General Chat

Good morning all. good to see Gill on here. Hope all goes to plan Gill and you will soon be able to move on to the next stage of your alterations. Good to be busy but do take some time to relax.

Bright here and so far dry and so far also the awful wind seems to have dropped. I am glad about that as I am having the misted glass replaced in the conservatory this morning.

Nothing else planned so I shall see what I will do.

WE knew you would be busy Gill. Hope the work goes well for this week and you can start getting straight and some heat in that place.

Ann I would get G to dig those seeds back up and sort them out. French bean seed are a lot different to runners or you are going to be in a right mess. I sowed my runners today but in plugs so Ican put them where I want them. I also sowed Salad Bowl lettuce. and beetroots in plugs. I am going to have a go at everything in big pots and tubs etc this year. We'll see how it goes......

Hi everyone, I've finally got five minutes to myself so thought I'd show my face, so to speak :-D :-D

Been really busy over the past week or so and have finally got a start date for the removal of the chimney which is happening on Thursday if the weather isn't to bad, so we've been moving everything out of the kitchen into the spare bedroom and putting the unpacked boxes (yes I still have them laying around lol) into the loft. There's still more boxes to move so we're going to be busy for the next couple of days as well, but we're getting there.

OH cut up some more of the garden rubbish and added it to the hedge rubbish in the hope it'll be shredded all together. That's also booked in and will be done on Friday, so quite a busy week ahead of us. The builder will take a few days and go into next week but once the chimney's out and the coal fire and surround in the living room we can start thinking about having a boiler and radiators put in. We'll need the bathroom extended into the hallway first as we want a rad where the original door frame is and don't want to get the plumber back in just for one radiator. We were hoping to have a staircase put into the living room to the loft but need building regs for that which will slow everything down so for now we're thinking of having the loft opening moved so the bathroom can be done without the original loft opening in the bathroom ceiling. So lots to think about and do. I'm starting to get excited now, but wish the weather could of held out a bit long, it's very wet and windy and with the chimney stack needing to come out it may delay the builder. I guess we'll find out in a few days.

I'm going to get myself a drink now then have an early night, I'm absolutely shattered. I've been tired most of the day but didn't want to nap in the day incase I didn't sleep tonight, but now I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'm sorry I haven't caught up with all the posts, so hope everyone is okay. Love the pics you've all sent <3

Evening All,

I was up at 8.00am and woke OH as I thought it was window cleaner day and he unlocks the side gate. 'No' he mumbled, 'it's next week'. I thought I'd go and do some more planting as I was wide awake and he soon followed me to do the same. I asked him where the French beans to plant were that were at the side of the greenhouse. OH you said there were 2 packs of runner beans and I planted them yesterday. I actually said to just plant the runners, which were nowhere near the French bean plants, and which I would plant in a tub today. I asked where he had put them all and which was which. Well he had put some in the tub and some in the ground as I wanted to compare how they did, but said he had mixed them up and had no idea which was which!! :-S :-S Now we have dwarf French beans mixed with tall runners!! Why can't he follow the simplest instruction! :-( I then placed pots of shrubs/plants on the garden where I wanted them and he got all those planted while I planted up more outside tubs/pots and the 3 tomato plants. Our backs and knees had had enough by then and it started to spit with rain so we went in. Oh my, the wind got up and the rain really lashed down. It's been storms then sun all day so I hope the plants will be alright. There are still things to be planted and some won't be big enough to go in till after our break.

I think the weather was affecting the teacher's internet connection today and we 'lost' her a few times. It's cows this week for the pen and wash as well as the pastel class. We used mostly pen today to do 'pointillism' (a dot picture) and the same picture using lines.

It's good you are healing nicely now AnnG and are rid of those stitches so should be more comfortable.

Vera my OH calls my unmentionables shipping forecast signals when he pegs them out and says they must be visible for miles........cheeky bounder! :-) We daren't put our bins out for collection tomorrow yet as it's still windy. I hope you feel a better still tomorrow.

Mel, I haven't been able to get lamb shanks for the past 4 orders now. I think they have stopped doing them online. I had 6 subs yesterday, but they were ok. I bet Robbie was glad of those worms under the mat! I didn't know it was the male that did all the feeding. It's a shame about the broken eggs. Do they look pecked or are they just clumsy leaving the nestbox?

It's a good job OH wasn't planting your beans Mandy! lol. :-D It sounds like you have been busy too and got HW done as well.

I hope we hear from Gill soon. Hopefully she's been getting lots done in the garden or sorting the furniture for Sandra's flat.

It rained overnight but we haven’t had more than a few spots today. It’s been reasonably warm with sunny spells and grey clouds but the wind has been so strong. My weather app calls it a fresh breeze. Fresh breeze, my foot! More like a force 9 gale. I had to bring several pots back in to the conservatory because they kept being blown over and a couple of plants ended up with broken stems. No gardening for me today but I did get lots of washing dry. I made sure it was all very firmly pegged – I didn’t fancy my unmentionables ending up in a neighbour’s garden.

Speaking of neighbours, our next door neighbour has just brought round our Monday treat. Today we have salted caramel shortcake. He is very good and always sticks on a label listing all the ingredients. Today the label also says DANGER TO FILLINGS.

I’m glad you are healing well now AnnG. Hopefully your visit to the surgery on Thursday will be your last for a long while. It’s good of your neighbour to take you. It sounds as though you have had a really stormy day and so have you Mel. At least we just got the wind and avoided most of the rain.

Nothing else much happening. I still don’t feel 100% but I am quite a bit better than I have been for the last few days so I might do a bit of h/w tomorrow. I can’t say I’m keen but one or two of the floors look as though they could do with a vac. The trouble with h/w is that it’s so boring and it seems such a waste of time as you know as soon as you clean something, someone will make it dirty again. In our house that someone is called OH!

Thats because you sent the rain and hail down here. I got stuck in my shed for an hour and a half. Going to make a drink now as oh has just appeared indoors. He was in his shed/workshop too.

Its good your neighbour took you today and can take you on Thursday too.

Mel no my neighbour was able to take me today, just as well as I would have got soaked. Luckily she can take me on Thursday as well.

Lucky baby blob then all those worms. Of course since I decided to give up on the garden the sun has been shining.

We too have showers heavy ones at that and the winds blowing a hooley.

Baby Bob got inthe shed this morning and kept flying at the glass so I had to open the window the other end to the door. I came out and he followed me out the door!! I lifted up the rubber mat from outside and he had a load of worms under it so I came away and left him to it.

Mandy its the male Robin that feeds the fledgling while mum lays more eggs so he really has his work cut out as he has to feed her on the nest as well as the babes.

I have done one lot of wahsing today put a few bits away inspected my seedlings and got lunch O and fed the chickens and bantams. One whole egg and two broken ones this morning but over the weekend I have had two bantam eggs. They are so old I am surprised one of them still lays.

Not sure whether to go up the border or stay down here safe in my shed. I have seeds I can be sowing so I may do that and if the wind drops go up the border.

Glad the nurse said your back is healing well Anng and it will soon be better now. Did you come home on the bus?

And now lightening and thunder.

No more gardening for me today it is absolutely lashing down and blowing a gale, not cold 13 degrees but the sky is absolutely black, awful weather for May.

Afternoon all,

Funny old day here lovely and sunny one minute and then down comes the rain but only for a couple of minutes and then its sunny again.
I have given the downstairs a good dust and hoover ,we're waiting for a parcel to come so I've been in while Colin has got a few jobs done dodging the showers.

Mel lovely photos of the baby robins ,they've had mum feeding them all those meal worms that's why they look so healthy :-D

AnnG thats good your healing well and sounds as if you've had the same weather as us .

We have planted out the runners ,dwarf beans and peas ,the tomatoes look ok but the cucumber plants are a bit slow ,didn't help with the greenhouse going over the otherday and things sliding off the shelf onto them.
I might see if I can get the Geraniums out this afternoon if it stays dry long enough .

Back from nurse. healing well, just got one dressing on now minus the iodine dressing. Back on Thursday for a final check then probably the dressing can stay off. No heavy lifting though for about another 2/3 weeks.

We have been havig sun and light showers that faded to nothing all morning so I decided to plant out a couple of tomatoes into there final place. Just got the second one in when a huge gale sprang up from nowhere and the heavens opened, really heavy rain and strong wind. managed to tie the tomatoes to sticks but will have to sort it later hopefully they will be ok. such strange horrible weather.

Morning Anng and all,

We have sunshine but its still a bit windy. OOO just looked outthe front and there threaterning grey clouds and they're coming our way. Oh is out working on the mower but he may be in the workshop.

Good luck with you're appointment Anng hope everything is healing properly now and not infected.

I have been faffing around with my Asda order They have never got any pickled onions for oh. They have my silverskin ones but not REAL ones.

Good morning all. Blustery, occasional sun but showery too, more like April. Waiting for Charles to call in to check the seal in the conservatory. Appointment at the surgery at 11am

Annx. I sent you a pm but I see you have not opened it.

That's a big border to do if I remember right Mel, but your efforts will make it look so nice. Your Peonies sound pretty.

AnnG we usually only go there in May or September, when parking at the marina where the big liners and yachts are isn't usually a problem at Falmouth. I like it there and take my camera. We often drive up the road above the dry docks and watch them working. I think it may be different with people keen to go away as soon as they can this year, but OH thinks it won't as the children will still be at school. We aren't far from Truro, which is a nice place too with it's sandy flagged pavements. It's nice you made some nice memories of time spent with your brother in the area Vera. I think we have kept going while we can, as the time will come when we can't and every time we find new places to go and see. You have been busy in the garden too and we plan to do the same tomorrow with putting the tomatoes in their bigger pots and planting up more outside.

Well we had quite a panic over our food order as they were really late delivering. I went online and noticed it said 'delivered' next to our order and we thought they may have delivered it elsewhere. It would have been quite possible, as there are 2 other closes with the same name, one near the city and another a few miles further out in another village and we have had post come to us for both! Luckily it turned up half an hour after the latest time and the chap put everything in our bags for life as I asked to save OH's back. They don't provide plastic bags you could pay for anymore. Being a smaller order for just a week it was soon wiped and put away.

Off to bed now as I feel tired and want to be up early tomorrow.

Back from the border and just read your posts. Yes Ann it is the border on the left as you drive through the arch. My peonies have grown so tall this year, well the pink one has. The lovely deep cerise one only has two flowers on it this year but it only had one last year so I suppose thats good.

Its been quite warm today even though not much in the way of sun and only a light wind which seemed quite warm. I even took my coat off while up the border. Still digging twitch out but the ground is easy to dig with the rain we have just had.

Pasties for tea tonight so I better put them on plates and find soemthing to drink.

What a beautiful day here; a mixture of sunshine and cloud, but dry and warm with just a bit of a breeze. At last it is beginning to feel like May. It’s cheered me up as I am still spending a lot of time looking at the bathroom tiles and still don’t feel very good. But I do feel a bit better than yesterday and managed to eat most of my Sunday dinner (pot roast beef Mel), so I’m heading in the right direction.

I checked up and it doesn’t seem as though we are going to get much more in the way of frosts so we decided to get some of the pots in the conservatory planted out. OH did a lot of it but with me telling him what to put where. I did general tidying and sorting and pot washing. There’s quite a lot that I can’t plant out yet because the troughs and pots I want to use are still full of late daffodils or wallflowers blooming away. I haven’t got my tomatoes in their final pots yet either but we’ve made a start and I can now at least see the floor of the conservatory and hope to be able to get the whole room cleaned in a few days. I’m now wondering if I have got the energy to finishing cutting down the penstemons or whether to leave that for another day.

I see you have been busy in the garden too AnnG. I like nemesia as well. A pot of it came with me from our old house 7 years ago and I’ve managed to keep the same plants going year in, year out but I recently decided that they’re way past their best now so I dumped them. If I happen to be out and see any I might buy a few more. You asked about our self-catering week. We are staying on the outskirts of Skegness. We wanted to go somewhere within about a 3 hour drive and somewhere we hadn’t been before. We aren’t going till September as when we booked it we weren’t sure how the vaccination programme would be going and what the virus would be doing so decided not to go too early, then we didn’t want to go in the school holidays either so ended up with September. I am looking forward to it as we haven’t been anywhere for so long now.

It will be lovely round Falmouth at this time of the year Ann. I have some very dear and happy memories of the area. I have an elderly, now frail, cousin living in Truro and we wanted to visit her and have a holiday so I booked a self catering place near Falmouth. I booked a 3 bedroomed place in the hope that my brother would be well enough to come with us with his partner. He was between operations and thankfully was doing well and we had a lovely week together. That was in 2018 but, having lost him this year, the memories of that week are very precious.

You sound much perkier now Frank. I hope Jonathan and Lewis turned up to do your garden jobs for you. Maybe you should charge Jonathan hire fees for your roatavator, lol. Now you take care and make sure you have no more falls so you are able to go to Devon and enjoy your time there.

I wonder how Gill is getting on. It seems a long while since we heard from her. I hope everything is OK and she is just busy with other things. I hope Island is OK as well. I haven’t noticed her posting on other threads either.

It’s come over very cloudy but I reckon if I get a wriggle on I could go and cut down my last few penstemon. Have a lovely evening everyone and sleep well tonight.

Afternoon All,

Slept well but we were up late so I haven't done much. I watered the greenhouse and have replied to the 'track and trace' email info the holiday agent wanted. The kitchen surfaces are clear ready for the food drop. I wonder if they will use our bags like I have requested on the order or just dump everything in the boxes.

I noticed we have lots of Snapdragons popping up everywhere as well as Pansies AnnG. It's nice to get some free plants. Unlike me you have got lots done today. I must get some more planting done tomorrow.

I hope your 'workers' turned up Frank. I expect Lewis is quite the young man now. How are his studies going and is his job still there to go back to? I would consider an early start for Devon as the 17th is the day the hotels open and there may be a lot of traffic. Jonathon is getting attached to your rotovator, but if he does yours for you with it as well you won't mind. :-)

I wonder if Mel is making good progress with the top border. Is that the one on the left as you drive through the arch?

The delivery is later than usual today so I hope they come! OH keeps peering through the window in here and his impatience is irritating as he keeps interrupting me!

I wonder if Mandy's son got his tooth sorted out.

Just in from over 2 hours in the garden All hanging baskets are now planted and in the greenhouse to settle for a week or so. took the paper white narcissus out of the tub they were in and planted them over the back in the garden, quite a lot of bulbs in that spot now. Cut back a lot of variegated ivy off the centre trellis and some euonymous that was creeping up the greenhouse and jamming the window. Tidied up a few pots and some dying leaves of crocus. Looks a lot tidier out there now.

Beside the gardening I have stripped and remade the bed and washed ans dried the bedding.

Conservatory is looking quite empty now that the plants for the baskets have gone, Just a couple left to go in tubs.

Must see if I can get some more nemesia, when we had a couple of mild winters we had a lot of nemesia and they all over wintered and self seeded to we had more than we could find homes for, all colours. Now we don't have any at all.