Summer time...

The last few days have been really hot, and as I have taken the next couple of days off I am hoping it will continue.  [queue thunder storms]

The remaining baby rabbits continue to grow and thrive.  In their defence we are giving the dogs free reign to keep cats out of the garden.  Not that they will catch them or actually do anything to them if they do get close enough, but they are a good deterent.  I know that my last post sounded like I was declaring war on the cats, but I would not actually do anything to then other than maybe try to give them a fright by spraying them with water or throwing a ball at them badly - couldn't hit them if I tried...

This summer marks is a strange landmark for us - next summer will see our two eldest getting ready to move on to new things - Number One Son will be heading to Uni (probably at the other end of the country) and our daughter will be moving to college (still living at home but travelling each day).  Amazing how they grow up isn't it?  This is starting to become new territory for us - things we didn't get to with our first daughter, which is also a strange feeling.  The younger ones are overtaking where she got to.  A strange feeling.

Anyway, back to now!  Had a great barbeque on Sunday - cooked fish for the first time, and it was great.  Definitely going to do some more next time - so fresh, light and healthy.  Perfect for a hot summers day.

Have a great day!  Back on Friday!  See you then!

Sigh...

The weekend was generally great - a good shopping trip on Saturday, a great day in the sun on Sunday, including a barbeque, but this was all brought down by the discovery that one of the local murdering b$£%&^d cats had somehow managed to kill Runt (just renamed Button).

We are not sure how it happened, as we could not find any way in or out of the run, but somehow the cat got him and took him home as a prize for its owner.

That cat had better stay well clear of me for a very long time...

Too cute...

The rabbits continue to thrive.

Panda, Bubbles (mom) and Auntie Buttercup.

Runt - or Half-pint as I am trying to get him renamed.

Bubbles (mom) and 3 of her 4 babies.

Panda showing that he isn't scared of Frou Frou.

****************************

The weekend approaches - hoping for a fairly relaxed one, but Saturday is looking quite busy - going clothes shopping with Mrs RC and 2 of the kids.  Must remember to get some new jeans, cycling is taking its toll on my old ones.  They always go in the same place - must be the friction on the saddle!

Have a great weekend!



Life is Good!

Yes, life is good right now!

The kids are all going great guns - my younger son is on a trip to London today, my daughter is getting ready for her Geography trip to Wales (yes Wales has lots of Geography!) and Number One Son is spending his spare time teaching himself various bits of computer programming!

The rabbits continue to do well (Mrs RC is watching them like a hawk, making sure nothing happens to them) - we now have tentative names:  Houdini (the one who left the nest first and also the one who finds ways out of the run...), Panda because he/she has black eyes and ears but no other face markings, Lindt because he/she has brown markings and Lindt make chocolate rabbits at Easter) and Runt because he is smaller than the rest.  Trying to think of a nicer name for Runt...

I might be getting a new guitar soon - I have checked out the local guitar shops and found one that I really like - a beautiful white one.  More on this if/when I get it!

I also  made my first map using my dissertation data!

This map uses data for 9 years comparing the number of new/expanding companies with the number of closing/contracting companies, ending just before everything went bad.  The map has 6 categories of location.

White - not a big enough population to be included.

Yellow - "Average".

Pink - well below average change - stable/stagnating.

Red - declining.

Light green - dynamic - lots of change.

Dark green - boom - lots of growth, little decline.

Please let me know if anything looks wrong to you - I might need to check my data AGAIN!  But it seems to match what I have been lead to expect.

One slight disappointment was that I did not win the £89 million on the lottery.  I won a mere £2.70 which I spent on a couple of bottles of Coke.  Ah well, it is only money!

Right!  Back to it!

Rabbit Movie

As promised...

The weekend was busy and went quite well - except for the weather which failed to comply with any of our plans.

Friday was rained off, so we had a lazy day at home - we read, chatted, I painted toy soldiers and made pizza.  Although not the day we had planned it was much nicer than letting it pass as just another Friday.

Saturday I was taking part in the Uni Open Day, delivering my presentation twice - second time at double speed which was a daunting prospect but actually seemed to work well in the end.  One of the parents even got talking to me after and asked about how HE could learn to do maps on the computer!

Sunday the barbeque was rained off so we did it indoors on the griddle - still very good.  I also roasted a chicken which I basted in a mix of soy sauce, chili and paprika.  Ooooh Yeah!  That was good.

Sunday was Fathers Day, of course, and I got a nice bunch of presents including a Thin Lizzy t-shirt - love it.  I put it on and played a few old Lizzy songs on my guitar to celebrate.

Sunday was also the day that the rabbits got moving too, as shown above.  Great to see them all looking so healthy and ready to take on the world!  Now we are waiting for the chance to get them sexed and arrange precautions to prevent a further population explosion!

Have a great day - I am doing the lottery tonight - the jackpot is £89 million...  Wish me luck!

The Rabbits are growing - 3 weeks old today!

After a few days of little activity, yesterday (Fathers' Day) saw major activity with all 4 babies venturing out.  Here are a few photos I got - will try to post some video tomorrow.

Weekend - ish...

 Having a split weekend this week.

The Uni has a Open Day on Saturday (all hands on deck) so I am having tomorrow off instead.  Worked out quite nicely, actually, as tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of my daughter's death - Mrs RC and I are hoping for some reasonable weather so we can go for a cycle ride to where we used to live when our daughter was young.  Neither of us have been back since we left so it will be a strange experience, but hopefully a good one.


The battle with our 6 year old debt is about to come to an end - wow, it will feel really good to finally nail that one. 


Might be getting a new guitar soon too.  I have started looking around and found a really nice white one.  A few more shops to check out though so not committing myself just yet. 


The rabbits are still refusing to leave the nest - if they appear over the weekend I will post photos.  I have a feeling that it will be real mayhem when they do finally make the move.


Have a great weekend!  See you next week.