Cashback site

I don't know about you, but I hate being indoors when the weather is as lovely as it's been here to-day. A light breeze, sun since I opened my eyes this morning and the lovely smell of new mown grass make the day perfect for me. Everything is bright and my son's herd of Charolais cattle a field away are contentedly lying down looking as white as the rowan and may flowers that abound in the hedges nearby. And here is a photo of some-one else enjoying the sun!
I did just have a glance at my emails incase there was anything important and lucky I did because it took me a few minutes to get in early on a new cashback site, details of which were sent to me. This is what I was told: "How to get cash back payments of as much as 6.75% every time you buy a book, a holiday, an insurance policy, a lipstick, a washing machine, a Sky subscription... or even a garden shed online!
PLUS: How you could be earning hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year thanks to a few minutes work spent spreading the word of this amazing new website now!!!
I am REALLY excited about this opportunity. This is like getting in on a Google investment before it was worth $126 billion!"
As it is free it seemed to be a no brainer to join which I did and though I am obviously not going to make a fortune from it, every little helps. If you would like to see what I am talking about go to http://www.ei42.com/saversheaven/info/.
I hate to think of myself as old (don't feel much different to when I was half this age!) so I was interested to read in to-day's paper that the magazine The Lady is having a revamp. I will get a copy and tell you what I think in my next blog. Until then here's to all our health, wealth and happiness. Janet

I had one of those horrible SMS messages on my landline the other evening (in fact they sent me five between 8pm and 9.30 so I was not amused) :“Mrs Cross. You are due to make an appointment to see your dentist” etc, etc all spoken in a deep robotic voice. Now I don’t mind going to the dentist a bit and would rather do that than have my hair cut! The reason being that I never have to have anything done. I think this is for several reasons, the main one being that all our family have good teeth - it is in our genes. My mother and father both had their own teeth when they sadly died aged 83 and 93 respectively. But I also have not needed any plaque removing since using Ultrashine Radiance toothpaste followed by a quick rinse with Eliminate. To think I used to crack nuts with my teeth! Well I don’t do that any more but I do lightly clash them together once or twice a day whenever I remember. I read somewhere that it strengthens them so I do it.
I also do not clean my teeth within half an hour of eating. Again, I read somewhere that our saliva (which is used to help break down our food before beginning the marathon journey to the other end,) also makes our teeth enamel soft. I don’t know if that is true but it makes sense to me.
You will find that a lot that I do is from hearsay and reading over the years and if I think it is logical I will do it. You will have to make up your own minds about how mad some of these tips are - or are not. At least most of them cost nothing or very little.
I turned my back on the garden for a couple of days this week and could not believe the transformation when I looked again. The lawn growth is almost visible. The trees have burst out into the great variety of colours seen at this time of year and daffodil heads look droopy and forlorn with the heavy seed heads while the bluebells have spread through the woods and show above the grass elsewhere.
I have already deadheaded my daffodils. I break off the seed heads and throw them about as I think that in a few years time they will have grown into flower producing bulbs. If they don’t I can’t understand how my daffodils have so increased over the years. I do not cut the leaves until they have turned slimy and yellow.
Folk lore says that this summer will be dry as the oak is out well before the ash -
Oak before ash in for a splash,
Ash before oak in for a soak.
I believe the weathermen think the same. It is hard to believe at this precise moment as it is bucketing it down.
The very bad picture at the top is of three wild red deer in our field taken from the kitchen window. We are lucky enough to see wild deer near the house quite often once the shooting season has closed.
Last evening I was once again thankful for my good eyesight as I watched three red deer hinds resting across a field, drying and warming up in the evening sun I presumed. Although one of them was on the lookout it was not until I moved from the gateway that she spotted me. I felt guilty spoiling their siesta.
I always worry about the foals and deer calves out in this wet but I have just looked out of the window and there are two roe deer grazing near the house quite happily!
Whatever is to come weather wise this summer I am thoroughly enjoying this changeable cool spring as I tend to feel filleted in a heat wave.
Here’s to health, wealth and happiness to us all. Janet

I will tell you more about myself in dribs and drabs as I go on and about the heavenly place I am lucky enough to live in.
For now I wonder how many of you try to look your best or have you given up? Some-one tactlessly said to me the other day: “I don’t know why you bother at your age” when I said I did not want to get any larger! She missed the point. The reason I want to remain the size I am (and preferably a stone lighter) is not pure vanity - health comes into it and so I explained that I wanted to “Die healthy” by which I meant that I did not want to moulder away in some home unable to do much. Better to be fit and well and drop dead one day - at a good old age I added.
To try and achieve my aim I may seem eccentric, but I only have fruit for breakfast. I have been told that we humans assimilate the goodness in our food better when it is consumed before noon. So… I only have about three pieces of fruit for breakfast, including half an avocado sometimes. Then to keep me going until lunch I have a whey protein powder called Mass Advantage (obtainable from www.ingoodfettle.com) mixed into a glass of skim milk at elevenses. This gives me a protein boost without adding unwanted fat and I find it delicious and look forward to it. It can be added to any drink. Body builders would take this as, combined with specific exercises, it builds muscle, but I leave out that sort of exercise (!) and just go about my normal life knowing that I have made a good start to the day.
I love my garden and the photo is part of my 'suntrap'. This is a large area covered in 10mm cut grit and everything that grows there self seeds. Our house is on the 900' contour and the garden and view face East so there is frequently a keen breeze. The high pressure that often brings good weather invariably comes from the East so I made this hidden garden room a few years ago and have eliminated the wind with a willow hurdle fence covered in ivy. Behind that I have planted a yew hedge that will be windproof by the time the hurdles rot.
I am a great believer that gardens are also for sitting in and not just for constant work so the suntrap is full of plants that self seed - Verbena bonariensis, lychnis, violets, erigeron and easily pulled out weeds. I don't waste time battling to cultivate a plant if it obviously hates our soil or the cold at this height above sea level.
The other piece of information I have acted on for years is to drink before a meal and not during or after one. That is because the liquid will dilute the digestive juices which are hard at work breaking down and sorting out the nutrients of the meal. Both these ideas seem logic to me so I do them as I am a logical person (sometimes!) However, I do like my booze in the evenings so I cheat and have a glass of wine with my evening meal. That is after I have had an almost nil calorie drink of Vodka and diet tonic before! I am no saint and life is for living.
So until next time (and some-one will let you know if I am not still around) have a good week and make the most of this invigorating weather. Here is to all our health, wealth and happiness. Janet

Take the O out of OAP!

THE RURAL IDYLL OF A SILVER SURFER

This is my first blog and I hope that anyone reading this will be kind enough to let me know what they think of it - good or bad.
To put you in the picture - I am 77 and live on a farm in Devon, England. I used to farm here on my own but the land is now worked by my youngest son whose land adjoins mine. He grows corn and rears beef. My eldest son farms the far side of that so I can go out of my house going East and remain on family land for as far as I can (could) walk. He also grows cereals, rears beef and pigs and his partner has a successful stud. This photo is of some of the brood mares and their foals born this year.
Until three years ago I was incredibly active, swimming 600 yards three or four times a week. I did this in my own pool and swam to music. Sometimes it was Glen Miller, at others Mozart - anything to give me a rhythm as I didn’t stop between lengths. I also walked a lot and could go up really steep hills, again without stopping or feeling puffed. I cut the lawns on a ride-on mulcher mower and grew our vegetables in an 18’ x32’ poly tunnel as well as looking after flower beds. Then I got a very rare lung disorder (cryptogenic organising pneumonia or COP for short) which stopped me in my tracks for about 18 months.
I was just getting back towards being fit again when this day last year I had to jump out of the way of a motorbike! It was at an Enduro event held on my son’s farm and the injury I sustained has stopped me again! I had what is called a gluteal tendinopathy of the great tranchonter (in lay terms the tendon joining the sticking out part of my hip bone which goes down to my knee had come adrift at the top.) I tell you, old age doesn’t creep up on you, it comes in fits and starts. The prognosis given by my doctor and a specialist I saw after having an MRI scan was to live with it as an operation would only have a 50/50 chance of success me being so old!! They didn’t actually say that but it’s what they meant. So… I still swim, but half the lengths I managed before and I can only walk about a mile and going up hills is really painful.
As I love getting to places away from roads I have bought a Tramper. This amazing machine is a cross between a mobility scooter and an ATV (all terrain vehicle) and goes cross country. It does exactly as the ads say and has transformed my life! The battery lasts for 15 hours on rough going or 20 on roads. 8 miles an hour is its top speed and that is quite fast enough on the lanes around here sitting in something so small. As it is virtually silent I can hear the birds, my husband talking if he is walking beside me, and by taking my hand off the handlebar I stop in an instant if I see something of interest in the bank.
We, the Tramper and I, go across the fields or through the woods, flattening the undergrowth as we go. Muddy gateways and huge deep puddles that even cars would balk at are no problem - we sail through! Once I’m at a favourite place I leave the Tramper and walk as far as is comfortable, then get on again and trundle home. I tell you, if you like the inaccessible outdoors and find walking a long way difficult, or you have a dog that wants to go further than you can, the Tramper is the answer. You could phone Beamer Ltd, (who make the Tramper in England) on 01794884766 to find out your nearest agent.
The next blog won’t be so much about me but this first one is telling you certain facts that will be relevant in future.
Here is to health, wealth and happiness for us all. Janet