General Chat

Not really Anng I just did a bit of drilling and painting of my miniatures and then Angela came to deliver the news letter and we had a chat outside in the cold.

Vera you said in your post that you had an inspiration for a present for your step grandson and his wife but you did'nt tell us what it was and I am dying to know!!!!!!!!

Mandy its so good you are both on the mend now and hope the tiredness soon passes as I know it can go on for ages after you have got rid of the virus. Lets hope its not too long with Christmas looming.

I posted some cards today but still have lots to write so I will be interested to hear when any of you get them. I think I have done all on the thread but I could be mistaken.


The wind here has been so cold today and raining with it most of the day. The chickens are paddling in a mud bath in their run. I still miss old banty and have to go down to open the shed up for Jenny Wren to go in there to find flies and spiders or she shouts at me and goes all around the shed looking under the overhang and chittering away.

good afternoon all. Well I was supposed to be going to Slimbridge this afternoon. It was a lovely sunny morning and 8 degrees but by 12 o;clock it was pouring with rain and had dropped to 6 degrees. So, no Slimbridge. One friend from over the road called in for a drink at 11am so that was the chance for a good chat. and the friend I was going to slimbridge with is coming for a cuppa around 2pm so no present wrapping today.

Pleased that you are feeling better Mandy, Is that the first time you have had Covid. have you had booster vaccs?

Vera you are slowly getting through the present buying. And good that you had a good nights sleep last night. I slept reasonably well but not as good as I have done.

Mel hope you found something interesting to do. :-) :-)

Good morning Mel and all

It's grey, cold and wet. Apparently the temperature is going no higher than 6 degrees today. The computer is telling me that rain will be starting in an hour but it's been raining since I got up at 7.30. A glance out of the window is much more reliable than all these fancy apps.

I had a good night last night and slept from about midnight to 7 am without waking. I can't remember the last time I slept like that and am hoping that tonight will be the same.

I've changed the bedding and done 3 loads of washing. Some is on the clothes airer and some hanging around the house but the rest has gone in the dryer. I try to only use it for towels as it's so expensive to run but occasionally I feel I have to use it.

I didn't get any cards written yesterday so must get some done today and must get the presents for grandson and partner and the babe wrapped so they can take them home with them next weekend.

My friend with Covid tested clear yesterday though she is far from 100% yet and her OH is still positive. She is a bit fed up as she had a pre-op assessment a couple of weeks ago, was supposed to have an ECG last week and have an operation today. Now it's likely to be a few weeks before she has her op as they have to start the process all over again and won't do it till she is back to her normal level of fitness.

I hope you and your OH are feeling better Mandy.

I'm just about to order a present for our step-grandson and his wife as I had a bit of an inspiration for them. I try and get something a bit different when I can but I get a bit fed up as OH leaves it all to me. His excuse is "You're much better at it than I am". My response is "You need more practice then" ;-) Talking to friends it seems that it's nearly always the woman in a partnership that remembers birthdays and sorts Christmas gifts.

Better get on, lots to do. Have a good day everyone.

EDIT Must have been typing while you were posting Mandy. I'm glad you are on the mend now but take it easy.

Morning all,

Raining here and very dull .
We are on the mend now but it certainly leaves you very tired and when I try to do anything it takes forever as I have to keep having a rest ,still got a cough .
We both tested again yesterday and there was a very very faint line ,reading on the website it does say that you can go out after five days if the symptoms have eased but I don't think we'll be doing that until we're sure we're OK.

Morning all,

Quite bright this morning but it has been raining too pc is saying high winds today and
9 degrees.

Not sure what I am doing today so will see how the day pans out.

Hope you all slept well and that Mandy and oh are on the mend by now.

O dear Vera what a mess to have to clean away and I hate the smell of thinners. When I was looking for some varnish for my miniatures they all seemed to use thinners to clean the brushes so I kept clear of those. You can't get the watercolour varnish I used years ago which you clean the brushes out with meths which I can just about stand the smell of.

Brrr - it was a very cold night and we woke up to quite a heavy frost. It’s been a chilly day as well and now it is all drizzly with more showery rain promised for this evening..

I don’t seem to have done much today apart from cook our Sunday roast dinner. We had a huge chicken that I decided had resided in the freezer for far too long. It cooked beautifully and was very tasty but it was so big I think we’ll be eating it all week.

AnnG, I try to keep a record of what’s in the freezer in the garage. I don’t bother with the one in the kitchen as I’m going to that all the time and can see what’s there but I have an exercise book for the outside freezer and mark what goes in and out. So why, when I occasionally do a ‘stock take’ does my book never tally with what’s there? I know OH sometimes forgets to tell me if he takes something out, which doesn’t help.

This business of forgetting to tell me something nearly led to murder being committed yesterday. I went into the garage to find my Christmas wrapping paper, climbed on the steps and found it sealed in a black bin liner on top of some cupboards, so I climbed down and plonked it on the white painted work bench while I put the steps away. Picked up the package and found it, and now my hands, covered in white paint. I had to carry it in and drop it across the sink and draining board in the utility, so splodging them with paint, and try and cut away the messy bin liner without getting paint on the wrapping paper inside. Dear OH had a tiny bit of paint left from a job he had been doing so repainted the bench and forgot to mention it!!! I had to clean the sink, draining board and me with cellulose thinners so the uti stank and I washed my hands so many times to get rid of the smell it’s a wonder I have any skin left. I did make my feelings known to OH and he has been ultra nice to me since then, lol.

Both my kids have phoned today and I’ve had a nice chat with them which always cheers me up. I also had a couple of glasses of wine with my roast chicken so I feel quite mellow :-) :-). I’m now going to try and write a few more cards. Have a good evening and stay warm.

raining here now. I have done a bit of admin on here, answering emails etc. And I have also done the stock check on the freezer. and bagged up a few things for the food waste bin that seemed too old to eat. Present wrapping this afternoon.

Been writing my cards.

Morning Ann and all,

No frost this morning either and the sun is trying its hardest to shine so its quite bright.
7 degrees here today and pc says partly sunny.

I may do a bit more washing today and some ironing and then go in the garden if it stays dry and start cutting down the budlia.

Good morning all. not light enough to see what the weather is doing yet but it is not frosty it is 1 degree. Some of the frost yesterday didn't melt even though it was sunny so was obviously very cold.
No plans at all for today except I should really do a stock take on the freezer. Although I try and keep running lists on the drawers, things do get missed so it becomes a bit of a lucky dip and needs sorting.
Mel lets hope for some good dry weather then so you van get your grass cut and I can get stuff transferred back to the shed from the garage. Because it has been so damp lately the grass and soil down to the shed is mucky so I don't want to be training back and forth with things especially the mower.

Vera you got a few things done yesterday. Hope you enjoyed your casserole. Looks like that repotting is quite a heavy job which presumably needs two of you. Careful you don't hurt your back.

Mandy hope you and Colin have continued to improve and are beginning to feel better.

Hope you enjoyed your casserole Vera.

BIL came today and took the mower box off and the cutting gear so I can now tow the big trailer with it as the old mowers steering has gone all stiff. Now I can cut down the budlia and other big shrub on the west wall and he will empty it for me next week. Now I just need some dry weather to be able to do it.

It's been a bright, sunny, crisp day but sooo cold. We had to go out this morning and although I was well wrapped up I developed a really painful headache from having to head into an icy wind. It has eased up now. The iPad is telling me that currently it is 4 degrees but feels like 1 degree because of the wind from the north.

Seeing the swans flying must have been lovely AnnG and it's good that Gwyn has seen her swans around. I hope they have a better breeding year in 2024. As far as I could tell ours successfully raised 5 of the 7 cygnets that hatched. I haven't been to the river recently to see if ours are still around but they sometimes move further along the river in winter.

OH decided that my 2 blueberry plants need repotting and they like the soil to be on the acid side so we bought 4 big bags of ericaceous compost while we were out. The plants are years old (around 20 years perhaps) and are already in my biggest pots so they will have to go back into the same pots. I top the compost up each year but they could do with a more thorough overhaul.

I got some more cards written and typed letters to go in 2 of them but I am not even half way there yet. I posted son's birthday card today, a week before his birthday, but the way things are going it might be there by Monday. I haven't posted any Christmas cards yet.

I bought one more Christmas present while I was out and I am now going to order another one I have seen online. Then I need to climb up in the garage and see if I can find wrapping paper on top of one of the tall cupboards. I am sure we had quite a bit left but I can't find it indoors anywhere. I need to wrap some presents for grandson to take back to Yorkshire next weekend.

Just seen the time and it's later than I thought. I want to get a casserole in the oven so it gets time to cook slowly before we want to eat tonight so I'd better get my skates on.

Keep warm everyone.

You are welcome Mel.

Anng thanks for your lovely card which arrived today.

That would be nice Gwyn after the disarster of this year. I have my little skinny deer in the orchard this mroning. Its been coming in with no mum for ages and dos'nt run off when I go out there. It just looks as if its not that right if you know what I mean but I think it feels safe in here and it eats the leaves that have fallen off the apple trees as you see them disappearing into it mouth as it munches them. There's not much in the way of apples left now so its good it eats the leaves and there's still some on a few trees.

Tha would be nice Gwyn after the disarster of thhyear. Yvn thouug's i have t oe dee'ntom in lo

Blast

I think our south east corner must be a bit warmer.
I fully expected to see frost this morning, but there was none. The sun is shining strongly, but it is probably quite nippy out there.
Yesterday was lovely and bright but breezy, so I wrapped up warmly and went for a walk with a friend. Still quite a few trees holding onto their autumn leaves, so it was quite colourful.

Ann, How lovely to see the swans flying like that. I see ducks locally, but not swans flying.... quite a sight.
I saw what I think are 'our' swans, when I was out yesterday.There were just the 2 of them together on the water's edge. I do hope they have better luck raising a family next spring.

Saw a beautiful site about half eight. Looked out of my kitchen window and saw flying in formation against a clear blue sky, five beautiful swans. heading south. What a lovely way to start the day.

Morning Anng and all,

The frost here arrived quite early last night as my car roof was alll white at 9.30 and it looked as though it had been there a while then. It now sunny and the temp is 1 degree with a clear blue sky. where the sun has reached across the garden there are patches of green and white.

Just the shop to do today and I expect BIL will be hedre today after a morning over Exmoor with his camera.

Woke late again this morning so I better get on.