RootsChat.Com
General => The Stay Safe Board => Topic started by: Gillg on Friday 14 August 20 11:40 BST (UK)
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Looking back over the last few months I was trying to find something good to balance the bad times. :-\
My greatest achievement was a much needed weight loss, brought about by diet and exercise changes. At my last annual check-up my BMI was way too high and I was warned that I was in danger of becoming Type 2 diabetic, so decided to do something about it - BMI's down, blood pressure's down. hurray! Just need some new clothes now, a size smaller!
Since my children have been doing my shopping I haven't been tempted by any special offers or impulse buys, so have stuck to a list and have saved quite a bit of money by not buying stuff I don't really need.
My greatest failure, however, was not to complete my ambition to bring up to date and file and record all my family history research. It has seemed an unsurmountable task, but I'm plodding along a bit at a time, so maybe I'll get there some day.
What have been your greatest achievements and failures?
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I cannot say I have achieved anything throughout the lockdown, BUT I must commend a friend who has been busy making scrubs masks and hats the whole time, she is still making masks which she is donating the monies to charity after we all scrabbled around for materials
I must add there are a lot of people doing exactly the same, mostly nameless but well done them
Louisa Maud
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I've got a far tidier back garden than I normally have!
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Me too :D
I got to the bottom of my mending pile and found clothes I’d forgotten about!
I put the photos of my 40th birthday party in the pretty album I’d bought, only 15 years after the event ;D
I would have liked to empty the loft and cleared out my wardrobe but common sense told me it would just create piles of stuff which I then couldn’t donate, recycle, sell or whatever. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it ;)
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... re: the loft. I must remember that excuse.
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PHOTOS! Have gone from about 27 boxes of them all over my office to just a few now- 2 for sorting into albums, 1 for those I'm keeping but not putting into albums, 1 large box for children to pick from (& a few on bulletin board to be posted to people); also 1 box of negatives & 4 of really old ones stored nearly in closet. Have lost count of how many albums I've put together so far. Moved arm chair into office for watching television with shredder next to it (another ongoing project is decluttering files and shredding old bank statements, farm accounts, etc.).
Lots of gardening was done, especially with long spell of lovely weather at the start of lockdown, bits of garden plants, soil, etc. moved from one place to another, 2 large flower beds done (mostly weeds since garden centres weren't open for so long) and lots more projects planned for the future.
Baking has now resumed since I was able to get a new oven a few weeks ago which means I should really defrost the freezer first....
always something to do :)
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I promised myself that I'd finally go through all my wardrobes etc and sort out those clothes/shoes I no longer wear and put the lot in charity bags, but then the bags stopped coming through the door so I went off the boil! usually, I must get about 3 a week - some for the most obscure 'charities' that make me wonder if they're genuine.
The bags have now started to arrive in numbers again so I made a start - a feeble one, but at least I made a start! Then I caught an item on the news yesterday about charities being overwhelmed with donations and not wanting anymore (I didn't get the full gist of the news item as I only caught it as it was finishing so hopefully I got that wrong). Typical!!! Shall I stop? Shall I continue? Like you, oldfashioned girl, I don't want to be left with piles of clothes dotted around the house!
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Decided to rebuild my model railway from the ground up!
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My husband decided to empty our loft of all the unwanted bits and pieces we had inherited - mainly silver and cut glass - and he brought all the boxes down to the spare bedroom for our children to inspect and take away if they wanted. The very next day lockdown was announced. >:( The boxes remain in the spare bedroom, waiting for that magical day when we can invite the children inside the house. I hoover round them (the piles of boxes, not the children) every week, regretting what seemed like a good idea at the time. ::)
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My greatest achievement was a much needed weight loss, brought about by diet and exercise changes. At my last annual check-up my BMI was way too high and I was warned that I was in danger of becoming Type 2 diabetic, so decided to do something about it - BMI's down, blood pressure's down. hurray!
What have been your greatest achievements and failures?
Congratulations, you'll find keeping a healthy BMI, etc., should hopefully prevent excessive wear on your bone joints and hopefully avoid unneccessary medication or op, later.
Threat of Covid has assisted many to give up smoking too!
My failure was to go out in my back garden several days ago in just my bed shorts and sleeveless top on a misty early am ...
I thought I'd said goodbye to the last of my mysterious rash, blotches, swellings, spots, itching to my body and burning stinging agony inside my legs, the final two areas were just about disappearing, after several months of suffering!
However, I was attacked by a group of blood sucking type insects, whilst pulling a long bramble from the hedge speading to the lawn, I brushed them off with my hands and showered. Started to swell up.
By yesterday I felt sick and went to bed early, but by this morning the redness and infection looked very serious to both my legs and my wrist to elbow :o
Doctor has put on Antibiotics and said seek urgent help by 111 if infection spreads further.
My gardening gloves protected my hands from thorns, but shorts & sleeveless top not a good thing!
Mark
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Yes, I second Mark's congrats Gillg.
Achievements include persuading Mr Josey to agree to new bedroom carpet [been there since house was built in 1985, we've been here since 2000]. We'd saved alot of money inlockdown, no going away or out, no haircuts. It was laid today wonderful feels like a trampoline after the last threadbare one. Made face coverings for the neighbours with donated material & some beeswax food covers for the local river charity.
Failures include not keeping up with ukulele practice [zoom just didn't work & we were just getting into garden meetings when we went into local lockdown in Kirklees].
Ouch, Mark. I went to put out recycling bin in dressing gown & crocs a few years ago, fell down our steep drive [I blame the crocs other brands are available] and broke my leg. I now never go out unsuitably dressed!
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Since my children have been doing my shopping I haven't been tempted by any special offers or impulse buys, so have stuck to a list and have saved quite a bit of money by not buying stuff I don't really need.
Ditto. Healthy bank balance. Used only 5 local shops, 5 minutes walk away, apart from 1 visit to a supermarket. Walked there and back so could buy only what I could carry. Limited stock in local shops so nothing to waste money on.
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:=(
Similar to Mark . . . . ( since moving from 'Erts ) these Devon insects just luv lursh juicy me.
Never got bit in SW 'erts, . . . . . .
Devonian spiders, ticks, horseflies must talk amongst themselves. . . . . .
" Here he comes, quick, sharpen your biggest fangs, He's really tasty! "
" These self-isolating pensioners eating their brekkies in the early morning sun (brrrrr) just sit there waiting for us "
As for doing the "SoDuckO" in the late afternoon, those insects ALL want to help
>:(
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Achievements
Saving money by not going out and only ordering the food we need
Not using any petrol having only travelled c100 miles since February.
Spent more time on family research
Spend more time learning to play my keyboard
Walked the dog far more
Failures
Health has caused problems (Arthytis)
Garage is a total mess with everything piled in there
Garden a disaster
Put on weight
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Spent more time on RootsChat. Not sure which category it falls into.
Took part in a conference by Zoom (2 sessions several weeks apart). Attempted a Zoom tutorial (unsuccessful).
Tried to keep in touch with members of local organisations electronically. Hit & miss.
Younger people have stepped forward as volunteers.
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I managed to take part in one "Zoom" thingy, no problems. Three weeks later, tried to take part in another ( same organisation, etc, same computer for me....) managed to see what was going on, but could neither hear ( that annoyed me) nor contribute ( that didn't). Did all the checks but simply seemed to have no sound connection..... baffled.... and cross...
-And I'd been quite pleased at actually managing it last time with no problems. Drat.
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That's happened to me a couple of times during zoom U3A group meetings - visuals but no sound. One solution, if all systems test out OK & equivalent to a boot up the backside we used to give laboratory analysers, is to leave the meeting & immediately join again, Never failed to solve the problem.
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Ahah, I'll give that a try. I did try coming out of my meeting, and zipping into another room, grabbing a laptop. and trying getting back - but the silly laptop, getting on a bit, and with a lot of temperament at the best of times - it doesn't get out much nowadays, poor ol' thing - ahhh - so that didn't work either for my tangle.
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I am lucky enough to live in a village within 250 metres' walk of open fields, 500 metres' walk of forests, and 1000 metres from a major river, and within cycling distance of the sea.
Deciding that I would enjoy my solitary long walks better if I had some sort of purpose to them, I took up botanical recording for the database maintained by the Botanical Society of the British Isles. I had done a bit in previous years but all sorts of other commitments always curtailed my plant-hunting.
With the patient help and guidance (all by e-mail) of the County Recorder, I have added thousands of records to the database. It wasn't too hard to do so, because there are so many map squares within just 5 miles of here that had never been properly surveyed, and I can expect to find 100 or more species in any one of them.
There are many plants that I just don't know (I am not at all good at telling the different types of grasses, sedges and rushes apart), but I just send a photograph to the County Recorder, and he normally knows and tells me what it is. It doesn't really matter if I miss something, because maybe another surveyor will find it, or I might find it on a return visit. And any information is better than none in the database.
I've found all sorts of interesting things, including pure white Melancholy Thistles, Alpine Lady's Mantle on two places on the (lowland) river bank, a South American beech in woods in the north of Scotland, and plants that have not previously been recorded in this area. I've also seen Creeping Lady's Tresses at long last, and learned to recognise hundreds of species of plant.
I'm planning to keep going until I have submitted at least 10,000 records, but I won't stop even then as there are still plenty of opportunities to record plants even in the winter now that I have learned to recognise leaves without flowers. And I suspect that I may still be doing quite a lot in 2021.
So it's been a real win-win-win-win, and I am still enjoying it immensely. I have had lots of exercise and plenty of sunshine; I've explored places within 5 miles of here far more thoroughly than I ever did before, and learned to appreciate my home area even more than I used to; I've learned a vast amount about the local plant life; and I hope I've made a small but useful contribution to science.
And since lockdown was eased a little, allowing travel by car, I have undertaken some longer walks with friends (no botanising on those of course as it's impossible to walk at a comfortable pace and record plants at the same time) on low- or medium-level paths and rights of way within about 30 miles. I have online photo-journals of those at http://www.geograph.org.uk/geotrips/ if anyone wants to see them.
And the failures. Plenty of those. The garden remains a wilderness full of interesting wild plants, and the house is still in chaos, full of piles of things I was preparing to get rid of when the pandemic struck. The kayak remains unpainted, the slides remain unscanned, the boxes of papers and bags of mending are as full as ever they were, the knitting wool remains in balls, and the tax return is still untouched. Ach, it's almost autumn, and it will soon be winter, and there's time enough for all that indoor stuff when the weather gets worse.
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I am lucky enough to live in a village within 250 metres' walk of open fields, 500 metres' walk of forests, and 1000 metres from a major river, and within cycling distance of the sea.
Deciding that I would enjoy my solitary long walks better if I had some sort of purpose to them, I took up botanical recording for the database maintained by the Botanical Society of the British Isles. I had done a bit in previous years but all sorts of other commitments always curtailed my plant-hunting.
With the patient help and guidance (all by e-mail) of the County Recorder, I have added thousands of records to the database. It wasn't too hard to do so, because there are so many map squares within just 5 miles of here that had never been properly surveyed, and I can expect to find 100 or more species in any one of them.
There are many plants that I just don't know (I am not at all good at telling the different types of grasses, sedges and rushes apart), but I just send a photograph to the County Recorder, and he normally knows and tells me what it is. It doesn't really matter if I miss something, because maybe another surveyor will find it, or I might find it on a return visit. And any information is better than none in the database.
I've found all sorts of interesting things, including pure white Melancholy Thistles, Alpine Lady's Mantle on two places on the (lowland) river bank, a South American beech in woods in the north of Scotland, and plants that have not previously been recorded in this area. I've also seen Creeping Lady's Tresses at long last, and learned to recognise hundreds of species of plant.
I'm planning to keep going until I have submitted at least 10,000 records, but I won't stop even then as there are still plenty of opportunities to record plants even in the winter now that I have learned to recognise leaves without flowers. And I suspect that I may still be doing quite a lot in 2021.
So it's been a real win-win-win-win, and I am still enjoying it immensely. I have had lots of exercise and plenty of sunshine; I've explored places within 5 miles of here far more thoroughly than I ever did before, and learned to appreciate my home area even more than I used to; I've learned a vast amount about the local plant life; and I hope I've made a small but useful contribution to science.
And since lockdown was eased a little, allowing travel by car, I have undertaken some longer walks with friends (no botanising on those of course as it's impossible to walk at a comfortable pace and record plants at the same time) on low- or medium-level paths and rights of way within about 30 miles. I have online photo-journals of those at http://www.geograph.org.uk/geotrips/ (http://www.geograph.org.uk/geotrips/) if anyone wants to see them.
That's a wonderful achievement, Forfarian! Something I would love to have done in my younger fitter days. I shall enjoy looking at your photo-journals, thank you.
Pat
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Thank you, Pat.
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And since lockdown was eased a little, allowing travel by car, I have undertaken some longer walks with friends (no botanising on those of course as it's impossible to walk at a comfortable pace and record plants at the same time) on low- or medium-level paths and rights of way within about 30 miles. I have online photo-journals of those at http://www.geograph.org.uk/geotrips/ if anyone wants to see them.
It reminds me of when I was in a field counting caterpillars one summer and a man walking his dog asked me if I'd lost something. I explained what I was doing. A few minutes later he shouted from the far side of the field that he'd seen loads of them. Same field on another occasion, a dog-walker remarked on a buzzard overhead; I'd not noticed it as my focus was near ground level.
I went to the field next to my caterpillar field in July to look at orchids. That a positive: the fields still exist; orchids still there; I'm still here; I was able to walk there & back. I saw through the long grass what I took to be a fox coming along a path parallel to mine; turned out to be a large cat which halted and stared at me :-[ (a great nature spotter I am, should have gone to Spec...) After it continued on its' journey 2 rabbits appeared on the path where I'd first spotted it. The farm to which the fields belonged has been gone a long time and they haven't been cultivated for decades. May be built on one day. It's "edgeland" territory. Fields are surrounded by old hedges containing ash and oak trees with multiple trunks, evidence that they were coppiced long ago as well as hawthorn, rose and bramble.
I've bookmarked the geo site.
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Yes, I've been asked several times if I've lost something when people have seen me wandering about staring into the undergrowth. When I explain what I am doing they always express interest, and often ask me about something they have seen nearby.
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Several people have asked me to ID a butterfly, sometimes from a description, others have photo on phone. I told 2 that the pretty butterflies they'd seen were a day-flying moths.
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The only thing I have achieved is to feel more tired than I did before.
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At the very beginning of lockdown we seemed to achieve a great deal...
First week putting up pictures that have been lying around after decorating and never decided where to put them..
The garden was dug over, mulched, trimmed,clipped and tided up... compost bins refilled, bags of non compost stuff ready to go to recycle centre once re opened, patio, paths pressure washed...
Vegs planted...
Fence and shed painted...
Started sewing duvet scrubs, proper hospital scrubs, face coverings... over 500 of those up to date...
Lots of games of scrabble...
Once able to meet others outside weekly coffee with three other neighbours... we've kept each other going..
Keeping up with Yogalates using teachers YouTube videos..
Failures.
Not tidying the loft or the garage...
Not doing family history...
Can't think of much else... more positives than negatives though...
Caroline
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The only thing I have achieved is to feel more tired than I did before.
Being tired is a result of what you've been doing - working, home-schooling &c.
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another ongoing project is decluttering files and shredding old farm accounts, etc.).
I've kept some documentation of our thirty years in business, the pricing looks like toy town money ;D. Our offspring will either throw it away or donate it to the local archives and some invoices may even end up on a local FB page for people to tick the "like", or "wow" button.
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I found a bulging manilla folder with inside it every payslip I'd ever had! Fascinating.