Sunburn

New Post

2007-06-20T22:29:00.001+01:00

I realize I've hurt a lot of people. I'm sorry. It was stupid. Gareth you can have your stuff back. Just send me a comment at where I can get a hold of you at.

The Real Deal

2007-06-19T03:44:00.000+01:00

Some time ago Gareth and I crossed paths. I always thought he was a pervert then but could never prove it. To most of you Gareth is a sweet gentlemen. He's not. When I uncovered his information I discovered that he is a "sicko". His statcounter had two projects on it. One was Sunburn, and one was "Suck me dry" which led me to another of his blogs: http://mrhelmet.blogspot.com . I urge you not to look at it. Gareth's "blogger" friends are very respectable. I know some of you and I have nothing but respect for you. But I just want to tell you that the Gareth you know is a lie. When you visit Gareth's other blog you will find dozens of nude pictures. Not even I have seen them all (nor will I).

If you don't believe me I fully understand. I am not a good person but neither is Gareth. This is shocking to all of you and I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you.

Here's a screen capture of his statcounter:

Sports Day

2007-06-18T22:59:00.000+01:00

I think I may have mentioned this on someone else's blog at some point but it isn't official until it's on MY blog and it is part of my life so there! Deal with it! :P

When I was in primary school (5-11 years old) we always had school sports day during the last week of each school year before we broke up for summer holidays. This was a day that I looked forward to each year. I loved athletics and was pretty good at it. That's probably why I looked forward to it, lol.
For the first 3 years of primary school the sports day was held in the school grounds. Back then everything seemed bigger. Running around the main school building would take about 40 seconds and it felt as if each lap was a mile long. Then running the length of the 'sprint' track was a huge deal too but looking back on it now its length was probably only about 40 metres. We also did all the other usual races like egg and spoon (sometimes the egg was substituted with a small potato when all the eggs had been dropped), sack race, three legged race and obstacle race. And the whole way through the day there was table after table of soft drinks, sweets, crisps etc. Why does that happen? I mean here we are running our legs off, getting some exercise and on the other side of the grass are thousands of tons of 'bad foods' to send us into instant comas. I'm not complaining that those lovely sugar foods were there, I'm merely just saying ;)
At the end of that third year the teachers felt that the school grounds were a little too small to have sports day in so we started to use a nearby playing field that was perhaps a three or four minute walk away on the other side of a busy main road. This was a major chore to get us all safely across the road. It turned into almost like a military operation with the older kids holding the hands of the younger kids whilst the teachers held their breathes until we were all safely across. If we had all successful managed to miss being hit by the large speeding metal things on wheels we still had a little ways to walk and only after we had walked through the lines of pedophiles on the way. We almost lost one of our number to them. I did try to tell little Johnny not to stop to tie his shoe laces but alas it was too late, the bad man had got him. It was ok though because Johnny faked an epileptic seizure and the man ran away. After that we all made it into the safe(ish) confines of the sports field where we would once again have to 'put up' with the lovely smells of sugary stuff wafting in through our noses and out through our ears or was that just an undiagnosed medical problem that I have?! Hmmm?
A few hours later after winning quite a lot of races we were all frog marched back to school again. Little Johnny didn't stop this time. He knew better ......... anddddd so did the older man because he wasn't anywhere in sight. When we got back to school we all gathered in the assembly hall waiting to see which of us would get any prizes. Every year we were split into two teams or 'houses'. We kept those teams right the way through school. There were the Eagles and the Hawks. I was a Hawk. The Hawks lost every year. Yeah yeah stop laughing! It's not my fault if I had Slow Sidney, One-Legged Oliver, Fat Francis, Dopey Daphne, Wiggling William and every other child belonging to Mr & Mrs Crazy, 72 Dumb Lane, Idiotsville on my team!!!
I will win that 'house' trophy some day even if I have to beat up the current 11 year old school sprinting king :D

Continuing The Walk

2007-06-11T00:06:00.000+01:00

Several weeks later and I have continued my walk in my local mountain range. It has been a long few weeks camping in the mountains whilst I've been waiting for time to do it. I had my sleeping blanket and small tent and a little camping stove for when I was feeling thirsty and there were always plenty of wild animals nearby to catch and eat. The local cockroaches and crickets weren't actually too bad to eat but the slugs were a little slimy. Teehee, I'm just kidding. No really I am ....... the cockroach thing didn't happen :P

So anyways, most of you will remember from the first post that I did a few weeks ago about discovering new trails in the mountains and during that walk I was surprised about how many there actually are that I never knew about before. Well let me tell you, after the walk today I can say that mountains are hugeeeeeee. Yeah stop laughing at me for stating the obvious!

On my walk earlier today I walked for 3 hours and I estimate that I would have covered about 5-6 miles so don't let it be said that I don't suffer for my blog buddies ;) During that time I literally saw more sheep than humans having only walked past 9 other people during the entire time. When is the last time you were able to say that you have shared mile after mile with only a few people. Remoteness is goooooooood.

I'll continue with my post before people start getting bored of these silly words. These pictures are continuing from THIS POST (all pics can be enlarged by clicking on them) ........

(actually I want to start with this picture of a small stream on the way up to the end of the afore mentioned post ....)

Now we begin properly

It had already taken 30 minutes of walking to get to this point

And when I got over the slight rise on this part of the trail this is what I saw on the other side of it

Looking back on where I had come from. That "slight rise" is way in the distance

Looking down to the valley below

A little further on and looking back

Forward again. There was blue skies the whole time and it was about 28C (85F) and very humid. I should have brought some water with me. Next time ;)

Walking up to another high point

Then I came out of an area of trees on both sides of the path and was greeted by a more open area with bracken and gorse grasses

The view through a clearing in the trees

And now it is getting even more open and the hills open up to you

Quite a bit further along and looking back to where I had been

Walking on and some sheep in the distance

Coming towards a more 'treed' area again

As I got closer to the trees I found that there were another two paths to choose from. Decisions decisions, hmmmmm

Looking back. The trail to the right is the trail I had come from and there's a new trail on the left. Should I take that one? I decided not to and turned around and continued through the 'treed' area but I'll do the walk to the left some time soon hopefully

So into this trail now through the trees

Slightly more open on the far side of it

Ut ohhhhhhh, do you see what I see???

More decisions. Why can I not just walk without having to use my brain, lol. I chose to take the left trail. Hey I'm consistent if nothing else, plus it's easier to remember how to get back out again :D

So I walked along that trail for about 10 minutes and it just kept going on and on. This was exactly 2 hours into my walk and I was beginning to get hungry and thirsty so I decided to turn around at this point before a search party would have to be sent out to locate me. HA! I'll be bringing a few sandwiches with me next time I believe

Heading back to civilisation

Back through the 'treed' area

Is that a martian light ahead. Take me to your leader

All along the pathways in this mountain there were large stones to sit down on and catch your breath if you needed to

If a wild animal was to attack you out here my advice would be to wet yourself and hope that it just stands there and starts to laugh at you. Sometimes you have to make the ultimate sacrifice

Walking along

Looking to the right over the open ground towards the mountain peaks on the other side

Hey, did the mountain move?!

Not sure if the barbed fence is to keep me out or keep the wild creatures in. I'm not going to annoy a wild ferocious four legged beast with a woolly coat and strange noise and snot coming out of its nose! Hey stop laughing, I guess you have never saw a large sheep before?! Geesh

Coming back down to the clearing again

And the open grass area again on the left

The trail stretching way out in the distance

Where I had come from and the sky is still picture perfect blue

An opening ('outcrop') to the left of the trail. It doesn't really show it all that well in a picture

And on the right this time looking back up towards it

Looking down the trail again

Another clearing through the trees

Another clearing on the left of the trail. This one is much bigger than the previous one and is a lot bigger than is shown here. Standing up against one of the trees and you get a sense of the scale of this area

Walking again

Almost back to where the other post finished off from

And now we're back. I still have to try the trail on the left some time too. That's three new trails I need to try and I'm sure there are many many more and I haven't even finished the ones that I'm currently on. Mountains were put on this planet to annoy me :P

Yep, really steep sides to the mountain

Oh lookie, a fallen tree branch across the trail on the way home. Looks like a bridge. I wonder if this is like the local flyover over a freeway for local insects? I mean can you imagine a colony of ants walking along it 8 feet above the ground. Sign them up for a circus!

Three hours later I got back to my car and put on the aircon. Woohooooo, finished ............ until the next time ;)

Heart Bleed

2007-06-06T15:09:00.000+01:00

I can't fight this feeling any longer
And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow
What started out as friendship has grown stronger
I only wish I had the strength to let it show

I tell myself, that I can't hold out forever
I say there is no reason for my fear
Cause I feel so secure when we're together
You give my life direction, you make everything so clear

And even as I wonder I'm keeping you in sight
You're a candle in the window on a cold dark winter's night
And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might

And I can't fight this feeling anymore
I've forgotten what I started fighting for
It's time to bring this ship into the shore
and throw away the oars forever
Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore
I've forgotten what I started fighting for
And if I have to crawl upon the floor
Come crashing through your door
Baby I can't fight this feeling anymore

My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you
I've been running around in circles in my mind
Baby it always seems that I'm following you
Cause you take me to the places that alone I'd never find
And even as I wonder I'm keeping you sight
You're a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter's night
And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might

And I can't fight this feeling anymore
I've forgotten what I started fighting for
It's time to bring this ship into the shore
And throw away the oars forever
Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore
I've forgotten what I started fighting for
And if I have to crawl upon the floor
Come crashing through your door
Baby I can't fight this feeling anymore

Living Backwards

2007-06-01T16:54:00.000+01:00

Woohooooo welcome to June everyone. The warmer months are upon us. I had better go out and buy a yellow rubber ducky to play with in the ocean. I might also need new swimming trunks and a large plastic boat to float up and down on the ocean wave. Oh and a pair of binoculars too to keep an eye out for sharks, octopuses, crocodiles and the occasional marathon swimmer - wouldn't want to end his Atlantic crossing by accidentally bumping into him and trapping him underneath the boat. It might put an end to his swim and quite possibly everything else too!

I was thinking that it would be great if we could start life out from the end and work forwards to birth. Our lives might go a little like the following ......

You start out dead and get that out of the way.

Then, you wake up in an old age home feeling better everyday.

Then, you get kicked out for being too healthy.

You enjoy your retirement and collect your pension.

Then, when you start work, you get a gold watch on your first day.

You work 40 years until you're too young to work.

You get ready for high school: drink alcohol, party, and you're generally promiscuous.

Then, you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, and you have no responsibilities.

Then you become a baby, and then...

You spend your last nine months floating peacefully in luxury, in spa-like conditions: central heating, room service on tap, and then...

You finish off as an orgasm.

I rest my case :)

And tomorrow if the weather stays good I will go for another walk up the mountains and hopefully I'll be able to get a little further along the trail than I did the last time. Bring it on!

EXTRA!! ...... I just found out - today is 'National Doughnut Day' in America. HA! How about that for timing from my last post :P

Why Oh Why?!?!

2007-05-24T16:47:00.000+01:00

Some people have very little common sense it seems!
I was out yesterday evening at about 9 o'clock to get some food items. I went to a local shop (I wont say which one for fear of being prosecuted lol). I do frequent this store quite a lot. There are never very many people in it so it doesn't take long to find anything you need and there is no long waiting in the queues at the checkout counters. So anyways I was nearing the end of my shopping list. Just one or two more things to get when I noticed it, or rather I should say 'them'. I loveeeeeee doughnuts/donuts, but £100 would not have paid me to buy one of those last night. No sir! Simply because of their location in the store. They were in an open basket right next to the checkout counter where people stand in line. Exposed to the elements at room temperature with people I am sure every now and again coughing and sneezing over them and quite possibly having a conversation with the person behind them all in direct firing line with the 'nuts. Is it any wonder that people get food poisoning?! They were probably sitting there for most of the day as well so not exactly fresh in my book.
I also had to ask myself why someone had chosen that location for them. They are made from dough and dough makes bread so why were they not next to the bread on the far side of the store away from 'standing still' people. The clue is the name. Instead, they were located beside chocolate bars and biscuits and opposite crisps and bagged sweets. I can understand wanting to put them in among sweet sticky things but at least cover them up with something. Anything!
I will never look another doughnut in the ring (face) again.

Gareth 'doughnut inspector' Thomas

Tagged Into Submission

2007-05-10T15:56:00.000+01:00

Do you ever get the feeling that no matter how hard you run you will always be caught by people who are doing a relay race. 6 legs being better than 2?? Well that is exactly what happened to me. I was on Cheryl's blog a few days ago and saw she had a tagging post so I high tailed it out of there before she spotted me quicker than a turkey off a plate at Christmas. Then I went over to Dino's place only to discover that she had a ransom on my head as well. Being chased by a dinosaur is noooo fun especially when one of its paces equals about 10 of mine! I felt as if I was being shot at in a barrel. Ya know, one of those games at the fairground where little things pop up and you have to knock them back down again with a hammer? No sooner had I escaped that particular nightmare that I run over into NMOTB's blog only to see her coming towards me like a runaway freight train speeding down a hill. I quickly fell to my knees and hoped she would just drive straight over me. She did! It worked! She's away speeding down the hill. I pick myself up and dust myself off. I straighten myself up and come face to face with *insert spooky music* Cheryl and Dino. They caught up with me *gulp*. I turn around and start running only to discover that NMOTB has unfortunately got her train under control and is heading back in my direction. Folks, I'm surrounded now by three slightly pissed off ladies so what do I do now?!?! I did the only sensible thing and gave into their demands. And so now here I sit with them hovering over my shoulders until I do their tags. Can we say yikes?! Oh mummy I'm scared now, get me a glass of water for my nerves! :(

Ok I can feel Cheryl poking my shoulder now so I had better do her tag before she gets Gary with his gun! .......

1. Do you still have tonsils? – Yes

2. Would you bungee jump? – Absolutely! One of my dreams for quite a while now has been to do either a bungee jump or a parachute jump. My uncle did a parachute jump about 15 or 20 years ago and said it was an amazing experience and ever since then I've wanted to do one. As for the bungee I would do one only if it was over water. I think the people that do it over hard ground are slightly mentally unstable.

3. If you could do anything in the world for a living what would it be? – Archaeologist for sure! Digging around in old things and getting my hands dirty. I would be as happy as a prostitutes purse.

4. Do you consider yourself well organized? – HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! One more for the road ...... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :P

5. Any Addictions? – Nope, none at all *where's the dang alcohol and sugary sweets gone too?!*

6. From what news source do you receive the bulk of your news? – BBC News and local UTV News (Ulster Television)

7. Would you rather go to a carnival or circus? – It's been a while since I've been a circus actually but I did enjoy it and I'm sure I still would especially if there was candy floss at it. Yummmm. As for a carnival - I don't think I've ever been to one but I would describe it as a big brother to the circus. Same things only bigger.

8. What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? – Open my eyes. I find it stops me from bumping into things.

9. Have you ever gone to therapy? – Nope. Do you believe I need to???

10. If you could have one super power what would it be? – Flight! Then in the future I could actually fly myself out of these tags and away from angry women in runaway trains.

11. Have you ever gone camping? – Yes I have and loved it every time ....... if you don't count the one time that the tent came unstuck and started to float down the river with me close behind it. I gave up the chase when I saw the waterfall drop in the distance. That's the last time I go to Venezuela let me tell you. That Angel Falls waterfall is no joke!!

12. What was your first car? – I have only ever had one car. A Rover 214SI 16 valve with alloy wheels. It's a good car and has served me well. Probably will change it soon.

13. Do you go to church? – Used to but not any more. If the Grim Reaper comes calling he'll just take one look at me and send me back to earth. No one wants me :(

14. Favorite flower? – Chinese Lanterns (or Japanese Lanterns as they are called in North America). My granny used to grow them :)

15. Your favorite potato chip? – Cheese And Onion - not just any C&O though! Must be from a local factory business called Tayto.

16. Astrological sign? – Sagittarius

17. Do you own a gun? – Not unless you count a high powered water gun with double pump action cylinders that has a kick like an angry mule ;)

18. What do you think of hot dogs? – Is that a sexually loaded question??? Until I consult my lawyer I'll leave that question alone. It's a small town and people will talk!

19. Favorite “geek-out” tv show? The only answer I can give to this question is The Antiques Roadshow. It's a program that travels the length and breath of the UK going to different places. People bring along old antiques to find out their history and get an evaluation on their item(s).

20. Do you eat oreos whole or split them apart? I've heard about those Oreo things but have never tried one.

Now onto the second tag from Dino. Hopefully you are all still with me and haven't fallen asleep. Shannon!! Get up!! Whipe that drool off from the side of your mouth. Good grief!! :D

So, here are the rules:
1. Add a direct link to your post below the name of the person who tagged you.
Include the city/state and country you’re in.

Nicole (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
tanabata (Saitama, Japan)
Andi (Dallas [ish], Texas, United States)
Lulu (Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Chris (Boyne City, Michigan, United States)
AB (Cave Creek, Arizona, United States)
Johnny Yen (Chicago, Illinois, USA)
Bubs (Mt Prospect, Illinois, USA)
jintrinsique (Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA)
Dino aka Katy (Newport News, Virginia, USA)
Gareth (Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, UK)

2. List out your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location.

Ok before I continue with this I just need to do one thing ................... cry, sniffle, yap, laugh hysterically and pout. Ok I'm done now.
I was doing that because the eating establishments around here are not very good but luckily I can think of a handful of semi reasonable ones (just about!) ......

#1: Aylesford House - I've had a few nice meals in there and the best thing is their desserts. Absolutely scrummie. I always go for either their cheesecakes or apple tarts.

#2: Jack Ryans - It's been a few years since I had something to eat in there but I do remember it as being good. The seafood meals are good as are their salad menus.

#3: The Whistledown - Had a couple of meals in here I believe. It's situated along the shore front so if you don't like the meal you can look out the window at the lough/lake.

#4: The Balmoral - I really don't know why I'm listing this one at all. The last meal I had in there was just after they opened the new upstairs restaurant. The service they provided was really slow and the waiters wore 'long faces' all the time. I really would not recommend this one at all. On the upside it is another one along the shore with a lovely view over the lake and towards the mountain :)

#5: Friar Tucks restaurant. LMAO!!! The soda is cheap :P

If I had to recommend any of those it would only be the first two.

3. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Okay so if I have to do this so do you: Cheryl, NMOTB, Jin, SeeQuine and Shannon

And finally onto NMOTB's tag then I will be free, free, freeeeeeeeee. Or at least until someone else catches me! :D

7 things about me!: .......

1. I am almost ambidextrous. My parents didn't know which hand was my strongest until I was almost 6 years old. I liked to confuse them.

2. I can juggle 4 balls at the same time.

3. I have been playing the cornet/trumpet for 26 years and have only practiced at home maybe 10 times in the last 10 years. Doh! What can I say, I'm naturally gifted lol.

4. I know all 52 states of the US and most of their capital cities.
***Correction - there are only 50 states. Thank you Design Goddess for pointing out this error to me and the rest of the world. Thank you so much for making me look dumb in front of my friends and thank you so so much for being a good pal to me and never wanting to embarrass the heck out of me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for putting me back on track with this and never letting me down. You are obviously way too intelligent for me and I humbly beg your forgiveness in this matter. Once again I thank you for the embarrassment!!! Now, please everyone go over to her blog and thank her for me :D***

5. I can recognise someone's voice in the first couple of seconds through a telephone even if I haven't heard from them in years.

6. I had asthma as a child and almost died twice from it. I'm free of it now and the doctors believe it had a lot to do with playing a wind type instrument because it made my lungs work harder than people that didn't play an instrument. I haven't had an attack for almost 20 years now.

7. I love being surrounded by nature :)

If you would like to do this tag please feel free to do so.

Woohoooooooooo, I'm free at last. Runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ....................

Money Money Money

2007-05-06T19:05:00.000+01:00

I've tried to do this post 2 or 3 times in the past but kind of lost interest in it when my pics didn't come out as I was hoping for. However, now that I have discovered the pics that I need on the internet I am going to errrrr borrow them and hope that I don't get thrown into jail for 40 years or worse still, asked to count every grain of rice in a large barn full of ummm rice!! So here goes, wish me luck and if this is my last post ever at least you will know what happened ............ 1 grain, 2 grains, 3 grains, 4 grains ......

Every once in a while over the years I have been given old coins from various people. I don't collect them per se and have by no means a large collection of them either and I definitely wont be getting rich from them that is for sure.
The oldest coin that I have was minted in 1861. Yep that's right, it's almost 150 years old. It is a Victorian coin from when Victoria was on the throne (1837-1901). It is a Victoria bronze Farthing 'young bun head' 1861 coin, which is one quarter of a penny ......

The next oldest different monetary value coin that I have is from 30 years later - a Victoria bronze Half Penny 'young bun head' coin from 1891 ......

I also have a Victoria bronze One Penny 'old veiled head' coin from 1897 ......

I have most of the dates for minted Farthings between 1861 and 1917 in the collection as well.

The rest of my older British coins are from the reigns of Edward VII (1901-1910), George V (1910-1936) and George VI (1936-1952) (the present queen's father)

66 Farthing coins (1861-1917)
17 Half Penny coins (1891-1967)
53 One Penny coins (1899-1967)

I also have some old foreign coins -
French coin from 1892
Chile coin from 1907

And some more modern coins from Germany, Austria, Ireland, Australia, Sweden and the USA.

Before I forget ------- I owe Design Goddess 50c for her recently removed gallbladder. Here it is DG!!! (2 quarters) :D ----->

......... 3762 grains, 3763 grains, 3764 grains, 3765 grains .........

Two New Trails

2007-04-29T19:15:00.000+01:00

Hi gang. Sorry for being away from my blog and your blogs for a while. I'm a bad blogger and deserve to be thrown on your mercy. Please forgive me and I'll be your best friend then you'll never get rid of me :D

Beautiful day today so I went for a walk up the mountain. I said in a recent post that I would continue my walk along some trails that I had never walked along so today I went on two new ones. This picture post begins where THIS POST left off from ......

This is the first new trail

I looked up and saw this view from it

I got the impression from the start of it that it was going to be a long walk

Looking back where I had come from

The stream that separates the two adjacent trails

Going lower down

The view to the right. A lot of trees were cut down a few years ago. You can see some of the new trees beginning to grow again in the distance

Looking back again

Oh crumbs, there had better not be a troll under that bridge! He eats leprechauns!!

At the bottom of this trail. Don't you just hate it when the forest authority plants trees and scrubs in front of a lovely view. Totally inconsiderate!! :P

Walking back along the other trail and there's our old friend the stream again

At the point where the two trails meet and looking back to where I had just come from

Nope, no sign of a troll. Probably scared him off. Pussy!!! :D

Almost at the end of it

Yep, there we are, back where we started from

And walking back to where I started from

Now this is where things began to get really interesting. This was taken along the main road up to the top carpark. I just decided to walk and see where it took me

Looking back up the road

And walking along again

Now I was on the 'one way road'. I only had to watch out for vehicles coming from behind me now. Only half as much chance of becoming roadkill :)

This is where I just came from

And continuing again

Nope, scratch that, back again lol

Ohhh Foxglove/Bluebell flowers along the road

Ok, the road to the left is the road that I have just left and the road to the right would have taken me back down to the bottom of the mountain but I wasn't ready to go home just yet. And besides my car was three quarters of a mile away!! This was the beginning of the second trail that I have never been along. I turned around and continued.

This is the start of it

A little further along

Looking back down. It was actually quite steep. A good workout

Flatter section of it. I am still out in the open here but pretty soon it would get a little darker as I got more into the heart of the forest

Looking back again

Walking along

I think I have a swivel head lol

Looking down the steep side in amongst the trees. It actually looked quite purple down in there. Probably just the light

Another stream. This one seemed to be mainly just stones

Back down again

This was a really long walk. Did I mention it was a goooood workout

Behind me again. Kind of eerie don't you think. I had been walking along this trail for about 20 minutes and I had not meet another person along it. I really don't think that many people use this particular part of the forest. I guess only the fitter people will be able to do it ;) My advice is don't wear heels ladies. Not that I was, I'm just saying. A transvestite leprechaun. Hmmmm :D

I see the light!! I see the light!! This was a welcome sight indeed

Into the open again. This was totally worth it just for this view alone but there was better to come

This is the view I had

A little closer

Well would you believe it?! I had come up the trail to the right and lookie, there's another one to the left. I'll leave that for another day :)

And actually the trail that I was on was no where near finished. Another day as well

There is the view of the lough/lake away in the distance. I was pretty much at the other end of the forest from the pictures I have done of that lake in past posts

Then it was time to return back down the trail again and make my way back onto the forest road. Three miles and 75 minutes later I arrived back at my car. A lovely way to spend a warm day :)

Earth Day

2007-04-22T16:41:00.000+01:00

Yes that's right, it's Earth Day today or as I like to call it - Take Your Camera Out And Take Some Photos Day :)

We only have one earth and we should look after it. I mean, would you like to lose scenery like this worldwide? ....

I'm waiting for snow to fall today because I've had every other type of weather today. It is Earth Day afterall

Friends Make The World Go Around

2007-04-16T19:14:00.000+01:00

I saw this idea on Cheryl's blog last week in which she nominated me for a blogging award entitled "Thinking Blog Award". The idea is to nominate five people for this award and each of the people that you nominate have to pay it forward to five other blogs that make you think.
For my choices I'm not necessarily going to choose the blogs that make me think, rather I am going to choose the blogs that I like from a creative point of view because really every blog that I have ever read has made me think in one way, shape or form. So here are my choices and don't shout at me if you are not included in this. If you do feel the absolute need to shout make sure you have a large box of chocolate bars in your hands too. It will be easier to forgive you then. Hehehehehe ;) .......

Cezi - What can I say about this beautiful woman that hasn't already been said?? Well quite a lot actually lol. For the most part she blogs from her heart. She's not afraid to say what she is feeling and what she would like to achieve in the future. People, have you ever seen her paintings?! They are amazing!! I remember when I was in my second year of high school I drew a bowl of fruit and another sketch of a single shoe. I was happy the way they turned out but putting them up against any one of Cezi's paintings puts my sketches into perspective. I hope she doesn't mind if I copy one of her paintings into this post so you can all see what I mean about her talent -

Shannon - she has been blogging with me from almost the very start of my blog. I've tried my best to get rid of her but she's like a limpet, the harder you shake the tighter she clings on so I have given up the struggle to get rid of her and instead I now employ the hugging to death approach. I squeeze and she suffocates. It will work for a while until she learns to kick at my shins and then it will be ME suffering from lack of oxygen. So now I figure, why fight it, we are the best of friends and it's all good.
p.s. Shan - watch out for that black Ford tonight at about 9:00. If there is something small and green behind the wheel don't blame him too much. It's NOT his fault if he can't see over the steering wheel and your bright bling bling will only dazzle his eyes and make him temporarily blind! Ok? :P

Jin - have you seen her cakes!! I can only see them on the computer screen but every time I see her cakes and buns my mouth begins to water and fairly shortly after that I start drooling from both sides of my mouth. I've gone through 3 keyboards since I started blogging with her. I remember making a comment on her blog way at the start when I said that I should order one or two of her cakes and have her ship them over to me. I was only joking about that but I later read on her business blog that she does indeed do international deliveries. How good is that?! Place your orders with her and watch her cakes rack up in orders. You wont be disappointed.

SeeQuine - sketching and computer breaker extraordinaire. When not in school studying to be a mad scientist this Washington State woman can be found doing her etchings in a book or on a piece of paper. She doodles from morning to night with her boyfriend at her side. She even has a name for her computer and pseudonymes for all her friends. She enjoys fighting with swords and has a fetish for birds whilst on holidays. I am happy to say that she doesn't take her sword on holidays otherwise there would be a few less birds populating the skies right about now. She also likes to debunk conspiracy theories as if they were going out of fashion and making blurry photographic images out of her large black photographic facilitator (camera) is a passion of hers too.

CrabCake - aka Crabby, Crabster, Cow Tipper, Ginger Tosser, this woman is funny with a capital knee. She makes Billy Connolly look somewhat normal. In fact she has even tried to look like him and I have photographic evidence to prove it. Below you will see her attempting to The Highland Fling or as she calls it - The Stand On One Leg And Keep Your Modesty At The Same Time Fling. Oops, did I say cow and fling in adjacent sentences? Doh! This Ohioan can make a funny story out of nothing. Give her an empty chip bag and a sausage and she'll do something with them. Just don't mention the big orange buoyancy aid on her cruise. Those are bad words for her and a source of embarrassment for her husband!! Shusssssh ;)

I am so lucky that I have the chance to see Cezi's paintings, to struggle against Shan's limpet, look at Jin's cakes, admire SeeQuine's etchings and check out Crabby's udders :D

Forest Clearing

2007-04-10T13:58:00.000+01:00

Alone I stand in a forest clearing,
Heat on my back and warmth on my face.
Sun scorching the grass
And the breeze cooling it down.

In the distance I hear the birds,
Whistling and calling out to me,
Should I run or should I hide?
The grass is on fire now.

I look around me really quickly
To plan my escape
There is no safe route out of here
Eek and egad and bejeebus.

Fire lapping at my feet
All around me, hotter and hotter
Dare I jump over it
Or let it consume me?

The water in the distance, I see it
Right there I can almost touch it
Too far away in reality
Pour it on me, over me, around me.

I'm terrified now, in so much turmoil
What do I do, where do I go?
Is this my life right now
In the middle of a forest?

Is this the way I shall die?
Is this how it's meant to be?
So many questions, too little time
Is this it, as I dance in the fire.

Where are you when I need you?
Stretching my hands out, are you there?
Fire so close -
You so far!

As I reach the end
And look forward to the new
I go along this journey
With the fire in my heart.

For you see, the fire around my feet
Was the embers of my love
And the water over there
Was my body.

If you see me in this world
Don't be afraid to approach
The fire may be around me
But the water bottle is in my hands :-)

And this little fellow will soon be a goner. Head first or butt first. Hmmm decisions decisions ....

New Job!!!!

2007-04-05T23:58:00.000+01:00

I've got a new job. Woohooooo. It's a job that I've wanted for quite some time now and I'm glad that I was finally accepted for it.
I sent off for the job application a little over two weeks ago and received the application three days later. I had to fill it in and sign it and send my curriculum vitae / resume off with it. Then I got a call to go in and have the interview last Tuesday. So I got myself prepared for it as best I could. You know the usual .......... have answers ready for the questions I believed they would ask, have an endorsement letter from my previous employer if it was required, iron my suit, wash my hair, clean my teeth. All the usual stuff. I was going to get this job as if it was the last job ever.
Tuesday morning rolls around and the interview was set for 2:15pm and it was 15 miles away so I did my last minute preparations for it (got up, dressed, breakfast and waited lol). I left the house at 1:30pm to give myself plenty of time to get there and a few minutes to compose myself when I got there. It was a really nice modern building and I had saw it many times before but had never actually been inside it. Things were looking good. When I got in there I was surprised to see that there were only 3 other applicants for the positions besides myself. I knew I had a good shot at this. The interviews were running a little late. They were supposed to start at 1:00pm but I guess the managers had a meeting and then their managers had a meeting about the lower managers meeting and then their managers had a meeting about ...... oh you get the picture. Sooooo anyways I would have to wait for at least an hour before I would get into the interview room. Nothing like further increasing the blood pressure and heart rate, eh?
The hour went by as if it was a full day and I was eventually called in for my interview. The lady behind the desk told me that they were expecting me so I got up off my warm chair. It was warm in more than one way ;) Haha j/k. And I walked to the room door, gave the obligatory two knocks on it and waited for the "please enter" speech from the other side. I mean the other side of the door not the 'other side' because if there was a ghost within 5 paces of me I would have high-tailed it out of there quicker than the Energizer Bunny.
The interview started off well. The usual - confirming name, address, shoe size (that one was asked by a woman, guess it was supposed to be related to something, I know not what). Then really strange questions were asked of me. I could barely believe my ears when I heard some of them and let me tell you some of them were really strange. Example - how fast can you run, how long can you jump, are you good with kids and can you deal with long periods of heat? No amount of preparation would have prepared me for those questions but I answered them as best I could. All in all I believed I did quite well during the interview. I was a little nervous but that is to be expected because hey who doesn't get nervous during an interview??? They said they would phone me the next day once they had made their decision of who to hire for the position whether I was successful or not.
Naturally enough all day Wednesday (yesterday) I hovered around my phone waiting for THE call. The one that would change my life forever, or at least the next few years of it. Almost to the exact time of the interview the previous day the phone rang and I jumped. I caught my breath for a second or two and picked the phone up ........

Me: "Hello"
Them: "Hello, is that Gareth?"
Me: "Yes it is, it is I"
Them: "Good afternoon Gareth, it's The Chocolate Company here. We are calling you in regards to your interview yesterday"
Me: "Yes, I was expecting your call"
Them: "Well we are very pleased to tell you that you were successful in your application in acquiring the position and we would like to offer you a permanent position in our company"
Me: (after jumping up and down and punching my fist into the air) "Thank you thank you. This is the best news I've heard all day"
Them: "When can you start?"
Me: "Well as soon as you want me"
Them: "Ok well we would like to see you in our offices at around 9:00am tomorrow"
Me: "That's not a problem I'll be there at that time"
Them: "We look forward to seeing you Gareth. Bye"
Me: "Bye and thank you once again for accepting me. Bye"

Woohooooooo I got myself a new job with room for promotion in the future. Can we all say booyah. I went in this morning to them and was greeted with new faces, most of which were smiling ones and some were sad ones but you get that in every work place. There are always one or two people that like to go around 'wearing' unhappy gloomy faces. I guess it gives them a purpose in life?
I was ushered into the same room that I had the interview in and was almost immediately presented with quite a large cardboard box. I knew I was going to enjoy this job if on only my first day there I was already receiving a present. Bring it on I say. After I sat the box down on a nearby table and open it up there was only one question that rushed into my mind .......... "What the?!"
I went in for a marketing position in a well established local chocolate manufacturing company. I thought that this job would push my creative juices to the max and no one day would be the same as the next. Oh boy how wrong could I be??? It seems that on Tuesday when I went in for my interview I walked into the wrong office block in the same building and now the strange questions that I was asked during the interview made a lot more sense to me! ........ "how fast can you run, how long can you jump, are you good with kids and can you deal with long periods of heat". It turns out that I am now a 6 feet tall promotional animal ......

I guess I should have realised when the interviewers were like this during the interview .....

Oh my days, what have I done! *shakes head*

Contest And Walks

2007-03-31T17:31:00.000+01:00

There comes a time in every man's life when he has to say enough is enough. He has to stand up for what he believes in and he especially has to stand up to pressure from any females that may be around. Shannon has put pressure on me to do a new post. She told me that if I denied her a new post she would cut off my limbs one by one and feed them to some large fish. As I was saying before, there has to come a time that you have to stand up against women and be counted as a true man. However on this occasion my inner senses prevailed and I have decided not to stand up to her. Let it me known that I could stand up to Shan any time I want to, in any scenario and at any time of my choosing ........ I just chose not to do so this time. Yes yes I know there will be some retractors saying that I am a scaredy cat and should never show my face again in the mens locker rooms because I'm not worthy. All I have to say to that is if that is the case then I'm ok with spending some quality time in the WOMENS locker room. I would not have a problem in lowering myself to that and I may, over time, begin to enjoy it. So if you see me wandering into the female locker room don't stop me. Let me go in with the full knowledge that it was Shan's fault that I can see you all bending over in your undies and and and hmmmmm just let me savour that thought for one moment ......... ;)

Anddddd getting back to reality. It's a little before 5pm right now and I've already packed quite a lot into my day. I was up at 6.30 this morning because I had a band contest to go to about 40 miles from me. I left there at about noon and have not as yet heard if we won the contest or not but as soon as I hear you'll all be the first, errrrr second to know.
I got home at about 1:20pm and had some lunch and then because it is a beautiful day I took my camera out and about to see what I could see.
The first place I went to was the pond that I have taken pictures from before. I haven't been able to walk around it since last October because it has been to too cold and everything hasn't been green enough anyway so to update my blog for this area I took more pictures ......

The entrance to the pond

The trail that surrounds the pond

The first pontoon that stretches out into the pond a little ways

(standing on the furtherest end of the pontoon) To the left

Straight in front

And to the right

30 second video (hopefully it will be accepted by YouTube soon. Just be patient)

A little further on

The first swan that I saw was preening it's feathers

From the far corner of the pond

Closer view of the same swan. I tried to get it to come closer to me but I don't think it liked me so it swam further out into the middle. Probably should stop jumping up and down and flapping my arms around like an ejit :P

The light was brighter than this but I was taking the pics right into the sun. The sun wouldn't move either. I feel powerless now with nature :(

Looking back at the trail

Woohoo a wooden bridge across the edge of the pond. Luckily there were no trolls waiting underneath the bridge for me. Yikes!

This is a second swan hiding among the reeds. Probably the partner of the other one.

Walking along the trail at the back end of the pond. The fence is there to keep leprechauns out. Guess what? ...... it works!! Yes I've tried, lol.

Swan number 1 again still preening itself and probably still chuckling at me for being silly. That swan is going to be my dinner some day and then we'll see who is at the top of the food chain. Ha! Take that swan!

Oh lookie - there were also two ducks swimming around. Now where's my gun???

Quack quack

It told me to quack off so I did

The pond from the far side

And another pontoon

Still walking along

More pond

Then I got back into my car and drove to the limits of the town to take a few pics of the 13th century watch tower. This is the stretch of water outside of it

Yeah I know it isn't very pleasant to look at. The tide was out and as I said before, my luck just wasn't in with Mother Nature today

The 13th century tower

This is the entrance to a 17th century castle opposite the tower

Entrance to the tower. I haven't been inside it for about 20 years

Looking back from the entrance

*Navigating my way out of the womens changing rooms* :D

Mountain Walk

2007-03-24T18:58:00.000Z

Whoooweeee woohoooo it is such a lovely day today, it's great to see the sun out WITH warmth as well. I've missed my old friend lol.
I wasn't going to waste my day, oh no not me, I was going to make some use of it. I had not been up the local mountain area since last October so I drove the three miles to the forest and went for a 45 minute walk around the area. There are sooooo many trails around here that you could easily spend a few hours exploring all around you. As usual I took my camera with me and these are the pics that I took (all pics can be enlarged) ....

Near the bottom of the main trail

The car park below

Beginning the journey

Looking out at the valley

I wonder what that bright thing is? Hmmmm

Looking back behind me

And to the right

Continuing along the main trail

Just because

I wonder what is around the next corner?

And behind again

A little rise in the trail

I can catch a glimpse of the lake through the trees

Yeppers, bright blue sky :-)

Yayyyy, the lake

You can see the road to the right-middle of the pic

Closer view of it (this is the coastal road you travel on to get to the forest park)

Over the lake again

Beginning to walk up another trail

Behind me with the lake through the trees again

Up we go

Rear view mirror time again

Getting closer to the top

A little ways to go yet

Looking down on the lake

To the left

Over the brow of the trail is where we just came from

And at the top of this trail we come to The Cloughmore Stone, or as it is known locally - The Big Stone - yeah I know it's a highly original name :P. THIS is a brief history of the mythology of the stone

The views from around the stone

Traveling down another trail

I'm going to go left now onto part of a trail that I was on before

Looking back up. Don't be blinded by that bright silver thing!

Traveling along the trail to get to another trail

And this is it on the right. I have never been down this one before so we are all going to see this one for the first time together. Wellllll kind of lol.

It stretches out way into the distance

Down to the left

It's getting steeper now

This is another trail that I have yet to explore. I didn't realise that there were more paths to follow down here :)

Looking back

The valley again

I can see the end of the trail over to the left and the car park in the distance too

Straight ahead wayyyyyy in the distance is where we started

At the end of this trail is a stream, oh and lookie, there's another trail ;)

St Patrick's Day #2

2007-03-18T17:37:00.000Z

I went to the St Patrick's Day parade yesterday. It was a little cool and quite windy at times but I'm glad I went.
The town that the parade was being held in is reputed to be the resting place of St Patrick ....

The parade started at 2:30pm just as it was beginning to get a little more windy. Must be Murphy's Law or something lol. These are some photos that I took before the parade started ....

This was the road that the parade was due to start from with bands, floats, vehicles and other participants

This is one heck of a teddybear!! I'd like to see the bed that this thing is supposed to sleep in! *gulp*

There were also a few cartoon vehicles on parade. This one is Tigger's van from Winnie The Pooh

The Mystery Van from Scooby Doo with Frankenstein's monster looking rather 'deflated' above it

Hmmmm I guess Santa must be hiding around here somewhere. Just hope his vehicle isn't taken away for a road violation

SpongeBob!!! Don't be jealous Design Goddess but I actually touched this van. You may bow at my feet whenever you like :D

Postman Pat. Not sure if this kids program ever made it across 'The Pond'???

Barney!!! Let's do a little dance lol.

Still waiting to see the bed!

There were some horses on parade too. At least it wasn't difficult to follow the route of the parade when these guys were near the front of the parade. You all know the story of how Hansel and Gretel dropped breadcrumbs along a trail to find their way back home again? Well think of horses and their 'little brown packages' *wink*

A Scandinavian longboat. Vikings were among the first people to inhabit Ireland and Britain. Many of the place names in my area are derived from old viking names.

Looking down towards the start of the parade

This truck was in last year's parade as well

An Indian tepee. I noticed a few Native Americans walking around or should I say dancing around doing the raindance

One of the bands getting reading for the parade

Oh lookie. Two shire horses and a cart coming towards me

One of the floats. This one had soccer as its theme

The A-Team truck. Everyone together let's burst into the theme song. (oh yes I know you are all humming it now :P)

These next few pics were taken right at the end of the parade. That big truck has teeth! And you can see a large blowup of Frankenstein's Monster in the background

Woot! Santa made an appearance after all. And who says he does nothing from one Christmas to the next?!

I would love to see a fight between this bear and Barney :P

SpongeBob looking happy as usual

I hope the green dragon behind him doesn't pick an argument with him!

A pipeband on parade

The longship again

A Chinese dragon. Maybe it's chasing SpongeBob

The Starsky and Hutch car

The parade was over for another year. I jumped into my car, put the heating on and started to thaw after about 10 minutes lol

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums in blogland :)

St Patrick's Day #1

2007-03-16T15:55:00.000Z

St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us. Yayyyyy. Tomorrow I will be marching with a band in a parade in the town that St Patrick in believed to be buried in. I did the same parade last year on the same date as coincidence would have it :-P and it was really cold, so hopefully it wont be the same this year otherwise all of the leprechauns will be doing great impressions of little snowmen. The post that I did last year is HERE.
I will be taking my camera with me and hopefully I'll have the opportunity to take some pics whilst I am there and will enter a post on Sunday all about my day.

A young Irishman sat at a pub in the New World drinking beer and conversin' with the barkeep. Another comes in and sits besides him. He says how you do and hears the lilt and says you be Irish? Yes I am. The first man yells barkeep give us another round and one for my friend here he's from the mother country as well. The second man asks-so where in the old country ye from. Dublin responds the first. Dublin you say - so am I and the second man hollers barkeep bring us another round and a shot of your best Irish Whiskey for me and my friend here. Afterwards the first man asks from where in Dublin and the second man responds with the street and the first man says well I'll be - so am I and yells barkeep another pair of beers and Irish Whiskey for the pair of us. The phone behind the bar rings and the barkeep answers it. The owner of the pub asks - how is business. The barkeep responds - not too bad - The O'Malley twins are here getting drunk again.

McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the Irishman started to leave.
"S'cuse me," said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing," said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives.

Pat and Mike had been drinking buddies and friends for years. After having a few drinks in a bar, Mike said to Pat "We have been friends for years and years and if I should die before you do would you do me a favor? Get the best bottle of Irish whiskey you can find and pour it over my grave." Pat replied, "I would be glad to do that for you my old friend. But would you mind if I passed it through my bladder first?"

Yummy Food

2007-03-12T19:56:00.000Z

I'm sure you have all heard the expression - "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach"?? Meaning that if you cook me something nice I will love you forever, or at least LIKE you forever. So any of you who want to get to my heart can cook me any of the following recipes/plates ....

Courses -

Starter .....
vegetable soup / watermellon / light salad

Main .....
shepherd's pie / salad / fish / spaghetti / pasta

Dessert .....
cheesecake / banana cake / apple pie (with real apples) / blueberry muffin / fruit salad with ice-cream

In short I will eat anything (even your arm if it's left dangling in front of me for too long. Welllllll it's your own fault lol), however, set a bowl of semolina in front of me and you will be wearing it as a fashion accessory if you know what I mean ;-)

So, which 3 course meal from those dishes above would you make for me and what foods/meals would you like me to prepare for YOU???

Chip Flavour

2007-03-07T12:41:00.000Z

This post has been inspired by a crisp (or a potato chip for all you State-siders and Canadians out there). Who would have thunk that a small dry piece of potato would give rise to the best darn post you will ever read?? Answer: well of course it wont be the best because then I would be a god among men and I don't think I'm quite ready to take my humble leprechaun hat off just yet - partially because it's formed its own tight shape around my scalp for millenia so taking it off would require a chisel and hammer and noooooo pointy implements are ever going near my head thank you very much!!

Cast your minds back to the summer of '83 (I'm casting it back and you can do what ever you want with your own). I was 7 and my sister was 5 (little brother was just a nightmare, I mean pipe dream at that time) and the two of us were kidnapped, I mean whisked away by our parents to the south west of England and abandoned there to fend for ourselves. My sister went into prostitution and I being the ever enterprising little soul that I was became her pimp. Wellllll someone had to earn the money and someone had to be the tax collector lol.
Nahhhhh our parents didn't abandon us (we strapped them into seats so they couldn't run away). We had a lot of fun on that holiday and I believe it was our first 'real' holiday outside of Northern Ireland. We were going to be going across a stretch of water to get to England so I packed my swimming blowup aids and attached them around my little arms and legs and waded out into the water. My mum asked me why I was doing this. I replied "Mum are you stupid or something? (I already knew the answer to that question) How else are we going to get to England?!" She pointed over to a big steel floating thing that was bobbing up and down in the water and said "Gareth, do you see that big steel floating thing over there? It's called a boat and it will take us to England". I looked rather quizzically at my mum, opened my mouth and said "Are you nuts, I'm not going on that! It's already beginning to sink. Half of it is already under the water and as soon as I step onto it it will go the same way my rubber ducky did last night when I sat on it in the bath tub!!"

I shook my head and proceeded to walk out into the sea and take my chances. Then suddenly a big hand came out of the heavens, grabbed my little swimming trunks and pulled me out of the water. It was my father. He held me under his arm and proceeded to walk towards the big steel floating thing. I waved bye bye to the frog that I had just met in the water and kissed bye bye to my ass because I knew I would have that sinking feeling in a few minutes time. Stepping onboard wasn't too bad. It helped that I had my eyes closed and held onto my ass for extra safety. We walked around the boat's railings for a while until everyone else was safely onboard too. They were all holding their asses as well. Their own asses I mean, not a complete stranger's ass, although I did see ......... oh nevermind, this is a family blog :P
Then suddenly I heard a deep noise coming from the back of the boat. It sounded like someone was letting one 'rip' or as I called it back then - 'A gaseous exchange of the nether regions'. It was actually the boat starting up. Soon we were on our way at 15 miles per hour across the water. I saw my friend frog swimming along-side for a while but I guess he couldn't keep up for long and disappeared underneath the boat. I screamed out "Froggyyyyyyy" and tried to jump overboard to save him but then I remembered that I still had my floaters on and would just float on the water and not be able to save him so I figured it was best just to find another new friend some time.

After 17 days (7 hours) of being stuck on a floating tub we made it to dry land and England. I jumped up and down for joy but then stood perfectly still after I remembered that there was a good probability of sinking. We began to walk off the boat and as I was so pleased to still be alive I wanted to thank the captain for the good sailing. I went up to him and gave him a very generous tip - the tip was not to let the boat bounce so much when he was changing gears and his reversing skills could do with a bit of a refresher course. He appreciated the advice and gave me a tip back - "Get the heck off my boat you little smart ass!!" I thanked him for the tip and told him there was no need for rudeness. He ran ........... I ran ......... all in the same direction. He didn't catch me and I just shouted back at him "Lose some weight and then you might be able to catch me" I tripped over a kerb :'(
We finally made it down to our destination. The girls over there were hot but a little young for me. When you have 3 year old girls wanting to hold your hand you kind of run away. Nope, I needed an older woman - 8 or 9 years old was perfect. I didn't find one of those. Instead I had to look after my little sister. I asked my parents to take her back to the store where they got her from but they said that the store didn't do refunds. I told them to just give her freely back to them. They weren't having it and told me to grow up and look after her. I had plenty of growing up to do back then. A full 3 feet as it transpired later in life.

During one of the evenings there we treated ourselves to a night of fun. As soon as I heard the word 'fun' coming from my parents lips I thought ut ohhhhh this can either mean we are going to watch old people dancing around on a dance floor with their hip replacement joints flying all over the place or we were going to watch a black and white film in the local cinema entitled "The Way We Used To Be In The 1800s". However to our surprise and great relief they told us that we were going ten-pin bowling. Woohooooooo. I started jumping up and down and then stopped as I had a flashback, but then I remembered that I wasn't on the boat any more and started jumping up and down again. My sister started crying. Apparently I had jumped on her feet. Who would have thought that jumping would be so hazardous to your health?!
Walking into the bowling alley place I got a real sense of fun in the joint. Everyone was kicking back and having a wonderful time. The liquor (orange juice and coke) were being eagerly consumed and the girls were hot. They looked so cute as they were picking up the heavy balls, walking to the edge of the lanes, throwing the ball and getting their fingers stuck in the holes and traveling half way up the lanes being still connected to the ball. It was funny to watch. Then it was our turn.

We went over to our lane, punched our names into the lane's computer and as soon as dad entered the last name the computer short circuited and blew up. The noise was horrific but at least the girls all looked around at me. I was smokin', literally. Once I extinguished the flames off my clothes I picked up one of the bowling balls, ran up to the beginning of the lane and threw the ball straight down the middle ........................ of the gutter. I was delighted with my shot until my parents pointed out that I was supposed to throw it BETWEEN the gutters. I was embarrassed and it ruined any chance I may have had with little Sally in the next lane.
After we had finished the game (I lost, but we don't talk about that. The therapy is going very well right now) my mum said that we had another treat waiting for us. Oh great, I thought, NOW we are going to go and watch the old people. But nope, again I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently my parents had found out that there was a store nearby that sold unusual flavoured crisps. Yummy. My sister and I looked at each other with little red faces - my red face was because I was really happy and her red face was because she had just pooped in her pants.
We arrived at the store soon after and we bought some crisps. The flavour that I got was ............... are you all sitting down? ............. hedgehog flavoured crisps. Now would someone please tell me which dumb dumb actually ate a hedgehog in order to know what it tasted like so they could match a flavour with it?!?! Silly people.
Now I come to the reason why this post came into my mind. Yesterday I bought a multi-pack bag of crisps (20 in the bag) and would you believe me if I said that they now make Lamb & Mint flavoured crisps??? If you don't then here is the proof .......

Walk This Way

2007-03-03T16:02:00.000Z

It's a really lovely day today. Nice and warm. I think the warmer weather is finally happening again. Woohoo!! (It will start raining in five minutes now lol).
I haven't had the opportunity to really take my camera out for quite some time. I rectified that situation today and took it out (the camera!) All pics can be enlarged by clicking on them ....

Nope it wasn't dark. Just took this pic whilst facing into the sun

The old baths area with open water pool a little in the distance

The old baths looking a little past its best. Umm yeah, understatement

When I was out for my walk there was a group of young people about to go out on canoes. A mini motor boat in the foreground

A little further along the shore

Looking back along the lough (lake) line

A little vessel in the distance

Oh wow! That car was traveling on the wrong side! ;-)

And now it has disappeared into thin air. Aliens make vehicles now too huh?! It's almost as if they are taking over the world!

That little boat again. Oh and look it's found a little friend as well

The walkway along the shore line

Down by the water's edge

I took the walkway along the water line

One of the many steps back up to the main walkway

Continuing along the narrow walkway and we come to the long pier in the distance

The last path back up to the main walkway. Guess I had better use it or be swallowed up by the water and be taken out to sea. Next stop would be *gulp* America! :P

Closer up view of the long pier

The pier stretches out into the distance

To the right of it

And to the left (proof that indeed the sun was out)

On my way back again on the other side of the road

The trusty zoom is working

I walked through the local park to get another pic of the bandstand (or gazebo for the silly people *rolls eyes* :D) that I had posted about a few days ago. They have started to restore it and they are also working on the grass and path that lead up to it

Yup, it was erected in 1907

Closer up

And from the other side of it

You can see the lake through the middle of it

Hopefully there'll be many more opportunities to take more pics in the coming weeks and months :)

In Deep Water

2007-03-01T18:11:00.000Z

I was asked yesterday in my previous post by Misty ..... "So you would prefer to be in an aquarium?????". Then Tina, her daughter, said ..... "Wow Mom you really want him in a fishbowl"

I'm fairly certain that this is what they had in mind .....

I just hope that freshly battered leprechaun isn't on that fish's menu today otherwise I'm in deep deep trouble!!

Also it is St David's Day today (patron saint of Wales) :-)

Bandstand

2007-02-27T13:25:00.000Z

Who's ready for another installment of my blog??
Sorry for being AWOL for a few days but it just wasn't my fault that someone locked me in the basement. I only went down there to get a beer!

Many of you will have seen a few pics that I took a while ago of my local park whilst I went out for a walk around the 'front shore'. THIS is it if you need to refresh your minds. Anyways a couple of those pics featured the bandstand. My band and other bands in the area use this park and its bandstand during the summer for a few concerts ....

The bandstand was built in 1907 (I remember it well :P) and so this year it is celebrating its 100th year and to mark that occassion the local council are holding various concerts and whatnot.
Some of the trees around the bandstand have been uprooted because it was getting way too dark in there to see the music that was in front of us and I believe that they are designing a new glass sliding door that will fit around the stand to provide shelter for whom ever is playing in it. I found this old pic on the net from the early to mid 80s I believe of a band playing in it when it had its old glass sliding door on it ....

Hopefully there will be lots of opportunities this year to play in the bandstand and receive some of the council's money :-)

Real Life Robbery!!!

2007-02-21T18:56:00.000Z

Ok so I was going for the record of staying away from blogland for the longest time but then I looked at Spygal's blog and figured that she already had that record. She's going to kill me now if she reads that. Shushhhh Shannon, don't tell her :P

I was witness to a serious crime yesterday. I was crapping myself that the men with the guns might turn them onto me so you can imagine the reason that I just stood there as stiff as a board with fear. Let me take you back to the scene so you can fully understand it .....
I was minding my own business whilst downtown at a little before 7:00pm. Downtown was packed with people just doing their regular food shopping when I heard some sort of commotion coming from behind me. I turned around to see what it was and there in front of my eyes were 3 guys rushing out of a candy store with lots of items in their hands and then a few seconds later the store's alarm system started. It almost deafened me because it was so loud. The 3 guys jumped into a nearby car and tried to get the vehicle to start. I guess they should have tested its battery before they planned the crime. Details details always remember the small points.
Anyways after they figured out they weren't going to be going anywhere quicker than the local snail population they spotted a nearby car with its passenger just exiting the vehicle so they jumped out of their stricken vehicle and jumped into his. The designated driver turned the engine on and promptly drove straight across the pavement/sidewalk and hit a nearby wall. I guess he wasn't used to driving manual vehicles or he was just not very intelligent.
So now the three of them are sitting in a car that has just hit a wall at 6mph. What were they going to do now?? The brightest dumb dumb among them decided that it might be a good idea to jump on the bicycles that were tied around a neighbouring tree. The kid that was guarding the bikes was told to unlock them from their safety brackets which he did with trembling hands. I don't blame him at all. Poor kid looked to be only about 9 or 10 years old :(
Unfortunately for the robbers there were only two bicycles so the 2 smallest ones got onto one bike and the bigger guy had a bike for himself. Unfortunately for them they only got a short distance on the bikes when one of the bikes front wheel came off sending one of the robbers into a face plant on the concrete. He tried to jump onto the other bike but as soon as he did the weight of all three of the robbers crushed the little bike and they all sat there on the ground.
People I promise I'm not making this up. It was so funny to watch but I knew I couldn't burst out laughing because they still had weapons on them.
They get up off the ground and start to look for a way out of their predicament. Meanwhile the police have arrived but with the amount of people that were standing around it was hard to see the robbers I guess.
I went home just glad to still be alive. About two hours later a news bulletin came on the television. Apparently this 'episode' had made it to a news channel. I guess maybe the police had asked for help in finding the culprits. Some witnesses had come forward and had given a good description of the people involved. I almost wet myself with laughter when I saw the sketches of the people involved ....... HERE

Those Pesky Beavers

2007-02-16T14:10:00.000Z

This post is gonna be a long read so Shan and Crabby and all other self diagnosed ADD sufferers I'll try to break it up with pictures and for those of you who manage to read the whole thing I can promise you will have sore sides from laughing too much so it will all be worth it. Let's begin ......

(see I'm thinking about you already lol)

This is actually a true story and the account of the investigation makes it even better...

The Dam

This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality, State of Pennsylvania. This guy's response is hilarious, but read the State's letter before you get to the response letter.

SUBJECT: DEQ File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County

Dear Mr. DeVries:

It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity: Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department's files shows that no permits have been issued. Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.

The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2006. Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
David L. Price
District Representative and Water Management Division.

Here is the actual response sent back by Mr. DeVries:

Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County

Dear Mr. Price,

Your certified letter dated 12/17/02 has been handed to me to respond to. I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget Lane, Trout Run, Pennsylvania. A couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood "debris" dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of natures building materials "debris." I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic. As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.

My first dam question to you is:
(1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers, or
(2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?

If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.

I have several concerns. My first concern is, aren't the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation -- so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer. The Department's dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event, causing flooding, is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling their dam names.

If you want the stream "restored" to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers -- but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter, they being unable to read English. In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers' Dams).

So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2006? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice then and there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them then.

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention a real environmental quality, health, problem in the area. It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone.

If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your step! The bears are not careful where they dump!
Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office.

THANK YOU.
RYAN DEVRIES & THE DAM BEAVERS

Oh come on, you knew that was coming ;-)

Valentines Day

2007-02-14T00:06:00.000Z

The day has finally arrived, or at least it has in my part of the world.
I did a Mothers Day post last year which included me giving different types of flowers to all the ladies on my blog roll. HERE. So this year I have decided to do something with this Valentines Day (I had better spell the whole thing in case DG laughs at the whole VD saga again lol) post other than giving out the usual flowers and chocolates. I asked myself the question - "If money was no object what would I like to get my blogging friends that they would like to receive in this moment and time" - and these are what I came up with. Enjoy ......

Angel - a new home for you because you have said that you would like a house for you and Damien instead of renting as you are currently doing

Big Butt - you are searching for a new nanny right now so hopefully this will help

Big Sis - I think you would like to have your soldier hubby back from his recent overseas posting

Cezi - a crystal ball to see into the future ;-)

Cheryl - some glue (no not to sniff and get high from lol) so you can stick some more pictures into your scrap books

Christy - a plumber to sort out your current piping problems in your kitchen (click on the pic because it's funny)

Crabby - a book of new names so you can finally settle on a new blog name ;-)

Dee Dee - some free cooking lessons :-)

Design Goddess - two weeks all expenses paid vacation to a warm tropical island

GunnGirl - a new computer cabinet just like Shannon has

Mudpie - a year's supply of nappies (diapers) to use on your new baby (or yourself if you have that fetish :P)

OBXN - some new baby clothes for your impending new arrival and just to put it on the record, I have a feeling that it will be a girl, hence the pink in the picture ;-)

Marge - a library crammed full of books

SeeQuine - a new computer to replace the one that is currently giving you trouble

Shannon - a sandwich from the local deli because I know you absolutely loveeeeeee the deli man. That should cost me a whole $2 :D

Sherri - an ergonomic chair for your sore butt lol

Skii - a new mobile (cell) phone because yours died recently :-(

Terry - medicine because you are not feeling well today. Hope you recover soon!

Tina - a new smart car so you can do your little bit for the environment ;-)

Tina's Mum - a tank so you can always get home no matter the weather instead of having to sleep at work sometimes

Zen - a book of how to learn the Irish accent like you told me you wanted to do a while ago when you did a play in a theatre ;-)

And not leaving out the guys because this is indeed an equal opportunities blog lol -

Cousin Brian - beer (I think that's self explanatory eh Brian?)

Gary - for his softball team to win the next league tournament

Happy VD (that was for DG, teehee) to one and all :-)

A New Me

2007-02-11T23:58:00.000Z

Well I finally did it. Actually I was pushed into it because the people at Blogspot/Google gave me no choice but to move so here I am inside the new blogger. I see my furniture has been moved around a little and I'm sure that the wallpaper wasn't quite that colour before but I can live with it (I think!).
So Shannon, DG and others who were pushing me to jump to the new blogger here I am. Now open your arms and embrace me, show me some love and comfort because I was brave enough to do this. Oh niiiiiiiiiiiiiice, run away from me. Yup that'll help the grieving process that I find myself in with loosing the original blogger. It's almost as if a limb has been severed from my body and I'm now half the leprechaun I used to be :-(
Wish me luck as I settle into my new surroundings and pass me a beer so I can feel at home. Heyyyyy I said pass NOT throw. Geesh it's gone all over the new leather couch now!!! For goodness sake NMOTB can you not doing anything right?! Honestly, I move in and what's the first thing she tries to do?? Tries to drown me back out of the place! Hmphhhh :'(. What does a leprechaun have to do around here to get some love. Valentines Day is almost upon us but instead of getting a little love women just want to throw bottles at me. Well luckily this time it missed. Neener neener neeeeeee *thwack* ...........

Discard The Shirts?

2007-02-08T16:23:00.000Z

I know that most of you will already know this but I didn't so I'm posting about it so there. Neener neener neeeeeener! :D
I saw a little bit about this on ABC World News a few days ago and thought it was a really cool idea. Have you ever wondered where the winning shirts and caps come from for the winning team of the Superbowl? I have to be honest and say that I have never given it much thought. The winning team, whoever that may be, win the game and then a few seconds later they are having caps shoved on their heads and shirts thrown onto their backs but how do the powers that be know which team will win at such short notice. Do they have a 1000 strong army of workers working their fingers to the bone to produce the caps and shirts in the basements under the field up until the very last second. Nooooo don't be silly, those silly gnomes do it instead and it serves them right, teehee.
No actually they make two sets of the shirts and caps a few weeks in advance of the game. In fact almost 300 caps and shirts are produced for each team. On one set will be the logos and 'winners signs' of one team and on the other will be the logos and 'winners signs' for the other. Ok so this year The Colts won and their clothing was rushed onto the field and presented to them. Now this is where I got interested in the news story. Ever wonder what happens to the clothing of the losing team? Nope nor did I. I thought that it might just have been thrown into a large dumpster but that would be such a waste of good quality items. Instead what they do is they give those shirts and caps to a charitable organisation called World Vision a relief organisation that helps provide food, clothing and shelter to developing nations, residents of preapproved towns in Uganda, Niger, Sierra Leone, Romania and other struggling countries. That is a great idea don't ya think?
Those items are (or have been in the last few days) shipped from Miami this year to Pittsburgh (yayyy go Pittsburgh!) and then they are loaded onto plane(s) and flown to Africa and eastern Europe so right now a little kid or a young adult is wearing a Bears shirt to put on their back or a nice new cap to keep the sun out of their eyes.
And who says that pro sports people don't care about others?!?! :-)

I Am Superman

2007-02-06T15:36:00.000Z

No really, it's true, I was Superman for 15 minutes last Saturday night. Hmmmm I'm sensing a little disbelief right now and I don't know why because I consider myself to be a super man every day of the week. Ohhhh stop laughing or you'll crush my little heart :-(
Let me explain *tilts head up to left hand corner, rubs chin and goes into deep thought mode just like in films* .....
It all started at about 12:20pm last Saturday when I went around to a friend's house to watch a soccer game and have some lunch with him too. I met another friend who was already there (I was running a little late). The game started at about 1:00pm so we settled down with a couple of beers to watch it. We ate some Fajitas and filling for lunch which were very enjoyable. The game finished with a scoreline of 0-0 and it wasn't the most exciting of soccer games that I have ever seen. Three o'clock rolls around and it is time to leave. We were due to go out later that night to a place 25 miles away and my friend was the designated driver so we told him that we would meet him back at his house at 5:00pm. It would take us about 30 minutes to get there and we were intending to have dinner in an Italian restaurant. We went home and showered, shaved, etc.
So 5 o'clock soon rolls around and it is time to meet up with my friends so I walk to the house as it is only virtually around the corner. I walk into his house for a minute and then we leave. He walks out of his house and the friend walks out after him leaving me to play 'rear gunner' and come out last. Now what do you normally do when you come out of a house last? Yep, you turn the lights out and pull the door behind you, right? Ok so the lights were already off so I pulled the inside glass door closed and then was intending to close the main outside door as you do, lol. So I close the glass door over *slam*. One second later, after hearing the noise, my friend turns around and says "NO DON'T CLOSE THAT ONE!!". Apparently he doesn't have a key for that door and so never closes it. "Ooopsie", I said :P
Now, he goes to the door and sees if he can wiggle it open because the lock was a little loose, then he gets his credit card out and tries to open it that way. No luck. So what to do now? How is he going to get back in after we return from being out? Doh!! He says his back door should be open and he can get in that way but we'll have to do a little bit of climbing. This did not sound too good ;-)
We got into his car and drove to the place we were intending to go to. We had a lovely Italian meal. I had smoked salmon, hahahaha. Heyyyy they have salmon in Italy so stop laughing! Then we went for a few drinks. At 11:30pm we left for home. Half an hour later we got back to his house. Now the fun begins. He takes us around to the back of the house. It was pretty much pitch darkness at this time. He opens a small gate and we walk through a small brick shed type building and get to his back door which he has to force open (guess it doesn't get used very often). We go through the entrance and grab his ladder that was leaning against a wall. We walk through his back yard over his lawn like The Blues Brothers carrying a ladder *imagine Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way' song playing in the background ;-)*
We get to the end of his lawn and prop the ladder up against a wall. Here's where it gets interesting. The only way back into his house was through a greenhouse skylight window which was attached to his house. Oh and guess who had the job of climbing up a ladder, in close to pitch darkness, with a few drinks in him, walking along the narrow ledges in between large pains of glass 10 feet up from the ground. Hmmm anyone want to venture a guess lol. Yes I got that job. Woohooooo. It was like a scene out of a Marx Brothers film.
I climb the ladder and position one leg on the greenhouse ledge and grab a piece of the ledge to pull the rest of me up onto its roof. I walk up the ledge a little way and pull the skyroof up. This thing was heavy and the hole that it left was quite large. I could easily have fallen through it and broken a leg or worse. The skyroof wasn't attached by hinges or anything like that, it just kind of rested on top of the hole so when I got it picked up all I could do was let it fall away from me and hope it didn't break. Luckily it didn't. Now what do I do. Do I just jump down through the hole and land on top of a small seat directly below and have splinters of wood go through my legs. Oh no sir, this leprechaun was not so dumb. Instead I had to lift the ladder up whilst trying to remain balanced on the ledge between huge pains of glass which I could have fallen through. I lifted it over the edge of the greenhouse and down inside it. Not as easy as it sounds and because where the little chair was the only position I could place the ladder in was totally vertical with no one holding their foot at the bottom of it to stop it from slipping away from me. I swing my leg down into the hole and put it on one of the ladder rungs. Then the second leg goes onto the ladder too and I gingerly make my way down the ladder knowing that there was a possibility of the ladder slipping at any second. I open the greenhouse door and let my friends in. Now in hindsight I should have just kept the door closed, looked through the glass at my friends, placed my thumb to my nose, wiggled my fingers and stuck my tongue out at my friends out in the cold but they would probably have wrapped the ladder around my neck so I decided to let them in. Aren't I kind :D
This was not the end of the venture because the skyroof still had to be lifted up and placed back over its hole again. So up the ladder I went again with someone holding it this time. I leaned behind me and pulled the roof back over again. The weight of it was quite heavy and I didn't want it to come crashing through the hole and hit my widdle head so one of my friends held a brush up in the air and I lowered the skyroof down onto it and wiggled it into position. I breathed a sigh of relief and came back down the ladder. We were all safely inside with no scratches or bruises and now I believe I have a career in burglary waiting for me. Think I would be good at it???

The Two Friends

2007-02-02T18:34:00.000Z

A koala is sitting up a gumtree smoking a joint when a little lizard walks past and looks up and says "Hey koala! What are you doing?"

The koala says "Smoking a joint, come up and have some"

So the little lizard climbs up and sits next to the koala and they have a few joints.

After a while the little lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and is going to get a drink from the river.

But the little lizard is so stoned that he leans too far and falls into the river.

A crocodile sees this and swims over to the little lizard and helps him to the side, then asks the little lizard "What's the matter with you?"

The little lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting smoking a joint with the koala in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river will taking a drink.

The crocodile says he has to check this out and walks into the rain forest, finds the tree where the koala is sitting finishing a joint, and he looks up and says "Hey you!"

So the koala looks down at him and says

"F*cccccccccck dude ......... how much water did you have to drink?!?!"

Tagged By A Springbok

2007-01-30T15:46:00.000Z

A silly South African tagged me to do this meme thing. She told me if I didn't do it she would show me her foot. I asked her not to get violent so she gave me the silent treatment. I don't know which is worse now??? :-(
On to the tag ......

1. If you could build a house anywhere, where would it be?
Preferably on hard ground because it would just sink through sand. Duhhhh, no brainer!!

2. What's your favorite article of clothing?
I go naked all the time so what is this clothing thing that I keep hearing about???

3. Favorite physical feature of the opposite sex?
Height! She must be 3 apples high or a little less ;)

4. What's the last CD that you bought?
Well thank you for telling me that "What" was the last CD I bought. Strange name for a group though!

5. Where's your favorite place to be?
On top of a rainbow

6. Where is your least favorite place to be?
Up a tree with a bunch of wild dogs below me

7. What's your favorite place to be massaged?
See answer to #5 ;-)

8. Strong in mind or strong in body?
She must be strong in mind because I don't generally go for muscle building women

9. What time do you wake up in the morning?
I don't. My alarm clock does that for me

10. What is your favorite kitchen appliance?
A large pot so I can jump into it and go sliding down a slope

11. What makes you really angry?
People tagging me :P

12. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
I do already. These types of questions I like. Not much thinking to do

13. Favorite colour?
Actually I have 7 fav colours - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet

14. Which do you prefer...sports car or SUV?
Ever seen a leprechaun in a sports car? Anyone???

15. Do you believe in an afterlife?
Nope, don't need to. Us leps live forever so no need to concern ourselves with things that worry silly humans. Next!

16. Favorite children's book?
The Dummies Guide To Being A Leprechaun. Whaaaaa?! It's a real book! Pffffffft don't believe me then. See if I care.

17. What is your favorite season?
Spring. Most rainbows comes out at that time

18. Your least favorite household chore?
Putting my gold back in the pot after I've counted it. It takes forever to do that

19. If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Hello?! Is anyone thinking about these questions before writing them. I'm a leprechaun, is that not enough of a super power!!! :D

20. If you have a tattoo, what is it?
If I had a tattoo it would be the smallest one ever. If I had a regular sized tattoo it would cover my entire body in one stroke!

21. Can you juggle?
Yep I sure can ...... one gold coin, two gold coins, three gold coins, four gold coins .......... I should take this act to a circus but then I'd be caught :(

22. The one person from your past that you wish you could go back and talk to?
On a serious note ....... yes, I would like to see my maternal Granny again. She died nearly 8 years ago. The last words I said to her were "I'll see you tomorrow Granny". She hadn't been feeling well and my mum was due to go on holidays in two days time. The next day rolls around and mum asked if she could borrow my car to go and see her mum. I gave her the keys and away she went. The morning after that day one of my aunt's phoned me to say that granny had passed away in her sleep. I had to phone my parents at the beginning of their holiday to tell them to come back from Scotland. I never got to see my granny again like I told her I would :(

23. What's your favorite day?
Every day is a good day for counting gold and creating mischief :)

24. What's in the trunk of your car?
My ................... oh wow that was close. You almost tricked me into revealing where I hide my gold. Oh crappers!!!!! ;-)

25. Which do you prefer, sushi or hamburger?
Give me a nice juicy leaf any day

And I tag Shannon, Dee Dee and Big Sis

Feeling Chocolaty

2007-01-28T21:49:00.000Z

I've always wanted to know what it would be like to be one of my favourite sweets and now the wondering can end :)

I saw this on Cheryl's blog a few days ago and decided to give it a go. Before I reveal what it is that I am blethering on about I would like to stress that in no way is this a good resemblance of me and in no way would I actually go into a bank looking like this if I went in there to open a new account. They might take one look at me and call security to have me kicked out of the building, although kicking might not be the way to go because I would only shatter into a thousand little pieces of chocolaty goodness and what a mess that would be once the female bank staff saw me lying on the floor. Can you imagine the chocolate getting all over their clothing and rubbed into their faces. *ahem ahem* Where was I before I got side tracked? Oh yeah, I would now like to present to you my alter ego as an M&M .....

If you would like to try this for yourselves THIS is the link you need.

Relaxing In The Sun

2007-01-24T17:53:00.000Z

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!! There may be some nudity in this post. Viewer discretion is advised :P

I mentioned in my previous post that I had gone missing for a while and that I would tell everyone where I had gone and what I was doing there. Well I believe that it is now time to spill the beans on that. I was getting tired of the cold weather so I took myself off to Hawaii for a few days. Woohooooo. The weather was really hot there and the air was lovely and clean and I could have stayed there a few more days if I had access to a computer but unfortunately I had to come home to blog about this here. See, I do think about my blogging buddies needs. Aren't I swell, lol.
At this time I am sensing that some, if not all of you, believe that this is going to be just another made up story but I can guarantee that you will all be eating humble pie after you finish reading this post. You will all come to me and beg my forgiveness for doubting me. Oh yes you will. It's true. You will.
To prove that I actually was there I took a bunch of pictures because I knew you would not believe me otherwise. Yeah you are all feeling really embarrassed now. I can tell you are.
Ok so on with the story of my Hawaiian holiday .......

Firstly I checked into my hotel room. You can very clearly see me behind the bed pushing my luggage underneath it. (Oh yeah, you are getting worried now!)

Next it was of to check out the hotel's swimming facilities. It was a little basic but at least they did provide me with my own blowup flotation device

I just had to hit the beach after that to catch some rays. Here is me being a little 'cheeky'

When I'm on holiday I can't resist hiring a surfing board and hitting some waves. Groovy baby and the theme music of Hawaii 5-O was playing in the background

Then it was time to check out the local ladies. I took a shine to this particular native and I believe she enjoyed my company too

After some dinner I met up with some more ladies in the local club. This is me shaking my green butt

The next morning it was time to say goodbye to my short holiday so I packed up by bags and headed for home

This was my pilot. I think the airline was called Hawaiian Animal Airlines or HAA for short ;-) I pity the leprechaun who got the elephant as his pilot!!! Barking mad I tell ya, absolutely barking mad!

So you see, I really DID go to Hawaii. You can form an orderly line to appologise to me and it will be a longgggggg line :-D

Vehicle Test

2007-01-22T18:21:00.000Z

I'm back!! Did anyone miss me?? What, no one at all. Hmphhhh. I feel so alone in this world now. No no it's too late to say that you missed me now. I guess I'll just have to go to therapy to deal with it. It will be very expensive no doubt but so long as everyone else is happy that's the main thing :(
Teehee, I'll tell you all where I have been the last few days and what I did there in the next post in a couple of days but for now I have another post.

Vehicles are like babies. You have to wash them, take them out for drives, feed them with gas and oil, burp them (when the tailpipe back fires), clean them, clothe them (put them in a garage), and say night night to them (switching the headlights, fog lights, interior lights off, etc). And then as if that is not enough you also have to have them inspected every year which is what I spent an hour doing this evening. Oh happy happy joy joy. Can you feel my happiness, can you feel it people :P
The dreaded MOT testing day was upon me (equivalent to DMV test in The States I believe?). I just loveeeee this day every year, it's one of the highlights of my year without a doubt. Are you picking up on my sarcasm??
To make that hour seem a little more interesting for me I took my camera along with me for company and took a few pics of my journey to, during and from the test centre (most of the pics can be enlarged by clicking on them) ......

The start of my journey - leaving my home town (I think I hit a bump in the road as I took this pic, or it may just have been a cat, I dunno)

Going towards the motorway

Still .............. oh nevermind ;-)

On the motorway (you can see a large grey tower centre left of the pic. I blogged about it a couple of summers ago. HERE.)

The mountain range on the left hand side

Mountains stretching out in front of me with the sun making a guest appearance

A little further along the road

Large 'naked' trees line the other side of the motorway

Coming towards the city limits of the nearest city

And I present you with the MOT (Ministry Of Transport) testing centre building. Exciting isn't it :D

I had to present my car in lane 3

That's my silver car up on the ramp doing it's little dance to make sure it's roadworthy. I loved every part of the 15 minutes inside here. It was exhilarating. NOT!!

Woohoo, I pass the test and got my vehicle test certificate so I guess I'm free for another year to mow down pedestrians and blast my horn at everyone. Awesome!!

And on my way home on the highway

I'm getting there, don't rush me!

Now the mountains on the opposite side. Hmmmm I wonder how that happened??

Rounding the corner to get the first glimpse of Warrenpoint

And there it is, way in the distance

Even the grey object has changed location. Maybe it wanted to enjoy the sun on its back for a while longer today

Leaving the motorway and entering the town limits again

I can't wait to do it all over again next year!!! :D

Facing The Future

2007-01-17T11:52:00.000Z

I was unsure about what to post about today because I have several ideas whizzing about in my head and couldn't actually decide which one was best to do so in the end I picked none of them. Ha! Instead I will post about something that actually only came into my head about an hour ago and was 100% inspired by Cheryl's great post today. Go check it out if you want an idea of the background to why I have chosen to do a post about the following fears I guess you could say.....

Whilst reading Cheryl's post and indeed reading her entire blog you get a wonderful sense of her and her family being so content in their lives right now. Gary and Cheryl met one day and a few years down the track they have now got an awesome little family happening there with their three beautiful and talented daughters. All you have to do is look at just one of their family pictures and you get an idea of them loving and looking out for one another. Whilst I was reading through their current post I actually had the beginnings of tears welling up in my eyes. This is nothing new for me because I'm actually quite an emotional person at times and I'm not afraid to show it either. I don't mean that I go into hysterics at the drop of a hat so don't be thinking that I'm a blubbering mess all of the time because that certainly isn't the case lol.
The emotional side of me only came out a few years ago so I'm not sure if it's something that lay hidden in me (like a dormant volcano ready to erupt) or whether it's just an age thing because I have heard that as we get older our emotions do come to the surface more. The first time that I cried in public was during my Nana's funeral service almost 5 years ago and ever since then if I'm watching a wildlife program and it shows little lion cubs for example running about their habitat with mellow music playing in the background I do really get into watching it in quite a deep emotional way I guess. It does no harm at all to let your emotions run free sometimes.
Anyways I'm getting a little off direction that I had intended for this post to go in so I'll reign it back a little. I think the reason that Cheryl's post sucked me in when I read it was the fact that I want her life. I don't mean that I want to kill her and throw her into a fridge freezer until I can figure out what to do with her body and to also give me time to work out how to bump the rest of her family off before they notice and nor do I mean that I want to be part of their family. I'm just trying to say that ever since I was about 10 years old or thereabouts I have always wanted to be part of a family. I don't mean part of the family I have now as in my dad, mum, sister and brother I mean that I would like to start a family of my own. Ya know, find my soul mate, settle down and have some rug rats but as each day passes and as I get older I realise that that dream is slipping through my fingers. I can't imagine myself not being a husband and a daddy some day but the reality of that probably not coming to fruition is quickly beginning to set in with me.
Another thing that is changing in my mind, and has been doing for a couple of years now, is the change in my mind as regards having a girlfriend who has children of her own from a previous relationship. I used to think that having your own biological kids was wayyyyy better than trying to fit into someone else's already made family, for want of a better way of saying that. But do you know what, I would actually be so happy with that situation too were it to arise because I don't believe that I would have any problems in learning to love that child/those children as if they were my own anyway. If I fell in love with their mum then it stands to reason that I would also love her kids because I would be spending just as much time being around them as I would their mother. Yes, sure, I know there would be difficulties for quite a while with them learning to accept me as part of their family and I'm sure the age old phrase of "You're not my daddy, you can't tell me what to do" would be uttered on more than one occasion but kids can't hold grudges and hold back love from one person forever and when they realise that I'm not a threat to them they will begin to accept me as one of their own if that's the correct way of phrasing that. I know of so many instances where that has happened and the new person that walked into an already made up family unit is totally accepted by all of the family now. A prime example is my uncle whom got married at the end of last year. I blogged about it HERE. He met his wife (or gf as she was then) about 8 years ago when she already had 2 children from a previous relationship and do you know what, her kids call him daddy now and have been doing for some considerable time.
So the bottom line is - Cheryl and other families in blogland like Shannon's and NMOTB's and others I am insanely jealous of what you have right now and the places you are in your lives and that jealousy is really not like me at all!! ;-)

Valentine's Tag

2007-01-14T16:40:00.000Z

I was tagged a while back to do this and as I'm currently posting about Valentine's Day on my blog I thought it would be appropriate to link this in with it ......

This is the "Be My Valentine Application." Everyone knows there's at least one person on Blogspot that you want to be your Valentine. Here's the application for that special someone. Let's see who replies back with the following filled out. Have Fun.

Area 1:
Please provide positive answers.

Name: Gareth, 1st Regiment Para ........ oh sorry just my name ;)

Age: A few years older than you lol (the tagger was younger than me)

Phone: Yes I have one thanks for asking

Height: 6ft as a human, 3 feet 2 inches as a leprechaun

Hair Colour: Dark brown - light brown when the sun steals it during the summer

Do you Drive: Yes and I have the license to prove it *blows away in wind* Geesh I HAD the license to prove it :(

State You Live In: Ermmm try country - Northern Ireland, UK

School: Yes I liked it

Grade: 6, but my teacher says if I do well he'll finally let me into 7th in a couple of months. It's very embarrassing being 6 feet tall and sitting in a small seat at the front of the class I'll have you know!

May I Call You: Yes you may call me Sir or Master if you are particularly naughty

Do you want my number: I already have it. Dee Dee gave it to me *blows away in wind* Oh well I guess it's away to be with the driving license. I'm sure they'll be very happy together and produce lots of pretty little pieces of paper together.

Single or Taken: Single, but I was once taken from a store by the police for being disruptive to the other shoppers. I only wanted to know the price of a single banana because I couldn't afford an entire bag of them. I dunno some people have a habit of over reacting to stuff!

Would You Date Me: Yes I'd give you a 9/10. Oh sorry DATE. My mistake.

Kiss On First Date: Absolutely but the banana stays in the pocket!!!

Will You Send This Back To Me?: Well it would be an absolute waste of time answering these flaming questions if I didn't

Area 2:
What would you do if I...

I made a move on u: Move back, I mean forward, oh I'm confused now ;)

I kissed you: Where would the banana be?!

I lived next door to you: Ask you to move in then I wouldn't have to continually shout through the mail box in your door at 3 in the morning

I started smoking: Tell you to eat the cigarette and then you might not do it again

I asked you on a date: Oh can we go to the zoo! I need a fresh supply of bananas

I ran away from home: Well I'm just next door remember so don't break into too much of a sweat. Just jump over the fence and I'll catch you.

I got into a fight WITH A MIDGET and you weren't there?: Well with me being a leprechaun and all there would be a good chance that I know the midget very well and thus where he lives. I'll sort the little fella out for you.

I asked u to have sex?: Are you providing the condoms because I'm banned from the store remember?!

I asked u out?: I'm so there, just give me time to extricate my lips from your mail box!

Area 3:
What do you think about my...

Personality: I've only seen you in pictures so your personality is a little 2 dimensional

Eyes: Lovely eyes but I doubt if they would fit into my eye sockets

Hair: Which colour and style are we taking about here?! ;)

Body: Oh no I hate this question. That dress that you are just about to put on is good too or the other one in other hand is just as good :D

Area 4:
Have you ever....

Lied to make me feel better?: How am I doing so far???

Wanted to kiss me?: I take your pic to bed with me every night

Wanted to kill me?: Your pic got a little wet when I left it in the sink so it was ruined anyway so I threw it in the fire. Is that the same as killing. I dunno.

Broke my heart?: Yes fire will do that to you

Kept something important from me?: Ok ok ok if you really must see my 'package' :)

Area 5:
"X" marks the spot
Would you?
[X]Kiss me..
[X]Hug me..
[X]Date me..
[X]Grab my ass..
[ ]Kill me..
[X]Have sex with me ...
[X]Love me..
[ ]Hate me..
[X]Hold me..
[X]Lie to me..
[ ]Hurt me..
[X]Sing with me..
[X]Grind with me..
[X]Cuddle with me..
[X]Let me make a move on you..
[X]Make a move on me..
[X]Watch a movie with me..
[X]Get me a B-day gift..
[X]Let me borrow your car..
[X]Be there for me..
[X]Buy me a drink..
[X]Bring me around your friends..
[X]Give me a massage..
[ ]Drink kool-aid with me..
[X]Take advantage of me..
[X]Hangout with me...
[X]Take care of me if I wasn't feeling good..
[X]Hold hands with me..
[X]Do something incredibly sweet for me..
[X]Tell me you love me

And I tag Design Goddess, Tina, Cheryl and Shannon :)

Early Valentine's Day

2007-01-11T16:50:00.000Z

No don't be scared, it's not here yet lol. You still have plenty of time to get that special gift for that special someone in your life :)
I mentioned on Shannon's blog a couple of days ago I would do a short post on this subject so here goes nuttin ....
I haven't had a gf for a while now so Valentine's Day in a day of dread for me and other singledons around the world, or at least those countries that celebrate Valentine's Day. It's really hard to escape that day because it's almost as bad as the run up to Christmas Day. Almost! The build up to it seems to go on forever. I mean, it's January 11th and VD is not for another 5 weeks or so but people are already talking about it!! Yes, sure it's the right thing to put some effort into buying that special gift for your significant other but could you just do it during the dead of night or tiptoe around when you are doing it and don't make such a ritual out of it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a killjoy when it comes to festivities and happy times and such. Nope not at all, it's just hard to get through that particular day when you have no one to spend it with. No one to give a gift too. No one to care about. No one to go out for a romantic meal with or to go out for a simple walk with. No one to say those three special little words to ...... "Pass the dip" ;-)
My best guess would be that the rest of my blogging friends who find themselves single at this time for whatever reason also just want this day to be as hush hush as possible and not to have to listen to their 'attached' friends going on and on about what present they are intending to give their SOs or where they are hoping to take them later during the evening, sooooo ....... if any of you single ladies would like to have a cyber VD card delivered to you from yours truely just let me know and we'll weather the storm together. If the married/girlfriends among you would like a card too I wont tell if you dont :P
It would be nice if I got an e-card or two as well.
Just doing my little bit for singledom :)

Parental Sick Notes

2007-01-09T13:56:00.000Z

As a follow up to my previous post I thought I would shift from doctors sickness notes to that of parents whose children have been ill and require a sickness note for their teachers. They might go a little something like this ...

The routine is familiar: when a student is late or absent from school, a letter from the parents must be supplied for the absence to be excused. Sometimes such letters suggest that the parents were excused from school too many times in their own youth.

"My daughter, Design Goddess, is under a doctor's care and should not take physical education today. Please execute her."

"Please excuse Batty for being absent. She was sick, and I had her shot."

"Dear School: Please ekscuse NotJoeCheese being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33."

"Please excuse Cheryl from Jim today. She is administrating."

"Please excuse Gary from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip."

"Dee Dee has been absent because she had two teeth taken out of her face."

"Cousin Brian was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part."

"Super Spy could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins."

"Shannon will not be in school cus she has an acre in her side."

"Please excuse Tina Friday from school. She has very loose vowels."

"Please excuse Susanna for being absent yesterday. She had diarrhea, and her boots leak."

"NMOTB was absent yesterday because she missed her bust."

"Please excuse Christy for being. It was her father's fault."

"Please excuse Big Sis for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday, we thought it was Sunday."

"Crab Cake won't be in school a week from Friday. We have to attend her funeral."

"My daughter, SeeQuine, was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the marines.

"Please excuse Angel for being absent yesterday. She had a cold and could not breed well."

"Please excuse Skii for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps."

"Zen was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover."

"Please excuse OBXN, she has been sick and under the doctor."

"Tina's Mum was absent December 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister was also sick, fever, and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn't the best either, sore throat and fever. There must be something going around, her father even got hot last night."

Doctor's Letter

2007-01-06T14:56:00.000Z

This is the sick note that my doctor gave me to explain my absence from blogging the last few days. I asked him to be extremely thorough with the explanation and so this is what he came up with......

Dr Ben Dover
69 Butt Lane Surgery
Warrenpoint

To the blogging community,

Please forgive Gareth for being absent from Bloggerland for the last short while because he was rushed into hospital on Wednesday afternoon last with acute appendicitis, there was also a cute young nurse in the ambulance with him to ease his journey to the hospital. Whilst on the way to the afore mentioned hospital the ambulance hit a speed bump and turned over, sending everything inside the ambulance upside down including the occupants. Gareth was thought to be unhurt during the accident as the cute young nurse broke his fall as he landed on top of her. He was to pay for this later on during that same day.
All occupants were taken out of the ambulance by the local fire fighting department and brought to safety at the side of the road whilst the ambulance driver was treated for shock and minor cuts to his face and chest. Soon afterwards another fully equipped ambulance was called for and arrived within 15 minutes (6 minutes outside the recommended ambulance 'call-out' guidelines but everyone was just happy to see it arrive). Gareth and the others said bye bye to the stricken ambulance and made their way to hospital yet again. It was no more than 5 minutes later when they arrived.
After entering the hospital Gareth was admitted into the Accident And Emergency Department. By this stage it was unsure whether he was there due to an emergency or whether he was admitted to the accident because of the previous errrrrrr accident but he didn't much care because he was now in the safe hands of qualified hospital staff.

He was asked a series of questions to determine the seriousness of his complaint ....
#1 Name? ... "Gareth Thommmmmmmas (loosing consciousness now)"
#2 Age? ... "47 (I thought I was being asked to guess the age of the doctor)"
#3 Date? ... "Yes please, where is that cute young nurse?!"
#4 Height? ... "Iiiiiight yourself"
#5 Nature Of Illness? ... "Yeah doctor, I'm in agony and clutching the side of my stomach so you work it out Einstein!!"
#6 Have you ate today? ... "Oh thanks very much, I'll have a chicken burger (heavy with the mayo) and a donut from the local bakery store"
#7 Please sign here ... "What, you mean I actually have to pay for the food!!"

A few minutes later Gareth was brought into an operating theatre. At first he thought they might have put a film on for him but it was not to be that kind of theatre. Instead he was lifted from a trolley to the operating bed and asked to make himself as comfortable as possible. He removed his clothes. (Geesh bloggers, not THAT way!! He had to do it so he could wear a clinical gown). Upon commencing to remove his clothing he found an ink stain on his shirt. He guessed this must have come from the pen the cute young nurse had in her breast pocket after the accident. He asked them not to wash the shirt for old times sake. They threw it in the washer.
After Gareth had managed to put on the gown he was poked and proded at by a 300lb East European trainee nurse named Irena. After about 10 minutes of working on Gareth's head she was reminded that the pain was in his side (silly trainees). "Does this hurt Mr Thomas?" "Yes Irena it does. Perhaps if you would stop poking me with that machete some of the pain would subside!" She turned around to the chief surgeon and explained that she believed Gareth had AIDS. Upon hearing this news Gareth shot upright on the theatre bed and almost died of a heart attack. The surgeon was quick to point out that in this case AIDS stood for Acute Irritable Disorder of the Stomach. After a few gulps of fresh oxygen from the oxygen mask Gareth's blood pressure decreased to a normal reading and the throbbing in his head eased a little too.
Gareth was then given an injection to put him to sleep whilst the surgery was going on. The chief surgeon who performed the operation kindly gave me copies of his operation notes to share with Gareth's blogging friends because obviously Gareth was unconscious at the time. Duhhhhhh.
Firstly they prepared him by rubbing some 'sensation numbing' cream on his stomach. Then they cut him open very gradually with Irena's machete because they couldn't find a regular scalpel. They had lent all of the knives to the hospital's kitchen staff for their Christmas party and had not received them back yet. Next the chief surgeon had a good look inside Gareth's stomach. He could see several knots in his stomach wall lining that should not have been there so he cut them out and threw them out the window for any passing dogs to eat. Never let it be said that he is not animal friendly. Then they got to the source of the problem. They found that Gareth's appendix had become hard as happens in some cases. They gradually removed it because it has no use anyway, not since our herbivore relatives of thousands of years ago. All in all the operation took 16 hours from start to finish. 2 hours for the operation and 14 hours afterwards during which the chief surgeon, Irena and the rest of the team played cards on Gareth's body. After they had finished their poker game (most of which was Gareth being poked) they decided that it might be a good idea to wake Gareth up from his deep sleep. They promptly did this. Gareth was not happy about this and asked to be put back to sleep as he was having a lovely dream about the cute nurse and her pen. They told him that this would not be possible because it was an extremely busy operating theatre and another person was due to come in to take Gareth's bed.
A few minutes later Gareth was wheeled out of the theatre, down a long narrow corridor, took a ride up in an elevator and was then pushed into a private ward and received a window side bed from which he could see the dogs on the street chewing away at his stomach knots.
Whilst in hospital Gareth received the best care and attention that was possible. A cold plate of tomato beans and as much water as he could drink. The very next day he was discharged and happy to be going home. He asked if it was possible to talk to the cute young nurse who had initially helped him. She was only too pleased to talk to him as he was sitting in a wheelchair waiting for a taxi to take him home. Her name was Kathryn and they are going for a dinner date next Wednesday evening.
So you see everyone, Gareth is ok now and is free to get back to blogging until his little heart is content.
If you have any questions about the nature of Gareth's illness I will be only too happy to answer them for you.

Yours sincerely,
Dr Ben Dover.

Yes friends, I am getting back into the swing of things now and best of all I have a date with the cutest of cutest of nurses. She said it was ok to share a picture of herself with you all. THIS is her. Aint she pretty!!! :D

An Official With A Sense Of Humour

2007-01-02T21:20:00.000Z

A UFO at O'Hare Airport?

CHICAGO - Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport last fall.

The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn't have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday's Chicago Tribune.

The acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O'Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn't see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

"Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon," Cory said. "That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things."

The FAA is not investigating, Cory said.

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said company officials don't recall discussing any such incident from Nov. 7.

At least one O'Hare controller, union official Craig Burzych, was amused by it all.

"To fly 7 million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable," he said.

This was probably just what they saw ...... me coming down to earth on my surf board. Silly humans ;-)

Don't Do This During The New Year

2006-12-31T15:42:00.000Z

Join me as I take you on a journey of New Year's dos and don'ts, well actually more don'ts than dos, or should that be ALL don'ts and NO dos ...... well until you get to the toilet and then you can do all the do dos that you want :P

Don't .......

grow bigger fruit if you don't have a big enough dessert bowl to put them in

overfeed your goldfish

expose your child to porn

fall asleep at your computer or your keyboard could give you a nasty shock

take pictures of your wife's chest otherwise they will be used on road signs

stray into military bases. When they say "keep out" they mean it!!

leave your kids behind because they might enjoy the new circus better than the one they just came from

play hide and seek with your child

exaggerate

wake the neighbours up with loud music

tell me I didn't hear you perfectly the first time

Do ....

feed me a little more often

And DOOOOOOOO have a happy new year ....

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! :)

363 Days To Go :)

2006-12-27T20:26:00.000Z

I promised on yesterday's post that I would tell you what I got for Christmas and I always do my best to keep a promise so these are they ...

World record book. The last one I had of these was the 1987 edition and I also have a 1977 edition so 20 and 30 years on I get this. Yeah I'm feeling old now.

"Rise Of Nations" PC game

A web cam, wooohoooooo!!!! I have to connect still.

A blue jacket

A brown jacket (don't think I'll be needing any more jackets for a while)

A blue sweater

And during Boxing Day (see post below) I received a gift card from an aunt and her family for any amount up to £300 from TopMan

I also tried yet again to move over to the New Blogger but I got this message again ....
"But for now, if you have a very large blog (more than a couple thousand posts + comments), you'll need to hold off for a bit." ---------- I'll try again in a few days :)

Round One Over

2006-12-26T16:07:00.000Z

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas Day. You are probably all planning to go to the sales now lol. I had a good Christmas thanks for asking. Oh you didn't ask?! Well you're going to hear about it anyways so there, put that in your pipe and smoke it!!
My family gave presents to each other. My presents to them were ...

Dad - blood pressure kit (he doesn't have pressure problems but just incase ;))

Mum - extra large patio set cover

Sister - extra soft faux fur throw

Brother - portable DVD player with 4.5 inch screen

I was relieved when they gave me some presents in return. I would have disowned them if they had not given me something lol. I will share the pictures of those things tomorrow because I have to go out in a little while to another family do, hence the reason for this post's title. I am going to my mum's side of the family for Boxing Day. It is yet another day of happiness, fun, some drinking, more turkey and ham and more presents, infact it's just like Christmas day all over again. We have had this tradition of being with aunts, uncles and 1st cousins ever since I can remember. It started off in my maternal grandparents house and since they passed away 7 and 9 years ago we have moved the day to an uncle's home which is still on the same farm just literally a stone's throw from my grandparents old house. It is an awesome day and there are normally between 25 and 30 relatives at it each year.

I went for a walk yesterday also and took a bunch of pics. This is what Christmas day in my world looked like ...

The path along the shore

I think this bird was dive-bombing something

The long pier

This seagull spent about 10 minutes just bobbing up and down on the water

These seagulls were chasing off a blackbird

I was really pleased with this pic. I had the camera on full zoom and so only had a split second to take the pic.

View out over the rocks

The newish docks/harbour area with loads of fishing vessels moored up in it

Before I go get ready to go out there is some more great news in bloggerland. OBXN and her hubby announced to some members of their family yesterday that they are expecting their first baby next year so please drop them a message. This also means that Tina will become an auntie for the first time (OBXN's sister-in-law) and Tina's Mum will also become a first time granny too. Isn't that all awesome news?? :)

Have a great day everyone.

Christmas Funnies

2006-12-22T16:38:00.000Z

The last weekend before Christmas is fast approaching so I hope everyone has their presents all bought. If you have not then why are you still here reading this drivel? ;) Get outside now and finish what you started ............ oh and buy me a present too because you know I'm worth it. Again, with the laughter!! Yeah yeah whateva, chuckle chuckle giggle snigger laugh at the lep. I'll have you know that us leps help Santa deliver his presents when the reindeers are too tired to finish it. Yeahhhhhhh not laughing now, are ya?!?! When leps rule the world THEN you'll all be sorry. Oh yes it's gonna happen, just wait and see. But until then here are some funnies and then go and get that shopping finished you lazy humans!! :D

I Want One Of These For Christmas!!!

2006-12-19T17:48:00.000Z

I got my Christmas present shopping started and finished today and it wasn't even that difficult either. Or not as difficult as I thought it may have been. It has been foggy here for most of the day. That was forecast so it's no big surprise and I think as a result alot of people didn't bother going to the shops. This little leprechaun knows when he is onto a good thing though - if silly humans don't come out to play then leprechauns have free range of the world, muahahaha *meniacle laughter*
It was still quite busy but I had everything sorted within 90 minutes. I did some gift searches on the internet last night and it paid off big time. I knew exactly what to get and where to get them rather than trudging from one shop to the next like I have done previous years. I don't know what it is though when shoppers start running for their lives, I mean people see little green men every day, right? I can't be THAT scary!! Ok so I had my clothes on inside out and 'Mr William' was making a guest appearance but apart from that I thought I looked quite normal :-)
I arrived at the first store and went straight into a parking space. They must have known I was coming. I was in and out of that store quicker than a bolt of lightening in a glass jar. One present down and three to go. I left the car where it was just incase I wasn't so fortunate in finding another space else where. It was only a short walk to the next shop anyway but I tell ya when you are only 3 feet tall it takes twice along to get to places than when you are 4 feet tall. Yeah I think that calculation is correct ;)
I bought two gifts in there (mum and sister) and then I went to the next store to buy my brother something. Booyah, straight to the front of the queue (under and around people's legs - awesome). I got to the counter and started talking. I wasn't big enough to actually see over the top of the counter so it took a while for the silly cashier to figure out where I was. I threw the money up over the top of the counter and she threw the gift down to me. It almost flatened me so they'll be hearing from my solicitor soon!!
Then it was off home with a great big smile on my face and a chocolate bar shoved in my mouth (a kid gave it to me ...... I think we saw eye to eye at least).

Now for my Christmas present wish ......... I SO want one of these. Anyone want to buy it for me :) .....

ROME (Reuters) - A village in the Italian Alps is finally basking in winter sunlight thanks to a giant mirror installed on a mountain top to reflect the sun's rays into the main square.

Viganella, with a population of less than 200, lies in a valley so steep that each year from November 11 to February 2 it hardly receives any sunshine.

That was until Mayor Pierfranco Midali decided to do something about it.

Now a 5-metre (16-foot) high, 8-metre (26-foot) wide mirror tracks the sun's movement and reflects its rays into Viganella's historic piazza.

The mirror, which cost around 100,000 euros (£67,000/$133,000), was unveiled on Sunday to the delight of the inhabitants.

"Here it's very cold in the winter and residents, many of whom are elderly, used to stay inside all the time. Now people are enjoying sitting on the bench in the square and having a chat," said Maria Velona, who works at the townhall.

Midali has been contacted by local authorities with similar problems in Canada, the United States and France.

Doubled Teamed

2006-12-14T16:27:00.000Z

Ever heard the expression "waiting for one bus and three come along at once"?? Well this indeed did happen to me except it wasn't a bus and there weren't three of them and I wasn't exactly waiting. Lemme explain because I feel that if I didn't explain it the post would have ended a couple of sentences ago thus labeling it as the worst, most boring post in the history of mankind. Whoops I don't want to discriminate against the other gender (the half that cook, tidy the house, produce little humans and sit around eating chocolate all day long. I'm soooo dead now!!) so I'll call it "humankind" instead :)
I have been tagged not once but twice by two very beautiful, intelligent, funny, caring and friendly women. But until I do a post for Halle Berry and Gillian Anderson I'll just deal with the tags I received from Goober and Cheryl :P
A couple of days ago Cheryl caught up with me and shouted "tag" in my earhole. This inevitably burst an ear drum and my balance has not been good since then either. And to make matters worse she ran away giggling without so much as an appology or an offer of $5000 to cover all medical expences. Terrible I tell ya, absolutely terrible ........ Oh wow, and now she's telling me to get on with the post. I guess she must have some laundry to get on with!!
So onto the first tag .....

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot egg

2. Does "Santa" wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa does what ever he likes because he is da man

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Let's just study that question for a second .... does that mean that you want the colored lights on the tree/house or do you want the colored lights on white. The person who came up with that sentence must have been illiterate

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No, normally I hang human beings because I find they swing better

5. When do you put your decorations up? Right after the humans stop swinging. It's destracting I'll have you know!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I find the nicest dish to look at is one with pretty flowers around the border and a Christmas scene in the middle of it

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Going to France and befriending a snail. It didn't say WHICH holiday!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? As soon as I saw him hanging at the end of the block on the corner drinking himself into oblivion and wolf whistling at everything in a skirt. I don't know how he was able to differentiate between the sexes when he went across to Scotland though!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope, if I opened my gift on Christmas Eve I would have nothing to open on Christmas Day. (Maybe those silly bloggers will feel sorry for me and send me lots of presents now)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I find that decorating it with my hands is alot easier than with the feet

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? What is snow??

12. Can you ice skate? Yes I believe I can (two seconds later) ouch, no I can't!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Yes I do. It was a large truck in a box. I spent hours playing with it on the carpet. Gee I loved that box

14. What's the most exciting thing about the Holidays for you? Getting more boxes. Just need two more this Christmas to finally finish my Wendy House.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? The Sahara is pretty good but my all time favourite is The Nevada Desert

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Sending cards out to everyone and then getting them all back again in February because the postage wasn't paid on them. Ungrateful people!!

17. What tops your tree? My ceiling. Then the roof on top of it and then the chimney. After that the sky's the limit.

18. Which do you prefer: give or receive? In what context are we talking about here bearing in mind that Cheryl and Gary just started a porn site on their blogs :)

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Ummm I've never heard of the Christmas song entitled "What" before but I guess it's pretty popular if it's everyones favourite

20. Candy Canes? They are shaped like walking sticks and have red and white spiralling lines around them. I think you just wanted to know what they were, right? ;)

Now onto tag #2 ....
Goober caught up with me yesterday to do this one. The violence that that woman possesses is scary sometimes. She gave me an ultimatum - either do the tag or loose your hands. Upon hearing the choices I quickly pointed out to her that if she cut my hands off I wouldn't be able to do the tag anyways so I now sit here with one ear and a sharp stick in a rather uncomfortable place!!
Before the pain gets any more unbearable I guess I had better get on with this because she said she would be around to inspect my hard work later. This scares me and so I'm getting on with it right now ....

A - Available/Single? Yes I have a single available in the stores right now and have just released an album with all my greatest hits on it too, such as Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Little Green Men, Leprechauns United and Where's Me Lucky Charms

B - Best Friend? Yes Goober, if you would like me to be your best friend then I gladly accept, however that label does not give you the right to send me to the library when you run out of stuff to read. Get it, got it, goooooooood??

C - Cake or Pie? I have found that if you throw a cake at someone it explodes much better

D - Drink Of Choice? No I don't want to accept a drink of Joyce but I will accept one from her sister, Angela

E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? My heart

F - Favorite Color? Navy blue, except when a soldier asks me then it's kaki green because there's no point in getting him annoyed as he is the one holding the gun!

G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? I'm never up early enough to catch any worms because the birds always beat me to it so I guess that leaves me with the Gummies

H - Home or Homesick? The home has actually been very well recently and hasn't been ill for quite a while but thanks for asking

I - Indulgence? I feel as if I am at a spelling bee now

J - January Or February? Ok Goober, I'll come over in February. How many times is this that you have asked now?! Geesh you are pushy! :D

K - Kids & Their Names? Actually that's what I said to a group of pre-teens last night after I saw them hitting my car .... "Ok kids what are your names so I can tell your parents?" They ran off :/

L - Life Is Incomplete Without? Being born

M - Marriage date? That's the wrong way around!! First you go on at least one date and THEN you get married. No wonder there are so many divorces when couples can't even get the "getting to know you" part in the right order!!

N - Number Of Siblings? I'm not giving you their house numbers!!!!

O - Oranges Or Apples? Mangos

P - Phobias/Fears? Yes that is correct - a phobia is a fear and a fear is a phobia. You could have saved time by just saying one of those. Do you think we are all stupid or something?! Sit down Gary!

Q - Favorite Quote? "Smell gas? Locate the suspected leak by striking an ordinary match in every room in the house until a loud explosion reveals the source of the escaping gas"

R - Reason to Smile? Whaaaaaaa, you mean you haven't smiled at least once through this entire post. Wow, you are a tough crowd!! ;)

S - Season? August

T - Tag 3 or 4 people? I'll tag 3 people ....... oh you want their names as well? Why didn't you say that. Geesh, that just makes it more complicated now!!

U - Unknown Fact About Me? I only exist in your heads

V - Vegetable you don’t like? Well actually I do like them and for you to sit there and tell me that I don't is frankly an insult to my intelligence and also my taste buds

W - Worst Habit? Picking my nose, eating the contents and then beginning to type. Crap, where did the 'H' go to?!?!

X - X-rays You’ve Had? I didn't steal any x-rays and if that hospital wants to report me I will be seeking legal advice

Y - Your Favorite Food? Yeah, that right, it's MY favourite food and if anyone touches it they'll have an angry leprechaun to deal with once I manage to climb up onto the chair so at least I am at eye level with you

Z - Zodiac Sign? Libra. That's not mine but don't be blaming me because all you asked for was a sign!!

I tag Dee Dee because she told me I had to, otherwise my 'family jewels' would be in serious trouble after she played me the Nutcracker Suite for the thousandth time!!
And I tag CCCCC also because I think her and Dee Dee have been talking about me and it's a little unnerving now. Haha :)

Sweet Stuff

2006-12-12T22:09:00.000Z

WARNING!!!! THIS POST IS NOT SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN OR VERY HUNGRY ADULTS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED SO NO HATE MAIL PLEASE, IT'S THE SEASON OF GOOD WILL TO ALL MEN SO UNTIE ME AND PUT AWAY THOSE GUNS!!!

What is this I hear you ask?? Well, this is what I commonly refer to as sweets and drinks :P

This is a big bag of assorted sweets. There are flumps, smarties, white and pink milk bottles, sugar coated sweets of various shapes and sizes, and other chewy things

Open says me ;)

And tip them into a bowl

Two large 2 litre (64 ounces each) bottles of coke. Yummm

And some crisps. I dont know if the rest of the world knows what Wotsits are but if you dont, they are cheese crisps that melt in the mouth and are really nice. Nuff said :D

*side note* - to all those who use Blogger Beta - I have been trying to comment on your blogs all day but Beta isn't allowing me to sign in to comment on your posts. Apparently there are alot of people having the same problem and I believe the people in charge are working on a solution. Anyways, just to let you know that I'm not avoiding you, lol. Oh except for Design Goddess - I'm totally avoiding you because I know that you would have something witty to say about it and then I would be put under pressure to come up with something even more witty and if that happened my head might just explode and my pants fall down and I really don't think you want that on your conscience!!! :D

Cars And Insurance

2006-12-10T19:26:00.000Z

I had to renew my car insurance last week so I was fearing the worst as you do. My premium for the previous 12 months was £657 (US$1284, 9102 Rand). I thought that this was a little high but it was the best quote that I could get so I had to take it. Each year premiums rise and rarely fall so I was expecting to be grabbed around the throat again this year but I was pleasently surprised when I applied for a new quote. I did it all on the internet this year because you get some amazing deals, like 10% off your premium. My premium for this year is ...... £448 (US$876, 6206 Rand). WOOHOOOOOO!!!! ;)
This was tinged with a little sadness though because if I had read another quote that I had applied for online which was sent to my email account I could have had insurance for £320 (US$625, 4414 Rand). Darn it for going into my spam folder! Guess who'll be getting a call next time lol. That would have been 50% off last year's price!! These are not unfavourable quotes either because I got exactly the same things covered as last year ...... fully comprehensive cover, protected no claims discount (if you don't claim against your insurance for an accident or something being stolen from your vehicle then insurers look on that favourably), legal protection and £150 voluntary excess. It's hard to beat all that :)

What are your premiums in The States, Canada and South Africa. Are they high??

Time for a picture before some of you start seeing words in your dreams tonight :P

At the same time as searching for insurance quotes I came across car prices as well. They were prices quoted for new cars in The States. They were much MUCH lower than prices over here so if I could move to the US and get UK insurance for US cars I would be a really happy leprechaun.
I'm not even kidding about the difference in vehicle prices between the UK and the US!! ....

2007 Ford Focus 5-Door Hatchback S

UK = £14,345 ($28,030)
US = $14,480

2007 Toyota Yaris 3-Door Liftback

UK = £10,490 ($20,497)
US = $11,050

2007 Honda CR-V EX 4WD 5-Speed AT

UK = £24,700 ($48,263)
US = $32,076

2006 Nissan 350Z Coupe Base

UK = £26,495 ($51,771)
US = $27,650

So as you can see UK cars cost almost twice as much as US cars in alot of cases.
Cwazy I tell ya, absolutely cwazy ;)

Christmas Lights

2006-12-07T19:14:00.000Z

We had the switching on of the Christmas lights ceremony in my town last Friday evening. I didn't have my camera with me during that time so I went for a walk this evening and took some pictures of the main street. The pics look better if you click on them .......

I tried to take a pic of this sign three times because it was flashing on and off and I discovered that if I clicked the camera button whilst the sign was off I could get a pic of it whilst it was on. Lol yup that made sense. And yes let's get all of the 'flasher' jokes out of the way, hahaha.

A little further down the street. The shop window on the extreme left of the pic is 'attached' to my favourite fast food joint :)

Taken from a large nearby carpark (car lot)

Right in the centre of this picture is a comet. No I'm being serious, it really is!!!

I managed to capture a photo of an authentic space craft in the top left corner. Ok don't believe me, but don't come running to me when aliens capture you and do all kinds of weird experiments on you. Talk to the leprechaun hand because my green face aint listenin' :D

Still in the carpark

And now there are more spacecraft!! See, what did I tell you, they are coming after YOUUUUU!!!!!

That's the main craft now. I sent it across the 'pond' so everyone who lives on the east coast had better start reinforceing their homes right now. Good luck to you! :P

Walking back up the street again

This one wasn't flashing. It knew that it couldn't trick me a second time, ummmm third time ........ fourth time, oh hush now ;)

And close up

The Day After The Day Before

2006-12-05T14:06:00.000Z

A million thankyous to everyone who made my birthday really special yesterday. Thankyou to all those who commented on my blog, gave me a 'shout-out' on their blogs, sent me email cards and even those who reminded me that I'm getting old (I then quickly reminded them that they are older than me and always will be - they didn't email me back after that - isn't that really strange!!! ;)).
I got a present from my parents. It was the least they could do after I refused to come out of the womb 31 years ago. It was nice and comfy in there and eventually they had to pull me out by my feet. I was not very pleased with them and I promptly gave them the bird, although they told me afterwards that it was the peace sign and I must have been confused because of hanging upside down at the time. Yeah I can see how that could happen ....... new born baby, upside down, blood rushing to the head, no sense of orientation ......... confuddled would be an understatement!! Do you know my mother was so ugly when I was born they gave ME the smack. Unbelieveable!!! :D
Where was I? Oh yeah I got a present from Mops and Pops. When I took it out of the bag I thought at first it may have been a piece of asteroid from when they recently visited the moon for a sight seeing tour. I told them that they actually went into a cave and stumbled across a film crew with realistic moon features in it and actors bouncing around on space hoppers. They wouldn't believe me and told me that that could never have happened. They even went into its gift store and when I told dad to turn around there was a tag attached to his new trousers. It read "Property of Neil Armstrong" and on the back it read "worn under space suit on set of A Space Odyssey 1969 - Operation Spoof". Hmmmm I think my parents are aliens :P
Ok so I established that it wasn't an asteriod. What could it be?? Woot, I am now the proud owner of a bedside lamp. I needed a new one after my previous one bit the dirt. I'm not saying how it happened except to say that little cousins, tennis balls and fast pitching right arms don't go well together.
Here are some pics of my new lamp .....

It extends from 28 cms to 47 cms (11 inches - 18 inches). Yes I'm still talking about the lamp!!

THANKYOU EVERYONE!!!! :)

It's My Birthday And I'll Sing If I Want To!!!

2006-12-04T00:04:00.000Z

I made it to another birthday *looks around for anyone with a gun or a knife standing behind me and places hand over heart to make sure it is still beating* Yeppers I guess I'm good for another while at least :)
I am 21 today 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-30-1. Hushhhhhhhh I feel like I'm 21 so stop annoying me and pulling faces at me!!! :P
Susanna asked me a few days ago if I had a picture of me with my face covered in chocolate when I was little after I ate some chocolate cake that I wasn't supposed to eat and I told my mum that it wasn't me even though the evidence was spread all over my face, lol. I don't have a picture of that occasion but I have decided to do the next best thing with this post. For everybodies enjoyment and probably alot of laughter at my expense too (which is cool with me) I am going to let the whole entire world (or at least this great little corner of it) see me from my baby photos right up to the present day.
If you are all properly belted into your seats and there are no stray arms or legs flying about I'll begin (man alive what a leprechaun has to do for silly human beings!! :P) .....

With my nana when I was maybe 2 or 3 weeks old I guess

Almost 1 year old?? I must have spotted something sparkly

With my mum (check out the funky 70s decor LOL)

With my dad (when he had jet black hair)

I must have had ambitions to become a television engineer

My first bicycle lol. I loved that little toy. I also had a small blue and white car that I drove around the house all day. Whaaaaaaaaa, I was little, give me a break ;)

This was my first trip 'abroad'. Ok it was only across the Irish Sea to Scotland to visit 2 younger cousins. I was 6 in this photo (on the far left), my sister was 4, my male cousin was 3 and the little one was a couple of months old I guess. (Can you believe that I had already been playing the cornet for about 6 months at this stage?! Yup it's true)

I think this would have been the following year - 1982 or it might have been '83. My family went over to south west England to visit my aunt (my mum's oldest sister) when she was settling into her university degree course. This pic was taken outside her appartment block. My sister must have picked up that plastic yellow flower from some where.

My sister and I in our primary school uniforms when I was 9 and she was 7. The little guy? That was my new little baby brother :) He's a little older now :D

Just my sister and I

Jumping forward a few years to my Pittsburgh days when I was 20. (I tried to find some pics in between but there aren't any :( )

And skipping forward another decade or so to a few weeks ago. Just look at what I turned into - a handsome frog waiting for his princess. Oh hushhhhh I'm allowed dreams aren't I?!?! :D

Now I'm going to go to bed and when I wake up I'll be 21 ............ again what is with the laughter!!! It's not as if I said I was 20 because that really WOULD have made my nose grow longer ;)
Night night everyone, even a leprechaun needs to sleep sometimes .....

News That Shocked The World!!!

2006-12-01T15:53:00.000Z

I regret to have to inform everyone that a very tragic event occured last night and I can barely comprehend what I am about to say to the world. Sometimes a man has to stand up and deliver the most shocking of news that it feels as if he has just swallowed a box full of workman's tools. I am not sure why I was chosen to tell you this life changing, and indeed generation changing news. This will have reverberations all over the world and there will be much crying and restless nights to come. So with a very heavy heart and a lump in my throat I must break the news that *gulp* Santa Clause is dead!!! Yes, I will give you all some time to digest that news, phone relatives and lie down in your darkened rooms for a while. I understand the emotional turmoil that you are all going through right now because I have just woke up from a 12 hour restless sleep last night after hearing this terrible news.
The events of how Santa came to be found lying on the hard cold ground with his toes pointed to the sky are unclear, however after much thought about this I have come to my own conclusion as to how this may have happened.
Let me take you back to approximately 6:00pm yesterday when you were all around your dinner tables eating the last remains of your Thanksgiving turkey or just eating a can of tomato beans straight from the can. Now imagine if you had a 'sky window' right above your dinner table that you could look up through and see all the stars and the moon shining bright above you. This is what you may have caught a glimpse of ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

After this incident Santa would have been too distracted with having to clear the ummmm ...... crap out of his eyeballs that he would not have noticed a rather large bird coming towards him at 400mph ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

As hard as Santa tried he could not get any grip on the smooth surface of the aeroplane's nose and so the inevitable happened. Yep, what goes up must also come down ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

After a 3 minute fall at 200mph Santa's body suddenly stopped on terra ferma and the noise of the thud could be heard as far away as China ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

There was much debate after this of what should be done with Santa's body. Should it be crimated and his ashes scattered around his beloved North Pole or should he simply be buried in a graveyard along with other two legged, two armed, slightly overweight, 'razor challenged' people. The decision was made to bury him in the following way ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Unfortunately, and this is probably the hardest part of this sad story that I have to break to you, when famous people die there are always consequences for those that are left behind. Over the years as you all know Santa had built up quite a number of friends which he called reindeer. These reindeer had served Santa all of their lives and this was their only purpose in life so when news of Santa's death began to filter through to them their little worlds began to crumble. Nobody would want them now. They had no job prospects and when Wal-Mart wouldn't even employ them as shelf stackers the poor little fellas could only think of one way out of their misery so they made an oath between themselves that they would all ......... ummmm no it's too difficult to say so I'll just let you look at the evidence of what they did to each other ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

You will notice that in the above sad picture that none of the suicidal reindeer had a red nose. Yup, that's right, Rudolph managed to escape the hanging oath and ran out of the barn. Unfortunately for him, Peter the Pitbull Terrier dog who was doing his usual midnight security walk around Santa's complex was waiting for any intruder or anything trying to escape. He came across Rudolph running for his life and I will let you draw your own conclusions as to whether he managed to escape past Peter or not ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

And I guess you are all asking where Santa is now. Well he is now enjoying himself more than ever in his idea of Heaven ....

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

RIP Santa :)

It's Ok To Slouch

2006-11-29T17:00:00.000Z

Remember when we were kids we were always told to sit up straight because it looked good and it was good for our posture and thus our good health? WRONG!!!
A new study has just concluded that sitting up straight at a 90 degree angle is bad for the spine. I can just about believe this but if slouching is supposed to be better then how can it be good for ummmm errrrr lemme see, oh yeah, that little thing called BREATHING?!
I teach a learners class in my band and if I catch my students leaning over whilst trying to play their instruments they get reminded very quickly to sit up straight or face the punishment of having to sit in the squat position against a wall for 12.592 minutes. That teaches them who's boss ;)
When is the last time you actually saw someone sitting up straight. Infact I'll bet that right now whilst you are reading this you are leaning towards the computer screen. Oh yes I know you are so don't sit their with your mouths open asking how I knew that. I am the all-seeing, all-knowing leprechaun but only when Design Goddess leaves me incharge :D
So the next time you see your kids bent over double whilst playing on the computer or sitting on the floor infront of the tv set with their elbows tucked into their stomachs and their necks perpendicular to the floor think before you speak because it is afterall good for their spines and who knows, perhaps in the future coffins/caskets will be more of a round shape rather than the rectangular shape of today to fit in with the new shape of human beings of the future :P

This is the article that I found on this study ......

The longstanding advice to "sit up straight" has been turned on its head by a new study that suggests leaning back is a much better posture.

Researchers analyzed different postures and concluded that the strain of sitting upright for long hours is a perpetrator of chronic back problems.

Using a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), researchers studied 22 volunteers with no back pain history. The subjects assumed three different positions: slouching; sitting up straight at 90 degrees; and sitting back with a 135-degree posture—all while their spines were scanned.

"A 135-degree body-thigh sitting posture was demonstrated to be the best biomechanical sitting position, as opposed to a 90-degree posture, which most people consider normal," said study author, Waseem Amir Bashir, a researcher at the University of Alberta Hospital in Canada. "Sitting in a sound anatomic position is essential, since the strain put on the spine and its associated ligaments over time can lead to pain, deformity and chronic illness."

Back pain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, is the most common cause of work-related disability in the United States. It costs Americans nearly $50 billion annually. Sitting appears to be a major cause of this ailment.

"We were not created to sit down for long hours, but somehow modern life requires the vast majority of the global population to work in a seated position," Bashir said. "This made our search for the optimal sitting position all the more important."here

When strain is placed on the spine, the spinal disks start to move and misalign. At a 90-degree sitting position, this movement was most prominent. The disks were least moved when subjects were sitting back at a 135-degree sitting position.

"We have to do something that is similar to the lying position," Bashir told LiveScience. Lying down in a relaxed position with your knees slightly bent is the best position that a person can be in, because it doesn't cause any stress on the ligaments, the thigh muscles as well as on the back.

Sitting on a chair that provides proper support, such as a slightly tilted back car seat, can mimic the relaxed supine position. Slouching caused a reduction in the spinal height which means that there was high rate of wear and tear in the lowest two spinal levels.

"This may be all that is necessary to prevent back pain, rather than trying to cure pain that has occurred over the long term due to bad postures," Bashir said.

Am I Changing?

2006-11-27T14:45:00.000Z

Over the course of my blogging life I have come to understand why people when they move to a different country or even just a couple of hundred miles away from 'home' in the same country pick up accents and dialects really easily and in no time at all it is hard to believe that it is not their original accent.
I have started using words and phrases that up until about 18 months ago I would not normally have used so I guess you don't have to live in another part of the world in order to 'fit in' to that area's way of life. What sparked off this post?? Well it was this sentence that I used as part of a comment on Gary's blog yesterday ..... "I have gotten inside her mind now." More specifically it was the word "gotten". That is not normally a word that I would ordinarily have used in my world, lol.
There are many more examples that I could use during my 'blogging language assimilation' (do you like that phrase? I just made it up. It has been copyrighted so if you want to use it you will have to pay me an extortionate amount of mulla or alot of shares in a Blue Chip company :P).
Another example is ............ just before I continue I know that some of you suffer from self diagnosed ADD so I will provide you with a nice picture before all of the next words appear to be in a foreign language ...

So I was talking about picking up on 'non-native' words and phrases. (Waitttttt Shan is still looking at the picture. That girl is slow beyond belief. Come and join the rest of the group in our story time class Shan. Yayyyy there she comes. Ut ohhh something shiney has attracted her attention. I guess we'll leave her to her own devises for a while).
Another example of this is writing or saying dates. Normally I would say "the 4th of December" (that's my birthday bytheway, I may have mentioned it once before ;)), however more and more I am saying it as most of you guys would say it - "December 4th"
There is a good example in my previous post that I only realised I said yesterday (even though the post has been up since last Wednesday). It read ... "Now while I take all of these insults on my square chiseled chin (whaaaaaaa?!)" ... can anyone spot the word that I would not normally use?? Yup, I said "while" instead of "whilst".
People's names are another good example. I know that most of you would pronounce my name differently than I would pronounce it if you had not heard my recorded message that I did a few months ago. I'm not saying that any of this is wrong and that we should stick to our own ways of saying things I'm just trying to explain how easy it is to fall into another language/accent/ dialect or what ever you want to call it :)
And now for another picture ...

If you want to read how people learn accents and dialects then THIS is a good write up about it.

Clear It Up

2006-11-22T15:04:00.000Z

There seems to be some confusion over my new profile picture ......

Some people have said that I look like a chipmunk, others have said that an elephant somewhere is missing his backside. Now while I take all of these insults on my square chiseled chin (whaaaaaaa?!) I will never forgive the person who said I looked like Morticia and Gollum's love-child, and you know who you are! Yes, you missy, the one standing at the back with the pink hair and diaper pins through your nose! Oh sorry it's a guy. No I'm not sorry I mistook him for a girl I am merely saying that I am sorry for him to go through life looking like that :D
It has also been suggested that it is my serious face or that I am the centre of a bullyseye lol, as if I would let myself be shot at by an arrow. RUNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!
In the picture I was going for the 'deep in thought' pose or if you prefer, the 'wow he's handsome I want to have his babies' pose :P
The colours that I used are my beloved football team's colours. The gold, black and white of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yayyy go Steelers ;)
And for future reference this is my serious face ...

My happy face ...

My sad face ...

My 'I want to ravage you' face

And I can even do a 'run for your lives there's an arrow coming' face

I am so glad that we got this confusion sorted out. It's good to talk lol.
Now if you will excuse me I need to go and practice my 'I didn't do it it was him' face and my 'darn it where did all this work suddenly come from' face ;)

Odd Ball Facts

2006-11-21T14:42:00.000Z

There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo - nope there are only 17 now because I just ate one.

Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating - see I knew I was doing the right thing on dates!

A violin contains about 70 separate pieces of wood - *smash* well THERE'S a few more.

It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in St. Louis - hmmmm I wonder what would happen if you poured the contents of the bucket into a bottle and SAT on the bucket???

If you counted 24 hours a day it would take 31,688 years to reach one trillion - hey, anything to prolong my life .... 1,2,3,4,5,6 .....

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds - loading one into a cannon right now to test that theory.

The sloth moves so slowly that algae can grow undisturbed on its fur - and here was me thinking that that was my leprechaun uniform!!

The electric chair was invented by a dentist - gee whizz that figures!

Windmills always turn counter-clockwise except for the windmills in Ireland - well maybe we got it right and the rest of the world is wrong!

A hedgehog's heart beats 300 times a minute on average - if it would stop doing strenuous exercise it would probably live longer!

Until 1796 there was a state in the US called Franklin but today it's known as Tennessee - there used to be a planet named Pluto but now it's called Puppy.

The Earth weighs around 6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons - I'd love to see the scales!! And as for it being "around" .... I thought it was oval shaped ;)

One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television - heyyyyy stop sitting on your TVs ya silly snausages.

In space, astronauts cannot cry properly because there is no gravity so the tears can't flow down their faces - tell them to float upside down then, it should work then.

About 3000 years ago most Egyptians died by the time they were 30 - that's not surprising considering the fall whilst making a tall pyramid.

A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 mph - watch out Spygal, my sneeze should be with you in about 40 hours!

The average American/Canadian drinks about 600 sodas a year - cut down on the drinking Tina, you are pushing the average way up.

More Monopoly money is printed in a year than real money printed throughout the world - this would not be the case if Canada didn't exist (just kidding Christy ;))

One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet - stand upside down and they will shift to your head.

Every second Americans collectively eat one hundred pounds of chocolate - put the chocolate away Shannon!

Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day - huh, I didn't know earthworms HAD feet!!

The blesbok, a South African antelope, is almost the same colour as grapejuice - stop dunking them in your juice NMOTB!

A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans - so if you used toothpicks in porn ..... oh nevermind *wink*

Windy Walk

2006-11-19T13:58:00.000Z

What a difference a couple of weeks makes! ...
I went for a walk around the shore and into the park this morning. It was cold and really windy. The lake water was coming up onto the beach and crashing quite alot onto it. There was an outdoor adventure group in canoes just about to go out onto the water. Rather them than me lol.
I was only out for about 20 minutes but it did feel like quite alot longer. If it was the middle of the summer I would have just taken things at a snail's pace but not today because I'm sure you all wanted me back in one piece so that I could upload these pics :) .......... "Yeah and then you can die" .......... hey, who said that?!?! ;)

Waves breaking onto the shore

This wave is just the right size for a leprechaun to surf on ;)

I had to fight the wind at this stage to keep the camera steady

This one came out pretty good

A little further along the shore

From this point I could see that there were seagulls flying around beyond the far sea wall

Yep and there they are (those little white specs)

Playing around on the air current

I asked this bird to stay still but he looked at me rather strangely and flew away. It must have been the way I asked him. I dunno *shrug*

Yep, it's still windy

I moved into the park. It was a little warmer in amoungst the trees, but not much! Most of the trees were still green in this park just two weeks ago. Still looks good though :)

The bandstand that is located in the middle of the park. Next year it will be celebrating its 100th year

Close up of it using the zoom on my camera. Oh yes there's no stopping me now, teehee

Some trees and shrubs changing for the autumn

To the right of the bandstand everything is still mainly green

Just because :)

All the colours of autumn on one tree

In amoungst the trees. This is where us leprechauns hide. Oops, did I say that out loud!!

I think this one might need an oxygen tent!

Archway down onto the grass

The main pathway to the bottom of the park

Funnies

2006-11-17T15:11:00.000Z

An Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishman
One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each proceeded to buy a pint of Guinness. Just as they where about to enjoy their creamy beverage three flys landed in each of their pints, and were stuck in the thick head.

The Englishman pushed his beer from him in disgust.

The Scotsman scooped at his beer until he washed the fly out and then continued drinking.

The Irishman carefully picked the fly out of his drink, then held it out over the beer and started yelling "SPIT IT OUT YOU -------! SPIT IT OUT!!!!"

EuroEnglish

The European Commission have just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's govt conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5 year phase in plan that would be known as "EuroEnglish": -- In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c".. Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favor of the "k". This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have 1 less letter. There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with the "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20% shorter. In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent "e"'s in the language is disgraceful, and they should go away. By the 4th yar, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v". During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaiining "ou" and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

ZE DREM VIL FINALI KUM TRU!!

The Diver
Fire Authorities in California found a corpse in a burnt out section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The deceased male was dressed in a full wet suit, complete with a dive tank, flippers, and face mask. A post-mortem examination revealed that the person died not from burns, but from massive internal injuries. Dental records provided a positive identification. Investigators then set about determining how a fully-clad diver ended up in the middle of a forest fire. It was revealed that, on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off the coast - some 20 miles away from the forest. The firefighters, seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet of helicopters with very large buckets. The buckets were dropped into the ocean for rapid filling, then flown to the forest fire and emptied. You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next he was doing a breaststroke in a fire bucket 300 feet in the air. Apparently, he extinguished exactly 5'10" of the fire.

The Three Race Horses
Three racehorses were standing in a stable bragging to each other one day. The first horse boasts "I've been in 59 races and I've won 35 of them." "That's nothing," says the second horse. "I've raced 97 times, and I've won 78 of them!" The third horse joins in: "Well, I've raced 122 times and I've won 102!" Just then, the horses hear a voice say, "I've got you all beat!" The horses look down and sees a greyhound. "I've raced over 200 times, and I have NEVER lost!" The horses look at the dog in amazement. One of them says "How about that! A talking dog!"

The Newlyweds
A young couple decided to wed. As the big day approached, they grew apprehensive. Each had a problem they had never before shared with anyone, not even each other. The Groom-to-be, overcoming his fear, decided to ask his father for advice. "Father," he said, "I am deeply concerned about the success of my marriage. I love my fiancée, very much, but you see, I have very smelly feet, and I'm afraid that my future wife will be put off by them." "No problem," said dad, "all you have to do is wash your feet as often as possible, and always wear socks, even to bed." Well, to him this seemed a workable solution.
The bride-to-be, overcoming her fear, decided to take her problem up her mom. "Mom," she said, "When I wake up in the morning my breath is truly awful." "Honey," her mother consoled, "everyone has bad breath in the morning." "No, you don't understand. My morning breath is so bad, I'm afraid that my new husband will not want to sleep in the same room with me."
Her mother said simply, "Try this. In the morning, get straight out of bed, and head for the bathroom and brush your teeth. The key is, not to say a word until you've brushed your teeth. Not a word," her mother affirmed. Well, she thought it was certainly worth a try. The loving couple were finally married in a beautiful ceremony. Not forgetting the advice each had received, he with his perpetual socks and she with her morning silence, they managed quite well. That is, until about six months later. Shortly before dawn, the husband wakes with a start to find that one of his socks had come off. Fearful of the consequences, he frantically searches the bed. This, of course, woke his bride and without thinking, she immediately asks, "What on earth are you doing?" "Oh, no!" he gasped in shock, "You've swallowed my sock!"

Fishing And Whiskey
One Saturday morning, Glen decided to go fishing.

He sat there for hours,but nothing. The bottle whiskey that he've took with him, was also empty. He throw the empty bottle into pieces against a nearby rock.

All of a sudden, there was something on the hook. He pulled the fish out of the water. The only fish for the day so far. The fish was so small, Glen decided to throw it back.

The little fish was so exited, to such an extend, that it decided to give Glen one wish.

He asked the little fish for some more whiskey. The fish said, "Allright then, when you're urinating, it will be pure whiskey."

So Glen sat there, and wonder, can this really be? Glen took a glass and urinate in it. It was pure, pure whiskey.

A while later, a women, who was standing nearby, comes to him and asks, "sir are you allright? I saw you drinking your own piss. "no, said Glen, it's whiskey.

The women laughed. He urinate into the glass, and gave it to her. She couldn't believe it.

So they sat there almost for the rest of the day, drinking whiskey.

After about the seventh double, she asks Glen for a nother one. He looked her in the eye, threw the glass into pieces against the rock and said "What about drinking out of the bottle ?"