Category Archives: Life

Awake in the early hours!

March 04, 2013   Kevin Woodward   No comments

I am on kidding watch!

This is the second time in 5 days!

We breed pygmy goats and it is kidding time & so far things are not going to well :-(

We have a small herd of pygmy goats – 4 breeding nannys, one retired nanny, two kids from last year (a wether & a nanny), two wethers & two stud billys. Our four nannys are Fizz, Fudge, Flo & Breeze and all four were put with a stud around 5 months ago, and we wait now for the nannys to give birth. They have no particular time of the day when they give birth, unlike our llamas who will nearly always do it in the morning between 9am & 11am, and so when the process starts we need to keep an eye on them.

Pygmy goats are not the greatest kidders, they often need intervention, from bad presentation by the kid (they are supposed to come out as if they are diving out, front feet first with head in between), to a nanny that just cannot do it! We are not experts in these matters and are happy to get the vet to come out, but as they can take an hour to turn up it is important that we call them at the first sign of trouble.

Last week, Fizz had to have a c-section as the kid had come out head first, and unfortunately the kid did not survive & today we are watching Fudge closely as she has started & is a little over weight (just how do you stop a goat from eating). We have had the vet out twice to her already (it’s going to be a big bill this month) and he assures us that everything is just going along fine, but while he suspects that it will be 12-24 hours before she kids, we are not taking any chances and are taking it in turns to keep an eye on her.

I have the 1am – 4am watch & am sitting in my office which is next door to the goat she (I can hear her gentle bleats), so time to write a few blogs, catch up with the news & to keep my fingers crossed that everything will be alright!

The things we do for our animals!

 

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A break from Working Home Alone

February 28, 2013   StaceyP   No comments

One thing I don’t enjoy about working from home is that I can feel isolated and forced to stare at the same four walls all day, I find this distracting and it also doesn’t help me to generate good ideas or repeat business.

I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as lonely but my job still requires connecting with different people all of the time. When working from home gets too much for me I utilise a local hot desk service in town, sure I have to pay to rent the desk but it is in a very different environment from working at home, everyone needs a break – don’t they?

While “hot-desking” is a big change of scenery for me when I get fed up at home, I have found it has drawbacks:-

• A hot-desk is not the place to take your client if you want an in depth private conversation
• It is nice to connect with other local business people but when you have a tight deadline to meet people hovering over you and asking you questions is distracting
• I am used to the flexibility to work as and when I want to but if I utilise my local hot-desk service it is only open 9-5 on Monday-Fridays

Some of the benefits I receive from utilising my local hot desk service – (apart from supporting a local business) are:-

• A speedy internet connection and Tea/Coffee made especially for me!
• I can ask other business people for their expertise
• A meeting room I can utilise if needed
• Professional printing facilities

Another great thing about working away from home is that It gives me the opportunity to network with other local businesses, really spreading the word about my own business.

By getting feedback and opinions on the services I offer, can help me to improve and build on my own business. If I get to a dead end in my work, would like some help or just need a chat to break up the day, I can enjoy the company and inspiration of my new found co-workers!

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I have a new door!

February 26, 2013   Kevin Woodward   No comments

Actually I have two new doors, a new front door and a new back door!

Why? Well we have lived in our house for over 10 years now & have painted our windows and doors every two years, but despite our best efforts the doors have started to rot – they let the weather in along with cold draughts and for all our best efforts our hallway & kitchen get cold, so we have got new doors.

In some sort of strange way, I am hoping the doors pay for themselves, not only will they add value to the house, but the amount of money I spend on heating the house will go down (offset no doubt by a price rise, but I still hope I’ll save some money) plus the doors won’t need painting as I have got some composite doors (not upvc but some sort of solid composite material) that will outlast my tenure of the property!

Next task will be to see if I can get some green energy into my building to save me even more money!

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Are your inspirational tyres worn out?

February 22, 2013   robertz   2 Comments

In December I had to buy two new tyres for my car because the treads had worn right down. I’d got a lot of mileage out of them, but they could no longer grip the road so well. I feel better knowing that my car is more likely to respond quickly when I press the brake pedal.

It’s a shame I can’t do the same for the many inspirational quotations that flash past me on the Internet. Phrases that once seemed gripping, now seem flat and dull, worn down through constant repetition.

Take Jerome K Jerome, one of my favourite writers, who has been reduced to a quotation machine on Twitter. I wonder what he would have said about this?

It’s a bit like the Jane Austen entertainment machine. How many people know that she wrote books? Now she’s just another franchise.

What thrills me is to read original thoughts or a fresh take on a topic. I want to read tomorrow’s quotations today when they have just hit the road and have all their mileage ahead of them.

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Back to the grind stone!

February 13, 2013   Kevin Woodward   No comments

I found myself saying this today, odd really as I have never really felt that working from home here in North Devon is a grind.

I actually enjoy doing what I do, the flexibility of it all, the variety (what with the animals, the infrared heaters & the bean counting), but for some reason I felt the need to say, am back off to the grindstone.

Maybe it’s the weather, it is a bit cold wet & wintry out, maybe I have been doing too much of the same thing, or maybe something or someone is getting to me! Not sure really!

Still, I’ll sort everything out later & head off to the pub for a beer!

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Family Matters.

February 11, 2013   Elaine Isaac   3 Comments

It’s my sons birthday today, he’s 11 and really misses his 2 sisters who live away at University and college. Although the one at college gets home most weekends she couldn’t this week so he thought he wouldn’t see either of his sisters near his birthday. How wrong he was!

His eldest sister arranged to come home as a surprise to see him, this was organised a few weeks ago and was quite difficult to keep a secret, but I managed, but what I really want to tell you about is when we went to meet her from the bus. Son doesn’t usually want to come to South Molton shopping with me, so I had to make the excuse that there was something important I needed him for related to his birthday – he named it the mystery birthday surprise. Once there, he kept on at me ‘Where are we going? What’s my surprise?’ We were stood up the street from the bus stop, and when he saw his sister get off the bus ran up the street straight into her arms, he hadn’t seen her since the Christmas break. The look of joy on his face and his reaction ‘So this is my birthday mystery!’ was wonderful. I felt so proud of my family and on reflection no matter where your family are and how often you see them, family certainly matters to me.

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Half an acre of employment land per #NDevon parish!

February 09, 2013   Kevin Woodward   1 Comment

At the Economic Forum held earlier this week in Bideford we discussed the Local Plan – we have to comment on it by 15th March & it can be found on both the North Devon District Council & Torridge District Council websites.

What was interesting is that businesses, not just residents, are needed to comment – the plan is after all a plan to grow North-ern Devon (dislike this term myself) and to do that we need jobs, inward investment, houses & importantly “employment areas” – where are these new businesses going to go?

One of the aspects that made me think was that some of this employment areas will be on greenfield sites – once the land is allocated, new businesses will be able to get planning permission far easier than on brownfield sites, particularly as the cost of cleaning up the mess that is already there needs to be taken into account – contamination was one area that creates a barrier to wanting to take over a brownfield site!

This plan does not include rural development, it only includes the major towns, Bideford, Torrington, Barnstaple, Ilfracombe and the like (are there many more?) and each town has to build so many houses, have so much employment land, recreation land etc…, but it doesn’t yet include rural development – that comes later in the process, but the villages and rural parishes will have to come to the party!

A suggestion, and it was only a suggestion, that each parish will have to come up with employment land – let’s say half an acre each – as well as housing to support the jobs that this land will create!

What do you think – is it a good idea to extend the development of the area in both the towns & the more rural villages, or should it be left to the towns to absorb the anticipated growth?

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I was nearly ripped off!

February 04, 2013   Kevin Woodward   No comments

As you may know from an earlier blog I am building a shed – I needed 18 bolts to bolt together the walls through a metal support!

I bought said 18 bolts from a local agricultural store, but sadly they were not long enough, so needed to replace them.

Itching to get on with the job we popped into a major high street DIY chain in Barnstaple to buy them from there (good old agricultural stores are shut on a Sunday) and stopped short when the price was over £3 for a pair of bolts – nearly £30 for the 18 – what a rip off. Patience returned and today I went back to the agricultural store and bought 4 packets of 5 for £1.80 each!

I paid £7.20 for something that this high street DIY chain wanted to charge me nearly 4 times as much for!

You’re not such a bargain place to shop after all!

Check out the smaller independent stores, you’ll be surprised to see how much cheaper things can be!

 

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A nice day for a change …can we have more?

February 02, 2013   Kevin Woodward   2 Comments

I don’t know about you but I am fed up with all this wet weather!

Our llamas are fed up with it as are our goats!

Today though, was a nice day… for the time of year…  & I was able to get on with some of my outdoor chores.

I am building a shed!

At the back of our workshop there is a sort of lean-to – it is 5 metres long and about 2 metres deep and has a tin roof! I want to enclose it in in and turn it into a shed! I have so much rubbish that is so …..just dumped in all sorts of nooks and crannies…and it needs sorting out!

First task was to put some power in there – it is a north facing lean to and will never get any natural sunlight in – and whilst it is fairly light without walls it will become very dark once they are built. I do plan to add windows but it will be dark nevertheless!

So, today there is power, a real sense of achievement – I get to turn a light on and/or use my drill or charge up my power screwdriver!

But, things can always go wrong… the bolts that I bought to put the walls up are not long enough!

Might just stick to the day job!

Nope, I won’t because I enjoy these little challenges – these are the very challenges that I want to have a go at because my day job can be seen as a bit dull – I am good at it mind, but it is dull!

What are your little challenges?

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Are you a customer – of course you are?

January 29, 2013   Kevin Woodward   2 Comments

It is a modern thing nowadays to buy things on-line – you do your research on-line, you make the purchase on-line & never speak to anyone – it is the modern way of things. The company contacts you with an automated response & may or may not keep you informed by email & the goods turn up, you open the package and before you know it the purchase process is long forgotten.

The only time you might contact the company again if you have a fault with the product – good customer service hopefully kicks in and sorts your problem out – and on you go!

It is so easy that I think we lose our manners with this automated process and forget our please and thank you!

But then, there are times when it is necessary to contact the company – you might do this by phone, by email, through a contact form – and ask for more information, you may even want a quote, the company spends some time responding to your question(s) and you take this information away and think about it.

You may then go on-line and buy the product, or you may go elsewhere, but do you ever let the company that you do not purchase from know that you are going elsewhere, do you thank them for the help they have given you in making your decision, do you think to give them feedback as to why you bought their product or why you went elsewhere. Businesses won’t snap at you for not buying their product and it will help them close their files!

Do you thank them for their time, even if you do not want to buy their product?

You should you know!

 

 

 

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