Dogs, Chickens and Vintage China

Sooo... last year I did a diabetes review where the numbers were up considerably, this means I am in more danger from the exploding brain..not good in other words I tried reducing said numbers by being good, this had absolutely no effect...almost certainly because rather than being good I was crap and couldn't help, basically, inhaling the contents of the fridge.  Another diabetes review and they put me on a higher dose of Metformin and told me to come back in three months and they would tell me whether I should get my affairs in order and call the funeral director or whether I was good for another year or so.   Life rolls on and we enter 2020, the year of the Rat, and things have changed somewhat. Ocean and Alberto are living with us, we are in lockdown and we've been on a totally vegetarian diet for getting on for six months. The only animal fat I'm having is milk, butter and cheese.  No really, you don't understand...there are times when I have proposed marriage ...

Nicked from Saga Magazine: Sugar-free oatmeal raisin cookies 22 January 2016 The raisins bring their own natural sweetness to this healthy sugar-free biscuit recipe from Susanna Booth. Cooking time 45 minutes Resting time 20 minutes Makes 35 Oatmeal raisin cookies are extremely easy to make as they use just four ingredients Ingredients 300g (10oz) jumbo rolled oats 160g (5 ½ oz) raisins 85ml (3 ¼ fl oz) sunflower oil, plus extra for oiling 175ml (6fl oz) boiling water Plain flour, for dusting Method With just four ingredients, these cookies are simplicity itself, but none the worse for that. What makes them so irresistible is the way the chewy raisins burst through the oats, which have a lovely, almost buttery, crunch. Serve with a glass of milk for a perfect mid-morning pick-me-up. Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Lightly oil a couple of baking sheets with a little sunflower oil. Place...

Taken from a boat forum Being a new 'boy' to the forum I'm not sure if it's been mentioned before, but a cheaper (and superior) version of decking oil can be made from the following recipe (handed down through three generations of Scots boatbuilders- I'm the fourth): One part linseed oil (boiled or raw); one part white spirit; and one part Cupranol (this is a clear commercial timber preservative used for fence posts etc). Any clear substitute will probably serve as well. Keep applying to raw timber until it will soak up no more. Any surplus on the surface will harden to a pleasant 'gloss'. If in doubt test it on a piece of scrap wood and you'll see that the wood takes on a pleasant honey colour throughout - without losing any of its flexibility. If desired the treated surface will take a coat of paint without adverse affect. This Scots' broth works out at approximately one quarter of the price of most commercial deck oils. (And sorry if this puts a...

4oz granary flour 1 apple cut into smallish chunks 1 TSP of baking powder 2 eggs 4oz butter/vegan alternative/would like to try with oil 1 TSP vanilla extract Couple of handfuls of raisins First mix all ingredients except chunky fruit Add fruit Put in square baking tin Bake at 180 degrees for 35 minutes Sugar free apple cake Sprinkle cinnamon on top before baking Or could add to mixture of you want

Although the terminator boot was turning me into an insomniac who was watching entire series on TV in one sitting and eventually falling asleep just as the sun was coming up, it did allow me to dispense with the crutches and and walk around a bit more.  Cooking became a non wheeled activity, being able to use both hands...at the same time...whilst standing up, makes everything easier. I may have mentioned in a previous post that we had a double glazing firm come round and in a fit of madness I decided to get a new window in the sitting room. I did this on my own whilst Helen was at the gym. When she went out we had just told the man very politely that we didn't need any new windows, when she came back I had spent £2000 on a new window.  To be fair it was a completely new window, as in, they had to cut a new hole in the wall to fit it. It's all very well ordering new windows, basically because you are bored, but it has unforeseen consequences, in my case it precipitated the...

Nobody tells you when you embark on the post surgery journey that sleep may become optional.  As I have alluded to before I am a strict 8 hours a night man, more if possible, 10 or even 12 hours have been known. Of course in the days after surgery you can expect sleep to be fairly erratic but then a hefty dose of opiate based pain killer nearly always sorts that nonsense out post haste. Another reason for erratic sleeping can be the aforementioned claustrophobia of the foot when encased immovably in a plaster cast and this certainly has been the case.  I couldn't wait to get Horris...the plaster cast, I've been very remiss in doing updates so you may have forgotten that for reasons best forgotten I called the plaster cast Horris...I couldn't wait to get him removed and consigned to whatever hell is reserved for evil plaster casts. I had luxuriated in a bath and spent a pleasurable half an hour or so removing dead skin and I was now back in the bed having eaten tea, watc...

All in all it was a very  unusual visit to the hospital . I have spent, what seems like several years of my life waiting in hospital waiting rooms to be poked, prodded and variously interfered with in the name of medical science. All of these occasions share something in common, the rooms outside the actual Doctors lair are named very accurately, waiting rooms,  rooms for waiting in. Hospitals thrive on making you wait...for interminable amounts of time...usually suffering a degree of low grade terror as you contemplate where they are going to stick the horse needle this time.  This visit was markedly different, I'm fairly sure that they had clocked that I was on my own and my method of travel was remarkably like a geriatric crab and about as fast.  Every time that I arrived somewhere I barely had time to sit down before some blasted health worker would hoick me out of my seat and send me off orienteering through the bowels of the hospital.  This even applied to...