Thoughts On Summers Past

On 22/06/2015 By TontowilliamsIn books, Dog, Dogs, Kindle, redundancy

In just under four weeks, I’ll have had my last day in my current job, two weeks after that is my last contractual day. I’ve obviously been thinking a lot about what happens next. My plan (barring a job offer) is to take a few weeks off, while starting job hunting.

In some ways this reminds me of summers of my childhood, with 6 week holiday breaks. I have memories of spending time on boating lakes, at the beach, in the woods; in the garden. Playing by myself, with friends and with the dog(s). When I was older I would head off for long morning walks with the dog, trying to get out and back before it got too hot and the insects started biting. I remember one summer, I would have been 9 or 10, when each morning before I got up, I would read a chapter of “The Hobbitt”.

These are good memories, although I suspect a little enhanced by the passage of time. I don’t expect this summer will be much in comparison. There will undoubtedly be dog walks and books to read, but an element of my focus needs to be on finding my next job. I appreciate that the job market is quieter over the summer, but I’ll still be looking. Maybe I’ll find something different or something the same to what I do now, really now my options are open.

Weekend Round-Up

On 25/05/201525/05/2015 By TontowilliamsIn Dog, Dogs, Fork To Fork, Garden / Allotment, Life, redundancy, Simple Things, writing

We’ve been having a few issues with our broadband connection, which has meant limited internet time and speed, so although I was going to try and upload a video this weekend, I’ve not been able to. I will however try a few photographs.

It’s another bank holiday weekend so it’s meant an opportunity to spend more time than a regular weekend on the allotment. The weeds seem be growing exponentially, and are certainly growing faster than the food crops at the moment. I spent some time on Saturday just weeding. I’d planned to do some other things, but at the moment, it’s important to try and get ahead of the weeds, otherwise they’re going to crowd out the other plants. I feel like I made good progress, but there is always more to do!

Last weekend I planted some Cavolo Nero and Brussels Sprout plants which seem to have all taken well. These were followed this weekend with some Celeriac. The plot is looking quite full now, which is good. I harvested the first of the broad beans, which although were probably on the small side, were very sweet tasting.

Back in the garden I moved on the tomato plants that I’d been given, into their final growing spot. To do so, I had to move the last of the overwintering plants out of the potting shed to make room for them.

I wasn’t going to bother with tomatoes this year, having had such a bad season last year and I didn’t therefore grow any from seed, however as a fellow allotmenteer gave me some plants, I thought why not. One of the plants even has a small tomato on it already!

Monday is a Bank Holiday, so that’s given me more garden time. I’ve spent this morning clearing around the slabs in the back garden. I checked back through my notes and it’s only three weeks since I last did this, so I can see it’s going to be a regular occurrence if I want to keep the backyard pristine through the summer and not use any chemicals (which I don’t want to do).

I know the time span because I’ve been journalling more than I ever have done before. I’m finding that I’m quite enjoying recording my thoughts and observations, and I haven’t kept a proper paper journal for many years, probably since I took up blogging. I think it means that I remember far more when I come to sit down in front of the computer than I would otherwise.

I took a break from the gardening to finish a job application. My redundancy date isn’t that far away, so I’m taking more time to job hunt. I’m hoping to get a bit of a break over the summer, but don’t plan or want to be out of work for too long.

Anyway there’s still a lot of Monday left, and I’m intending to tackle the front garden this afternoon. I need to clear back some of the front border as it’s encroaching on the pavement a little, and again there is some clearing around paving slabs to be done as well as a few other tasks.

The Dogs Are Quite Content To Watch What's Going On. — The Dogs Are Quite Content To Watch What’s Going On.

Preparing a “Lost Dog” Poster Before You Lose Your Dog

On 13/03/2015 By TontowilliamsIn Dog, Dogs, pupdate

I’ve based this post on one that I read some time ago, but now can’t find the original post to link to / reference. If I find it again I’ll update the post.

This might seem counterintuitive, but why would you want to prepare a lost dog poster before you actually lose your dog?

Well simply put, it you are unfortunate enough to lose your dog you’ll have other things to do; phoning / visiting local rescue centres / vets, informing the police and lost dog websites, searching for your missing dog.

If you’ve prepared a poster in advance it’s one less thing to do, plus if you’re away from home and the file is stored in the cloud you should be able to access it more easily.

Keep the details simple; description of the dog, colour, breed, age, sex (incl. neutered if applicable & male), name. Use a couple of pictures, but not too many as they take up space, a couple of reasonable sized pictures are better than lots of small ones that are difficult to see. Include your contact details, preferably mobile phone numbers so that anyone can contact you if you’re out searching. Leave a space for last seen, which can be completed just before printing. Keep the poster to A4 size, as this is the size that nearly every printer uses.

If you also belong to a pet finder website such as Dog Lost, then you can pre-populate your information on there too. Again this will save time in the unfortunate event that you need to use the site.

Finally remember to check and update your posters occasionally to make sure phone numbers, pictures and other details are accurate. This is particularly important for puppies and young dogs as they will change considerably as they grow.

Hopefully the worst thing you have to deal with is preparing posters that you never use.

Birthday

On 09/03/2015 By TontowilliamsIn Dog, Dogs, Simple Things2 Comments

It’s my birthday today. Had a great day not doing much. A nice afternoon dog walk, before the weather turned. Great birthday presents and birthday cake.

Ruby – 9 Months, 9 Photos

On 05/03/2015 By TontowilliamsIn Dog, Dogs, pupdate

2014 Review and a Look Ahead

On 27/12/201429/11/2018 By TontowilliamsIn Annual Review, books, Film, Life

I don’t tend to do review of the year posts each year, sometimes I’ll take a theme and just cover that, other times I won’t bother at all. The latter is more often the norm. 2014 however has been a “bit of a year” for me. So I thought I’d just write out a few highlights and one or two low bits too for good measure.

Work

I’d say that the year as a whole has been backdropped by work-life balance, with the balance being unevenly tilted towards work. I’ve had to reapply for my job as part of a restructure, and it’s been pretty full on. I’ve been offered voluntary redundancy twice (and we’re just going for a third round now), I’ve not applied on both occasions, but am giving the third time some serious consideration.

Life

On the life side of the scale it’s been a tiring year. I’ve done far less, due to pressures of work than I would like. I’ve noticed that I’ve been far less present on social media platforms, as well as reading less books and generally having less time for relaxation.

We lost Sparky our elder dog back in March, and then got Ruby at the end of June. I still miss Sparky every day, and things still feel very empty without him around. Wilson has taken well to being the older dog, and I’m really pleased and impressed with the way he’s turned out into such a well rounded dog.

Allotment

The allotment has been going along quite happily, it’s not been the best of years, but it’s been far from the worst, and I’m setting a good basis for next year. I’ve managed a few video posts, and have a year ending one to go up, as soon as it’s posted to YouTube.

Books

As I mentioned I’ve read far less than I have done in previous years, mainly due to having less free time. I would however single out a few books I’ve read (I read these in 2014, but they may not have been published this year) to mention here:

The House of Dolls by David Hewson – There’s no such thing as a bad book by David Hewson, and this new series set in Amsterdam has all the hallmarks of being fantastic. This first in the series is excellent and I look forward to reading the next one, hopefully in 2015.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline – This took me back to my childhood and the computer games that I used to play.

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly – The latest Harry Bosch, and a great addition to the canon, and likely to be a milestone step in the series. I’m not sure where Michael Connelly is going next here, but there are a number of options, and again I look forward to the next in the series. (I also loved the Amazon pilot of Bosch, and can’t wait for the full series).

Films

Again, a few to single out (and again I watched them in 2014, but they may have been released before that year):

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Only recently watched this, but I loved the direction that the movie went in following on from the previous one, and abandoning the Charlton Heston era movies (and the awful Mark Wahlberg remake).

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – I love the Marvel movies (and the comic books too), and I’ve seen a few others this year as well; Thor: The Dark World and The Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s a close choice between Capt. and Guardians, but again, I think the way that the story and characters have been bought on since the first Captain America movie, plus Avengers: Assemble give this one the edge.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Loved this. Wasn’t sure that it would ever work as trilogy of films, but it does. Looking forward to the final film too, although that will be a 2015 watch for me.

Godzilla – A remake that remain truer to the original and a great film.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – I’ve never read the books, but love the films, again looking forward to the final two parts of this series too.

And Looking Ahead to 2015?

I’m not sure what 2015 holds. More upheaval at work I expect, and I need to make a decision about voluntary redundancy again. There will also be more books to read and more films to watch. I don’t really do resolutions, but I’ve got a few aims for 2015.

Be more balanced of temper. I think in part 2014 has been characterised by me having a shorter fuse than usual. I’m not happy about this, so want it to change. More counting to ten I suspect in 2015.
Better work – life balance than above.
Read more, although be realistic about what’s achievable. I also want to get through the “To Be Read” backlog mountain. Although I’m not setting any firm systems in place to do this as I have in the past.
Have a good year on the allotment, and try to keep a better photo and video record of what’s going on there.
Write more. Both blog posts, but also get back into writing properly.

There are lots of other things in my head (you could always add; lose weight, be fitter etc) but the above are the main aims.

Ruby Pupdate

On 05/12/2014 By TontowilliamsIn Dog

Ruby is going on 7 months old. Here are a few photos:

Allotment Update 18th October 2014 & A Walk In The Rain

On 19/10/2014 By TontowilliamsIn Dogs, Garden / Allotment, Video

I thought it had been a couple of months since I last did an allotment video, I didn’t realise that actually I haven’t recorded one since the middle of July. Anyhow despite that, here’s one from yesterday.

I also ended up taking a longer than expected dogwalk in the rain later in the day, and here are a few photos from that. I have to say I actually enjoy walking in the rain, I find it therapeutic somehow. I seem to notice more of the world around me than I do normally.

Make Your Own Dog Treats

Time Travel

On 13/10/2014 By TontowilliamsIn Dogs

I’ve been using an app – Timehop – on my phone for a few months. Every so often, it throws up something that I forgotten about. Today it was the holiday we had 12 months ago. It was a very relaxing week and the last holiday we had with our dog Sparky. Sometimes this app knows how to really stab at the heart.