General Chat

I did'nt explain the fish tank in the pond right. It is upside down and he put the air pump in it and sucked all the air out so the tank is full of water thats why the fish can't jump out.

I loved the little bird and it looks a bit like a Jay.

I have been up the border for a couple of hours this afternoon and cut back the old New Dawn rose which was hanging all over the the other plants. I need to get some wire up and train it a bit better as when oh did it years agoo he put the wires up in a fan shape and I want them horizontal.

Vera its good these new pills seem to be working for your oh and he is'nt in so much pain. I hope he continues to improve.

Afternoon All,

The dull weather has reached here and we've had no sunshine today. I was awake till gone 4.00am so feel like a zombie today. OH has been really busy in the garden this morning. The beans are down and poles put away, He's done more weeding and cut back some dead wood on the Choisya. All I have done is get the Asdaa order up to date from my list.

OH said no-one was wearing masks at last night's meeting but all the windows were open and they were well spaced apart with sanitiser everywhere. Our local paper says today that the surge in cases we have again here is due to children's exam parties! Goodness we managed without these things and now doesn't seem a good time. I hadn't realised there were graduation ceremonies for preschool tots when they leave to go to primary till I saw a picture of one in cap and gown with a graduation sash and holding a rolled up certificate tied with a blue ribbon.

Your scarecrow sounds as if it will be really good Mandy. I can't believe all the good ideas you have had for it and all the things you have made. Those finishing touches will really make it stand out. Looking forward to seeing a pic when you have finished it.

Mel your little goldfish look lovely in the tank. Is there a top on it to stop them jumping out. You can see them better when you sit outside now. That moon pic is great and looks like a thin piece of film moving acoss the sky. Can you not seperate out the egg pecker(s) from the others as it is a shame you are losing so many lovely eggs.

Vera I'm glad your OH is in less pain today. It does wear you down. Hopefully the results will be back in a week. They usually are at our surgery. Thank you and glad you liked the little bird!

OH has fetched my artificial berries down from the loft so I can sort out what I want for the replacement vase. I might have less in this replacement vase as I'm very conscious of it getting knocked over again. I'm ordering some blutak to help hold it in place.

I have not heard of Blue Diamond garden centres AnnG, so they must be a chain that isn't around here. I like Heucheras too, the foliage can be very striking. Your new bit of garden is going to look good next year with the additions you are making.
Glad you liked the little bird. I wish I'd made a note of what it was now!

It's a much better day here today. It was a bit grey and windy first thing but it brightened up after a while and is quite sunny at the moment. I did an hour in the garden first thing, then spent the rest of the morning cleaning bathrooms. Now I am waiting for a Sainsbury delivery that should be here any moment. Apparently I have 4 subs which is more than usual but they are all acceptable subs.

You've had a nice spend up in the garden centre AnnG. I was thinking of you today and you are doing just the right thing by concentrating on all those happy years together.

Mandy, your scarecrow sounds wonderful. Don't forget to send us photos when it is finished.

I love your little bird Ann. I've always thought you are superb at painting feathers and his beak is perfect.

Your photographs of the moon are great Mel. How many baby fish have you got? Your fish must be very happy where they are to breed like that.

OH doesn't seem to be in much pain today. I wonder if these extra strong anti-inflammatories have got a grip at last. He hasn't been dozing off every 2 minutes today.The blood tests he had for possible arthritis were marked "routine" and I've just checked our surgery website and apparently blood test results are taking at least 7 working days to reach them and sometimes longer, so he'll have to wait till Tuesday at least to ring if the doctor doesn't phone us first.

Sainsbury are here so must go

another nice spend up then Anng. What colour Heuchera did you get? I love those but so do the blimmin vine weevils as I have them on the patio.

Very sunny here and I cleaned out the big girls this morning. I am still getting broken eggs one this morning but at least I did have a whole one too. Cleaned them out and just went round to give them some poultry drink in their cleaned out water bowls one chicken in the nest box pretending to lay and egg and one broken one on the nice cloean shavings. Oh said I should get rid of them all and start again.

Good afternoon all. 61 years ago we were halfway through our marriage service. Can remember it like it was last week. Sad day for me today, yet a good day too remembering how happy we made each other.

We went to one of the bigger garden centres this morning (A Blue diamond). I had a birthday voucher to spend and a blue diamond voucher as well so got a few bits, a pack of tulip bulbs and some allium bulbs, a heachera and another alpine plant for the front bed where the tree was removed.

Daughter goes home tomorrow leaving at 0700.

Morning all,

Nice and bright this morning so far. Plenty of the yel;low stuff and not much breeze to talk about.If its not too hot I may try to get up the border today as oh had a project yesterday he wanted me to watch. He put a fish tank in m,y pond and pumped water into it so it was above the pond surface.

Scarecrow sounds great Mandy I can't wait to see some pics of your unisex scarecrow. You've had some good ideas. They have had scarecrows out in Torrington when we went to the dentist. Do you remember when I made one wehn we had a compitition and I made him a smock out of an old sheet. Made gaters out of the sleeves of first hubbies swede jacket and took the buttons off and put them up the gaters. I bought a shirt in the charity shop and a pair of trousers and stuffed those to make the body. tights for his head and cut a curly wig up for a beard with my old straw hat on him. Then he migrated to next door in a pair of oh's old overalls and my old wellies and sat in their garden for a couple of years. Don't know if they still have him or not.

Evening all,

It's been a dull day here and we had a little light rain first thing but it brightened up so I hung my washing out and got it all dry .

Ann your Tomatoes look so good what a nice lot you have hanging there mine are nearly over It's been a poor year for us with cues and toms .
The children don't go back to school here until the 6th September and they will have to have windows open again like last term ,son said he has to unlock each room and open a window although all the windows don't open far for safety reasons.

Lovely to hear from you Gill but sorry to read OH still has trouble with his shoulder, hope he can get his sick note sorted .
How is Sandra ,I bet she's loving having her own little place .
Hope you have a good lot of dusters :-D sounds as if you need them .

Oh dear Frank do be careful over the next few days you don't want to be travelling all bruised and battered ,hope you enjoy your time away ,safe journey down to Devon.

Vera hope all went well today for OH and he soon gets his problems sorted.

Funny you should mention wasps Anng we were only saying at the weekend that we had hardly seen any wasps this summer .
Lovely to get the flowers.

Don't do to much and set yourself back Mel and leave those charity bags alone :-D

I have been working on the scarecrow ,I'm quite pleased with it but the faces are not so good but hayho it's a scarecrow , I've added the mice running up the man's leg a lady bird and I have the birds nest with black bird and eggs to go on ,I'm crocheting some butterflies to go on the lady side ,oh and I've made a black spider to hang from the man's arm was going to hang it from his cap but it didn't look right, added some flowered bias binding for his braces with bright red buttons .
I got a pink feather boa so I've added that round the bottom of her skirt and some of round her hat and at the ends of her sleeves I've crocheted some ringlets for her hair ,got a chunky pearl necklace and made some glitter ball earrings :-D
I'll get some photos when it's finished.

I’m glad you had nice weather AnnG and enjoyed your lunch. That was thoughtful of your son and dil to send you flowers. It’s good that you won’t be alone tomorrow.

Not another fall Frank. I hope you are not too sore now. Be extra careful as you don’t want to risk having to cancel your trips to Devon and Spain.

I know I shouldn’t laugh Ann, but the story of the mouse and the pan scourer makes me smile. It reminds me of my ex son-in-law when he and my daughter had a mouse. They located the hole it was coming through and blocked it with all sorts of stuff to no avail. In desperation he cemented the hole right up. I bet you’re ahead of me here. Next morning they got up to find a neatly chewed hole in the cement and the mouse sitting in the kitchen grinning at them :-)

It’s been really wintry here today; grey with fine rain in the air and a bitter wind. When we went to the hospital I put a thick fleece over my long sleeved jumper. The appointment went well. There was no waiting and he was out again in about half an hour. We don’t know what’s wrong yet but things are getting eliminated. The consultant couldn’t see much wrong with his bladder so he is now ordering a CT scan of his kidneys. I have a feeling it will turn out to be one of those unexplained body blips that rights itself. I hope so anyway.

Better get the veg on now as the rest of our meal is nearly ready.

Good afternoon all

today we have been to the Aviator for lunch, It is a lovely sunny day, yesterday was dull and misty, We usually sit outside there but there were a lot of wasps around so we went inside and all had beautiful (large) fish and chips. (Tony's favourite). Then when we got back daughter and I went round to the local garden centre as I had a birthday voucher of £5 to spend. -- Spent a bit more than that on a few plants for the front garden where I had the tree taken down.

Before we went out the postman delivered a lovely bouquet of flowersson and daughter in law with a 'thinking of you' card for tomorrow.

Afternoon Everyone,

Nice and sunny and warm here.

Sorry to hear you've had another fall Frank. It's lucky you managed to get to the phone and that neighbours could get you up into a chair. If you have one try and keep a mobile in your pocket, just in case. Try to avoid any more falls if you can before you go away as it would be a shame if you couldn't go now it is this close. I hope you take your laptop to Devon so you can make us all envious! Enjoy your meal later!

OH has weeded one side of the garden at the front, but it made his calves ache with bending and brought his tennis elbow on again so he called it a day and will do more tomorrow. Apart from having a shower and hairwash and getting lunch all I have done is some paperwork and order some more white paint and a steel pan scourer to block the mousehole up again!! OH is at a school meeting and they are looking at covid measures so I hope they will keep most in place to keep visitors safe as well as the children. We were pleased to see the school up the road had windows open yesterday.

Gill, good to hear from you and that things are progressing with your bungalow. These renovation jobs always take longer than expected when you are relying on other people, but you are getting there bit by bit. That is poor service your OH is getting from the surgery so I hope they sort him out properly on Wednesday. That fine dust hangs in the air for ages! You are doing well with the garden though, but don't hurt yourself as you say. Now you can see how big the front garden is too! Keep in touch when you can as we like to hear how you are getting on with things.

Another spell at the Hospital then Vera. I hope they will have some answers today and it is good you managed to dash off for your hair appointment yesterday.

It's funny you should mention wasps Mel as a friend who had them last year has another nest now! I aught to fetch some new plants for the front wall pots.

Nice to hear your news Frank but sorry you had another fall. You'lll look forward to the trip to Devon and Spain and it will be a lovely break just what you need.

We have a wasps nest in the corner of the lounge roof. Oh sprayed it yesterday and he's been and done it again this mroning.

I have done a wash and some dusting and about to put the washing on the line. Then I may go and cut myself some sweet peas and dead head them and put some plants in the tubs out the front.

Good morning all.

Very overcast here this morning, with a date bit of wind.So won't be going far from my armchair and book/TV.

I had a nasty fall on Tuesday evening, while Ros was out. I smashed my back against the lounge door, which left me flat on my back. I managed to crawl to the phone. I rang Tony next door. Went to Answer phone, left message, then rang Jonathan He came straight round, turned up as Tony arrived. They picked me up and sat me in my arm chair .When Ros came home she said " I should have waited for her to come come, and I should't have bothered the lads."

I have taken the skin off my back on the shoulder,which she put cream on. I wore a "T" shirt to stop it getting on the chair, and the bed sheets, when I went to bed.Still feels very sore, so won't be doing much today again.

All sorted for next week. We go to Devon on Sunday, fly out to SPA IN on Tuesday come home on the 18th Sept. Day before Ros's Birthday.

Have decided to take Ros out to the Collingtree pub for a meal this evening. Not too expensive, but good quality food and service.

Trust you areal well.

sun is out at the moment.

Morning AnnG, Mel and all

It looks as though it’s going to be another grey day here. The top temperature is only supposed to reach 17 degrees this afternoon but with no sun and a stiff breeze I think it might feel quite cool.

Good to see you post Gill. You’ll have a lovely home when all the work is finished. I hope OH starts to feel better soon.

I slept a bit better last night and hope I can find the energy to do a bit of h/w this morning. Then it’s off to the hospital again this afternoon.

Have a good day everyone

Morning Anng and all,

Cloudy at the moment here just grey sky and very calm not a breath of air. Hoping its going to brighten up later.

Ache a bit after yesterdays cutting down of the rampant rose but hoping I can work it off during the day.

I really need to get to a charity shop as I had just started two big bags of stuff for them when lockdown started and they are still in the middle of the uti room taking up much needed space. I know if I sort them out again I shall keep some of the stuff in them so I dare not touch them. I shall think I can use that for this or that and take it back out. Oh has already had some things out for cotton rags for working on the mowers.

Its nice to see our Gill posting. Sending a ~~~~~~~~~

Love to Frank and Island. <3 <3

good morning all, still looking grey out there but 14 degrees so not too cold.
Great to see you gill, glad to hear the dust is settling, but sorry to hear OH is still in pain. Hope it can soon be sorted for him.

At least your work on the bungalow is progressing and also on the garden. you will be pleased now when you can start to get straight.

Vera, needs must with the Christmas stuff as daughter will be going down with the Hampshire gifts mid December and that seems the only way to get my stuff down there. we would always, in the past go down in October/November so it is hard to work out what to do these days.Daughter will then pick me up on their way back from Hampshire to travel up to the LD for 3 weeks on 19 December.
Hope all goes well with OH's procedure today and it is not as bad as anticipated for him.

Yes several small gifts bought for the Christmas drawer.

Hoping the weather brightens up today and the blue skies don't get stuck down in Devon and Cornwall as we hope to go for lunch to the airport bar where we sit outside.

Lovely to see you on here Gill and for you to tell us all thats been going on at your new place.

I am going in the shower now and getting ready for bed as its been a long hard day. I am hoping its going to be nice again tomorrow and perhaps I can get up the border.
Nearly forgot to put the bin out tonight and did it after oh had gone to bed but at least its up there ready for the collection tomorrow.

Hi all

So sorry I haven't been on here for ages. Thanks Mel for letting everyone know I'm okay.

OH has been trying for three days to get a sick note for work and some stronger painkillers and the only doctors appointment he could get was for 1st September. The doctor was suppose to ring him yesterday but he didn't get the call so he went to the doctors himself this morning without an appointment, they said he would get a call today but all he got was a text with the next available appointment to see the doctor, so he took himself off to our local hospital to the out of hours surgery. He's managed to get a sick note but it runs out on Friday as it had to be backdated, he only saw the nurse so he couldn't get very strong painkillers, but she did give him ones that are stronger than paracetamol so at least that's something. Poor OH has to go into work on Saturday even though he's still in pain as that's when his sick note runs out, so he rang work earlier to explain things. Hopefully he'll be on light duties and if he still needs time off he will get another sick note next Wednesday when he sees the doctor. So all in all he's not a happy bunny.

I spent all day yesterday cutting down all the shrubs in the front garden and a large tree as it was more like a jungle than a garden. I can't get over how big the front looks now. The next job is digging all the shrub roots out which OH and I will do between us when he's fit enough as it's to big a job for me to do on my own.

I've just watered all my indoor plants as I couldn't get anywhere near them when the bathroom was being altered and they were starting to droop, so that's a job out of the way. I'll be mopping all the floors again tomorrow as the dust is still around. I think it's coming up through the gaps in the floorboards as we have no floor coverings yet. I tried to ring the electrician to move the light switch over to the other side of the bathroom door but he didn't answer his phone so I'll try him again tomorrow. We can't have the new wall plastered until the electrics are done and we also want to have the electric sockets sorted in the kitchen to as they are only surface mounted at the moment. OH wants an outside light and some sockets so the electrician is going to be busy.

Once all that's done, we can start looking for a new bathroom suite and kitchen and we'd like a gas fire putting int he living room, but we'll need to have the loft boarded first as all the boxes are still in the living room as it's been far to dusty to unpack.

I can't believe we've been here six months, the time has gone by so fast, I hope all the jobs are finished before the winter is here as I'd like to decorate and buy the floor coverings before it goes to cold.

For now it's quite warm as we had a grant for, underfloor, loft and cavity wall insulation and also a new boiler and radiators. We do need to order a new front and back door so that's something else I'll need to look into, but at least some of the jobs have been done and hopefully it won't be to much longer before there all done and we can finally unpack.

I'll try my best to get on here more often now most of the dust has gone. I hope everyone is okay and sorry for worrying you all.