Well a mixed day, with a really good outcome for one thing and two not so good things. The day started well as I went round to Maria's with our eldest son and whilst he had his science lesson, I finished digging out her oldest compost bin and bagging the contents, and then started to turn the second oldest bin's contents into this now empty bin. However, the lesson finished before I could finish this task, so I stopped and walked back with my lad. The science lesson had veered off science, and via wind turbines and planning permission, had arrived at a discussion about Sharia Law. This is one of the beauties about home education!
When I got back I got a message from a Freecycler called Tim who wanted the roadkill rabbit. He came to collect it over lunchtime and I asked him what he was going to do with it... and I was pleased to hear that he keeps birds of prey as a hobby and liked feeding them on roadkill because the animals don't generally have shotgun pellets in them. He has a Peregrine Falcon and a Gosshawk. If he feeds them animals which have been shot, the birds run a risk of getting lead pellets in their gizzards. Then he uses the birds to catch rabbits and pigeons which he likes to eat.
He said he liked my Freecycle message as I asked if there was an 'ethical carnivore' who wanted it and that made him smile.
At about the same time that he arrived, my gardener friend Mark arrived with his estate car weighed down with some big lumps of cherry logs... a tree which had a trunk diameter of about 50cm, making it a very large tree. I think it had died as the wood was quite dry, and was quite easy to split. All but one of the lumps was the right size for splitting and stacking, only one will need chainsawing in two.
So, at about 2.15 I set off for my rendezvous with the People and Planet students who'd booked me to show them round St Nicks. Nine of them had said on the facebook event I'd created that they were coming, but by 2.50, 20 minutes after the 'official' start time, none of them had turned up. I felt quite pissed off as I'd organised my day around doing this tour, so I went home and got busy in the garden.
Later, I put my laptop on, and got a weird message about my computer having assorted spyware on it, and hardly any of my programmes worked, including the virus scanning ones. However, Google was still available so I Googled 'System Tool' and found it is a fake virus scanner which is in itself a virus. I found a website which was supposed to scan the computer and remove the virus, but after a scan (which didn't find evidence of an infection!) it asked me to part with £70, so I Googled 'free system tool remover' and found that I had to put the computer into 'safe mode' which was a new procedure for me, and then scan with Malwarebytes, which I already had installed. So I did this and Malwarebytes didn't find anything. I did a Microsoft scan, which spent well over 2 hours looking through over half a million files, and found nothing. However, System Tool is still making things difficult and I haven't managed to get rid of it. It periodically switches off my laptop and is a nuisance.
However, I am still able to use the computer for short periods and I hope that I'll get a solution soon.
At 7 I took our eldest down to Heslington for his computer graphics lesson, and on the way back I picked up the most enormous log I've ever put in my trailer. I almost pulled a muscle in my back! Then at 8, cycled down again and we both cycled back together chatting about colloquial English, as he is very literal and I had to explain that a person who describes themself as a carnivore may still be an omnivore, but it is perfectly acceptable to call themselves a carnivore. After all, we don't label ourselves herbivores, and in conversational English, we call it 'vegetarian'.
I had a frustrating evening but got water heated up for a bath, and shave, as I want to be tidy for tomorrow, as I'm teaching a York Rotters home composting course. I got an email from Tim the ethical carnivore saying that the rabbit was in such good condition, he quite fancied eating it himself. I was really glad to get this unfortunate casulty of our car culture recycled. Yah boo to the anonymous complainant on yesterday's blog!
When I got back I got a message from a Freecycler called Tim who wanted the roadkill rabbit. He came to collect it over lunchtime and I asked him what he was going to do with it... and I was pleased to hear that he keeps birds of prey as a hobby and liked feeding them on roadkill because the animals don't generally have shotgun pellets in them. He has a Peregrine Falcon and a Gosshawk. If he feeds them animals which have been shot, the birds run a risk of getting lead pellets in their gizzards. Then he uses the birds to catch rabbits and pigeons which he likes to eat.
He said he liked my Freecycle message as I asked if there was an 'ethical carnivore' who wanted it and that made him smile.
At about the same time that he arrived, my gardener friend Mark arrived with his estate car weighed down with some big lumps of cherry logs... a tree which had a trunk diameter of about 50cm, making it a very large tree. I think it had died as the wood was quite dry, and was quite easy to split. All but one of the lumps was the right size for splitting and stacking, only one will need chainsawing in two.
So, at about 2.15 I set off for my rendezvous with the People and Planet students who'd booked me to show them round St Nicks. Nine of them had said on the facebook event I'd created that they were coming, but by 2.50, 20 minutes after the 'official' start time, none of them had turned up. I felt quite pissed off as I'd organised my day around doing this tour, so I went home and got busy in the garden.
Later, I put my laptop on, and got a weird message about my computer having assorted spyware on it, and hardly any of my programmes worked, including the virus scanning ones. However, Google was still available so I Googled 'System Tool' and found it is a fake virus scanner which is in itself a virus. I found a website which was supposed to scan the computer and remove the virus, but after a scan (which didn't find evidence of an infection!) it asked me to part with £70, so I Googled 'free system tool remover' and found that I had to put the computer into 'safe mode' which was a new procedure for me, and then scan with Malwarebytes, which I already had installed. So I did this and Malwarebytes didn't find anything. I did a Microsoft scan, which spent well over 2 hours looking through over half a million files, and found nothing. However, System Tool is still making things difficult and I haven't managed to get rid of it. It periodically switches off my laptop and is a nuisance.
However, I am still able to use the computer for short periods and I hope that I'll get a solution soon.
At 7 I took our eldest down to Heslington for his computer graphics lesson, and on the way back I picked up the most enormous log I've ever put in my trailer. I almost pulled a muscle in my back! Then at 8, cycled down again and we both cycled back together chatting about colloquial English, as he is very literal and I had to explain that a person who describes themself as a carnivore may still be an omnivore, but it is perfectly acceptable to call themselves a carnivore. After all, we don't label ourselves herbivores, and in conversational English, we call it 'vegetarian'.
I had a frustrating evening but got water heated up for a bath, and shave, as I want to be tidy for tomorrow, as I'm teaching a York Rotters home composting course. I got an email from Tim the ethical carnivore saying that the rabbit was in such good condition, he quite fancied eating it himself. I was really glad to get this unfortunate casulty of our car culture recycled. Yah boo to the anonymous complainant on yesterday's blog!
