11th May
Alexa, Housesitting and Birds
Last year my niece decided to buy an Alexa for my mother as mum is almost deaf and has hardly any sight left. She thought it would help mum with various bits of information, control lights, tell stories and play music etc. We explained there was no person listening for mums utterances. One of the first thing she tried was requesting Harry Secombe singing the Ruged Cross. Nope not found because Alexa was looking for the ‘Sir’. Then mum tried a few other artists and singers from the 40’s, but alas not available or not referenced exactly as spoken. Seems the AI technology and the back catalogues are still in development. Mum argues with Alexa, says good morning and good night and apologies is she’s rude. It’s a lump of electronics mum, not a real person. As Judith is the registered owner, but lives a half an hour away, mum and Mags couldn’t understand why one evening the tv and lights suddenly went off. A few days later, it was tracked down to Judith telling Alexa at her end to turn everything off as she was on night shift, which rippled across the interweb to mums socket in her sitting room. Isn’t technology wonderful. The other night, mum tried ‘Alexa – socket off’ with nothing happening. I tried, as an Alexaphobe, and it worked. Mums comment – well she obviously didn’t like my voice!
We’ve been looking after my mum for the last twelve days while my sister and Steve have had a well needed holiday after it was twice Covid cancelled. It was easier on mum to stay in her environment than decamping her to our house, plus all the plants and cat that needed looking after. We’ve been back a few times to water our own garden and pick up bits and bobs. The normally skittish cat avoids us when we visit, but with Mags and Steve absent and me feeding him, he’s taken quite a shine to June and curls up on the sofa with her and tolerates me scratching him. At my sisters, watering is challenging with over two hundred pots, troughs and tubs and the dire warning from Steve regarding any that die. So far those that were dead are still dead and those that were alive are still alive, so on balance my street cred is good. June managed a spectacular fall on her first day while looking around the garden. Badly shaken, blooded and bruised, she refused to venture past the patio for the duration. I popped down the road to buy some plants from a private seller. A great range of plants so I said “I’ve got £30, what can I have”. I ended up with a huge boot full. While away from home, I had the ideal opportunity to update my memoirs what I’ve been working on for many years. Finally “A Lifetime in Electronic Engineering” is taking shape and as part of an infinity loop, the contents of the blog will also be included in the book – a bit of a Matrix moment.
While away from the house, the tit box by the patio was attacked by a woodpecker and the nest contents strewn around. With no activity, I removed the box to find one dead chick and two eggs abandoned on the box. I’ve now put a aluminium plate on the front with a 25mm hole ready for next year and will re-locate it further away from the bird table and will add similar plates to the other boxes. I spotted three young robins sitting on the fence down near the woods and a juvenile blackbird in the laurel, a lovely sight.
22nd May
A ton of gravel, a knackered knee and a week off
Following our house sitting, I ordered the 14mm to dust gravel to fill-in the steps into the woods (see April 24th blog). I watered the steps liberally with weedkiller then stapled weed suppressing sheet in place. The local sand and gravel company very kindly placed the 1 tonne bag over the fence from the side lane. This reduced the barrowing down to less than 5 metres. I filled five steps that afternoon and the remaining four on the Friday. With the aid of a pair of size 8’s and a hand tamper, the infill looked good, with only a few corners to top up in a few days when the grit settled.
June christened the steps on the Saturday and we sat for a while, surrounded by bluebells and birdsong. On the walk back to the house, I felt a slight twinge at the back of my left knee, which turned into an intense pain one step later. Quick thinking by June (after she offered to give me a piggyback), she retrieved the external walker from the shed so I could get back to the house. I then swapped over to the internal walker and proceeded to hobble to the sitting room, dosed myself with pain killers, anti-inflammatory and lathered my knee with Bio Freeze. And there I rested for most of the day and Sunday with June supplying food and cups of tea. On Monday, I booked an appointment with the doctor – miraculously done by 08:02. He called back later that morning and confirmed my treatment plan was the right one to do and to continue with it. Is it too late to retrain as a doctor I wonder – must Google it. By Thursday, my mobility started to improve and with the help of a knee brace from eBay, I got mobile again starting with a leisurely mowing of the lawns. By Saturday, I even managed to fire-up the hole borer to plant some plants in the woods and run the wire brush attachment for the strimmer over the drive as the weeds had taken over in just two weeks.
The doctor is phoning back tomorrow to check on my progress and if necessary, will organise some images of the knee. I thought it was some tendon strain/damage, but he thinks it could be related to my left leg compensating for the right one after over six decades. Osteoarthritis was his thinking. Who knows; all I know is that I ain’t as young as I think I am!
