Author Archive.

Affordable green housing

Posted by on October 4th 2016 in In the garden, Making stuff
Tags:

Take a few offcuts, a few screws and a bit of eco fence-paint.

Add a few hours of sawing, clattering and pulling splinters from fingers.

Result? Hedgehog house:

 

 

 

Needs an IR camera. And a hedgehog.

Down the Cut

Posted by on September 28th 2016 in Great Escapes, Pics

I got out for some much-needed exercise in the sunshine and fresh air today. A few miles of tow-path walking along the canal near where I lived when I was a kid (from 4 to about 30), mainly to revisit one of the few unspoiled stretches where I used to go fishing, where the banks aren't steel-clad and the trees haven't been felled.

I took a few pics which I will post soon but for now here's a clickable taster:

 

Ashby Canal between bridges 28 and 29

BANG! and the dirt is gone…

Posted by on September 25th 2016 in Health, or lack thereof, Just for fun
Tags: ,

 Manhattan Project

http://xkcd.com/1736/

Ferritin

Posted by on September 23rd 2016 in Health, or lack thereof
Tags: ,

No, it's not another strange hobby. No Mustelids have been deployed or harmed in the production of this post.

According to the consultant at yesterday's out-patient consultation, my key bloods are now well into the "normal" range:

  • Hb: 148 (normal range: 130-180 g/L)
  • Platelets: 185 (normal range: 140–400 (× 109 cells/L))
  • Whites: 5.9 (normal range: 4–11 (× 109 cells/L))
  • Newts: 3.5 (normal range: 1.5–7.5 (× 109 cells/L))

However, he said that my ferritin level is "a little high". He also said that it's a common thing that they often see in people who are in remission from AML, it's a consequence of them messing with my bloods so much during the treatment.

So, this raises two questions...

1: If it is common and if it was expected, why has this not been explained to me at all during the previous nine months?

2: How is a level of 1675 × 10-6 g/L classed as "a little high" when the "normal" range is 15-200 × 10-6 g/L (or 50-200 × 10-6 g/L depending on which lab is doing the tests)?

To get some sort of visual perspective, here's a graph of all of my ferritin readings currently available to me:

 

 

Feel free to do a trend analysis on that  :mrgreen:

Anyway, the accepted wisdom is to reduce the ferritin level simply by bleeding me at regular intervals, I'm currently waiting for a series of appointments to attend a different hospital to spill my hard-won red stuff into a waste-bucket.

I might just get me a real ferret instead. From what I've experienced it will be just as efficient at drawing blood, it won't cost the NHS a penny, and it will have a much lower carbon-footprint than driving a diesel-powered tin box to Leicester and back several times during the coming months.

It Can Wait

Posted by on September 15th 2016 in Video (YouTube, Vimeo etc.)

 

While we’re on the subject of cycling…

Posted by on September 5th 2016 in LMAO!

 

Available from all good bollock retailers.

Cycling Night Riding Bicycle Light Creative Bike Light Bicycle Cycling MTB Bike Lamp Heart Design.

May contain nuts.
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