Toad in the Hole!

This afternoon I went down the garden to the vegetable plot to see if there was any sign of life yet. There most certainly was but it was far from what I expected.

While I was there inspecting the soil for seedlings I realised I was being watched - I spotted what looked like a little eye sticking out and looking up at me! I gradually moved some of the soil away to discover what looked like a frog.  As I moved the soil away a little more here is what I found. Anyway, I had a good look at him and then popped him back into the soil to bury himself again.

Then later when I went out to the car to get something I stepped out of the front door and guess who was there with something to show me.....

Gardening Time

The time has come and I have made a good start on the planting of vegatables.

I finished a temporary employment contract a couple of weeks ago and am finding it very hard to find something else at the moment - there doesn't seem to be very much around at present.  I am basically applying for anything that my CV matches up to but not hearing much back - I sometimes think that the majority of jobs advertised online don't even exist and they are just there to get you registered with the agencies.

Anyway, I have decided to use this time productively and while the sun is shining I thought it would be great to make a start on the massive garden we now have.

I started by sowing some chilli and sweet pepper seeds inside which I had saved up over winter, these are already growing very nicely and I have now separated them and put them in pots of their own.  I am going to give a few away as more grew than I expected.

Earlier this week I dug over the vegetable patch, I have now sown quite a few seeds both vegetables and herbs - the list so far is as follows:



Basil
Beetroot
Broccoli
Chillies
Garlic
Lettuce
Mint
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Peppers (capsicum)
Potato
Spring onions


I have planted more than enough of each of these for now and in a few weeks I will plant more of some of the vegetables to ensure a good ongoing crop.

I will keep posting as things grow and I will also be adding pictures so anyone who wants to can see the progress - it's as much for me as anyone else really so I can see which things work best.  I am hoping everything grows as this will cut down the food bill by quite a bit - we get through a lot of vegetables each week.

I now need some sort of greenhouse as there are certain things that I want to grow that are unlikely to grow outside and space inside is limited to windowsills.  The problem with this is the two cats have a habit of jumping up there and I'm not sure how safe they'd be - I can imaging soil all over the floor due to one of the cats knocking things off.

For now I have a few that are growing on windowsills but am keeping a close eye - especially on the kitten who seems to think everything is his toy!

Oscar's Bedtime

Peppers

A couple of weeks ago I decided to plant some seeds I had left to dry out in the laundry room. Some were peppers - red and green as far as I can remember - and the others were chilli seeds. They started to grow within days and so far are doing really well - almost time to separate and replant. 

 I have taken a few pictures of their growth so will upload them later so you can see how well they are growing.

There's going to a lot of hot food served in our house due to a possible abundance of chillies that are going to need using! - everything will contain chillies for a while I think! I didn't expect so many of the seeds to grow although I'm sure I will easily be able to give at least a couple of them away.

Any recipes with fresh chillies in will be gratefully received and tested! As for the peppers I don't think there'll be a problem there as we go through so many of them anyway.

Famous York Street Wins Award

York’s famous cobbled street The Shambles has won Google Street Views award for the most picturesque street in Britain.

'The Shambles' is one of York’s most famous streets and attracts thousands of visitors each year including as part of the Yorkshire Trail. The overhanging timber-framed buildings of the Shambles date back to the late 14th and 15th century (around 1350-1475) with the street itself dating back even further - there is mention of it in William the Conquerors Doomsday Book from 1086.

This stunning little cobbled street was originally full of houses and butchers shops many of which had their own slaughter houses to the rear. It was back then known as ‘The Great Flesh Shambles’ - possibly from the Anglo-Saxon word Fleshammels which literally meant ‘flesh-shelves’. Fleshammels was the word for the shelves that the butchers used to display their meat. The meat would have hung outside and been laid out on the window sills for sale. Butchers hooks can still be seen attached to the shop fronts. At this time there were no sanitary facilities or hygiene laws as there are today and raised pavements on either side formed channels for the butchers to wash away their waste blood and offal twice a week. There are records showing that as recently as 1872 there were twenty-five butchers’ shops on the Shambles. The last butchers to trade on the Shambles was Dewhurt’s at number 27.

Among today’s buildings there is a shrine to Margaret Clitheroe who was married to one of the butchers of the Shambles. This house is open to the public where the full story of Margaret Clitheroe can be read. You can also find more information here http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/york-margaret-clitherow-shrine.htm

Today the Shambles is better known for its array of souvenir shops, tourist attractions, cafes and restaurants and is often called Europe’s best preserved medieval street. As it is in Britain’s most haunted City the Shambles is included in many of the ghost walks and historic tours of the city, no trip to York would be complete without paying this beautiful historic street a visit.

Got a Website? How well is it Doing in the Searches? – Search Engine Optimisation

Ever wondered what search engines (Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo etc) find when they visit your site? Do they find lots of related text and links to other parts of your site? If they do that’s great. If not then there is some work do be done and quick! If the search engines can’t find you then how will potential clients? If you, like most depend on your website to bring in some or most of your business and it can’t be found then something needs to be done now – every day of your website not working to its full potential is losing you money.

Search Engine Optimisation is something that should be done when your site is designed and built, it can be done later if you have a site that is not working for you. If you already have a site then Search Engine Optimisation will improve the amount of traffic to your site and make it appear higher up in the search engine rankings – therefore making it visible to the people you want to see it. A website can look like the best site in the world but this is not what counts when it comes to search engines finding your site. Website optimisation is one of the most important parts of designing and building a website – without optimisation your site will not be found by search engines and in turn potential customers. There are basically two types of visitor to your site – the human kind and the search engine kind. Your site needs to be attractive to both and these are two completely different things and both of equal importance. This is where the designer has to work on two levels – there are certain things that can make a site look very attractive to the human visitor but if done incorrectly can prevent the search engines finding content and therefore will make for a low ranking website.

It could even be that you put your website into a search and the result comes back “did not match any results” – it is possible for search engines to be unaware of a site. This can be fixed quickly and easily but is extremely important if you want your site to work for you.

byITsizePro.co.uk can help you to optimise your website - Email us for more information

Kate McCarthy
info@byITsizePro.co.uk
www.byITsizePro.co.uk

Microsoft To Offer Browser Choices Across Europe

From today Microsoft is asking European Users if they would like to use a different browser other than Internet Explorer (IE).

This change has come as part of a deal that Microsoft have made with the European Commission after being accused of abusing its market position.

From 1st March 2010 a pop up will appear prompting users to choose and install one of 12 different browsers or to stay with IE. This software will come via the Windows Update software that Microsoft use to distribute their security patches.

The update has been prepared for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, even so, not all users of these will see the pop up. It will not appear for those who are already running a different default browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla FireFox or Safari. Users that have IE as their default browser and who have taken the option of allowing Windows to automatically install updates are guaranteed to see the pop up.

Anyone who has the automatic install of updates turned off will today be prompted today to install and run this software. These users may also go to the Windows Update site, run a "Check For Updates" and get it. When the software runs it will now present users with a window saying "An important choice to make: your browser". It also asks users to ensure they are connected to the internet. On clicking "Ok" they will then see the choice of the 12 browsers available with information on each to help users decide which suits their requirements. There is also an "opt out" option will will allow users to make a decision at a later date and will then place a shortcut icon on the users desktop giving users this browser choice at another time. Users wanting to stick with IE will be prompted to upgrade to the latest IE version which is currently IE8.

Currently the browser market share is:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 62.12%
Mozilla Firefox 24.43%
Google Chrome 5.22%
Safari 4.53%
Opera 2.38
Mini Opera 0.59%
Other 0.68M

It will be interesting to see what if any effect this change will have on the browser market share.

The pop up is already confusing many users who have been thinking they have a virus or that their computer has been taken over.