What have you been doing today?

[fillyboy]

Went on the last shoot on the last day of the season. They only managed to shoot 5 birds, the w*nkers but at least plenty of birds will be safe until October now and will get to pair up, nest and raise family in peace. I always feel sad for the last bird shot on the last day. We went on three farms too!

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Might be the last full day shoot for Susie too. She's getting on a bit, 13 this year and she doesn’t have the stamina to push through or jump over brambles like she used to. On the very last drive, I had to carry her out of the brambles as she just stood still and looked at me as if to say, "I've had enough. Gissa lift"!

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On the plus side, I finally won the sweepstake by choosing nearest to the number of shots fired.

The barrel on your gun appears to be bent, no wonder you didn't hit many birds.

 

[Mottie]

The barrel on your gun appears to be bent, no wonder you didn't hit many birds.

That’s my bush beating pipe you fool!

 

[Mottie]

Went up this morning to collect her ashes. Couldn’t go in, started filling up so came back home. Did the same years ago when I went to collect my Dads ashes. Something about seeing someone/thing you loved reduced to a box of ash. I’ll have to man up and try again later. Either that or ask Mrs Mottie to collect them like I did with my Dad.

Mrs Mottie did the deed. She came home in tears though. We have her ashes here now along with her paw print. I’ll take them round to my mum in a while.

When my mum is up to it, she plans to scatter her ashes in her favourite spot in the garden where she would always lay on a sunny day.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

We have one of those small, portable plastic sheet covered greenhouse things, tucked against the fence and lashed down, to prevent it being blown away. It survived the recent storms just fine, sheilded by the high fence, and behind the caravan, except on Friday, it had seemed to simply fall over. This mornings little task was to work out why it had fallen over, in the calmer conditions of this week. The attachment points, on the greenhouse, had snapped. I made up a pair of steel hook brackets, to hook onto the concrete fence posts, either side of the greenhouse, and lashed a rop between them, pulling it tight to the fence.

Then the door of the bin shed - shed a lean to of the hut, made from cut down fence panels, door hinged and held shut by a pivoting T type latch, at the top corner of the door - had worn it's way through corner of the door. I cut a couple of triangles of stainless steel, to bolt either side of the door, to brace the corner.

Whilst I had the adjustable in my hand, I decided to free off and check the house stop tap. I tried to turn it by hand last week, and found it just a bit too awkward and tight, at the back of the kitchen cupboard. Now free, and working just fine - fully open, then closed a half turn.

 

[Mottie]

Had a go at making some bread today and not in the breadmaker. Hand made using the 'no knead' method. Just water, flour, yeast and salt. Looks good. Sounds good when tapped. Waiting for it to cool before cutting into it.

Update:
Not bad for a first attempt.

 

[MNW67]

Had a go at making some bread today and not in the breadmaker. Hand made using the 'no knead' method. Just water, flour, yeast and salt. Looks good. Sounds good when tapped. Waiting for it to cool before cutting into it.

Never heard of it, but this is what Wikipedia says:

No-knead bread is a method of bread baking that uses a very long fermentation (rising) time instead of kneading to form the gluten strands that give the bread its texture. It is characterized by a low yeast content and a very wet dough.

 

[Mottie]

Never heard of it, but this is what Wikipedia says: No-knead bread is a method of bread baking that uses a very long fermentation (rising) time instead of kneading to form the gluten strands that give the bread its texture. It is characterized by a low yeast content and a very wet dough.

This is what I followed:

 

[Murdochcat]

Walking in the Lake District - you can spot some unusual animals

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Heading towards April, and the usual price increases for mobiles, so time to look at alternative offerings. I'm presently on EE, 5Gb, for £6.45 and out of contract, which I negotiated down to £5 originally, sim only. Looking round, I found Smarty offering 10Gb for £5, with no contract, so I took them up on that.

I've just had a call from EE, a follow up to my PAC request yesterday - offering me 25Gb for £6, but it goes up to £8 come April. I only normally use (they say) 1Gb, so little point in paying more.. Smarty it is, and via 3 it seems a better signal here at home.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I meant to post the above yesterday, but forgot.... But...

The Smarty sim arrived this morning, since when I've spent the entire morning, trying to work out how to actually activate it. I put it in my phone, EE esim, still in and working. Read the email from Smarty, containing a link, to activate it, entered as requested the sim number, then got a Oops, your sim is already activated, or is invalid, tried numerous times, same result.

Tried to find a number to ring Smarty, no phone number, just web help from a bot, or suggestions to use web help to contact a person, but no way in that, that I could find, to contact a human.

I then tried to login to my Smarty account, it wanted my email address, plus my password - what password, I had not set one, not even set up an online account. I then tried to find a way to set up an account, and a password, yet failed to find a way to do it. Finally clicked the 'forgot password' button, had then re-enter my email address, and got an email with a link, which logged me straight in, but no option to set any password up. It did though have a link, to activate the sim, ya, at last!

Only four hours wasted, going round in circles. Who writes this rubbish software?

I still haven't worked out, how to actually set up a password for the account...?

 

[kingandy2nd]

I meant to post the above yesterday, but forgot.... But...

The Smarty sim arrived this morning, since when I've spent the entire morning, trying to work out how to actually activate it. I put it in my phone, EE esim, still in and working. Read the email from Smarty, containing a link, to activate it, entered as requested the sim number, then got a Oops, your sim is already activated, or is invalid, tried numerous times, same result.

Tried to find a number to ring Smarty, no phone number, just web help from a bot, or suggestions to use web help to contact a person, but no way in that, that I could find, to contact a human.

I then tried to login to my Smarty account, it wanted my email address, plus my password - what password, I had not set one, not even set up an online account. I then tried to find a way to set up an account, and a password, yet failed to find a way to do it. Finally clicked the 'forgot password' button, had then re-enter my email address, and got an email with a link, which logged me straight in, but no option to set any password up. It did though have a link, to activate the sim, ya, at last!

Only four hours wasted, going round in circles. Who writes this rubbish software?

I still haven't worked out, how to actually set up a password for the account...?

Terrible. I would have expected them to have first class customer service for the premium price you paid…oh wait…

 

[Stivino]

Once upon a time I moved to Lycamobile (it was nothing like a mobile) for the promise of more for less. It was the worst move ever, and it only lasted a month. Everything about it was the pits, the data roaming, signal when abroad, customer service, the lot.
I went back to O2 ASAP. I would gladly pay a wee bit more for the customer service alone.

 

[Mottie]

Off to the peaks tomorrow so just had a quick check and top up under the bonnet and unblocked my washer jets. Three very fine jets on each side. Every now and then they scale up and need a clear out with a pin. Trouble is, they are mounted on the underside of the bonnet and you have to remove the jet assembly to get at the jets. When you’ve done that, they need readjusting which means lifting the bonnet, removing the jet assembly, adjusting each jet ever so slightly, refit the jet, close the bonnet, check the aim, rinse and repeat for both sides until you get them right, all the time holding a torch in your teeth. A proper fùckabout but it’s done now!

 

[MNW67]

Off to the peaks tomorrow so just had a quick check and top up under the bonnet and unblocked my washer jets. Three very fine jets on each side. Every now and then they scale up and need a clear out with a pin. Trouble is, they are mounted on the underside of the bonnet and you have to remove the jet assembly to get at the jets. When you’ve done that, they need readjusting which means lifting the bonnet, removing the jet assembly, adjusting each jet ever so slightly, refit the jet, close the bonnet, check the aim, rinse and repeat for both sides until you get them right, all the time holding a torch in your teeth. A proper fùckabout but it’s done now!

Is that the Audi?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Once upon a time I moved to Lycamobile (it was nothing like a mobile) for the promise of more for less. It was the worst move ever, and it only lasted a month. Everything about it was the pits, the data roaming, signal when abroad, customer service, the lot.
I went back to O2 ASAP. I would gladly pay a wee bit more for the customer service alone.

Plusnet's mobile was great for service, but declined under BT, they eventually closed their mobile service and suggested everyone move to EE, which was Plusnet's provider. EE was OK, but they increased their charge each year, whilst costs were decreasing, so time to move. Support, only matters, when you have a problem, and I rarely have issues once I get things sorted. I was just frustrated with the setup, which ought to have been simple and straightforward. All working now, as near as I can tell, my original number on the esim thingummy, Smarty on the sim, just waiting for the number to transfer. Wish I'd had a dual sim phone whilst working.