Sharing and Not Sharing

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Some share better than others. It depends.

(This morning I found Fivla and Vitamin in the wee shed together so I popped both their buckets in).

Waffle is a kind pony and will always share his bucket with care-in-the-community Albie who seldom eats out of his own bowl by himself.  I give Waffle’s bowl extra so no one misses out.

Lambie, of course (and did you even need to ask) cannot share.  He hates it and gets very upset, so he has his own private dining room which makes him happy.  He can then eat in peace.  The other sheep all swap bowls every few seconds which upsets him hugely and he just stands there feeling put upon.

This afternoon, Pepper would not share.  Despite being a non-eating day (she has since rallied and had her tea), she still stole Ted’s fishy shed-treat but, feeling sick, just sat with it. Upon her return to the shed now, however, I heard crunching and it’s vanished.  Poor Ted. Snooze and you lose.

Also, Waffle came up on his own when he heard me open the gate to take the two haynets into the paddock.

The rest came cantering up a few minutes later.

Newt was not sharing.

But the rest were (Silver wasn’t interested so doesn’t count).

Also later on today, I found he old ladies having a discussion about the wee shed (again) – apparently a constant source of oneupmanship or is it oneupponyship?

(Fivla was not budging).

So, in conclusion, some animals share, some don’t and some won’t.  It depends.

Smoking

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You remember the mackeral I caught with my friend on the little yellow boat yesterday when we went sea-fishing, well, I took most of them home because I blithely said “no worries, I can smoke them” forgetting what immense hard work it always is.

Anyway, I spent that evening gutting and filleting (exceptionally badly) each mackeral and putting them in a brine for a few hours to form a “pellicle” – A pellicle is a thin, tacky skin of denatured surface proteins that forms on meat, poultry, or fish when air-dried after curing or brining.

The fillets were then dried on a rack overnight in the fridge as well.

This morning found me moving my cold-smoker to one of my many old sheds.  It sat on a rickety chair I found (now I look at this photo, I think I must make it a bit more level for optimum smoking and possibly safety!)

This shed is not an easy shed to get to – I had to “Prince-Charming-like” in Cinderella hack my way to my destination through our wild garden.

All day, I have been regularly checking my smoker as a) this is a new location for it and b) I didn’t want it to stop smoking until it had used up all the sawdust.  Last checked, I have another few hours to go.

But I think I might try a couple of fillets tonight and then give my friend, whose boat it was, his fair share too.  The rest will be probably be made into smoked mackeral pâté.

Next time I offer, I must remind myself just how much effort it is.  I hope it’s worth it.

Sea Fishing

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If you know one thing about me, it is that I hate boats.  I am terrified of them and there are many reasons:-

  • They make me feel sick (all of them).
  • I hate getting in and out (I fell in once).
  • People always shout at me (mostly men using technical boat-speak at me while not explaining properly and expecting me to instantly understand and obey).
  • They always give me migraines.

But, I love fishing.  So when a friend asked if I wanted to go sea-fishing with him, I immediately said yes, and then spent the rest of the time over-thinking the whole scenario to a point of semi-panic.

Determined to go, though, I took two Stugeron before we left.

This was the boat.

The other boats at the marina looked bigger.

The outboard started and off we chugged.

 

Luckily the sea-rods were both ready.

The sea was nice and calm (big phew!) and it really was a lovely evening.

I was shown what to do (I am used to spinning rods so it was all new) and I instantly caught two fish!

We stayed in one spot, just between Vaila and the mainland fairly close to the rocks, while we fished on either side of the boat.

When we had about a dozen or so mackeral, we called it a night.  I also caught a gurnard, which we threw back.

The sun was beginning to set as we turned for home and motored our way slowly back.

I liked seeing the sea-caves.  I didn’t know they existed here.

And then we were back at the marina, all safe and sound.  Catching the fish was the best bit, and the boat ride there and back was fine.  I didn’t feel sick because I was occupied either taking photos, not standing up and untangling my line from the mess the gurnard had made.

And I didn’t fall out of the boat when I got out, either!  Win, win.  I still had to take a migraine pill though.  I knew I would.

The Fight Continues

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My internet battle has not changed despite all my best efforts. Last night, I ended up re-setting everything, taking away two extenders so we are now down to just one.  My thought being there would be less things to go wrong.

I then bought an external aerial and three mesh extenders because I have been meaning to do that and I felt my hand was forced now.

But this morning continued to be frustrating with the internet and broadband but I discovered it was not my router’s problem, as my phone was also useless and consistently losing the EE signal too.

After lunch, I took the metaphorical bull by the horns and sat on my phone for around 20 minutes waiting for EE to answer because apparently they are 25 times in a row “UK’s best mobile network”. You can guess my response to that.

I was transferred all over their network to various different departments and I think it was the fourth lady said “oh yes, there is a problem in your area.  A number of folk have complained”. Huzzah and thank you, God. Then it’s not just me.  Now I feel better about a terrible signal because it’s all them.

Apparently it will be mended.  And, again, you can guess my cynical response to that.

Meanwhile, I had moral support in the form of Monster.

He insisted on “helping” while I transcribed and typed up April/May 1954.

On occasions it was painful.

And he got bored.

So I dug out his basket and he sat in that instead.

Onwards, ever onwards.

Internet Headache

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I have a headache.  It is an internet one.  Everything was running smoothly and going well until the last few days.  It is all over the place now.   I thought I had everything sorted. I was feeling so pleased (read smug).

And I don’t know if it is us (EE) or them, if you know what I mean.

So I will go off around the house, getting all the extenders in one place, re-setting them and the router with a unravelled paperclip, and see if that makes any difference at all.  It couldn’t be much worse.

This does not put me in a good mood.

I am feeling very fed up now (as I am currently writing this of a dodgy phone signal in my shed).

Hence the headache. Life was so much simpler without all this.  Why is nothing ever easy?!