Scruff

Scruff
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well we decided that the guinea pigs needed some new blood to diversify the gene pool. So lets hear a warm welcome for scruff! Scruff brings not only a fresh set of genes but a sense of style unknown to our family of guinea pigs. According to Katie his symmetrical rosette pattern actually means he is rather well bred. Gosh! Blue blood; who knew?

Katie Job Watch: Day 29

Katie has an interview! Talk about jammy. One application and they phone her straight back within hours of submitting it. The meeting is on Monday; obviously I'll keep you all informed.

Star Trek Ships

Star Trek Ships
Originally uploaded by Jibby!

Stumbled across this as I was roaming Flickr one lunchtime. Who knew there were so many ships in Star Trek?

Katie Job Watch: Day 28

Yesterday Katie actually asked for a job and was given an application form!!! However this was because the employer had no vacancies at the moment and was probably being polite. Otherwise there is not much news on the seeking front, though Katie is settling in well to her new domestic duties. She did admit that she was getting fed up with, "Being the house slave!" But then that was the idea, so no sympathy here. If she does not step up a gear in the hunt soon Lorii and I will be adding more chores and a timetable they must be done by...

Birdgirl

Birdgirl
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well getting the birds wings clipped seems to be paying dividends on the taming and training front. As the picture shows Katie can get up close and personal with the birds now. Oh and she did not lose an eyeball just after this picture was taken.

On the job seeking front there has been very little progress. I was right about the uniform though, so I'm glad I didn't waste my money there. If Lorii and I don't see some serious job seeking action soon though things may turn nasty...

Harry Potter

Well Jake now has latest Harry Potter book. He queued for hours in the pouring rain to get it as soon as it was available. Lorii has peeked at the back page to discover Harry Potters fate, but I think I'll just read the book when Jake has finished with it.

Votes Please

Well I've added a picture to the fashion competition on Jpeg Magazine. If any of you folks feel like supporting me I'd appreciate some votes...

Katie Job Watch: Day 19

Still no job; or any serious searching for jobs. So Lorii and I now have a tame domestic servant. Until work comes her way she is now in charge of the laundry, dog walking, hoovering, washing and cleaning. Which is great! Tonight I'm coming home to a bed with fresh linen. Katie has just made me a packed lunch for work and she has a huge pile of ironing to do this afternoon. I'd get her a uniform, but she would probably like that, so we'll just keep piling on the chores until getting a job seem like an easy way out.

Katie Job Watch: Day 16

Still no job yet. Though she has now made a curriculum vitae.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mum! Hope you're having a great time.

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

One of the ways Flickr categorise the pictures submitted to it is by 'Interestingness.' Just how 'Interestingnees' is accumulated is a subject of much debate by the users of Flickr, but it is something most want. It has something to do with the number of views a picture get as well as who looks, what groups the picture is placed in and how many. I'm damned if I can work it out, but I do know that in the "Last 7 Days Interesting" section you can find some pretty spectacular pictures. I've never made it into the Last 7 Days but I have had a few pictures placed in the Top 500 Interesting for the week they were posted. The beach shot above is the first to have made this distinction since January 2006, as well as the first on my new Nikon. I'm pretty chuffed. Lets hope it's the start of a trend.

1812 Overture

I found this on You Tube; Now why were my science projects nothing like this? If we were lucky we got to play with a Van de Graaff generator, never a Tesla coil! But what a use! These guys are turning the word geek into cool! I can just see Heavy Metal bands wanting giant musical Teslas to replace their banks of Marshal amps.

Katie Job Watch: Day 5

Katie is still looking for employment. Though she has made some half hearted moves in the direction of the local supermarket and DIY store.

Vet Emergency

Well Toby has had his first visit to the vets. We don't know how but the poor mite lost the tip of his tail! The first we knew of it was when he jumped on the bed leaking blood everywhere! The vet thinks he must have got it caught in a door jam, which makes my eyes water just thinking about it. Anyway; he should be okay, we have some antibiotics to give him. Though if it does not heal he may be looking at a small operation to tidy the wound that will reduce his tail even more. So strike one life for Toby and £45 for me.

Get a job!

Well Katie has now left school. Next it's college and then university. In the meantime Katie; GET A JOB!

Bye Bye Rats

Play With Me
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Sadly the rats were taken on their last trip to the vets yesterday. Both had developed tumours on their mammary glands. One had become so large that the rat was struggling to cope with it. Well they had a good innings and fun lives. Both will be missed.

Blink

Blink
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Both the children and I are fans of the recent Doctor Who episode Blink! Jake has made me a T-shirt that proclaims, "The Angels have the blue box," and I took a trip into a nearby cemetery to see if I could find any Weeping Angels. While the picture was taken with a bit of fun in mind I rather pleased with how it's turned out on an artistic level too. Remember; Don't blink. Don't look away. But especially don't blink!

Kitten

Kitten
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

The zoo expands! Add a cat/kitten to the roster. I'll post name when we have one...

Shift Work II

Well I've come to the end of another week on the new shift and have, effectively, a three day weekend in front of me. This is nice, but it would help if my employers had been kind enough to pay me the extra money they offered me for working this shift. Unsurprisingly the accounts department have screwed up. They obviously thought I was coming in late and working until two thirty to make up my time! Three day weekends and day-times at home do not make up for missing my kids and pushing through to the wee hours. I'm famously short tempered when it comes to money. Never having any helps. If it's not sorted by the next pay packet I'm back to days whether my employers like it or not. I've watched too many mates argue for months over new pay or working conditions, while the money earns interest in the bosses bank account.

On another level it seems my employers want to sack all their key staff! A new rule has been passed down from above in reaction to an alarming rise in bodged jobs and unhappy customers. To supplant a perfectly adequate grievance procedure they have invented a set of rules that is being called, "Five strikes and you're out!" Essentially each error that makes its way to to a customer will initiate a witch hunt to track down a scapegoat. The unlucky soul found guilty of being totally responsible will then receive a strike. Dependant on a rolling score that starts with each persons first strike one of five punishments is then metered out; starting with an official verbal warning and ending with the termination of contract. I've never heard of such nonsense! Clearly the sign of weak management. This means that if I have more than 0.0125 jobs wrong in 100 I'm in deep trouble. The numbers are quite scary; I do a lot of jobs in a year and just five missed typos could lose me my job!

The daft thing is it is all so unnecessary. Everybody knows who the weak links are. The ones who hold their positions due to nepotism or long penetrating tongues down their superiors backsides. Get tough and use the existing rules to lose this baggage, and stop firing shots across the bows of the good guys.

Canon Fodder

When I chose the alias of Canon Fodder I really did not put a great deal of thought into the process. I was getting slaughtered in Unreal; I figured that the name would fit while I was still a noob and if I ever got good... Well lets say no one likes being told, "You were killed by Canon Fodder."

But I got lazy. Which is not such a deviation from my usual personality type. So from that point whenever I got asked to supply an online nickname I gave Canon Fodder. So while I am not the sole user of the handle, (I'm not even the only Jason Long) there is a fair chance if you meet a Canon Fodder online it'll be me. So obviously I blog under the name, I also use it on Flickr which has become a little embarrassing; as I now own a Nikon. I had to explain the origin of the handle when I joined the Nikon D40x users group.

I've taken a quick look at some of the other users of the name. It's quite a varied bunch;

First off there is a Wikipedia entry for Canon Fodder which to my ignorant delight was a 2000AD Comic character! I enjoyed reading my friends issues of 2000AD in the past and while I am a fan of such characters as Strontium Dog and Judge Dredd I never new their was a Canon Fodder. The Character has his own page on the 2000AD Website.

There is a sports blog using the name as well as the url, but I do not understand why. It is American, so there may be no reason.

Delightfully Trekies or should I say Trekers have entitled the page where they debate and fix continuity issues Canon Fodder

There is a slide show using the name. Once again I am clueless for the reason.

Finally a fellow Blogger has used Canon Fodder for his Blog He/She seems obsessed with reading a great big list of books. Once again no specific reason is given for the title. But I suspect the may be a play of words going on here. Canon with only one n is not a misspelt word. It could be a fact or a religious leader...

Sixteen

Well Yesterday was Katies birthday; she turned sixteen. Lots of gifts were showered upon her. As well as the birds, that even as I type this fill the house with their musical squawks, Katie received a light-box, numerous artists pens, hand made cards, clothes and hard cash. Also, thankfully while I was at work, an alcohol crazed teenage riot/party was held in the evening. (I may have exaggerated a bit there.) I think Katie is a bit disappointed with turning sixteen; all the things she is now legally able to do either Lorii and I won't let her, or she does not want to. But that's teenagers for you.

Dog Walking

Dog Walking
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Just a snap of Katie walking the dog; but look at that wall. I love my new camera!

Shift Work

As from Monday I start on a new shift at work. I'll start at five in the afternoon and work into the early hours of the next day. The main incentive is a 15% pay increase, but it also means I'm at home during business hours and free to pursue the collars business that seems to be taking off. We have had enough demand that prices have gone up, and we have just taken an order from an alternative retailer. If someone had told me a year ago I'd be making money in the sex industry selling locking steel collars to the BDSM fraternity I'd have rolled on the floor laughing.

Happy Me

Happy Me
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

When I was about seven years old I bought my first camera; an Instamatic 110. I keenly snapped away on this until, after a visit to Farnborough Air show at the age of fourteen or fifteen, I started lusting after an SLR. My first SLR was a Ricoh XR1, my second a Chinnon CE5 and there the progression stopped. Financial and family commitments ment money could not go on new cameras. My first digital was a Sony Cybershot W1 bought second hand from the modern day equivalent of a pawn shop. But today I have been gifted a Nikon D40x. Hence the bloody big smile in the picture. Stunning pictures should follow...

Stats

Map
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

I've subscribed to one of those sites that counts the number of visitors your web-site attracts, and gives you various statistics about them. Of course these figures are predictably small; I'm not writing about anything important here. But they have thrown up a few surprises. I was unaware that I have readers in Kathmandu and Caracas. Or that I am the top result in Google when you type in 1812 Ovature!

New Job

Well I've been offered a new position at work. It seems the company wants to make a push into America and, until there are enough customers to warrant setting up a factory in the states, I'm going to working a shift in time with the West Coast of the USA. The work will not change; I'll just be on hand to handle telephone enquires after normal UK office hours. The main incentive for me is the 15% pay increase. But it will also mean that I will be home during the day, which will give me more hours when I can work on making collars. Something that seems to be taking off quite well.

Fynn

Fynn
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder

Well here is a picture of Fynn; the remaining bird from the original pair. Katie now has two new baby birds too. Needless to say Jake has been banned from her room unless she is present and he is invited. Fynn can be seen here posing with a piece of limp lettuce; She quite likes lettuce but prefers fingers when she can get them!

Roller Coaster

Well the last few days have been a huge emotional roller coaster. Katie's birds duly arrived; though they were not transported to their cage without a fright. As Katie was adjusting something in the cage, one got out! Lots of flapping and chasing later the bird is back with it's mate, though Katie is nursing a severely pecked hand! Katie did not mind though, she was just so happy she spent the rest of the day just watching her new birds.

The next day Lorii wins a new ceiling fan for the dining room on the internet. I take Katie with me to fetch it, after dropping Lorii off at a friends hotel. Lorii had become quite chatty with the seller of the ceiling fan, and had told him about Katies new birds. He took us around the back of his home to see his aviary, containing numerous finches including canaries. He also owned chipmunks, though we only saw one as the others were fast asleep. Katie was delighted, however, and was glad she had not stayed in the car while I collected the fan. Another surprise though came while chatting with Eddie, the fans owner, when it emerged through conversation that he was a good friend of George, Lorii's dad. They had both run businesses near Gyn Square, and often went drinking together. Eddie was really amazed that of all the people on the internet, who should buy his fan but the daughter of a good friend. A small world indeed.

When we got home Jacob was really agitated. He thrust the phone at me and told me I had to phone Lorii. I was instantly concerned, frightened even, that something terrible had happened to her. I asked Jacob what had happened and he confessed; he had accidentally released one of Katies birds. Not just from the cage, but from the house. The bird was gone. Forever. It turns out that once the rest of the family were out of the house Jacob had decided to play with Katies birds. Knowing full well that Katie would not let him near the birds while she was there he had decided to feed them; despite Katie having done so already. So although being present when Katie chased the bird around her bedroom, he opened the cage without first shutting the windows! I have never seen my daughter so upset, or been so angry with my son. As a parent I feel incredibly guilty that I did not prevent this from happening. I have felt for some time now that both my children were mature enough to be left unattended without risk of a major incident. For Jacob to display such a monumental streak of both selfishness and stupidity is totally gutting. It has taken Katie two days to come to terms with this. Jacob has further angered me by trying to play the victim card, sulking and playing the woe is me act as he suffers his punishments. Time (and Jacobs savings) will heal this. I only hope that Jacob has finally learnt not to touch other peoples possessions without asking.

Birds

Anyone who knows Katie knows she is just a weenie bit obsessed with birds. She has pressed us every year for some sort of bird every birthday and Christmas; and now she is about to turn sixteen. Well we have given in. Harris hawks are still off the list as we just cannot look after them properly. Large parrots and macaws are no-nos too, as they live too long and require too much attention. So we have settled on cockatiels. Lorii won a huge bird cage on ebay, that would have cost £90 or more, for only £15! Jacob has been doing his bit too, by wooing the local pet store owner; he may have secured a free bird. So, Katie is under the firm understanding, that when she flies our nest she takes these birds with her, but right now she is just bouncing of the walls with excitement. It's good to see her so happy.

Oven

Well our oven died on Friday. So we've bought a new one and a new hob too. The oven I had installed in seconds, the only hitch being the lack of even a mains cable on the new oven. But I simpley removed both plug and cable from the out going unit and Robert was my Mothers Brother! The hob though is a different kettle of fish altogether. That is going to require a Corgi certified Gas fitter. I was amazed to find that, unlike cookers, hobs don't have flexible hoses to connect. Or if they normally do; my existing unit and my new one don't. So I can't install my hob. Ho hum.

Lorii gets the results to her second scan tomorrow. I'm not too worried; as they have left it nearly a month after the scan to tell her. I'm sure if they had spotted anything to worry about they would have called her in much sooner.

Wounded

Well I've just got back from the NHS Walk-In Centre. I sliced my little finger on my right hand, on a broken glass, whilst doing some washing up. The bugger would not stop bleeding, so after an hour of leaking circulatory fluid, I thought I'd show it to an expert. It was only a little cut. But things must have been slow at the walk-in centre, as I was shown straight through to a nurse, after triage, instead of being sent out to wait while they dealt with real emergencies. For my troubles I got three steri-strips, as it did not merit stitches, half a mile of tubi-grip, some gauze, Micropore and a tetanus booster.

The good news is I'm banned from washing-up. This is a bit dire for Katie though, as Jake cut his hand earlier iin the week and he too has problems keeping his dressing dry.

A Death

The little baby Guinea Pig died this morning. It seems a shame that it died without even a name, so I'm going to refer to him as Nelson; for no better reason than he spent a large part of his brief life using only one eye. Both Lorii and Katie tried spoon feeding Nelson through Sunday, but he was just too week to suckle from his mom. It was inevitable really, and I'm now left wondering if I should have ended his life earlier and saved him suffering.

On a brighter note the remaining four are doing great, as is mum. All the guinea pigs have developed a strong Pavlovian reflex to the sound of a rustling plastic bag. Woe be-tied the person who rustles and does not feed them; the reward is a barrage of wheeps that hurt the ears!

OCD

Lorii has always been the sort make sure all the tins in the cupboard face the same way. Come to that she'll constantly rearrange the contents of the supermarket shopping trolly too. Which brings me to the new light fitting I've just installed in the front room. It's an OCD sufferers nightmare. It basically is a number of halogen bulbs on the ends of long thin, but flexible, bits of wire. Getting each wire curving the same as the others and to make the whole thing symmetrical is going to drive Lorii crazy.

One of the five baby guinea pigs was a runt. This small pathetic thing is melting the kids hearts, but I don't think it is going to make it. Pretty sad really. I've even tried helping it to suckle from it's mother without the rest of the litter. But as the rest go from strength to strength it just keeps getting weaker. Pretty sad really; but that's life.

I'm dreading going back to work tomorrow. The volume of work coming in has been more than our department can cope with for some time now. As I've taken on more orders my ability to move on to new orders is hampered by clients who see me as an opportunity to redesign the finished artwork they were supposed to be supplying for print. Ultimately it is not my fault but managements; all I can do is wade through the work assigned to me. But nobody likes to be a part of something that is breaking down.

Babies

Izzy had her second litter today. Five baby guinea pigs this time, all as cute as you like. Spunky was removed from the cage beforehand this time, so there will be a chance now for Izzy to rest.

Work is absolutely manic. I'm working fifteen hour days with no end in site. One of my fellow artist gave her notice recently, and another is on holiday. When the one on holiday returns another leaves for theirs... Still the money is nice but both Lorii and I are so tired.

Lorii goes for her follow-up CT scan tomorrow; to check the nodule really is nothing as the doctors suspect. Watch this space for news.

Pigeon

Pigeon
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

I was looking at the title page on Katie's comic and thought I'd share with you the original image. Back when Katie was finding it difficult to complete any work (She just had to keep changing or amending things.) I gave Katie a 'get out clause' for when she was grounded. If ever she was grounded she could end the grounding by handing in an original and completed work of art. The picture on the right is the result of one such episode.

Aspects of Reality

Katie wrote a comic! Actually Katie is in the process of writing a Graphic Novel and has placed the first pages on the web. I'm impressed, but then I'm biased, as I'm her Dad. So take a look at Aspects of Reality. I've also put a link on the right, so once this post is old news, you can still find her site. But I'm guessing a lot of you will be bookmarking her Novel so you can go straight to it.

Katie has been doing well at school and we had a "Parents Evening" recently. Luckily Katie does not put us through the trauma I subjected my parents to. In fact I'm still glowing from the praise awarded Katie by her English teacher; "Katies' course work will get het an A* for her GCSE. If we were to take the same work to College it would receive, a Grade A, A-level. IF we then took her work to University it would get her a First." When Katie heard that her head swelled so large she banged it getting into the car going home!

Snore

Mothers Day

Well my card made it to my mum on time. Which was a relief given the unreliability of the British postal service. Lorii however has not yet awoken to enjoy her Mothers day. Since being diagnosed with Lupus she has been very tired. We have both wondered if there may be something psychosomatic going on there, but it's hard to tell and we still know so little.

George is home from hospital and improving every day. Doubtless it is merely a matter of time now before George will be running the four minute mile.

Heart Operation

Well George has made it through his bypass operation.
Luckily he did not have any protesters complaining about the defoliation of two perfectly hairy legs! So the police were not called and everything went smoothly. It would have been a shame if the ugly scenes of the Newbury Bypass were repeated in Blackpool.
At the time of writing this George is off the ventilator, has been conscious and is now exploring the wonders of morphine.

Lupus

Well things just seem to be getting worse. As well as being diabetic and suffering from endometriosis and fibromyalgia, Lorii has just be diagnosed with Lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect virtually any system in the body. Think of it as a 'self-allergy' where the body attacks its own cells and tissues, causing inflammation, pain, and possible organ damage. We no little more than what we have read on the internet at this stage; we're going to see a specialist in a couple of weeks. One thing we know for sure though is Lupus is incurable. All said and dusted pretty grim.
If Lorii did not have enough on her plate to worry her right now her dad is going into hospital for a quadruple heart bypass operation tomorrow. I think he may be having some work on a valve too! Needless to say she is pretty worried for him. Mel, Lorii's sister, has returned from Australia for the operation too, and we are having a family meal with George tonight.

Unreal 2007

For those of you who do not play Unreal Tournament the following trailer will probably not get get you excited. I on the other hand just want to find out the answer to three simple questions. When is this being released? Will my Mac run it? How much?

Lorii's Funky Miscellanea II

Well I have now sorted the RSS feed to Lorii's shop. You'll now find the three latest additions to her shop on the right, just under the links section and above the RSS feed to my mothers blog. Expect a wide variety of products here; from sea shells to make necklaces from, to Chinese figurines, to locking steel collars for the large fetish market that seems to populate Ebay. The last there being my own hand crafted attempt to add value to simple materials and help swell the coffers, aside from the nine to five effort that is. So any Masters or Mistresses out there that are looking for something new or original to lock about their slave or submissives' throat would be advised to take a gander.
Anyway, keep an eye on it. The items listed there do not show up on normal searches within ebay, so there is the opportunity to find an obscure bargain missed by the general populace of Ebay.

Lorii's Funky Miscellanea

Lorii has opened an Ebay shop! There is a link on the right, and once I can work out the gremlins I'll put a RSS feed up too. My first attempts at metalwork are now up for sale; So if you'd like a Steel Rope choker you now know where to go...

Top Gear

Okay, this is not really a blog entry in the typical sense. Last Sunday I watched one of the best bits of telly I have seen to date. It was not as important as the Berlin wall coming down. Nor was it as shattering as the WTT attack. But despite the fact that it was only a light entertainment show, Top Gear did something special. I should add that I have seen a real shuttle launch in person, and I fully expect YouTube to take this clip down when they find it. This will put a smile on your face...


I've since come across this launch by the same guys;

Dr Dippy and the Needle of Doom

Yesterday was the day Lorii had her injection to simulate a hysterectomy.
Just getting to this point had been a small battle with our surgery; Doctors had tried to withdraw Lorii's pain medicine, refused to refer her to specialists and denied her repeat prescriptions. After finally undergoing an exploratory operation a Gynaecological Surgeon diagnosed Lorii with Endometriosis with a possible side order of Fibromyalgia. Acknowledging that Lorii was in great pain the surgeon had actually cut nerves to the worst affected areas inside her. Then once Lorii had recovered from the surgery the possibility of a hysterectomy as a long term cure was suggested. However as this is a big step from which there would be no going back it was recommended that the hysterectomy was simulated chemically first to see if this would indeed cure Lorii's Endo. The surgeon also said she would write to Lorii's surgery to recommend stronger pain meds and suggest a referral to see a specialist on Fibromyalgia.
So we wait the week the surgeon told us the letter would take and make an appointment to see a doctor at Lorii's surgery. To find the letter has not arrived and the Doctor, without the word of the surgeon, wants to interfere with Lorii's meds. We were lucky to get out of there with a repeat of what Lorii was already on, let alone any increase to combat Lorii's increasing tolerance to their effect.
Anyway, we were told Lorii would now be called in when the magical letter arrived. Which brings us to Lorii's meeting with Dr Dippy and the Needle of Doom.
The only female doctor the surgery could provide was a locum, which did not bother Lorii too much as her past record with the regular doctors was not too hot. On being called in we were met by a little old lady who must have been near the end of her career. I'll not post her name on the web just in case this farce degenerates to the point where it gets all legal and formal. Anyway the doctor seems unable to operate the computer and is unable to retrieve the letter from the surgeon. We insist it exists as it is the reason Lorii is there. After much pressing of the mouse and the opening and repeated closing of windows that contain no letter the doctor resorts to a book to find the dose of the drug that will simulate the removal of Lorii's womb. Once that is sorted we press her for the opiate based patches the surgeon had recommended. Without the letter though the doctor refuses saying, "Those are only for people in real pain." My blood boils. The pain that has been reducing Lorii to a weeping insomniac who convulses on the bed in agony was not real? The constant agonising pain the surgeon cut nerves to try and stop was imaginary? I tried to calmly point out that the large cocktail of tramadol, codine, paracetamol and ibuprofen that Lorii was on was losing its effectiveness and that something equally or more powerful needed to be explored. The doctor stuck to her guns and refused the patches. She did issue Lorii with repeats of her current medications though; something she technically should not have done as Lorii was not officially due a repeat at that time. More evidence that the doctor was was not in complete control of the computer on her desk. I understand what a locum doctor is. My faith in her medical expertise would not have been shaken if she had cursed the software and called for assistance in retrieving the patients records and details. The fact that she bluffed and lied led me to the quick decision that this woman was blagging the whole show and we were better of out of there. Lorii made a half hearted request for the Fibromyalgia referral, but this went the way of the patches; over the hill with it's backside on fire. We left with Lorii even more disillusioned with the medical fraternity and a fistful of prescriptions some of which I was not sure were correct. We went straight to the surgery's reception to book an appointment with a nurse to administer the chemical hysterectomy. While we were there we asked the receptionist if the surgeons letter was indeed on the system. I swear that receptionist had it up on screen in less than five seconds! She read it out to us! Everything the surgeon had promised was in there. Arrrgh! We ask if we can see another doctor straight away to be informed there are no appointments available until Thursday.
We decide to go fill the prescriptions, a bird in the hand if you like, and have a word with the nurse before the injection is carried out. The pharmacist does not hold the hysterectomy drug in stock so we have to come back later that day, it turns out this drug is very expensive and only ordered when needed.
The nurse is fantastic. We explain what has gone on earlier that day and she takes Lorii's medicine off to one of her regular doctors to check it is the right stuff. Once it is confirmed as correct she breaks it out, Lorii is on her back and not looking at this point, the needle is huge! I hold Lorii's hand as the injection is administered, it is over quickly, and while it obviously hurt her Lorii feels it is not as bad as she was fearing. The nurse then makes Lorii an appointment to see another doctor on Thursday to straighten out the farce of Locum. Hopefully if the analgesics are sorted and the implant works the next six months should see Lorii steadily improving. Watch this space for more news....

Climbing II

Well as Friday was Jacob's birthday I took him down to Liverpool with me to go climbing once again. Jacob did really well, though he was a bit nervous about abseiling back down at first. Richard kept pushing me; first into climbing an easy route without putting my feet on the holds, then he set me to climbing the pinnacle. This is a 12 meter (40 feet) tower and the path Richard set me has an overhang half way up. I found this really challenging both for my confidence but also my low level of strength, stamina and fitness. However I did make it up and was chuffed with myself for the rest of the day. Below is a brief clip of me climbing the Pinnacle, though it does not follow me to the top, as Jake ran out of memory on his camera.

Nursing Mum

Nursing Mum
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Well Izzy and Spunky are proving to be excellent parents. All four babies are doing well. We are not definite about their names yet as we still don't know their sexes. But provisional names are Badger, Spot Camo and Ginger. Badgers name is obvious even if the dog is called Badger too. As well as having a badgers face Badger is the most assertive of the litter, always pestering Mum for a feed or bossing his brothers or sisters. Camo is the runt as well as having the most unusual ginger and grey markings. Dot is black with a white tummy and a white dot on the nape of her neck. Ginger is. Just like Dad.

Still Sea

Still Sea.
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Jake and I went and took some pictures of the setting sun this afternoon. The air was so clear you could see the Lake District. The sea was unusually calm too, and the air already had a nip to it. The weather men are forecasting temperatures of around -7ºC. Which may not be much for some but it is pretty cool for temperate Old Blighty.

Camo

Camo
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

This is Camo. Camo is just a few hours old here having been born between 11.00pm on the 3rd of February and Midday on the 4th. Camo has three healthy brothers or sisters and mum is doing fine too. I'll post pictures of the rest of the litter as opportunity allows.

Gosh! Who knew?

Gosh! Who knew?
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

As you may be aware from a brief scan of this Blog I post my pictures on Flickr. On Flickr there is a feature where you can explore the best and most interesting pictures uploaded in the last seven days. Since this was started I have yearned to have my pictures included on this page. To have my pictures listed there would be some kind of validation from my peers that I can take a half decent photograph. Petty and vain I know, but I am only human and everybody craves a pat on the head from time to time.
So imagine my surprise when I discover today that I have already achieved this goal. Not just once, but nine times!
Bathe in my smugness you mere mortals! For I am a Photography God! Mwah ha ha ha.
Actually I'm a bit lucky as one of those pictures was taken by a satellite in space!

Sausages!

Sausages!
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Well after a brief hiatus Flicker has it's act together and I can once again easily post pictures to my blog. So now I can show off my sausages! So why are you showing us your sausages you ask? Because I made them myself! From mincing the meat to mixing the ingredients to filling the skins; all my own work. They taste pretty good too!

Climbing

Went down to visit Richard in Liverpool yesterday and he took me climbing at Awesome Walls. I had a wail of a time and only wish my arms had been up to more, only as it was my first time they quickly ran out of energy and grip. In fact it is quite a novel experience to be clinging to wall 6 meters up stood on a bolt on and realise your hands just don't work any more. It was also quite sobering to have Richard trust me to be on the other end of the rope that would stop him falling to his death; on my first trip to a climbing wall! Thankfully he only made me save him once! So will I be going again? Yes! I had a fantastic time... all I've got to do now is get the rest of the family interested.

Rats

Well while fine in themselves the rats are getting quite old... Unfortunately, they have both developed tumours that can only mean the end is nigh. Which is a great shame as they are two wonderful characters. So before we lose them to Rat Heaven I though I'd post a vid of them at their best;

Catching up...

Good grief, where does the time go?

Been very busy since the last blog, with little time for the computer, so I have quite a bit two write about...

Christmas went off well, the kids were spoilt by their grandparents, and everybody got what they were hoping for. I got a sausage making kit! The family is already fed up with sausages and the freezer is full of them! I am really enjoying them but Katie has come out and admitted she does not like my sausages. Ho hum. :(

Lorii's sister Mel came over from Australia for Christmas and the New Year. We all had a good time and I've a video to put together and post on YouTube when I can get the time.

Izzy has yet to give birth, but she is very gravid, it must be any day now. That, or we do have two girls, and Izzy has eaten all the pies! Watch this space for more news...

I've turned 41. It was inevitable really as I turned 40 last year. My mother has marked the date by posting a picture of a very young lad in black tie on her blog. I'm not sure why...

Lorii has been to see the surgeon who performed her laparoscopy. After discussing it with her we have decided to see if a hysterectomy may be the solution to Loriis' problem. The first stage in this is a series of injections into tricking the body into thinking the womb and ovaries have been removed. This will be accompanied with HRT. If this works, and the pain is removed, then the hysterectomy will be performed. She is also being referred to a specialist to ascertain if she does indeed have fibromyalgia, and a letter is being sent to her surgery to tell the doctors there to stop cutting down her pain medicine. There is one doctor at her surgery who, if he intercepts her repeat prescriptions, has a nasty habit or refusing them on the grounds she has been taking them too long. This has been causing Lorii a lot of stress, as well as leaving her in quite a bit of pain on occasion. Anyway, Lorii is pretty pleased with these new developments, and we are both hoping this is some real progress towards her being cured.

Katie has won a scholarship to study extra maths on a five week seminar at Edge Hill University. We could never have afforded this extra tuition and are very proud of her. Her first day is today so I'm expecting her to come home full of tales about how wonderful university is. This will be her first experience of a campus environment and she was pretty excited.

I have bought a bench drill and am trying my hand at a little light metalwork. The idea it to see if I can make something that may sell well on ebay. Whether I succeed or not is moot a the moment as I'm simply enjoying the process of remembering and learning knew skills. If I actually manage to make anything worth showing off I'll post pictures.

Happy Christmas

Well Christmas Eve draws to a close and the big day looms. I hope you are ready, and are looking forward to a great time. Have a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

No prizes for guessing where I was on Thursday! Not with this picture to accompany the blog entry anyway! I first saw Maiden in my teens at the then Hammersmith Odeon, this time I got to take my teenage daughter with me too.

Initially the plan had been been for the whole family to go. Richard, a best mate from the age of around ten, had phoned and asked if I wanted tickets while he was buying his? I'd asked for four and started counting the days... Then Lorii's health got really bad, and three weeks before the gig she is on the operating table. I asked Richard to see if he could find a buyer for the fourth ticket, as Lorii was sure she would not be fit enough to go.

Come the day of the gig I come home to find Lorii ready to go and Jacob still in his school uniform. It was a very generous gesture by Jake; especially as this would have been his first ever concert. So we pile in the car and drive down to Richard's place, in Liverpool, where we intend to rendezvous before heading to Manchester and the show. Now Lorii had evidently had a few fortifying vodka drinks before I had picked her and Katie up. Lorii managed to demonstrate the wonders alcohol has on your co-ordination by upending her handbag into the passenger foot-well, forgetting the maps to Richard's place (I had never been before!) and, through miss-use, exhausting all my credit on my mobile phone asking for directions. Luckily the driver was both sober and in possession of a good memory, and remembered Richard's instructions on how to get to his house.

On arriving at Richard's he generously gifted us our tickets as an early Christmas present! (Thanks again Ric!) We then met up with Tim, the taker of the fourth ticket, and made our way to the gig.

We arrived for the end of Trivium's set. I know nothing of this band, Katie did not seem impressed, but a large part of the crowd seemed to enjoy them.

The first part of the Maiden set was their new album, A Matter of Life and Death, cover to cover. Now there were some great songs in there, but as poor me doesn't own the album I did not know where to sing along. I think a large part of the crowd were suffering the same problem because once this part of the show was 'out of the way' the gig really took off. Old hits were pulled out and the whole arena sang along. I felt fourteen again! Eddie, the band's mascot, made two appearances and the band finished on one of my favourite songs; Hallowed Be Thy Name.

Unfortunately Lorii was not up to standing throughout the gig, once the alcohol wore off I think the pain killers were not up to the job of sustaining a frail Lorii through the rigours of a Maiden gig. Worse for her; she is not a life long Iron Maiden fan and did not know the lyrics to the hits they did play. The Number of the Beast, No More Lies and Run to the Hills did not get an outing, which was a shame as Lorii had learnt those!

We came out of the arena into pouring rain and were utterly soaked by the time we reached the car. We picked up a KFC supper and were in bed by two in the morning. Three hours later I was up and off to work. So now I feel a little tired....

A Bit Windy...

I took the dogs out for a walk on the beach today... only it was too windy to get down to. It was all I could do to stand up on the top of the sea wall!

Oh No!

Well we are soon to be blessed with the sound of tiny feet! Nutmeg is a boy not a girl, and he and Izzy have been doing the wild thing! Despite the pet shop having the boys and girls segregated we have ended up with one of each. Have you ever tried to sex a guinea pig? My attempts obviously failed! Though a good clue that Izzy is a girl is all the dried semen in her fur around her privates! We are expecting the babies around Christmas and Nutmeg has been renamed Spunky!

Grounded!

For the past few days the kids have been grounded. Grounded in our house does not mean that they are confined to the house, they would not find that a punishment. Rather that they are banned from computers, playstations and the cartoon network. The reason for this was, that with their mother ill, they had not been doing even the every day chores, let alone helping me out with the increased workload. So they were grounded until they changed their ways.
So last night Lorii and I discuss the situation, decide they have both made an effort, and resolve to lift the grounding. With Lorii installed on the sofa to get a break from the bedroom, I make my way up the stairs to give the kids the good news.
Now earlier on that evening I had had to pull Jacob up about the state of his bedroom floor. (Those who know me from my own childhood will be detecting a fairly hypocritical poacher turned gamekeeper thing going on here.) My parting words on this occasion were along the lines of, "Next time I enter your room all this mess will be picked up." (Oh how my parents must be reminiscing to those words!) So confident that Jacob would be happy to see me with my happy news I enter his bedroom. To find not one thing has been lifted up or put away.
Now when I was a nipper this would have been because the first thing I picked up was a book or comic. I'd start reading it, I can not help myself when it comes to words on a row, and time would be suspended until my mum caught me loafing about.
Jake was doing his homework; which made it hard to be really cross. So I told him he was ungrounded on the understanding that the floor was clean next time I came in his room.
So next I enter Katies room. Now her room was tidy, and without being told, and Katie was busy doing some clay modelling for her art homework. I tell her her grounding is lifted to which she replies, "Can I stay grounded please?" My jaw hits the floor. It turns out that she does not want any distractions from her homework. I swear she is not normal!

007

I took the kids to see the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale, last night. Daniel Craig makes an awesome Bond, with the whole genera getting the "Batman Begins" treatment; that is, they have dumped all the foolish frippery, and kept the core elements that make bond movies great. Aston Martin cars, martinis, womanising, explosions, M, and great spy gadgetry all stay, but in a more believable and realistic way. The fight scenes are more realistic too, this bond cuts and bruises, and right from the start of the film you can tell there is a more brutal edge to 007. As an Audio Slave and Soundgarden fan it was nice to have Chris Cornell singing on the opening credits too. I'll not spoil it for you by revealing the plot; I'll simply say that if you enjoyed the Sean Connery Bond, and enjoyed Daniel Craig in Layer Cake you will find Casino Royale to your taste.

New look...

Well blogger have reinvented their interface. I was going to overhaul the complete look of the blog, but have settled on some minor changes. Let me know what you think...

Endometriosis

Well Lorii's ailment finally has a name and it is endometriosis. It's been a long journey with quite a few scares on the way (We still have to wait for the re-scan of her chest to see if that nodule has grown.) but at least we now know what is causing Lorii so much pain.

Lorii had a laparoscopy on Monday afternoon. The surgeon found numerous lesions and adhesions which she sorted out. She also cut some of Lorii's nerves, where needed, to ease her suffering. Right up to the day of the surgery Lorii had been terrified that the surgeon would find nothing; and that she would be dismissed by yet another member of the medical profession. However after the surgery Lorii's surgeon told her that she described the site of the pain so precisely that it had helped her get straight to the seat of the problem. Obviously Lorii is feeling enormously vindicated.

Where we go from here we are not too sure. Endometriosis is incurable. But now the doctors know what her problem is there is a lot they can do to ease her pain and suffering. There may be further surgery, a hysterectomy may be on the cards, or there are some hormone treatments that may help. In the short term she is simply recovering from the effects of the laparoscopy. Bizarrely the gas they use to inflate the abdomen causes severe shoulder pain, added to the surgery and the endometriosis and Lorii is feeling pretty sore right now. I'll keep you posted as she recovers.

If you are interested to find out more about endometriosis here is a link to a site with a pretty good description of the symptoms and side effects.

The Yawn

A friend once told me there was only one yawn in the world. But I've been thinking about this and I'm not so sure it is true. I think there may be two!

You see a yawn is capable of instantaneous travel from person to person. Sometimes a yawn will jump around a room making each person yawn in turn. It is this phenomenom that has led others to believe that the yawn is infectious. My friend has never seen two people yawn at exactly the same time; a syncronised yawn. So he has deduced that there is only one in the world.

But I think the yawn is searching. I think the yawn is lonley. If you fake a yawn you are probably going to yawn for real soon after. This is a yawn visiting to see if the fake yawn was the 'other' yawn. If someone else yawns you may find yourself yawning too; once again this may be the other yawn in search of its mate. I think yawns get a kick out of performing a syncronised yawn. They strive to perform this rare feat of bodily puppetry. To jump into two people, take over their bodies simultaniously, and to make them yawn in unison brings the simple yawn great pleasure.

So next time you yawn be ready to repeat the feat, as the other yawn takes over your body in search for its mate.

Mel & Andy

Mel & Andy
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

We got a phone call this afternoon from Lorii's dad to say Mel was on a web cam in Alice Springs. We dutifully logged on to look; and low, there was Lorii's little sister. Getting bladdered in Oz! Seemed very odd to look at all the people in shorts and summer dresses while rain lashed down here in Blackpool.

Anyway there was a facility to request songs from the bar's playlist and have messages read out to those in the bar. I had a go, but kept getting a 404 message from the bars server once I submitted the request. However it must have worked though coz shortly afterwards we get a phone call from a sozzled Mel thanking us for the request! I'd hate to see her mobile bill for that night!

Steak

Steak
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Last night Katie cooked us all sirloin steak for dinner. It was practice for a proposed fillet steak meal next week. All I can say is if this was the run up I can't wait for the main event. It was fantastic!

Karate

Today Katie won her yellow belt! Well done katie...

Professor Bocaj

Juggling

Katie is making juggling balls as a business exercise at school. This prompted me to dig out my clubs and make what follows...

G Pee's

G Pee's
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

The ginger one is Nutmeg and the black one is Izzy. Please don't ask me why I allowed the kids yet more pets... I must be a soft touch!

Jake & Friends

Jake & Friends
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Well Jacob had a utterly fantastic day today. On Thursday, when Jacob picked up his first prize for his poem 'Suicide,' he also received an informal invitation to visit the Mayor of Blackpool, in his Parlour, on the Saturday morning. There we met both the Mayor Allan Matthews and his wife Mayoress Angela Matthews, who had a lot of time for Jacob, as well as Norman Warwick of Just Poets and Brandon, a fellow poetry prize winner, and his mum Anne. Jake was gifted both a pen and a badge. Had a "really interesting" conversation with the Mayoress, as well as an informal photo-shoot in the council chambers. (He also got fed several pieces of cake, cups of tea and a small stick of rock!)

On from there I took Jacob shopping with his prize money. He bought himself a new sim card, for the mobile his granddad has gifted him, as well as the third book in the Lion Boy series The Truth by Zizou Corder.

Once home he got so animated telling his Mum all about it we actually had to tell him to stop and breathe! One happy lad.

Poetry Award for Jacob

I really messed up the exposure on this video, but you can still hear his poem...

Slide Show

Keen to experiment in the art of posting videos on YouTube I have made a brief slide show. I've used some of my better pictures from Flickr. If you like anything you see in the slide show, pop over to my Flickr account where you can view the images in high quality.

Last of the fireworks

Well the firework competition came to an end last night. The crowd was bigger than ever, and we did not arrive early enough to secure a good vantage point. The fireworks were, however, fantastic. The British firm putting on the display were not competing but if they had I think they would have won. There is a video of the highlights at the end of this. France won the competition, which surprised me, as I felt it should have been between China or Italy. But then what do I know about fireworks?

Cable

Cable
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

While Lorii was having a shower this morning, this burnt out cable was setting fire to my house! Luckily Jake was late leaving for school and saw the smoke and raised the alarm. No damage was done other than a melted fuse box and some burnt insulation. So a close shave and we are all counting our blessings!

You Tube

Well you'd have to be blind not to notice the videos on the blog. I've now set up a 'Channel' on You Tube; essentially a home page for my videos just as Flickr is where I keep my pictures. You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/foddersvids

More Fireworks

Pyro China 1
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Well China's entry was really good. So much so that I voted for them. Next week is a display by a British company, but not part of the competition, and the winner is announced. I've made a short video from a few mpegs I took during France and China's entries. Please let me know what you think....

1812 Ovature

Stumbled on this while surfing around. Enjoy;

Fireworks II

Pyro France 1
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Well Katie and I went to watch France's entry in the fireworks competition last night. There was a much bigger crowd this time and we could not get a tram to the pier; so we walked. This gave us quite a good look at some of the Illuminations and a 'Illuminated' tram went by too. (Video at the bottom of this entry.) The fireworks were good. Katie felt they were better than Italy's but I disagree. We are both looking forward to next week as that's China who are expected to dazzle.

Official

Katie will now be; Katie Cerys , and Jake is now officially Jacob Zachary as well as my surname. 

Also there is now only 101 days, 2 hours and 23minutes until the Christmas Dr Who special!

How sad is that!?

Katies Blog...

I stumbled (Okay I went looking.) across my daughters blog this afternoon. So if you enjoy reading the rantings of an articulate teenager here is the link: http://vampirefreaks.com/journal.php?u=Chiisaineko

Unreal Tournament 2007

Now the masthead to this blog proclaims me to be a 40 year old child who likes to play Unreal Tournament. Which is true. So that inner child in me is really excited right now because I’ve just seen a trailer for the latest version of the game. Now I know I’ve just posted three movies prior to this entry; but I just have to share! Having viewed this trailer I’m now bursting to know; when it will go on sale, will there be a Mac version, will my Mac be up to running it, how much is it going to cost (I’m willing to trade my smallest child I think.) and do you think Lorii will mind if I disappear with the computer to learn all the new maps, wepons and vehicles for six months or so? For those of you who have been reading my blog without an understanding of what Unreal Tournament is about the following trailer may give you a small inkling as to what I’m ranting on about…

Tetris fool

Katie has a fascination with the music from the Tetris video game at the moment... so that explains the singing. I'm not sure how to explain the rest of their behaviour. I can promise you they had not touched a drop of alcohol....

Kids!

Now the kids both want a set of these... actually I do too! They would get Jake fit... Now where do I find the money?

It this sad or amazing?

Noah takes a photo of himself every day for six years....

Fireworks and name changes...

Pyro Italy 4
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Last week saw the start of an international firework competition in Blackpool. I did not make it down to watch the first display, but I did last night.
In fact the kids and I did quite the tourist bit! First we walked down to Gynn Square and took in the sunset. Then we took a tram to North Pier sitting on the top deck to admire the Illuminations. Once there we picked a nice spot and waited for the fireworks. The display was huge; a large sum of money went up in smoke and pretty lights before our eyes. Unfortunately my poor efforts with the camera do not do it justice. Towards the end of the display Katie was struck in the side of the head by a frightened pidgeon!
Once the display was over we all made our way over to Sue's Hotel. Where I was treated to a wonderful phenomenon called a bottomless bottle of beer!

The family are having fun with names at the moment as the kids have been presented with an opportunity to pick new middle names. I'm in the process of adopting them officially; and as of next week they will take my surname. While the solicitor is changing their surnames they can officially pick new first names too.
Katie has decided to honour her welsh roots and has chosen Cerys as her new middle name.
Jacob though has been struggling to choose a name he likes. The first choice would have been something Japanese; but both his mother and I stomped on that idea. Next he was going to go with Azrael; biblical but then so is Satan. I got him to drop that one by pointing out it was the name of the cat in the smurfs! Seth got a short run. But the current runner is Zackerie; though I'm sure I'm not spelling that right. Watch this space for the final solution...

Badge

Well as I said earlier I have renewed my Flickr account. So to celebrate I have updated my flickr Badge. This time it is based on pictures other people have favourited. I hope you like it; you can find it on the right if you scroll down.

Money

There is never enough is there? I've just been reading my mothers blogg and she has just been stiffed by the vet for over £200 and they have another big bill on the way. I've just shelled out for new tyres for the car and the MOT looms. The gas people just hiked the standing order up over 100% and took the first new payment without telling me! The council recently joined in by clearing out my savings account and I'm sitting here wondering who or what will be the next thing to demand the contents of my wallet. (Good luck to them; it's empty!) I actually felt guilty asking Lorii if I could renew my Flickr account this morning. Lucky for me she said yes and I'm free to pursue my photographic hobby at a cost of $2 a month.

Rain on Blackpool

Rain on Blackpool
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Well I did not make it to the switch on of the Illuminations. The plan had been, for me and the kids, to ride our bicycles down to Sue's hotel and enjoy the show from there. However, my planed route along the front did not meet with Jacobs approval. So an unnecessary sulk started. When he was having difficulties keeping up the pace into a stiff breeze, and as I was concerned that the approaching black cloud would drown us, I tried to help him by giving the lad a friendly push. This promoted the sulk into a full blown temper tantrum. Never one to put up with childish dramatics I sent Katie on alone and turned Jake around. Once home again I phoned Lorii to tell her her son would be conspicuous by his absence, and once the teenager was put to bed, I would be along later. But the weather had beaten me! There was no way I was going to make it without a soaking. The picture shows the very personal and hateful rain cloud over Blackpool. So I'm spending Friday night in. Sitting a woeful teenager and not eating Pizza and drinking beer... Ho hum. Anyone thinking of having kids.... Be warned!

Switch On

Blackpool's famous illuminations are switched on this evening. I'll be leaving to observe the proceedings and will probably post some pictures later. Watch this space...

New Toy

Well I've found a new widget for my dashboard on my Mac. PC users who don't know what that means had better go look at Apples web site and go green with envy. Anyway now that I can blogg from my desktop I may blogg a little more often...

Reflections

Reflections
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Today has been a miserable wet rainy affair.

Spent most of the day playing with photoshop, with the kids collaboration. Katie is pleased with this one, and you'll find others on my Flickr page.

Tired

Lorii was at the Hotel again tonight; Sue the owner has not been too well either!

Had a nice chat wiv me Mum on the phone this evening. It's clear she is worried for Lorii (We all are) and had called to have a chat. Still Lorii gets to see the specialist soon. Lets just hope they have some answers.

Katie has taken to wearing a very girly pink headband thing; not at all goth! I'm enjoying teasing her about it. Unfortunately I'm on quite weak footing as she just starts on my hair; or should that be lack of it. Still I don't have a choice... She chooses to wear this thing. I'll try and grab a pic when I can.

Hum Drum

Well with all that is going on in the world I feel I should have something momentous to talk about too. But I don’t. In fact I’m having a slow weekend, which is nice for a change.

Lorii is at the Hotel, I’ve done the dinner. Lorii’s parents are away and have left Max with us. The kids have cleaned the car. I’ve cooked dinner. That’s it.

Check back soon when, no doubt, life will have overtaken me once more.

Stereo Dog

Stereo Dog
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

I've done a few of these stereo/3D images now, and I must admit I quite like them. Full of myself I printed this one out at work expecting everyone to be impressed. But no one could see the 3D image. In fact my boss thought I was winding him up.

So can you see the 3d picture? All you have to do is cross your eyes so that you see three images. If you can get the middle image to line up and focus you should see Badger in glorious 3D.

Please post a comment if it works. Actually, post if you can't get it to work too. That way I'll have a better idea of the ratio of those who can to can't!

Fledgling Rescued

Bird Hug
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Katie did her good deed for the day this afternoon, while we were out exercising the dog. Jake and I were walking, but Katie had elected to ride her bike, and was pedalling ahead of us as we walked Badger along the beach.

It was here, while searching for feathers, she came across a baby seagull tangled up in discarded fishing tackle. We tried to remove the tackle on the beach, but only managed to remove one hook from its beak and another from its foot. I quickly realised we were going to have to take the bird home where I could use some tools to cut away the rest of the mess.

Jake pushed Katie's bike, I took Badger in hand and Katie wrapped the gull in her prized Him top. As we walked home the bird, now with its beak free, started to show some spirit and peck at Katie.



Once home I used some side cutters to cut out two more hooks, including one from its wing. I also removed a large amount of line and a weight from around the birds feet.

We then tried to feed the gull some sardines, to help it regain it's strength, but it seemed to think the best thing to do with those was spray them over Katie's jeans for her trouble. It also crapped on her top for her.

Once we were happy the bird was fundamentally okay; wings worked and such like, we wrapped it up in a towel and took it back to the beach. Katie released it from the sea wall and was immensely gratified to see the bird fly off and rejoin its friends on the beach.

Bird Cuddle
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

3D-Attic

3D-Attic
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Okay; I've been playing with my camera... If you go cross eyed at this (It works best if you try to get the red car to line up.) you should get an amazing stereo image of my attic! And you thought your life was complete! Silly thing!

Fire!

Burning 2
Originally uploaded by Canon Fodder.

Had a minor bit of excitement when a local building decided to combust. No one was harmed in the conflagration, though the building looked to be utterly destroyed.

Still here!

Well I've been told off by loads of people for not keeping this up. so sorry to all those readers who have been waiting for my next post. But no... Should it be Hooray! For here it is in all its glory. Words in a row by wonderful me.

So what has been happening in my little world that has kept me so busy that I had no time to write?

LOADS!

Let me give you a sample of a recent day...

Get up a 6.00am to be in work for 7.00am. Work until 4.30pm. Arrive home and fix broken vacuum cleaner with parts that have arrived by post. Start to fix washing machine with some more parts. Stop to take some post down to post-office for Lorii. Return and finish fixing washing machine. Take Lorii to work at the Hotel. Return and help kids construct weight bench so they can do bench presses and the like. Cook kids and my dinner. Go for bike ride with kids to far end of prom. On return fetch Lorii from work. Cook Lorii a dinner. Shower and fall into bed exhausted around 1.00am to similar the next day!

No every day is like this... Sometimes I get to sleep.

Lorii is still very poorly. The Doc upped her pain meds today, and arranged a appointment with a gynecologist in about three weeks.

Katie is at a sleep over with a friend, so I'm just cooking for three tonight.

Will make a more coherent entry when |I have more time....

I am alive!

Opps! I have been real busy of late. Nice weather and things have kept me away from the computer. I'll try and fill in a proper entry later.

Update

Well I've not been able to get to a computer for a while so I'm taking this moment and blogging it!

Things have been pretty busy lately. Two weeks ago I repaired the shed roof, a huge task that was forced by the collapse of the last one. Last weekend my back popped again, which means I've not been able to clear up the detritus left in the garden from the roof fiasco.

Katie was put forward as Head Girl, though she did not make it. On top of this while one of her two work placements is eulogising her to her Head Teacher, the other is making an ill advised character assassination attempt! The school is not bying it.

Richard has been in touch and it looks like he and my family and I are going to see Iron Maiden when they come to Manchester as part of their current tour. I must admit that I never thought, as a teenager in the front row of the Number of the Beast tour way back when, that at the age of fourty I would be taking my teenage children to see the same band.

I've also been able to play a bit of Unreal recently too. Was nice to blast a few people, and I discovered a few new maps too. I'm going to have to download and learn them when I can find the time. If anybody is interested, or thinks they came up against me recently, you can check my stats here; My Stats.