Billy Young's Blog, page 19
September 21, 2012
21st September 2012
I’m glad it’s the weekend. I did a couple of hour’s overtime yesterday. Though it was only two hours it felt longer. It is amazing how much two hours can leave you tired the following day. The extra money will be handy next week. Magz can put it towards some Christmas shopping. Yes we are starting to think about the season of good will even though autumn has barely shown its colour on the trees so far. It is heading towards the end of September though and before you know it the family celebration season will be here. So it is good to start getting things ready or get some of the smaller things in. Well it is something she enjoys, shopping that is.
I need to cut my grass again. Even though it has been cooler over the past week, especially at night, it has jumped up. Hopefully it will be the last cut of the year but somehow I doubt it. It will also give me the chance for a general tidy up. It can be a right pain the amount of wind tossed rubbish ends up finding its way into a garden. There are also more berries to pick and my apples to check for the hundredth time this week. That pie has been taunting me as I watch the apples filling out. What can I say?
I need to cut my grass again. Even though it has been cooler over the past week, especially at night, it has jumped up. Hopefully it will be the last cut of the year but somehow I doubt it. It will also give me the chance for a general tidy up. It can be a right pain the amount of wind tossed rubbish ends up finding its way into a garden. There are also more berries to pick and my apples to check for the hundredth time this week. That pie has been taunting me as I watch the apples filling out. What can I say?
September 14, 2012
14th September 2012
Tammy and Magz finally made the blueberries into a crumble. Sadly there wasn’t any custard to go with it but there was cream. As you can imagine it was delicious and there was some for me to take to work during the week in my sandwich box. I know I’m spoiled. Now I just have to wait for the apples to be ready for apple pie, maybe there maybe some custard this time, hehehe.
While I wait on the apples maturing my tomatoes are near picking. Though they are still green I have snipped some from the plants to let them redden on the window sill. Magz reckons they should be put in a drawer. I’ve never heard of that before as I was brought up with them sitting on the sill to get the sun. Of course that is a rare thing here in Scotland. At the moment they are where I think they should be though I wouldn’t be surprised to find Magz had put them where she wants them. I suppose it would be interesting to see who has the best method for bringing them to full ripeness. Magz enjoyed the ones that matured on the bush but they were few. With autumn making itself felt at night now I don’t wish to leave the rest of the fruit to long on the plants or I might lose them to an early frost.
I had to move my blueberry bush to a more sheltered spot as it has be a bit windy over the past few days. I’m still getting more berries from it so there is possibly another pie though I think it will be a small one. Still pie is pie for those of us that like them.
While I wait on the apples maturing my tomatoes are near picking. Though they are still green I have snipped some from the plants to let them redden on the window sill. Magz reckons they should be put in a drawer. I’ve never heard of that before as I was brought up with them sitting on the sill to get the sun. Of course that is a rare thing here in Scotland. At the moment they are where I think they should be though I wouldn’t be surprised to find Magz had put them where she wants them. I suppose it would be interesting to see who has the best method for bringing them to full ripeness. Magz enjoyed the ones that matured on the bush but they were few. With autumn making itself felt at night now I don’t wish to leave the rest of the fruit to long on the plants or I might lose them to an early frost.
I had to move my blueberry bush to a more sheltered spot as it has be a bit windy over the past few days. I’m still getting more berries from it so there is possibly another pie though I think it will be a small one. Still pie is pie for those of us that like them.
September 7, 2012
7th September 2012
Still waiting on my Blueberry pie. Magz says she’ll make it this weekend. Hopefully she will have custard to go with it, yummy. Last weekend Tammy and her mum made rhubarb crumble. The rhubarb came straight from the garden. The ladies did try to make real custard. Unfortunately it didn’t go well. It isn’t the easiest thing to make from scratch. I know I tried it once and it went more like scrambled eggs. Too much heat. I have heard since that you should put the pot in simmering water to heat the mixture more gently though I have never tried it. I think I might just leave it to the girls though.
It is really the season for baking with all the fruit ripening in the garden. The cooking apples are weighing down the branches of the tree now, though it will be a couple of more weeks before I pick them. At the same time the tomatoes have given me the second of the year with more reddening up nicely.
In the root vegetable department it has been a little more disappointing though I still have the beetroot growing. The carrots suffered from the slug this year. I did get one or two that were no bigger than baby carrots. The potatoes out of one of the growing sacks seem to have been missing in action. The other did give us a nice crop though it wasn’t enough to make up for the other one. It has certainly been a mixed year for the garden. Some things have done really well yet others have been adversely affected by the amount of rain we have had. Hopefully next year won’t be as wet.
It is really the season for baking with all the fruit ripening in the garden. The cooking apples are weighing down the branches of the tree now, though it will be a couple of more weeks before I pick them. At the same time the tomatoes have given me the second of the year with more reddening up nicely.
In the root vegetable department it has been a little more disappointing though I still have the beetroot growing. The carrots suffered from the slug this year. I did get one or two that were no bigger than baby carrots. The potatoes out of one of the growing sacks seem to have been missing in action. The other did give us a nice crop though it wasn’t enough to make up for the other one. It has certainly been a mixed year for the garden. Some things have done really well yet others have been adversely affected by the amount of rain we have had. Hopefully next year won’t be as wet.
August 31, 2012
31st August 2012
I got my first tomato of the year this week. Of course I’m not really a big fan of them unless cooked into something else. Magz loves them so it is really for her and the kids that I grow them. I say kids but Calum is almost eighteen and Tammy will be sixteen early next year. I think as a parent you never really see your offspring as anything but your kids. I don’t mean we see them as never growing-up. Rather they always will be your little babies even when they tower over you as Calum does with me these days. Tammy hasn’t much farther to she is looking down on me too. They do say we shrink as we get older though I don’t think I can use that as an excuse being only forty-five.
Talking of growing my corn has shot up and I am now looking forward to corn on the cob covered in butter. Magz is planning on a blueberry pie with the berries I have been picking all week. It has only been a handful at a time but they are gathering up nicely. We might even get two pies out of them with any luck, yum. Magz does make a good pie I must admit.
Though I have had a few problems in the garden this year it hasn’t been to bad. Mind there is still time I hope for the pumpkin which has been a sorry looking thing all summer. Twice it has flowered to produce tiny fruits which the slugs got to or rotted. This week has seen one of them spreading out with a new flower head forming. More feed might help it along so that is something for the weekend. Let’s hope the weather plays ball.
Talking of growing my corn has shot up and I am now looking forward to corn on the cob covered in butter. Magz is planning on a blueberry pie with the berries I have been picking all week. It has only been a handful at a time but they are gathering up nicely. We might even get two pies out of them with any luck, yum. Magz does make a good pie I must admit.
Though I have had a few problems in the garden this year it hasn’t been to bad. Mind there is still time I hope for the pumpkin which has been a sorry looking thing all summer. Twice it has flowered to produce tiny fruits which the slugs got to or rotted. This week has seen one of them spreading out with a new flower head forming. More feed might help it along so that is something for the weekend. Let’s hope the weather plays ball.
August 24, 2012
24th August 2012
We had a good time at Micky’s engagement party last Saturday. Tammy managed to get out of going after all. I wasn’t happy about it but Magz had given her permission or rather had given in to her as usual. Still it was a great night for letting our hair down. We stayed longer than we had planned which tells you we had a little more to drink meaning a dull Sunday to recover though it was worth it.
I treated the apple tree last weekend making sure cover all surfaces in the spray. That was made easy as the tree is little more than a sapling. Its sister is already much large and seeming to take over in the crowded space that I have my fruit trees. It will need a careful pruning this year after the growing season is over just to bring it under control. It has only really been over the past month or two that it has shot out in all directions as the fruit it is baring seem to weigh the branches down. Maybe that has just shown me how much it has grown this year.
While I may have to wait to prune my trees the tomatoes will need some this weekend. There are far too many leaves so taking some out will help the fruit to fatten as more will go into them rather than the leaves. Even though I have had a bad growing year for much of my garden the tomatoes have been like the strawberries and look like they could give a bumper crop. In the past two weeks they have went from flowering to being laden with fruit. Magz hasn’t said anything about them but I know she is looking forward to them ripening. I’ll also give them a good feed when I out this weekend along with the corn, beetroot, onions as well as all the fruit bushes and trees. I better not forget my herbs.
I treated the apple tree last weekend making sure cover all surfaces in the spray. That was made easy as the tree is little more than a sapling. Its sister is already much large and seeming to take over in the crowded space that I have my fruit trees. It will need a careful pruning this year after the growing season is over just to bring it under control. It has only really been over the past month or two that it has shot out in all directions as the fruit it is baring seem to weigh the branches down. Maybe that has just shown me how much it has grown this year.
While I may have to wait to prune my trees the tomatoes will need some this weekend. There are far too many leaves so taking some out will help the fruit to fatten as more will go into them rather than the leaves. Even though I have had a bad growing year for much of my garden the tomatoes have been like the strawberries and look like they could give a bumper crop. In the past two weeks they have went from flowering to being laden with fruit. Magz hasn’t said anything about them but I know she is looking forward to them ripening. I’ll also give them a good feed when I out this weekend along with the corn, beetroot, onions as well as all the fruit bushes and trees. I better not forget my herbs.
August 17, 2012
17th August 2012
It’s Micky’s engagement party tomorrow night and the whole family is invited. Calum is taking some of his friends which gave Tammy a reason to try to get out of it. I put my foot down though as Micky is a good family friend. It is also good for us as a family to go out for a bit even if we don’t stay to long.
Calum’s project, the desk, is a little closer to being completed. Sadly we need a drill as mine has decided it stop functioning on the one day we needed it on Sunday. Getting a replacement isn’t going to be cheap. I looked at the prices online and was shocked into stunned silence. I have small rechargeable one but unfortunately the drill bit I need doesn’t fit. I’ll have to look around and see if I can pick one up second hand from the pawn shops when I get time to go down town. When that shall be I’m not sure. Until then the desk shall have to wait unless I can come up with a solution to drill the holes to fix the supports to the wall. As the desk will be for his computer and other things I need it secured firmly so it can take the weight.
I will be spraying my apple tree this weekend for Scab Apple, a fungus infection. I noticed that some of the fruit that was ripening had split open last weekend. After some online searching I found what was wrong. The wet summer is to blame so Magz went to the garden centre at the bottom of town, the only place that stocked what I needed. I’ll need to spray the tree once a week till the end of season with Systhane Fungus Fighter to deal with the problem. I had thought that the tell-tale black marks on the fruit was nothing more than Sooty Blotch or something like that as I saw that on apples as a kid. Sadly I had to get something a little more troublesome. Well at least I can deal with it now. My cooking apple tree isn’t touched so I shall still get a crop from it. Plenty of apple pie then.
Calum’s project, the desk, is a little closer to being completed. Sadly we need a drill as mine has decided it stop functioning on the one day we needed it on Sunday. Getting a replacement isn’t going to be cheap. I looked at the prices online and was shocked into stunned silence. I have small rechargeable one but unfortunately the drill bit I need doesn’t fit. I’ll have to look around and see if I can pick one up second hand from the pawn shops when I get time to go down town. When that shall be I’m not sure. Until then the desk shall have to wait unless I can come up with a solution to drill the holes to fix the supports to the wall. As the desk will be for his computer and other things I need it secured firmly so it can take the weight.
I will be spraying my apple tree this weekend for Scab Apple, a fungus infection. I noticed that some of the fruit that was ripening had split open last weekend. After some online searching I found what was wrong. The wet summer is to blame so Magz went to the garden centre at the bottom of town, the only place that stocked what I needed. I’ll need to spray the tree once a week till the end of season with Systhane Fungus Fighter to deal with the problem. I had thought that the tell-tale black marks on the fruit was nothing more than Sooty Blotch or something like that as I saw that on apples as a kid. Sadly I had to get something a little more troublesome. Well at least I can deal with it now. My cooking apple tree isn’t touched so I shall still get a crop from it. Plenty of apple pie then.
August 10, 2012
10th August 2012
Calum has finally moved his room around just as the good weather arrived. Maybe the sun in the sky has given him new energy or it might have something to do with him going to the gym over the past week. He got a free trial period with a friend and they have been going each day. It’s good to see him getting more active as he has been putting on a lot of weight over the past year. Trying to get him to deal with the growing waist line has been a nightmare with him coming up on his eighteenth. At that age we are all more sensitive to criticism especially concerning looks or weight. I did try to just encourage him t go for walks. Unfortunately that triggered the defensive stance that all parent of teenagers will know. Sadly the trial period is only for a month and I can’t see him finding the money to continue beyond that. Of course he should be at college by then and I never know he could still get a part time job. I live in hope.
The sun is to stay with us over the weekend so I’m planning on more weeding this weekend. My strawberry patch needs sorting out again. Magz cut the grass over the past few days so that saves me one job. Another she did was the hedges or at least most of them. I still have do cut the tall one at the back behind the strawberries.
It is a pity that some of the good weather will be missed due to getting my son’s new desk built. That is of course depending on Calum being ready to get the work done as he’s away out tonight with friends. I’m not sure if he has plans for tomorrow night but I’m hoping he doesn’t so he’ll be able to get the job done on Sunday.
The sun is to stay with us over the weekend so I’m planning on more weeding this weekend. My strawberry patch needs sorting out again. Magz cut the grass over the past few days so that saves me one job. Another she did was the hedges or at least most of them. I still have do cut the tall one at the back behind the strawberries.
It is a pity that some of the good weather will be missed due to getting my son’s new desk built. That is of course depending on Calum being ready to get the work done as he’s away out tonight with friends. I’m not sure if he has plans for tomorrow night but I’m hoping he doesn’t so he’ll be able to get the job done on Sunday.
August 3, 2012
3rd August 2012
It has been a week of trouble concerning our boiler. It started last Sunday when Magz smelt gas in our bedroom. The gas board were quick to respond and turned up within an hour to confirm that it was our boiler. The council came out the next day which would have been good if they had fixed the problem but they didn’t. Instead they said it wasn’t the boiler, it was somewhere else. At that they left to send the plumbers that fitted our kitchen. The plan being to remove the kitchen to find the leak that we smelt in our bedroom where the boiler is. Luckily these men proved to have some brains. They quickly found the leak exactly where the gas man had said it was. They also fixed the problem even though it wasn’t in their remit to do so. My hats off to them and a big thanks to the Big Man upstairs for them being in this world.
Calum’s project still hasn’t been done. He had plans last weekend that meant that he never got round to doing his room. Yes he had all week but as teenage boys are prone to he had his excuses. I still don’t think he has gotten around to it yet even though have been doing the nagging dad routine all week.
It did give me time to potter about in the garden a little. Magz has been making the most of the strawberries this year. She was cooking up some more jam and is planning scones for tomorrow. My mouth is already watering at the thought of them covered in jam.Yum.
Calum’s project still hasn’t been done. He had plans last weekend that meant that he never got round to doing his room. Yes he had all week but as teenage boys are prone to he had his excuses. I still don’t think he has gotten around to it yet even though have been doing the nagging dad routine all week.
It did give me time to potter about in the garden a little. Magz has been making the most of the strawberries this year. She was cooking up some more jam and is planning scones for tomorrow. My mouth is already watering at the thought of them covered in jam.Yum.
July 27, 2012
27th July 2012
It was back to work this week and I had to get the bus so I was up earlier each morning. Twice I almost slept in but managed to get to the factory on time. I was only off work for a week so I was surprised at myself for sleeping through my alarm. I suppose it was getting up that extra twenty minutes earlier that did it. At least Norman is back on Monday so it should be easier next week.
Tomorrow I’ll be helping Calum on his project. We have all the wood measured though Calum needs to move his bed as it gets in the way of where we’re working. He’s your typical teenage boy when it comes to his room. You can imagine I’m sure why I left him to sort the mess out and move his room around to create the space needed. With me being at work all week I’m not sure he has so I might get roped in by him yet to help. Still he might just surprise me.
Tammy has been doing a cracking job picking the strawberries this week. I’m glad she did as I just haven’t had the energy when I got home to check the garden as I usually do. I’ll check everything tomorrow morning as I know Calum won’t be up till at least after eleven and that is me being kind, hehehe. I can’t really say anything as I was the same at his age. Nights were when I seemed to come alive, not now though. I did read some where that it was a common teenage condition caused by their body clock being set differently. I’m not sure it is that simple.
Tomorrow I’ll be helping Calum on his project. We have all the wood measured though Calum needs to move his bed as it gets in the way of where we’re working. He’s your typical teenage boy when it comes to his room. You can imagine I’m sure why I left him to sort the mess out and move his room around to create the space needed. With me being at work all week I’m not sure he has so I might get roped in by him yet to help. Still he might just surprise me.
Tammy has been doing a cracking job picking the strawberries this week. I’m glad she did as I just haven’t had the energy when I got home to check the garden as I usually do. I’ll check everything tomorrow morning as I know Calum won’t be up till at least after eleven and that is me being kind, hehehe. I can’t really say anything as I was the same at his age. Nights were when I seemed to come alive, not now though. I did read some where that it was a common teenage condition caused by their body clock being set differently. I’m not sure it is that simple.
July 20, 2012
20th July 2012
Calum has me helping him build a table in his bedroom for his computer. We’re using some old kitchen worktops for the project. The table he has is no longer able to carry the weight of the mountain of stuff he keeps on it. I won’t even try to list the stuff he has. Actually I don’t even think I can identify most of it. A bit like the rest of his room. Being almost eighteen you can imagine what I mean. Anyways we were off to B&Q today to get some brackets for the project which I had to pay for.
I got my revenge though as I forced him to walk all the way there and back. On the way home though he was struggling making me feel a little guilty but he needs the exercise. He always says he hasn’t the money to go to the fitness centre. I keep telling him he could just go for a walk. That never cuts it with him though. Hopefully though the walk did him some good. I doubt that he’ll take up walking to get to places. No the bus is still to convenient.
Tomorrow we will begin the real work of drilling the wall to fit the back supports for his fitted desk. I want to paint the whole thing with metallic paint but Calum isn’t for it. He’s happy to leave it as is. I think that it will look cheap, like a bit of a bodge. Mind it is Calum that will be using it so it is really up to him how he wants it, isn’t it?
I got my revenge though as I forced him to walk all the way there and back. On the way home though he was struggling making me feel a little guilty but he needs the exercise. He always says he hasn’t the money to go to the fitness centre. I keep telling him he could just go for a walk. That never cuts it with him though. Hopefully though the walk did him some good. I doubt that he’ll take up walking to get to places. No the bus is still to convenient.
Tomorrow we will begin the real work of drilling the wall to fit the back supports for his fitted desk. I want to paint the whole thing with metallic paint but Calum isn’t for it. He’s happy to leave it as is. I think that it will look cheap, like a bit of a bodge. Mind it is Calum that will be using it so it is really up to him how he wants it, isn’t it?
