Billy Young's Blog, page 14

6th September 2013

Jim has been in dispute about how much time is owed to him. His wages were short when he was off on the sick and after querying it when he got back was told he owed them five hours. He believes that they actually owe him four hours so until he gets it sorted he is refusing to do overtime. I don't blame him though I'd also be pretty peeved if it were me.
Luckily the head supervisor has been happy to do it for him which has meant that I only had to cover the retort a couple of days this week. Today was one of them so I have another hour due me. Tuesday is supposed to be a cleaning day so I have asked for that day off to take some of my many hours back. I'm now up to eighteen and a quarter hours to take so I don't see why I shouldn't get the day off. I'll have to wait till Monday to find out as the have to ask the boss.
My potatoes are starting to yellow so I might pull them this weekend. Sunday is meant to be a dry if windy day but tomorrow is to be wet. So Sunday looks like the day to see if I have a better crop than last year. At the same time I have noticed my sweet corn is showing signs of maturing. I t will be another four week or so before they are ready. Lets hope it doesn't get to cold as autumn takes hold.
My cooking apples are looking big. Not the largest cooking apples I have ever seen but they are already greater in size than in previous years. Magz has also noticed and is looking forward to using them in some baking. I'll enjoy the eating, hehehe. I just have to be patient a few more weeks for them.

30th August 2013

Jim was finally back this week but luckily for him it has been a slow week at work. Mind there has been some other drama's over rubbish being left in the changing room. If some people weren't taking it so seriously it would have been rather funny really. One of the lads left a banana peal on the floor which upset someone from packing. So without thinking he complained about it but without saying any names. Everyone got told off quietly and warned not to let it happen again. Well that led to cries of "grass" from those in production and now the packers aren't speaking to production staff which they in turn are doing like wise. Yes everything has been blown out of proportion. It will all blow over eventually. In the mean time I just go on doing what I always do and get along with everyone while chuckling at the silliness of it all. I can understand why each side feels as it does though I think that is over now. The milk has been spilled so what is the use of crying over it. Mop it up then try to learn from it all and don't make the same error in future. Of course that is often too easily said. Ah well maybe with the weekend will come some reason.
I noticed from my window that some of my blueberries are changing colour. Yeah it will soon be time to pick the first berries of the season soon. I'll wait till they're nearly black before picking though, well of course I will. Why pick them before they are ready? I had the last of my wonderful peas on Sunday. Sadly that was the last for this year but i did get a good crop considering the shortened growing season we have had. Sadly not all the veg I planted have given fruit. The cauliflower and broccoli have failed this year which is a shame. Maybe next year.

23rd August 2013

Jim is still off on the sick. Luckily for me it was a short week as it is a bank holiday weekend. To add to the fun I was allowed to take some of the time owed me back yesterday. It might only have been three hours but it did feel good to be headed home early after the past two weeks of overtime. Yeah I know I was supposed to get the full day but half a day cleaning was decided to be enough. So I was needed for the half day of production. Though half a day off is a lot better than doing more overtime, right.
Today has been a very lazy day. My excuse to myself was the grey leaden skies. I did check on the garden yesterday when I got home and was glad to see that there maybe another lot of peas for the pot this weekend. I will need to get out and give everything a good feed. Especially the sweet corn and potatoes are needing a good potash feed to encourage them to a good crop. Yes I know the sweet corn might be a little on the late side yet I am still hopeful that I should get something from them.
Really I haven't planned what I should be doing this weekend. I do know that it will involve some gaming as well as some time in the garden. There are more weeds that have decided to invade and so need to be dealt with. I did pull a few out yesterday while I was out in the garden but thought that I could leave some for the rest of the weekend. I suppose that was the laziness setting in. Let's hope it isn't for the whole time I have off. I'll need to get my boots on tomorrow to give myself a good kick up the rear I think, hehehe.

16th August 2013

Jim, the man in charge of the retort and who trained me on them, was off this week ill. That left me in his place all week. It isn't the first time that I have been the top man at the retort. Last year I was also head retort man for a week but then things were a little harder as I was less experienced at the job. Things didn't go all smoothly though. I did have one small mishap when I under cooked one batch of haggis by ten minutes. That require the whole lot to be re-cooked for the full time so it wasn't too bad. It was a simple mistake in entering the wrong programme number into the control panel. Such an easy error though it could have been costly and one to watch I don't do again. Other than that everything was fine though it did mean a lot of unpaid overtime. I might be able to take some of those hours back this coming week as Thursday is to be a cleaning day. That is because next weekend is a long weekend with Friday and the following Monday off. You can hear me cheer. Anyways the head supervisor says that I could possibly get half of Thursday off. It sounds good. I wait and see if I get it.
Rain is expected over the weekend which will limit any time in the garden. Sunday might offer some drier conditions so we'll see if I can get some weeding done around the strawberries. I was out looking over the plants when I got home today and noticed that the corn is coming along nicely yet I am not sure if I shall see anything from them. The stalks are starting to flower but it might be too late in the season. Something for me to keep an eye on. I will also need to spray my apple tree with the return of the wetter weather. I have only one eating apple on my tree this year but the cooking one is well laden with fruit and they are looking a good size already with over a month more till picking season. Yum lots of apple crumble and custard to look forwards to.

9th August 2013

The grass at the front needs another cut. I noticed it yesterday as I came home from work. I was surprised with how quick it has grown in over a week but I shouldn't have been with the sun shining most of this week and some light rain over the nights. Nothing like that to help the grass grow as well as the weeds, hehehe. Which is something else for me to do this weekend. I did enjoy some of the fruits of my labours last weekend. Magz made up the peas, carrots, and peppers that I pick for Sunday dinner. She made them with a honey and butter coating which added a wonderful sweetness to them. As you can tell they were a delight to eat. There might be more peas this weekend, yum.
Work as expected has been hard this week. As you know I was the one working late to cover the retorts. It was made all the more frustrating as the head supervisor likes to push production to the limit. It wasn't so bad a t the start of the week as we were still using the back-up boiler but on Wednesday the main one was back up and running. That seemed to put the wee man, as the head is known, into overdrive. I should be grateful that the large boiler was up and running or I could have been working till a lot later than I did. In the end it wasn't as bad as the mood I seemed to find myself merited. Yes I was a moody so and so it goes with the pressure I felt under.
Well this week is over now so I have some time to lose in Skyrim again.

2nd August 2013

I didn't find the time to play Skyrim last weekend. Hopefully this weekend I will. A good dragon slaying will ease my mind as next week is going to be a hard one. That is what comes with working the retort as it is my turn to cover them when everyone heads for home. Sadly the main boiler is still not up and running yet. With any luck it will be back up next week though I'm not sure if that will be the case or not. I keep my fingers crossed.
My hedges are needing a trim at the back. Magz cut the ones at the front and round the side but she finds it hard doing the back ones as they are a lot taller. She also cut the grass which I was supposed to do last weekend. Laziness set in and I just didn't have the energy last Saturday and Sunday I used the showers as an excuse. I know naughty me. I think we all get like that some times. As long as we quickly give ourselves a kick to get moving again it isn't a bad thing, is it? I just wish I could as easily get back into writing but for the past month or two I seem to find I can't get into the right frame of mind. It is like life has taken over and I am left devoid of any creativity. That is when I'm at home in front of my computer. At work filling the baskets I crowd the boredom out by daydreaming. Usually about winning the lotto or something along those lines. Maybe that is what is draining me of the muse though it does get me through the day. The price of having to work to pay the debt-man which is something we all know to much of.
Well at least I will have some garden time and Skyrim this weekend.

26th July 2013

Finally it's the weekend again. This week has seen some long days at work. I had to work on to look after the retort. On Wednesday and Thursday that meant almost three hours unpaid overtime. I'll get the hours back though that might be harder than it sounds. Today wasn't as bad only an hour roughly more onto the day but it is good to finally see this week out. The reason for all the extra work is because the main boiler is being repaired so we are working off of the smaller back up boiler. Unfortunately that is not really up to the job. It can take about an hour to get the retorts up to full pressure where it usually only take about twenty minutes at most normally. As you can tell that will add a lot of time to the process over the full day. Jim the other retort operator worked on last week and at the start of this week so it was about time I took a turn and things look set for more next week for both of us as it might be the end of the week before the work is complete. It wouldn't be so bad if it were a little cooler or at least a breath of air, sadly no.
I still haven't had a chance to try Magz's jam though I'm sure to get some on toast this weekend which I'm really looking forwards to. I will also be out into the garden to feed my plants and see how they are doing. I haven't had much time for the garden during the week though I'm sure the rain we had has helped my plants. I did notice last week that my peas are growing pods. I was tempted to pick some for Sunday dinner but left them for the peas later on. It was good to see how well everything is doing. There should also be some time for a bit of Skyrim, hehehe.

19th July 2013

Magz has made strawberry jam but there are still loads of strawberries left. I'm not sure what else she has planned though I'm sure she'll think of something. I can always take some into work for the lads, it's a given that they would enjoy them, hehehe.
I have even had a good crop of lettuce which has been filling my work sandwiches all week. There is still plenty filling out after we thinned them out. My potatoes are finally coming up after replanting. As you know the first attempt this year failed badly. Now the summer has finally truly arrived my plants are doing well.
It is good to have the sun after the long winter that we had though some are already moaning about the heat. Not me though all I wish was that I had the time to enjoy the great weather. Money needs to be earned though so it was back to work this week. Not the most comfortable of weeks though slaving away next to the retorts. They do give off a lot of heat as well as the steam makes it very humid. As you can imagine it quickly becomes very sticky once the retorts are all up cooking the cans away.
I started playing Skyrim last weekend, finally. It isn't to bad, very similar to the previous game Oblivion though I don't think it is as good. The graphics are better but I don't feel the story line is quite as engaging. Maybe that is just me. Anyways it is still a good game for wasting an hour or two.

12th July 2013

I finally got my replacement graphics card from XFX. It is working great but not for mining bitcoins as it is now to slow. With difficulty increases over the past few months with the advent of ASIC miners coming online graphics card mining has become far too slow to be worthwhile. As for my order from Butterfly Labs, well that is still some way off. I might get it for Christmas if I am luck. Though BFL are sending out pre-orders they aren't really catching up on all the back order very quickly. What does that mean for me? Probably by the time I get mine I might see my investment returned in a year as the difficulty will have risen to make my ASIC as slow at mining as my graphics card is now. Slowly but surely bitcoin mining is becoming the reserve of those with the money to invest in the equipment of the future squeezing out the little guy like me. Well it was bound to happen as it became more successful.
While I was unable to mine I have been play the speculative game through MountGox.com. Though I did make early gains those are now slowly being eaten into over the past week or so. That is the danger of gambling and that is what speculating is really. My reason was that I had some spare coin left from mining but not enough to buy anything with. So I thought what the heck. I didn't take all of what I had left though just in case. Well you never know the price may rise to make what is left a good longer term investment. It is always wise not to have all your eggs in the one basket as they say.
My garden has been yielding strawberries all week. Magz has enough now to make some jam. Not sure when she plans to do so. I have also been harvesting one or two small baby lettuces as well as some coriander. The coriander makes great mayo. You chop the coriander, soak it in some lemon juice for about half an hour, and then just add the mayonnaise. It is great in wraps or on a sandwich. Remember to leave the mix to rest for about an hour before use. My family love it as do I.

5th July 2013

That is me back on holiday for the next nine days, which brings a big grin to my face. Time to spend some time in the garden and with any luck I should also get my replacement graphics card in the next few days. Yes I am finally to get my card replaced after they admitted that it had fail as I told you last week. Well this week they told me I should get my replacement within a week. That was on Tuesday so I am watching the for the mail man closely.
Magz has been cleaning up around my tubs this week. There has been a multitude of dead slugs and snails. The pellets that I put down seem to be doing the trick and my plants are now starting to show signs of recovery from the infestation. While the rest of my plants are now going from strength to strength my cherries have suffered. Yeah like last year I don't think I will get any fruit from them now. Over the last week it was cooler, more autumnal than early summer. Though it was only for a very short spell it was enough. Both trees cast there fruit very readily so Magz will have to wait till next year. Hopefully then we might get something from them. On the good side she did get the first strawberry of the season. More should be ready over the coming weeks. Maybe she'll make more strawberry jam, yum.