Bees and Geology

Tristan has returned from his father's and has disappeared with the laptop so no piccies I'm afraid. All I have on my camera anyway is a photo of my lovely Wiggly Wigglers Valentine's Day posy which has all British-grown flowers, and comes with a Quattro Stagioni jar for future use and a bar of Divine chocolate :-)

I went up to London yesterday to the Geological Society at Burlington House, Piccadilly, to listen to one of the Shell London Lectures, on the geological record of previous global warming events, particularly the one 55 million years ago. It was really interesting and the main message was that it's all very well having scientists saying in their peer-reviewed journals about climate change but it needs to become part of the world population's consciousness, and that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is the only way to deal with carbon dioxide emissions until low-carbon alternatives become mainstream. I was disappointed to learn that top geology totty, Professor Iain Stewart, was at the earlier presentation, but never mind :-(

I missed the earlier lecture as I was meeting beekeeping friend John to discuss apicentric tactics for the coming year. It was great: we sat in the Waterstone's cafe talking and talking for 4 hours so the pecan tart and 2 pots of tea were very welcome.

Today was another day sans enfants, so Charles and I took the opportunity to go for a pub lunch at a child-unfriendly venue - I think it's called The Star but we know it as The Dreary Placemats due to the extraordinarily naff pen and ink drawings of a nondescript cottage on said placemats. I also had to get my boot catch fixed as it's been stuck since the snow, and it turns out the lock wasn't frozen. I popped in to the garage expecting to have to book it in and pay money I don't have to get it sorted out, but it was only a fuse, so for the princely sum of 42p I can now get a bale of hay in the car for the bunnies, who are recovering well from their neutering op.

The rest of the day was spent watching iPlayer and discussing which pollinator plants would be best and working out what we think about biodynamic gardening. Lovely :-)

Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful autumn morning and I forgot that Tristan and his friends had probably not gone to sleep that early, but Henry the cockerel was in full voice, as were the calls once I let them out.

Joanna watches a plane pass overhead

Maud

Tristan's friends left after the second round of breakfast, one of which was a fry-up and the other was Nigella Lawson's cinnamon buns:

Yum

and after I cleared up all the KFC and crisp wrappers and ketchup-smeared plates I thought Scruff could do with a decent run somewhere without undergrowth for him to disappear in to. The beach was really the only option so I thought the nearest beach with nice memories was Birling Gap, where I went on a Summer School trip a couple of years ago. It was glorious, although we had to go sufficiently far away from the steps for the 'Please Keep Dogs on Leads' sign to become less relevant. I was revelling in the geology, the girls were rock-pooling and Scruff was keeping his stitched ear out of trouble.

Happenings

Well I haven't posted for a while as have been a bit busy getting ready for exams which I was obviously a lot more concerned about than I allowed for, so apologies to those on the receiving end of my tension. It has been a struggle to keep up the momentum with my studying this summer and a few weeks ago I was considering pulling out from the courses. I'm really pleased I didn't and I'm grateful to the people who listened to and supported me as I swung from one decision to another. Anyway, I did ok with my Evolution paper yesterday and the Geology one today, despite the latter being executed with only 6 squares of Dairy Milk! Note to self for future exam checklist: chocolate, pen, calculator, in that order.....

So, I have put away my textbooks so that I can't inadvertantly look at them and see all the mistakes I made in the exam, although I am slightly curious as to who Larson was and what his hypothesis on mantle superplumes actually stated as I completely made it up.

I arrived home after a lovely meal with Charles to find a really tidy house (thanks Ma and Pa) and a box of things:

It's the rock kit for my next module! Now some might feel that it's a bit depressing to arrive back from an exam to find a bundle of stuff for the oncoming year but I'm looking forward to it :-)

I also hung up my autumnal garland above the fireplace:

And then realised I'd forgotten to put on my Red Admiral:

I'll sew it on tomorrow. On the crafting front, I met with Nicky today who is still rather poorly so we had a very calm and quiet impromptu CCG meeting (which is a first) and she kindly loaned me her shorter circular needle so I have a sporting chance of getting Tristan's hat off the mark. I've cast on 104 stitches and I'll have a concerted effort to get it done, mainly because I want to get on and knit my hat and about a million other things having seen what Nicky's been up to!

The animals are well although I had to take Jean to the vet as she wasn't putting any weight on her foot. She's on antibiotics now which I have to syringe into her little beak which I managed single-handedly this morning having squashed her tightly into the crook of my arm. Ah, it's nice to have an excuse for a cuddle even though she can deliver quite a bite with her beak, it's deceptive. She was very good at the vet's and so was the dog, apart from whinging at the lack of attention whilst we were in the consulting room and all the focus was on the duck.

Anyway it is late and I need to try to get all these redundant geology and evolution facts out of my brain having crammed it full over the last couple of weeks.

Duck pens

I really wanted to get the new ducks' pen sorted out today as I got about half way with it yesterday. I did finally finish it and have put John and Jean (the grey calls) into there as they are more used to ramps...all will be revealed with a photo tomorrow as it was too dark this evening by the time I'd finished! I'm slightly conscious of cross-infection so I've put the new ducks onto new ground but next to the others as then I only have to get the hosepipe to one bit of the garden, plus they do like some company to compete with in the loud shouting department. I had to shift the pens around a bit though as John and Jean are busy excavating a trench:

They love it, and take it in turns to paddle around, ankle deep in sloppy mud. They get pretty grubby:

You can just see the blond chick in the background - I was talking to my neighbours this morning and they reckon we have 2 girl chicks and possibly a boy (Blossom) so that was helpful. They are wonderful neighbours and I showed Richard my new ducks - they also have a bit of a poultry addiction so totally understood my desire to get two more - and he then helped me get the bunnies in who had escaped. Scarlet can't go too far as she's pretty porky and has to stop for a rest but Willow always heads for a hedge or a beehive so I had to recruit Scruff to flush her out. Poor dog doesn't know whether he's coming or going as far as the animals are concerned.

So I am hoping that now my ducks are secure and Maud won't keep nicking their food I can focus on revision. I did say to Charles today that I would also tidy the house to help clear my mind but my first exam's on Tuesday and it'll take me til then just to do the dining room table. Charles very kindly helped me with my geology revision about the periodicity of Milankovich cycles (how the Earth moves in relation to the Sun) which went something like this:

Charles: So what is the periodicity of the obliquity?
Me: Er, 19 thousand years?
Charles: No
Me: 26 thousand years
Charles: No
Me: 121 thousand years
Charles: No. Are you just guessing?
Me: No! Aha - is 121 thousand years the periodicity of precession?
Charles: Which one?
Me: Axis?
Charles: No
Me: Orbit!
Charles: No

Etc etc etc. I didn't do very well at that. I have been reading my Module Forums too but it's a bit disconcerting when people are having great in-depth discussions things that I vaguely remember doing at some point in the dim distant past, or worse, when someone flags up a typo and there is lots of backslapping about how it couldn't possibly be how it is written on the graph as it's 6 orders of magnitude out or something and I hadn't even noticed. I'm hoping to be a bit more organised (!) with my next course but I will take a week or so off and catch up with some knitting and talk to my children before I start, although I have downloaded the PDFs so I don't have to lug the textbooks everywhere. There's 5 of them...

What a difference a day makes

This morning I should have been catching the 9.37 to London, then on to Durham for my residential geology Summer School, but after being diagnosed with rather impressively low haemoglobin levels following the fainting thing, I withdrew from the course on grounds of illness. It is quite a punishing schedule as it's a year's worth of practical work crammed in to a week: daily field trips on a coach to various geological wonders follwed by tutorials and lectures in the evening, which is incredibly good fun and stimulating but not when I find walking up the stairs hard work and tablets are doing strange things to my insides. I asked the children's dad if he still wanted to have them as previously arranged and he said yes, sooooo a week off! However, Amber was distraught about going and I have had endless pleading texts asking to come home. The 'plans' their dad had arranged this week seem to involve a trip on an open top bus and erm, staying with Granny and Grandpa (who do have a swing!!) and er, did I mention the open top bus? T is not going to see Harry Potter, or get shoes, and apart from Tuesday (open top bus ride day) they aren't doing anything, not even the beach. I try very hard to give my ex-husband the benefit of the doubt and back him up but it's really not very easy at times.

So, who knows how long my week off will turn out to be as not sure how long it'll take for a full mutiny situation to develop. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm free at the moment. This morning I decanted my purple peapod wine into its demi-john with accompanying bloopy airlock thing:

I admit it looks rather like raspberry smoothie but it's blooping away encouragingly and smells pleasantly of wine...

I also went to the nursery and bought some winter veg having been all fired up from watching Gardeners' World last night:

I bought a strawberry plant for £1.29 that had at least 4 runners so that was a bargain:

I had shut the hens in before I went but they had all been really really mean to Maud so as punishment I let her out and kept the others shut in. Maud seemed to enjoy the lack of aggravation and finally got to have a dust bath without being chased off for the sake of it:

Maud luxuriates in the hen equivalent of a bath with bubbles, candles, magazine and chocolate

I then listened to the Test Match and tried to crochet a flower. It required a hook manoeuvere that I'd not done before and I think I finally got the hang of a 'popcorn' stitch on the seventh petal but anyway, here's my attempt at a geranium:

Why is my crochet always so wonky?? Anyway I love doing the flowers, they are great fun. I've done my 9th granny square for the Sissinghurst Hot Garden blanket and a few other bits too. Nicky's coming over in a while for a meeting of the Country Crafters Guild so hopefully there will be some knitting and hooking to enjoy.

My family and other animals

Amber woke up and went to collect her bunny for a cuddle:

Then Maud came in to the kitchen for her breakfast:

and then everyone else emerged so the day had begun. The lead training with Willow the bunny continues - she is almost walking to heel:

I was having Laura's children today as L desperately needed to get on with revising for an exam so when she arrived we sat and had coffee and watched the ducks for really quite a long time.

My book from Amazon arrived, all about geological field techniques which is very good if slightly frightening. I now have my timetable for my Summer School in Durham so that's exciting although we are having breakfast at 7am apparently which will be a shock to my system. I am wondering whether I really need to invest in proper Craghopper-type trews as we are advised not to wear jeans. You never know, I may even need shorts!! I am hoping, at least, that it won't snow as it did on my last field trip. I am flitting between really looking forward to it as it's about the one time I really feel I can switch off and not be responsible for anyone or anything apart from myself but there is also the panic that goes with leaving the responsibility for everyone and everything to other people. Not that I'm a control freak or anything :-)

I'm going to do a science session in a bit with my set of magnetic chromosomes (from the OU; my DNA doesn't stick to the fridge) and then this evening Nicky is coming round to hopefully furnish me with some new knitting and crocheting supplies so that I can tackle all the projects I've got my eye on. Henry is moulting I think as I keep finding the most amazing black and orange feathers around the garden. Surely there's some Navaho crochet thing I could incorporate them into...

I've just noticed all the juicy blackberries on the brambles outside/across my lounge window!

Best use of a bath tub

I'm writing this now as I have had a completely unproductive day and I presume it won't get any more productive :-) I spent this morning crocheting an apple cosy that looked like it would best hold a large and misshapen Bramley rather than the petite Royal Gala, and I was going to go to the bee farm as the FERA guy was there to check all the hives for Foul Brood (nasty bee larva disease) which would have been really interesting but I sort of ran out of energy. I then spent an hour or so breaking up another pallet but I know don't know what to make with it really as the duck house that was in my mind's eye seems to have disappeared. Anyway, I did enjoy my crochet even if I can't use it for its intended purpose and I watched Aubrey Manning's Earth Story as part of my next course so not all bad. I do love Earth Story...

A large part of the reason for lack of achievement is this:

Compulsive viewing and a bit of a dream come true for me to have real ducks in a bath tub so maybe it's not been a wasted day. I am amassing purple pea pods for wine and have done over half of my coathanger cover. Oh and I finished off my geology assignment this morning when I woke up at 5.30...hmm perhaps that's why I'm tired!

Should I...

...be able to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull? I am a geologist-in-training, I feel it would be a good thing to do. Or should I concentrate on getting the geology degree first?! I have been reading about rudist meadows on Cretaceous carbonate platforms and now I'm on to carbon cycling. And in Evolution I'm reading about co-operation between organisms so I finally understand haplodiploidy in hymenopterans!

I bet that made nooooooooooo sense to anyone apart from other people studying at Level 3 for a BSc in Geosciences with the Open University. Welcome to the minority :-)