Sorry ...

It's been a while since I posted on here but now I'm back. Have been very busy as some of you already know but back to a bit of stability at last again ..

I will catch up some more in a day or two, until then I hope you all had a great Xmas and here's hoping to all of you out there that the new year brings you good fortune

timmy

Moustache Season

Ok I need sponsors for my charity moustache growing attempt, my previous moustaches were dire but its all in aid of prostrate cancer so I need small donations to my Mo Space page, here is a copy of my moustache sponsor begging letter

Donations can be made here however small (just like my moustache lol)

  http://mobro.co/timmygadget

Hi, 

It’s Movember, the month formerly known as November, now dedicated to growing moustaches and raising awareness and funds for men’s health; specifically prostate cancer. I’m donating my top lip to the cause for 30 days in an effort to help change the face of men’s health. My Mo will spark conversations, and no doubt generate some laughs; all in the name of raising vital awareness and funds for cancer’s affecting men.

Why am I concerned about men’s health?
*1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime
*This year more than 2,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed
*1 in 3 men will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime
*In Ireland only 26% of men go to their GPs for regular check ups

I invite you to join me by registering to grow or by donating to my growth http://www.movember.com/m/1563792
You can even go old school and write a cheque payable to “Irish Cancer Society Movember”, reference my name and Registration Number 1563792 and send it to: Movember, Irish Cancer Society, 43-45 Northumerland Road, Dublin 4, Ireland

We only have a month to grow Mos and raise awareness and fund, so please come along for the ride.

Funds raised will help make a tangible difference to the lives of others. Through the Movember Foundation and our men’s health partners, Action Prostate Cancer, an initiative of the Irish Cancer Society, Movember is funding world class awareness, research, educational and support programs which would otherwise not be possible. 

For more details on how the funds raised from previous campaigns have been used and the impact Movember is having please click on the links below:
About Movember 
Action Prostate Cancer 
Global Action Plan 

Thank you in advance for helping me change the face of men's health. 

Tim Norris

A New Gardening Era

Well first of all apologies for my absence since I last posted, it was a mixture of Timmy laziness and also the fact that not much has been happening here. This is a quick post to let everyone know about the start of our new veggie patch that our friend Martin has let us use, Martin is the father of our daughters boyfriend. He has given us access to a patch of ground about 50 square metres in size which is much more than my measly attempt of calculating how big it was the last time we looked at it. I spent the evening making the first bed, which just needed digging over and the removal of some stones, it's nice soil too and we put in half a bed of onion sets for the winter. I have a trailer full of manure arriving later this week too. Any tips from fellow gardeners out there would be appreciated immensely as we are just beginners at this. We are finding this really enjoyable and can't wait for next spring when the new season starts but I think the onions will do for now. Ok must go, dinner is awaiting me so I may scrub out the gardening muck from underneath my newly acquired green fingernails - timmy

Autumn

Autumn is here, the change wasn't really too noticeable in Ireland because we seem to get mild wet winters and mild wet summers with the odd exception of freezing minus 15 temperatures for short spells over the last two winters. Today is stormy, with winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour as the remnants of Hurricane Katia sweep just north of our position, Northern Ireland and the Central Lowlands of Scotland are getting a bit more of a battering than ourselves it seems. Myself and Angela brought in our garden furniture yesterday along with our potted plants that were outside but no major damage seems to be done except for the odd wheelie bin or broken branch or two flying down the roads.

Hurricane Katia as it whizzes past us (although its now only a tropical storm)

The garden is winding down, we are collecting as many seeds as we can from our plants before they die off, buying them in the garden centres are not exactly cheap these days. We have cabbage, broccoli, carrots and Christmas seed potatoes on the go at the moment and later this week we are sowing some onions which will be ready for next year. 

In an earlier post I mentioned that we were limited for space to do much in our garden, so we have been looking to expand our endeavours. In Ireland there is not really a big culture of allotments as there is in England though we did go to an old ladies house who offered us a veggie plot to grow our own stuff then a few days later she changed her mind and decided against it, shame really as it was perfect, huge greenhouse, raised beds and huge composter bins etc. So we decided to ask a friend about some spare space in their huge garden and its looking good for us to have a nice plot about 25 metres square or more for next year, a bit of work needs to be put into it for sure but it will only cost us a small portion of what we grow in exchange for using a bit of ground that is going to waste. Updates to follow. timmy ...

Back to School

Ah well so much for the summer school holidays, but luckily enough Erin loves school and usually can't wait to be back, here she is getting ready to head off on the first day back, 4th class in primary school here we come ...

Potatoes Pt. 2

Ok so they are now planted, great adventure this is for us as we have never planted potatoes before.

1. We left the seed potatoes out in a cool light place for a few days for the shoots to appear, the instructions said about 1 inch long would be fine.
2. The next step was to fill our little grow bags with 4 inches of compost and then dampen down the soil with the watering can.
3. Place 3 seed potatoes in each grown bag with the shoots facing upward.
4. Next fill the the grow bag up to the 8 inch level covering the potatoes.
5. Water the grow bag daily but be careful not to waterlog the soil.
6. Wait for the green shoots to arrive above the soil, then when the plant reaches 10 inches above the soil keep topping up the soil a little at a time until soil reaches the top of the grow bag.
7. If frost is forecast bring the bags somewhere frost free for the duration.
8. The potatoes should be ready to harvest sometime in December. :-)

We also went into our front garden and dug up 2 little trees that our previous occupants planted and Angela is making plans to put a few flower beds.

More to follow …

Potatoes

We are going to try and grow our own potatoes for the very first time. We have some potato grow sacks that we can put the seed potatoes in and they should be ready for December touch wood. We are loving this gardening business and can't wait to sample our own produce. I have also been following my cousin Vicki's allotment exploits over in London and taking notes for future reference. Good luck with your veggies Vicki :)

No space, small garden, meh ..

We are not blessed with a large garden, and it’s made worse because of the fact that three quarters of the yard is wooden decking or paving stones, then there’s a postage stamp sized lawn leaving us just a narrow border on half of two sides of the garden to plant a few bits and pieces, but we have learned and adapted to fit it to our needs …

We got a little help from our Aunt Ailsa who stayed with us for a week this summer, she taught us so much which wasn't hard because we were clueless in the extreme. Here’s a pictorial update …

Firstly we were advised to start composting to save money and obviously be greener so we invested in this little beastie

Also we bought some canvas raised beds to make more space than we had already, winter cabbage here with lots of slug repellent …

Carrots (eventually) on the left and broccoli on the right …

We used plant pots as much as we could too, this is a bell pepper that was dying and we managed to bring back to life

A miniature greenhouse that fitted onto our decking, (which needs painting by the way), our tomatoes are housed in here

 

Not forgetting the wildlife, here’s a little bird table our friend Tommy made for us, we recycled the sunflower heads as food for the birds

And here is our worn out decking and the view from the back door

We are getting there slowly and are looking forward to developing our little space into somewhere that we will treasure :)

Tramore

We had a day out to the beach in Tramore yesterday. Angela, Erin and myself took a chance on a good weather forecast for the south coast on the Met Eireann website and promptly organised a day trip out. Years ago to get to Tramore it involved going along small twisty congested roads and getting stuck behind many a tractor with no place to overtake but no longer, we have a brand spanking new motorway (M9) and the journey was a joy to behold.

We sat on the beach in the sunshine eating beautiful fish and chips, Erin and Angela waded deep into the water which was surprisingly warm. Myself and Erin had a great kick around of Footy on the hard sand.

Great day out :)

Tiger Moth

Found this Garden Tiger moth on Ken's front doorstep today, never seen one before

Keith & Keith …

Keith Booth, Timmy's Uncle from New Zealand meets his great nephew and our son Keith Norris for the first time …

(Click the picture to see full size)

Erin on the Dolmen Stone

We also visited the Dolmen Stone in Carlow which is a 5000 year old Neolithic tomb and Erin decided to do a bit of mountaineering ...

Erin on the stone, the top stone is about 150 tons

Erin is dwarfed by the huge stone and 

is not too keen on heights ...

Clancy's Bar Traditional Irish music night

The inevitable sampling of the black stuff mixed with a bit of the diddly da fiddle music turned into a great night out :)

Diddly da heaven

My brother Ken

The boys, Ken, Keith & Timmy

Angela & Keith

Ailsa & Angela

Vicarstown

Vicarstown is a remote village in Co. Laois, it's more accessible by canal barges than it is by road, so we took a day out exploring, we managed to get about 30 minutes of photographs and exploring all the boats before the heavens poured down yet again ...

Erin

Angela

Ailsa

Exploring the boats

Keith's hair is so white it blends in with the skyline

The Grand Canal

Keith & Ailsa on Vicarstown bridge

Erin

The Wet and Windy Wicklow Mountains

This was our first outing, myself, Angela, Erin, Aisling, Keith and Ailsa decided to take ourselves up to the mountains, as we rose higher it decided to get wetter and wetter so first of all we went to the local hotel and got a good feed, then we ventured out into the 800 year old monestary ruins and it rained and rained and we got soaked to the skin and left for home after about 20 minutes, oh dear not a good start :)