General Chat

Hi Island.

I have hoovered the kitchen and dining area and part of the hall, cleaned the big filter on the pond fed the chickens and bantam and am topping the pond up from the well.

So I now think I am due a sit down before lunch.

Yes I too hope Mnaady is comfortable and that Vera's back is'nt too bad today. <3 <3

He is a good worker and luckily jobs seem to be picking up for him.

:-D sorry Island, local only.

He has put one coat on the woodwork at the front of the house and the meter cupboard doors.

Morning Mel and AnnG

It's not too bad here, laptop says 15 but outside thermo says 10 :-S - at least it's sunny and forecast for the day.

You've got a treasure there Ann - how far will he travel? ;-)

I was looking at a light weight cardi on line just now. Not exactly my sort of thing but I thought 'that'd be good for jabs on cold days' LOL Are we being conditioned?

I hope Mandy and Vera are comfy with their ailments and healing.

He sounds like a good worker and you are lucky to have him as he really seems to get down to things.

Well once the clocks go back it will get light a bit earlier I suppose.

Andy has already cut down some overgrown shrubs, trimmed a big jasmine and a pyracanthus, once again taken small weeds out from the block bricked drive. He is going to give a third coat of paint to the pink seat and paint the woodwork at the front of the house and the meter cupboard door. He will move three small bags of compost down to the greenhouse from the garage, clean up the lower patio and take a load to the tip. Plus hopefully removing a small strip light in the kitchen which I can't shift. He has already weighed up the hall stairs and landing and cloakroom with a view to painting later in the year.

He was here at 8am

Morning Anng and all,

I have over slept got up twice inthe night and then woke to beautiful sunshine and wonderful blue sky with a few clouds and when I looked at my phone it was 9 44am.

pc says 14 degrees and cloudy so we will see how the day goes.

Don't know where last week went all I do know is that when BIL comes I don't get much done.

Whats Andy doing today Anng? and yes we are going to have to get used to the early dark nights and morning as the clocks go back at the end of this month.

Good morning all. up early as Andy will be here around 8 to start his jobs for the day. gosh it was dark and 0630. I do hate these dark mornings and early dark evenings.

Turned cold and cloudy here now and we've had a little shower of rain.

Hav'nt done much this afternoon but I must take the recykling up and the cardboard which I forgot last week.

Yes, had a good chat with my friend, had lunch now and got the veg ready for tonight. I have a ready slow cooked lamb shank in mint gravy which I am looking forward to.
It is 17 degrees here and I know I should be doing something in the garden but, as Grandson is coming next Saturday to collect the Christmas presents I ought to finish wrappin those. As they have money plus several small gifts there is a lot to wrap for four of them. I shall have a look at the garden first.

Afternoon All,

Sunny here and 14 degrees now but it rained quite a bit last night.

Good idea to have the mowers in the garage for winter Mel as they will be safer in there.

OH has all his dressings off now and no painkillers today so far. He carefully put some washing on the rotary while I had nipped to the paper shop and managed to shower on his own today. He's been looking at what matches he can go to next, but agreed one tomorrow was a day too soon according to advice and will wait till next Saturday now. He has his first diabetes course meeting next Friday, so should be ok driving by then.

I hope your back is a bit easier today Vera. I know what you mean about having to soldier on despite these things. I have an autoimmune condition that gives me a lot of pain, but in the end it almost becomes your new 'normal' to have the pain. What a kind lot you ladies are to keep involving your friend with dementia as long as is possible. The joint gifts were a good idea and to have the get together at your place.

Hope you had a nice chat with your friend this morning AnnG. I haven't had one of those forms for the stamps yet, so will look it up and download one.

I hope Mandy is feeling a bit more comfortable now and has less pain. It takes such a long time for these things to heal it must get you down not being able to do anything.

It looks nice for doing some gardening now, but I have some indoor jobs that must be done so best get on with those first.

Morning Anng and all,

Bright morning here too and we had a bit of rain in the night but the suns out now and its very still out there 10 degrees but feels chilly.

Enjoy coffee with your friend today Anng.

Had a bit of a clear out in the garage yesterday with BIL and you can accually get round it now. We are going to try and get the mowers in there for the winter so all the work benches will have to be moved.

Good morning all 8 degrees and fairly bright at the moment. Friend coming for coffee this morning otherwise nothing on.

Courgettes. Cynth tried Waitrose, no luck then she was going past a different ztesco and called in and they had six corvettes. I only wanted one so she bought three two for her one for me. But how strange it was so difficult.

Had BIL here again today and he started clearing out the garage workshop so we can get the mowers in there for the winter. I started before he came and then left him to it after giving him a coffee then I did the shop and then our lunch so I kept him well fed today and he brought some plastic boxes to put the things in we want to keep which will go on the long shelf in there once we've sorted that.

Did'nt go to Em's with eggs but I can do that tomorrow.

Your gathering for the birthday girl sounds lovely Vera and flowers chocs and a cake sounds just the ticket. I am sure she will enjoy every minuet.

Morning Mel, AnnG and all

It's apparently 11 degrees but feels colder to me.and a mixture of sunshine and cloud.

My back is still giving me problems but I can't sit around waiting for it to get better so I've taken 2 strong painkillers and in a while I am going to go and do a bit more in the garden. If I only deal with one plant it will be one less to do. I don't think my back is going to get much better now. It's been 10 months, I've seen the doctor and the physio and I do all my exercises so I shall just have to live with it now. I'm fortunate compared to some others who have far worse problems than me.

We also had a form for exchanging the old stamps come in the post but if you don't get one Mel I think you can probably download a copy. I only have a few second class stamps left now and they will soon get used up.

I am sure I saw courgettes in our local Sainsbury yesterday AnnG. I'd only popped in for some fresh veg and didn't want courgettes but I think they had some. I did want cooking apples which they hadn't got

The other reason I went shopping was to get extra milk and fancy biscuits as I have a "do" here on Tuesday. I think I've mentioned before that we have a birthday group of ladies who, prior to the pandemic, used to celebrate each other's birthdays with a meal out followed by cake and coffee at the birthday girl's house. In the last 2 or 3 months this has started up again in a more muted form. We usually go at lunchtime rather than the evening as pubs, restaurants are quieter then and try and get a table spaced away from others. Most places are very good about giving us what we want. The oldest of our group is 90 tomorrow. Since her husband died last year she has gone downhill and is physically frail and her dementia is worse though she still knows us all. She is hardly eating and won't cope with a meal out so we thought we'd do just tea and cake with the group she knows. With 2 toilets downstairs, no steps and a large kitchen and living room it makes sense to have it here. We are not buying her the small individual presents we usually give. Instead we have all contributed a few pounds and one of the ladies has organised a bouquet of flowers, a big box of chocolates and a birthday cake. I'm providing some nice biscuits and a few savoury nibbles to start and the tea/coffee/milk etc. and another lady is acting is chauffeur and collecting the birthday girl and taking her home.and generally keeping an eye on her. As always there are one or two who are willing to put in their money but never actually offer any help but that's people the world over. I must say that OH is very good and never seems to mind his home being invaded. He'll greet the ladies and then disappear upstairs to the computer or take himself off somewhere with a book.

The pain killers are starting to work a bit now and it's still sunny so it might be a good time to go out to the garden.

But at least he comes Mel and must be a great help.

Hopefully the solicitor will be able to sort out the land, I assume it is transfer of ownership which you will need if you ever want to sell it. Solicitors are not cheap.

I will use my stamps on my Christmas cards but there is a form you can get to change the stamps. I had one come in the post last week.

Tesco due later. Two subs, one is milk 4pt subbed by two 2 pints more convenient for me but I go for the 4 pint as it is cheaper. The other sub us gin and they have done it again. Gordons on offer for £17 per litre, litre unavailable so subbed by two 70cl bottle for £17

But croissants were unavailable and also stamps. Otherwise no problems

anyone had problems gettin courgettes? None in Tesco this week either in our local store or on line and also apparently none in Sainsbury's

Morning Anng and all,

Miserable here this mroning as it was lashing fine rain when I woke up and that was coming from the west on the wind and the sun was coming up so it was bright in the east . Now its cleariong up a bit. Its 12 degrees and pc says cloudy and it says nearest rain 12 km away.

Light rain is expected during the day. The high will be 15° on this breezy day.

WIND
25 km/h
HUMIDITY
89%
VISIBILITY
20 km
PRESSURE
1002 mb
DEW POINT
10°

No rain for the next 2 hours.

I had to go to the solicitors yesterday and was in with him for about 2 hours. I suppose he wants the business!!!!! Hope his bill is not too big. Its all because of the top field and the land registry and the map he showed me is all wrong really as oh sold a bit of land to Em's parents and it was'nt registered. He even asked me how much land was there and I did'nt know. All I knew was I owned 20 yards in front of the potting sheds. and he bought the back garden from Dot who lived there before Les. So it all joined my land. In the end he put down 3/4 of an acre.

Then I popped in the post office to get my old stamps changed to the new ones and they said they did'nt do that. She told me to use them up on my Christmas cards blimmin cheek. I did buy a box of cards in there as I liked them. Nicely red and green with robins on.

Then I went in the factory shop and bought a few bits in there and then came home . Driving in the arch who should be at the garage but BIL who said he was coming on Saturday but turned up today too. He makes me cross cos he never rings before he comes.

Good morning all a bit drizzly this morning so looks like gardening is out. 8 degrees. Tesco today 11-12

I slept quite well last night arms didn't bother me and at the moment can hardly feel any problem at all. Just a very slight stiffness in both but no real pain.

Thanks Mel and Vera for the tips on taking cuttings, I have taken cuttings and rooted them in compost of Ivy leafed geraniums before but anything else I have tried has failed.

What a palaver with your jabs AnnG and a good job you went down anyway or you might have missed out altogether. At least you are done now. I hope you don't have any after effects.

I bet your OH was pleased to get out for a little while Ann and glad to get rid of that rather fetching hosiery. It sounds as though your new garage are helpful. I must admit I leave everything car related to OH but I drive very little now anyway; just around locally to keep my eye in so that I could take over in an emergency.

You really did come a cropper when you fell Mandy. I'm not surprised you are sometimes a bit down. I don't suppose you are sleeping well in the chair and everything seems worse when you are tired. As Mel says, keep your pecker up, things will get better.

I haven't done any more in the garden today as my back has been giving me some problems. I keep saying that I must get on with it but it's a case of the spirit's willing but the flesh is weak. My cuttings are a bit hit and miss AnnG; they don't all take but I usually get enough rooting to make it worth doing. I do some in little jars of water on the window sill like Mel but I find others are better planted in compost. It's best to google for propagating the plant you want to take cuttings from but generally I try to cut just below a leaf node and take off lower leaves so there are just 2 or 3 at the top. Some like Argyranthemum and those sorts of plants usually root OK in water, just keep an eye on them. I generally do geraniums and penstemon in pots with a general purpose compost with added grit or sharp sand for drainage. I put 5 around the edge of a 5" pot. Depending on the plant I might put it in a propagator or in a polythene bag to keep the moisture in but I don't do that with geraniums as they are inclined to rot. Hope that's some help.

I'd better go and start cooking or OH will think he's not getting fed tonight. Enjoy what's left of the day and sleep well tonight everyone.