The wine is fermenting nicely at the moment – just given it a little “push down” to move the pulp floating towards the bottom and got some nice hissing and bubbles. Also – hoping that it keeps its colour, as it looks GREAT 🙂 It is a nice pink colour at the moment, and if it stays that way (and clears that way) will look like a great bottle of rose wine 🙂

Smell wise – well . . it smells nice to be honest. Very fruity. I had a quick dip of the finger as well . . and taste isn’t too bad. If it “improves” from this point – could end up a great little thing. I’ve got about enough plums to make another two lots of this, so once I’ve moved this into the big glass jar I’m going to make a decision about the rest. If I think this is going to be nice – time to buy some more big glass jars (only £2.50ish each) and two more packs to make the wine with and make 2 gallons worth!!!

That will give me a total of 18 bottles of wine in about 6-8 weeks.

I’ll get some more photos at the next stage 🙂

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Hopefully today will be the final bit of the kitchen. Today – the plinths should go on . . . which finally draws a line under the whole thing!

Then photo’s – summary – and a vow to NEVER do this again!

We do have one loose tile which needs fixing. . .but I can live with that for the short term.

So – fingers crossed, if it isn’t today it won’t be for a couple of weeks as the builders are going on vacation. . .

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. . .and once it is tidy – I’ll have photos to prove it!

Plinths done now, skirting board done. . .just tidy up bits for me to finish (ie sealant/caulking) but nothing major. Still got one loose tile + doors to replace. . but the main bit . . the actual KITCHEN . . is finished! 7 weeks is all it took – only SEVEN! Not the 2-3 expected. . .

But it is done and that is the most important thing. Just need to keep it nice/clean and tidy – yeh like that is gonna happen 🙂

I’ll take some finished photos today – and put them up. Overall I’m happy with it – few niggles but nothing major. Definately need a tumble dryer as the big hole waiting for it keeps staring at me!

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. . .is exactly how it felt! My internet connection died . . .and suddenly you realise how much you need it, want it etc etc. I hated it!!!

I was grateful it was backup after a couple of days – it is silly in so many ways how it affects you!

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Well – yesterday was our 1st anniversary. . . already! To be honest, time has flown by so fast it is scary – but they say time flies when you’re having fun.

Amazing to think that 1 year ago – I had one of the best days of my life, and a year later. . . it still feels good.

Quite a quiet day in the end (wife could NOT decide what she wanted to do) – but we did visit the place where we had our reception. Nice walk around there and a few memories as well. To think that this time last year we were on our way to Mexico is what really sucks!! 🙂

Well – 1 year down . . .many more to go – if she’s lucky of course! :)).

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Yes plural!

Thankfully we are only getting one – as having 2 puppy GSD’s + a fully grown would be a little too much.

For a while we’ve been wanting to get a new puppy to keep our existing pure white company. We’ve always had two dogs, but after losing one suddenly a while back, we needed to wait for the pup (at the time) to grow up a bit. Well that has finally happened and he is 3 in October. Now. . . with a pure white pup, the wife wanted a pure black to go with him. But finding one was a nightmare! After a while of looking we finally found this litter http://www.kolakin.co.uk/pups2ndlitter.htm and registered an interest. Well following the website day by day was great – some excellent updates!

However – as time moved on, we had a call. . . they offered us a pup but unfortunately only had a bitch available. Personally I’ve always had male dogs and tbh – wanted the same again. A bitch with our current dog would be a little bit of a nightmare!

Anyway – we kinda sniffed and said thanks. . .and sulked a while!

So we carried on looking and agreed that because pure blacks were so few and far between, we’d look at the normal black and golds. We found a litter not too far away. . . and went to visit. They had one dog left, and he was SO cute . . .

So deposit paid and home we went happy that Buzz would get a baby brother at last.

It was on the Sunday night – things changed. We had a call from the first breeder, who said that they now had a dog available due to some changes in circumstances. . .were we interested! Well, as above – wifey was set on a black one and inside so was I. But – we’d paid a deposit and I hate letting people down. So we umm’d and rrrrr’d and decided we’d go and visit on the Monday – 2hr drive each way!

We arrived and got shown to the pups, they were unfortunately all sleepy. . . so Karbon wasn’t too happy being pulled up and fussed. He was lovely and perfect 🙂

So deposit paid – and back home we came.

We are waiting to see if we can get lucky and get our other deposit back. . . fingers crossed as it is quite alot of money. But puppy bits all bought, and now just have to wait 2 weeks and pick him up 🙂

Now the naming to go through! I want to call him “Tigger” but so far . . . looks like I’m being over ruled!

Anyway – I’ll update more and more as puppy grows and arrives. . .

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Well – not long to go now – 4 days and we pick him up!!! Sure after a few days I’ll be banging my head against the wall as we find the shoes destroyed, wires in half and a whining pup :yes: :crazy: But to be honest – we can’t wait!

Anyway – the website of the owners has been udpated with a vid of them worming the pups – not really like OOOH WOW. . . but snipped out the bit with “Karbon” which will be our pup 🙂

Enjoy the squeals – not sure how much is him and how much is the others!

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Yup – today is the day we pick him up. Going to be a long morning (due to work as much as anything else)then I’m sure a very very sleepless weekend! Fingers crossed we can settle him down quickly though. He’s going to be the first one that goes. . .so it will be a big shock to him. Heartbreaking in many ways. . . feel so guilty taking him away from his mum/brothers/sisters. But he’ll have Buzz to keep him company 🙂

We’ve also decided to make sure we take LOTS of photos and vids this time round 🙂 So expect some updates on here 🙂

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Been an ever increasing expense with the pets recently. Another visit to the vets for Buzz – our big white GSD.  The wife took him for a nice run on the bike – best intentions. However he came back with his pads worn down and bloody 🙁

Good news is he’s going to be fine, he’s got some dressing and bandages on that make him look like a boxer! But just waiting for them to heal up properly.

Bandit is doing fine. Getting much better an asking to go out – although this usually just is a little whimper or cry. But my doggy interpretation skills are improving!!!

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Well New Year has been and gone. . . not my best ever to be honest. But unfortunately things happen in life and this year I’m not going to let them get me down (or at least not for long!). Lifes too short these days. . . too many surprises around.

So – whats in store!?

Job – hate it, I mean REALLY hate it. I think my role should be renamed “Shit Shoveler” as it is all I seems to be all I do, or it could be “Beating Wall” – that is the other half of my job. Getting all the crap for others not doing there job. Oh well. I’d love to change it – but it isn’t practical. But I do intend to get some qualifications in place and start looking at my options. At least with those I’ll be in a better place.

Health – well, I’ve decided I do drink too much and I’m too fat 🙂 Drinking is my one only real vice left, but I’ve decided to cut down (only a bit) but enough to make me feel more comfortable about it. But weight (tied in to drink) is the key one. So bit more exercise, better eating habits and hopefully I’ll start to drop off some weight. If not – then it gets drastic.

Social – all a mixed bag now for me. Don’t know where things are going to end up – but I’m going to plod through. Lifes too short 🙂 I want to get back into cooking some meals – I enjoy the cooking lark and the nights were pretty good fun. Not sure about parties now … but we’ll see. Hopefully get the wife out more often which would be nice! Other than that. . camping 🙂 Going to do alot of that this year – really enjoyed it the few times we’ve been. The new tent is great (even though pain to take down), we’ve got most of the utils we want – but may look at getting a few bits in the there. Including the full fold back lounger style chair the wifey wants. Overall the dogs are getting better – so that will help as well. Shame the farm we went to last year might not be able to do camping . . was great for the basic weekend away!

Other than that – I’m hoping to get a family on the go, we’ve been trying (ish) but think we need a little push. Finally . . money. . god we love spending it! But now need to save it. . .specially if little April happens!

So – a new year. 2 weeks in . . . and starting to look up. Hope its a good year – we need one!

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