Not An Happy Bunny!

 Someone or some people close to me bought me a brand new laptop computer a couple of years ago.

I very rarely used it because I am always using my phone or my tablet to read and write on.  Just after Christmas I noticed that both of my electronic devices needed to be charged.  So I pressed the switch on the laptop and nothing happened.  I notice there was no led light flashing either.  So I plugged in the cable and plug and attempted to charge my laptop.  An hour later and it was still dead.

I unplugged the laptop and noticed a stain and smelled it.  My suspicions were right.  CAT PEE!

One of our many cats had decided to wee on my laptop.  Perhaps it didn't  like my blog posts? Number 2 son took it to a computer repair shop and they phoned us today to tell us it's dead!  They said they didn't want anything for looking at it.

Fortunately I haven't lost my new book I'm writing and another one I have been redrafting.  They  say don't  work with animals and children don't they? I would say don't try to write when you have cats kipping on your laptop.

See you tomorrow.

Last Of Our Snow Patrol In Killarney.

I think YP and me get the same ether and muse for our blog subjects at times.  He's just wrote a similar post to mine.

A pile of snow in Deer Park retail shopping centre in Killarney.  

There's free parking and stores like: Boots, Dealz, Pet Mania, Mountain Warehouse and Mark's and Spencers to name a few.

We had a ride over to Killarney the other day.  They had proper snow.  At least a foot or more in places. Up on the hills there we saw little white patches of snow.  Spots instead of blots on the landscape.

Where we live down in West Cork on the Gulf Stream we only had talcum powder sprinkling nay dusting of snow.

Any road.  I spotted this ever decrease pile of snow in the carpark waiting to thaw.  It will never be a snow man.

The old mental jukebox began to play in my head.  Have you heard of Snow Patrol?  They are from Northern Ireland and Scotland.

I read somewhere  online that for thirteen years they never really made it and played to audiences of twenty or less.  But they stillcontinued and one day they hit the big time.

'Chasing Cars'  was a massive chart success.  It mentions a dog 🐕 chasing a car.  Rather like a man besotted with a woman.  

Have you ever been infatuated with someone or something?  I would love to have played for Manchester United.   But I don't play a musical instrument😃.

Do you still have dreams or have you fulfilled them or perhaps they don't matter any more?  .

This is what this wonderful song is about: dreams!

See you tomorrow folks!

 

From Hollywood To Loo Bridge.

We are often on the road from Kenmare to Kilgarvan and to Loo Bridge and Killarney especially during the summer.  

In Loo Bridge there was an old train station serving the Tralee line.  Like all good train stations in Ireland it had a pub.  

Up until recent times the pub was still open and some times it had a few famous visitors especially in the early nineteen nineties:

Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan talks to Kerry Independent TD (MP) and Author Michael Healy Rae.   He's famous for his flat cap. 

Tommy Tiernan is Billy Connolly's favourite comedian.  I can see why.  They don't tell jokes they just think out loud sharing their experiences and anecdotes,

Michael Healy Rae stands up for rural Ireland and I have a lot of time for him.  

He reminds me of the Ireland when I was young on holiday  and people found time to stop and talk.  

He once walked past me at a vintage ploughing event in Kerry and said: " Hello" to me.  

Apparently he speaks to everyone he meets.  That's my kind of person and politician with a finger on the pulse.

I think Rachel (The Road To Kazakhstan) will like this video.

Three Ruby Tuesday Songs On A Tuesday. " She Comes And Goes".

 We all know the classic rock song: 'Ruby Tuesday' by English rockers: 'The Rolling Stones.

Apparently Keith Richards composed it when his girlfriend left him and went off with Jimi Hendrix.  Like you do!

Mr Richard's resides or owns a house in West Wittering in Sussex where Kate Winslet and Rodney Trotter also reside.  Regular readers will recall I visited there on my travels around southern England last August.  

' I think  'Ruby Tuesday' or " Ruby Tuesdays' would be a good name for a live music 🎶  venue or even a clothes boutique.

Any road or any way here's 3 versions of the song.  Please tell me which one you like the most:

The original version.

Irish band: 'The Corrs' version.

Apparently they played Bantry Mussel Fair in the nineties and it was the biggest thing to happen in West Cork since Rory Gallagher and Thin Lizzy played the Mountain Dew Festival at Macroom Castle in the seventies.

The Corrs are playing outdoor venues this summer. Cork and Scarborough are two venues I would like to see them.

The Scorpions version.  You have seen them haven't you Dave?  Yeah I saw them at Birmingham NEC many moons ago.  I have also seen former band members  Ulri Jon Roth and  Michael Schenker in their own bands.

What's your favourite version of 'Ruby Tuesday' folks?   I will tell you mine after you have told me yours.

Scenes From A West Cork Polytunnel And Carboot Sales Plant Nursery In January.

 I got tired of looking at what I had for my tea yesterday.  So I have posted this 6 hours early for your perusal.

Back to the grind.

I have not mentioned my perennials on my polytunnel for a while.

The other day it was dry and I decided to start tidying up the perennials in my carboot sale plant nursery.  This use to be two lawns and then I put down some black plastic sheeting and I quickly filled my second hand plant pots with perennials and shrubs that I have propagated myself:

Making a start on the perennials and shrubs.

I have quite a few casualties from the usual very wet winter.  I composted any dead or old plants and saved the plant 🪴 pots to make new plants.  At least they will make space for all the new propagated shrubs and perennials in ye olde polytunnel: " Portugal".

There's quite a lot of new plants overwintering in the polytunnel.  Shall we have a look:

A pretty fully polytunnel.

You can see my poor polytunnel is even more gale damaged since you last saw it.  That's two hoop spaces exposed to the elements now.

There are some very small 🥕 growing in one of the fish boxes.

If you click on the photo and enlarge it. You will see my polytunnel runneth over with potted plants.  I really need to get myself another hobby than plant propagation.  Well I do write blogs most days.

Anyone else turned into a bit of a plantaholic?  

Someone very close to me suggested that I should grow more vegetables and not many people in Ireland are interested in your plants Dave!   It's  true.  They don't seem to be interested in flowers.  

Well they are interested when they are in flower.  Unfortunately flowers are not in flower for eleven months of the year.  

We'll see.  Roll on spring and some carboot sales.  It's horrible and wet today.  Who said they will be glad when the frost is gone?

Cheap Baked Beans.

 We tried some 18 Cents cheap discount supermarket 

Baked Beans for our tea tonight: 

We had a tin of corned beef, chips 🍟 and the cheap Baked Beans 🫘.

What I had for my tea.

My favourite Baked Beans are made in Wigan in Lancashire the town where the best pies 🥧 come from.

Here's a picture of the 18 Cents beans:

Discount supermarket Baked 🫘 Beans.

Would you try them or would you pay 4.99 Euros for four?

Oh to be a fly on the ceiling of expats in a Spanish or Portuguese hotel dining room:

"But they are not proper Beans and it's not like 'our' bacon what we have back at home.  It's that streaky stuff!"

I might have uttered similar words myself.

So dear readers what do you think cheap Baked Beans or the expensive brand?

I will hopefully tell you what I thought of the cheap beans in my comments.

More Smallholding Tight Wad Firewood Making And Thinking About My Grandmother And My Mother.

I was busy the other day chopping up a chair outside.  Like you do! 

It was one that my late dear mother bought us when we moved into our newly built  abode about 20 years ago?  She's still keeping us warm.  

I wrote a similar post a few years ago about us still having my grandmother's hand sewn patchwork quilts  on our beds. Which she had made over fifty years ago.  I said then my grandmother was literally still keeping us warm and she is.

All those long Autumn, Winter and dark Spring nights straining her eyes and hand sewing old materials onto a woollen blanket.  

There was no television in those days or on my phone or tablet reading and writing blogs, surfing the Internet, watching some prog on You Tube and seeing if United had signed a new Ronaldo or Ole yet.  

Back in the day they would listen to the wireless for the news and read an talk and have another cup of tay.  Talk about the weather and go to sleep 

Any way or any road:

The dogs have only decided to chew one of the legs and tear the cloth on the seat covering the upholstery in the Conservatory.

So I took the poor chair outside and gave it a good talking to and promptly dismantled it with my axe:

A chopped up kitchen chair.

It wasn't my Grandfather's axe that I have mentioned before.  The one with 7 new handles and 3 new heads. 😊  It was my car boot special bought axe.

Well that saves buying a net bag of firewood for one night.  Six Euros for a nights warmth.  

Anyone else repurposing their house hold contents for firewood?

Another post tomorrow dear readers.  

It's already written/wrote.  Such are these long winter nights!