Category: Family

Family related posts; generally only of interest to fellow members of the Brown Clan and relations by Marriage into this mad house.

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Cold and Frozen – the water pipes that is

Another freezing cold day, we got up this morning only to find we had no water.  A quick check round found no damage (yet) so we suspected frozen pipes.  The main kitchen tap was also none functioning so it was most likely the main feed into the house.

We tried to turn off the stopcock only to find it frozen.  At this point we decided we better not go to work just yet, just in case we were looking at a flood should a frozen pipe burst, so we sent a quick email work to let them know.

The radiator in the kitchen had stopped working the previous day, and the kitchen had been very cold, that together with record low temperatures for the time of year, the most likely place for the frozen up pipe was where it comes into the house, in the cupboard next to the cold kitchen.

The kitchen radiator was an easy fix, take off the plastic valve cover and then a gentle tap with the hammer and we had heat again in the kitchen.

We then took turns gently heating the stopcock with a hair drier.  This did not produce any effect, so it was a trip outside to where the water meter was located.  Once again we directed a gentle heat onto the water meter using a hair driver.

After about 10 minutes we had running cold water again and we were able to turn off and back on the water stopcock.

With the central heating turned up, we kept an eye on the pipes for a further hour before finally grabbing a much needed shower, something to eat, and then we headed into work as the fog started to roll in.

We then heard that Alan my father in law had the same problem. After work we headed up there and once again directed some gentle heat onto the water meter. Once again we soon had the water flowing.

Finally we got back home, only to find our neighbour waiting for us. She had no cold water either. We gave her some instructions and she said she would try them out in the morning, and if she had any problems she would let us know.

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A Lazy Sunday Morning

A very lazy Sunday morning was in store for us today.  We had no intention of going out, so first job was to ground some fresh Italian style roasted coffee beans.  I always keep a few whole beans in the freezer, in a plastic airtight container.

We are very lucky here, as Lincoln is blessed, not only with the usual array of Starbucks and Costa Coffee houses, but some very good top rated independent coffee shops, and two top coffee bean retailers, one of which roasts the beans themselves twice a week.

With the beans ground and the expresso on its way, I turned my attention to a very indulgent porridge.  Organic  rolled oats from Lincoln market and milk; with fresh cream and unrefined brown sugar to top it all off.  Yum Yum.

So the morning had us settling down in front of the TV to enjoy Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, one of Caroline’s favourite musicals.

And if you have some beans left you can even practice your photography on them or if your feeling daring, go out into the garden and make Snow Angels.

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Snow Teddy – More Snow and More Pictures

Today saw us making a major shopping trip for the more elderly relatives. The shops were hell, very busy, but the main roads were all clear and safe. Some of the back roads and villages were more challenging, but conditions are definitely improving.  I hope we will be back on the motorcycle by Tuesday or Wednesday, if things continue to improve like today.

As the snowy weather continues, and thus so do the snow themed pictures. As you can see some people are getting quite artistic with their creation!  I decided not to publish the snow family I saw, lets just say that father snowman and mother snow-woman were anatomically correct. Interesting use of a banana there!  There were built by the IT department of a company who have offices in the centre of Lincoln.  One of the female project managers was heard to exclaim, ‘you can tell the snow woman was made by IT geeks, they have no idea how a real woman looks’.  LOL.

Our favourite was the lovely snow teddy bear, which we spotted as we drove through some northern Lincolnshire villages.

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More Snow – a commute by car

More snow greeted us this morning, so we first spent a while clearing the car and driveway.    This would be the second day in a row we would be commuting by car.  Warm clothing, a flask of hot drink and a shovel in the boot and of course a camera and off we set.

It was not far before we got stuck in the deep snow, a bit of shovelling and we got going again.  Eventually we made it to the main road, and from there, quickly made it into work.

With the weather so bad (well for the UK anyway), it was decided that anyone who had made it in by car should leave at 13:00 to guarantee they got home safe, so we headed home in the afternoon, only stopping for a few photographs in Lincoln.

Once home I dug out the laptop and proceeded to finish up some paperwork.  Lets hope tomorrow is less interesting.

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Sunday Morning House sitting

For a 40th Birthday present, Declan had whisked Alison away for a long weekend in Venice. That left myself, Caroline and Angela with house sitting duties and looking after Ethan and Sofia. Angela took the bulk of the duties on the weekend, with Caroline taking the Friday off work to help until Angela arrived for the weekend duties.

Sunday morning was French Horn practice for Ethan, a quick practice at home then Caroline drove him to his Sunday morning lesson.

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Backups

How many times have your heard that you must backup, and how many of you actually do so.

For that matter, of those that do backup, where do you keep that backup, in the same bag as your laptop so both can be stolen. Up stairs at home, only the one backup? When did you last test it?

Don’t worry I am not about to tell you a heart rending story of lost data, even though I know of people who have.

Just a reminder, disks fail, and we all live digital lives these days with cherished memory’s sat on our hard disks.

Please backup to at least two independent disks, test them regularly and why not leave one at a friends house, or at you office. Just think, if you house was robbed or burnt down and everything was lost, how would you feel if your favourite digital memories were lost forever.

Oh and please remember it’s the BBC UK Children in Need Day today, join in, or help out at an event near you.

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Visit to the Father in Law: or Have a play with his new Sony A55

Tuesday as usual we visited the father in law, Alan.

Normally its a motorcycle ride straight from work to the village where he lives, but tonight we headed home first to get the car.  It was a cold day and neither of us were packing our thermal undies; it was likely to be late night so rather then face a cold trip home on the Bike, the car sounded a better bet.  It would also give me a chance to grab my laptop, I wanted to have a play with the default blog options my hosting company provides.

The reason for our visit,  just the usual Tuesday night visit, to inflict my cooking on him.  Today, cauliflower and home made cheese sauce.  At least thats what I made for Caroline and Alan, for myself a burger.  I cannot stand cauliflower.

There was another reason for making the visit.  Alan had purchased a new Sony A55, a fun little camera which I can well recommend for a beginner or someone wanting a small body SLR.  Rather a unique camera with its fixed mirror, kind of a hybrid between a EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens Camera) and a normal SLR.

Sony EVIL Hybrid SLR

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that fitness kick

Colds recovered from, we both decided we needed to get fitter, so this month we have hit the gym every week, we also started Pilates (unfortunately theres no Yoga at our gym currently), and Richard has started running three times a week. Only two miles and a very gentle walk/run until he gets back into it.

The 7th July was Barton Upon Humber’s bike night. This was our first ever visit, lots of entertainment, thousands of bikers and all the local pubs had live bands on. We parked up in the grounds of the Catholic Church, and for a Pound we could not only park but they also stored our Crash Helmets, safely in the Church.

 

It was a fun night, not as many visitors as usual, the forecast of rain but a few people off, but luckily it stayed away. We indulged in some junk food, burgers, hotdogs etc, and once we got home treated ourselves to a cold beer.

Mid month and we took a day off, it was likely that I would have to work all weekend, and we both had plenty of hours owed us, so we took a flexi day and visited Gibraltar Point nature reserve.

 

The weather was variable, alternating between hot bright sunshine and shoot periods of extremely heavy rain and high winds. Still a fun day out.