EVIL?

I felt very sorry for the japanese familly who have lost many of 4 generations of their familly. All are fishermen and lived together
Then it just hit me!

KARMA!

These people have been murdering and killing the whales for years. This is justice. This is nature and nature always fights back.

This is a very sad event and I truly feel for the japanese people but there is no doubt in my mind. THIS IS KARMA!

Am I evil to think like this? Maybe but I just cannot help it!

THANK YOU SANDY MAINE

Well I was getting very stressed cos I had had loads of articles published and worked hard for little returns over the last few month knowing there would be very little coming in from my real business cos in winter it is pretty dead. Anyway they didnt pay me. I got help from Business Link and was quite prepared to go to court costs about £60 but you can need a solicitor tho I probably would have gone without since the evidence is there in print! Alternatives were to sell the debt which I did consider etc etc. Anyway I sent a 7 days notice letter and would next have sent ( under Business links guidance) a letter to claim interest as well which was an unexpected bonus. It was all depressing tho having to go to these lengths but I was going to do whaever even if the whole money went in costs since as far I am conscerned it already had gone! Well the 7 day final demand worked cos I got paid today. Shame it was not in time to pay for my web design course on Tuesday( brilliant by the way but later about that) and that has been added to the now scary credit card debt. I could of course pay that back today but I can instead pay for most of this year events so have to decide what to do now. I just cannot help but remember Sandy Maine tho when she said in her book that every small problem will teach and help you and make you stronger. Today I feel like a "proper" business woman and thats a first! Well then now I mean business I had better make this pay and start to make a living even if that does mean I have to start to sell something else and maybe thats the real way to go. I really love my business but loving something and being able to pay the bills, eat etc are 2 totally different things and I need to do both but most of all the living and paying the bills bit! Hey ho!

Well going to make soap today. 7 bars in total so about 84 individual soaps once they are cut. But first my poor chickens need me since they are filthy and I didnt take em on to make em live in filth. Cleaning time.

This whole incident does prove one thing tho - if at first you do not get paid become a complete nuisance. Do not give up and give in. Stand strong stand proud and keep hasslin` em. Maybe after all I did learn something from my days in technical sales...........

My course: Tuesday 6-9 I am now doing web design level 3 which means when I finish I could infact become a professional web designer. Considering I started just to get my own business up on the internet thats a bit shocking even for me. I could have stopped where I am I suppose but I want Brackencraft to be ranked as number 1 when they search for soap! And it will be. In my first lessson I found out loads I didnt know including the fact my website as it currently stands breaks all the rules or guidelines given by the W3 somebodies who I do not know about. I feel very stupid on my course. There are loads of people - like what seems to be the whole class! who know loads of stuff I have never even heard of. I need to spend an evening googling it. "frames"???? some kind of web format that is currently unfashionable I think. Sounds abit like CSS but older. But I am guessing. W3??????, and so it goes on. And I didnt like to ask cos it seems everyone else knew all about it! Still I did not go there for a history lesson but to learn to build and I am. I managed to build a working 3 page website using just html. How cool! well it has inspired me. Next week when I have the time I will have another go on my own. Probably on monday when M is on nights. Well one good thing about using PCs when you work at home with a shift worker is the pc is virtually silent whereas everything normally is not so I can do this on the nights week. Well off to my chickens now and then to make soap. I should follow Tatty`s old advice now and think of a question I suppose to end on!

Heres one.........

Will the publisher pay me on time next month or will I again need to send threatening notices?

I am not mad! Honest!

Well you will think me insane. Until last night I was doubting myself with this one and even for me this is crazy. I put my chickens to be at dusk as you do and every day there is a pigeon. Nice to believe its Walter but too far away to really be sure. Yesterday there were no pigeons when I put them to bed so I asked "are you there Walter?" and she came and sat on the tree. Well she does know me but still shes a wild animal and this is just amazing.....She is NOT tame. Not at all. I disturbed her eating from the feeding table yesterday morning and just like any wild bird she flew away. She will not sit on me or come to me and is not hand tame at all like pet. She does tho know I am refering to her when I speak and call her Walter and she definitely turns up each evening to say hello to me and this is far more than I would ever have believed possible and I never expected this. Its brilliant.

The dishwasher has yet again gone wrong. Fixed again - I wish I could believe it was the last time................ Anyway had to wash up all weekend and finally now its working. Never will I buy anything Smeg ever again!

Bath is finally in place so we will eventually have an upstairs bathroom. This bath we bought in 2007 and it has coloured lights and jets of air and water - supposed to be good for backs and your health etc. I think everything is far more eco nowadays so its very out of date. Took us this long to get round to putting the thing in. We have an ikea sink to go with it and toilet-to-go from Wickes! Still its all white!

Hopefully soon we can rip out the old bathroom which is going to be my dedicated work room and i need this now. I am also about to start a part time temp job - suspect very boring but never mind. Only 25hrs a week and only for a couple of months but since income is down by 2k from last year I have to do it. Could do with working indefinitely but probably will not manage that one. The summer will start soon anyway so hopefuly it will get busy again. I am also considering doing the very expensive but probably worth it Brum xmas market so have to try and pay for that soon. And starting part 3 of webdesign tomorrow evening at Leamington college. Right now do not know where Leamington college is so am off to investigate in a minute so I am not late getting there. I would rather have done this course in January and more locally but it didnt run due to lask of students so I had best do it while I can. Tho price of it has doubled which is really bad. Its now nearly £400 for the whole course but you pay in 2 halves so hopefully I will start earning soon.

Publisher has again lowered the rate of articles so I am not writing any more for them but am trying to write a book instead. Well aim high etc. They owe me nearly £700 ( currently £400 and £180 in 2 weeks time) but so far are 2 weeks late paying. Hopefully they will eventually pay me. If not I am being advised to go to small claims court by the accountant so will probably have to do that cos its not very expensive when you are owed so much to do this. I will leave for a couple of weeks though cos you have to be seen to have been reasonable. Also best to do everything at once rather than 2 seperate claims since its cheaper. Technically they only owe me £400 right now but wil owe the rest in 2 weeks so if I have to go to court it will be cheaper to do one claim for everything rather than 2 smaller ones.

Why is everything so complicated in life. I mean why do they not just pay me? I really need this money too to pay for the events for the rest of the year and can do without this hassle. I am actually glad they decided to lower the rates of pay. Originally it was £90 per page ( so £270 for some articles0 then this publisher bought the mag and they lowered it to £90 per article and now they want to pay just £60! Considering some articles take a week to write, several sometimes expensive experiments and can use lots of supplies up to get the formulation right, and by the time you have invented the product and tested it etc this is just ridiculous to only pay £60 per article and makes it not worth doing anymore. Besides having to take photos of the whole process send them by endless emails and even send them your products so it costs. You do not even get to keep you wonderful new invention. Tho I admit to having made extra most times so I could. It was lovely to get published though. Having said all this though it will be wonderful not to have to chase them every month for payment! It really is getting very wearing ringing up day after day and being fobbed off each time. Last time I ended up borrowing a phone so they didnt know who called and ringing over and over until I got to speak to the woman in charge. She was not happy. But neither am I and I need to be paid. They have published the work so now pay me. Are all publishers this much hassle I wonder?

Walter and the garden

We have both seen Walter several times now. She disappeared for about 3-5 days after the last post and I really though she had gone. Then one evening there was a small pigeon in a terrible state on a tree in a neighbours garden. I could not see if it was Walter but bearing in mind shes the smalles pigeon round here I reckon it was. Anyway the next morning she came to eat when I pit the food and water out. She was not afraid to eat with me there and all other birds kept away as you would expect. The black birds obviously found this very annoying. Soince then I have seen her several times and she keeps returning to eat. It was really windy a couple pf weeks ago and M was putting plasterboard on the walls of one room we are decorating and he looked out the window to see Walter on next doors boiler house roof. She was not flying well apparently but it was gale force winds and no birds were. M reckoned she was watching me putting washing out on the line. Maybe when I was distraught thinking her missing forever she was always there. Since this we keep seeing her. I think perhaps she flew a long way from home and it took her several days to get back. She looked awful but maynbe this was down to the fact most people chase pigeons off bird tables and she is not used to having to hunt for food. Whatever happened to her in those 3 days she seems to be here to stay now. Maybe the exploring is done and now she will just carry on living here. Its weird cos I sware she calls for me. If I have not seen her you can hear a pigeon cooing and it continues until I go out of the house. I was lying in the bath and the cooing began and I got dried and dressed and went out of the back door and Wlater was there. I am assuming Walter is a she cos the ring is not all the way round her neck but I know noting realy about it so she could be a he. She eats with me there I think cos the other birds probably chase her off since she is small and with me around they do not eat - well with the exception of one dove and Walter can handle that one herself.

AS for the rest of teh garden: I have planted 3 kiwis ( Jenny so self fertile) and my Mum has just bought me a 4th one, 2 grape vines ( one is chardonay which I do not like but they only did 2 types in wilko so I bought one of each) a goji bush, 3 gooseberries and I have dug up and moved all the rasberry canes to a better spot. They were in the shade and now are on a bank and will get full sun. I couldnt get all of them out due to closeness to other shrubs but I still have a complete hedge accross the bottom of the veg patch. Also I have planted a fig tree and 2 rhubarb plants. Inside the cold frames: my peas are coming up, I also have some kale, purple sprouting and lupins starting off and a few shoots of lettuce. The lettuce is straight into the soil and the rest are all in trays or egg boxes. I will plant some more lettuce on Saturday since not working and the early seed potatoes are going into bags on the patio rather than the soil so I shall do these as well since a website I was reading said they can go in mid february if in bags. No idea what if anything is actually going to grow but the 8 climbing roses I planted are all but one growing so I am hopeful. Sadly the crocuses are making a lovely display hidden from sight next to the caravan since it never used to be there but never mind. You cannot win them all and I will plant some more somewhere else next autumn I think.

Walter came home for a chat

I was getting a bit worried and even went to the lengths of borrowing some better binoculars - ours are just cheapy ones) in an effort to see if any of the woodies around had rings on and were Walter. Then this morning there was a woodie in a tree in the garden. I couldnt see a ring due to the way it sat but it was there for about 5-10 minutes while I spoke to it and was only about 6 ft above my head which is not really normal woodie behaviour since they tend to be timid and scittish. I was 90% certain twas Walter but still I did not see the leg ring to be sure. Then this afternoon - well a few minutes ago- I walked down the garden and disturbed a flock of about 5 pigeons who flew off while I let the chickens into the end of the garden. I has just been dug ready for rotovating this weekend so I can start my veg growing - and self sufficiency efforts- and the chickens love newly dug ground. They also clear out all the bugs which is very helpful for us and good for them. Anyway I sat on the sleeper that is a border edge and drank my tea and then I realised that sitting above me in the walnut tree is a small woodie. I walked over and spoke to it and it stretched and I saw the leg ring. Its a great relief. Walter is ok and doing well and was with me a full half hour while he preened and I had a chat with him and his friends were all in neighbouring gardens waiting sitting on top of the trees at quite a distance from us. Anyway I am happy now since I know he is fine. I saw the leg ring twice in fact so definitely it is Walter. I was actually starting to get bored with sitting there but didnt want to go away and leave him - tho I am almost 100% certain he is actually a SHE. She is not as pretty as a male bird and having held one on Sunday when it got stuck in Walters vacated aviary that I am sure was a very pretty colourful male I am now sure Walter is a female. And its the 13th again. Definitely my lucky number! Also I have a feeling I will be seeing Walter again. Tho I know not when but (s) he will come back now regularly. I am going to move a bench down the bottom of the garden tomorrow to watch my veg grow. We have a rotovator hired for the weekend and I i ntend to plant broad beans and whatever else I have seeds for that can go in now on Monday. Also my dad has bought me 7 very heavy bags of rotted farm manure so its all out planting time. The main problem now is how to keep those pesky birds ( including pigeons!) off my growing veg without hurting them??

fly away free

My Walter flew away today. This is him before he flew
At 11.45 he was there at 12.00 hrs he was gone. I tried to let him (or may be her )out yesterday but he wouldnt leave. I left the door open. The neighbours if they saw me will think me insane when I am trying to fly thru the door to show Walter how to get out of the aviary. I flapped my wings and ran thru............he just preened his feathers........as he likes to!
Well I do not know what made him finally go but he has. He needed to but I have cried all day. I should as a friend said be celebrating but I have been mourning. Walter is gone. But Walter ( who I truly believe is actually female but still will always be Walter) is free. Free to fly. I realised at about 2pm there was a pigeon doing circles over the two rows of houses- ours and those behind us. I do not know if that was Walter but certainly I have not seen a pigeon do it before. M says its what homing pigeons do. He roosted 2 doors away on a tree



I am 99% certain it is he. I have now joined a twitchers site( bird watchers) and intend to buy a better camera just to find out if he is still out there- a new hobby for a new year then. I need to be able to see his ring round his left leg - its green. He is free tho. free like any human on this planet can never be.Free like my dogs cannot be, like my cockateil Ben can never be.truely truely free just to be............ Truly free. I can never be truly free. No number, no national security, no birth cert, nothing. As I understand it the only country like that right now is somalia and very few folk would chose to move there but true freedom is something everyone over the whole planet lacks. Even dogs and cats are chipped. We all are known by numbers. " If you dont wannna be a number dont give them your name" - Crass about 1978. Well we are none of us free and Walter for better or worse is! Yeah!

Only wild animals are free.
At 3.30pm put my chickens to bed. I went to check just on the ofchance he had come home to roost- well no he hadnt but another pigeon was in his aviary. I left quickly thinking it would soon leave. Half an hour or so later I went back and it was still there and couldnt find its way out. Eventually by putting food in the doorway I got it to leave but it crashed and couldnt fly. I caught hIm easly and took him up the garden and showed to M who was not amused. Anyway I checked his ( I am sure twas a he) feet and both gripped me. His wings seemed to work but I think one is slightly damaged but will get better- anyway eventually having checked him out all over put on floor and waited. He took lots of steps and flew away. Now tho will I turn into pigeon woman of Kilsby? A bit like a bag woman but with pigeons? Well we will have to see. Walter was on the tree 2 doors away. Walter is free...........

REVIEW OF smeg dishwasher DFD6121W - ITS CRAP! do not buy

Decided to treat myself to a dishwasher for xmas. Paid £251.99 from Currys online. Its a SMEG DFD6121W full sized dishwasher. Its rubbish! It was delivered on 1st december 2010 and today is 28 december 2010 and so far it has developed 3 faults. Its completely crap. Do not buy this dishwasher. I was stupid and was taken in by the wantable "smeg" name. Previously, several years ago we had a very cheap Candy and it went without fault for years. Probably about 5 years I reckon. Even then it never went wrong but just looked very tatty and we were selling the house so we stupidly go rid of it to make the kitchen look better. Should have put it into storage but we didnt. Its taken about 4 years for us to buy this one and for 4 years I have done the majority of the washing up hence its my xmas pressie to me. What a complete disapointment! There was a hotpoint and a whirlpool for less money but I was taken in by owning something smeg.We have a whirlpool washing mashine that is about 10 years old. Very rusty but has never gone wrong. Anyway this disher had a guy fix it a week ago. Apparently I had opened the door mid cycle causing water to get inside. Well it is possible but I cannot remember doing it. He sorted it and it went again only to have the same fault again. Also the door now wont open and close properly! It sticks. Anyway since the man who fixed it said it was my fault for opening the door I have never done that since and have always waited for the cycle to end regardless of how irritating it may be. Its has leaked again. Dont get me wrong here the dishwasher doesnt leak onto the floor so you do not know. It leaks into the casing and eventually the water builds to a point where the clever thing says it will not go cos of a water leak. It does have a leak but you do NOT have a flood and cannot see the leak unless its taken appart. If I had the cash I would go and buy a new disher right now and scrap this one since a simple whirlpool or hotpoint, candy, beko etc with no mod cons and no warning lights is better and hassle free. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY! Do not be taken in by SMEG! Buy a cheap and chearful dishwasher that will work for years without constantly breaking. I feel a right twerp buying this one so use my bad experience and buy something else please.