Ripples of love

It was a dark and foggy night and Raymondo Cat stalked purposely down the path on a secret mission known only to him.  My heart was crying don't go it is too dark, its a dangerous world out there but I let him go he is an outdoor cat.

I have been stalking Raymondo during the past six weeks because he suddenly became very seriously ill.  He wasn't eating had a dangerously high temperature and possible a mass in his stomach  I prepared myself to loose him but then a treatment was found and he started eating first  a teaspoon of food became a tablespoonful, then a half bowl full then a bowl twice a day Now he is putting on weight again and is strutting his Tom cat walk as if nothing has happened.  He wakes me at five thirty each morning after prowling his territory.  He calls  for fish as he come up the stairs.  I make him wait until after 6.00.  He purrs in my ear to keep me aware of his presence.  Then I go downstairs to cook his fish He eat,stays to relax and purr contently before he is off  again climbing the six foot trellis  into the world of cats, mice and nature.  

Nearly loosing him has made him more precious than ever and has sharpen my awareness of how each moment should be cherished.  Caring for Ray has rippled out into paying attention to all those in my life and increased  awareness of natural world.   Frank Lloyd  Wright wrote, 

"I  believe in God only I spell it Nature." 

My love of nature and life helps me see the Buddha nature in all living beings.

I am grateful for the blessings in my life.

With Reiki blessings to you all

Merryb

Goliath but not David

This is a Story about a Global Goliath  - British Telecom and  me a customer 

Once upon a time ....

I  had a fault on the BT server since  30th July 2012 .  I upgrade from infinity 1 to 2 fibre optic Broadband.  Since then my connection has broken down two or three times a week. I have been battling to get this fault fixed and have encountered  the worst customer service ever.  

 I phoned the Technical help desk countless times and after a waiting 20 to 30 minutes  I have explained my the problem that yet again the remote host has disappeared for hours or sometimes 30 forty minutes.  My purpose is to report the breakdown in connection so that engineers in Portsmouth can discern a the pattern and work out a solution.  Simple - OH NO - the staff have a formula which they worked to:

"Is the computer switched on. "

Have you got your computer/router plugged in.....

Can you check your leads are in.............

They have talked over me I assumed that as I was phoning about the same fault it would be logged under one fault number.

As the disconnection seems to right itself eventually sometimes  when  it did I would report this to the technician some didn't listen and carried on, but the more canny ones did a quick speed test and I am sure reported they had fixed the fault.

Then BTCare on Twitter picked up my tweets to friends and galloped in to rescue me.  That proved difficult as they wanted the fault number as they did not recognise the reference I hd given.  I called a BT Operator she confirmed the fault number was right and as an aside commented.

"you have have had a lot of faults"

No one I cried, One persistent intermittent fault on the BT server which rights itself for a while and then the remote host disappears again.

I felt like the guy in Stevie Smiths  poem  Not waving but drowning

Drowning was how I felt, but hey BTCare were going to rescue me and sort the problem it was OK.

Oh sigh they did not.

As BTCare did not recognise the fault number  I filled in a Twitter form.  They told me they would "sort i and get back to me soont".  Did they heck no.  First there was the email that did not arrive in my email inbox a delay of 48 hours before my cries to BTCare "how long is soon" were answered. This was followed by an email stating..

"Your system has been working perfectly for ten days"

On the 23rd and 26th of August my broadband connection had disappeared for at least couple of hours.  On the 26th I had  a text message that a close family friend who was in a hospice had arranged a web conference call to speak to all of us.  I had no connection to the Internet so I could not log in and hear him talk to us and I could not speak to him. He died two days later. 

I felt helpless and hopeless.

I wanted to leave BT - enough was a enough.  I arranged to move to Plusnet which is a independent Company based in Yorkshire.  But I cannot move because I am locked in to a contract with BT until January 31st 2014.

 BTCare  eventually  did admit they could see the disconnections by the server on their system on the dates I gave. Since then I  have continued reporting faults. 

Next I was asked for a screen shot of my  BT Yahoo mail page which I sent.  60 hours later I got an email from a Technican

Thank you for your email dated 10th of April 2009 and he proceeded to give me a lesson in computer basics

I sent that email to Sir Michael Rake Chairman and he replied.

" I will have this looked into for you today as that email sent to you was not right as you know"

it seemed that rescue was at hand.

Then I got a text message from no company name, no person's name, number withheld,


"Thanks for telling us about your complaint we will get back to you in the next 10 days."

It was then I realised that I was no David all my shots at getting a solution had failed and I was in fact drowning.

This battle with British Telecom has left me feeling so gloomy I need to stop hoping for rescue and just give up.

Mind you I email Sir Michael Rake the contents of the text message!

PS. I came in this evening and found a very strophe email from Dave at  BTCare  in which he threw all his toys out of the pram.  I threw them back in for him

Then I found out he was the guy who was going to decide if I could cancel my contract without paying a cancellation fee - hands up I give up 

PS Hazel Tree story Tellers want me to write this account as a modern fairy tale,  Watch this space.

Update Perhaps I am a David BT withdrew the contract with no charge and also sent me a cheque in compensation. 24/11/12

With Reiki blessing to all

MerryB

Picture Google Giff

Hedgehog Way - creating a wild life habitat

On a hot humid morning I set about cutting back the brambles  on the knoll which will become a wild life garden.  The brambles were tough but even tougher was an overgrown shrub which had expanded eight or nine feet along the edge of the area. My friend Jenny from the Community Plot came along to help and another volunteer Andy willingly lent a hand.

Jenny was very excited by the idea of making the area into a haven for bees, beetles, slow worms, lizards and hedgehogs. Two children became involved as well as. Tracy is our tree expert.  Carry and Nina from two of the  neighbouring plots have expressed an interest in helping..

.  

There is distinct path made by animals through the grass in the middle is made by foxes, cats and hedgehog which is how we came up with the name  Hedgehog Way.  We all have had input into what we will grow, make and provide.

The first idea was for stumpery.  These  structures are drawn from the Victorian era and when gardeners want to create a romantic sense of nature.  It could become  a sculpture if we are able to get some interesting tree stumps.  Ours however  might be more of a log pile but we intend to drill holes in some of the logs to encourage, ladybirds to over winter as well as other invertebrates.  This holes will also encourage the leaf cutter bee.  Piles of dead wood can-be home to a vole or a nest site for a wren or robin.  Hopefully a hedgehog might find shelter there for the winter. We have to be careful it does not become a hunting ground for the cats that come into the allotment site!

Before we begin to build a stumpery we need to clear under the mulberry tree.  We will prune it in the winter  to make it healthier as it has become overgrown and is not fruiting as well as it did, it is about twelve years old.  Every Spring a Robin claims his territory from its branches. The Kestrel is also seen  frequently perched on the top branches searching for prey.

The long grassy area we will not clear for another couple of weeks as there is a bumble bee nest there and  the new bumble bee queens and males are still leaving the nest. These queens will not generally mate with males from there own nest.  To mate the female has to draw their sting back and so can prevent related males from mating with them.  The  chosen  male will leave a plug of  sperm in the queen, which  will  fertilised the new broods in the spring. The workers die once the queens leave the nest. I have noticed that some nests' workers are smaller than usual because of poor nutrition caused by the appalling weather during the past four months..

The worker bumble bees in my cold frame were normals size because they were surrounded by borage and wild flowers.. The flowers and shrubs which we will plant on the knoll  we are will help all the bees including the honey bees.  Honey bees have had a poor summer and some may have, or are,starving to death.   Hopefully the change in weather in August will save many of them..  My plot is busy with honey bees feasting on the bee flowers and other flowers I grow.  I am very happy to help these lovely creatures and to help them make the honey we enjoy. Next year on Hedgehog Way we will  provide another source of life support for them if they need it.

Many of the plants we put in will be designed to attract butterflies and provide shelter and food for their caterpillars.  The plants will also flourish on poor soil and not need to be given fertiliser.  Any soil we add will be organic compost from our bins.  We have one plastic compost bin  given to us already.  Which will be a safe place for slow warms to hibernate this winter.  the children want to paint it wthl  images of slow worms, and write information about these legless lizard.    

Everyone wanted a pond and as the Community Allotments have created a beautiful pond on one of their plots  they will be helping and guiding us to build one the knoll, which will be safe for animals and children.  I have been reading-about rain gardens.  Hopefully we will be able to get a water butt so we can fill the pond with rain water which will avoid the build up phosphates and nitrates in the pond which feed alga and bind weed..   Rain gardens seem a good idea after this years when after six months drought and hose pipe bans was followed by the parch ground being deluged with rain day after day and turning the soil into a bog.  I am interested in to looking more closely at this idea and may buy the book by Nigel Dunnett & Andy Claydein from Timber press but as it is £25 I might get it from the library.

We are also keen to build hedgehog and insects shelters with green roofs.  I have decided that  I will also build a green roof shelter for Pops by my shed to give her a place to be out of the sun and torrential rain.  Green roofs look lovely and are good at attracting wildlife and soak up some of the rain water.  They can withstand drought returning to life after rain fall. .

We have barely started clearing the knoll so once that is done we can sit down to plan the needs of our wild life, slow worms, lizards, hedgehogs, birds and all the variety of wild life found on a allotment site. We hopefully the enthusiasm of the group will continue and we can build a safe haven on Hedgehog Way and a place for children and adults to learn, to enjoy and value wild life here on the allotments and to create their own wild life area.  It would be wonderful if everyone looked to safequard  the wild life when they are working on their plots especially when using strimmers!  

With Reiki blessing to you,

and to all living creatures 

MerryB

Red Mist and Reiki Rescue

Last Wednesday was a lovely summers day.  I was working on my plot tidying cutting grass, thinking and reflecting and singing to my lovely dog Pops.  I was working near the gap leading to  a disabled wheelchair path, I heard. Jeanette,"the self styled Inspector" of the allotments, talking on her blackberry to the Allotment Officer  saying


 "it needs to be strimmed right down"


As she was standing on the disable path I knew she meant the area of grass area  which had once been planted with irises, day lilies, and other shrubs which had become overgrown the grass edges to the path and also my willows which border the path.  they do not hang over the path but they bend with the wind.  Jeanette  then came onto my plot and never said a word to me.  She hinted that she would like a cup of tea but  a red mist had enveloped me. 

Hedgehog caught by a strimmer
wild life aid.org

 I felt sure the contractors would carelessly slash down the down the edges of the path and the wild area without regard for what was living there. I have hedgehogs coming to my plot, they are on red alert in on the endangered species list. Strimmers, garden chemicals and farm machinery are the cause of  many deaths of these iconic animals..  Only last year I found a hedgehog sliced across by a strimmer it died horribly before I could get to the vets.  Also on my plot and the plots nearby  are slow worms and  lizards, all of which  are easily killed by strimmers.  On the waste ground is a bumble bee nest from which the new queens have not yet flown. Lizards bask in the sun on the waste ground  and  along the path when it is quiet. 


I grow willows whips which I coppice in late autumn and use as  bean sticks, weave into garden baskets, make into living chairs.  .   I was so angry  and fed up.  How could I let  this lady generates  such negative feelings in me?  I cut down more of my willows to keep them well back from the path and made sure my achilleas were tied back as far as I could get them.  Then I went and sat down with pops and sent Reiki to the situation, I felt calmer and gathered my stuff and went-wandering home with Pops.


When I opened my door without thinking I went to the phone and  called the Council and asked to speak to the Allotment Officer, David.   He was not in but I spoke another officer in the Parks Department. I  told her the wild life that was on my plot,  the area alongside the disable path and living on the waste ground.   I volunteered to cut the path and clear the waste ground  and  make it a wild life haven.  


Next morning I got a phone call  From David to say the contractors have been cancelled and he was looking forward to seeing what I could do with the waste ground.  I was delighted and Friday I started cutting back the path.  The women with a plot oppositee asked what I was doing and they and they were keen to be involved in creating a wild life haven and offered to cut back the last section of the path - it was hard work so I agreed  very willingly  to hand over the shears to them.


The contractors arrived to do other work on the Allotments shortly after but had no instructions to clear the areas I was concerned about.   I was sitting  with  Brian's on his plot when who should come down the disable path  but Jeanette!   She was checking if the contractors had cut the path.  At that time there was still a section to be cut back.   Brian and I nodded in her direction but she had her inspection hat on.and ignored us as she was busy talking on her blackberry. 


The red mist had gone and I was able to look at her with calm.  On Sunday she came down the path along side my plot and stuck her head out of the gap onto the disabled path and looked up and down. 


"Oh the the contractors have been back".


"No" I said


We did it.   David gave me permission to cut it back by hand and clear the waste ground to create a haven for wild life.  


It was quite a windy day and my willows whips fluttered forward and softly flicked her face. 


 "these should be cut back."


 she said as she stalked through the gap and away.


I said nothing. 


There are now five of us volunteering to cut back the path and make a wild life haven.

With Reiki blessings to us all

and to all living creatures

MerryB

more information about hedgehogs can be found in my post here:
http://reikidruidsramblings.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/red-alert-no-more-hedgehogs.html

If you want to see the damage strimmers do put hedgehog strimmers in an image search
 See  http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/

Bees, Butterflies, Sunshine

On Monday after a lovely time spent at my allotment I came home and made a cup of and went into my into my front room to see the setting sun in the west lighting my room with a  rich golden light.  It caught my sun catcher and shards and shafts of light were shimmering round the room.  The moment was magical and I was grateful for the sun after so many dull grey weeks.

Earlier at my plot the borage growing round the strawberry bed had been alive with bees busy foraging, there  were bumble bees, honey bee, leaf cutter bees, hoverflies and here and there were butterflies  In a brief span of time I saw three small tortoiseshell butterflies emerging in the bright sunlight.  It was months since I had seen  so many butterflies as the warm sunny weather this week brought them out from the shelter of their cocoons.

Tortoiseshell butterflies were once a common sight in gardens and the country side, but  because of the cold dry weather in 2011 and the cold wet months of April, June and July in  this year they have been badly affected and are in decline as are so many other butterflies.  Giving space to a wild flower  meadow had created a wild life haven were  a dozen or more butterflies flew and danced over my plot stopping on the blue hyssop flowers, then onto the red clover before resting on the yellow daisies growing from the bee seed mix I had scattered amongst my fruit tree.

I love days like this with the peace and serenity of working on my plot on a lovely Summer's day and then coming home to a sun filled room.  The final end to a perfect day was to see the new moon rising as I walk with Pops in streets lit by a moonlight and the  rays of the setting sun. 

With Reiki blessings

MerryB

Blight

When I was leaving the allotments on Monday there were whispered warnings that blight was about.  I was told to go straight back and cut the tops of all my potatoes,


"No "I said


"Oh foolishness!"

was the reply but I slipped round the blockade and escaped.  I had been digging, weeding and hoeing for three hours and still had to walk home with Pops my dog. 

I always go via  St James Green to give her a run before she bounds home and I trudged in her wake.  I wondered if I had been "foolish but" regardless continued my journey homewards. 


My plan with my potato crop was to plant early Duke of York, mid season Picasso  and main crop Rooster.  The Duke of York I  dug last week, in August the Picasso would be ready.  Finally the Rooster could be harvested September October time.  Hmm if any of the crop got blight the potatoes would rot in the ground and contaminate the ground with the disease. 



On Tuesday I dug up the Picaso a really good yield from one kilo of seed potatoes and lots of big tubers perfect for Jacket Potatoes.  Should I also dig up the roosters.  My heart sank I already had more Potatoes than I knew what to do with?  Oh sigh!  I looked at the roosters some of the leaves where brown was that wind burn or blight?  I decided I would dig them up next visit and store them  and dig over the bed and edge it ready for the winter crops.


Were the wise old timer plot holders right to panic about potatoes blight?  Yes It can wipe out the plants overnight and, worse still, it can infect the tubers causing them to rot in storage. In a sack it will travel from potato to potato ruining the lot.


During  the past week the conditions were perfect for the potatoes fungus Phytopthora Infestans, It has been warm, wet and humid.   Tuesday the humidity was 90%  the spores spread through the air  and the spores have had a "Smith period"   more 48 hours of perfect weather for them to spread from one end of the allotments to the other helped by strong winds.


I may go down to my plot on Friday and find that the main crop potatoes now have blight and are rotting in the ground.  hopefully they will still be OK, or was I foolish to leave them?


The commercial grows are already struggling with waterlogged soil and now we have Smith Occurences of 10 degrees centigrade and high humidity of over 90% not just for 48 hours but day on day. Potato blight is one of the worst disease problems for the potato growers.


I should be grateful for the my harvest of potatoes and not whining about the  my spoilt potato harvest plan.  I did enjoy a lovely jacket potato last night and today I am going to make leek and potato soup, potato and celery soup, potato and onion soup..........

With Reiki blessings

MerryB

Nature's healing

 

My allotment is my haven and a retreat but  during the last week

 I felt very apprehensive about going to my plot

The police have been making a forensic search of some of the allotments, because Dave, a friend from the allotments, may have committed a horrendous murder.  On Wednesday, although I did not know if the police had finished their work or not, and despite the weather forecast being bad I felt I needed to go to my plot

Pops and I set off on Wednesday in bright sun shine and we pottered down the lanes and allies to the allotments. but as we walked along still in bright sunshine to the north black rain clouds were gathering and then a thunder storm broke streets away from where we were walking. It was so close the forked lightening was followed simultaneously with loud thunder bolt which struck a house just on my right, while we were still walking in sunshine..

I entered the Hope Cottage gate to the allotments, Pete gave me a cheery greeting as we passed his plot but the other allotments seemed empty, Pops, on the lead as always, was following the scent of a fox as we walked along. She kept trying to veer off the path to track the foxes. I think Pops thinks I have rubber arms and only remembers I have the other end of the lead when her tracking is stopped by me refusing to be hauled through a blackberry thicket.

Eventually we got to the plot and was greeted by Lindsey and Jenny from the community plot.. Lindsey was surprised that I had come down as the forecast was for heavy rain. As he spoke it began to rain. I opened my shed and made a dash to fill the kettle before the rain became torrential. Pops is very reluctant to go into my shed as she was tied up in one as a puppy, but eventually she came in, fear overcome her dislike  of drenching rain!  She settled down and ate my lunch while I drank tea.

When the rain stopped we emerged and I looked round my plot. Although my grass had been cut short only two weeks ago it had grown a foot high the whole plot resembled a wildflower meadow full of pot marigolds, achillia, cransbills, cornflowers, love in the mist, meadow sweet, borage, a swath of bee seeds had produced the most stunning yellow daisies which are in full flower, there were sweet peas, and even the  weeds and grass were flowering. It looked so beautiful and tranquil.

The bumble bees that are nesting in my cold frame were busy foraging for food. A foot from the cold frame borage is growing round my strawberry plants, It was full of bumble bees and solitary bees busy amongst its flowers. The nest of bumble bees is flourishing.   I think the borage has saved their lives as even in the rain they can shoot out and collect pollen and nectar and then quickly fly back into the nest before their hairy bodies becomes water logged.   if this happens they drop to the ground unable to fly and can become chilled and die, 

The sun felt warm and welcoming and I dug up the Royal Duke of York early Potatoes . I had six kilos of potatoes to take home. I also picked a bouquet of flowers for my friend Chris. Then the heavens opened again and Pops and I scrambled back in the shed. When the rain eased I decided to set off home.   However, before I could pack my rucksack the rain was pounding down again.  Jenny from the community plot invited us into the Polytunnel and we took cuttings of lavender, hyssop, and rosemary. Working together this was wonderful a relaxing activity . The rain eased and I decided to go home.

As Pops and I walked through the plots I was surprised to see my friend Chris was also at her plot. I took  the bouquet of flowers I had made to her. She invited me into the shed and with another friend we had a cup of tea and chatted. Five minutes after I went into the shed it begun to hail. Pop with a whimper  laid down inside the shed. After the hail storm came more rain with no respite.   I decided despite the deluge Pops and I would go home. How much wetter could we get?  A lot apparently!

The streets and lanes we walked down were flooded and we had to paddle in places. But soggy and tired we eventually got home. After toweling down Pops and myself I gave her lunch and some treats and made myself yet another cup of tea.

When I reflected back on the day at the plot I realised that nature had healed any negitive energies there.  The rain  that drench me seems to have washed away the horror of the week. My plot is still my haven and retreat. The beauty of my wildflower meadow was breath taking. I am blessed and very grateful for nature's bounty.

.

With Reiki Blessings 

MerryB