General Chat

BIL is here and is mowing. Its quite sunny and feels warmer today its 15 degrees now and pc says mostly cloudy.

Just cooked eggs for a sandwich and its all done ready to make them up but first I am going to do my pond filter as it said to clean the filter out before fitting the UV.

Let's hope it does the trick and gets rid of the green water Mel.

We've had quite a few heavy showers all morning ,I went into the greenhouse and tied up the cues as they seemed to have shot up the last few days ,they have flowers on them and the tom plants I have in there have tiny flower buds showing so I gave them some feed ,I'm never sure when to start feeding I think its when you see the first lot of fliwers well I hope it is as they've had some this morning .

Mandy you should start feeding tom plants when they have their first flowers or when the first truss has little green toms on it.

BIL has gone as his wife rang and she did'nt feel well so he has gone off to collect her. She's been having dizzy spells. When we opened the box of the pond UV it has a two pin plug on it and we had'nt an adapter for that so he is going to have a look up and see what can be done about it. He may have to make an extension lead for it to plug in somewhere in the big filter shed. So still not got the UV filter in my pond. I had egg sandwiches preped to make up but he did'nt stay for lunch.

We got to mine at about 1.30pm. No real hold ups, a couple of 50MPH stretches and really heavy traffic. Traffic going north were starting standstill for a long was and a couple of ambulances and a police car went screaming past so something obviously happened there.
Sort of part unpacked but no rush anyway. We have Indian food ordered for 7.20 ish.

Good evening all

Good to hear you are safely home again AnnG. Enjoy your Indian meal tonight. I've never got on very well with Indian cuisine which is hard on OH is he quite likes it but never gets it.

I hope your bil's wife is OK Mel. It must have been a bit frustrating to find you needed an adaptor for a 2 pin plug. I hope that once you get it going the UV light works on the green water.

Mandy, I was always told that you feed tomatoes once the first flowers have set fruit and I have pretty much stuck to that all these years. My neighbour generally buys her plants, though she has sometimes has seedlings from me. She starts feeding them as soon as she buys them whatever stage they are at. She also never removes side shoots. The result is she gets enormous plants with lots of growth but only gets a few tomatoes. I am sure your tomatoes will be fine, particularly if you can see flowers coming. Mine are beginning to grow but they are so slow that I am not sure I will get tomatoes at all this year.

I hope everyone with aches and pains and other illnesses is feeling a bit better today, and hope your weather has been reasonable. Somehow we all feel a bit better when we can see the sun. We have not seen much sun but there have been plenty of dry spells in between the rain so it hasn't been too bad.

I have had a very nice afternoon. Normally there are 6 or 7 of us at our birthday lunches but the birthday girl invited 2 particular friends of hers that we all know so today there were 9 of us. We have been to today's venue before. It's a very nice pub with a good atmosphere,good food and friendly and willing staff. Midweek they do a number of pensioners options for £10 and we said what a shame they don't do that on Fridays. The staff then said to pick anything we wanted off the menu and say if we wanted a smaller helping and we could have it for £10. I had a "small" ham, egg and chips. There was a plateful of beautiful ham, an egg, loads of thick triple cooked chips and a big mound of salad, all for £10 though I would happily have paid the full price of £13 for it. It was so good and more than I could manage. Someone else had the same but a full size one and the only difference I could see was that she had 2 eggs.

After that it was back to one of the ladies' houses for cake, strawberries and tea/coffee with lots of chat and laughter. I got back home about 5.30 pm.

I hope everyone sleeps well tonight and we're all bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.

Evening All,

Lots of showers here last night and some heavy so I hope the weeds are dry now for me to pull a few out in the morning. The neighbour brought her watering can round today as she is going on holiday and she asked if we would water her beans over the fence! I think she wants to leave the side gate locked as the neighbour the other side is watering some pots she has put next to the fence the other side.

Mandy I saw last night that the Greens were going to be on and was going to mention it, but I will record the shop programme as I hadn't seen that and it sounds interesting. I hope your knee is better now. My bruise looks the same today, so I keep showing it to OH. lol.

AnnG I like the sound of the place you visited and would have enjoyed looking around as you say.. It sounds like you made good time getting home as Fridays can be busy with commuters, Still with WFH I expect a lot have Friday off now. We decided to go out for a jacket potato today, easy enough to do at home I know, but it was nice to have a change from looking at the kitchen walls. The place was empty except for two women who were very loud and were obviously on a WFH day as they were discussing what time each of them needed to be back at home that afternoon as they had online meetings. After we'd eaten we called and got four geraniums from the garden centre. It was four for £10. It was two for £10 so much cheaper than where I went in the village. Then we called and got another plastic basket for under the kitchen sink that was the same as the others.

Vera it's nice you have these regular get togethers with coffee and cake to look forward to as well. You did a good job in the garage, tidying and getting rid of some things. Like you I was pleased when the mice stopped getting in. We need to move a few things and put OH's bike in the shed ready for the deliveries for the work to be done as I want everything ready before this expected heatwave comes.

That naughty Squirrel eating all the biggest, best strawberries Mel! I hope the rest do well now they are out of his way. I forgot to say that I spotted some of the Wisley Nemesias at the garden centre yesterday and was surprised how strong the vanilla scent was.

The baby Magpies keep coming back to the tree and the parents are still feeding them. I got a few pics of one on our fence and will send them tomorrow, OH said the cows in the field were galloping after a Heron yesterday. It all seems to be happening this year.

Just before we left the lodge this morning the Roe dear was outside having a good feed of greenery by the bank of the beck. He could see us watching him and kept his eye on us. He didn’t seem too bothered, more curious really. He then leapt over the really tall fence and ran off into the nearby woods. I hope the fence was not put there to keep the deer out. More likely to keep the sheep in.

Good morning all, slept well last night woke to persistent rain. when I went away I was wishing for rain. Now I am wishing for it to stop as the garden is now blossomed and over grown. Peonies that were in tight bud when we went away are now full bloom and so heavy they are falling over despite being syaked and even more roses everywhere than before we left and ther were a lot then.
Ann If it is the same there you won't need to give the neighbours plants much water. have you got a low fence beteen yo then, I couldn't water cynth's over the fence.

I am sure that we may have missed a lot in the mill but we were too tired to go on any more. I didn't add that in all the rooms there were posters and pictures and mosaics etc on all the walls to see as well.
One whole room was devoted to 'Peace' and had a lot about places like Greenham common and seemed to be linking the women who demonstrated against nuclear weapons as being equivalent to the sufffrogetes/ we actually just walked through that room.

Morning AnnG and All,

Dark skies here, so I'm sure it will rain soon. OH has gone for his walk so I need to wait till he's back before I go to the shop as we are expecting a delivery.

I think I would find lots to enjoy seeing at that place AnnG. I wondered if you would find the weeds had grown since you went away as we have had a lot of rain. Our garden is lower than the neighbours where her beans are and she has a fence about 6 foot high with trellis on the top, so tall from our side. We have slate chippings our side so I will put a plastic crate we have that we can stand on, otherwise there is always the hose!

OH is back now so BBL.

Morning girls,

Grey sky and very cloudy here this morning. It did rain yesterday evening a bit and I'm sure it did in the night too. Trouble with rain down here it never knows when to stop.

I think todays job will be to ct all the dead heads off the Rhodo on the west lawn if I can get out between showers. It feels so cold outside when its grey I may just stay indoors. Who knows?

Its 12 degrees and we have a thunder storm warning so thats some thing to look forward to. Light rain during the day.

I must'nt forget to go to the shop today for my paper anda few bit.

Morning all,

We have quite a bright sky here but its raining ,I think we are on the edge of where the thunder storms could be.

Ann thats going to be quite a job to water over a fence if it's high the watering can is going to be quite heavy with the water in ,be careful you don't pull yourself ,I think I'd use the hose or hope it rains .

Anng sounds as if you'll be busy in the garden after your time away ,things seem to grow so quickly while your away especially the weeds .
When does your daughter go home ,will they stay over the weekend to miss all the weekend traffic .

I have washing in the machine but I can't see that going out on the line today , it will be inside jobs today I think ,we have an exercise bike in the back bedroom we want to get rid of, I have asked at the charity shops but they all say they won't sell so won't take it so it will have to go to the tip but we need to take it apart as it's so heavy to get down the stairs .

Its pouring here now and has gone so dark I nearly need the lights on.

Been fiddling with miniatures this morning but must go and feed the wild birds as there's nothing in any of my feeders and I hav'nt done the chickens yet either.

Where has our summer gone? I want it back even if it is harder work.

Good luck taking the byke apart Mandy. Hope you manage it ok so you can get rid of it.

sunny here at the moment but we have thnder storm warning as well. Waiting fro Grandson to arrive now, hope the traffic is not too bad.

Rain overnight and early this morning. It's dry now but more rain promised this afternoon though we haven't got any storm warnings. It is very chilly here; I've gone back into a long sleeved jumper and if it gets any cooler I'll be putting a cardigan over it as well.

I've finished all the ironing which always makes my back ache. I feel I ought to get out to the garden before it rains again but don't want to make my back worse. OH is just making us a sandwich so perhaps I'll get outside and do something gentle in the garden after we've had that. There's quite a bit of dead heading required and that shouldn't tax me too much so perhaps I'll have a go at that.

Mandy, it seems a shame to take a usable exercise bike to the tip. Have you thought of putting it on something like Freecycle or maybe a local Facebook group. We've got rid of a few bits on Freecycle including a big freezer and a lawnmower. People are always pleased to get a piece of equipment for nothing and it gets it out of your way.

I hope your grandson has arrived safely and didn't have a bad journey AnnG. Enjoy his visit.

Annx, do be careful standing on a crate to water your neighbour's beans. The last thing you need is a fall. At least at the moment the rain should be doing the job for you.

OH is calling that lunch is ready so I'd better go. Stay dry and warm everyone.

You say your cold Vera I have put my fleece trousers on this morning and a thin polo neck and a cardi.

BIL was here when iI got back from the shop and he's doing the UV light thingy, rewiring the two pin plug to a normal three pin.

The flywheel makes those exercise bikes really heavy Mandy. We took mine to bits during the pandemic and put a bit in the bottom of the rubbish bin each time to get rid of it It was in the conservatory though and we certainly wouldn't have got it down any stairs. I remember Jane trying to give hers away but no-one would take it. I have a treadmill that I think may be hard to sell or give away as well. I've done a wash as well but haven't hung it out as we keep having showers.

It will be nice to meet up with your grandson AnnG. Does he have far to travel to see you? You may have said but my brain isn't reliable.

I only carry half full watering cans now or my back or knees soon hurt, but I can probably poke the spout between the trellis a bit lower down. I think OH would struggle with his back and neck, so we will get the hose out if needs be. At least the beans have had plenty of water today with all the rain.

We've been chucking a few things out, some plastic cartons I'd saved as I used to store beading materials in them, but, as usual I kept too many. The same with a pile of jamjars. An old soft cool bag that now has a replacement has been wiped down and used to store things in in my car boot instead of a tatty cardboard box. My car didn't come with a spare wheel, but I bought one and keep it in the boot and this bag fits at the side of it better and has nice carrying handles to lift it out when it goes in for service or MOT. OH joined in and has started a pile of cardboard boxes and things for the tip. I have filled the basket I bought yesterday for under the sink so that is nearly straight now. I can't believe how much kettle descaler I've bought, then squirrelled away and then obviously couldn't find!

Like you Vera I should do something outside, even if i's just replanting the front wall pots in the greenhouse, but I'm getting a COT while I think about it first. ;-)

It rained quite heavily while we were having lunch. There are weather apps on my phone, my iPad and my computer and they all say different. One of them has a storm warning for this area but at the moment it doesn't feel or look stormy. After we'd had our sandwich and cuppa I used the most reliable way of judging the weather - I put my nose out of the door. I decided it was OK to do a bit in the garden so I got some deadheading and a bit of weeding done before the next shower.came.

I might go and look at the paper for a while now or do the crossword before I have to get our dinner ready.

My goodness, we've got the thunder and rainstorm now. It's coming down in solid sheets of water and I've just been reading that red hot poker plants don't like to be in soggy soil. I might be losing my plant to root rot then :-(

Vera we had thought of that but nobody seems to want them now I suppose they like going to the gym, it's all in bits now a few bits have gone in the bin so we'll gradually get rid of it ,as you said Ann it's the fly wheel that weighs the most ,no way would we have got that whole bike down the stairs

Steady rain here but not that heavy ,its a shame when it really drops out of ths sky as it bashes all the poor plants about and breaks bits off .

I have just finished making a coffee cake and never again. Cake was ok but when I made the frosting it covered the kitchen in white dust. I used butter but if I do venture to make it again I shall use the soft marg.I covered the bowl with a clean dish cloth but it still managed to get out so the cloths gone in the washing machine with other things. Now all I have to do is clean all the windowsill and plate rack as I am sure its managed to get up there too.

I must admit it does look good. The postman told me he liked coffee cake and hated walnuts so I shall give him a chunk when he comes on Monday. May put walnuts on my bit and cherries.