Salad rustlers terrorise neighbourhood.

A trio of sneaky salad thieves have been terrorising the vegetable gardens of south east Monmouthshire. Local resident Ivor Patch said, "My radishes have been pecked and bruised.

"Worse than that, my corns have been tampered with. There's not a single ear left!"

Inspector Corner of the Yard is on record saying police are scouring the district and will leave no stone unturned, but have no leads as yet.

Edna Cloud reported foreign nationals escaping a crime scene hot-foot via neighbour's yard.

"They were all of a flutter," Edna breathed. "But seemed determined to make a clean beak of it."

Renowned local photographer, Fred Snapper, provides us with the following image of the possible suspects...

And on this note of madness I think I'll leave you good people in Blogland for the evening... or maybe not!

What a difference in 24 hours... yesterday was such a beautiful day, but today has been blustery and extremely wet thus far... although it seems calmer just at the moment...

Look at all these wonderful little snowdrops on the bank of this reen:

Such an abundance of them... all perky and bold... bright white dots among the grren of the grass... and right where I was stood taking the photograph above was this chap here:

To many people the daffodil is the emblem of things Welsh... to me it really does mean Spring has arrived.

I've been back to the hospital this morning... a follow-up with the urology people so nothing to do with last week's op.

Seems I have an enlarged prostate... something else to get sorted out then... I suppose someone has the keep the NHS fully employed!

I wonder what else I/we/they can find to fiddle with? Bound to be something....

Good morning all; nearly the end of the week.

Amazing to think that just a week ago at this time I had already been admitted to a local hospital and was just climbing into one of those elegant backless gowns... thank God they also supplied paper knickers!

Since I promised some extra snowdrops yesterday, here's a small array of the little white beauties.

Tucked beneath a shady hedgerow adding brilliant colour to attract the eye.

Earlier today I kinda suggested that sheep may be in favour of racial segregation.

Munzly commented, saying sheep were obviously prejudiced "otherwise all we'd have is grey or spotted sheep."

Well I'm not sure about the grey variety, but here's complete and absolute proof that there's been some fraternisation between the various shades...

The Infamous Spotty Sheep

So there we have it, blowing Munzly's hypothesis out of the water, but proving his theory that inter-breeding does indeed produce Spotty Sheep!

Never let it be said this blog isn't at the cutting edge of scientific breakthrough!

Well okay spring may not have actually sprung just yet, but it really can't be that far away can it?

Judging by the all the growth I'd say spring is just around the corner.

As I've said here in Uskyland often enough, each to his own. There's room in this life for almost everyone...

People of my generation will remember the struggle against segregation in Africa, America and elsewhere. Most of us would hate to see the return of apartheid, racial discrimination, segregation and race riots; so sad we had to witness it in the first place.

This kind of amused me in a strange sort of a way though...

I was looking at a field full of sheep and I suppose it took me a few minutes to realise the inmates had naturally segregated themselves... could sheep possibly be prejudiced?

I swear these sheep really are in the same field it's just that the white sheep seem to prefer the left side, while the black ones obviously liked the right.

So, here's my question of the day...

Why are the sheep all facing the same way? Is there some other unwritten rule I'm not aware of that says sheep must always face Mecca on the hour? Answers on a postcard please...

Just because I like them

So there I was doing the ironing... I know, domestic God me... and this van drives down the street bellowing from its speaker system "this is Welsh Water please be aware due to a burst water main domestic water will be turned off in this area imminently..." I'd better fill my jug, I thought... don't want to run out of water while I'm ironing... so off I toddle to the kitchen to fill my jug... meanwhile back in the lounge... I like to watch TV when I iron 'cos it makes the time pass quicker... I pick up a shirt and arrange it on the ironing board... phht! the power goes off... oh bugger! Now I can't finish my favourite chore...

Of course the water hasn't been turned off all day, but the power was off for an hour or so... so I'm a bit confused... is there something Welsh Water aren't telling me? Or have I been getting my water from the wrong power outlet all my life?

Sorry James; I saw these yesterday morning and immediately thought of you...

I'm not sure what the thing on the right is, but it doesn't look as though it has been used for some time...

I'm never sure... is the Snowdrop a harbinger of Spring, or a reminder that Winter still holds us within her grip?

If the former, then Spring must surely be around the corner... there were simply hundreds of these little beauties smiling at me yesterday.

If the latter, I fear we're in for a hard time given the abundance of snowdrops I passed on yesterday's walk.

Here's an image I took this morning for all those who like to have a big Ahhhh..... over cute things...

All together now... Ahhhhhh.......

just don't look in the trough...

So I stuck to my plan and toddled off this morning for a short walk around the village perimeter... or at least, the perimeter around my end of the village.

It was wonderful to be out of the house and walking again. I don't think I'd realised just how much I'd missed being outside thanks to all that damn rain we had recently and of course I do need to take things a bit easy just now.

Well I supposed I walked a couple of miles and took in one quite steep hill en-route. Judging from the amount I sweated, I've lost a bit of fitness lately... to be fair, I've hardly done anything since before Christmas.

At the top of Vinegar Hill (where the Romans planted vineyards during their occupation) there's an old farm and a couple of the 'outbuildings' can be seen from the lane. Normally the hedge hides the interior, but since the hedge is just sticks at this time of year I was treated to a rusty sight... and thought I'd get into a position to photograph and share it with you...

I've no idea what this old auto was, but the tyres look in pretty good condition so maybe with a little tender loving care the old girl might make it onto the roads once more... what d'you think? Will she ever run again?

As an aside, maybe some of you mechanical wizards out there might like to take a stab at what the auto was.

Time for a cup of tea I think...

There's a high ground walk I've done a few times that can be wonderful on a dry day. The ridge of hills is joined above Cwmcarn and I drop off above Cwmbran; a distance of around 8 miles I think.

The going is a little rough at times and the climbs up to and down from the ridge quite steep, but the views down over the surrounding area are grand on a fine day. Here's an image of the path I follow from a previous visit:

My recovery might be going very well, but I'm aware it would be extremely stupid to attempt a walk like this one for a little while. However as I've managed two days without pain relief and not too much discomfort, I am looking forward to getting out for a short walk in the fresh air today. I'll be happy just to manage a couple of miles in the local lanes.

I'd originally planned to get down to the south coast during the early part of this year; I've always wanted to photograph the chalk cliffs in winter for some reason. That trip will have to be postponed sadly, but certainly not cancelled.

The hospital provided me with a list of dos and don'ts:
* No driving for at least 2 weeks
* No stretching or bending for 2 weeks
* No lifting for 6 weeks
* No lifting or carrying heavy weights for 3 months
* No strenuous exercise or contact sports for 3 months

Okay, okay I'll take it easy...

My aim now is to build up my strength and stamina slowly, but steadily; I want to do that hilltop walk within the next six weeks... so I've set myself a target and have a lot to look forward to.

Just a bit of fun, but I quite like it...

I thought I'd add a sepia filtered image of Caerphilly Castle since the effect seems to be a popular one.

Hope this meets with approval?

Sitting here playing a little bit this morning and thought I'd throw a random question out to Blogland to see what you guys think.

Here's an image I took on a recent visit to Caerphilly Castle:

So the thing is I thought this might make quite an interesting study in monochrome... but that raises a question in my mind

Because I didn't shoot the shoot the image in B&W, to render the image in monochrome I'd have to desaturate it. Images often lend themselves though to a little extra manipulation...

1 23 45 6

Here are six alternatives for a monochrome version of my image and what I'd like you to do is rate them for me...

The images are numbered 1 to 6 and are clickable so you can view larger versions of them if you wish. No need to rate all six unless you want to, but please rate your choices in order of preference; eg. 6, 3, 2, 5, etc.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Well I'm amazed how quickly things seem to be moving on to be honest. Less than 48 after my surgery and I'm almost pain free... well, relatively speaking.

I remember having a lot of post operative discomfort after having my appendix removed some years ago, although the appendix had burst so I had peritonitis and was being drained; maybe that had a lot to do with the extra pain?

Anyway I'm pleased to say my hernia repair is nowhere near as bad... not what I'd expected at all in fact. And of course being at home obviously helps.

I'll admit to popping a couple of pain killers yesterday and may well end up doing the same today as time goes on, but if I can remember not to stretch for things or move too quickly I'm hoping to get through the day without.

The best thing though is not having that large, unsightly and often painful bulge sticking out out of my belly!

Ain't life grand?

Have a lovely Saturday everyone... and if you're at a loose end, why not pop over for a go at my weekend teaser? I'll posting this week's around 7:30.

Usky

It's been good to catch up with at least some of my friends here today, but I find sitting with the computer gets a tad painful after a while just now so I'm going to call it an early night and ease the strain on my gut... after all, I want to be around for a while tomorrow to play with my weekend teaser.

Have a lovely Friday evening everyone.

TGIFday..... end of the working week for many and the first day of recovery for me.

Well Dr Nick seems to have done his job reasonably well. I'm a bit tender, as you might expect having had my guts cut, poked about, rearranged and stitched, but otherwise all is well enough.

Sadly I'm forced to sleep on my back, which I hate because I always snore like hell when I do and I've woken with a really sore throat this morning... the neighbours were banging on the door in the middle of the night begging me to cork it!

Here's hoping you all have a good Friday.

See? You can't get rid of Usky... just because I'm laying on the slab don't mean I ain't blogging!

So I had a word with my surgeon this morning and he said to make sure I remembered him to you all... well what could I say, but

Hi Everybody!

Well, when Dr Nick stuck me with a sharp sticking thing I could feel all this ooozy stuff coming out... and I thought to myself... I wonder what that looks like... and in the end the end there was so much of it... I decided it must look like this!

See ya tomorrow all!

What a difference a day makes, or so they say. Well a month certainly makes a difference, weather-wise that is.

January seems to have been wet, wet, wet in the UK with little or no respite from the rain. We've seen high winds, record rainfall, exceptionally high tides, flooding... a miserable month.

December by contrast was bright and breezy, just the job for taking a long walk on a deserted beach, following the tides edge in the sunshine...

Have a good day all

So tomorrow morning I have to be up at 5:30am... Now you'd think that wouldn't be a problem for a guy with insomnia wouldn't you? Buy you know what? I can almost guarantee since I've hardly slept the last few days I'll be dead to the world tomorrow morning. For the uninitiated it's the Law of Sod...

All things being equal I hope to be back online and in Blogland on Friday... all reports that I was taking a Blackberry into hospital with me to blog from the O/R are greatly exaggerated... I have arranged for a webcam to be installed though so you'll be able to view from the inside, out so to speak...

Anyway, hope you all have a wonderful time doing whatever you do tomorrow... I'll be spending the day in bed... sort of...

It occurred to me that I ought to illustrate just how horribly dark it got yesterday before the rains came... and especially since I have a shot to use as illustration...

These two images were shot yesterday - the one on the right was taken approximately 20 minutes after the one on the left.

The landscape of mid-Wales can be wild and woolly to say the least; not quite as desolate as some areas nor as spectacular as others, but with a beauty of its own.

Before conditions closed in yesterday I did manage just a couple of images worthy of display here.

This first image was taken south of Brecon and looks over Llyn Onn reservoir. The A470 can be seen to the left; the main road that snakes through the lower Brecon Beacons between Merthyr and Brecon.

Although some parts of the moor are wooded, the majority is scrub-land.

The second image, again south of Brecon, gives a feeling of the open emptiness of the moor. Notice how the cloud formation to the right appears to follow the shape of landscape.

Perhaps I'll revisit again in the not too distant future, weather (and mobility) permitting.

So the weather was wonderful here this morning and I thought I'd scoot off up into the wilds of mid-Wales to grab some images... I was quite excited about it because the rain has been so damn constant recently.

I got in the car... stuffed some gas in the tank... hit the road and was enjoying the drive... and it got darker and darker and colder too as I went north...

It'll pass I thought... but no... the clouds continued to build up and down came the rain...

I hung arou