General Chat

Oh AnnG that is very hot! :-0 They said they thought the city here may reach 40, but where we are it has dropped another degree to 36 now. I wish the rain would come. We haven't ventured outside since OH fetched the bins in this morning. As soon as OH saw Ernie he said 'what a lovely cat!' :-)

I bid on ebay today for a small unused tin of my favourite brand of watercolour paints. I got identical ones free with a magazine sub when I started watercolour painting and have used over half of some of the 8 colours. These were half the new price so that pleased me.

40 degrees here right now and humid.

Thank you for showing us Ernie Anng. He is a beauty isn't he and has lovely golden eyes. I'll show him to OH when he comes through.

I think the rain might miss us as well Vera. The sun is shining brightly now. The temp went to 38 but has dropped back to 37 and the. PC says ' rain off and on'.

Thanks for the rain pictures Mel. They reminded me what the wet stuff looks like :-). I feel like paddling in a puddle now. Hopefully we’ll get some tomorrow afternoon though “they” say ir is going to be patchy so it could miss us altogether. Today it’s only a degree hotter than yesterday at this time but it’s more humid so feels hotter and stickier.

I’ve taken on board your orchid advice Mel. When it was given to me there was a peel off label on the pot that just said Orchid, but I am fairly confident it’s a moth orchid. I’ve been OK with watering and feeding but needed to know about cutting back the flower stems and whether I should move it somewhere else for a dormant period. At the moment it’s on a sideboard in the hall. It gets plenty of diffused light through the glass in our front door but is out of direct sunlight. If I ought to move it I can’t think where to put it. Most of our windows get direct sun for much of the day and a lot of our ledges are narrow. I do have a wide surface in front of the bathroom window but it can get quite hot in there. All advice welcome.

AnnG, could you pack Ernie up and mail him to me please. He is gorgeous. I love cats and miss having one around but OH doesn’t want another one now.

Your photos are lovely and cooling Mel, hurry and send your rain up here like often happens! I love the circles the rain made on OH's pond.Your grass is so green and the huge box hedge is looking good.

I feel ok again today Vera thanks. We are at 37 now so creeping up too. I would think Kindles are really great for travel and save taking much needed space up. OH even gets hardbacks of books he already has sometimes. He just loves his books. I'm in no position to say anything though with all my craft materials. :-) I can't help with your orchid as I've never had one.

Sounds like a healthy kitten AnnG! They must all get on well together and give the kitten plenty of play. OH likes ginger cats and used to have one years ago. He's not keen on having a cat now though and says he would worry too much about it with the roads.


I bet Max was enjoying his ice cubes!

And now its hot cos the suns back out or perhaps because I have been washing and feeding the chickens and had to put their shade back up as the wind had blown on bit off.

Going to get some lnch now. Done all the wipe down and put that lot away.

Pill time, well past it really and I have the washing on the line so time to sit down for a bit.

Vera it depends on what kind of orchid it is. If it a Phalaenopsis or moth orchid its quite simple.

Has it got a see through pot? if so and you can see its roots it needs water (only rain water) if the roots are green. If they are silver then it dos'nt need and watering. It will need a feed evry so often about once a month.

If it is a Moth Orchid and the stems have a sort of leaf bit showing only cut them down to just above one of these as it could flower again from here.

Sent a couple of cooling pics to you.

Good to see you Island. I envy you your veg. I’ve only got herbs and 4 cherry tomato plants in outside pots. They’re looking healthy and got lots of tomatoes coming but they are very slow ripening. I’ll have a look at that app later. We’ve just had a warning of possible storms and heavy rain tomorrow afternoon.

I’m sorry you felt badly last night Ann. I hope you are OK today. I didn’t sleep much and got up very early to do some ironing and a couple of other jobs but that’s it for the day. Since 9 am I’ve just been blobbing. As far as getting your OH interested in a kindle is concerned, it may be a good idea but don’t expect him to give up “real” books. I’ve had a kindle for years and they are a boon, perfect for travelling and holidays as they take up no space but I still can’t walk past a charity shop or second hand book stall without checking out the books.. You find you end up buying physical and e-books and spending even more.

I can see some of my indoor plants looking droopy so I’d better get watering. Can anyone advise me about an orchid? I was given.one in February with 3 flower stems, one in bloom and the other two about to open. The flowers have now finished with only a couple now left to drop. What do I do with it now to keep it alive and encourage it to bloom again in the future?

Good morning all. Well two minutes left then good afternoon.

36 degrees here at the moment, in front of the fan now so ok we went fairly early to a garden centre which had good air con. And had coffee and toasted tea cake. This weatherveat little and often. Walking to the car from the GC it was really hot, reminded me of Florida in August.

Hi Island I bet the veg are needing a lot of water in this heat. Poor Cynth is having to cope with two gardens. I moved my toms I. Pots out of the greenhouse.
I am envious of son’s automatic watering system all his pots and huge baskets look great.

Ann you said to get a photo of the kitten I will if I get the chance but she is either flat out asleep or zooming around.
The other cats are, senior cat, Ernie a large and beautiful and very nervous ginger. Ivy a small about 2/3 year old black very friendly girl and Misty a slightly scatty two year old tortoise shell.

I'll take a look.

Veg is good. Enjoy the lightning app, it's quite fascinating if you like to weather watch

Hello I sland nice to see you. Hows the veg this year?

Had to turn the pc off with the thunder about. We have more thunder now and rain the first lot was short and sharp but its a bit steadier now. It smells wonderful out. PC says rain coming and for Buckland Filleigh its 21 at the moment so much better. I wish it would come up to you lot to give you a breather.

Lots of subs today but two which will be going bak and thats Kale and some icecream cones as they are not my waffle ones and I have a box of the ordinary ones.

Still slept well but I did'nt go to bed till 2am.

There's a lot of flashing and rumbling around the south west.

https://www.lightningmaps.org

I’m moving in with you Mel. Cloud and even a little bit of rain would feel like heaven. The highest temperature in the country yesterday was recorded in Suffolk. We haven’t had any rain for a while and there’s none forecast, at least not for the next 10 days. It’s 34 here at the moment and climbing.

Oh, I’m wanted on the phone. Bbl

Morning all,

Cloudy sky today and at the mo we have RAIN and plenty of thunder to go with it. Its still 24 degrees.

It's 29 now.......that's enough for me and it's not 10.00am yet.

Didn't see you there Mandy. We were opening some windows and shutting the curtains before, as the sun moved round, but have closed both today like you to keep the heat out. The children round here broke up last week, so they are ok, but if they close some schools they will be thinking they have missed out on extra holiday! I agree it's too hot for children to be walking to and from school in this heat though, even with uniform rules relaxed. The older ones have so much to carry as well. I bet Max is enjoying his frozen Kongs! They sell doggie meals and icecream at some of the cafes round here now. The very thought of marmite icecream.....yuk!

Morning All,

Well I felt a bit badly last night with the heat so had a cool shower, got the fan out in the bedroom, a bowl of water with a new cloth in it for mopping me down placed on the bedside table and my chilled hot water bottle. I didn't need the fan in the end and the water bottle under my knees or placing the inside of my wrist on it helped a lot.Thyroid problems can cause difficulty with temperature regulation and for many years I have had difficulty warming up if I get really cold and vice versa so wasn't surprised. Now I have a wet cloth round the back of my neck like the chefs do in hot weather! lol. Later, if it's as hot as they predict here, my feet will be in a shallow humper of water.

Vera, we went out earlier and watered just the pots and greenhouse and it was already really warm. It says 27 already on the PC so it looks like they are right about it getting hotter today. Where Mel is looks to be a bit cooler. I would sleep downstairs too tonight if it's hot. If we get more of these heatwaves I will get some of those thin gel pads for the bed. I was looking on ebay last night and they don't need cooling or anything and can be folded away when not in use.

OH is doing some of his work he needs to catch up on now and I will sort some paperwork although the PC lets out heat.The binmen have been and the bins are back in place so that's good.

I wish I could get OH interested in a Kindle as it would save OH building a library of books! He still likes the feel and look of a book though and the change from looking at a screen and I can see his point.