Clan Hartnett News

Jen Turns 30

2011-12-04T15:00:00.000Z

Well, it finally happened. Jen turned 30 years old last week. We had a great combination of friends, family and travel to celebrate the main event. Jen and I took the car and ferry over to Islay on thursday, where we met her parents at the airport. Jen's childhood friend Ellen lives on the island, where she teaches French and Spanish at the local high school. So we spent four days there visiting Ellen and her island.

We took this cake to the island, made by Joyce, a receptionist at Jen's work. The girls at the office obviously know her well!

Friday night was spent at the pub, of course! We had a nice meal at The Islay Hotel in Port Ellen, followed by music provided by Ellen's band. They regularly play traditional music here and in Port Charlotte.

Probably not what she was expecting, but the first thing we did on her birthday (Saturday) was take a tour of the Bowmore Distillery. Here is Jen with a genuine piece of Islay peat. Don't worry, it's not what you thought it was at first glance. The tour was really good, especially seeing the malting barns, which only a few distilleries still have.

On Sunday the clouds blew away and we explored some other parts of the island. Here we are with Jen's parents at Finlaggan. This is the old seat of the Lord of the Isles. It was a small fort located on an island in Loch Finlaggan. So it is an island in a loch on an island. There used to be a stone causeway but now Historic Scotland has built a wooden walkway. You can just make out the Paps of Jura in the background on the left. These are the largest hills on the neighbouring island of Jura.

One of the last places we went to was Portnahaven at the far west point of the island. Sometimes you can see Ireland from here. It was really wind-swept but we were rewarded for our perserverance by the presence of at least a dozen seals in the harbour area.
So those are most of the highlights. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. It was a good trip and Islay is a place we'd happily return to. It's a bit of a journey but that is part of what makes it special. That and the fact that Jen turned 30 there. Poor Jen.

-david

Canada 2011...

2011-09-16T22:22:00.002Z

A wee link to a sort video of paddling antics on the Ottawa and St Lawrence rivers, Ontario and Quebec, Canada.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77xuo1a_HII&feature=channel_video_title

Lairig Ghru

2011-08-08T21:30:00.001Z

My mum has been super keen to walk the Lairig Ghru for some time now. She's an enthusiastic hill walker with the stamina of a 20 year old. The route is from Rothiemurchus (near Aviemore), through a remote mountain pass guarded by Munros on either side, to Linn of Dee. All in it's about 22 miles on sheep type track with 3 miles of boulder field at it's crux. So, last weekend I found myself, map and compass in hand, clambering through the hills with my mum. We were both fine from a fitness point of view, but boy did I have some large trophy blisters by the end : )

ubaye race course

2011-07-31T22:10:00.000Z

Short video of paddling the Ubaye race course in the French Alps. Nothing too hard but fast, steep, shallow and continuous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdRHwm0zSlc&feature=mh_lolz&list=HL1310666898

The next project...

2011-07-31T22:01:00.001Z

The mission: build a camper van out of a 6 year old ex-commercial panel van... surely it cant be that hard?? First line with insulation before running electric cables and ply lining. Drill holes in floor for plumbing and gas drop out. Carpet line walls. Wire in leisure battery and cut hole in back door for extra window. Lay flooring with help of brother-in-law (thanks Owen!). Install gas cooker, sink, cupboards and seat that folds into bed. Install lighting and dehumidifier. Make cushions for seat/bed and curtains. Black out windows. Buy bargain roofrack and ladder from Ebay. Then drive 3000 miles for a week of awesome paddling in the Southern French Alps to test it all out : )

The "marshmallow" phase.... insulating and ply lining.

Cutting the hole for the extra rear window.

More ply lining.

After lining the ply with carpet it was time to install the seating/bed. Winston was keen to help with this phase. He likes sleeping and was happy to oblige as official bed tester.

All the units painted and installed... time for a good old cup of tea!

Best go on a 3000 mile trip to test our new vessel out... first stop Dover...

Followed by the Southern French Alps...

and a spot of kayaking action in the sun...

We didn't have room for a shower in the van... time to drop in to a hole for a good wash : )

What we've been up to...

2011-04-17T21:39:00.001Z

The last few weeks have been busy for both of us with work and trying to work on our van conversion project. Dave has found time to play with his band however, and the have a new song called The Witching Hour - here's a link to a video of a live performance at their last gig -

http://www.vanishingpeople.co.uk/

I've had a great couple of weekends kayaking of late. Here's a link to a wee movie I made from footage I recorded on the Etive on Saturday from my Gopro headcam. There was only 3 of us on the river, but we had an awesome day : )

http://www.youtube.com/user/jehartnett#p/u/27/Em8lvWpwxNY

We'll try to get some pics of the campervan conversion process up soon.

Right Angle Falls, River Etive...

2010-10-19T16:16:00.001Z

The link below is to a short video of me running my first over 20 foot waterfall in a kayak. I just bought a new (used) Dagger Nomad creek boat and what better way to test it out than by hucking a drop?? I'm not used to paddling a boat as long as this but it was really great! I went up to Glen Etive yesterday with 4 friends and we had an awesome day on the river despite it only being 5 degrees and blowing a gale. The Etive is a playground for kayakers with lots of bedrock waterfalls and slides. Stu and I decided to run the big one - he's run this drop many times before, but it was a first for me. The landing was surprisingly soft in all that aerated water and I (thankfully!) remembered to get my paddle off to the side and tuck up to avoid breaking my nose with my blades. I can't wait to get up there and run this again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OieFiyfG7mg

Stu is in the yellow boat and cleans the drop without even a roll! I run second in the orange boat and go pretty deep before getting popped back out like a champagne cork : )

Uganda 2010...

2010-09-22T22:45:00.001Z

Link to our holiday video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNDzCosjQig

Schiehallion...

2010-08-07T19:54:00.002Z

My mum's been desperate to climb Schiehallion, Scotland's most central Munro, for some time. As father has done his back in I decided it would be nice if the pair of us took on the challenge. We left Dad and Dave to some fishing at Kenmore on the river Tay and headed up the mountain from the Braes of Foss car park. the first half of the ascent was fine, quite steep in places but nothing too bad or unexpected. The second half was more interesting as the footpath stops and you have to scramble over scree and boulders for around a mile and a half before you reach the summit. All and all a great day.

Mum pointing out where we were!

Struggling with the self timer function on the camera (Loch Tummel in the background)

Mum on the (long) boulder field.

Mum at the summit - stoked to have made it through all those boulders with two intact ankle joints!

Jen at the summit

Kayaking the North Esk Gorge

2010-07-20T13:58:00.002Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvGHYmTaDKU&hd=1

Update...

2010-07-07T15:08:00.001Z

It's been ages since I've posted here and a lot has happened so, time for a wee update!

I'll start at the beginning of 2010. Dave's youngest sister - Katie - was married on 27th Dec 2009. Dave flew out to Kansas for Christmas and I joined him in time for the wedding. Unfortunately the journey was rather eventful thanks to the weather in Chicago and the attempted Christmas day bombing in Detroit on a plane which had originated in Europe. This led to hightened security, with delays in London and a storm in the midwest i was stranded in O'Hare airport when I finally arrived into Chicago. Thanks to Dad Hartnett, some divine intervention and Dad's graduate student, Jackie, who was home in Chicago for the holidays, a last minute flight from Midway Airport was arranged and I ("the package") was collected by Jackie (whom I had not met previously and we identified each other by description of clothing relayed through Dad via O'Hare pay phone)and whisked by road from O'Hare to Midway in driving snow. Southwest airlines were to save the day and my very delayed flight finally successfully landed into a snowy Kansas City airport, on its second attempt, around 30 hours following my departure from Scotland. I spent a deleriously jet lagged night in an airport hotel before being collected by Clints parents in the morning after a breakfast of Twinkies and Nescafe and driven to Manhattan in time for the wedding.

Katie and David Koop were married in a lovely service at Katie's church - Faith Evangelical Free in Manhattan and a reception duely followed in the town. Unfortunately the adrenaline wore off during the reception and I missed most of the shindig, opting for an early exit to enjoy 12 hours in the land of nod. Meanwhile the dancing and celebrations continued in what I am lead to believe was a fabulous night. Katie and David have since reached their 6 month anniversary and are enjoying married life living in Lawerence, Kansas.

Following the wedding we headed out to Estes Park, Colorado with Mom and Dad Hartnett, Becky and Owen, Melissa and Clint and (then) new baby Robbie. Much fun was had skiing at Eldora and snow shoeing at Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our cabin also had a hot tub which provided soothing relief to the bruises sustained on the slopes.

Dave decided that it would be appropriate to smuggle some Cuban cigars into the US from Scotland to celebrate Robbie's birth and the boys partook in Scotch drinking, cigar smoking and grilling outside in the snow to celebrate and strengthen their brotherly "man-bonds".

Dave and I decided to stay on in CO for a few more days after the rest of the group departed. We moved base to Boulder and had a few more days skiing before getting stuck in a storm system moving down from Canada and had to stay an extra day as we feared our trusty mini may not make it in blizzard conditions along I70 back to Kansas. The weather was too bad to ski so we went shopping and visited the Boulder Dushanbi tea house for lunch. The tea house was awesome - shipped in from Asia and rebuilt in downtown Boulder. I was pleased to see some western additions however - the bathrooms were decidedly American! I really like Boulder as a town - it has a lot of culture and character and the "outdoors" lifestyle resulting from it's location at the foot of the Front Range was quite appealing. There are lots of little deli's and coffee shops and, minus the architecture, it almost has a slightly Alpine feel to it.

Following our return to Scotland, we were blessed with one of the best ski seasons Scotland has ever seen. We've had snow in the mountains here until mid June and Cairngorm even managed to open a limited lift system for solstice skiing!

Dave started up a framing business in Blairgowrie and has been trying to get this off the ground. He is very good at the work but unfortunately business has been slow. I guess the recession has not been helping. The last few weeks have brought him a little video editing work and he is currently off in Glasgow for 2 days on a job. I have continued to pull extra sessions doing locum GP work on top of my partnership work in Blairgowrie. I hope as Dave's business becomes more successful I will be able to reduce the hours as it's been a busy and draining 11 months so far. Although the week days and evenings have been filled with doctoring I have been trying very hard to keep my weekends free for kayaking adventures.

I've had a great few months on the river and have had a few opportunities to push my skills further. I guess the highlight this year has been the River Etive. I've managed a few weekends away camping out overnight and hitting a different river each day. Unfortunately midge season has kind of curtailed this for the moment. Wednesday nights, on the evenings I havent been working evening surgeries, has seen some awesome playboating on the local River Tay. The tailies are coming along nicely and i'm starting to get there with the cartwheel. I'm hoping to get some more big volume paddling in on the Nile again this summer and Dave has plans to join me. He isn't excited by the whitewater so probably wont raft or kayak but is hoping to land himself a 100kg Nile Perch and has arranged some fishing with a few locals.

We've also had a few visits from relatives this year. Aubrey Hartnett popped over from her semester in Granada, Spain for a weekend. We took her to Edinburgh and the coast for a whistle stop tour of Scotland's finest. Mom Hartnett, Melissa and Robbie also visited for a week.

Well, that's all for now folks. Hope everybody is keeping well Stateside. We love to hear all your news so do keep us in the loop .

Kayaking The White Nile

2009-11-18T22:56:00.001Z

a short movie of kayaking on the White Nile, Uganda, Autumn 2009. A lot of the footage is from my pfd camera. It is very wide angle so tends to flatten the waves out a bit. The kayaker in front of me is Anna Bruno, my Kayak The Nile guide. Enjoy! I certainly enjoyed running it all!

Post Africa confusion and over the falls with a bump...

2009-09-27T15:37:00.009Z

I've been back from Uganda for 2 weeks now although it seems a lot longer. Actually, it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. It's been difficult adjusting back to life in Scotland following the break. I'm pretty surprised about this given I was only away for 2 weeks. I remember similar feelings when I returned from a 3 month stint in 2003, but heading back to University life and friends kept me so busy I think it was probably easier to adjust. Working part time at the moment has left me with a lot of free time on my hands to think too much, and having an unemployed husband at home also adds some extra stresses on the weekdays when we're both home and feel like we should be out working! I was surprised I settled back into the African way of life so quickly on my recent trip given my previous visit had been 6 years ago. It really was just like meeting up with a really good old friend again. I'm going to try to verbalise some of my thoughts on why returning home has been hard for me, however I'm not sure it's easy to put in to words. I know many of you reading this have travelled extensively and have probably had similar feelings/experiences - I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

There have been a number of contrasts I've really noticed. Apart from a huge change in weather (coming back home to Scotland from abroad heading in to autumn or winter is always a challenge!) and the pace of life, I really miss being outside all the time and getting regular exercise outdoors. I feel claustrophobic all couped up inside. It's just not that appealing to head outside when it's 10 degrees and windy! I also miss people's attitudes. I miss the contagious "don't worry, everything will work out" attitude that so many people in Africa have - Africans and Caucasians alike. A self-confessed born worrier, being immersed in these attitudes is so therapeutic - it's impossible not to chill out! Being in Africa seems to give me a better perspective on who I am. I think that may well be due to removing all the unnecessary worries and facades that come hand-in-hand with trying to function in a western society. In Africa I feel like I am Jen - nothing more and nothing less, no labels attached. Also, it is just SO refreshing not to be surrounded by a culture where "stuff" seems more important than people. I love that in Africa everyone is dusty and dirty and nobody cares. I love not waking up in the morning and worrying that your top doesn't match your shoes. It's refreshing to be surrounded by folk out there (Westerners travelling included) who judge you by your personality and not outwardly by appearances. I've been left contemplating how shallow our Western, post-modern society really seems and how "contagious" it's values are. I left Africa refreshed with the simplicity of life and encouraged that "stuff", in the grand scheme of things, is unimportant. Returning home I've quickly been reminded how important appearances, things and money are in our society. If it's not people talking at work about the new top of the range Audi they are going to buy it's my accountant phoning to update me on my tax returns or an advert for the next iPhone you must have on the TV. I miss that people in Africa make time to talk with one another and that relationships within communities are deep and strong resulting in a rich community spirit and an eagerness to help one another out. Back home it seems people are so busy with life that relationships are often sidelined - I know myself I am guilty of this. In my opinion, when it comes to living a good life, we in the West have so much to learn from our African friends.

This all said I think it's only fair to add that I am fortunate to be able to visit Africa as a westerner with expendable income. Although living out there seems cheap and easy for me, it is not so rosy for many Ugandan families who live hand to mouth as subsistence farmers. The jobs market out there seems to be as difficult at the moment as in the UK, health care is not free and many people have diseases they cannot afford to have tended to. Thinking of this makes me feel selfish as a visitor who is not putting anything back into the local community. I found this a difficult contrast to my last visit when I was working as a doctor out there. I also felt quite ashamed spending more on one days kayaking than most families would earn in many months.

In summary I guess I am confused. In one respect I appreciate the simplicity of life in Uganda and enjoy being in a place where money is not people's main priority in life but, on the other hand, I'm enjoying this way of life as an outsider who has enough that I don't need to worry about paying for food, a roof over my head or doctor's fees.... quite the hypocrite, huh! Thoughts please!

On another note, I've been trying to challenge myself a bit more on the paddling front since I got home from Africa. It's been a bit difficult trying to find like minded folk who want to do some of the more difficult runs rather than just sticking on the usual grade 3's, but I did manage to get out and paddle the Tummel last weekend and again yesterday. Unfortunately we had an incident yesterday when the guy I was paddling with landed the second drop of a 18 foot fall onto a rocky slab sideways - landing on his shoulder and the side of his face. It was immediately obvious he'd fractured his left clavicle. After we got him out of the gorge and sorted out the shuttles, the rest of the afternoon was spent in A&E. As well as feeling pretty sorry for Neil, I've also lost my paddling chum for the next couple of months at least. If anyone out there fancies trying some local grade 4's give me a shout!

Here are a few photos of the fateful run:

After the first drop, despite a decent line in, Neil gets pushed left by the stopper...

Far to far left and trying to correct like crazy with a big draw stroke before the second drop...

Still trying to correct with a draw stroke whilst dropping over the lip. The left edge of his boat then hit the rock platform visible under the spray and he flipped landing shoulder first then on his face on the rock before slipping off the rock inverted into the stopper below (flushy stopper thank goodness!)

Nasty break.

Update...

2009-09-20T15:26:00.012Z

So it's been a few months since I posted. I will have to try to do better! We've had an eventful couple of months here. I'm sure most of you will be aware, but Dave was made redundant from Speakeasy 6 weeks or so ago. It came as quite a shock as it was totally out of the blue. I believe out of 21 staff members they had to let 5 go. He's had a few days freelancing but nothing concrete as yet. It's a difficult time to be out of work and he is just so desperate to have a job again. He loved his work and the people he worked with at Speakeasy. It really has been quite a blow. He's good at what he does though and which ever company takes him on will be very lucky - it's just trying to find the opportunities at the moment that's the difficult bit.

On a brighter note, my job is going well. I'm still only part time but have been able to get a bit of extra locuming here and there. These past 6 months have been quite the contrast to my previous 4 and a half years of doctoring as the long hours have vanished. Mountains of paperwork have unfortunately surfaced in place of the evenings and nightshifts that go hand in hand with hospital work. I do still do a regular evening surgery, but nothing like the long shifts back in hospital years. It amazes me how much of my day is now spent staring at a VDU rather than at patients. On the brighter side I enjoy my patients more. I have some fantastic patients that I have gotten to know over the past couple of years as the Registrar and then during my odd days in Blairgowrie as a Remote and Rural Fellow. It's amazing now being based in a practice I love and really feeling that you are able to serve a group of patients. I am so thankful for my job!! Having my own office is pretty sweet too - I'm slowly getting the place decorated with some pictures I've taken here and there. I even have a plant... it's almost like home! It's been quite a jump trying to get used to being self-employed, mainly from a tax perspective. I am terrified I'm going to estimate my tax bill wrongly - the consequences of that would be awful. It all seems a bit of a guessing game which makes it even more unnerving!

Local Fishermen below Bujagali falls

This past month I was lucky enough to return to Uganda for a holiday. It's been 6 years since I was there working in Iganga district in 2003 for my medical elective, boy how things have changed!! I was struck by how much more western everything seemed. Last time I was there there was no western food at all; this time I struggled to eat anything African! I think part of this may have been due to me staying in a very touristy area called Bujagali Falls. It is about 10km from the town of Jinja (which has also seen major development since my last trip) and is the heart of adventure sports in East Africa. I believe it all started around 1998 when the first commercial rafting of the White Nile began. Since then there has been huge growth in adventure tourism. There are around 4 rafting companies as well as a (fantastic) kayak school, a bungee jump, quad biking and horse trails.

Kayak the Nile! (note the Arsenal shirt!)

The main purposes of my trip this year were to kayak and to visit Daniel (Hakimu) whom I met in 2003. We have have been sponsoring him through a medical laboratory diploma at Makiere University in Kampala and he finished his studies this summer. I kayaked for around 10 days with Kayak The Nile under the excellent instruction of my guide, Anna Bruno - an American paddler who is now in her second season on the Nile having also spent time in Nepal this year teaching women how to kayak and raft guide. I was a little surprised by her slender frame when she introduced herself as my guide, however all fears were quickly stilled when I saw her on the water. I mainly paddled the day 2 rafting stretch - grade 4 for the most part. I chickened out of doing the Grade 5 stuff - figured I'd best leave something for next time ; ). The day 2 stretch comprises Bubugo Falls, Superhole (a friendly surf wave), Itanda Falls (Grade 6, MASSIVE holes - we portaged!), Vengence, Hair of the Dog, Kula Shaker and Nile Special. I was instantly struck by two things - eddy "lines" were more like "zones" with many horrible whirlies popping up along them and, secondly, by the size of the waves. Some of the waves must easily have been 15 footers and they were followed up with more massive waves ready to catch out the paddler celebrating victory too early. The rapids were also much, much longer than I am used to and pretty much impossible to scout from the bank. I was lead down everything "blind", following the stern of Anna's little Project 45 closely. This was a totally new way of running rapids for me and took some getting used to. I found it difficult maneuvering as I wasn't looking far enough ahead. My other problem was staring at the hazards confronting me rather than looking where I wanted to go. Sounds silly, I know, but when there is a stopper the size of our bedroom to your left it's hard not to look at it!! Anyway, after a few swims at the beginning and much boat emptying by Anna, the whitewater combat roll started to take shape. By the end of my trip my flat water roll had deteriorated to the point of uselessness but, for some reason, it generally seemed to work in the waves. What an amazing feeling it was being flipped on one of those massive waves, feeling like your head was in a washing machine and then managing to roll up... only to be confronted by the next monster wave! Anna was very patient with me when I had the occasional freak out at the top of the next rapid. I would ask if it was bigger than the last and she would answer that "it's just different". That phrase got me down bigger and bigger whitewater and also into the odd whirlpool (of which I still have an unconquered phobia following a nasty experience in Scotland earlier this year). The wildlife and scenery on the river was also spectacular - loads of interesting birds and kids swimming in eddys on the way downstream. I was really impressed with Kayak The Nile and was surprised by their regard for safety and professionalism. I guess I was expecting less given I was in Africa but, I'd have to say they were streets ahead of a major outdoor education company I did a weekends course with in Scotland earlier this year - they shall remain nameless!

Bubugo Falls

Ugandan paddler Bujagali falls

As well as paddling I also went to visit Daniel's family in Busowa village - a 2.5 hr drive northish of Jinja. That was quite an experience. I met his mother and her family and they prepared a feast for us which we ate in their hut. We then walked around the village and I was introduced to most of the villagers. Cries of "madam mzungu" were ringing in my ears for some hours after. We then visited his father's village and then his twin brother's village and repeated the same. I was exhausted by the end of the day but it was fantastic seeing Daniel and seeing his family and villages really helped me to put his life in context.

With Daniel and his family at his mothers house, Busowa village. Below, the feast his mother prepared for us at her home.

Chapati for breakfast at Bujagali

Making samosas, Bujagali.

I flew home from Entebbe overnight on Sunday. There had been some trouble in Kampala before I left but I had a safe and uneventful journey to the airport despite the evidence of the riots littering the roadside just before the city. It's been difficult adjusting back to the temperature and the pace of life back here over the past week. I went out kayaking yesterday to do a new river (Tummel) with a guy from my club. I was horrified by how cold the water was despite my drysuit! Also, there are just so many rocks on the rivers here - flipping yesterday would probably have resulted in a good face plant on a number of sections! I think I have been spoilt by my time on the Nile!

Below, photos of our lower Tummel trip.

That's all for now. I hope you all enjoy the photos.
Jen.

New Boats!!!

2009-06-30T15:21:00.008Z

We upgraded Dave's old Dagger Freefall "battleship" a few months back to a nearly new Pyranha ammo that I found a great deal on. I'd taken it for a couple of trips down the Esk and Tay to try it out in the winter, but this was his first time out in it. The outfitting's pretty sweet, but i'm a bit light for it (it was bought thinking of Dave's specs) I'm not used to paddling something so stable and found it a bit wierd not having any edges to worry about and being so high out of the water. The idea is this will be Dave's boat but I may borrow it from time to time for some creeking that would just be too dodgy in my river-play boat. I've just bought a new boat too - I've been after a Jackson for some time but they're pretty expensive here being American boats and the current financial climate has put them up £100 over last years prices. I found an older model on ebay which has had almost no use and snapped it up for a bargain price. I had to use some holidays and drive to Manchester to pick it up, but it was well worth it! My initial plan was to hang on to my old boat for playboating, but the Jackson is just so sweet I can't see the point and will be puting it up for sale soon. Here are some photos and a short video of us trying our new boats on a flat section of the Tay - just up from the wier.

Construction site...

2009-04-19T15:53:00.004Z

The cabin was delivered on Wednesday. Dad has been staying at ours these past few days as he was away fishing on Friday with our neighbour. He kindly stuck around for the weekend and helped us with the building. We're really pleased with it so far - the logs are 45mm thick and we bought proper house quality shingles for the roof. The windows are double glazed too. We still have to lay the floor, so we're not finished yet, but it's almost done. Dave wants to insulate the space under the floor boards and he's talking of insulating the ceiling too and putting in a false ceiling to hide the fibreglass. Our neighbour is going o help us put in an armoured cable so we will have electricity too!!

Here are some pics of the weekend's work...

Kayaking....

2009-04-05T18:06:00.002Z

A few shots fro the river Dee and Grandtully on the Tay. Been out in the boat quite a bit this year already - aided by my fantastic Christmas present from Dave (a dry suit!!). Water's still freezing, but the river levels have been good leading to a number of fun trips so far.

So, we laid a patio....

2009-03-23T21:41:00.003Z

So, we're putting a cabin at the top of the garden and we need to set a foundation. Sounded easy, we were wrong!

Excavating the foundation

The stuff got delivered to the front...

Then we wheelbarrowed 2 tonnes of aggregate through the house...

Laying the foundation...

then it had to be stamped down.

Then we wheel barrowed 1 tonne of sharp sand...

Then we started on the 40 slabs....

2 weekends later and we laid the last slab!!

Now we're just waiting on the cabin arriving so we can start building it!

Kayaking the River Dee....

2009-03-12T14:06:00.002Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byfIJXxf5Js

Ski Italia 2009...

2009-02-11T12:59:00.007Z

The Matterhorn from the air!

Snowboard world cup (2006 Torino Olympics halfpipe)

Dave's "incident"...

Italian ambulance...

... the finished product!

Got back from Bardonecchia on Sunday after a week of skiing with Elena and Jamie Maddox (Elena was in my year at medical school). Bardonecchia is about an hours drive from Turin and was the site of the snowboarding in the 2006 winter olympics. We had loads of snow - more than normal for the time of year. Locals were shoveling it off their roofs as it was so thick! We had two sunny days which were lovely but, despite the snow coming down, we were out skiing every day. Unfortunately Dave fell on a ski on the first day wich resulted in an ambulance ride and 4 stitches in an Italian hospital! He actually didn't realise he'd done it - he fell, thought he had ripped his trousers and continued to ski 3 more runs before we stopped for coffee and he realised he had ripped his leg as well! The snowboard World Cup was being held in the resort whilst we were there - quite an experience watching them on the half pipe!

2009-01-08T20:31:00.004Z

Hogmanay 2008....

2009-01-01T16:56:00.009Z

Merry Christmas (inspired by the Cochranes!)...

2008-12-16T22:46:00.001Z

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

snow...

2008-12-03T12:16:00.002Z

Some photos from the village - taken this morning.

Dave's day as a racing driver...

2008-11-11T19:58:00.003Z

Dave's day at Knockhill race track pretending to be a racing driver!

kayak surfing at St. Andrews...

2008-08-09T09:58:00.001Z

The Inver-Inver Crossing - 192 wild miles!

2008-07-11T13:01:00.015Z

Last week I finished the "Inver - Inver Crossing" with a group from my church (The Steeple) in Dundee in aid of the Redevelopment Project and International Development Fund. I've been training for this over the last year. It was a 4 day event aimed at crossing the widest part of mainland Scotland on foot and by bicycle- a total distance of 192 miles. It involved treking through some of the remotest (and most spectacular) terrain in Scotland. Starting in Inverie in Knoydart (boat trip from Mallaig to access) and finishing 4 days later in Inverbervie on the east coast. Unfortunately the weather on the first 3 days was very wet with low cloud cover obscuring the views (particularly on the hike through Knoydart). The last day involved an epic cycle up Cairn O Mount (14 to 16 % gradient over 5miles). If there's anyone out there who hasn't sponsored me and wishes to donate retrospectively you are very very welcome to do so - just drop me an email at jenniferhartnett@hotmail.co.uk.

The route:

Day 1:

20 mile walk from Inverie through Glen Dessary and Glen Geldie to Loch Arkaig

followed by

27 mile cycle from Loch Arkaig to Roy Bridge.

Day 2:

52 mile cycle from Roy Bridge to Achlean.

Day 3:

20 Mile walk through Glen Feshie

Followed by

7 mile cycle to Braemar

Day 4:

65 mile cycle from Braemar through Royal Deeside and over the Cairn O Mount down to Inverbervie.

Day 1 photos:

Day 2 photos:

day3 photos:

Day 4 photos:

Cairn O Mount

Thanks to S.Elwell-Sutton, P. Moffat, E.Redfern, D.Redfern, G.Ferguson whos photos i've borrowed for the blog to give you all an idea of what the trip was like.

Spring in the garden...

2008-05-20T16:44:00.007Z

Newt from the pond!

watch these in order....

2008-04-08T14:34:00.003Z

Now watch the translation....

Mom and Dad's visit to Scotland...

2008-03-25T20:58:00.004Z

Here are a couple of pictures from Mom and Dad Hartnett's trip to Scotland including a couple with Mum and Dad Murray at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh.

Piperdam (where our wedding reception was held) -

Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

Pretending they have more hair than they really do...

Forth Rail Bridge, Edinburgh.

Ski Italia....

2008-03-01T18:36:00.003Z

Dave's "war wound"

Jen on her way down the red at Presolana.

Dave doing ????

Dave - Presolana

Dave mastering his parallel turns.

At the top of Monte Pora mountain. About to tackle the longest red run on the mountain.

Monte Pora.

Jen parallelling her way down the red runs in Presolana.

At the very top - before we realised that the tow up with the sign saying "experts only" really meant it!

Had a lovely time in Italy. We were up in the mountains about an hour from Milan at two very small resorts. Just enough snow, bit icy but improved as the day went on. Beautiful weather - note i'm skiing without a jacket!! Great food (although we had no idea what we were eating as nobody spoke any English and our Italian phrase book was pretty useless. Flight home unfortunately was a bit crazy. We've had gales in Scotland so there were mental side winds coming in to land at Prestwick (west coast by the beach) so plane was everywhere and folk screaming. I think it actually topped that bad transatlantic flight a year ago! The flight before us burst a tyre on landing and after us everything was diverted to Edinburgh or delayed. All in all a great 4 days away though. Hope you like the photos!

Long time no blog...

2008-02-19T20:08:00.002Z

It's been a while since I put something on. We've been really busy. We were in the States over Christmas as many of you will already know. Had a relaxing time and enjoyed a 3 day break to Colorado with Clint and Melissa and even got in a days skiing! Since our return home it's been work, work and more work. We also had to look for a new car as Dave's was going to be expensive to get through its M.O.T test. Our pond sprung a leak and dad Murray rescued the two fish that were in there. They now have a new (temporary) home in the living room until it's warm enough to fix the leak.

I passed....

2007-11-30T13:39:00.000Z

Good news from the Hartnett household - I found out (on our wedding anniversary!!) that I had passed the first part of my professional exams to be a GP. Very very pleased with the score too and hope I can do as well in the consulting part in London next year!

We're off to the States on Monday (10th Dec) and are very much looking forward to seeing all our friends and family over there - it's been more than a year since we've seen most of you!

Week of badness...

2007-11-21T20:22:00.000Z

It's been an odd week here in Charleston. Dave went on a business trip to Birmingham, Englandshire a week past Monday. Whilst he was away our chimney went on fire. Then my mum (already sick with a very painful back) had a bad reaction to some of the tablets her doctor gave her, then our car got broken into (window smashed and sat nav stollen), then our Christmas cards arrived and weren't cards (long story).... it's all been a bit rubbish. My exam results come out next week, so I'm praying that things start to look up a bit! Here's a photo of Winston in an elf's hat...

David's birthday....

2007-10-14T11:20:00.000Z

Well, Dave's now 29 and feeling a little elderly! We went out for dinner to celebrate and he's having some friends around today to try out his grill. I made him a chocolate cake and got funky sparklers instead of candles.... unfortunately the sparklers made quite a bit of ash and we had to scrape the debris off the cake before it was edible!!

David's early birthday present and "the first of the summer wine"...

2007-09-27T20:53:00.000Z

Above is Dave's new toy - a massive BBQ. We got it at a bargain price in the end of summer clearout at the local garden centre! He loves it. I think it makes him feel more manly cooking big chunks of meat on flames outdoors or something. We had great fun getting it home from the store as it was a display model too so was already built up - thank goodness for the Subaru! The bottom photo is the first bottle of chataux Hartnett 2007 elderflower reserve - it was surprisingly good for a first attempt!

Watching butterflies...

2007-09-09T19:48:00.000Z

Isn't this just so cute...

2007-09-02T18:06:00.000Z

Went for a hike up a local hill with a monument on top that we had spotted from the road a couple of times and wondered what it was. Dave was busy with stuff in the house and didn't much fancy the walk so I just headed out alone. Quite a steep hill from the Strathmore valley up to the trig point (334m) and monument (turns out it was built in 1774 and used to house an observatory), but the biggest hazard had to be the field of cows and large spikey gorse bushes I had to treck through!

Arbroath Seafest....

2007-08-30T20:17:00.000Z

Went to Arbroath on the East coast last weekend to the seafest- a big festival of all things related to the sea. We actually had some nice weather too! The following day we went to St Andrews beach and swam in the sea (air temp 19 degrees C, water temp about 15 degrees C) - wetsuits definately required! The last picture of the boat is our neighbours friends just completing the race out to the Bell Rock and back.

A Grand Scottish Prom...

2007-08-12T15:13:00.000Z

Dave and I have had a busy weekend. First of all Scotland beat Ireland in the rugby, then we had 5 folk staying in our little cottage for the Glamis proms and firework display at Glamis Castle, just down the road from our house. Unfortunately the weather was awful, but that didn't stop us - we bought a gazebo to keep us dry. Enjoy some of the pictures...

Party!!

2007-08-05T12:55:00.000Z

Celebrated my last ever hospital shift last weekend. Am now in GPland for good : )

Dave bought my first ever pinata....

Leona and Neil - friends from Penicuik and high school days came up for the weekend too - we visited a big waterfall!

Trip to the Highlands....

2007-06-22T09:36:00.000Z

Becky arrived last Friday and we took a wee trip to the West Coast. Did a spot of sea kayaking in the sound between the Applecross peninsula and the Islands of Rona and Raasay. Spent a night in Fort William and danced at the Ben Nevis Inn. Camped under the stars for a night and survived the midges. Also visited the village of Plockton. All and all a fun trip!

Andrew's trip to Scotland...

2007-05-23T22:06:00.001Z

Glamis Castle.

Glamis Castle gardens.

Forth rail and road bridge.

Scottish Parliament.

At The Falkirk Wheel.

Dublin...

2007-04-21T10:06:00.000Z

Dave and I returned from our 3 day break in Dublin on Thursday night. It was really nice to get away for a couple of days and we were blessed with glorious sunshine (I got burnt in April!!). We stayed in a youth hostel and visited the usual sights - The Book of Kells, Guinness Brewery, Kilmainham Gaol, Docks, Temple Bar and listened to live music. Here are some pics...

Resurrection Day Video

2007-04-07T10:55:00.000Z

This video was created by David for Dundee For Christ. It is for the opening of "Resurrection Day", a city-wide Easter evening celebration.

Update...

2007-03-26T11:25:00.001Z

Its been a wee while since i've put an entry on the blogg. To be honest there really hasn't been much news - just busy with the humdrum of work with not much else going on. I thought it was probably about time to put some "before and after" pictures of the work we had done (by my dad!) to our fireplace in the living room. He has remodelled it and installed a stove with back boiler to run central heating off. Visually it's also a big improvement. I forgot to take a proper "before" sot, so this is our Christmas 2005 pic which shows the old fireplace reasonably well:

And after all of dads hard work....

It's still really cold here, but we've had a high pressure system lately so there have been a few clear days. I took this shot over the valley that we live in. It shows the snow covered mountains in the background. It's beautiful isn't it? This is the view I get every day on the way home from the hospital when I turn off the motorway. Makes the commute totally worthwhile!

Holidays...

2007-03-09T11:03:00.000Z

Have a week off work at the moment and Dave ad I went to Reekie Linn Waterfall. Was totally amazing as it's been raining a lot here lately and the volume of water going over the 45 feet falls was immense. I don't think the photo really does it justice!

Do the Limbo....

2007-02-17T22:18:00.000Z

Dad's planning on entering the world Limbo championships following all the training he's had installing our heating system...

News...

2007-02-10T20:15:00.000Z

Started a new post in paediatrics this week. Was really sad to leave obs and gynae - I had a really good time working there with some great people (was only a bit of a shame about the abortion issues). I'm currently working in Perth, so it's a bit of a drive in the mornings and am having to get up quite early. Hopefully when the snow we have now melts I'll be able to get up a bit later! Doing clinics for 3 weeks and then I go back to Ninewells to cover the NICU (neonatal ICU). The rota is fairly heavy - lots of 70 hour weeks and 1 in 2.8 weekends for 6 months. Bit miffed as was supposed to get a pay rise but it looks like that wont be happening anymore. Anyway, it's my last 6 months of hospital medicine EVER!! Soon I'll be in cosy GP land ! Lots of exams approaching in the next year though, but we'll worry about them (and how many thousand pounds they will cost!) when I get to them.

Dad is still here - looks like central heating will be up and running by the end of next week. Will post photos once it's done.

Jen

Against the grain....

2007-02-01T20:36:00.000Z

Well, after much deliberation and discussion Dave and I have finally done something we never thought we would.... we've bought a brand new car. (well, actually the bank has!). I've just gotten so stressed out lately with the cost of all the repairs to our old cars and we heard about a really good deal through some work colleagues. I don't really believe in taking loans for material things, but after some calculations it seems like the new car is wise. It's a very small car and not exactly top of the range, but it does have a warenty for 3 years, should be reliable and should be cheap on fuel (we're at 85p a litre on petrol here just now - a slight improvement on almost 1 pound ($2) a litre before Christmas!!). It doesn't arrive until March, so we have time to try to sell our old car for a few quid. It's called a renault clio campus ad will be very small by US standards!

It looks like this:

Weekend Away...

2007-01-17T17:53:00.000Z

Just returned from our 2 night break at a posh hotel in Peebles (Scottish Borders). I've been saving up supermarket coupons for 2 years for it and we were really excited. Hotel was lovely - on a private golf course beside the river Tweed. Lovely leasure spa and great restaraunt. Unfortunately we had car trouble yet again (4th garage trip in 6 weeks). Our friends lent us their (original!) Mini and we had an exciting time driving it around. It was interesting watching 6ft Dave fitting into this tiny car. Third gear didn't really work and we lost the indicators for half a day and had fun with it cutting out if we didn't get the manual choke right, but it was defiately an experience!

The day before Hogmanay...

2006-12-30T22:57:00.000Z

Went to the beach at Auchmithy today. Was totally freezing but there were huge waves which was pretty cool. They were tubing - would have been good for a spot of kayak surfing! After that we went to see the Emu's at Kookaburah's in Forfar!

Christmas...

2006-12-27T19:21:00.000Z

Merry Christmas everyone! Here is the Christmas 2006 photo:

Turn on your Invis-O-Power!

2006-11-27T20:41:00.000Z

Check it out! For perhaps the second time in my life, I found something really cool at a second-hand store. Maybe I can even sell it on E-bay for a profit. It's a VHS with 5 episodes of the original Space Ghost cartoon series from 1966.

Space Ghost is an intergalactic crime fighter with two teenage sibling helpers and a monkey named Blip. Basically the plot of each episode is: the teenagers get in trouble, Space Ghost comes and rescues them, and the monkey does something cute.

Great stuff! For those of you not familiar with Space Ghost, he now stars in Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which is a chat show that he hosts, along with his band leader Zorak (featured in episode 3 of my video) and director Moltar. It is very oddball, late night stuff on the Cartoon Network.

So anyway, Jen and I have now been married for 2 years. Hooray for us! We went to Piperdam, which is where our reception was held, for a meal yesterday. It was yummy. Jen was sentimental and had a great time, I was hungry and had the pork chops.

On a more serious note, Jen has been having more trouble at work. It seems that one of the consultants has it in for her, since she is a conscientious objector to working in the termination Suite, which is where abortions are performed at the hospital. The senior doctors can't seem to grasp the idea that removing a placenta after an abortion is still part of the abortion. This is the line that Jen has drawn on her involvement. Apart from these trials, Jen really enjoys Ob-Gyn work.

Okay, that's all for now. Hopefully my next post will be about a new job for me. Either that or I will start a log of how much I shrink this month under the weight of Christmas packages. By the way, the wart is gone!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2006-11-19T20:24:00.000Z

It's my birthday today. I've reached the milestone of "quarter century".It seems kind of old! Dave keeps reminding me that he is older so it's ok!

We've had a nice weekend despite the cold, wet and dark Scottish winter days. We went to see Scotland play the Pacific Islanders at rugby in Edinburgh yesterday. We won! Today we went to church and Jo Mango (funky Christian singer from the land of Glasgow - check out her website: www.jomango.co.uk she plays this funky African instrument called the kalimba on a couple of songs. Try listening to "my lung" or "waltz with me") was there doing a few songs. After church we went ate some German sausages and mulled wine outside at the continental farmers market in Dundee city centre before heading off to watch the new James Bond film. Dave really spoilt me. I've been reminded how fortunate and blessed I am to be able to share all these things with him.

Here are some rugby photos.

Fancy dress...

2006-11-13T21:04:00.000Z

Finished nights on Friday and went to Vicky and Jon's fancy dress party in the Borders. Dave dressed up as a fisher man...

"Remember, Remember the Fifth of November: Gunpowder, Treason and Plot...."

2006-11-06T19:47:00.000Z

It was Guy Fawkes night last night. I saw some of the fireworks before I went to work for night shift. We have our yearly bonfire in the field opposite our house. Winston did not appreciate the fireworks-he hid under the sofa. Dave went to a big fireworks display in Dundee with the kids from our church.

Just thought - there may be some of you who don't know what Guy Fawkes night is. Basically he was a French dude who tried to blow up parliament in 1605 with gunpowder. His plot was foiled. Here's a photo of the fireworks from our window!

R & R....

2006-11-02T19:25:00.000Z

Brief entry to let you know I'm recovering from my bout of gastroenteritis. Yesterday was miserable. Dave stayed home from work to hold my hand and empty my bucket.He was excellent. Feeling better today - I've just managed my first meal. I start nights tomorrow so I need to be better for then as I cant be off work. Also just found out that I can't be off sick for any more than 10 days in the 3 years I am on my General Practice training scheme or they'll make me repeat a block (and with the current changes in Medical training in the UK there may not be a job to repeat in!).

Broadband Gets Skinny

2006-11-01T17:30:00.000Z

Hey, kids! Just sitting at home today taking care of a very sick Jen. She probably wouldn't appreciate me posting any details, so I won't.
I would like to share with you today some interesting findings on the amazing World Wide Web. It is such a weird and wonderful place.
Well, first a story about fighting with "The Man" and eventually winning (sort of). I have been researching new deals on telephone, electricity and internet services in order to see if we can cut down on our bills. Boy, is that complicated! Anyway, I looked at all the service provider websites and the comparison sites and finally decided that if we switched from Orange Broadband to BT, we would save like 20 pounds and get a new wireless modem. But then I phoned Orange to get my MAC (migration authority code?!?!) and they were like, "Sir, can I ask why you are leaving Orange?"
"Um, well, I can save 20 quid." I replied.
"I see, well would you consider staying with us if I can get you a better deal?"
"I'm listening."
Then the guy put me on hold and punched some numbers. The numbers surrendered and he came back with: "How about I offer your broadband at 9.99 for 12 months instead of the current 17.99, plus we'll send you the new LiveBox wireless modem for free."
"What's the catch? What about that 20 pound adminstration fee I found buried in the fine print? How many of my children will you own once I sign the new contract?"
Then, a revelation: "No catch. Please stay with Orange, sir. Seriously, they'll cut off my left nostril if I lose another customer."
With compassion in my heart, I accepted his offer of a free modem and a 96 pound discount on my yearly broadband subscription. WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?
So anyway, a few days later not one, but TWO free modems arrived at the door. My question is, how does a company survive while drastically cutting revenue and ineptly double shipping its free products?

Anyway, on this cheaper internet I have recently found the following site:
www.whatwouldjesusdownload.com
Particularly interesting is the "Christian Geek Apparel" section. Quick, order a "Christian Ubuntu" or "Linux for Christians" t-shirt before they all sell out this Christmas! I for one would certainly feel more spiritual running a christian operating system on my christian computer, wouldn't you?

Secondly, if you haven't seen the film, check out:
www.climatecrisis.net
It is a documentary about Al Gore and global warming. I don't know how much of it to believe, but here's the thing: being uninformed is not an option. It could just be propaganda or it could be the most important film EVER made. In my view, its a kind of Pascal's wager sort of thing.

Anyway, this is getting long and Jen is not feeling well again. Happy surfing!

Day off!!

2006-10-28T18:19:00.000Z

I finally have a day off! It's kind of a bit sad when you get excited about not being at work on a Sunday but basically i'm working 27 days at the moment with only 2 days off. It's a bit rubbish. Friday night Dave and I went to a friends surprise 30th birthday party. Yesterday I went to a friend from works wedding. She and her new husband are Malaysian so we were all taken out to an Oriental restaraunt afterwards - it was very nice.

Im still working on my parents Christmas quilt - it's definately getting bigger...

Best wishes,

Jen

Caution - Graphic Content!

2006-10-15T18:02:00.000Z

As promised, here is my wart. Jen smuggled a "caustic pencil" home and I used it to burn my wart. It is silver nitrate. Kids, don't try this at home. It turned all gray then black and looks nastier than this picture. It doesn't hurt, it just itches a bit.
Anyway, Jen would like you to know that I couldn't get a decent close-up picture with our digital camera, so I stuck my arm into our scanner for this photo.
Cool, huh?

Mmmm - caaaake. (Homer voice)

2006-10-12T20:25:00.000Z

Whew! 28. One of those significant milestones in life. Sort of. Good enough for chocolate cake, though! Thanks to Jen for a great birthday dinner and cake. And a new phone, book and espresso machine.
Thanks also to all those people in my life that have shared significant milestones with me, or vice versa. It was good to be reminded recently of all the great stuff that I've been a part of in the past year or so, such as Melissa's wedding, Eli's birth, recording with my band, etc. etc. As you can see in the previous post, we had a few of you around last night to make me feel older. Pete is the only one older than me (by 2 months).
Anyway, I'd like to share a few interesting things about my job delivering the mail. Before I do, let me assure you that I by no means enjoy the job as such, and any anecdotes concerning it cannot be used to convince me otherwise. That said, today I got my first gift as a postman. I think perhaps this resident is an angel in disguise. Not a very good disguise, since two of the four times I've seen him he hasn't been wearing a shirt. Today he announced "Why wait till Christmas?" and produced a bottle of 10 year old Aberlour whiskey. That cheered me up for awhile!
Now let me tell you about some of my more interesting customers. I happen to deliver mail to some very famous people. The godfather of soul, Mr. James Brown; rap artist R. Kelly; and actor R. Redford all live on the same street! The rather unfortunately named A. Dick lives at number 68. Finally, my nemesis H. Flin is the Queen of Sweepstakes. Her record is 33 pieces of junk mail in one day. If you are to believe the envelopes, she is definitely the luckiest person on this side of the Atlantic, as long as she sends in the confirmation number by next week. Interesting side note, most sweepstakes competitions seem to be postmarked from Canada, Las Vegas, or Kansas City.
Well, that's about it from me. By the way, final mixing of the new Ladybirds Can Fly album should be complete next week sometime. It's sounding good. We'll let you know when CD's are available.
Until next blog-post-entry-thingy-

-david

Happy Birthday Dave!

2006-10-12T16:48:00.000Z

Yesterday was Dave's 28th birthday. We had some friends around and chatted, played trivial persuit and ate chili and nibbles. It was a good evening.

Dave got quite a few cards and stuff. Mom and dad gave him some money to spend in a outdoor store here in Dundee. He's looking forward to that! I got him a (very much needed) new mobile (same phone number as the old one by the way) and an espresso machine. We need the Porters to expidite their visit to Scotland so they can give us lessons. The milk steamer has proven to be a dangerous appendage! Dave's friend Pete scalded himself whilst attempting to make the perfect cappuccino (just after announcing - " we're MEN, we don't need instructions!!"). I'm wondering whether a smoothy maker would have been a more sensible purchase!

(From left to right: Graeme (church friend and lead guitarist in Dave's band. Enjoying a gluten free muffin), Ashley (vocalist in band), Eva (Church friend), Simon (Church friend and married to Eva), The birthday boy, Pete (Dave's friend and business partner), Craig (band mandolin player).)

love to you all,

Jen.xx

ps. mom - have you worked out how to add comments yet?

My boys....

2006-10-10T12:44:00.000Z

Isn't this just so cute!!

The Life of Winston...

2006-10-07T11:42:00.000Z

Hi there to you all from wintery Scotland. Grandpop - I hope you've had success in re-accessing the site.

I'm a bit fed up today as was supposed to be going canoeing last weekend and got an infected foot and so signed up for this weekend instead and now have the cold. I'm pretty disappointed. Nevermind. Winston has been trying to cheer me up I think. He's been really helpful around the house - first he tried to help out when I was cleaning our leather sofa... only he used his claws (!). Then he decided he would try to help with the quilt I am making just now (see photo). I dont think sewing is his forte.

Anyway, Dave and I decided to plant a cherry tree in our front garden so we can have beautiful blossom in the spring. It's sort of to commemorate our second wedding anniversary - we thought it would be best to plant it now than to wait for November and risk snow and frost. Dave planted it this afternoon. He did a really good job (Ben Lemmons and Pete Reid would be proud of him I'm sure), remembering to take away the grass and top soil and replacing it at the end.

Winston watched from the window purring loudly - we reckon he thinks we've planted it for him as a new climbing frame/scratching pole. I'm sure he will try to test it out this afternoon. Afterall, last Christmas he went crazy with our 4ft fake Christmas tree - he would climb up the inside and knock of the balls and stuff!

Into The Fray

2006-10-01T17:02:00.000Z

Hi, it's me, David. My first blog entry. Ever. Jen made me do it. I don't have much interesting news to tell, basically because Jen does such a good job of keeping everyone up to speed on what we are up to.
So I had a wart on my arm. I went to the doctor and he made me an appointment to get it removed. It took awhile, but then I finally was able to go back and see this nurse who had a big cannister of liquid nitrogen. It was pretty cool. She was just like, "So its this wart, then? Any others?" And I said no, that's it. So she pulled the trigger and sprayed this little jet of nitrogen at the wart. It really didn't sting or anything. Frost formed on a little spot about one centimeter wide, half on my wart and half on my arm. Then it disappeared. I was kind of disappointed, because I expected it to be more dramatic.
Anyway, it blistered up after a few days and eventually about half of my wart came off with the scab on my arm. I don't think the nurse hit the wart straight on, because only one side seemed affected. So I get to go back on the first of november to get another shot of the cold stuff. Maybe I will ask her if I can half the leftover nitrogen. I could use it to blast weeds in the driveway. I wonder if that would be more effective than the propane blowtorch I have right now. Jen won't let me use the blowtorch on my wart. She says that's like something my Dad would do, and I think she's right.
One time my Dad smashed his fingernail and it bled under the nail. I've had the same thing happen and it really hurts because of the pressure it creates. So my Dad took his cordless drill and used a really small bit to drill a hole in his nail. It worked.
Okay, so I'll let you know how the wart thing goes and maybe I can post some pictures of the dramatic process next time.

bye.

Sweet memories of last week...

2006-09-21T19:30:00.000Z

Well, was just getting myself a bit down about being back at work and being knackered because the rota person thought it would be nice to make me do double on-call on my first week back from my holidays.... and then I checked out Kevin Porters blog http://kevloveser.blogspot.com and saw some photos of our US trip. We went to my first American Football game when we were there with our friends, Kevin and Erine, to see Dave's alma matter in action. Unfortunately there was a thunder storm and we were less than prepared for the weather. Despite this it was really fun!! I'll get through tomorrows 13 hour on-call by thinking of our next trip to Kansas.....

Ladybird's brought down midflight at charity gig....

2006-09-18T16:40:00.000Z

Dave's band, "Ladybird's Can Fly" played (briefly) at Dundee Michelin plant on Sunday as part of their charity festival. Unfortunately some snotty neighbours thought the band before Ladybirds (playing mainly country covers) was too loud and called the police. The result being all music was curtailed at 3pm in the afternoon. I have to ask myself two questions: 1) what the point of getting a licence from the council for live music is. 2) how unhappy are people who disrupt a charity event like that?? Moan over.

Anyway - the three songs ladybirds did play were beautiful and i got a photo for the blogg. Check them out at: www.ladybirdscanfly.co.uk (there should be some new music on there soon too as the band are recording a new demo. Current music is a bit out dated).

Cheerio,

Jen

Back in the UK...

2006-09-16T22:30:00.000Z

We made it safely home to Dundee on Friday afternoon after a fairly horrible trip. Our flight out of KCI was delayed by 3 hours due to low cloud in New York which meant planes couldn't land into Newark. This resulted in us missing our connection and being put onto the next flight to Edinburgh - not bad we thought. Then we had to endure fairly severe turbulence fro about 2/3 of the 7hr flight over the Atlantic. I haven't prayed so hard for quite some time. It got really crazy over Ireland when we had a short burst of extremely violent turbulence which even had the hostesses cursing. The guy across the aisle from us had a cup of coffee and it ended up over him, Dave and the ceiling. It was really throw you out your seat conditions and had me (and most of the rest of the plane) pretty scared. We were very thankful to land in Edinburgh.

On a brighter note - we had such a good time in Kansas and with Mom and Dad on our trip to Colorado. It was fun to see so many friends and family and to be there for Melissa and Clint's wedding - what a special day to be part of! We had great fun at the football (despite the rain) with the Porters and enjoyed celebrating Kevin's birthday with so many good friends. It was also fun to be around to hear Ben and Jess's "announcement" - way to go guys!

I had a bit of a close shave in Colorado with a male Elk who decided to charge me (I think i was a bit close trying to get the perfect photo). Dave says he's never seen me run so fast! I attach the photo I took of him the instant before the charge - his facial expression says it all. Also, I've attached a photo of a ground squirrel helping himself to our dinner!

Also, check out this nugget: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31916

Best wishes to you all,

Jen & Dave.