.... random rants and rambles. no agenda. yet.

It's amazing, the amount of crap that people have thrown on the canal to try and break the ice:

Well, it didn't work. Not even this Christmas tree worked (I know, I know)...

To be fair, though, it probably doesn't weigh nearly as much as it used to, seeing as it's so old and shrivelled and crispy now. Poor thing!

In other news, C and I have realised with much fascination that as our house is south-facing and we live on a hill, we're also on "the right side of the valley". This means we get plenty of sun but if we look out of the window over to the other side of the hill (a mile or so away), everything's frozen and freezing and might as well be in another country. Seriously.

And yes, I know - I'm meant to have blogged about the fifth and last Geocache that we found a week ago. So here is photographic evidence:

Doesn't he look proud?! And so he should, because it was hidden in a really-hard-to-find place, in the middle of nowhere, with lots of rocks and bushes and not even a path. Well, we had to get rid of that blasted Mickey Mouse travel bug thingy that we've had for waaay too long... the Geocaching people will not be happy with us! Now we are travel bug-free and relieved (I wouldn't let C pick up either of the two that were in the cache!)

When we'd done that, we went for a walk on the moors and got a bit lost - as we usually do - which was slightly scary* but excellent for the old stress levels, because if all you can see is this...

... what is there to worry about?

* In my view, the scariest things about moors are boggy bits, which must be crossed either by running lightly or walking very slowly and carefully, depending on various things, just in case you sink in the mud or get chased by a spook. Running aimlessly in a blind panic screaming "CLAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIREEEEEE!" is not advised, because it means you'll lose your sense of direction and henceforth your mind.

So yeah. there are some things to worry about on moors. Luckily, that day was bog-free.

Finally, because this is turning into a really long ramble with no aim, if anyone is thinking of going to see I Am Legend [warning: link makes a noise!], I thoroughly recommend it. Me and C went to see it at the local cinema the other day, and it was SCARY. So scary that we both screamed in places, which was a bit embarrassing, especially as there was an old lady there on her own - on her own?! - and stuff. C was freaked out because no-one told her there were flesh eating zombies in it (you've been warned!) and even more freaked out by the fact that I knew, and I still went along and watched it.

I can be brave sometimes.

Posted by j at 6:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To cut a long, long story short, yesterday we went to a cat rescue place in search of a 3-legged cat called Mandu, but ended up with a different cat, who has 4 legs and is much less grumpy and scary. In fact, he isn't grumpy or scary at all, and is very nice indeed. So without further ado, here he is!

His name? Harry. Oh yes, it is.

As Harry is 12, and has been called Harry for 12 years (as far as we know), we don't feel it's very polite to change his name now. So Harry stays Harry, and the other Harry (who has been Harry for 10 years) also stays Harry. It has been a very Harry-ed weekend, and rather confusing. My sis, who was staying with us, remarked how it's a bit like the two Ronnies. So, for obvious reasons, we have given them surnames, thus "upgrading" them to Harry Barker and Harry Corbett (if anyone wants to know which is which, I will be surprised). They sound like a pair of old men, which is kind of what they are... we're joking that Mr Corbett is here for his retirement, and so he is.

And do our two elderly gentlemen get on? Err, not really. Not yet, anyway. Mr Barker was delighted to see Mr Corbett, who did not share his view, hissing evilly at him in disgust. Mr Corbett, however, seems to really like me and C, which is a little surprising, but helps a lot.

Maybe we'll just call him H.

PS: For the record, we also went geocaching, but couldn't find caches 5 and 6 because the map and the land totally didn't match and we were cold and wet and muddy, so we took wee sis to see geocache 4 instead, and made her find it. She was thrilled.

Posted by j at 7:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

... but you can't take the journo out of the girl.

Yes, I know I have been a terrible blogger of late, partly because I haven't had time and partly because I haven't been in the mood. While this does not actually matter at all, it matters to me because it's my blog, and because I make the mistake of promising to blog about things. And I don't like breaking promises.

So all the Things I Have Been Meaning To Blog About have piled up and become a completely random list for me to get out of my system in one mixed up, incoherent blog post. Which is what I am doing now.

So, this is the part where you start reading something else instead.

First up: The Mystery Object!
OKKKKKKK, fact fans. It was a medieval bee hive. How could you not have known that?! Still, it was fun reading the many confused comments that resulted (and worrying - Ce, I don't think a bee is an animal?!). And in case you don't believe me, Ce dug up these links (cheers!).

RIght. NOW you know.

Secondly, I have another mystery object.
No, really. We got it in the post, and haven't a clue what it is, so decided to stick it on here and see if anyone else does...! Here it is:

It's made of rubber, thus is not what C thought it might be, i.e. something to open cans with (!) Any ideas?! We need to know.

Thirdly, we found the unfindable Geocache the other day.
Yes, we went all the way up that big hill again to find this...

Of course, it contained a travel bug - that's the blurred Mickey Mouse figure you can see on the left - which has come all the way from USA and is now in our kitchen. Thinking of dragging C&J up another big hill to dispose of it (and thus escape the clutches of travel bugs) when they come this weekend, if they let us. And if it isn't snowing!

We were going to do that the other day after finding the above cache, but it was getting dark so we hurried down the hill instead. I did get some nice photos, though, like this:

and this.

Finally, I have too many other things to blog about so I am just going to list some of them here instead (not in any particular order).

* Me and C saw a deer from the kitchen window the other day, running across the field.
* The deer was being chased by a dog.
* We didn't see either of them again, but are sure they are fine.
* We also saw a woodpecker the other day, which makes a change from seeing cats killing things.
* In addition to the sweet grey neighbourhood cat, Pussy, who has adopted us, we might be getting a new cat.
* It's a bit fierce, and has three legs.
* However, we don't know yet.
* If we do, it'll be the third animal we have offered to home in the last week.
* The other two are homed elsewhere. Long story!
* After giving away nearly all of our belongings on Freecycle, we won a breadmaker the other day!
* And this morning I won a nice blue cupboard, which should fit exactly into the empty space in the spare room.
* I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't.
* The electrician is coming soon for the 5th or 6th time in the last month, because the downstairs lights don't work at the moment.
* The electrician is really cool, but I'm sick of seeing him!
* I typed all of this blog post and the other one from my bed because I am not feeling very well at the moment.
* I could use some sympathy.
* I'm sick of making lists so I'll stop now.

... Now that's all out of my system, I can sleep easy. And I probably don't need to blog again for about 7 years. Hooray.

Posted by j at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

Tonight after work we had to go and pick up a fireguard I'd claimed on Freecycle for a friend who needs one, which involved driving to Bradford and rooting around behind someone's bins to find where she'd left it, then trying not to laugh at the idea that her neighbours probably thought we were burglars. As you do.

And while we were there, we decided to get rid of the Travel Bug that we found on Sunday because I felt like we were holding a relay baton and had to get rid of it quickly as possible. So we went Geocaching again, this time in a park, keeping an eye out for 'geomuggles' (innocent passers by), making sure they didn't spot C poking around in a bush like a madwoman.

And did we find the cache? We did.

And guess what was in it? Another Travel Bug...

This innocent looking plastic frog (it's upside down in the photo, sorry, and the camera battery died before I could turn it over) originated in America, travelled to Canada and spent a while travelling around Australia before moving to the park in Bradford that we found it in. It's travelled over 23,000 miles, and now it's in our kitchen!

Re-spect.

Posted by j at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

(Yes, that means you, Joe) Click here to see the mystery photo from my last entry in a larger size, and thus leave a smart arsed comment about what it might be. Or not.

Posted by j at 9:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In case anyone was wondering what C and I did in the extra hour yesterday (OK, so you probably weren't, but I'm blogging about it anyway), we went Geocaching again, dragging Ce with us again, although yesterday's hill was smaller than last week's, mainly because Ce refused to relive the torment of last week. Again, Harry was a very happy dog.

And did we find our cache? We did.

THIS TIME, I have made sure that the pictures are big enough so that no one complains, and so that the, er, items inside the box can be identified, if anyone cares enough to want to identify them. C was very, very excited* that we found a Travel Bug and declared that Geocaching is her "new favourite thing," adding that she is "easily pleased." Quite.

[* Secretly, I am excited too, but I am also a bit worried that we now temporarily have a Travel Bug in our kitchen, when it is meant to be, er, travelling. It's a bit like harbouring stolen goods or something like that - not that I'd know! - and I want to get rid of it as soon as possible ... which probably means we have to go up another hill.]

And that isn't all. We also found this:

Does any bright spark know what it is (no, not you, Ce or C!)? And before anyone asks, YES, WE DO KNOW WHAT IT IS! HAAA.

Posted by j at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Anyone who thinks that the hills of West Yorkshire are boring should carry on reading this and hopefully change their mind in the end... not that I am trying to be a tourist information-type person, by the way (!)

On Saturday, we walked up Scout Rock (i.e. the hill in the photo at the top of this blog) and gasped in awe at the major views over Mytholmroyd, later gasping in shock and embarrassment when we realised that our new golden blinds could be seen shining er, goldly, in the sun from where we were, which was about 2 miles away..! Let's just hope they don't distract a pilot or something.

On the way down, we bumped into a couple of other walkers who were chuckling to themselves about the fact that a van had driven down the hill and got stuck after following its sat nav rather too religiously. It was now being pulled out, after spending the night there, so we hurried along to see the drama. It was weird to see; a tractor was pulling a recovery vehicle (!), which in turn was pulling the van, which was bobbing from side to side like a toy, closely followed by an annoyed-stroke-embarassed man and a small, excitable boy. I managed to get some photos without being shouted at:

Would you drive your van down there?!

Needless to say, the van was all beaten up and looked like it had been squeezed through a very small space (which it had) ... As we walked down and down the road-that-was-a-road-ages-ago, C and I were gobsmacked that it had managed to get that far! We also found this:

(a scraped rock)

(bits of van)

Oh dear. Sometimes it is hard not to laugh at other people's misfortune, even if you feel a bit mean doing so.

As if that wasn't enough excitement, on Sunday, we finally gave in to much nagging from A and went geocaching, dragging an amicable Ce along with us. Basically, geocaching is treasure hunting for geeks, where you drag yourself on longggggg, lonnnnnng walks up biiiiiiiiig, bigggggggg hills to look for tupperware boxes full of, er, crap, hidden in gaps in walls and things. And it's fun! Yes, really.

The first one we looked for could not be found, despite checking on our sat nav - ha! - and searching obsessively for ages and ages and ages.

We tried as hard as we could, but there was nothing to be seen, although poor Ce managed to scrape her forehead on a bit of rusty old barbed wire. Sigh. Disappointed, we walked along the top of the hill to see if we could find the 2nd cache, which we did, within about 30 seconds of arriving. Hooray!

And this is what was inside:

(a tea light and stuff)

Not to be outdone, when we got home, C emailed the man who had hidden the first cache that we couldn't find, to tell him that it had probably been stolen by someone for a laugh, or thrown down the hill or something like that, because it definitely wasn't there. The man emailed back to say he'd found 17 caches (hello?! 17?!) yesterday, thus making us feel really, really inadequate. He also helpfully explained exactly where it was, adding "Watch out for the barbed wire that will be above you when you bend down to look!" AAAAAAAAAAAAGH.

So now we have to go back. Hooray!

Posted by j at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)