Fog in a bog

We went off road today and hiked up a forest and through a bog, it was foggy most of the day and quite cold

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took a run into Oranmore to have a second look at the yacht this afternoon and Tom (the owner) had put the mast etc. up, all the sails are in good nick and the boat is in good order.

Pastor Jones has accepted an offer to visit the UK, I’m not sure if you have heard of him but his trademark is burning the Koran on the anniversary of 9/11. Burning their religious book is not the way to go, all that would do was incite more racial hatred and more flag / effigy burning.

Robert the Shairp and the spider

My eye fell on a spider spinning its web. It kept trying to swing across the branch, over and over again, until at last it reached the other side and anchored the first strand of the web. "Try, try, and try again". I’m adopting the same motto and will spend the next eight years swinging between branches.

 

 

 

Jessie is fitting in grand the two dogs seem to get on well already and after about three miles through the forest today at breakneck speeds, they are both pegged out. Gus has the edge stamina wise but he is only two years old and has been in training the last month or so.

 

The loch is still iced over but temps were in the mid single digits today. Forecast it for colder weather again later next week. I’m going to have a second look at the trailer yacht if it’s a half decent day tomorrow before the ice and snow set in again. It would be nice to have a white Christmas.

 

 

 

A burglar broke into a house one Christmas Eve looking for presents while the family were out. He shined his torch around, looking, when a voice in the dark said,"Jesus knows you're here." He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his torch off, and froze. When he heard nothing more , after a while, he shook his head and continued. Just as he pulled the stereo out so that he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you."

Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice. Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot. "Did you say that?" he hissed at the parrot.

"Yep", the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you that he is watching you." The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, eh? And who are you?" "Moses." replied the bird. "Moses?" the burglar laughed. "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?" "The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus......."

London and back with Jessie

The Galway- Dublin motorway was one lane most of the way with frozen ice but we made it over with hours to spare before the ferry sailed, the food was part of the ferry fare and I think I had beef and Angie had a mush thing, the crossing was calm but tomorrow may be rough as we are in Holyhead tonight and its blowing.

 

We had lunch in a wee place called Ashby de la Zouch it is situated in the heart of England in the county of Leicestershire about 25 miles north of Birmingham and about 12 miles south of Nottingham. It has the absolutely awesome claim to fame that it is the furthest town from the sea anywhere in England. Someone actually wrote a song Ashby de la Zouch by the sea

 

 

 

 

 

Canal boats on the The Staffs and Worcs canal

 

 

 

 

 

We had a couple of stops on the way to London the biggest one was at Blenheim Palace

 

 

Blenheim Palace is a unique example of English Baroque architecture. Inside, the scale of the Palace is beautifully balanced by the intricate detail and delicacy of the carvings, the hand painted ceilings and the amazing porcelain collections, tapestries and paintings displayed in each room

 

 

Theboathouse sits on a man made lake at the palace.

The ferry back from Hollyhead was 2 hours duration and not too bumpy after all. I got a couple of shots of the holly island coastline

It was blowing quite hard

 

 

 

 

 

you can tell the prevailing wind from the way the trees stoop

 

 

 

 

 

The dogs are getting on fine as you can see they are not allowed on the furniture.

off to London

Well we are off to London to see the Queen well not the Queen but a dog called Jessy, shes not even a corgi, I cant remember where "off to London to see the Queen" came from and google isn't much help either. Mind you its still early and I've been up for a couple of hours lol. Gus has to go to the kennel at Adrahan which is about an hours drive from here. There has been snow again in Dublin and central Ireland but I hope by this evening the roads will be ok.

Have you ever been walking through a wood or field and seen a natural landmark or something that resembles a face or animal, this tree reminded me of a face even with the eye closed.

Well today is the budget, forecast to be the worst for poor families in the history of Ireland, you have to feel sorry for the Taoiseach's too, his salary has been somewhat higher than for leaders in many other countries: €228,466 annually following a recent reduction of 20% on the previous €285,582, compared to £142,000 (about €172,164) for the UK's priminister. In October 2007, the Taoiseach was the highest-paid head of government in the OECD countries. He must be the highest paid clown in the world ehh.

 Cowen's personal rating is just eight percent.  An unpopular clown ehh. A red nose might help he should go stand outside for ten mins, its freezing again.

Fekin Mary Byrne is out of the X factor, whats the fekin x factor you say? well its a talent singing contest watched by millions who vote in for their favorite singer. I blame my friends Trish and Archie for putting me onto the thing, its not my scene at all but the shows knockout theme is kind of addictive a bit like Australia's next master chef. Next thing I'll be watching Days of our Lives ohhhh noooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Ohh well better go pack the car see yas all when I get back from the UK.

Bonny day for a walk

Well we had another hike in the woods today this time at Roscahill forest which is a favourite as the tracks are endless and variety is the spice of life. Gus couldn’t go swimming as the lochs were iced over.







There is a padlock on the gate of Walford, the most expensive house in the priciest street in Ireland. Graffiti adorn the conservatory windows, the lawn is overgrown and old mattresses are piled up in the front room.


In a well-publicised deal at the height of Ireland's economic boom, this red-brick mansion, which sits on a one-and-a-half-acre plot, was sold for an eye-watering €56m (£48m) to a mysterious trust called Matsack Nominees, widely reported in the Irish media to be controlled by the wife of a millionaire property developer, Sean Dunne. The neighbours include telecoms tycoon Denis O'Brien, the biggest shareholder in Independent News & Media, who bought Belmont, a house a few doors down, for €35m.

Walford, which sits abandoned after a failed redevelopment application, is on Shrewsbury Road – a pleasant, tree-lined avenue in the Dublin inner suburb of Ballsbridge which, in the extraordinary gold rush that gripped Ireland, ranked as the sixth most expensive street in the world, ahead of Beverly Hills's Carolwood Drive and St Moritz's ritzy Via Suvretta.

Mountain hike

Well we walked 4 miles through the new village forest today up to Loch Seecon at 150 meters when we arrived in Ireland I would have really struggled doing this walk uphill but actually today I was suprissed to see how far we had gone on the gps.
When we got to the loch at the top I don’t know what I was thinking about as I threw Gus’s ball out onto the frozen loch and the ball kept bouncing and bouncing and going and going until it was about 100 meters off the shore and the dog bounced and bounced out after it, I had visions of him breaking the ice and not being able to get back on it so it was fingers crossed, the ice held and I could breathe again.


Here are some photos from around Ireland with the snow.








Just had scallops in a white wine/ cheese velvet sauce with asparagus fried in garlic butter as a starter was yummy we are trying to perfect a starter for Christmas dinner. Angie works with a bloke whos brother has a scallop dredger and she can get a dozen large scallops for 8 euros we ate 6 for our starter, last week we had cherry tommatoes with the dish and they were lovely too so I think the finished dish has scallops, white bitey cheese/ wine sauce and fried asparagus with cherry toms served on the shells. Ohh drat I just drooled on the keyboard again.

57 Euro a week

Available to Move In: Immediately

Deceptively spacious open plan unfurnished studio in one of Dublin's top locations.
Carbon neutral, hand crafted inuit design. beautiful ambient light leading to rooftop garden. The studio comfortably sleeps five.
Pets allowed, no parking.
Short term lease for the month of December. Owner is interested in selling if market warms up

• Central Heating

• Pets Allowed

• Wheelchair Access

 

Kent Police issued a transcript of the 'completely irresponsible' call which they received overnight as they fielded thousands of calls from people because of the sub-zero conditions.

In the call, the woman tells the operator: 'There's been a theft from outside my house.'I haven't been out to check on him for five hours but I went outside for a fag and he's gone.'The operator asks "Who's gone?" and the woman replies: 'My snowman.'I thought that with it being icy and there not being anybody about, he'd be safe.'

The incredulous operator asks her: 'Do you mean an ornament?' The woman replies: 'No, a snowman made of snow, I made him myself.'It ain't a nice road but you don't expect anybody to nick your snowman.'The operator then tells her that it is an emergency line and she should not be ringing it to report the theft of a snowman.