Crime Fighting . . .

Today I am wearing a tee shirt. Not one of my beloved Threadless tee shirts. This would be the first day in years that I haven't worn one of my many many many Threadless tee shirts. It feels quite weird.

Today I am wearing a tee shirt which I will then put in a clear bag and send to a forensic scientist so she can gather information about the chemicals I have been in contact with. She came to the chicken forum asking for help:

The mission of the project is to get quite a substantial amount of samples taken from worn t-shirts (tops, shirts,..) which I will then analyze. What I would be looking for are chemicals deposited on you during the day of wearing. The problem I have is to get as varied group of people (by job, leisure activities, place of living,..) as possible . . .

I am hoping that her results don't show that the vast majority of the normal public come in contact with chicken poo every day! It is very tempting to go around and smear weird things on the tee shirt just to give her something fantastic to analyse. I could do (glancing round the office) lollipops, dust (no one ever tells me to dust round here), candle wax, darkroom chemicals, printer ink, dog hair and kisses, and splashes of paint. I could spend the whole day thinking of things! But no - it is safely under my Threadless hoodie (had to wear Threadless somewhere!!) waiting to be sent off to the girl. When she is finished she will wash it and send it to charity.

What have YOU done today to help fight crime?

Artscow Printing

You know I am a photographer, right?

At work we are having to think ahead a bit for our clients' Christmas needs. A while back we found a company called Artscow which prints photos on to a variety of fairly gimmicky items such as clocks, wrist watches, the usual mouse mats, playing cards, coasters, that sort of thing. They also produce prints and calendars too.

There is one thing they do particularly well: 20 page 8x8 books. These books are now the main-stay of our Christmas package in work which we sell for around £100 depending on the layout.

What makes this company great is when you sign up to it they start you off with a generous bundle of your own freebies to work through. You will receive credits for various items including these 8x8 books. You simply pay for the shipping for each item you order. Even with the postage from Hong Kong, where they are based, items are very affordable and well worth contemplating as Christmas presents as you pay in US$. The delivery timescale is a lot quicker than we expected and so far we have been very happy with the quality of the items.

Every now and then they run promotions where they issue coupons and codes allowing you to pick up more freebies or discounts. There is even a forum where you can give away your codes if you aren't going to be able to use them before they expire - this means that there is always something to pick up there free!

Basically, we are already very happy with the quality of the books and the service they provide but as they are a young company they are very much interested in giving me (more) freebies in return for me encouraging new members to sign up. So - if you have an batch of photos lying around unused, or unprinted, which would be a good Christmas present for someone you could use one of my codes:

ZU6H3NX
ZLVRMBM
ZNCFGSL
Z79FCRS
ZJ74C5C
ZL8NXMU
ZWDWRVJ
ZPH8VQM
Z76AR4Z

They even provide templates for the items so you don't end up with photos the wrong size and their system is incredibly easy to use (give me a shout if you come un-stuck). I'd love to hear what you think of the books, and the company as a whole, if and when you join. We have ordered up calendars but haven't received them yet but probably wont use their print facility - please let me know what you think of that if you get any.

Here I Ammm . . .

No, I hadn't forgotten about y'all. Every day I have been composing wee stories in my head for you as I busy myself around the chickens, the run, and the garden but LIFE! kinda gets in the way of sitting down and passing them along to you.

David has started Big School which requires him getting up extremely early. That doesn't affect us much until the tiredness at the other end of the day catches up with him and he becomes the most horrible child ever while trying to finish off homework. I think I have done more homeworks with him in the past month than I ever did in my own High School career. Between getting home, doing homeworks, trying to get to bed at a decent time every night, and doing LIFE! etc - time flies and yea, ok, I forgot about you. Sorry.

In chicken news, we hardly see the girls now. I spend the usual 15-30 minutes with them in the mornings but now the darker nights are here, they have put themselves to bed by the time we get home. They sit blinking at me when I open the doors to count them before shutting the pop-hole and I have to admit, on more than one occasion I have thrown corn for them in the hope they will come out and play with me for a few minutes. I can't keep doing that as the nights get earlier but I do feel that we are losing touch with each other ever so slightly.Will they even remember who I am?

About 3 weeks ago they were up to 4 eggs a day. Then suddenly they went down to 1 egg with just Sydney laying. Then for the past week there have been NO eggs at all. I have 2 sitting in my Egg Skelter which I am almost afraid to use as they may be the LAST EVER! Am hoping it doesn't continue like this all through the winter - I was expecting 2 a day with the two hybrids producing, knowing the pure breeds would stop but NONE?! Hummpph.

The grass seed we put down is now good long grass but the *lawn* area is so wet we can't get it cut. It isn't very thick yet and would be easily scratched up. There is no way we could let the girls out on it yet - so they haven't had any free ranging for ages - I have had to give them extra grit to make up for it.

In apple news, I continue to make the most gorgeous apple crumbles from the windfalls. The small tree has more or less finished but there is still plenty of fruit on the larger tree. Sooner or later I am going to have to get on the ladders and pick these but I don't think they will store too well so there may be loads frozen or given away.Or we may have to eat nothing but apple for a week.

I am so pleased with the amount the trees have produced that I would seriously consider putting another tree in the garden. I have a nectarine tree which is massive but produces nothing. It could very quickly be removed to make way for another apple tree.

Oh oh oh - so far I have made two bottles of Apple Schnapps after following this recipe. It is incredibly easy to make but takes 3 months to finish so I don't know a. if I have done it right yet or b. if anyone will like it! I could make loads more but we don't have copious amounts of vodka lying around. Any more.

Looking back at the photos the other chap took, I think I may have crammed far too much apple in to mine!