Rick's b.log - entry 2020/02/16

Power cut and Notepad++

So, I start up Hirren's Boot CD and check the NTFS volume. A bunch of orphaned files (that may or may not have anything to do with the power cut) which appear to be JPEGs and PNGs. Thankfully no EXEs or anything else that would much up Windows booting, because it's a pain in the ass repairing XP. Not difficult, the install CD pretty much walks you through it. Just... tedious.

So I start up my Big Four - (file) Explorer, Notepad++, PhotoImpact, and Firefox. Switch to Notepad++ to begin writing this anew, and discover that it has saved, and reloaded for me, the entire document. When I hadn't saved it myself.
Very cool. Thanks Notepad++.

Waiting for Spring - something happening!

So I thought I'd take a walk around this morning and see what's what.

Please excuse the quality of some of the photos. Storm Dennis is currently passing through, making taking photos of trees somewhat...interesting.

Around back, and definitely keen to beat the Sweet Almond to flower is... I think it is some sort of Bird Cherry. No idea what, exactly, as there isn't anything other tree showing opening buds, never mind complete flowers.

And attempting to get closer in violent winds that nearly blew me over.

Around the front, the whips of the big Willow had turned green, literally overnight. The camera focussed on the rock, and I took this photo as the whips passed being in the right place.

Beside the lavender, a Kerria has started to blossom.

Into the potager (that I must try to reclaim this year), the daffodils are up.

And, of course, the ever-reliable Primula / Primrose.

I got a brief look at the Japonica. Very few tiny flowers. It was amazing on the 24th last year, so it has eight days to get itself into order. But, then, Valentine's Day has been and gone, so we're halfway through February and lurching erratically towards the warmer weather.

I was going to walk around some more, but saw that hunters were starting up an organised shoot around the back field.

If you think I'm being paranoid, a few years ago my mother and I were walking up the lane on Sunday wearing high-visibility jackets. Went up to get the bin and bring it home. On the way back, we heard a high pitched fweee followed by the crack of a gunshot. Yup, the bullet outpaced sound. And from a few searches on-line, it looks like to hear that sound, it would have needed to pass no further than a metre or so. It's unlikely that anybody was actually aiming for us (that'd be first degree murder), it's more like something interesting walked or flew by and a hunter who didn't give much of a damn about stopping when civilians are around (as often happens, they'll post signs of hunt in progress and carry on regardless) took a pot-shot, missed, and thankfully missed us.

<time passes>

Just come back in. Had to go outside because the little greenhouselet went flying across the garden, and thankfully the hunters had moved on. So I went out to recover the greenhouse, put it onto the four-wheel trolley, and move it to the hanger around back (it's calmer there).
Oh, and this picture? That's not the door. That's the bottom.

It was held into the ground with large tent pegs, and tied to the adjacent woodstore with strong string. However the amount of recent rain has made the ground soft (so making the pegs somewhat useless), and the anchor clips that the string was attached to? Sewn into the edging using stitching and thread that wouldn't pass muster on clothing. Up there is a length of string with a plastic clip at each end. The clips just tore away because of the lame-ass stitching.
So it is now in the hangar. Held down with breeze blocks, just in case. The structure is intact, surprisingly, as appears to be the outer plastic wrapper. There may be small holes due to brambles and other stuff it hit along its journey, but nothing major seems to have happened (either than the clips). If I take it back up into the garden, I think I'll drop a breeze block at each corner to help keep it in place.

It has never actually been used. I got it as a present for mom's 70th birthday, set it all up for the 12th of March and...
...nature gave her a much more important birthday present - a diagnosis of cancer. And believe me, the moment anybody mentions "cancer", you know your life will turn upside down with endless visits to the hospital, scans, tests, assessments... Honestly, drop me anywhere in the Centre Eugène Marquis (cancer centre in Rennes) and I'll be able to led you directly to the drinks machine beside the CT scanner (the machine by the 'D' door entry is rubbish).
Having been through all of this with mom, if I had a diagnosis of cancer, I would go to hospital if it was something operable. Whip off a ball, a bit of a lung, whatever. But if it was something inside, inoperable, I think I'd just tell the oncologist to prescribe me a bunch of codeine and/or morphine painkillers, and then just stay the hell away. What good is medication when two didn't do anything and the third took an otherwise healthy and happy mom and killed her in under three months? I think unless my cancer was spectacularly aggressive, I'd probably fare better without "treatment" (notice the scare quotes).

But let's not think about this depressing crap. Let's look at the pictures one more time and know that we're halfway through February. With Yet Another Storm blowing through (climate change? wassat?!) but buds and flowers beginning.
I bought some pansies last week, and these this week.

Right, I was going to work on Manga today, but given the weather I think I'll just sit in bed and watch movies and finish that bag of Maltesers...

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Rick, 16th February 2020, 15:30

Hmm, power just went off again. Briefly, but it took three tries for the power to come back on (the lamp is on). I can imagine something landing on or grounding the high voltage lines, and it needing two zaps of power to clear it. Somewhere there're bits of smouldering tree and a strong smell of ozone...    Still, b.log article written and uploaded. Phew!

Rick, 16th February 2020, 16:03

For anybody looking for my private server, it's off.  Up to four power cuts now. Only short ones, but enough is enough. It'll all stay off until this storm has passed.

David Pilling, 18th February 2020, 13:48

Quite similar to here - daffs just starting to flower, primroses. I have seen some trees/bushes by the roadside blooming, very early but no idea what they are. Ornamentals flower through Winter, like Winter flowering - Jasmine and Honeysuckle. Kerria, heard of it, never grown it, looks interesting. Probably moving to the end of snowdrops and so far crocus have been knocked over by the wind.

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