General Chat

Island you are lucky then although I guess it might be too painful for you to do it. I am quite organised now but with it being a two weekly order and not knowing when we will get the next one it is always a lot. £160. this time so that is cheaper than the previous. And the trouble with a Monday delivery is that there are always fairly short dates on everything.

My fella does the wiping down Ann, he's very organised with it. I make a welcome pot of tea for when he's done :-D :-D

Underestimated how long the rest was going to take. another half hour done and all the veg and another 4 bags of 'stuff' to do. That all has to wait as OH is in and wants his lunch!!!!

I fondly imagined bowls of cucamelons for healthing snacking or an apperitif for dinner parties which we don't have LOL. But yes! they are pretty horrible - what a waste!!

My BIL entered the Countryfile Calender comp once and I really thought he would get in with his picture of a seal sitting in a boat but no he did'nt get anywhere.

I grew cucamelons a couple of years ago and thought they were awful. Not what I expected at all.

Somewhere I have a nice recipe for I think its called Sandwich Pickle made with cues but it dos'nt keep long. I used to make it when we had the barrow outside with the veg on and it sold well and was esy to do. I used to make most of the jams and pickles in the microwave.

Phew, that is one hour of wiping done and about another half hour plus to go. OH not home from golf yet, not that he helps with the wiping it is quicker to do it myself than keep an eye on him. I did notice 2 cues on our big plant yesterday (full sized cues. One of the baby ones we lost and the other doesn't seem to be doing much. toms are all doing ok though.

Lot of wildlife around yours today mel, could it be rabbit pie for dinner?

Ann it does sound as if Mel has hit the nail on the head with your cues doesn't it?

Jane have a lovely afternoon with your family.

Interesting (for us anyway) to see if the cold cap works or helps. Maybe your hair will just thin a bit. If it comes out will you go for a scarf or a wig?

Hi Jane! 2011 and 2012 at wetherspoons in Victoria. Are you still in touch with Rach?
Happy birthday :-D

Mel, I recall scarey Billies tethered by long chains on quiet road sides and off towpaths as a child but my first close encounter was more recent. He had plenty of lady friends........ you know where I’m going with this LOL. Just a few years ago I was walking the dog along the towpath when that ‘old familiar scent’ filled the air. Billy was some distance away but the wind was blowing towards us.
It was the pong that put me off goat cheese which my brother could not understand – he’d only had cheese made with maiden milk so no ‘essence of Billy’.
I tried growing carrots but failed. I have seed for earlies but not sure if my soil is suitable. As the camellias and peonies do well I think it may be on the acidic side. I probably need some of that sandy Jacks Magic LOL

Annx, we had a glut of marketmore cues the first year we grew them and cucamelons. I made cucumber relish, yummy, and pickled the cucamelons ‘interesting’ but stayed crisp.
I saw the bubonic plague item this morning and they have a brain eating amoeba in Florida. Lorks!

We caught up with Countryfile last night. Is anyone going to enter the calendar competition – AnnG ?

Have a good day all

It is all happening there Mel! Well when I went in the greenhouse and looked at the cues, there were no flowers open and all the baby cues right up to the top were shrivelled so I couldn't pollinate anything. I think you may have hit the nail on the head Mel. Because of the delivery coming and fridge space needed I hadn't picked any more for a while and there must be about 8 biggish cues now still on the 3 plants. I already had 7 in the fridge! After I've pickled some after lunch (I found about 5 jars to fill and may have more.) I will cut the rest of the cues that are ready off and give them some tomato feed. All 3 plants are in a big tub and all are the same, so it could be that they need feed as they have only had a little. Thanks for your tips and help, I shall certainly try that. :-) Our toms have plenty of golf ball sized toms on them now but they are all still green too. We need some sunshine now!

Morning All

Thank you all for all the lovely cards and Birthday wishes :-D
We all slept like logs last night after our day on the water. Today has been all cloudy so far but I can see some blue sky appearing so hopefuly the sun will come out and we shall all be able to stay outside for another picnic type lunch :-D. Janice and Larry should be here in the next half hour or so and then H&G will arrive.No doubt I will have more pics later :-D

Vera I bet you feel like a new woman now after your haircut :-D..... I am still waiting to see if mine all comes out.Apparently it will be after this next lot of Chemo.I just hope the cold cap might help but not holding my breath.

The blue sky has vanished :-S

Ann you popped in while I was typing! How many cues on the plant thats losing the tiny ones? If you hav'nt cut them off it may be it can't support anymore. Try giving the plant a feed of tomato fertiliser. I found in the past this was happening when I grew cues inthe tunnel. I am amazed that my two tom plants in my SHED are getting pollinated. It must be flies and moths as I only have the half door open during the day. When they were small and I could move them easily I put then outside for a day inthe sunshine but now they would just be blown over. There's quite a lot of good sized toms on them though all be t green ones. No sharing for us yet. It always puts me in mind of one of the Goodlife progams where they were sitting outside I think and one of them said something about home raised chicken shall I carve or you and there on the plate in front of them was a hard boiled egg.

Morning all,

Was'nt that just the best surprise for our Jane, I am not sure if she has been on a narrow boat before. When we went after mum died we enjoyed it emensly that was back in 2010 and as it happens oh looked up where we went in Wales the other day and their prices have gone through the roof and they have many more boats now.

When I got up this morning and looked out the bedroom window there were two deer over the back field which were suddenly spooked by something then I saw two big rabbits by the chicken run and a magpie flew past very close. Walked into the kitchen and turned the kettle on looked out the window in the front and saw one large rabbit, two wood pigeons and baby Robin who was perched on oh's mower. Its all happening down here!

So did you all look at the moon last night? I did at 12'03am and for a little while after. The moon was just coming up over the back behind the trees. It was quite magical and I took some pics for Gill. Well thats if I can work out how to download my camera now the pc has updated itself and dos'nt seem to recognise anything now. I do wish they would'nt do that.

Morning All,

:-D <3 <3HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANE <3 <3 :-D

That was a great day you had yesterday with some lovely photos too. It looked like you had better weather than us as it didn't look so windy. I would do it again soon if I were you! :-) It's a great way to see some wild life. Another good day for you today with seeing Janice and Larry too. I think the weather should have more sunshine today.

OH is watching a webinar that is about businesses recovering from the coronavirus impact. He's interested to know about the impact even though he is lucky to be retired and not dependent on work. That said he is busier than ever.

I am going to pickle some cucumbers next so I hope they will be ok. I have read that the problem with ours (the latest baby cues are shrivelling and falling off) can be because they aren't pollinated, so I am going in the greenhouse with a paintbrush to do the job and see if it works and is that.

It's a good job we have enough as I forgot to add eggs to the order that came yesterday. I still have a packet of the beef strips that were chewy to use up and thought I might tenderise them in the pressure cooker to use them up this week. Any ideas would be welcome as all I can think of is some kind of stew??

You did a great job raising the baby goats Mel and how sweet they followed you around. You must have been quite sad to see them go. I must admit I don't like goat's cheese so have never been tempted to try their milk. It is supposed to be good for you though I think.

Hope the wiping down doesn't take too long Mandy!!

I see China has a case of bubonic plague in isolation now.

Better get the washer on and get pollinating now!! Gawd, then lunch to do......it never ends does it!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

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Shopping this morning :-\ Mr Fg's turn today :-D He's just got back but is having a sit down before we sort out what's what!! That's that job done for a while !
Don't know if I said, but we've got a cellar (?) which runs under our flat. The steps go down to it from just inside our gate. We've dry lined the whole space, (what a job that was!!) and use part for storage and part for Mr Fg's workshop. The shopping, apart from perishables will kept down there for a while just to be on the safe side! What a performance its all being!! Best to be safe though!
What a lovely day you had Jane, I'm so glad the weather was reasonably kind. I hope you have a very happy birthday.

Morning all

<3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANE <3 <3 <3

Lovely pictures of your canal boat surprise. What a nice family you have :-)

Happy birthday as well to my daughter, 55 today.

Well, my head and my purse are both considerably lighter now. I was quite impressed with the care taken at the hairdressers. Customers have to knock at the door and wait to be let in and if you aren't masked you don’t get in. Plenty of sanitizer and you are directed to use it. My hairdresser and the one employee she had in wore masks and visors and I was directed to the sanitizer again before I left. I felt very safe.

I went out without breakfast this morning so am going to get something now and then get some washing on. BBL.

Morning AnnG ,morning all,

<3 <3 <3 <3 Happy Birthday Jane <3 <3 <3 <3

What a lovely birthday treat they planned for you yesterday, lovely photos and a nice picnic too,I hope you have a lovely day with the family today and get spoilt.

Soon off shopping while it's quiet and then the wipe down .

BBL

Happy birthday Jane. hope all goes well this week <3 <3 <3 <3

Jane pics are wonderful and I am sure she really enjoyed her day out and the weather was quite kind also if a bit windy. <3

Island my billy did'nt ssmell as I had him done as I took the two from someone who was going to put them in their freezer. They were born the day I had them on 2nd June. Took them steaight to the vets who told me I would'nt raise them as they ahd'nt had enough colostrom, I proved him wrong. Took them to work with me everyday as I had a pet shop at the time, in a box in the back of my Atra. When they were too big for the box they lay on the back seat. You should have seen the looks I got driving to Colchester with two goats looking out the windows. Ist hubby built them a goat house outside the shop in the end so they stayed there. They were funny though and would follow me everywhere. When I got to the shop and let them out of the car they would run across the carpark and then into the garden center where I had the shop. Once in the shop they would climb all over the stacks of sack of animal feed and then I woud either tether them outside on the frass bit up the end of the shop or go in the rabbit pens till they got too big. I used to milk Katie inthe shop just once a day and got a gallon out of her each time. She was a maiden milker and her milk was lovely. I used to sell it int he shop as you can freeze goats milk.

I have had "Jack's Magic" and found the same too much sand in it.

Its not too late to sow early carrots.

Jack’s magic we used a couple of years back and it was awful. Last year and this we have been very pleased with Go Sure container compost.

Jane what a fabulous day Hannah organised for you. I am so pleased the weather was kind as well.

Mandy, well done getting your plants all in. Hope they do well.

Ann yes annoying m ankle playing up hopefully it will improve soon, I will keep it strapped for a while.