July 31, 2007, 9:43 pm : Missing a friend
Filed Under: FriendsDiscussion: C[0]mments
One of my friends went to Australia for a month 3 weeks ago, she’ll be home soon but I’m really missing her a lot. If I heard right she is spending half her time counting birds nests and clearing weeds from swamps to protect rare orchids and the rest of the time doing the tourist thing, seeing the cities and wild life. She will be very welcome home, I can’t wait to give her a nice big hug. But for now I’ll have to wait and settle for a cuddly koala or two.
July 28, 2007, 2:06 am : 18. Donate blood
Filed Under: 94 ThingsDiscussion: C[0]mments
I got my official organ donation card in the post yesterday. It’s not exactly the same as blood donation but it’s close, except the list is for things to do before I die whereas to donate my organs I will have to be dead. But never mind that, it’s a step in the right direction at least.
Also, I sent a lotto ticket to one of my friends (#63) last week, it lost, and I went swimming again yesterday(#61).
July 21, 2007, 12:39 am : 61. Start swimming again
Filed Under: 94 ThingsDiscussion: C[0]mments
Done.
Went swimming after I found out the art group I go to was closed for the day. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep going. They only do a women only day on Friday at the same time as the art group, but I’m going to try to balance the two.
July 19, 2007, 11:22 pm : Home and rested at last
Filed Under: Friends, Pets, Random LifeDiscussion: C[0]mments
From last Friday, until yesterday, I was yet again in London with my best friend, Robin. Of course I’ve barely had 2 minutes to myself when I’ve been awake enough and relaxed enough to settle back in. My week away was both fun and stressful. Robin and I met up with a few other friends on the Saturday. We pick them up from various stations and eventually had a few drinks in a pub just outside St. James park. Robin and I left early to take two others to their train home from Paddington. We then slept for most of Sunday. Monday we met with a few less of the same friends, we went all the way to Essex to meet up and then back in to London to pick up two of their suitcases. We had a couple more drinks before heading our own ways. We were supposed to meet up again on Tuesday before the last people went home but were both too tired to go out so spent another day resting.
The whole week was stinking hot (and I really mean stinking). The tube is not very fun in heat, and neither was the train ride home. Of course once the train got into Devon I started to notice the big black cloud following us.
My sister picked me up from the station and we chatted about the week, what we’d each been doing, how the pets were etc. At this point I was smelly and tired and just wanted a shower and a nap, but upon getting home I was told the boiler was broken, so no shower, and the mess in my room the rabbit left was so bad I couldn’t rest until I had cleaned it. I then had to unpack and take my washing downstairs (I generally leave unpacking for a few weeks but the case was bigger than normal and couldn’t just be stored). And after all that, when I could finally lie down, which is when my second wind kicked in, I was still exhausted, but just couldn’t settle to sleep. I tried to play a game with Robin but it wouldn’t connect, so we chatted on Skype for a bit until I could finally sleep.
As for today, I was meant to have an appointment with my social worker, but I didn’t get up soon enough to drive my sister to work so I could have the car for the day. So I missed that and had to rearrange for next month. I slept most of the day and as soon as I got up I had to sort out the cages and my room. I of course, being me, forgot I needed to go out for more sawdust and had the guinea and rabbit out of the cage and bagged all the old bedding before I remembered. I had to make a quick run to Tesco for an over priced bag and rush back again to finish cleaning out. Once I was done with the cages, I had to vacuum the floor, which is something I’ve done more regularly since bringing Franc home (straw gets everywhere while she’s out of the cage).
After all that I was able to have a nice hot shower and get rid of that horrible sticky feeling from the hot days.
So finally I am done, I can rest in my own clean room where I feel comfortable. Of course, I do wish I could still be at my friends house, his company is better than any.
July 17, 2007, 5:45 pm : Starting off
Filed Under: 94 ThingsDiscussion: C[0]mments
Since I now have my list of 80 to-do’s, I had better keep tract of what I’ve already done or am planning.
From the top of the list down, I am hoping to go to Iceland for my birthday in November, so will hopefully see the Aurora then. (#1)
I have started a blog to keep track of how things are going with the old pets home project. (#2)
I called the people at the blood donor place awhile ago, I registered and they said I would be sent a sort of welcome pack, but that hasn’t come so I’ll get back on to them as soon as possible. (#18)
And I have taken a photo every day for the last 4 days on a disposible camera and will continue to do so until the camrea runs out after 39 pictures. (#44)
Will update again as soon as possible.
July 15, 2007, 12:03 am : 80 94 things to do before I die
Filed Under: 94 ThingsDiscussion: C[0]mments
There are loads of books of things to do before you die, websites too, mostly with a number around 100 at the start of the title. I even own one, it came free with a magazine. Some of the things in it are very interesting, so I will steal a little from there, but some things on this list are just things I want to do. Oh, and I could only come up with 80 for myself, but that’s still quite a lot when you think about it, esspecially when some lists only have 10!
Here’s hoping i didn’t repeat any:
1. See the Aurora Borealis
2. Set up a home for older pets
3. Visit New Zealand
4. Swim in a bioluminesent bay
5. Adopt or foster children
6. Write something worthwhile
7. Own a house
8. Walk on Lava
9. Swim with dolphins
10. Grow a sunflower
11. Learn French again
12. Buy the DVD’s of all my old videos
13. Learn to drive a motorbike
14. Walk through a proper waterfall
15. Write a will and include a charity
16. Sleep under the stars for a night
17. Find and, at least, write to my uncle Tim
18. Donate blood
19. Do something good for someone I don’t know
20. Watch the sunrise on a beach
21. Ride in a horse-drawn carrage
22. Take a proper photography course
23. Hold a bird of prey
24. Go back to school
25. Teach
26. Buy a plant and keep it alive
27. Go for a proper walk on the Moors
28. Read the Bible until I can’t stand any more
29. Ride a horse at sunset on a beach
30. Stroke a killer whales tongue
31. Watch a lightning storm at sea
32. Learn the constellations by heart
33. Buy a sandwich in a shop and give it to a homeless person
34. Fly a plane
35. Eat an unusual species (non-endangered)
36. Clean up a natural area
37. Take a first aid course
38. Buy a balloon from a seller on the street and give it to the first kid I see (with parents permission)
39. Build a bird house
40. Be vegetarian for a month
41. Visit my old schools
42. Write my family tree
43. Meet a bonobo
44. Take one photo a day for a month with a disposible camera
45. Plant a tree
46. Help someone with a mental illness
47. Kiss someone under mistletoe
48. Work on a farm
49. Make and bury a time capsule
50. Volunteer
51. Visit a graveyard and tidy up some forgotten graves
52. Learn Chinese
53. Keep a small flower garden
54. Go canoeing
55. Have a picnic with friends
56. Send shoe boxes to Africa
57. Make a scrapbook
58. Give a bunch of flowers to a random stranger
59. Live aborad
60. Learn more about Buddhism
61. Start swimming again
62. Walk more
63. Send Friends Lotto tickets
64. Enter a photography competition
65. Spend a night in a tree
66. Go to New York
67. Sheer a sheep
68. Milk a cow
69. Help build a house
70. Own a newfoundland
71. Learn to knit
72. Hold a snake
73. Holiday in a caravan
74. Backpack around the country
75. Sit in a feild for a day reading
76. Build a natrual shelter and sleep there for a night
77. See Rocky Horror live
78. Grow my own vegetables
79. See a rainforest
80. Take up horse riding
**UPDATE**
81. Visit Easter Island
82. See Niagara Falls
83. Visit New England in Autumn
84. Go to the Grand Canyon
85. See giant redwoods
86. Go to the Great Wall
87. Visit Polonnaruwa (Sri Lanka)
88. Visit Tad Lo Falls
89. See the Plain of Jars (Laos) with a guide
90. Photograph Notre Dame
91. Go to the Rhine Valley
92. Visit the Giant’s Causeway
93. Visit Stonehenge
94. Visit Prague
I will be posting about these things if and when I ever manage to do them. I have actually started #44, I took a rather random photo yesterday and will do another later today.
July 9, 2007, 5:36 pm : Random Funny Picture
Filed Under: Cute, FunDiscussion: C[0]mments
July 9, 2007, 5:02 pm : Better picture of Franc
Filed Under: Cute, PetsDiscussion: C[0]mments
She’s settling in well. She loves running around my room, and when she isn’t doing that she likes to sit on top of the guinea pig house.
Thinking about it, I haven’t posted an updated picture of Honey since I got her. She’s a bit of a wriggler so its hard to get a good shot, but here is one of her right before she fell off the wheel.
July 5, 2007, 4:14 am : Bunny Rabbit
Filed Under: About Me, Cute, PetsDiscussion: C[0]mments
I had my day nicely planed out on Tuesday. First i had to drop my sister into work so i could have the car for the day. Then i had to go to the doctors office to pick up a letter, then back to town. I parked in the mall and walked the short distance to Blue Banana, went to the back of the shop and asked for my eye brow to be pierced. They told me the room was being disinfected but i could fill out the forms and pay then and come back at midday. It was a little longer than i had thought, but i went window shopping in the mall as i had planed to do after i got my eye brow done. It had been suggested i have something to eat before i went back so i had an early lunch then headed over.
Long story short, i bled, a lot. I’d had it pierced before but that fell out, so the new one went through scar tissue, which hurts as well as bleeds. But it does look good in my opinion, it’s purple and in my left eye brow.
I intended to spend the rest of my day doing art at my local Mind, i don’t normally go on a Tuesday, but thought i would for a change. Of course as soon as i got there i was told the art group was cancelled due to lack of staff and everyone had to be gone by 2pm, this was about 12.30pm so i decided to sit there and chat a little until 2 so i actually had something to do before having to pick my sister up at 5.15.
Of course, after i left the group i still had 3hrs to kill so thought i would go to the market at the bottom of town. This is where things went wrong in a very good way. There is a pet shop in the market, which i don’t like very much. I got my hamster there and still feel she was too young to have been sold. Another thing i dislike about it is the tiny cages they put rabbits and guinea pigs in. One of the cages is at most 2 foot by 2 foot and tucked under a load of other cages so it’s almost out of sight. In there was a small silver rabbit hardly moving. I did ask if she was ok in there and they told me she was fine, they just told me they sulk when in smaller cages, my only thought was, “of course, they have no space for anything else.” I thought a while about if i could afford to keep a rabbit and in the end i just thought i had to get the poor thing out of the tiny cage, if it then turned out i wasn’t able to look after her i would find her a good home that could. So i paied for her and told the shop staff i would be back about 4.30 to pick her up so she didnt have to stay in a(n even smaller) box for too long. I walked around the market a bit but that doesn’t take long so soon enough i was sat outside the pet shop just waiting. After a while though, the keeper came out to me and explained that the breeder had called and was worried about the rabbit, they weren’t well and wouldn’t be sold to anyone, the breeder was coming in to take them back and bringing two healthy ones with her. I said i would have a look at them and decide if i still wanted one (i was thinking that if they were the same sex they would both go in the larger cage so i would leave them, but different sexs i would take the female (so the temperment is more likely to be suitable with the guinea pigs). It turned out it was a boy and a girl, both completly black, netherland dwarf / lionhead crosses. They were beautiful, but i could only take one and the girl was kept aside for me. It wasnt too long from then until i had to get my sister so i got the rabbit box and walked back to the car. Securing the box in the front seat i drove to the car park by my sisters work and got out the bunny to hold while i waited.
She was late coming out, and in that time i saw an old science teacher come and go from the car park and even had someone mistake the rabbit for a puppy, but they still thought she was very cute. Finally my sister came out, but once she saw the rabbit she asked a bit about it then asked to take it in to her office to show some people how cute she was. Few minutes later she was back in the car and we headed home.
I think the rabbit softened the blow of the metal in my head, there were fewer comments on that than the new fluff ball. She settled in very well to her new home and is getting along great with Shammy and Connie.
So, here is the latest member of my furry family, Franc the rabbit:
And to explain the name, like with pork products for hamsters and cosmetics for guinea pigs, rabbits are named after money as males are bucks and females are does. Don’t worry, the logic works for me!