[Womble]

Repairing last winter's erosion down by the burn in the bottom field.

I think we may now have the only gabions in the valley  .

[waterbuffalofarmer]

making doughnuts, I enjoyed it immensely   Organizing a date for animal health to blood test the heifers which have just been imported, they do it to all cattle/buffalo which have been imported from Europe, although they underwent these tests before leaving for here the animal health insist on testing them at least twice since arrival, don't ask me why when they are all clear   Trying not to get mad over a silly guy who is unwilling to pay the lowest price I can muster on 2 heifers Keep temper I keep telling myself, makes me feel terrible inside as I want to desperately tell him what i think, but that is not good business at all. If he doesn't want to pay he isn't having them simple as, I am pretty sure if he doesn't want to pay a decent price he can't be good welfare wise and they need a 5 star home, so no compromises, they mean too much to me for me to take risks. Really enjoying reading through these subjects today on the forum, very enlightening, whilst my back is still on the mend.

[Rupert the bear]

Entertaining the Openreach engineer, who has come to sort the broad band , again . But he has fitted a "box" of some sorts in preparation of fiber coming ( although there is some debate .but BT and openreach are adamant it will happen next February ) probably some sort of voodoo magic and a cable with copper cables and optical cable combined and not the procession of packet bearing lemmings that I am operating on at present !

yours  >steaming along at 224Kbps

Ps I saw on ebay some emergency semaphore flags, might be worth a punt , just for emails of course.


Can you tell I'm not happy ?   

[waterbuffalofarmer]

 Sorry to hear you both havent had very good days recently and I hope it will be solved soon!  sending big hugs to you both Today not much really, been sorting out one of the bulls who has caught a chill and has had a high temp, he should be well soon! Its all these weather changes, although they have shelter I suspect, as he is a softie, he has been bullied by a cow. Checked sheep and ram is getting on with his job pressure washed a trailer, then relaxed. I think I have a cold coming on, as brother who recovered from pneumonia has just picked a cold up and it has gone to his chest, he is fine though and is being plied with vitamins, honey and lemons, tinctures, and a cough mix for the bronchials, it opens them up and helps bring the stuff up. 20 drops in a glass of water 2-3 times daily, it really brings up the mucus, my chest is almost clear now, as this virus took longer as it was harder to shift. Just going to relax before bed now, as back is still killing me

[Rupert the bear]

Entertaining the Openreach engineer, who has come to sort the broad band , again . But he has fitted a "box" of some sorts in preparation of fiber coming ( although there is some debate .but BT and openreach are adamant it will happen next February ) probably some sort of voodoo magic and a cable with copper cables and optical cable combined and not the procession of packet bearing lemmings that I am operating on at present !

yours  >steaming along at 224Kbps

Ps I saw on ebay some emergency semaphore flags, might be worth a punt , just for emails of course.


Can you tell I'm not happy ?   

You too huh?  I've had years of problems (along with many of the neighbours) that culminated in the Community Council surveying us all to find out the issues and escalating them to Alex Salmond MP...  He sent a 3 page letter back telling me all the things he'd done and they'd said... although I'm guessing from the content he probably didn't write it himself (and if he did then perhaps he should go back to school to study English for a year or two!

Anyway, as part of what he did a new complaint was raised to my ISP (without my knowledge)... that resulted in a whole heap more tests, questions and comments and eventually a hole was dug at the end of my drive/garden... over 2 months ago now.  That hole is still there so I got back in touch with the ISP to find out what was happening.  They didn't know.  They asked BT...   BT didn't know and as we didn't have a job reference or location they couldn't investigate further.  So I risked life and limb (well ok I moved the bollard to get into the 'secured area'), and I got the telegraph pole number from the plates, and I got 2 ticket numbers that were pinned to the pole and sent them back to my ISP.  Who spoke to BT again about the hole... who said they'd send an engineer around to look into it.

Yesterday an engineer came out to look into the hole...  and said it was nothing to do with BT.  He sympathised with me and said, he knew it had been there for a good few weeks because he was working in it himself about 6 weeks before...  BT had asked the civil works contractor to open the hole for them to do the work.  They then have 48 hours and the contractor is supposed to fill it in again.   He suggested I complain to the contractor...

He also mentioned there was another hole just where our road meets the main road. 
"Is that the one with a cone on top of it?" I asked
"Yes, has it been there long?" 
"About 18 months I think.  It was certainly there before last winter because there's normally a pile of sand dumped around that area for gritting, I thought that's what the cone was for; to mark the spot for the sand delivery."

I have to wonder how much an engineer gets paid to go around 'looking into holes' on a Saturday... and whether or not I can get a job doing that.  I could provide the complainant with absolutely no useful information, deny liability and generally waste their time too.

So, do I go back to the ISP and complain again?  Contact the Community Council?  Write to Alex Salmond MP and invite him to come and look into the hole too?  (who said shove him in whilst he's looking?)  Incur the time, cost and frustration of contacting the civil works contractor and making that complaint?  Give up and put up with the hole?

One of the neighbours has given up on broadband and installed satellite... nice to have the money to be able to do that I suppose.

If there's someone bidding against you on the semaphore flags RtB... it may be me!!!

Just out of interest the engineer that came to you , didnt happen to come form Liverpool by any chance ? the one I had was a broadband engineer sent up to this area.

I didnt bother with Alex Salmond MP ( he didnt want to shake my hand when he visited many years ago, well I was in the middle of rodding the drains     

Have you thought of joining the BT community care forum ?     https://community.bt.com/     post on there and eventually   it will get picked up and referred to a moderator and passed on "upstairs"

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Busy day today, had vet out to one of the stock bulls, turns out it was early stage pneumonia in one lung, so vet has given him metacam and he is on a course of AB's and being kept indoors. He is happily munching on hay now Now off to New Quay to pick up an item we just bought, but first to check on Dave our stockram to see if alls well. After that going to check FB to see if there is any news on thr litter of pups which are due to be born this week, as we have reserved one for Jan 2017

[Rupert the bear]

Tidying up out side, no wind , nice crispy frosty day ,no mud . Fed the flock of blackbirds, much time wasting and amusement watching them and the angry robin (who "owns" me)  pestering the ginger Tom.
Then the the joy of going indoors to the warmth of the log burner  a hot cup of tea and the sound of the swans flying overhead.





Back to work tomorrow 

[Rupert the bear]

Computer stuff , backing up to external hard drives , as no doubt we all do  ,,,,,,,  dont we .
 oh and looking at puppys , looking to get another rottie to keep me the other dog company

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Not much today actually..... Catching up with a dear friend of mine, which was lovely, milked early for my brother and messed around with computers for a bit. Looking to build a new pc for myself, so looking for parts about 3-4 years old really, loads of offers, almost all not very good. Then I made dinner, tried talking to my brother, long distance, no response so I have rounded off the evening helping to milk buff, feed animals and then update my FB status and pics. Boring eh?! 

[cans]

Making lemon curd,
shortbread,
tray of caramel slice,
tray of minty slice,
took MIL to hearing clinic (and to get her more Christmas cards in case she needs them - hasn't even started on her list yet )
A few hours at computer study
Finished our card list, OH did most of it this year
And ...... my turn to make tea
Land of nod soon

[Rupert the bear]

sent the Christmas card........  singular,.

[Lesley Silvester]

Visiting Beeducked for the first time in ages. Met the newest goats and had a cheese making lesson. Oh and a delicious lunch - pea and ham soup with bread and goats' cheese.

[Jullienne]

Been very busy this month, what with lambing coming along soon, some of the ewes were caught early So busy prepping for that..... Trying to figure out a plan for the garden this month too Must get a holiday soon, I think all this work and lack of sleep is sending me a little up the wall

[Lesley Silvester]

spending time with my younger son and my granddaughter.

[Rupert the bear]

sitting on my backside in the truck , 6 and a half hours to be precise as I was required to collect and deliver things and stuff to firms that are closed over holiday season..........  poxy planners that "know" best 
Time lost that would be better spent on the croft