General Chat

Annx if you see this before you dig up the thistle DON'T DIG IT UP. Squirt some of your weed killer in a little jar or yog pot and paint it on the thistle leaves when its dry. This will take the killer down to the root. If you dig it up it will only grow again stronger and spead. You don't pull Thistles till July or they'll just spread.

Fed the birds and the chickens and am just going to feed the fish and get something to eat as I'm hungry. Think I'll have a salmon and cuecumber roll and a salad tonight with pilchards so a fish day today.

Too late Mel as I dug it up as soon as we got back from the tip. I did manage to get the foot long tap root out. This one wasn't like any other thistles we have. It's flower buds are round and as big as golf balls and the plant was over three feet wide and a bright green. It's prickles were so sharp that when I carried it round the back in the big humper it drew blood on my arms. I'll remember and try your suggestion on the other kind we have though, as that way won't kill nearby plants I want to eventually transplant. One seems to have rooted in foundations of the neighbour's low wall so I don't want to disturb her wall. We were hoping to have this border along the drive edge slate chipped by someone before the weeds started to grow, but with what happened with OH it got delayed and the weeds have kept growing while I've been tackling the back garden.

Yes the car has done well and it's never garaged AnnG. I don't do all the mileage I used to when I was at work though, but some car parts just perisjh with time and not mileage. In between the Peugeots I had a little Citroen AX diesel and OH stqrted with his Citroen diesels at the same time as we got a good deal buying the two. Citroen use the same Peugeot diesel engines as well. OH had Ford before that. That must have been about 1994 and he's now had 6 Citroens all with Peugeot diesel engines. When he started having daily commutes being based in places like Luton with much daily motorway mileage doing up to about 30,000 miles a year, he had the big Citroen C5s for more protection and they had air suspension and it was like riding along in an armchair and so smooth. The first vehicle I drove regularly at age 17 was dad's Austin A35 van. It was the same colour Clipper Blue as Wallace and Grommet's. Fancy me remembering that and I can still remember the registration number too.

I'm popping to a garden centre that is just a couple of polytunnels in the next village now. OH has gone to cardio rehab.

Iv'e just come in from the garden. I did more sweeping and took the frame off the bean tub and put some farmyard manure in it to replenih the soil. There was one bean growing in it from last year so I left that. I just have to plant my bean plants in it now and cable tie the wire top on and then it will be ready to go.

I sowed some cue seed on the 25th but nothing is showing yet. Nor are the new short bean seeds I sowed. I hope htey are not old seed too like mine were.

Going to have my salad now. Iv'e got more strawberries ripening on the barrow so thye should be ready tomorrow.

It's been a warm, brightish day but very windy again. It looks as though it is going to be a hot night. I hope it's a better one than last night when I hardly seemed to sleep at all, though I must have slept a bit. I was sitting downstairs about 4.30 am when there was an almighty bang. It certainly made me jump. I couldn't see what had caused it so started to wonder if OH had got up for the bathroom and fallen . I had to check so went into his bedroom and he was tucked up in bed soundo. He didn't even hear me go in the room. I still haven't found out what the bang was. I eventually went back to bed and slept for an hour or two and then got up feeling very groggy and shaky.

As I felt so rough and as we had a lot to do we decided to give our Thursday coffee meeting a miss this week. OH spent a while on the phone with our handyman sorting out how and when he is going to do this construction job for us. I do feel sorry for him as he has been ill himself, his mother in law has a brain tumour and is near the end of her life and his brother has just had a cancer diagnosis. We have given him the opportunity to duck out of doing the job but he still seems keen to do it. The latest is that he will probably come Saturday to measure up and get the materials ordered in. I suppose everything will get done eventually.

After his second cataract op. OH was told to contact our opticians (Boots) to set up an appointment after 14th June for a post op and vision check. So this morning he rang Boots, only to be told they are not licensed to do this check and to go to Specsavers for it. We were amazed. I don't know if it is just our local branch of Boots that isn't licensed or all branches of Boots Opticians. If it's just our branch I would have expected them to suggest one of their own branches where it could be done, rather than send us to a competitor. Anyway, no problem with Specsavers. They have given him an appointment for 21st June.

Our day continued to get worse. A neighbour had brought our emptied bins back up the Close and left them just outside our side gate. OH went to bring them in, caught his toe coming through the gate and gave his elbow a hard bash on the gate post. He took all the skin off the elbow and bled profusely all over the sleeve of the new shirt he was wearing. I had some elbow plasters so we patched him up and I said to make sure it had stopped bleeding before putting another long-sleeved shirt on. Did he listen? Did he, heck. Before long another shirt had a blood spattered sleeve so I've now got 2 in soak. At this point I covered the wound with another plaster on top of the first and made him put on a shirt that had been put aside for a charity shop rather than another new one.

He not only injured himself but damaged the wooden gate post so the gate wouldn't shut. That meant he spent the rest of the day repairing the gate and our plans for the afternoon got pushed aside.

I have read all the posts but won't comment as I am so tired now and my eyes are going a bit blurry. I'll just wish you a safe journey to Skipton and a good week AnnG.

Morning all,

Nice bright morning again here and pc is telling me 2cm of rain on Tuesday but at the mo it is 16 degrees here and partly sunny.

I think BIL will come today to mowand you should see the west lawn, it one mass of yellow Buttercups. OH would never had had that. It just shows you what can happen in 2 and a half years without weekly care.

Hope you all slept well or better than the night before in some cases girls.

Sending love to Gwyn and hope she is recovering well. <3

Good morning all sunny here this morning and still windy. Vera hope you had a better night than me last night. I think I managed three to four hours sleep, about 0230 before I went to sleep awake again at six.

We aim to leave here at 12 ish as it is not far to go and we can’t get in until four.

Hope you have a good journey Anng.

I have been tidying the plants on the patio. Some need to go down to the soak tray by the Strawberries and one new one needs repotting in a bigger pot. The Nemisia I bought upthe road. I think I told you its called Wisley Vanilla and it smell wonderful. You keep getting wafts on the breeze. May go down to Ruth's and see what else I can get down there. I need something for the big Clematis tubs out the front. I usually have lizzies of begonias in there just for a bit of colour.

Beans are in their tub just got to water them. Its so hot. BIL is here mowing but has an eye appointment this afternoon so he won't be staying long.

Afternoon All,

Sunny but cloudy here and a bit muggy as it was in the night so I didn't sleep well either and got up at 2.00am to take painkillers.

OH went for his walk along the public footpath by the school while I did more weeding in the back garden. There are lots of red leaved snapdragon seedlings, seedlings of a a pretty geranium and some Hidcote lavender seedlings in the gravel so I'll transplant some of those later. OH brought the big loppers out when he got back and cut down more of a shrub I no longer want that is taking off now. I think it is some kind of pepper and has nice red bark, so I used it in table decorations at Christmas. I noticed my Princess Diana clematis is working it's way through a Camellia again. I thought I'd lost it a few years ago.

I hope you have a nice journey without rain AnnG and that you can manage some good outings in better weather.

I seem to have run out of steam now. OH has managed to get another free set of physio sessions with the little insurance we pay, so he's pleased about that. A medicine cabinet I bought online isn't the size it was advertised at, so it will have to go back. Another search to do for a replacement.

Vera I had a chuckle at the latest escapade of your other half of the terrible twins! I'm glad he wasn't hurt, but fancy them both getting blood over muliple things like that, making us more work! I hope you are feeling better today and wonder what made that big bang?

Mel I had another email from Nationwide, did you? It was to give me £100 this time.

Evening all,

Phew it's been a muggy day ,I woke in the night and opened the window to get some air it was so muggy .
Today I've done a bit in the front garden ,finally got the Gladioli bulbs in ,I had forgotten they were in a bowl in the shed and one or two had started to shoot, not sure if the red ones will do anything they were quite small last year the few thar came up and not one of them had a shoot appearing like the pinky ones so we'll see what happens .
Cut the grass and hung two loads of washing out came in and had lunch then sorted out the canes for the cucumbers ,not sure how I'm going to grow them as this greenhouse has a rounded top where the other one had poles along the sloped top that I use to tie ths string too .

Anng hope you arrived OK and hope the weather is kinder for you all this week so you can have a trip or two out .

Ann, that's a nuisance having to send the cabinet back and having to find another you like ,they should put the right sizes down .
I see you've done a bit in the garden too ,I can't seem to do like I use too my bones seem to stiffen up and things take longer to do.

Vera have you discovered what the bang was it must have freightened you at that time of the night or morning ,we have a loo roll holder it's a suction one and after a month or two it suddenly drops off and I have heard that in the night and it drops down on the laminate flooring which makes it rattle out.

Mel I should think its a lovely sight to see all those buttercups in the lawn bobbing in the wind , seems a long time since a buttercup was held under my chin to see If I liked butter .

Clouded up a bit here now but still muggy .

Got here ok. Lots of traffic. And a sort hold up up as we came off the M6. We got a bit lost and went in a circle to find thd lodge but got here in the end it is. Very modern. Very smart.

Evening all

Gosh, it has been a hot day. The weather thingy is telling me that at the moment it is 21 degrees but feels like 23 and tomorrow afternoon it will get to 25 and feel like 27. It’s been very muggy as well. I always think of Jane when it’s like this. She did hate the hotter weather. I do find it difficult at night when it’s so hot. Because my bedroom is up under the eaves and the windows are set in alcoves, it’s difficult to have curtains and so we have roller blinds . If you open a window with the blinds part or fully down the slightest breeze makes them bang against the frame. I usually end up opening the skylight in the en-suite and leaving the door between that and the bedroom open but it’s not ideal.

I slept badly again last night and ended up putting the radio on with a classical music programme playing quietly in the background. I thought it might lull me to sleep. It didn’t work but did help relax me a bit.

I’m sorry you had a bad night too AnnG. Hopefully you’ll sleep better tonight. I hope you have good weather this week, not too hot and not too cold, as there are plenty of places to visit within an easy drive of Skipton.

That’s good that OH can get some more free physio sessions Annx. The more help he gets, the better. I laughed at your comment about the “terrible twins”. That’s a perfect description of them.

You all seem to have been busy in your gardens today. I haven’t managed to get anything done outside but I have been plant buying again. We have some odd spaces in the garden that need filling and OH suggested Nemesia, one of his better ideas. So we went to our local garden centre and they had a good selection. We bought 15 pots, 3 each of 5 different varieties. 4 of the varieties had labels in but the 5th one didn’t. It has a sort of vanilla smell so I wondered if it could be the Wisley Vanilla that Mel mentioned. I did a bit of googling and it certainly looks like it. While we were out I topped the freezer up with meat and fish so the bank balance took a bit of a hit today.

Oh, btw, I think we’ve solved the mystery of the big bang a couple of nights ago. I was chatting to my next door neighbour and she mentioned that she thought an animal had got into her garden the previous night as she had got up to find a big heavy pot in her garden knocked over and all the compost spilt out. She thought it would be a cat but I think a fox is more likely as it is a heavy pot. It was close to the dividing fence between us and I was sitting that side of our house. In the night time silence it would have sounded extra loud. It’s a relief to know that I didn’t imagine it.

Just submitted a post and it’s disappeared into the ether. So I’ll try again.

Good morning

Spent most of the night with no covers on the bed as it was sooo hot. No plans for the day. There are plenty of jobs to be done in the house and garden but I’ll be leaving them for another time if it gets too hot. Enjoy your day and stay cool.

Morning Vera ,morning all,

It was warm here to in the night Vera I woke every couple of hours but soon dropped off again .
It should be hot again so after doing the garden yesterday my bones are a bit stiff so just a few inside jobs to do and then a sit out in the shade I think .
Glad you found out what the bang was ,I remember years ago looking out in the night and seeing a fox trotting down the road .

Hope everyone stays cool ,can you believe it the last day of May .

Good morning all dry here so far and warm indoors. Just had to chase up/reconnect the Wifi, you forget all these things when you have automatic access. And lucky I have two chargers with me as one of the ones I have is not liked here. IPad and IPhone both needed charging. Not sure what we are doing today, just a general look around I think.

Morning girls,

Its 16 degrees here and cloudy so I don't think we are going to see any sun today.I had a good go inthe garden yesterday after BIL left. I had planted the beans and got the wire support back on them with cable tiesand was just going to water them when I thought I'll do the pond filters first. Of course I forgot about the beans and started on the ponds. I have at least two baby swallows in the nest out of 6 eggs but they are very tiny at the mo. I managed to get the wire off round my pond and ended up getting the water hawthorn out of the lily pots. There was loads of them. Cleaned out the scimmer and pulled more of the parrots feathers plant out which was taking over another lilly pot but I could'nt get much more out. The lillies really need repotting but there is no way I could get the two big ones out of the bottom of the pond. Dare not risk diving in as it has'nt got a good liner init like oh's pond which has butyl rubber liner.

I did manage to get a self sown lilly out of the water mint and had promissed a bit to the neighbour who helped me with my pc so I popped it in a bag and took it round to him with some more of the water mint. Stayed and had a cuppa with them and came home with a nice new Strawberry plant with elongated berries on and a basil plant. Had a good look round their garden too. They have made a lot of changes since I last went in and its not as tidy as it was before but we all get a bit like that when there's lots to do when you have so much land.

Sorry you all had bad nights last night and hope you sleep better tonight and that its cooler for you.

Yes where did May go? Its one of my favorite months with June following but they pass so very quickly. I have a nice crop of strawberries to pick today for tea so I'm looking forward to those with a light sprinkle of Vanilla sugar and a little cream.

I must remember to do the hsop this week and pick up my scripts as I am out of a couple of my pills. Its all these bank holidays that throw things out.

Dear All

Hello

A very good morning to you.

Hope your day is a contented and enjoyable one.

If you go somewhere, on this fairly warm day,
take extra care when travelling. <3

Take gentle care
Love as ever, EOS

Thank you Ellizabeth and you too stay safe and have a lovely day.

BIL has been and gone and did'nt do anything but he did take me up the shop bought me a pasty for lunch and two sausage rolls (big ones) nad my weekly little shop down there so that was lovely. We had a pasty each but could'nt manage a sausage roll as well so they are in the fridge.

Done a little more gardening and now I am going to clear round the bean barrel .

While BIL and I were talking out on the patio a fox and three cubs came into the orchard. The cubs were playing and jumping around so BIL went to his car and got his camera. Instead of coming back to me on the patio he walked up the garden to the end of the box hedge and the hwole family disappeared into the hedge never to be seen again. I did'nt even go and get my camera to get a pic. That was one we both missed. He did show me some Swan pics he had taken of a pair of Swans and their 10 signets, one on mums back. If he sends me them I will send them on.

Had a good day today. We drove to Bolton Abbey, such a lovely area with the River Wharf running through the meadows. First we had coffee overlooking the abbey. Lots of people there but all doing different things so it didn’t feel crowded. Lots of chikdren heading off in large groups to do a welly walk and walk on stepping stones. Teenagers crossing the river while we were on a bridge and they were on different stepping stones to the children. They had not anticipated a wider gap at the end so had to risk their trousers and walking socks getting a setting. We explored the abbey and went I. The pretty little church which was all decorated for a wedding at 1pm, all pretty pink and white flowers. We walked as far as the memorial fountain. And back to another cafe for lunch, a distance of about one and a half miles which seemed further as there sere quite a lot of steps up and down. Daughter and I had Cornish pasties for lunch with salad and SiL had scone with jam and cream.
We had a look round the shop before driving back. It was sunny and quite warm all the time we were there. But on the was home we went through a terrific rain storm. Dry by the time we got back. Daughter went in the hot tub and I sat by the little bec. SiL had football on so I am writing this in my room. I don’t go in the hot tub much as I would enjoy it as dughter says it is difficult to get into. It is a replacement on loan as the normal one here has gone wrong

Sounds as though you've had another lovely day out and about Anng.

I am trying to clear the bit down towards the old bantam housebut the ivy has grown all over everything it van possibley cling to. There also lots of leaves collected there so I have come in for the battery to my garden hoover and see if that will pick up the dead leaves for leaf mold.