Official: June was the wettest June on record!

The Met Office says June was the wettest June on record, yet we had lovely weather up in the west of Scotland.  As a matter of fact, it was so dry that the distillery at Tobermory on Mull had to stop making whisky, as there wasn't enough water.  Some of the islands hadn't had rain in over 6 weeks.

Tony at the Kyles of Bute

Tony at the Kyles of Bute, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Here is Tony enjoying a break overlooking the Kyles of Bute. He is wearing his sturdy trainers and has a rucksack with his packed lunch - I think Tony is going hillwalking this afternoon.

Tighnabruach and the Kyles of Bute

Kyles of Bute, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Bev and the Nice Lady were keen to visit Tighnabruaich, as that is where the Nice Lady's mum and Bev's gran used to go on holiday. The village of Tighnabruaich is in Argyll, situated on the east coast of Loch Fyne, and is a very pretty village indeed. We walked along the beach and had a lovely lunch sitting outside in the warm sunshine..

The road was narrow and twisty, but we all got fantastic views out over the Kyles of Bute, which is a narrow strip of sea separating the Island of Bute from the Scottish mainland. In this photograph, the Island of Bute is on the right, and the mainland is on the left - only 300m separates them. The Waverley Steamer and other ferries visit piers on both Bute and the coast, with one calling in at Tighnabruaich.

What a great day out we had - the weather was warm and bright, and the scenery was magnificent!

2012 Scottish Holiday!

We haven't blogged much recently because we have been planning our grand tour of Scotland.  We planned to visit the Nice Lady in Stirling (Bev's mum) in anticicpation of great scenery and scrummy tablet, and we were not disappointed.

So, what did we want to see?

• Tony wanted to see the Olympic torch coming through Stirling, as he says he is competing in all events at the Olympics, with the exception of the synchronised swimming!  Why synchronised swimming, we ask?  He hangs his head and says he has no-one to synchronise with!  We'll need to find some good swimmers who can help Tony out.
• We all wanted to go out into the wilds, so Bev suggested Ardnamurchan point, the most westerly point on the British mainland.  If you ask me, Bev was just picking places which Paul couldn't pronounce!  
• The next place we wanted to see was Tighnabruaich and the nearby Kyles of Bute
• And, of course, we wanted to go back to the wonderful Highland Wildlife Park to see the two polar bears and the wildcats.

Now we are back home again, we have lots of stories and photographs to share.

Creepy light!

This is seriously disturbing - it will give children and bears nightmares for years to come!  A headless bear as a bedside light - what were they thinking of?  If we bears had thumbs, we would give this a BIG thumbs down!

Curry's - why is their customer service so awful?

If you remember, Bev tried to get a pair of Dr Dre headphones in Curry's but all they would sell her was a sealed box.  She finally bought a pair in HMV after being served by a very competent sales person who let her try the headphones with her iPod.  Anyway, you would think she would know better than to give Curry's a second chance, but that is what she did at the weekend.  They had the Asus Transformer Prime tablet, but when she asked if it was in stock, she was informed that it was not, though if she fancied a drive to Oxford, they would probably have one in that store!
Does Bev look stupid?  Why would she drive to Oxford to get one when she can order one online with no delivery charges?  Do you know how much diesel costs these days?  So, Curry's lost yet another sale - this time to Amazon, who delivered it promptly and for free.
OK Curry's, don't blame the loss of sales on online stores like Amazon - look at the poor service you offer your customers and ask yourselves what you can do to improve it.  It's not rocket science - be knowledgeable about your products and stock, don't just say "if it's not on the shelf, we don't have it", and offer to get product from other branches to satisfy a customer request.  Be proactive!
And is Bev loving her shiny new gadget?  Do bears poo in the woods?  Of course she loves it - it looks gorgeous in its subtle champagne colour, it is functional in that it is a tablet but with a keyboar / docking station, which turns it into a 10-inch notebook, and it is fun!

Pinch, Punch, First of the Month - May starts wet and dull!

After the coldest April in 100 years, the first day of May was wet and miserable, though at least it wasn't too cold.  We have had weeks of rain, but officially there is still a drought and a hosepipe ban.  Just how much rain do we need before there is enough water?   Last year we were on the farm from the end of February until the middle of April, and the weather was warm, sunny and dry.  In contrast, this year's spring and early summer is miserable, which is stopping us bears playing in the woods and getting out for picnics :-(  And Tony's not allowed out in his smart new shoes in case they get muddy.
I know, let's have a picnic in the house, just like we did during the last two power cuts - we'll have bakes beans, buttered bread, yogurts, cider, cakes and chocolate!  Sounds scrummy!  And then we'll chase each other round the house to burn off all those calories :-)

Kitty Cat - good news!

We took Kitty to the vet yesterday for his glucose curve, but they were concerned because his glucose levels had dropped significantly after his morning injection.  So, they kept him in overnight, tested again this morning, and he had a perfect curve.  So, what does that mean?
It means we have his diabetes under control, and he doesn't have to go back to the vet's for 3 months!
The humans are delighted- they have their healthy Kitty cat back again, and their bank balance will be a lot healthier now that Kitty doesn't have to go for weekly curves.

Uh oh, Phoebe - Vampire Slayer!

Phoebe has been so impressed by two characters from our recent bedtime stories - Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Dr Van Helsing from Dracula - that she wants to be a vampire slayer when she grows up!  Scary or what?

Question - can you use a taser on a vampire and what would it do (the taser, not the vampire)?
Answer - we don't know but Phoebe intends to find out!

Spooky Bedtime Reading

Bev tucks us up in bed at night and reads us a bedtime story, but recently the stories have been a bit scary for us little bears. First, there was The Terror (the title says it all, really), about a mystical polar bear hunting down the members of the John Franklin expedition in the arctic. Bill and Phoebe loved the descriptions of the icebergs, snowy conditions and yummy seals, but we all hid under the covers when the monster polar bear appeared! 
So, having just got over the nightmares from that book, she has started reading us the book Dracula! Oh no, another spooky book!
Phoebe's favourite book was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  She was seriously impressed with the kick-ass heroine, Lisbeth, whose favourite weapons include guns, a taser and a staple gun!  Hopefully the book doesn't give her any ideas coz Phoebe is scary enough without a taser!

Bill and Ted playing in the snow - Picnik closing down

Bill and Ted playing in the snow, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

This is a photograph taken in 2010, but we have added snow and a frosty frame using Picnik. Unfortunately, Google has decided to close down the Picnik site, which is a shame because it was great for fun effects, adding frames to photographs, and doing photo-editing on the go!
Shame on you, Google - why close down such a great site, unless of course you are trying to force us to use Picasa instead of Flickr.
RIP Picnik - you will be geatly missed.

Bill is in love!

Bill is in love, though the object of his affection is too young to know it yet!  Meet Anori, the half-sister of the famous polar bear, Knut.  She is so cute and cuddly at the moment!  Bill is now making plans for us to visit Anori and her mum Wilma in Germany.

Find out more about Anori and see more adorable photographs at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2122888/Meet-new-Knut-Zoo-crowds-wowed-tragic-polar-bear-s-sister-whisper-cuter.html

Spring has finally sprung!

Spring has finally sprung!, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Bev took this photograph of daffodils to show that spring is finally here! The weather in March has been incredibly warm, with temperatures up to 20C and higher! However, snow is forecast for next week, just in time for Easter :-(

Pinch, Punch, First of the Month - it's April!

Yup, it's April at last, and thank goodness the first 3 months of 2012 are over.  It has been a busy and traumatic start to the year - Bev's dad died, Kitty was diagnosed with diabetes, Bev had to study for exams, and both humans got a sickness bug followed by disgusting colds :-(  But, it's now April, so we are hoping that this is the start of spring and better things to come.

Kitty is doing well on his insulin injections - he is putting on about 2lbs a week and is already close to his pre-diabetes weight.  In the last 2 months, he has gone from a cat that spent all his time eating and sleeping to one that is happy to be outdoors and is chasing other cats from his territory!  We're still trying to get the insulin dose to the right level, but things are looking good.

So, what are we bears looking forward to in April?  Warm weather, daffodils, bluebells, playing in the woods, and trips out with Bev and Paul.

More crap shopping experiences!

Bev is not a happy shopper these days.  She has had yet another poor shopping experience, this time with Apple.
She downloaded 2 chilled house music albums, and looked forward to the several hour-long DJ mixes, which are ideal for listening to at work.  But they were the only tracks that didn't download, and she got the following error message: "An unknown error occured (-1450)".  
So, she contacted ITunes support who offered her a refund, and told her to "try again in a couple of weeks".  Apparently, this was a known error, but they couldn't say when or if it would be fixed.  Excuse me?  The refund was good as her purchase was incomplete, but the response didn't exactly fill her with confidence.  This is a dedicated service - iTunes is designed to work with iPods - so it should be thoroughly tested and it should work!  
Come on, iTunes / Apple - you can do better than this!  We want to listen to new music, but our confidence in Apple being able to deliver the music to our iPawd is seriously reduced following this incident. A refund is good but the whole incident smacks of being fobbed off because Apple can't or won't fix the problem.

Poor Kitty

Poor Kitty has been unwell since Christmas, and our former tubby tabby is now a shadow of his former self :-( After numerous tests, we discovered that he has diabetes, and he has started on a course of insulin injections.  So, last Monday evening at 8pm, Bev and Paul were at the vets learning how to inject Kitty - they started by injecting him with water, but then Paul administered the real insulin injection.  Since then, Bev has been doing the injections as she has to be comfortable doing these on her own when Paul is at the racing or working away from home.  And as backup, she has given us bears her old Red Cross badges and demonstrated what needs to be done!

Kitty is already looking much better and has slowly started to put on weight.  We'll keep you posted on his progress.

Dr Dre Headphones and Two Steps from Hell! It will blow your socks off!

It has been a very loud couple of weeks for Bev as she tested out her Dr Dre headphones.  She loves them to bits and has been using them most days to listen to all sorts of music - electronic, classical, rock, alternative / indie, and pop.  But she has also been looking for music that will blow her socks off and she has finally found it - Two Steps from Hell, the people who make music for film and computer game trailers, film music, music for television programs, etc.  This is incredible music that gets your heart pounding and makes you go "WOW", so you can imagine what it sounds like through her shiny new headphones!
Bev highly recommends two albums by Two Steps from Hell - Invincible and Archangel - and an album by Thomas Bergersen (part of Two Steps from Hell) called Illusions.  You will not be disappointed, though you might find a lot of your socks go missing!

Could do better!

As you know, Bev has a bee in her bonnet about sloppy writing and poor grammar, and while she's the first to admit that she isn't perfect she does try her best.
She's come across two examples this week - one at work and the other from a company (both of whom should know better):
- the use of "aroused' instead of arisen (from a work colleague) - "this situation has aroused from problems with third-party suppliers"
- a company apologizing for "any incontinence caused by the delay of their product."

They were the worst of a bad bunch of incorrect spellings, use of text speak in a business environment (that really winds Bev up) and incomprehensible comments left as project updates!

Ok, we bears are off to brush up on our English and our grammar - Bev in a grumpy mood is a scary sight!

Paul - the King of Tutt!

It's official, Paul is the King of Tutt!  He collects, hoards and squirrels stuff away in the shed, garage and loft, and is always on the lookout for more stuff to add to his collection!  He had thrown out some old rubbish recently, but when out on a walk recently he just couldn't resist picking up a old ceramic conductor from a field and bringing it home.
Ok, so imagine the conversation:
Paul: "Look what I found while I was out walking"
Bev looks at it carefully, then says: "It might look better once it's cleaned up"
Paul: "It's been cleaned it up - doesn't it make a nice ornament?"
Bev: "Err, actually, no - it looks like something you dug up out the ground!"
Paul wanders off looking pleased with himself while Bev laments that this is a "man-thing", despite the fact that the study is full of her rubbish!

So, we're not sure where he has hidden it, but the last we heard he was trying to sell it on eBay, and if he can't find anyone as nutty as himself to buy it, his brother wants to swap it for an old motorbike seat!  Eek, more crap!  We bears and Tony need room for our clothes and toys, and we don't want to get squashed under a pile of old tutt!  So, Paul and Bev, get the tutt under control, and leave some space for us bears!

Dr Dre Studio headphones - in bright orange!

Ok, as I've mentioned before, Bev really is a gadget girl and drools over the latest technologies.  Last Christmas she bought an eReader, and this Christmas she instantly fell in love with nephew Ashley's bright green Dr Dre's Studio headphones.  They looked gorgeous and the sound was to die for.  So, the first opportunity she got, she headed off to the shops to look for a pair of Dr Dre's shiny headphones in a bright colour.  And several hours later she returned from her terrible shopping experience (more of that later) with a pair of beautiful orange headphones.

So, having listened to hours and hours of music through her new headphones, what is Bev's verdict?  Are they an expensive gimmick, as some people suggest or are they as good as Dr Dre says they are?
The good points:

• these headphones have a very punchy bass, with rich overall sound which is ideal for all types of music.  Paul said he felt the headphones were too bassy, but that can be fixed by changing the settings on your iPod.  
• the headphones fold up and fit in a case, which is part of the kit you get when you buy the headphones
• the headphones claim to be noise-cancelling - well, they're not completely noise-cancelling like the Sennheiser portable headphones that Bev already has, but they are not bad
• the colours, which are beautiful - the limited range comes in a bright green, orange, purple, pink, white, silver, black and blue.

The bad points:

• cost - these are not cheap, but we think they are worth the money, especially when you can get them in such groovy colours!
• there is quite a bit of sound leakage, so Bev couldn't listen to them at work unless all her co-workers want to listen to Biffy Clyro too :-)
• batteries - some people might be irritated by the fact that you need 2 x AAA batteries to make these headphones work, but they are needed for amplification and noise cancellation.  Since most noise-cancellation phones use batteries, Bev isn't put off by this at all, though she is off to the shops to bulk-buy AAA batteries!
• the build - some people say they think the build quality is a bit flimsy, however they seem fairly robust to us, but who knows how they'll stand up to use by a group of bears with long claws and no opposable thumbs!

So, to sum up, Bev would give these headphones a 9/10 for sound quality, portability and colour!  She's reserving judgement on the build quality until she's used them more.