Olympic Creatures

Blummin' Eck!  It's absolutely pooping it down with rain...still!   My poor courgettes will drown at this rate.

I have some bean plantlings to plant.  Dare I, given the wet weather?  Might stick them in up at the allotment.  Snail population up there is not as bad as Chez Min.  Loads in the garden.  The little blighters are EVERYWHERE and seem to be made of Olympic material.  . I found one inside the HOUSE the other week..It'd managed to make it's way through the catflap and then UPSTAIRS and was found on the landing dado rail!  Thought 'Right, find Junior and show her our new visitor'.  Came back and it was making it's way back downstairs!  I did evict it to the strains of' 'Eeeeew'  from Junior.

The Olympic Torch is heading our way.  Maybe the snail was sussing out a viewing post?  lol  Anyway, am hoping that we can get to see the Torch when it passes through Hill Billy Land.  

It's all my fault..this rain.   My Dad always joked that it rains when I peg out washing.   I put out a line of washing the other day, to obviously dry...and it remains there....very wet.  At some point I'm going to have to leg it out there and rescue 'me stuff'.  lol 
Junior is busy making a granny square bag for her hols.  It's looking very funky and nice up to press.   In fact, I think it's mega!  She's at her least favourite stage of 'construction'....sewing it all up.  Just had a tantrum...'cos she sewed some squares but managed to sew a right side and a wrong side together...then she did it again!  lol     She intends to line the bag, too and is turning the house upside down to find a complimentary piece of material for this.  No luck yet.  I'm saying nothing.  Keep shtum and keep the old tin hat on...until tantrum head has gone! 

I've finished a crochet cushion cover for t'Shop and am now attempting my second pair of knitted socks.   First pair were in mohair....very toasty as bed socks and mega soft and good at keeping my joints warm...second pair are in bog standard dk...and are in a very fetching neon orange:o)   Is there a market for handmade knitted socks, I wonder?  Putting piccies up on the blog is a pain at the mo.  It costs to send them from my phone....... so there's the camera.    Sigh... Why don't batteries last long enough for me to take a couple of piccies and to then upload 'em?  Maybe I should get my finger out and reinvest in another rechargeable battery unit thingy. 

The 'spook' is about.  Olive cat is alert and growling at thin air.  The other mogs have legged it upstairs.  And where is the dog.....under the desk!  Bless..

Skunk Patrol

Wonder if I could borrow this lot?

It's bogging it down, again.  Courgettes won't need watering then!

EASY MEAL.

Saute a chopped onion in olive oil, add sliced mushrooms and fry until just done.  Season.

Meanwhile, cook some tagliatelle, drain..leaving some of the cooking water.

To the onion and mushrooms (when they are cooked) add a couple of spoonfuls of pesto sauce.  Mix and add to the pasta...slosh in some of the water to the veg and pesto mix if it needs loosening up.  It can be a bit claggy sometimes.

Serve,  Sprinkle on grated cheese if desired...   Really yummy...and cheap!

Wish List

I had a bad day yesterday. 

Emergency doctor called out ...Mother not very well at all...had to drive up the motorway in not so well car to be with and help out, etc...

With our situation here 'back home' and all the obnoxiousness...perhaps earplugs are in order?   And maybe a skunk to patrol the garden boundaries to stave off any penking and tresspassing?  lol 

Pissed Off of Hill Billy Land

I am hoping someone 'up there' will hear my prayer and rid me of my neighbours...as in get them to piiss off and move away/ gag them.....or help us move to 'better pastures'.   Bloody move them or help me move away....please.     

I hate the tittle tattle, malicious gossip of these mindless, rude 'peope'...if you can call them that....people, I mean.  Can't even go in the garden without having to endure the 'over the gardens' tripe that comes out of these peoples' mouths.   They think they own the place and so have the belief that you do as they say.   Sone of these people have had terrible luck in the past. and still do now...seems they deserve it.

Nasty, bitchy, two-faced .

Horrid people.

Arghhhh!!!

Mock

We've been watching Gok Wan's new Chinese Cookery programme (Channel 4) and have made a few of his dishes, which were very nice..especially the Ma Po Tufu.  Anyway, to do this properly, you need the right  ingredients, so we are buying them, bit by bit, week by week.  Scouring the internet for the nearest Chinese supermarket has kept me busy for a bit.  lol    Not many around here in Hill Billy Land.

Well, Junior loves chilli garlic prawns...with coconut rice:o)   It's truly delicious.  So on our last visit to the grocery shops I spied some VEGETARIAN PRAWNS in the freezer dept.  Can you believe that one can buy such things....even vegan prawns, too?   (You can buy mock meat or even make it yourself.  I've never tasted vegan meat substitutes before, though).  I lie...I made some seitan a while back, but it turned out like squash ball in consistency.  Apparently, I didn't braise it long enough.  

And so...what do we think after having indulged in the above Chilli Prawn dish?   I really like them....they look like the real thing.  Smell ok.     They even have that  munch/bite, too.  Not soggy or anything like that.   My plate is clean...not a morsel left.  I forgot to take a photo in my haste.  Dash it!! 

I give the pretend prawns 8/10.  Junior's verdict is 4/10....but she ate most of them!  She likes her meat and will NEVER be a vegetarian, let alone a vegan.

I am happy.  As far as I'm concerned, you prawns of the world can live in peace.  I won't eat you:o)

Good old Linda McCartney.  £2.50 a bag at Tescos..and there were LOADS in the bag.  Never seen them in shops here before, although you can buy different makes off the internet..

FOR THE DISH...We finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic,and sliced 4 spring onions.  Gently fried the 'prawns' for 10-15 mins with the garlic and spring onions.  A few minutes before serving we just sloshed some sweet chilli dipping sauce in and served over Coconut Rice...which is basically rice cooked with a little water and the contents of a tin of coconut milk.  Season the rice, though, or else it can be bland.

On the mechanical front...car is a bit pooped.  Keeps over revving.  It's an automatic..like a go cart!  lol     Big Bro has sent me copy of the car manual to help me suss out the bits under the bonnet so I can, hopefully, sort it out.   Not at the moment, though.  Barmy, potty English weather is at it..again.   Rain, rain, rain.

Anoraks at the ready

Blimey.....It ain't half raining in Hill Billy Land!   As they say...It's ABSOLUTELY bogging it down!!!

Our side roof was damaged by builders employed by the new neighbours..the ones we don't get on with.  No-one has had the common courtesy or decency to repair the damage they caused or pay for the repairs...so when it rains..in it comes.    Big Bro did a temporary repair to tide us over, but that's starting to give way now.  I

Anyhow, being rather peeved at the sight and sound of water cascading into the back passage and especially the garden room and bedraggled cats coming through the catflap, Junior and I donned our weatherproofs and tried to do a repair to the garden room......downpipe and guttering had come away, causing some of the hassle.  We managed to stop the waterfall....thanks to our nice crafting neighbour up the road.  Down she came, armed with another pair of ladders and some polycarbonate sheeting and 15 minutes later...it was done.  We (she and Junior...rickety joints don't let me do things like climb ladders!)  had to stretch across the existing polycarbonate roofing to rejoin the guttering.  So, nice neighbour was at one side...6 feet away from downpipe..and Junior was up ladder No 2 at the front of the downpipe....which was 7 feet away from her.  What do you use in these circumstance to lift up and rejoin so a nice, leak-free, 90 degree join is made?   Washing poles!  Big Bro made me two a while back and they are now currently holding our repair together.  lol  (Best get him to make more.)  Nice, old fashioned wooden washing poles, not those useless, crappy metal jobs.  They acted a bit like giant chopsticks. We even got a water butt set up too...all in the pouring rain!  Knowing our barmy, English weather...it'll be scorching next week, so the saved water will do for the plants.   Nice neighbour is 76!!!!!  Don't know where she gets the energy from. 

So, we sort of dried off...and then I went up to her house, bearing a Thank You gift....Scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam:o)    She played hell with me , saying that she didn't expect a thank you pressie for helping out....but she smiled broadly once she clapped her eyes on our little Thank You 'package'. 

Hope people out there stay safe and as dry as possible.

Wonder if the hosepipe ban will stay?  lol

The Queen's Jubilee weekend was brilliant.  Her Maj did well, considering her age and that Prince Philip was ill.  Junior and I made some red, white and blue bunting.  Put it up at the front windows....and the mogs promptly tried to take it down!  We have balloons outside the front door.   Bit deflated now, though.  Shan't say what they remind me of.  Just think rude!   

Klingon

The dog still refuses to leave my side.

Le Spook is doing my head in.  Elderly semi-feral cat...who NEVER comes to me when called,  is now my new BF.

As I type, Cilla is under my feet.  Shoved herself into the little footwell beneath my desk.  No wonder my feet are becoming deformed.  Can't move for the dog!   Junior still 'arms' herself with the mogs when it's beddybye time..  And every light that the house has... remains ON!!

I am so sleep deprived that I don't give a bugger anymore.  Knock me out with a glass or five of red wine!  (Marks and Sparks do a great Vegan wine.  Beautiful!!!  Fairtrade aswell.)

The pets will only stay downstairs in the living room at night time if we are there with them, otherwise they play up.  Once it's daylight then they're ok....and then they party.   Lttle buggers!  

Up to press, Le Spook is much nicer than neighbours on either side of us.   Maybe he's trying to tell me something?  Anyhow, I love his house.  Knackered and all that  it is......

11.45pm  and Henry is now whining away at Junior's bedrooms door. 'Waaaahhhh....let me in!'    Wuss!

Junior...understandably....not very pleased.   Tell you something you might know.....teenage hormones are kicking in!   Junior has also developed 'selective hearing'.   Ohhh, bliss.  a Spook, neurotis dog and teenage hormones.  Arghhhh!