Wild Tales

Snow Day Working at Home

2010-01-06T17:21:00.001Z

Posted via web from tontowilliams's posterous

2009 In Social Media

2010-01-05T20:02:00.001Z

Resolutions

2009-12-28T10:46:00.005Z

So. That's it. Christmas. Been. Gone. For 2009.

That just leaves New Year. We will more than likely end up doing what we do most years. We don't party, we watch dvds. Normally two in particular, probably the same two we watch every year. That is if we can keep our eyes open long enough, if not we work out which New Year to celebrate (Greek New Year is normally good), and head off to bed. Only to be woken by our New Year as everyone sets off fireworks (except for us, coz we've gone to bed).

That leaves the tradition of setting New Years resolutions. Normally I don't bother because I normally always forget them within 48 hours and end up breaking them. Plus they are normally always the same resolutions recycled each year - loose weight, blog more, get fitter etc.

This last year I did however make one resolution, and I have stuck to it throughout the year. We have too many books. Now although you can never have too many books, because books are good, storing too many books is always a hassle. This last year I resolved that I would only buy a new book if I had read one. This has worked very well, and I've stuck to it. It did however mean that I mostly only read the books that I bought during the year and not all those that are sitting unread on my bookshelf (and are still there).

So for 2010 I am going to continue with this resolution, and modify it slightly. For 2010 I can only buy a new book, if I have read a book and it was one that was in the house at the start of the year. I feel this will be tough, so we'll see how it goes. In the unlikely event that I read all of the books that were in the house (unread) at the start of the year, then I'll revert to the old version of the resolution.

I also intend to have the loose weight / get fitter resolution. I'm too heavy, probably unhealthily so. This is not good, and I really do need to do something about it. Now I'm not about to go joining a gym - aside from the expense I don't really have the time due to work commitments, but there are many positive things I can do, and I shall be trying.

I will also be trying to do something about my job, but I'm not sure what. I don't know if that means get a different job or simply approach the one I've got in a different way. I need to work that out. There are obviously dream jobs (indulging my love of nature), but I think I need to at least be a little realistic.

Finally I shall try and blog. Note I didn't say more.

Ghost Raptor

2009-12-21T20:42:00.001Z

When I was out walking the dog yesterday I caught a glimpse of a raptor.

My best guess would be a buzzard or a red kite, but at the distance that I was from what I sure I couldn't tell. I did see the tree in which it had landed in so I made my way around to beneath that tree. When I got there it was gone. I can only assume that it had flown away when I was concentrating on the pathway, which was a little slippery as a result of the snow.

I didn't see the bird, but I did realise that I could do that all day long - beats being in an office any day.

Starlings

2009-12-19T16:00:00.001Z

Non-Allotment Update

2009-12-19T13:03:00.001Z

Too cold for a proper allotment update today, so instead I bring you a quick vid from the garden

There's No Point In Having A Tidy Garden.....

2009-12-14T21:11:00.002Z

I know this because I spent a good proportion of yesterday sweeping up leaves, pruning rose bushes, weeding and generally tidying our back garden.

Now I know it's generally accepted that sweeping up fallen leaves is a thankless task, as the minute you turn your back more arrive like unwanted relatives, and no matter how hard you try there will always be three that evade the broom (it's never one or two or more than three - always three). With Christmas approaching however bringing with it some wanted relatives, it seemed prudent to at least have a go at the garden.

I was quite impressed with my days toil, there were still three leaves out there but the rest where safely loaded into the compost bin to slowly turn into plant food to put back into the garden in time. It looked tidier too. That was until the birds arrived today. Obviously impressed that things had been disturbed a bit they spent the entire day hunting for insects, disturbing the once zen-like state of the newly tidied garden. I do not begrudge them this at all, not one little bit - I just wish they tidied up behind themselves a bit.

Mid December Allotment Update

2009-12-12T11:03:00.001Z

Recorded earlier this morning.

Day Off

2009-12-11T10:07:00.003Z

Have a day off from work today, mainly to try and do some Christmas shopping this afternoon. I shot the video below earlier this morning, and have just finished editing it.

At the moment I'm sitting in our conservatory looking out into the garden watching the garden birds, seem to be lots out their this morning - probably due to the colder weather. As it gets colder more come in to stock up more easily and not expend lots of energy when food is readily available in the garden. This comes with a certain responsibility as it means we need to continue to put out food as some birds will have come to rely on what's in our garden.

Waterlogged - No Allotment Action Today

2009-12-05T11:38:00.001Z

Allotment Update With a Difference

2009-11-28T13:37:00.001Z

Something different today. Apologies for the soundtrack!

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

2009-11-25T19:27:00.001Z

This seems to be making appearance on lots of blogs so I thought I'd add it to mine too.

Allotment Update

2009-11-21T11:34:00.003Z

Have had upload problems with this video, so have had to modify what I had originally intended to upload.

Show of Hands - Arrogance Ignorance And Greed (AIG)

2009-11-15T13:32:00.001Z

Allotment Update from Iphone

2009-11-14T12:44:00.005Z

I wanted to test the video capabilities of my iphone for video allotment updates so here goes!

I found that the native files from my iphone are physically too large to upload to blogger, posterous or youtube, so I have edited and rendered via Premiere Elements to get the video below.

Early November Allotment Video Update

2009-11-08T11:36:00.004Z

Help Me Decorate!

2009-11-04T20:32:00.003Z

I've got my very own room on 12seconds now. It's called, what else - Tonto's Wild Tales!

The cool people over at http://12seconds.tv have set it up so I can post my updates and link to Twitter, what I need now is some people to help me decorate it with videos of their own. So head over to my room, and leave me a video post answer to my first question. Not only can you leave me a video but you can help me run my allotment too!

If you don't have a 12seconds.tv account it's really fast to set one up, and you can even sign up with your Twitter username. Go on - you know you want to!

Always Bring The Weather With You

2009-11-03T20:33:00.003Z

It's November and yet the temperature is still regularly reaching 15 celcius during the day. It's supposed to be the first month of winter and it is unseasonably mild. It is more like a typical autumn that winter, wet and mild.

As a gardener and allotment holder it's normally good to have some rain, it means that I have to do less watering of plants. We've had so much however that it means the ground is nearly impossible to dig due to the wet conditions. If this keeps up I will need to cover the exposed ground during the week in order for me to be able to dig it over at the weekend. Although the forecast at the moment is for rain on the weekend too, so that probably won't happen it that prediction holds true.

Makes sense for me to have installed a second water-butt at the allotment last weekend, in between the showers. It should be filling up nicely this week!

Magnolia

2009-11-01T08:57:00.003Z

It's been too wet to do an allotment video update this weekend. Instead I bring you the weird sight of our Magnolia tree with it's very alien looking seed pods. It is Halloween afterall!

With apologies for the shaky camera work.

A Round Up Post

2009-10-29T20:29:00.002Z

So, I had an email from Orange earlier in the week to say they would announce how to get hold of an iPhone, and their price plans next week. That said the market is awash with new smartphones at the moment - just in time for Christmas perhaps? There are to name but a few the Motorola Dext, Blackberry Storm 2, Palm Pre, and of course the iPhone. Not forgetting the arriving soon Motorola Droid, of which I posted about earlier in the week. My phone has died and I am using an old phone with my current sim, so I am in the market for one of these new all singing, all dancing, and "cooks too", phones. The only question is which way to go? I lean towards Motorola and iPhone because of the Orange connection, but Blackberry Storm 2 is also a possibility.

Wondering which my next smartphone is gonna be on 12seconds.tv

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In other news I am reading James Lee Burke's "Sunset Limited". I have always loved crime novels and this one is no exception - it's an award winner. When I was on holiday I was reading another one of his novels - "In The Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead", which has been made into a film starring Tommy Lee Jones. If the film is half as good as the book it should be awesome. It's already available in the US on DVD, and in the UK in February 2010.

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Weather forecast for the weekend is wet again, good job I picked up another water butt from the tip at the weekend for the allotment!

Droid vs IPhone

2009-10-26T20:02:00.002Z

i Don't have an opinion which is better but it's gonna be fun watching them slug it out:

Hobson's Choice

2009-10-26T19:21:00.003Z

I've been following politics more recently than perhaps I ever have before. Part of this is because of my job but that is "subject verboten" here.

What gets me though is if you've followed the American elections at all you can tell that the man who is now their president had a charisma of leadership right from the start. The bright hope if you like. The man who could probably make a difference (this latter point perhaps wouldn't have been hard given the warm-up act).

In a little over six months time we will be going to the polls. If you follow the ratings probably to elect a new government, rather than reinstate the current one. What gets me however is that neither the current "leader" of our nation or his probable successor have any charisma of leadership whatsoever. In fact cold custard is probably a stronger contender in these stakes than either of those two, and before you say anything the guy who'll probably come in third place ain't there either.

This actually makes me despair in our British political system, because we have essentially (and I know this isn't how it actually works), three people who I can't sign up to in any way, shape or form. Three useless - probably in it for the money and not the social responsibility - excuses for leadership this country has ever seen, and I've gotta vote for one of them.

I wonder if Bill and Ben the flowerpot men are available?

Lazy Sunday

2009-10-25T15:27:00.003Z

The weather was a vast improvement on yesterday, so I spent this morning at the allotment. It's really the season where the plot gets tidied up and ground dug over ready for next season. All the broad beans are in now, so there will be very little planting to do before early March.

It looks as though those crops, Brussel sprouts & cauliflower that I planted some weeks ago, are really doing well but I'm not sure if they are going to be ready in time for Christmas which was the intention. Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without sprouts (and yes I can hear all of you making that gagging noise as you read this paragraph).

As I sit and type this post the sun is setting already. The clocks changed this morning so we've lost the hour of daylight savings time, but it does at least mean that it will be a little lighter in the mornings on the way to the station, even if the reverse will now be true for the return trip in the evenings.

Writing this post is a form of procrastination at the moment. I should be perusing our bookshelves looking for something to read, instead I started by perusing the virtual shelves on Amazon, looking for Christmas presents for various people. From there I somehow ended up in the blogger editor for my blog and started typing. It is now certainly much easier to do that with the shiny new laptop than it would have been before on the old desktop. I think this is probably why most of my posts were videos. A post of convenience could be recorded at any time and then uploaded when convenient - now I can blog in any room in the house (although no I haven't tried blogging from the bathroom yet - now there is an idea!)

Book Review

2009-10-24T11:16:00.007+01:00

Lousy weather today has forestalled any work on the allotment - too wet, so a video book review for you. Possibly the best book I've read this year and a very strong contender for my book of the year 2009.

Shagged by a rare parrot - Last Chance To See - BBC Two

2009-10-18T12:03:00.001+01:00

Last episode of Last Chance To See is on BBC2 this evening, but this has to be the highlight of the series so far