General Chat

Cleaned all the water bowls in the big girls pen and gave them some pooultry drink in their water. Did the same with the bantams but they did'nt get pink drink cos I forgot!! they have nicce clean watedr though.

Fed the wild birds and got dinner out of the freezer for tonight, spag bol.

Had a bit of a chuck out from the freezer as I cam eacross thing I'd had in there for ages like onion bargees and a box of micro chips.

Morning All,

Didn't have a good night and was still awake at 3.30am. :-S I switched a light on and then saw something dangling from the ceiling. Out I got and went to get the long handled duster. The little blighter saw me and dropped to the floor and went under the bed. I expect a repeat tonight and that didn't help me go back to sleep as I was wondering if it would be on the bed next!

Mel, I could come out with you on my rocking horse! It's horrid to have your ear hurting and your foot as well. I have been doing some laying down leg lift exercises to strengthen muscles round my knees but will have to give it a break for a day or two as it sets off lower back muscle pain. I suppose those muscles are weak too so it will have to be done gradually :-S

I don't know if I said about us finding lots of snail shells in the surplus rock pile behind the shed. I thought it was a Thrush at first, but doubted it as we haven't seen a Thrush round here for about 10 years. Well it looks like it was a Thrush as OH saw one this morning. It was tucking into the berries on next door's Honeysuckle. Talking of birds, the last few nights we have heard the geese go over the bungalow on their 'training flights' for the big journey. I think they are earlier this year, another sign we may have an early autumn. I wish they wouldn't drop messages on the cars.

Good luck with your indoor sorting Island, it's indoor paperwork for me I think.

I hope Vera had a better night and that AnnG doesn't see too much rain today. The sun is shining here now but a while ago we had a heavy downpour.

Better get lunch now. BBL.

Morning all

I won’t say good morning as it isn’t good. Yet again it’s wet, wet, wet with warning of thunderstorms.

Sorry to hear about your earache and hip pain Mel. Have you had any feedback about your hip X-Ray yet? Hope all your pain eases soon and that goes for anyone on here with aches and pains.

While we’re on the medical theme I am quite concerned about OH. He’s not at all well at the moment. He’s not one to make a fuss but I got him to ring the surgery this morning. I’ve been telling everyone how wonderful our surgery has been but I’m disappointed with them today. The receptionist couldn’t or wouldn’t book a face to face appointment and said the first available telephone appointment is Saturday morning which OH accepted. I suspect he spoke to the one unhelpful receptionist there and played down his symptoms.

I’m having one of my “funny tum” days. I’ve lived with it for years and after more ‘oscopies and scans this year I know things haven’t got worse. I feel lousy at the moment but know tomorrow I’ll feel better.

Let’s find some good news. Well, it’s stopped raining temporarily and there’s a gleam of sun. The garden is full of butterflies. Sorry Island, they’re mostly the dreaded whites but as I’m not growing any brassicas or green foodstuffs they don’t worry me.

I had a reasonable night and was up before 7 am. I have got plenty done this morning so that’s good as well.

I smiled at the picture of your child sized dinner Ann. I’d be struggling to get through that! I reckon that was a teenage boy’s special. From my memories of my son and his friends as teenagers they were permanently hungry. They’d eat a huge meal and about half an hour later they’d be raiding the biscuit tin or making a sandwich.

I’ve had my cuppa now so must get on. I hope the weather’s kinder to you than it is to us. Enjoy your day.

Must have rained in the night as the path and road are all wet.

Island I am passing the pain back to you today as at the mo its ol but I hav,nt walked about much yet. Did a bit of deadheading on the patio and thats about it.

Morning Anng, Mel and all

Dull here at the mo' and 15c.

Yesterday I didn't get much indoor culling done as I went in the garden for beans and ended up having a cull out there instead. Had a good go at the toms, I only have to miss a couple of days and they're like triffids! I pulled six out as they won't be producing fruit now. I also trimmed the lower leaves off the runners so I can see them a bit better, they are still producing flowers - surprised as we are leaving the beans to grow on.

Mel, I wondered where my right ankle pain had gone LOL mine was towards the top/front too

Anng, I hope the weather picks up for your stay in MK and doesn't confine you to barracks. A change is as good as a rest though. Good that the cause of your leak was found in the nick of time before you left home.

Back to indoor sorting, will go back to thinning out the outdoors later when it's a bit warmer.

Enjoy your day all

Morning Anng and all,

Dos'nt hurt to lie in a bit sometimes Anng.

Quite bright here this morning with the sun going in and out like a cuckoo in a clock.

I had that earache yesterday where I can't touch my ear and thought it would be gone by this morning but it has'nt. Not so much pain in my hips today but it only early yet and I hav'nt walked very far. Yesterday they were both hurting and I was hobbling around like a rocking horse. I still had that pain inthe front of my right ankle. Never had it before.


So enough of my aches and pains how are you lot this morning? Did you all sleep well? or at least get enough to fight another day?

We hav'nt heard from EOS lately and I hope she is alright as you never know in these times we are going through at the moment. If she does look in I wish her happiness iunt he coming week and hope to hear from her soon. <3

Good morning all. A bit grey here in MK nobody up yet except me and .I am late for me recently

Your first husband was very talented then and a natural craftsman Ann

Vera glad you got a. Better nights sleep. That lounge floor sounds like hard work but I bet it looks nice when done.
Hope your oh can get his aches and pains sorted.
Mel lovely to see the fish growing.
Island the plants certainly don’t like the heavy rain. And the temp is low for the time of year so no wonder tomatoes and veg are struggling.
Yes Hope Gill and Frank are ok.

Evening All,

A bit rainy here today and now it's breezy again.

AnnG, no my first OH wasn't a trained carpenter. He decided not to do his apprenticeship in that as he thought machines were the way forward. So he did his apprenticeship as a wood machinist. He worked at a precast stone company that did everything from build Saudi palaces to Irish Church restoration and Brighton Pavilion and a lot of the cladding for M&S Stores. He did things like making shaped knives for the machines he used to make fancy wooden mouldings in reverse on to make moulds to cast concrete and ground stone in. The church restoration stone they did even had green cast into the stone to look in keeping. There were carpenters employed there too and he would learn things from them. He was a very practical person like some of the menfolk on here and could fix the car (like you could years ago!) did the plumbing and electrics on our house we bought to renovate, built walls, did plastering, made and built in a lot of our furniture etc. He even made me my first greenhouse. Any painting and decorating was my job though, as he wasn't as careful or patient as me. I bet it's given you peace of mind now the leak is fixed before you went away and you can relax and enjoy your break. Once Oliver has finished the boiler it will all be sorted for you and nothing for you to be concerned about.

Island thanks for the link and I think we have all had mixed results in the garden this year. My cues are still wilted but some of the baby cues look ok, but I don't think there will be many more runners. A friend said she cut hers right back last year and more flowers and beans came then so I might try that. I have an empty tub in the greenhouse so I might try a few bean seeds in that as well. I didn't bother with beetroot this year as I think mine were too crowded last year. I don't like the yellow climbing courgette with the hairy fingers. The round one is ok but we've only had 4 up to now. It looks healthy though. How nice to find a good home for your cull! I need another sort out and trip to the charity shop.

That fleece you have sounds effective Mel. Nothing worse than having all your efforts eaten. That's good your baby fish are doing so well and now they have a nice clean filter too. I've forgotten what the UV light does? Is it to control green water? Yes I hope Frank is ok and that Gill is busy getting on hopefully with her bathroom alterations.

I had a better night last night thank you Mel. I seemed to wake practically every hour but got back to sleep again quickly. OH didn't have a good night which is unusual for him. He's now developed pains in his shoulders, arms and hands and still has a mouthful of ulcers, plus another problem he needs to talk to a doctor about, so he isn't a happy bunny.

In as mad moment this morning I decided to clean the wooden floor in the lounge. We have some special cleaning stuff which we use every few weeks and quite often OH does it. I'd forgotten what a pain it is. First you have to get all the furniture into one half of the room, then vac that half, spray the cleaner on and go over it with a mop and wait for it to dry. Then move all the furniture into the other half of the room and repeat the process there. Finally move all the furniture back into position. Most of the stuff moves easily enough but there are 2 floor units that are full of stuff and quite heavy to move.

In between I was running in and out the kitchen and utility, cooking dinner and washing and drying two big loads of towels.

The weather hasn't cheered me up. We have just had one cloudburst after another, with the odd sunny spell in between. Half the garden plants are flattened again. I can understand you feeling you're fighting a losing battle with your veg Island. I'm getting fed up with it too now.

I'm glad you got your leaks fixed before going away AnnG. That's one less thing to worry about.

Ann, as I said in my email I think you and your ex. made a superb job of building the dogcart. There's no end to your talents, you surprise me every time. We are having the same performance as you getting pensions paid into our new account. It's just our state pensions and a small private pension of mine we want changed and we've put everything in writing to the DWP and my pension provider and asked them to confirm it but we haven't heard from them yet.

One of the committee members of a small club we belong to but which hasn't been able to meet since the first lockdown is desperate not to let the club fall apart. So she invited us all to a cream tea in her garden this afternoon. Yesterday she rang and said that in view of the weather she was rescheduling it for Tuesday. Just as well, or we would all have been washed away today. As it happens we can't go on Tuesday as we are already out to a restaurant for afternoon tea that my daughter bought for us.

I hope Frank and Ros, and Gill are all OK.

OH is watching some film or other that doesn't interest me so I might go and watch something on iPlayer or do the crossword or something. Have a good night everyone.

EDIT: Sound a fanfare, hang out the flags; I have my first red tomato. It's a cherry tomato so barely even a mouthful but it's a start :-)

I'm pleased you had a safe journey Anng. Enjoy your stay and I hope the weathers good for you. Good Charles came and cured the leaks in the garage it will put your mind at rest while you're away.

I wonder how our Vera is today ? I hope she got some well earned zzz's last night.

We have sunshine here and oh is out mowing after cleaning my filter out on my pond and fitting the new uv light in it.My baby fish from last year are growing at a rate of knots as I am feeding them oh's special koi food, they love it.

Charles arrived at 0910, he checked the gutter and then the flat roof. The problem was the edging round the roof which was splitting and a couple of corners where the flashing needed replacing. He had stuff on the van to do it with and it was done by ten thirty. Hopefully that will have cured it.

I am at son’s now, traffic was very heavy but we made reasonable time.

This is what I bought and it was £9.99 I think but you can get bigger sizes its from Amazon..

Judy1980 Garden Insect Protection Net Grow Tunnel Fine Mesh for Vegetable Plant Fruits Greenhouse Flowers Crops,Pesticide Repellent (2.5 * 10 M)

O Island they do in our garden there are a lot of fairies in the garden.

I am going to sow some more short beans as the ones I have in the pot are doing really well. Beetroot are growing but no at a rate I would like but they are in a big pot and a window box thing and they are very thickly planted so I think I need to thin them out a bit to get any of a good size to eat. I grow the cylindrical ones as you geet a nice lot of slices from them.

Courgettes leaves have all gone mouldy but its still producing and if we can't est them the chickens do.

Also Island I bought this very fine white netting this year and its been good for over the silly little plastic greenhouse and over a frame of the blueberries and oh even bought a length to go in the pond filter on my pond as the foam circles in it are very old and it was cheaper than the sponges that go in the filter. He's out there now cleaning it out much to his disgust.

Island put a nice ripe apple under your toms and it will help with the ripening. Ripe fruit givesd off etherlene gas which ripens the toms. Banana skin does the same job.

I wondered if this might be of interest if anyone still has the heart for growing veg after all the bad weather.
I like the idea of sweetcorn shoots. I also so have a packet of kale which I haven't sowed yet but the wretched whit butterflies will still be around for a while.

https://www.bitesizedgardening.co.uk/what-to-sow-in-august-my-25-favourites/how-to-dig-for-victory/?fbclid=IwAR3aU6zuZqIDsR5kTvS6PFaLQfQc7DWEnmP7T1Nxvm2rpSGzIbZWSMCpeQE
.

Cheers Mel :-D
You had me worried, thought I was in a time warp. I've only missed one day LOL

As I'm here...... I've been meaning to ask you Mel, as you have a large garden. Do you or have you ever put down a sheet of corrugated iron in a sunny spot to see if you have any slow worms?

I'm disheartened by the effect the weather is having on my veg - it's all outside - toms seem to have stopped growing with no sign of ripening so that'll be green tomato chutney again. I'm also checking daily for signs blight so I can whip the fruit off before they get it.
Cues not great, I think the leaves are dying off.
Courgettes are a bit slow this year, actually, the peppers indoors on the sunny window sill have slowed down too.
I've found it all quite a battle this year what with white butterflies, mysterious chomping beasties and the dreaded bindweed getting out of hand.
Big re think next year with 'less is more' approach - what grows in rain forests? I'll try that.

Apart from that, I continue with my indoor cull and have had a delighted recipient collect some fabrics which has pleased me no end.

Mel, those fairy babies are very sweet. I didn't know fairies got up to hanky panky :-0 ;-)

Annx I think you are the first person I have known to have a dog cart - intrigued. What a lovely photo to treasure and remember your friend by.

Anng, lovely orchid, I can see a face.

I hope everyone is ok

PS Annx, I've only just seen your email re the dog cart (13.30) so my comment above is a bit behind.

Morning Anng and all,

Dull and a bit windy here don't know what its like outside cos i have only just got up at 11.50am.

Hope Charles can sort out your problem as it would put your mind at rest with going away.

Sending love to Island and Frank I wonder if he is tkaing Ros out to dinner today.

Good morning all, early up as Charles is coming at 9am to check out where the water could be leaking and I didn't want to go back to sleep.

Ann was your first OH a trained carpenter. I am thinking he would have had to know something about working with wood to do what you both did, especially as you mentioned furniture.

Cooking burger for dinner. They will have everything in so we don't need anything else with them just some of my toms I have just picked 9 of them. Nice bottle of Rose' too.

Ann its back thenm we had so much energy to get lots of things done. I cn remember doing all the housework on a Friday morning and going shopping in the afternoon and putting it all away and getting dinner and I had my son very young too..

Evening All,

A mix of dull, rain spits and bright sun today. Apart from watering the GH and picking cues and beans I've had a lazy day.

Glad you liked the pics AnnG. I didn't send them to everyone as some have seen them before. Yes I'm even more glad I have that pic of my friend and I now Vera. I didn't really think about it being an unusual thing to do, as we had already made and fitted bedroom furniture and kitchens in 2 bungalows, built sheds and bird cages, made canoes etc. Yes we both worked full time AnnG and still hadn't finished renovating the house we bought, so a bedroom upstairs we hadn't started on became the place I did the painting in. Hubby worked Saturday mornings then too, so our progress was slow! I don't know now how I managed to do so much then. but I expect everyone else is the same. :-)

Sorry you had another bad night Vera, fingers crossed tonight will be better. I was a bit hot last night and took a while to drop off. I hope your son has gone prepared! I shall never forget wearing our walking boots with socks tucked in to an event once and squelching through mud and seeing some women in strappy sandals!!!!

I too hope you have a good journey and nice stay with yiur son AnnG.