Year: 2019

October 26, 2019
This has been a disastrous year for me in the garden; the worst I have had since I took up gardening.

A mixture of illness and bad weather meant that I essentially abandoned the garden for most of the year, and by the time I felt like doing something, it was completely out of control. The gravel that my veg troughs stand on was ankle deep in weeds, which also crossed the patio, the troughs themselves were full of weeds. I got depressed just looking at it, which meant I didn’t really have a plan to fix it.

September 2, 2019
My pair of ancient sofas came with a stool – actually more a large padded bench, big enough for at least 2 backsides.

It usually lives in the middle of the room as a footrest and place to put a tray of tea things. Then it gets moved to the side as a convenient seat if I have bags of people round for gaming.

August 21, 2019
On Monday, I had a dog door fitted. Katie seems not to have experienced one before, and wouldn’t go near it. Then I found that if I wedged it open, she would happily go through. I figured that I’d let her get used to an exit being there, and later teach her how to open it herself.

Over the last three days, she has been running in and out of the open door, but still ignoring it when closed.

August 20, 2019
I crate Katie at night. Unlike some, I don’t think it is particularly cruel. She seems happy enough when put to bed, and doesn’t seem at all anxious when I let her out in the morning. She can be destructive when left alone and as she was already 5 when she came to me, I don’t think that will change much. So I crate her – I don’t trust the lounge would be recognisable in the morning otherwise.

But there is another side of this.

August 18, 2019
August 18, 2019
I’m a bit of a worrier. So whenever I used to foster a dog, knowing that chocolate is toxic to dogs, I more or less didn’t buy chocolate for the entire time of the foster.

I know that this is over the top, but worrying about dropping a chocolate having the dog gobble it up, or otherwise letting the dog consume it, it was easier to simply not have it around.

August 14, 2019
To my surprise, in Windows 10, there is no control for the scroll bar width (at least not that I can find). In Windows 7, it was directly controlled by one of the Advanced screens in the control panel. I would have thought it would be a prime contender for an entry in Windows 10’s Ease of Access controls, but no.

July 29, 2019
July 16, 2019
The Show 5 is wedge-shaped, like the Show, with a screen about he size of the average mobile phone. The screen is nice and bright, with a good resolution. The sound is quite wonderful, far better than the similarly sized Spot. One feature I like a lot is a physical switch in the case, which covers the camera. This is quite appropriate, as I can see this being an excellent bedside device.

June 28, 2019
May 22, 2019