2022

Cold the night

So wierd to pull on a long sleaved top to take Billy for a walk after 2 of the hottest days I can remember today it was 20? cooler. Now without Monday and Tuesday a 19? Wednesday in July is typical but today it felt like there was a bit of a nip in the air?

I had wanted to tidy the front garden for a couple of weeks, because I love how it looks when the hedge is trimmed and the lawn is mown and strimmed, but I didn’t get around to it even though it doesn’t take long to do. This weekend was a no go because of Cricket and just enjoying a bit of family time on Saturday but if I’d tried to do it I could have died, so the coolness motivated me to go home from work and just get it done which I did.

Straight after finishing and before I’d finished tidying up visitors arrived pre planned but I wasn’t expecting a full on BBQ with scream kids and dogs and people I didn’t know and I spent the next two hours so stressed and anxious for no reason other than I just wanted to tidy the garden and the relax and it didn’t go how I’d planned?

Walking Billy allowed me to de stress and I could finally relax when I got back home and I am looking forward to publishing this post and going to bed for a cool night’s sleep.

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Another hot day

So Britain is experiencing a heatwave at the moment which is due to end tonight and cooler temperatures are forecast tomorrow. It was 37? at 14:00 this afternoon although because of cloud cover the heat was not as fierce as yesterday.

I get panicky and frustrated when they say that the sun won’t shine as much tomorrow because I want summer to to last for weeks at least into September. I’m loving the brown grass everywhere and people moaning that it’s too hot for me this is what we earn for 10 or 11 mo the of the year when nights are long and it rains everyday. Taking Billy for a walk at 9pm when it’s cooling down a bit is brilliant and I want it to last as long as possible my mood is great right now and that has so much to do with the sun being out.

Please let’s have a long summer so the kids can play out through the school holidays!

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The hottest day

Sent the kids off to school this morning covered in factor 50 sun cream with temperatures expected to reach the mid thirties. I arrived home around 13:30 and my car was showing 34? and I reckoned it was getting hotter…?

Knowing the kids would be hot and cranky when they got home I wrote a note and stuck it to the gate just to remind them that after all the talk of the end of the world, on the news, it was just a hot summers day and they survived!

Within minutes of their arrival and without any fuss at all they were happily playing in the pool and the hot school day was a distant memory.

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Happy 50th birthday

828 days after my 50th birthday I finally got to go to the cricket with Lincoln using the tickets I received as a birthday gift from the Phoenix 5 lads. It was worth the wait though a roasting hot day spent with Lincoln who did really well considering we were in full sun all day long. Plenty of fluids all day, and loads of factor 50 sun block helped and he ate plenty too wandering of on his own to find shade and coming back with hot dogs a burger and ice cream throughout the afternoon.

The only down side to the whole day was India soundly beating England by 5 wickets, but they were worthy winners removing Bairstow and Root for ducks set the Indians up to restrict England’s batting to a reasonable target but it was never enough once Pant (125*) and Pandya took the England attack to the cleaners with ease.

A good day though and hopefully the first of many for me and Lincoln and the girls if they want to come? Lincoln was most proud of the size of the crowd and the India support making lots of noise and starting a Mexican wave that went around the ground twice. He now can’t wait to top a 26,000 crown with a 90,000 crowd at Wembley in October and neither can I!

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Heading towards armagedon

Another hot day today began with a trip to Pickmere where Mommy went free swimming in the Lake while Lincoln and me played football on the grass. Billy was happy just pottering around while we did our thing, occasionally needing to be called back if he wandered to far or another dog took his interest.

Once Mommy had finished her swim we joined her by the lake allowing Billy to chase a ball in the water to cool down an have a drink. A detour to Sports Direct for a new pair of trainers for me and while we drove there Lincoln decided or possibly convinced me he needed a pair too. I took all of 5 minutes to choose two pairs and then   had to endure 30 minutes of him umin n arrin before finally choosing a pair of Shaqs. We had dinner at home and then four of us went to the Middlewich transport festival for a couple hours which was lovely because everyone was happy

All the above was done on a hot summers day we left Billy at home in the afternoon we drank loads of water and ate ice cream when we got home we rested and drank more fluids, before we went out ww applied suncream because the suns out its hot and that’s common sense things to do? The weather and how hot its going to be is now the headline top story on the news as if everyone is going to die…? Ffs it’s summer maybe people with no common sense need an instruction book but I doubt those people can’t read any way!

We will take every precaution at Old Trafford tomorrow and hopefully have a great day in the sun watching England beat India

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Excellence

I told Reagan how proud I was when the school contacted us today to say she had been awarded a certificate of excellence and achieved a third gold badge and “glittery” green star!

I explained to her that this certificate shows that you are good and try hard all the time, any body can be good for a day and we can all try hard sometimes but this proves you are doing it all the time which is brilliant and she should be proud too!

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Reagans teeth

Reagan needs braces on her teeth and she has got her head around that, her mate has braces so she knows how they are because they talk and she is ready to get them fitted.

Now the NHS don’t see it that way they see her as a 12 year-old with time to get these things sorted but we just want to get it sorted sooner rather than later? I took her last week to an Orthodontics consultation where it was agreed that braces were required but 4 teeth need to be removed first (3 bad ones and a good one) to allow space for the alignment corrections to fit in her mouth. It was agreed that she could have them all done in one go under general anaesthetic getting them out all in one would allow the braces to be fitted quicker and all the trauma out of the way in one go too. This unfortunately can’t be bone by the dentist so today we went there to have X-rays taken so that a referral can be requested, and here’s where our concern lies.

This has taken 12 months to get here due to referral taking so long post COVID and we fear this referral taking the same time again even though she’s ready now.

I guess we will wait and see but private treatment may be an option if this rumbles on too long?

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It’s just a game of tig?

Finally Lincoln got picked to play for Middlewich U11s tonight, it’s been a while even though he  attends most practice sessions. He batted in the third pairing with Taylor and as I watched the first and second pairings I could see backing up would be a huge advantage but not something I have seen him do well before so I told him backing up is like tig and the crease is base and if you’re bat is in the crease you are safe but you can also be nearer the other end before you start running. This advice just made sense to him straight away and all of a sudden quick runs were easy and plentiful even leg byes were easy and they scored loads because he just got it?

He batted really well, scoring a couple of runs off the bat against 2 of the quickest U11 bowlers I’ve seen, but even better he did not lose a wicket keeping out a perfect yorker in the process.

He bowled well too conceding only a couple of extras and non from the bat and taking a wicket in his second over caught behind.

The team played really well with every player contributing to an excellent win against Crewe CC

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Mommy’s home

Having spent few days in Saville visiting her friend Keith and Raul Mommy returned home to us and we were overjoyed to have her back. Bittersweet as it must be for her to leave such a beautiful place but we are not the same when one of us is not here. The smile in the photo above says to me she was VERY happy and enjoyed here time away, but the smiles below say how happy we are to have her back.

Apparently we can all go in October to “check on the the house” for Keith and Raul as they will be back in Denver for a few months. That is very generous and Reagan and Lincoln are already excited so hopefully we cab make it work!

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Always learning (Pt 1,973,982)

Every day is a school day they say well today I came up with a sturdy design for my gable overhang that should hold up the sides and allow me to complete the roof.

The joint above will be created using the mitre saw at a 45? angle and finished with a chisel, never having created a joint like this before I had to learn many features on my mitre saw like safely holding and cutting at such an extreme angle. Trench cutting to the required depth and to the perfect width also. To finish off the joint with a chisel will require me to learn how to sharpen a chisel before attempting to make the joint tight.

If I do all of the above correctly and am able to create the desired brackets I am sure I will feel a sense of satisfaction not least because I was just going to buy some off the shelf?

It rained earlier today so I re-tarped the whole shed so it is weather resistant again which allows me time to practice and hopefully perfect the skills above.

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