Wulf's Webden

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9 March 2024
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Pocket Man

There was another sing-around at The Plough Inn this afternoon and I contributed a couple of songs (on banjo). First off, pocket… sorry, Rocket Man. I popped to the local supermarket this morning but, as I approached the tills, thought I’d forgotten my wallet. I’d even rung Jane and arranged for her to come down before I discovered that I’d put it in the wrong pocket in my coat! I caught Jane in time to save her the walk but that inspired me to give the Elton John and Bernie Taupin song a spin.

On my second go, I’d been preparing to sing Needed Time, a gospel song that I particularly associate with Lightning Hopkins. However, Mo went just before me and sang Jesus on the Mainline so I decided to go back to my original plan and see how I got on with a banjo version of Proud Mary. The different instrument and transposing from A down to G (the easy banjo key!) certainly gave it a spin which worked well, although I think the key of A suits my voice better for projecting.

There’s another session due in a couple of weeks although, at some point soon, the pub is sadly due to close for an indefinite period so we need to make the most of them.

8 March 2024
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Magnolia Bloom

My stocks of homebrew beer are running a bit low but there are still a couple of months before the ambient temperature is likely to get high enough to cause fermentation problems with my heating / no-cooling set up so time to get another batch underway.

For this one, I’ve turned back to the Exe Valley Spring Beer recipe I’ve used several times before (from Graham Wheeler’s Brew Your Own British Real Ale) but, according to my notes, it is the first time I’ve actually brewed it with all the right ingredients (no hop substitutions) and without adding any extras (I’ve topped up with both marjoram and crab apple juices in the past). The result, with just pale malt and a couple of hops, will be a golden and moderate strength brew that should be good for supping at the other end of spring when it is ready. I was also delighted to find that I’d hit the target gravity (1.042) spot on.

It is going in the fermenter this morning with some Four yeast from Crossmyloof (a version of the widely used SO4) and should be ready for bottling in a week or two.

The name of this batch, by the way, is inspired by our neighbour’s magnificent magnolia tree, that is just on the verge of reaching full bloom. It does shed a lot of leaves and spent flowers over our garden throughout the year but its beauty (and its utility for the local bird populations) makes that more than worthwhile and it seems appropriate to celebrate that with a drink!

7 March 2024
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We’re off to see the wizard…

You’ve probably figured out from the title alone what stage show Jane and I went to see at Loughborough Town Hall this evening. If you need an extra clue:

The Wizard of Oz

We know one of the cast members so thought we’d pop along to support him (and also our first visit inside the theatre). The show was based on a script that came out of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 but, in turn, owes a lot to the 1939 film that starred Dorothy Garland and others. I don’t know if that had any relation to the original stage play from 1902 or the book by L Frank Baum that was first published in 1900. I have read the book but it was a long time ago and I think it would be fair to say that my mental conception of the story is mainly bound up in the 1939 film.

Anyway, Loughborough Amateur Operatic Society (LAOS) did a good job of hitting all the right notes (literally and figuratively) and it was an enjoyable evening’s entertainment.

6 March 2024
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Currant Clearwing

Currant Clearwing Moth
Currant Clearwing

This wee tim’rous beastie is a currant clearwing moth (Synanthedon tipuliformis). According to the Butterfly Conservation site that link in the previous sentence points to, it is a day flying moth, widely distributed across most of Great Britain but relatively scarce. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before but we had two on the inside of our kitchen window yesterday, of which this was the one in an easier to photograph position (yes, that bit of the window does appear to be ripe for a spring clean!).

Inside the window? I suspect their larvae or pupae came in with the three bundles of cuttings I took from an ornamental currant and a couple of fruiting blackcurrants. They were mainly intended for winter decoration but, put in jars of water, many of the stems have formed decent roots and I hope to multiply my currant collection (some potted up in the polytunnel and the others to attend to).

I tend not to be too kind to creatures that could be classified as plant pests but I’ve not noticed my outside plants particularly suffering and these are beautiful looking little bugs. The online information suggests they normally take to the wing in May or June so putting them carefully outside probably hasn’t given them the prospect of an extended lifecycle – cold weather, hungry birds or the lack of suitable food sources will probably do for them. And, if not, then at least I’ll probably get to see them again although I will be monitoring my currant bushes a bit more carefully.

5 March 2024
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Zap!

I’ve been along for the first section of the ankle muscle study I am participating in (full title: Central nervous system predictors of balance and age-related changes in the ankle muscles). The first thing was to get measured up for some temporary electrodes, which involved a few patches of leg shaving. Good job I won’t be wearing shorts for a while yet! Then I sat down on the researcher’s jig, got connected up and spent the best part of an hour doing various ankle contractions, all of which were recorded.

The electrodes were partly for measurement but also for stimulus. Yes, small electric shocks on the calf, top of my head and half-way down my spine. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience although it wasn’t too bad. Anyway, back again next week for a similar but slightly longer second session.

4 March 2024
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To the Guitar Doctor

Don’t worry – nothing life-threatening to report. However, for a year or more now, I’ve been aware that wear on the zero fret of my six string Sei bass was causing the thinnest string to buzz. I’ve been taming it with a strip of fabric tied tightly round the top of the neck but I think this instrument is well overdue for the attentions of a professional luthier.

This morning I’ve dropped it off at Leicestershire Luthiers, who are based just up the road from me in Hathern. They’ve already done a truss rod tweak which has brought the action down, which is an illustration of how things have drifted under my inexpert hands. They’ve also spotted that the truss rod operates in the opposite direction to what they expected, which might be why my adjustments had led to it wandering off. They will get it all sorted, including the jobs that are definitely beyond my skills, I’ll learn a bit more and it should all be well worth it.

I’m looking forward to picking the bass up sometime in the next week or so and finding out how they’ve got on.

3 March 2024
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Too subtle?

At tonight’s Charnwood Symphonic Wind Orchestra, we spent the first half working on Eighties Flashback. It is a new piece to us and consists of various pop hits from the 1980s, like Thriller, Time After Time and Eye of the Tiger, arranged into a medley Paul Murtha.

I’d discussed breaking out some special effects with the conductor before half term. I normally play with a fairly straight sound with CSWO but this one seems to call out for synth bass, rock distortion, chorus and more. Tonight I got to try out the settings I’d been working on… and no one seemed to bat an eyelid. Possibly they were busy concentrating on their own parts or could it be that I’d been a bit too subtle?

I’ve got a week to ponder the answer and decide if I need to ramp up the cheesy sounds for the cheesy pop music!

2 March 2024
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Polytunnel Planting

The gardening year is beginning to ramp up. Last month, there were one or two things to get sown; in March there are all sorts of things that I need to get going. Many of those will be in pots for planting out in late spring but today’s milestone was my first direct planting out in the polytunnel beds – two rows of radishes (one each of ‘French Breakfast’ and ‘Icicle’) and a small patch of spinach (‘Gigante d’Inveno’).

I’ve also potted up some of the blackcurrant cuttings I took towards the end of last year. Given that they were (a) to prune the bushes and (b) to provide some indoor decoration, the fact that many of the cuttings have produced a decent set of roots while kept in water has been a bonus and, by putting the strongest into soil, I am hoping to get (c) some extra plants which can add to my soft fruit collection at the allotment.

1 March 2024
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Remote Control

We recently got given a DVD drive (including multi-region playback and Blu-ray facilities) but it was missing a couple of things. One was a power lead but, thanks to my habit of hanging onto that kind of item, I was able to dig one out from my extensive collection of “I might need it one of these days” items.

The other was a remote control. You might think it sounds lazy to want such an item but unfortunately the player had limited built in controls – you can turn it on and off, open and close the disk tray and there are buttons for play and stop. That’s all well and good but not so helpful if you want to pause a movie or jump to a particular episode of a show.

I started searching for universal remote controls but, in the end, settled for a relatively inexpensive one specifically marked as compatible with the player unit (less than a tenner), which arrived this evening. So far, so good – the only thing I haven’t been able to control is the volume and I think that is because it is passed off to the screen the player is plugged into. Time to go and watch some more DVDs to check it out further.

29 February 2024
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Happy Leap Day

My musing today was, if we stopped correcting the calendar with leap days, I wonder how long it would be before we noticed? I think day length would probably be the give away although even that is often masked by the weather. The weather, of course, would be a terrible indicator, which is why it remains important that we give the calendar a nudge every four years (except those divisible by 100 apart from those also divisible by 400!).