4.11.2025

 ~o~

  Tuesday 4th 52F/11C [7.45] A grey, windy day is offered. Just under 12C/53F all day. 65F/18.3C i the room. It was 69F/20.6C at bedtime. I let the stove go out early. 

 Up at 6.50 after a quiet night with weird dreams.

 No walk. I was getting ready to go to my English friend. I drove over there. Grey and breezy.

13.00 Back again with a load of shopping. Plastic carrier bags are not UV stable. I collected some from the balcony room to stock up the car. The bag literally fell in half as I loaded it from the checkout belt! I'll have to check the rest of the bags for tensile strength. They are all years old. The car engine was missing on the way home. Not badly but noticeable. 

 I tidied up the aquarium plants. Many had not been de-potted from purchase. I was surprised that most were tropical according to the labels. When I had specifically asked for cold water plants. Only the Elodea is hardy and growing well in the greenhouse pond. So much so that it is an illegal pest to buy and sell it in some countries. Where it has swamped waterways with unchecked growth. The room is just warm enough. To be at the bottom of the tolerable temperature range for those plants I checked. [20/68F]

 I have lit the stove. A rise of a couple of degrees F is enough to take off the chill. 

 

  ~o~

 

 

 

3.11.2025 And then there were four.

 ~o~

  Monday 3rd 44F/6.7C [7.50] A mixed day of showers, possible sunshine and steady rain later. 66F/19C in the room. It reached 72F/22C last night thanks to the stove.

 Up at 7am after waking earlier and drifting. For all my irritation at lying awake I was completely unaware of the bright orange, flashing lights of the recycling lorry. The cameras recorded it with a quarter of an hour interval at the front and back of the house. Albeit at a distance of one hundred and two hundred meters distance. A male pheasant has taken up residence in the area. He keeps triggering the camera's AI software. I just watched him ponder on escaping over the hedge. Finally he jumped and was gone.

 I am expecting a parcel. The delivery company is, yet again, demanding my presence. Is there any other commercial business? Which can dictate a home owner make themselves available. Only to regularly fail to deliver on their side of the contract. May I go for my morning walk? They state only from 8-16.00 in their virtual missive. From previous experience I would hazard an after lunch audience.

 I decided to go anyway. No birds of prey visible. Though one was calling from behind the dense, roadside hedge. A gaggle of geese flew over. Sunny periods but rather cloudy. 

 9.10 My parcel arrived just as it became very dark. 

 15.00 I now have four security cameras covering the entire circumference of Chez Hovel. The last two were very inexpensive. Having recently been replaced by updated models. They still provide all that I require in image quality and night vision. With high scores on reviews.

I hope to catch, on camera, whatever is digging under the fiberglass pond. 

Dinner was a salmon pasty with chips and gravy. 

 

  ~o~

2.11.2025 Life is silly.

 ~o~

  Sunday 2nd 50F/10C [7.40] A grey, windy day with possible showers.

 Up at 7am. 

 I had a half hour brisk walk but there were no birds of prey this morning. I looked for the queue for a wildlife refund but it was Sunday. I also live right in the middle of nowhere. So being realistic.. it wasn't really going to happen. Like so many other things in my life. It tried to rain but gave up when I pressed on.

 For some unknown reason YouTube is suddenly flooding me with home improvement videos. When I would much rather be watching something else. Like how not to kill my plants. I was advised to bring my outdoor plants into the greenhouse for protection. Do they want or even need protection? Apart from protection from my haphazard watering routines of course.

 11.30 It appears to be brightening up. Blue holes are leading to brief sunny intervals. It didn't last.

 16.30 Back from town with plastic storage baskets and network cables. There is a group of big shed outlets open on Sundays. Very handy. The sky was black in the west as I left each shop doorway. Though it stayed dry. 

 Dinner was sausage on toast. Yes, I know it is very silly but the sausage was past it's 'best by' date. I added brown sauce for a touch of sophistication.

 

 ~o~