Catch up

It seems like ages since I had the time to blog. I have visited other peoples blogs, but haven't had the urge myself.
I had a really busy weekend as we had our Mixed Open on Saturday - I played at 8.30am and then spent the afternoon helping with the administration of all the scores. When I first left the house I looked up to the hills and saw that they were covered with fresh snow - yes in MAY! The weather was great and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day. Once the scoring was done I could relax with a few G&Ts in the bar. The local winners were one of my ex-junior golfers and his Auntie who only just took up golf fairly recently - she is also the Club Captain's wife. The Captain had said that he would eat his hat if she beat him - so guess what was served as his starter!
On Sunday morning I played my medal as I cant play on thursday. We played at 9.30 and were very fortunate with the weather as about an hour after we got in the heavens opened and the rest of the day remained rather damp. I was really pleased as despite making some silly shots I still ended up with a net 64 which is 2 below par. Fingers crossed that my score holds for thursday - it would be great to win!
Monday came, and I had to get up really early (5am) to go to the office as I had a meeting with my boss and his boss to prepare for an interview I have on Friday. This has come about because our organisation has been going through a process of Job Evaluation. They basicall interviewed a selection of people in different areas of the business across Scotland, then created profiles which should enable managers to match a persons job against them. The grade you get matched against will affect salary. Anyway, when my manager and I met in november we did not totally agree with the matching - he though I was a D and I felt I was a C. We decided that there was nothing to lose by me trying to go for a C as the worst that could happen would be for me to get a D - for once in my life I was actually "going for it" rather than accepting what someone thought. How wrong could we be. The result of this "nomatch" was that the panel decided that I was an E! The process had asked us to fill in a form stating in which areas I thought I matched a higher grade, but we understood that we did not have to fill in the form stating where we agreed on the original matched D grade. SO, next step was to appeal. My boss and I completed a very comprehensive form in which we started off by stating how we had filled in the original nomatch form and that all the managers were behind my appeal. We hoped that the panel would see sense and not make me attend an interview. But again we were wrong, I now have an interview with the panel on friday morning. I hate interviews, I dont interview well, and I am hopeless at selling myself. What I feel is run of the mill is what I need to sell as to non-techies it is not run of the mill. My bosses and I met for 4 hours helping me to prepare for the interview- I just hope that I come across ok.

On a brighter note, we have our Ladies Open on Saturday, once again I am out at 8.30am so that I can get back in and sort out all the scores. The weather forecast is not great at the moment, so fingers crossed for a dry day.

Off to Edinburgh tomorrow afternoon for a meeting for the magazine I have started to edit for the Scottish Community Drama Association - the old editor left and I was asked if I would take on two issues to give them time to find a new editor. I have now been asked if I will continue. I wish I could make a living out of this rather than doing it just for voluntary organisations (OK, I do get a payment for overheads, but this is not a commercial rate). Editing this mag and maintaining their website along with the many others that I maintain voluntarily seems to be taking more time than I first envisaged, but it is great to receive compliments - worth more than dosh!

Ring Tones

I just remembered - I was playing golf on thursday evening and all the birds were trying out their new ring tones!

One bird would go thru so many different tunes that is was like trying out all the ring tones on a new mobile phone! I just had to laugh to myself - all around the course the birds were doing the same thing!

No Golf but Ploughing Match instead

What a wet Saturday. I had to get up before 7am so that I could pick up my friends to travel to Auchterarder for the Ladies Open. The weather on friday night for the junior golf was not good - several turned in after a few holes totally sodden right thru. So things did not look good for us, but we looked at the BBC weather forecast and it said "light showers". The weather here was bearable, but as we travelled down the rain got heavy, the roads were flooded and the roadside fields were beginning to look like lochs! We arrived at Auchterarder and made a run for the club house - to find that the competition had been cancelled! Mixed feelings- we had just travelled for an hour or so and were geared up for golf, but the thought of everything getting sodden wet was not appealing! so we had a coffee and a bacon roll, spent a few pounds on the tombola (and managed to win several prizes!), then made our way to the pro shop where a few more pounds were spent! We made a few detours on the way home, including one to a farm shop where I bought some local strawberries and some hand made soap - lemongrass, camomile & geranium, and lavendar- wonderfull! So now I was home with no plans, so when one of my neighbours said she was going to the local ploughing match I said I would go too. So on went the boots (great look with the cut off shorts! and waterproof jacket) and off we went with dogs in tow. I was thinking of a ploughing match being like a football match only with tractors and ploughs! The match was being held on my friend's farm, there are 2 ploughing areas - one for traditional tractors, and one for modern tractors. Then each area is split into sections - 1 for each ploughman. It was really interesting watching the traditional ploughs, some of them being driven my some of the boys who attend junior golf. They have to plough their section (probably about 20 feet wide) perfectly - dont ask me what all the criteria are, but I think it has something to do with how straight the line is and how the cut sod falls in lines. we spent several hours wandering around watching these men and boys working away oblivious to the weather. Eventually we called the dogs to us (not sure what one of them had been rolling in though!) and made our way home. The ploughing had not finished, but the speed was not part of the criteria for winning! By the time we walked home my legs looked black with mud - well saves on the washing!. Quick change and clean up ( or was that clean up and change), threw the chicken and veg into the oven then nipped next door for a glass of wine.

lovely dinner, followed by strawberries, raspberries and ice cream, now sitting with a glass of wine watching the Joseph programme!

Hope tomorrow brings better weather - would like to get out in the garden for a wee while.

Oh, just remembered - got some purple balls!

Why Do I Live Here...

Why do I live here?
Is it the poor roads, that so often get closed?
Is it the 40 miles to the nearest town?
Is it the snow and the rain and the wind?
Is it the people always ready to chat?
Is it the community always there for the needy?
Is it the clean air, no pollution in sight?
Is it the abundance of activities around?
Is it the golf when you fancy a round?
Is it the kids who appreciate my help?
Is it the views where ever I am?
Lets just be honest... I love where I am.
I can put up with the inconveniences of this rural life
For the quality of life far outweighs all the rest.

Wet Golf

Why is it that whenever I want to do something outside it rains! I took a few hours off work today to play golf with a friend of mine cos she cant leave her husband at night much these days (he has dementia). At the 3rd tee I put up the Caddy Cover to protect my clubs, by the 4th tee I decided to put on my waterproof top and put up my umbrella. The 4th hole was terrible, first shot was wonderful despite the heavy rain, then my ball must have had a rough magnet in it. I got totally flustered with the clutter of having an umbrella to keep putting up and down as I took my shots. I put my sensible head on and relaxed for the next hole - the dyke (wall for those not up on Scottish terms) my ball got over but just off the green, my pal's ball bounced before the dyke and made it over (Jammy!), she then proceeded to do a miraculous putt and ended up with a birdie - jam on jam if you ask me. By the 7th I took off the waterproof (had long abandoned the umbrella!). Just as we finished the 9th hole the heavens opened again. We sheltered for a while under the clubhouse veranda before we bravely set out again. We thought that it would just be a short shower - how wrong we were! The rain just got heavier and heavier but we got on with our game and tried to keep our heads down and our grip on the clubs. By the time we reached the 15th hole I was soaked through to the skin and feeling very cold. Nae hat meant that the rain was running through my hair and my hairstyle was ruined! The 17th fairway was very wet and full of puddles. Our scores were not brilliant, but at least we completed the course, and we did have our very own private golf course as nobody else was mad enough to play!
As soon as I got home I got into a nice hot shower and warm dry clothes!
Now vegging out in front of eastenders with a mug of fruit tea!

Wet Monday

Not much to blog about today. It might be a holiday for most people but not for me, so I have been hard at it all day. Went out for coffee with the regulars this morning - I think we got 9 or 10 of us around the table - the record is 13!
The weather has been wet and windy all day, I felt sorry for the little lambs in the field behind me as they were being battered by the weather! They had their tails docked last week, so they aren't scampering around as much as they normally do.
It's been so cold that I have had to light the fire again - the storage heaters seem to have failed yet again and I have my aunts visiting me - and they feel the cold!
Gave my aunt her first lesson in texting today - a long way to go, but not bad for someone in their 70's! Better get on with entertaining them now.

The Thrush

This little chap (or chappess) visits my garden daily, but I have to make sure he (or she) does not get into the wormery!

Worm update

Had a furtle in the wormery today to make sure that the worms were ok and that the compost was not getting compacted.

I thought I would show some pictures of my worms.

The first picture shows some worm eggs which is good cos I know that they are still breeding well.

May 1st

What a loveley day. Thought the Purple Phlox was gorgeous.
not much time to blog recently, with visitors arriving today I cant see me getting much time in the next week or so either.
Very interesting visit to the wormery at work yesterday - it was amazing to see a mature wormery in action. It gave me a lot of confidence in that what I am doing is OK - but I must make sure that I give the worms a varied diet. Also saw the green cones - these have to be dug into the ground with the cone on top. You can put all kitchen waste in (including meat! - but not in a work situation as that comes under different legislation!) and basically it just improves the soil around the cone. So when it is full you leave it to do it's work, then move it to another location. I guess you would need at least 2 to work efficiently. I think I am going to have another go at composting as well - maybe move one of my daleks to a more sunny spot! Back to work now....