Christmas Message 2006

Once again, instead of writing a traditional "Round Robin" letter, those of you who have received Christmas cards from us have been directed here, to the blog. To those of you who haven't received a Christmas card, I hope this is an acceptable alternative!

As our first full year of stability since moving to Norway, 2006 has really flown by. The year started with the challenge of the most snow seen here since the 1960's. This truly was a new experience for one of us, and provided us with an invaluable insight when assessing future livestock and garden projects (especially with regards to access). Mari had to cope alone for a fair bit of the first 3 months whilst I traveled with work a little more than desirable.

The main activities of 2006 have involved cats and cars. On the cat front we have now seen 3 litters come, and most of the kittens go to new owners. There are now 3 Starsprung cats who, all being well, will be used for breeding. One of these is now an international champion and another is placed with a "foster owner", giving us the possibility to breed a couple of litters from her without having an extra cat in the house full time. Vegas, our male cat, became an international champion in Stockholm in November and has since been "retired from breeding duty".

The whole of the summer disappeared in the garage. We both made a huge effort to get the Triumph ready for our late summer England/Ireland trip. We didn't meet the deadline, but the Triumph is now on 4 wheels, has covered over 100 miles on the road, and is a couple of small items (mainly waiting for a replacement windscreen) away from approval and registration here in Norway. There's a bit more work to do early in the new year and then it's roll on the summer!

We did a fair amount of traveling during the course of the year, a skiing holiday up in the middle of Norway, 2 weddings in the UK, the "Goodwood festival of speed", 10 days in Ireland, a couple of visits to Cockermouth and so on. Apologies if we didn't see you on our way around, we're very fortunate to have so many folk to visit, but it does mean that time is short when we travel. We also had the pleasure of a good number of visitors through out the year. To those of you have been here, you're more than welcome back, and to those of you who haven't been here yet, you too are more than welcome.

Mari continues to work 80% on a, recently renewed, 1 year contract at the clinic in Sandefjord, the lack of a solid contract is still a little frustrating for her. This is partly the reason that she has decided to take a distance learning MSc in Veterinary epidemiology and public health. This is with the University of London in conjunction with the Royal veterinary college. She has been accepted and will be starting early in the New year.

I am still working for Scanship and have recently been promoted to Manager of the Electrical and Automation Department. Work is very hectic at the moment, but I see this as a good new challenge and, looking forward, believe that things are positive on the whole.

So, here's wishing you all a very merry Christmas and hoping that 2007 brings you all happiness and joy. Feel free to leave a comment to this post.

Merry Christmas
Andy and Mari.

Cat Chorus

Even by the standards of the slightly unhinged world of cat shows, the events at Adelkattens show, last weekend, were a first for us. A cat parade carefully coreagraphed to the dolcet tones of one of the Judges singing Christmas carols. I am sorry the pictures a little dark, but you should get the idea.


All in all, it was a very sucessful weekend for Starsprung. "Starsprung Amazing Incident" won his class and hence his first Certificate as a castrated adult. "Starsprung Esk pike" won the kitten class on her first outing and on the Sunday we were very pleased to hear that "Starsprung Scafell Pike" became an International Champion.

Kris kindle wish list

In age order, our Kris Kindle hints plucked out from the umpteen comments in the Kris kindle post below.

If anyone is still struggling I would suggest that one posts as anonymous requesting the information that is required.

Our Father

Thus saith 'Our Father'

Yea verily, it hath been said to me, that Thou shalt not walk barefoot upon the sacred floors of the House of Beeston, floors which hath been hewn from the finest oak from the Brook of Haughton.

'And he said, when Thou entereth the House of Beeston, thou shalt take thine slippers and place them upon thy feet.
And the slippers shall be made of finest sheepskin, or of leather from the land of Imi Tation, and thy slippers shall be made to cover thy toes, but not thy heels, for thy heels shall be left bare and free so that thou mayest be able to shed thy slippers without impediment when thou leavest the House of Beeston and putteth upon the foot boots from the town of Wellie.

And the slippers shalt be like unto those that a certain P J did buy in the land of the Angle at a town at the Mouth of the Cocker. and shalt be size 9 cubits

And thy sons, or thy son's sons or ths son's daughters or thy daughters or thy daughter's sons or thy daughter's daughters and thy daughter's in law or thy sons in law, as whoever may see wont, but not thy spouse, shalt come bearing gifts of slippers to 'Our Father' at the sacred feast of Christmas. And he shall place them upon his feet and bless thee.

and

If one of my beloved nippers
Didn't get my hint about slippers,
Or in Cockermouth they are only obtainable,
So my first wish is quite unsustainable,
Then perhaps a worthy alternative
The most practical present that you can give
Is a parcel with tough working gloves in it
Designed for a man with large hands to fit.
Then I'll work as I sing a bright roundelay,
And think of those that I love who are far away.

Mother of VL

Mum of Viking Longship says:

My undies are getting quite worn
and some of them are pretty torn
A petti in white
would be a sweet sight
and then I won't look so folorn

(Size 12)

or a note wallet with space for credit cards.

and

If we are spending our evenings sorting family photos, a few inexpensive, but very efficient photo albums wouldn't go amiss.

Blogs Brother in Law

Been banned from asking for DVD's again !!!! Only thought right now is for classy/fun ties for work. Have collection of Wallace & Gromit, Peanuts etc, so something along that line would do(but make sure its tasteful!)

and

A reputation for waffle you are all getting
Much free time do people have I’ll be betting!
To add to my list is what I should do
A case for my Palm Z22 would be neat, thank you
While not to be worn with my fancy ties
Recent bad weather suggests leggings would be wise

(Light/Strong and 100% waterproof)

Big (Little) Sis

I've finally come up with a couple of suggestions,
to answer some of your questions.
I could really do with a new basket for my logs,
the old ones are only fit for the dogs!
We could give them to Murphy for his tea,
it would save on lots of meat and Chappie!
Also, my old sieve has a case of the humps,
which leaves my cakes with lumps and bumps!
Apart from that I'm easy to please,
but no spiders...I'll squash the first one I sees!

The Other Cold One

To take part in a family Kris Krindle,
Makes the hair on my neck rightly tingle,
It should be close shorn,
but the clippers are worn,
and blunt as an old fashioned thimble!!!!!

Mrs Other Cold One

We are upgrading from sleeping on the floor to a bed...
would really like a reasonably good quality fitted cotton sheet or a valance sheet for a 160 x 200 cm Bed (it may be equal to King size in Ireland, but I am not sure). Colour preference cream. Flanelette will not be appreciated (by my husband)...

Viking Longship

RTFM, yes that's the key
That's whats you need if you'll fix me
Oh how I frown
A David Brown
Select-o-matic Eight Eighty

and

The temperature is important
I need to know it this instant
Technology
It pleases me
Inside, outside,in the basement.

You can find some here

http://www.fashion.ie/Kitchen-13458411-sr-1-Hardware.html

and more details here

http://www.ukweathershop.co.uk

an exmaple of one with the right features is the WS9228 here

http://www.ukweathershop.co.uk/acatalog/la_crosse_technology_fc_sub.html

Important features are that it can have 3 wireless temperature/humidity sensors with a decent transmitter range.

If this option is picked, it would be good if the person also bought an extra wireless temp/humidity sensor wpuld be good, I would of course be happy to refund any over budget cost, if this is acceptable

and in more detail

A LaCrosse WS9128 from Weather Station Products http://www.weather-station-products.co.uk/item--LaCrosse-weather-station-WS9128--WS9128.html

They are in stock, you can order over the phone with credit card and they will deliver to Ireland for a small fee.

Telephone 0044 800 8620232

It will be about €10 over budget, this will be refunded.

If my knid Kris Kindle goes for this option could they also please order an extra (2nd as the WS9128 comes with one) TX4 remote temperature and humidity probe, if they are in stock.

Mrs Viking Longship

I'm finding it hard to be specific
and since the budgets blown the Pacific
This I write
To be polite
But that what's below will be terrific
(and certainly not cryptic)

Paper guilotine
Thin Woolen socks
Nice soap
Iron
Filofax refill (week on two page diary, multilanguage. Personal filofax ref. 684276)
Wallet (medium size)
Outside shoebrush
Bottle brushes

London Son

One of the early Jamie Cookbooks

A cobalt blue, Chaco golden knee(or possibly mexican red knee) tarantula, they can be ordered online and posted, not one to be opened on the day.

Or maybe something silly or remote controlled. I really dont know.

and

here

and

I have seen a monstrous beauty in a shop in Cork, someone has offered to purchase her as a pressie but I believe that to be an unfair expenditure so maybe my chosen purchaser would be interested in spreading the cost,

I have reserved it for a few days, and it is likely that I will buy it anyway. If one is interested maybe leave an anonomous message on my blog under the stella blog and details can be passed on.

It also means that people could actually witness one of these fine creatures

Kid Sister

Ok so i don't do limericks but...
i would like a cd/dvd that incorporates the songs:
think of me
masquerade
wishing you were somehow here again...

and

I wish to own a little car,
A car to drive me near and far,
A car for college, a car for life,
A car to drive me through any strife,
A car to rev, a car to slow,
A car that'll withstand the worst pot hole,
i understand the size of this wish,
But its better than wanting a fish!!!(or should that be a tarantula)

and

Should a car be unatainable,
and Mr. Webber indigestable,
I've other ideas to help tidy up my mess,
C.D's i have a plenty,
But storage is lost in the widerness,
A C.D tower,
Pretty as a Flower,
Would be ideal,
to make my room sureal

And far more importantly...

As the youngest,
my future may be in your head,]
But fear not i am being well fed,
I wish to teach, I wish to Care
And creative arts are all in the air,
A book on Music, Art and Drana,
Would make my life panorama,
Click below and you will see
The cause of all this poetry.

www.amazon.com
type in Creative arts in the Early Years

wat i wish for christmas is...
Creative Activities for Young Children by Mary Mayesky 8th edition.
its available on Amazon.com

Swimming Rules

After the great wheel barrow crash of Summer 2006, Mrs LS has been
advised not to play volleyball for the time being due to her knee
injury. Missing her regular physical excerise we have started swimming
(twice a week) at the most disciplinarian swimming pool I have ever
seen.

You walk into the changing rooms and are faced by a corridor with toilet
cubicle style doors on either side. The cubicles are in fact changing
areas which lead over to the 'No Shoes Area', where you are instructed
to make use of one of the lockers for your belongings.

After changing you progress towards the shower area where a sign says
'Bring your towel to here'. The next instruction is 'No entry to pool
without naked shower first' acompanied by a 'No swimming trunks beyond
this pont' on the entry to the shower/sauna area. As a final emphises on
the importance of cleanliness there is a drawing illustrating the areas
of the body one should wash with soap before considering entry to the
pool.

After observing the 'No wash, No Entry' policy, things are more relaxed
as I feel very unfit during my 30 min, 850m swim. After this, the
military changing rooms instruct you to 'sit on your towel' in the sauna
and to 'dry yourself before going past this point'.

Everyone does, more or less, what they are supposed to and it is not
before you get dressed that you notice that your feet are on clean dry
ground and your socks don't get wet, removing one of swimmings big
irritaions.

1st Annual Anonymous Artists Christmas Competition

By popular request closing date extended, now 24th 15:00 hours......

Karawonky...

Here it is, the long awaited AAACC. After all the poetic attempts as replies to the Kris Kindle post it has been decided to up the anti and focus our artistic talents through some healthy competition...... Thanks to the other cold one for inventing Karawonky.

Now, I'll get straight to business.

Entry Criteria, This competition is open to...

1: VL and Mrs VL, VL's and Mrs VL's Friends, extended family and family members friends.
2: Blog regulars. i.e those who have commented on this blog on a regular basis.

What's Karawonky

Basically one takes a vocal work by your favourite composer or artist and replaces the words with something suitably suitable.

How to Enter

1: Simply post your work anonymously as a comment to this post stating artist and song as per this example from The Other cold one.

Is this a comment?
No no, it's just a grouch,
somewhere in Finland, where
there is no snow right now.
The days are real short, and nights real long,
so it is cold and grey, night and day
etc. etc. etc.

'Friderick Schnellsilber' - Rhapsodie Boheme.

2: Please specify the version of song if there can be any confusion.

3: There is also a Childrens Catagory for the Under 8's. When entering this start the comment with "Childs Entry".

4: Closing Date for entries is Wednesday 20th December.

5: After the results are announced entrants will be encouraged to step forward and claim their masterpieces, although this is not a requirement.

The Rules

1: All entries are to be roughly based on one of the following themes

• Present Giving at Christmas
• Family Christmas Gatherings
• Spending christmas with the in-laws
• Spending christmas alone

2: Entries are to be posted anonymously.

3: All work is to be own, original (obviously not the original song) and written specifically for this AAACC.

4: The whole of the selected song is to be Karawonkified.

5: Excessively obscence language is not allowed, harmless smut, general rudeness and humour is encouraged.

6: Only one entry allowed per person.

Performance and Judging

1: All entries will be performed through the collected musical talents of the "Norwegain Woods Irish Christmas Assembly" during the Christmas Period.

2: In a eurovision stylie all entries will be voted for by members of the above. As per Eurovision one will not be able to vote for ones own masterpiece.

3: Results will be announced on the blog shortly after the christmas break, at this time entrants will be invited to come forward and identify themselves.

The winner gets

1: The Satisfaction of Winning

2: A feeling of Artistic well being

3: A little slice of internet fame

and......

4: If, (a big if), we can get technology to work in our favour, a recording of the masterpiece performed by the "Norwegain Woods Irish Christmas Assembly" published on this blog.

so get those old cassettes, the hymn book, your favourite Christmas Carol, your song books and so on out and get writting. Good luck and happy creative thinking.

Christmas Market at the Norwegian Folk Museum

Saturdays main activity was a trip to the "Norsk Folkemuseums", Julemarked.

The Museum is located on Bygdøy, a smallish Island just acrosss from Oslo harbour. It is a combination of an open air museum featuring "155 authentic buildings from different national regions" and indoor displays and museums.

Along with myself, Mrs VL and the Thoughtful Scotsman we were joined by the toast mistress and, for a short while, Mrs VLs Sister. Here's Mrs VL and the Toast Mistress outside the "Stave Church"



This was my first visit to the museum and probably not the best day to appreciate all the museum has to offer due to the added distraction of the Christmas market/fayre. There was plenty of traditionally clad folk selling traditional wares and food stuffs. There were also people in national costumes from all over the country.

Both the Museum and the Christmas Market, which is repeated the coming weekend (9th and 10th), come with a high recommendation and I am looking forward to finding a reason to visit again.

If you are lucky enough to be able to attend this coming weekend, take your wallet, there's plenty on offer so your pocket money could soon run out. You have been warned!

A few more photos for you enjoyment, starting with Myself and TS outside a farm building from Telemark, I believe.



The old town.



and working out how the still worked in the Pharmacy.

Bottled Beer

This weekends visit from "The Thoughtful Scotsman" involve the consumption of a fair quantity of the "Santas Winter Warmer" brewed as per this previous post.

This was, as hoped, very tasty but was a little cloudy due to being drunk before the recommended 14 days clearing.

The final SG was close to 1.014, so by the calculations I can't see that it's 5.7% alcohol, but what the hell it's very tasty and more than does the job.

The volume of work involved in bottling is mostly cleaning and sterilising, but the bottling process itself is, as you can see, quite messy and probably best to do whilst the Mrs is not in the house!!!



In the absence of Light Spray malt for priming I added a little of this malt extract to half the bottles and a little sugar to the others. The ones with the sugar seem to have a little more fizz.

Petrol Station Crawl

During the golf course owners Daughter 30th Birthday party on Sunday it came to light that niether Mrs VL or The thoughtful Scotsman had seen "The life of Brian".

We stopped in every petrol station on the way home, 6 in total I believe, and whilst most had a fine DVD selection none had the item that we were searching for.

In the end we rented "Wallace and Grommits, Curse of the Were-Rabbit", which proved to be a hilariously funny and "Cracking good" film. Highly recommended to both young and old.

I now need to keep my eyes open, so that we are prepared next time TS comes to visit.

New blog in Town

There's a new blog in the west, one of my siblings has started his blog, London Son.

Expect a wierd and wonderful combination of spiders and Music together with insights into a students life in the big smoke.

The links also in the sidebar, welcome onboard.

Kris Kindle

The same day as "The other cold one" mentioned it in a comment to the previous post we too received letters marked "Personal" and with the inscription on the envelope "Don't shoot the messenger"

These letters were regarding this years Kris Kindle. This is, as stated in the letter, an effort to reduce the expense of christmas presents and shipping cost.... There are a total of 10 members in the Kris kindle syndicate, consisting of my siblings, our parents and respective spouses.

The idea is that each person is secretly and randomly (although I am informed you can't get your spouse) allocated one other person to buy a present for, maximum value €50.

The letter comes with the a set of 6 rules which cover non divulgense of chosen target, not complaining about the draw, not getting help from partner.

Rule 5, as mentioned by the other cold one, covers the nature of the present as not as some of those present on the christmas day have not yet started formal sex education.

Rule 6, covers the allowance of general advertising as "The other cold one" so eloquently begun with this Limerick.

To take part in a family Kris Krindle,
Makes the hair on my neck rightly tingle,
It should be close shorn,
but the clippers are worn,
and blunt as an old fashioned thimble!!!!!

So, to the purpose of the post, firstly, as a forum for the 10 syndicate members to advertise and secondly, as I have no idea what I want for the blog regulars to come up with some suggestions for what I might want.

For syndicate members, advertise through the comments of this post. Click on where it says x comments below, select other (for those of you who havn't got a blogger account), give yourself a name with which all involved can identify you by, write your comment and do the word verification thingy. Check in regularly and hopefully you will eventually get the information you require.

Dear Mr Brian Tracy

I am half way through reading your "Eat that frog" personal development, conquer the world book, which my wife has recieved from the RVC, presumably to help her with the above.

I realise that you are an amazing man and who am I to comment, but I rather feel that your book contradicts itself.

You spend the first 9 chapters, correctly pointing out that should we have to eat a live frog every day, best get it done in the morning so the rest of the day will be brighter. That is to say, you should start the day with the job that will have the biggest impact and is probably the one you least look forward to. You also state quite rightly in chapter 6 that one should identify the area of work which is holding one back, which one is weakest at and focus on that to help you move forward.

In chapter 10, however, you contradict all this by stating that one should focus on the thing your best at and you most enjoy. Do this, you say, and you can lose your job, house and everything you own but yet have the earning potential to get it all back again and more.

Doing what you enjoy and are good at is not neccessarily what you are paid to do. Is it not a very common problem that we folk do what we enjoy instead of what we should be doing to move forward in life.

As with all such books and courses, you make some valid points but I am not convinced that your book will change my life and I have already concluded that I will never be as brilliant as you. To be honest, I'm finding your book a little tedious.

I would appreciate your comment.

Best regard
VL

Off with them again....

It seems to be becoming a habit. Today it was Vegas's turn to go to the vet. I pleased to report that he wasn't quite as careless as Amazing. Vegas managed to come back with his testicles............. Albeit in formalin!

The other big difference is that Vegas knew what they were for, and has actively made use of them. We now have a few nervous weeks to see if, as the testosterone drains out of his body, the cleaning load in Vegas's room reduces to nothing indicating that his marking behaviour is purely hormone driven and not too deply engrained into his brain.

Fingers crossed, Vegas is such a lovely animal, it will be great if we can have him out and around the house again.

Stud Pants, User Report

I thought I should give a quick user report on this wonderful discovery made by Mrs VL, the resident vet, some time back. Especially since we hopefully won't need to use them all that much longer.

For those of you who don't already knows this, the vast majority of fertile male cats are very keen to mark everything in site by spraying backwards and upwards against any and every solid object, not something you want happening in your house. It may seem a little indignant to put a nappy on an International Champion and Father of 7, but Vegas has come to accept it and now even stands still and purrs whilst you put it on him as he realises it means a run about the house.

We couldn't get spots so, as you can see, the next best thing had to do.



Lining up!!



and shaking that tail.



He's happy, he's done what's natural, we're happy as it's all been soaked up in the thin panty liner we line the nappy with.

A great product, but a couple of words of warning.

1: The resident vet doesn't reccommend leaving these on for too long (we don't normally leave vegas out for more than an hour) as the dampness can cause irritation.

and

2: It's best to avoid putting these on if the cat hasn't passed any solids in the recent past, as you can get a nasty surprise when you take the Stud Pants back off.......

We got them from here

http://www.laffindustries.com/stud_pants.htm

The Menagerie

Today, Catstycam, the last of Asia's most recent (and almost certainly final) litter, was picked up by his new owners.

The relative quietness got us thinking and after a few calculations we reckon that our Menagerie is at the smallest it's been since the arrival "Felix" the Ferret and the first of the hens to Crummock Ave around 5 years ago.

In that time, "Nasse Nøff" the guinea pig, "Snurre Sprett" the rabbit, the hens including "Mum", "Minimum", "Dotling", "Minidot", "Whitie" and "Darth" amongst others, "lily" and "Dia" the Diamond Doves, "Gordon" and "Georgie" the Canaries, "Felix" the Ferret and the two pigs have all come and gone (the hens moved home when we left the UK, the rest (except the pigs, see various posts from August until December 2005!!) passed on due to natural causes).

We have also sold 5 Bengal kittens, all of whome we have had the pleasure of for at least the first 12 weeks of their lives.

That leaves us with a mere 6 animals, as listed below in the order that they joined the Longship household.

Heera, our male Diamond Dove, who has now outlived 2 partners.



Peggy, our Three legged friend, pictured here leading the way, on the top of Skiddaw.



Anitra, our first Bengal.



Vegas, our International Champion Bengal stud cat, purchased after attempts to take Anitra to outside stud proved unsuccessful.



Asia, our second Bengal breeding queen, purchased after attempts to pair Anitra and Vegas proved unsucessful!!!



Amazing Incident, Vegas and Anitra's only child, created by our own hands through Cat AI (see previous posts "Virgin birth" and "We put them in and we took them out" .



These are all archive pictures, with the exception of Heera which was taken 10 minutes ago, we've had him for approaching 6 years and I couldn't find a decent photo of him, typical!!!

Beer Brewing

Relative to the price of beer in this country, we are not rich folk. For this reason I took the opportunity during our recent visit to Bergen to visit a shop where I knew they stock some fine home brew kits.

My experience with the commoner garden kits you can buy in most hardware stores and rely on the addition of cane sugar for fermentation are that they are at best mediocre.

Muntons on the other hand follow the Reinheitsgebot, a brewing law allowing malt, hops, water and yeast as the only ingredients. The abscence of sugar, which is completely alien to the brewing process, contributes to a much more real tasting beer.

We bought two kits, the Continental pilsner and the seasonable "Santa's Winter Warmer". The production of the latter, assuming all continues to go well should be timed nicely with the arrival of The Thoughtful Scotsman in a couple of weekends time.



The Process really couldn't be simpler, first you sterelise all your equipment



then you place the 2 cans of concentrate in hot water for 5 minutes to loosen the contents



Pour this in a fermenting vessel



Add 6 litres of boiling water and make up to 20.5 litres with cold water stirring well to make sure all the concentrate is dissolved.

Measure the temperature (should be around 20C) and the Specific Gravity, 1.050 in this case.



Place in a warm place, the bathroom with its heated floor is ideal,



and leave to ferment for 4-6 days.

Inside 24 hours it had begun to ferment at pace, so everything is going to plan right now. When the fermenting stops, according to the instructions, it should be below 1.014 specific gravity. Interesting this, as according to the calculation

(start s.g - end s.g.)x129 = %alcohol

you get

(1.050 - 1.014)x129 = 4.64%

However, Muntons say that this kit should be around 5.7% which by my calculactions requires a end s.g. of 1.006. I will duly measure and report back.

Show Cats #2 The International Champion

This past weekend took us to Stockholm and possibly the largest Cat Show we have been to. It may seem extreme to drive a round trip of 1400 Km but there was method in our madness.

Out of the 5 Cat shows that we have attended since my last Show cats report, our stud cat Tuhina Vegasdream has attended four of these. Vegas has been liked by the judges and succeeded in winning his category and also being deemed good enough to receive his certificate each time. After our first three Norwegian Shows Vegas achieved Champion status. After two more shows Vegas had two certificates as a Champion and needed one more from another country to become an International Champion.

In Norway one is very fortunate that there are no restrictions on movement of animals between here and Sweden, making attending a "foreign" cat show very easy for us.

Typically the only show that fitted, date wise, was Stockholm, so we signed up, booked a little chalet to the south of the city and prepared ourselves for a long drive. The cats tolerated the journey pretty well although it was a little noisy in the car for the odd hour or two, now and again.....

So, we had 2 days for Vegas to win his class once and receive his certificate. The Saturday was a large disappointment for us as Vegas was rightly beaten by one of the most stunning Bengals we have seen. Fortunately, we ascertained that they were not attending on the Sunday and after much stress (most for us, not the cats) Vegas duly did the business on the Sunday winning his class, receiving his certificate and gaining the title "International Champion". He missed out on a nomination for best in show because he was, in the judges words "a little too naughty". We are of course very proud. Vegas's prize for reaching this stage, castration some time in the coming weeks.

Starsprung Skiddaw was the other cat we had with us, as we have come to expect she got many good comments but her lack of contrast meant that she was pipped to the post in her heavily contested class.

Here for your appreciation are some photo's from Stockholm Cat Clubs Show 11th and 12th December 2006

Stress Relief, Vegas style!



Mrs Long Ship and Skiddaws Foster Mum



The judges tables



Finding out who's won and why



The Show cages



But where's Dr Evil (A Sphynx)



Success!

Scrabble

Saturday evening and a game of scrabble with Mrs LS, the sister in law and a family friend.

It was the first time I have played scrabble in Norwegian and I led from start to finish, which made me more than a little satisfied. Before you ask, I had very little help.

I want a Saxaphone...

And to learn to play it. As a man who likes music with feeling the Sax seems an instrument you can lose yourself in.

I'm not sure if the music is inturrupting the chain saw and tractor driving or the other way round during our long weekend here on the west coast.

The occasion this time a small local music hall and amateur wind band. 'Meland Musiklag', very proficient and enjoyably traditonal.

Concert review

The combination of solo violin and contempary music brought haunting flashbacks of my childhood and 'the other cold one's', now highly proficient, earliest musical days.

The occassion, Arne Nordheim's 75th anniversary concert in Greig Hallen in Bergen.

The rest of the concert, random noise and plenty of it. Excellently executed, no doubt. They even took the time to tune their instruments, I don't know if there was point though!

In the basement.

Cat's always want to be on the other side of a closed door. Now fortunately cats can't normally open said door.

Anitra, on the other hand, has now not only been guilty of letting the Male cat loose in the house (now his room must be locked if she's in with him), but she has also become so adept at opening the door to the basement that if it's left unprotected for more than a moment she along with all the others are on their way underground.

What ensues then is 5 minutes chasing shadows in the basement, followed by 5 minutes trying find out if you've got them all back in the house, followed by another trip to the basement to fetch any you missed on the first pass.

On this occasion, I found the kittens Esk Pike and Crinkle Crags at the top of the stairs still pondering the decent, fetched Asia and Anitra up on the first pass and Amazing on the Second. That means that it was only Catstycam who didn't avail of the open door opportunity.

On a cat related note, all three kittens are due to relocate to their new homes in the next 2 weeks, things will become a little more normal again then. Read all about them all on www.starsprung.com

Off with 'em

Our Artificially inseminated boy Starsrpung Amazing Incident took a trip to the vets yesterday and carelessly came back missing 2 important reproductive parts.

It was a hard decision to take after all the investment in Anitra and so much time spent researching and praticing cat AI. So assuming that we do not succeed in having another litter from Anitra (which is unlikely), in terms of our breeding plans all that effort is wasted.

Amazing has some fantastic qualities, including stunning contrast, fantastically soft fur and a wonderful shape. On the other hand, in keeping with the breed standard and responsible breeding he also has a number of faults, especially the stripes behind his shoulders and a nose which is a little to dark.

A pity but that's life. What all this effort has given us is a most fantastic pet which will give us great pleasure every day for, hopefully, many years to come.

Amazing has also proved very successful with the judges at cat shows so we will continue to show him and hope that he will reach premier or international premier not too long after he moves into the adult castrated class.

For more cat news www.starsrpung.com

Smoke Rings

I guess with a place like this there will always be a new problem to fix and new learnings for regular preventative maintenance. This is one of those occasions.

During last weekend, the wood oven in our living room (our main source of heating) started blowing somke rings, like this



Now, especially in the damp heavy weather we have had, this oven can be difficult to get going and can smoke a little whilst the metal is not up to full temperature. On my way home from a meeting in Stavanger this Tuesday, Mrs Longship rang to complain that the oven was filling the house with smoke.

M. LS rang the local chimey sweep (this activity is organised by the local council and everybody should automatically get there chimneys sweeped every 2 years). She was informed that a new company had taken over the contract and things in this area were in disarray and they couldn't say when our chimneys were last cleaned. They then stated that they were hoping to get to everyone this year.

This evening I started the process of investigation by taking a couple of the insection holes off the oven. Heres what I found



And the view into the outlet pipe was like this



Fotunately this material which I guess one would call slag came off relatively easy and with the help of various tools I managed to get it all cleaned out, collecting half of this stuff in the oven and half in the cleaning insepection hole in the basement.



I also had a quick look and cleaned what I could reach through the inspection door in the loft, fortunately the chimney itself isn't so bad although it is well due a clean.

In total I cleaned out a remarkable 7.5Kg of this hard black soot/slag. I shall now make this an annual event.

The end result a wood oven which lights much easier than before, generates almost no smoke and gives off a lot more heat.

Red Light, Green Light

Not long back from a recent couple of eventful days in Lithuania.

Amongst the many strange things (including 80 year old Russian professors from St. Petersburgh appearing from thin air) I have to tell you about the lighting arrangement in the hotel room.

Now, before I continue, this was a new and reasonably respectable hotel, the rooms were clean and comfortable and the food and the service was good.

In my (and all other it appears) hotel room, above the middle of the bed there were three light switches, nothing so remarkable in itself. However, the light switch to the left had a red stripe on it and the light switch on the right had a green stripe on it. I naturally had to investigate, starting with the unmarked switch, a pleasent flouresent up light on the wall above the bed, then the red switch, the same only this time almost neon red, and predictable enough the green switch provided the same effect only with a green light this time.

I can only begin to wonder, the mind boggles.

Light in the Darkness

Monday night, as I had borrowed a chain saw the day before, I continued working on the eternal wood pile, with which a number of you are acquainted.

I had hoped to chop up the trailer load that I had dumped by the saw, the trailer load I had in the trailer and load the trailer one more time before it got dark. This proved a little optimisitic in the 2 hours of daylight that were left.

Not detered by the darkness I backed the tractor and trailer up to the saw and continue to work away with the rear spot lights on full blast and I also rigged up a couple of 500 Watt work lights for good measure.

Now, it can be eerie out here surrounded by trees and little else. The addittion of nearly 2000 Watts of lights only made matters worse. The darkness behind the lights was an impeniterable blackness and between the rumble of the tractor engine, the scream of the saw and ear muffs, wild horses could have been approach at full gallop and I would have been none the wiser.

Focusing on my work prevented my mind running wild with chilling fantasies. Matters were not helped by the sudden appearence of a brilliant light through the trees in the distance lightning up the surrounding area nearly as brilliantly as my own lighting arrangement. I had to walk away from my work area to cofirm that after such a dull evening, the moon could be so unbelievably brilliant, just in case they had finally come to get me.......

Oh, btw, the sharpened saw is a revalation, not a single trip of the thermal overload and straight through those extra tough knots. Many thanks to JN for his paitience with a metal file.

The wrong car,

but a splendid holiday all the same.

The Master plan was to get the Triumph finished in time for our "driving holiday" round England and Ireland. Unfortunately to go from this



and this



to this



in 2 months proved a bit to ambitious so instead it was this,



This picture was taken in the Southern Irish "Gourmet" town of Kinsale. We covered a total of 2500Km in the old Opel and it didn't miss a beat (apart from installing a new coil which packed up after 20 minutes, so the old one went back in (ain't broke don't fix routine)).

So as you can see from the above photo's a little over 1 month behind schedule we are back behind the wheel of my 1976 Triumph Spitfire 1500 which I acquired in 1995 and has been in bits since late 1998. A very satisfying achievement. It went for it's technical registration control today, it needs a new Windscreen (ordered as we broke the old one putting it in), the brake pipes secured better and the chassis number stamping in the chassis (I think I changed the bit of chassis that should have had the number on it....). More project details in due course on more-power.

Frog or Toad?

and how can we tell in the future?

"The more you do, the more you have to tell, the less time you have to tell it"

Knocking on the door

Imagine my wifes surprise when she found this chap climbing up our front door.




I guess it's just a common grasshopper but it was an impressive size,

She announced at this point that, next year, when our focus is back on the garden we should start cataloging and learning a little more about the huge variety of insect life around Haugtuft. Life cycles, what they eat, if they're harmful and so on. I will try to persuade her to include the blog in this research. I think it's all quite exciting really.

Will this make us insectologist, or am I getting confused with Tom Cruise?

Apologies,

Please excuse the lack of posts, I have been and I am very busy with this.

http://more-power.blogspot.com/2006/07/project-spitfire-update.html

Supernatural Happenings

It all began with "the phantom sheepskin mover", who frequently relocates the sheepskin from one of our Sofa's to random places in the house.

Then it was the turn of the the blanket/throw that is on the other Sofa which now frequently is found at the bottom of the stairs or under the kitchen table.

This morning after coming home from Peggy's morning walk I found our long suffering passion flower plant in the middle of the kitchen floor, some 10 metres from the window sill in the living room where it normally resides. The pot being half way between the window and the plant and the soil lying in a nice straight line between window and the plant, drawing a 2 lane highway over our living room/kitchen floor.

Creepy!

I would have taken a picture of ths carnage before I tidied up, but Mrs Longship is in Copenhagen with the Camera.

Haugtuft, from the air.

My Father in law is the sort of man that will not use new things for fear of ruining them and prefers to wear old stuff out first. This always causes a problem regarding choosing birthday presents and his 80th birthday was no different.


The decision was taken to give him something that he had to use/experience and what better than a sightseeing tour in a light aircraft. My boss, who has his own aerobatic aircraft and also has access to Tønsberg Flight clubs 2Cessnaa 172's, very kindlyagreedd to be our pilot.


We took off into a deal ofturbulencee on a bright sunny Saturday morning. Our one hour trip took us over Haugtuft, my in-laws chalet and onward towards Drøbak. On the return journey I took the controls, handing back over shortly before a quick touch and go followed by a textbook, one wheeled, cross wind landing.

The Others

As you will know from my earlier post about Lego David Blaine, I have been following the progress of LDB amazing stunt, "28 Days in a Fish Tank"

Day 25 featured a competition to spot all ten of "The Others" in the fish tank. This, I did, and quite to my surprise I was among the first 5 correct entries recieved. So, I am now waiting with great anticipation the delivery of my very own, Limited Edition LDB Badge.

Those of you who would like to know more about this enagmatic little man can watch "LDB, The movie" here, on quicktime, or if that doesn't work, here.

Day 17 included a visit of "The Flying Satans", performing their excellent hit song, "Magical Man"

Excellent stuff, amusment for young and old.

The Duckling, A very short story

Sadly, the little wild duckling, deprived of it's mum by a cat, which was the contents of the box in the previous post, didn't last so long.

We did what we could but as is so often the way with wild rescue birds but it wasn't enough.

What's in the Box?

My wife's just arrived home with this shoe box which has holes punched in the lid.

This can only mean one thing....... Still, it's been a while since the last time.

Lazy Beds

Playing blog catch up as normal, now reporting an activity 1 week ago.

Saturday of last weekend we took a trip to the nearest large garden centre and bought our set Potatoes, as follows.

Juni, Early, 8 Kg
Berber, early Main, 4.2 Kg
Laila, Main, 6 Kg (The same spuds as last year)

After reading all about Lazy beds in an edition of the excellent Kitchen Garden Magazine, it was decided that we would give this technique a go.

The procedure went roughly as follows,

1: Spread the cow muck, delivered by the young lad in the photo(no not me), into the required rows.

2: Place set potatoes on cow muck.



3: "Fold over" turf/soil on top of potatoes, ensuring most grass/weeds are face down into the cow muck

4: Admire the result of 3 hard hours work and check every day for signs of progress.....

Out of Date Seeds

Along with onions and peas, during our first days work out in the kitchen garden (now a couple of weeks ago), we sowed a good variety of Veg, Herbs, and even some flowers.

Being the hoarder that I am, my substantial collection of seed packets included a fair number of packets past the "sow by" date. The rash decision was taken that these should be used up regardless of how dense the subsequent seedlings may end up.

As much for my own records as your interest, below is a list of the seeds sown, with producer and sell by date (unless otherwise specified). I will endeavour to keep track of thess and publish a detailed germination success/rate report in the near future.

Flowers:

Aster, Suttons, 1/2004
Wild Flower mix, 6/2005

Herbs:

Parsley(Envy), Suttons, 6/2004
Tarragon(Russian), Jahnsons, Dec 2001

Veg:

Courgette(F1 Hybrid), Marshalls, 2005
Leek (Musselburgh), Mr. Fothergills, Packed Aug 1999

Sprouts (Not Brussells!!!):
Mung Beans, Mr. Fothergills, 2002
Alfalfa, Suttons, 6/2002



Other, in date, sowings, included Basil, Coriander, radish, beetroot, spinach, fennel, carrots and turnips.

On a slightly later date, we also made indoor sowings of many different types of peppers, tomatoes and such forth. I will do my utmost to update you on these after "pricking out"!!!

Found, Lost and Found (Again)

I can't make head nor tail of this

I had not been able to find my LandRover Zippo lighter for a good while before now, when it caught my eye lying in the gravel beside the back steps inside the carport as I parked up the bicycle

This is not the first time that this has happened. I first came into possession of this treasure when I found it whilst searching for good skimming stones on the little shingle beach near the hut on the back side of Loweswater lake in Cumbria. This is a place that a good number of my readers are familiar with and it's quite possible that some of you where with us that day. It must be a good few years ago, and my memory is terrible. Maybe it was AJ (AKA Thoughtful Scotsman) and family, friends of Mrs VL visiting from Liverpool, Geoffers, Doc M...... If any of you were there and you remember the occasion please leave a comment to refresh my memory

The last(first?) time I remember actively searching for(and not finding) my Zippo was before "The Lads" trip to the Swedish rally in early February. Judging by the state of it it's been out in the weather for a good while. How it could have been lying in a place that is right beside our normal way in and out the house without being noticed for the best part of 4 months I can not imagine. Maybe Mrs VL has an explanation.

I will start a full photographic restoration, a la Haynes manual, as soon as Mrs VL arrives back with the camera. I hope we've got a good quantity of Brasso to hand.

News Dog

In the lack of any willing customers, Peggy, during a day out at the vet clinic was accosted by Sandefjords local Journalist as part of an article highlighting the problems with Ticks during the summer months on cats and dogs and options for treatment/prevention.

Read the article here. I believe that a closer look at the picture shows that both animals are a little more uptight about the presence of each other than the threat of picking up ticks out in the Norwegian forests.

First Sowings

Spring is finally in full swing. The sun has shone for a couple of weeks now, prompting us, beginning last Sunday (7th May), into a flurry of activity in the garden.

Onion Bed

This year sees us continuing our soil improvement plans and reclaiming land in keeping with our long term Terraced fruit and vegtable garden plans, which will rise up from both sides of the little farm road that runs down to the field. Last year, we were very lucky to come to an agreement with the real farmer that he would use our large pile of rubble as part of the fondation of his new tractor road and replace this with the soil he dug out of the road. Giving us a great mechanically assisted step forward and removing a load of back braking work for us.

The final layout and allocation of land for soft fruit, vegatable beds and fruit trees/orchard is not decided yet. Fruit trees and bushes will have to wait another year for both readiness and financial reasons. So this year we will use as much of this area as possible for "bulk" vegetables in an attmept to keep the area weed free and blend in the copious amounts of manure that the real farmer added for us whilst filling up with soil.

After a couple hours of hard digging, stone picking and manure spreading we had an area 6m x 1.5m prepared. In here we planted 1/2 a kilo of Sturon onion sets and a row of sugar snap peas. We also prepared an area 1x1m for a 4x4 square of Marshalls Metoer Vroma Broad beans.

Futher plans for this area later in the spring/summer, include french beans, leeks, courgettes/marrows, butternut squash and sweetcorn.

Photos to follow.

Lego David Blaine

I can't imagine why but "Lego David Blaines" Amazing "28 Days in a fish tank" stunt has caught my attention much more than anything "Real David Blaine" has ever done.

Follow all the action live here..... www.legodavidblaine.co.uk

Brilliant!!!!

Show Cats

I guess it's about time that I blogged about our feline escapades again.

The whole tribe (excluding Anitra, who, quite understandable, continues to have nothing to do with the whole traveling and showing lark) set off for Smaalene Katteklubb's Show in Skiptvet on the other side of Oslofjord in the early hours of Saturday morning. In total we were 3 humans and 4 felines.

So that's Vegas, our fine stud boy, who's aversion to cat shows is significantly more manageable than Anitra's, Asia as a "Company Cat" for Vegas to keep him a little more relaxed, Skiddaw with her new foster mum (more on that later) and Little Amazing Incident, our very special AI'd boy.


So I'll start with Vegas and Asia. As hoped, they were quiet and relaxed during the journey. Vetting in for Vegas was the normal fight, which prompted the poor Vet to ask if the others where relations of his..... Aware that Vegas had a full bladder and has a tendency to spray the second he is introduced to a new environment he was put in the bare cage, before decoration with only his litter tray. As assumed he proceeded to empty his bladder up the back and roof of the cage..... Nice.. So, we took cat out of cage, cleaned up, installed curtains, blankets and decorations and put the cat back in the cage. Vegas, being the clever lad he is promptly emptied the other half of his bladder straight up the curtains...... Great...... After that, it was the "company cats" turn. As normal, Asia caused the most amount of destruction possible in a short space of time. Their litter tray was emptied, food was spread all over the cage, water on their blanket and so on.

Vegas was the first up to be judged. He was well enough behaved for the judge to award him the certificate we had hoped for but badly enough behaved not to progress any further. The final, and slightly amusing part of the story involves Vegas's amorous tendency towards Asia (even though she was not in season). She was moved in with Amazing, but not before a small crowd had gathered to watch him "trying it on". Oh how embarrassing...... Must remember not to take a "company cat" in future.

Skiddaw, who we have decided to keep in our breeding program, has been fostered by one of the nurses at the Vet Clinic where Mrs VL works. This arrangement means that Skiddaw now lives and is looked after by her new mum but we organise matings and she will come to us a few weeks before she is due and stay with us until the kittens are weaned. When we she has had a few litters ownership will be transferred to her foster mum. Thus have we an extra breeding cat without the chaos and someone, who fell in love with the breed first time she saw one of our cats, gets to own a cat that they couldn't afford to buy.


On Saturday, Skiddaw was a little unhappy and vocal to begin with, but settled down and was exemplary with the judge. Much to our surprise, she won her class ahead of her sister, Scafell Pike, who was being shown by her new owner/breeder. This was great for us, but a little daft as Scafell really needed the win as part of her plans to qualify for the Scandinavian winners show, which we probably can't attend with our cats.

Little Amazing, much to our surprise, was an example for them all. He was relaxed for the whole day. Not a peep in the car and not a grumble in the cage (apart from when he ended up with Asia shoved in with him...) Despite his independent tendencies, he was perfect with the judge, even taking it upon himself to play with her pen whilst she attempted to write notes about him. Despite being "A promising young man" he was placed second, behind a cat a couple of months older, oh well, maybe next time.

All in all, a good day out.