Me: "?"

"Well, we completely forgot you booked for a stay including Valentine's Day and, unfortunately, the room rate is double for that one night."

Me, hand over phone, looking over at my girlfriend after a brief summary which ended: "Do you still want to go?"

Her: (big doe eyes, soppy smile)

Me, back on the phone: "Are you ready to take my credit card details again?"

"Yes, and can we say how sorry we are for…“

Me: (sighs)

It was worth it.

*Culcreuch Castle, Fintry, Stirlingshire, Scotland.