One of my neighbours got a Rooster a number of weeks ago. I know that roosters crow in the morning at sunrise

...what I didn't know was that they crow at other times of the day - most noteably around midnight and right outside my bedroom window, just at the moment when i've just settled down to sleep after working at the bar and need to go to sleep.

So after I got back from walking Kira, lo and behold I notice he's (meaning both the neighbour and the rooster) got a female chicken



I'm going to choke that rooster one of these days (I would say choke that chicken...but that has too much innuendo surrounding it)

:o/

TOH and I went on a boat ride to raise money for his cousin who has been diagnosed with cancer. The day started driving up to Rodney Bay, near Castries and getting on the Tango Too catamaran along with a good number of other people. The boat eventually departed the dock at 11am and we sailed along the west coast towards Soufriere. Music was playing all the time (and really loud). Everyone was dancing along to the tunes and getting in the spirit, plus loads of lager and rum helped as well. Once we got to Soufriere, we turned around and moared up at Anse Cochon (which means Bay of Pigs) and had just over an hour to have a quick swim or stay on the boat and chill out.

For a change it was nice seeing the coastline of the island from the sea and being able to take pictures - seeing the majestic Pitons was just breathtaking (well, for me anyway!)
Luckily, the rain's stayed away and it was a long, fun-filled packed day. Hopefully we raised enough money for the cause and hopefully there might be another one arranged soon.







:o)

I was in this particular shop earlier today to get a couple of things. Whilst at the checkout counter, I noticed the PC screen that they used as part of the cash till and recognized that the OS is Win95..

WIN95!!!! In this day and age...Is that still available and supported???.........

:oO

Just a shame it's not the 1st April. And, it's actually the moon, except the exposure on my camera was a bit wonky!

:o)

We now have a few introductions to make - namely 18 of them! {drum roll please}
Introducing: Alexandra, Jane, Sukie, Winifred, Sarah, Mary, Phoebe, Piper, Prue, Paige, Eva, Dora, Elsie, Millie, Elphaba, Lillith, Amanda, Linda.

We have 12 layers (the ones that lay the eggs) and 6 broilers (ones that are better to be eaten!). They are only a few days old, and are already starting to get their wing feathers.


All three of us stood there and watched them kicking the sawdust in the box and finding the food and water.
Please don't ask me which ones which, coz I haven't got any idea as to tell one from the other....plus the chicks all look the same except the broilers are darker than the layers.

Why the Pink Chicks you ask? Well their house is all pink. I would include a picture of it (one that I took a number of months ago), except I can't find that picture anymore. So once I do (or alternatively take another pic, i'll post it up for you to see.

Not too sure what the dogs think of them. They've sniffed the box, wondering what the noise is all about. Henry even got underneath the chicken coop and lay there in wait, so Thoms is going to get some plywood and box that in.


Not too sure what the dogs are going to think when the chicks are bigger and are in the run....but that's going to be another story.


:o)

It was only at 1:30 this afternoon that my mum made the comment "Oh, it had to be Friday the 13th today". Everything slotted into place..

My parents brought a new computer yesterday and asked if I could come down and set it all up for them, including transferring all their files (luckily, not a huge amount) and whatever else. So I got down to their house about 10 o'clock, got the pc, monitor and all the other paraphenalia out of the boxes and realised that both power cables for the monitor and base unit had the South American 3-pin plugs. So my step-dad changed the plugs over to the 220v (or is it 240? I forget!) 3-pin plugs. On one of them, he cut off the wire at the wrong end and it wasn't salvageable at all.

We got the PC set up and all cables connected and went to switch it on and there was a bang and a spark at the back of the base unit. I forgot to change the switch at the back of the unit from 115v to 230v...hence why it shorted out.
We phoned Computer World where they brought the PC and the technician said that it's probably the power supply unit inside the actual PC and that a new one will cost EC$195, so my step-dad went back into vieux fort to get it fixed and it transpires that, as it's a new model PC (it's an HP), the part isn't on the island. So, my parents are now waiting to get a call back from Computer World to find out how long it will take to get that part (I think we are probably talking weeks here, and not days! But I could be wrong).

After all that, i'm going to go and hide in my bed until its time to go to work and hopefully tonight, nothing else will go wrong!

Update : My mum spliced her thumb open while preparing their dinner!

Update : No-one, not one single person came down to the bar...maybe alot more people are having a bad day as well?!

:o/

My mum had this brainwave (yeah, it doesn't happen very often, but they are normally very good!) about doing some Standard Operating Procedures documents for the Bar (which also include the Guesthouse as well).

So there I was the other night at the Bar, at a time when it was quiet that I started writing (as in using my hand and a pen - aaah, shock horror!) up some procedures for setting up the bar and purchasing of the drinks....After an hour, I'd actually written most of the document, ready to be typed up.

Still haven't typed them up onto the template document, and while typing this, I'm thinking where I put them....oops!



:o)

Yes, it's another dog! TOH noticed her around our yard last week and we thought that she was a neighbours' dog. But after seeing his wife this morning it turns out that she is a stray (one of many around the island). So, after buying a nice new blue collar and a chain from my mum's. She's now chained up at the back with Kira and has been given the name of Vera.

Kira's still not sure about her, they've played abit - when Kira's been in the mood, but Kira's just staying away from this unknown and uncertain dog.

I've already given her a bath to get rid of the multitude of fleas on her and she looks lovely now...just need to feed her up a bit as she's really skinny and she should be a well-fed and hopefully well-behaved dog.



Not too sure what TOH is going to think when he comes round later

:o/

Now I've always been a finicky eater, moreso when I was younger and being fed stuff like onions, mushrooms, courgettes (zucchini), marrow, cabbage. I always used to move it around my plate, make out I'd eaten some, or worst-case, make out that I was going to puke.
Saying that, my tastes have changed in recent years and I'm not as bad as I was - I still hate mushrooms with a vengeance though.

Now, since I've been over here, my parents cooked pumpkin soup on a couple of occasions and I hate it - this has nothing to do with my parents cooking, but pumpkin? - Yuk with a big, bad capital Y.

Ok, that's the back story - now fast-forward back to the present day....

So the other day my mum gave me a whole host of stuff from their garden - tomatoes,  papaya, cashews, golden apples and a pumpkin.....erm...yeah........
Looking through the caribbean cookbooks that I've accumulated (okay, that would be two then!) I found a recipe for a Pumpkin Surprise Loaf.

That recipe only used about a quarter of the pumpkin, now I've got to try and find something else to use to use up the other three-quarters of the pumpkin - and no that does not mean i'm going to be making soup!!!!


{cutting up the pumpkin - including getting orange fingers!}


{everything's cooking quite nicely}


{Now all that's left is the washing up}

The Last word: It was actually quite nice, even TOH liked it. And if you're wondering what the surprise was - it was the boiled eggs in the middle!


{The finished masterpiece!}

:o)

Yeah, i'm puzzled over this as well.

There I was in the Bar the other night, with a few customers, when one of them asked if I brought back a typical english drink. I'm not talking about beer or anything like that - but hard liquor. Something that is typical of England and something that isn't drank over here.

So, that night I was racking my brain trying to think of a typical english drink, but couldn't - the Irish have the Guinness, the Scottish have their Single Malts, but the English....hmmm, see there I'm stumped. I did initially think of Gin, but we do get that over here. And the same goes for Pimms

So, I'm asking all you dear readers...what is a typical English alcoholic beverage??



:o)