General Chat

Oh Ann, I'm so sorry to hear about the night you've had and the day you're going to have today. I think a nursing home is the best place for FIL now as he will get the proper care he needs, I just hope it's not to far away for you and your OH. I wish I lived closer to you then I could of helped, it must be so hard for your both. There just isn't enough hours in the day is there? You both need to be careful you're not over doing it otherwise you'll end up ill too. Maybe you could leave the sorting for today, you're obviously very busy with MIL and FIL. If you do manage to get a bit of free time today it might be best for you both to just relax <3. Keep your chin up hopefully once FIL is in the nursing home things will improve for you all.

Morning all and evening Kim,

Another horrid dull wet day here so no washing being done today.

Ann what a shock that call must have been from the home. So sorry to hear FIL has had a fall again. I hope the physio works and they can get him back to walking again.
How upsetting for poor Gordon and all the travelling must be taking its toll on him. Please give him my regards and make sure he looks after himself too as well as MIL and FIL as I am sure you will. Thinking of you both in this unsettling time.

Oh is trying to work out how to get the sludge gulper attached to the filters now inbetween showers. He really needs a nice dry day to be able to get out there to do the work.

Gill you must have been pleased to see your Rosie after a few days. I'm glad she is alright.

Morning all. So fed up with the weather yesterday we decided to go for a drive to London in the afternoon. Took longer to get there than the journey home. Saw quite a few sights London eye. Big Ben. Etc. even passed the monument dedicated to the animals lost at war. Went passed Jamie Oliver italiant restaurant. And Swiss Cottage on the way back. Couldn't catch a photo of that quiclkly enough

My daughter has spoken to the builders this morning. They have very strong winds there so they are hoping that will dry the wooden. Part of the roof out ready for special flat roofing material hopefully for tomorrow we will wait and see

More worry for you Ann. And you hurting your shoulder too

OH dear Ann, I am sorry to hear that you and G are having such a worrying time with your in-laws. I feel so sad for your FIL, he must be so confused and unhappy, and then your MIL being so ill - It would seem that a nursing home would be more suitable for 'him', but you can't conjure one up over night! Like Gill I wish I could do something concrete to help, it is such a dilemma for you both and must be so distressing for G to see his parents in this situation and worrying as to what to do for the best. I think you can only take it day by day and jump each hedge as you get to it. Much easier said than done I know. You must take care of yourselves Ann, again easier said.
At least it's not raining here this morning!! The wind is 'windy'!! and we've had a nice walk so Cas is now flaked out!
We enjoyed the new Agatha Christie, I think it will shape up well!!

Afternoon all,

So sorry to hear of all your troubles Ann, I do hope things start to improve for you both <3 <3

Yes the weather is starting to get on everybody's nerves. We had rain all day yesterday and have had a shower this morning, Horrible clouds everywhere, so doesn't look promising. :-( :-(

There's only one place for your agents Gill, IN THE BIN. They certainly don't seemed to have looked after your viewings very well.

Spoke to Jan this morning. Ella is still being sick after eating anything, so is going to the doctors this afternoon. She has just lost her first baby tooth. Her mum put £10.00 under her pillow. !!! I said that was more than a months wages when I started work in 1953.., How times have changed, my children got 10 pence.

Oh how lucky I must have been, I never had pet insurance for any of my dogs, and never had a nasty Vet's bill either.

Bit of a bummer with the house build Pat. But the last thing you need is for the builders to seal the roof while it's still wet.

All showered and shaved, and still sitting around in my u/pants. Must go and get dressed. Mind you Ros is still in her nightdress doing the ironing. She says she is cooler like that. !!!

I just spied a SMALL patch of blue sky. But I'm not holding my breath. :-D :-D :-D

Afternoon All
Poor little Ella Frank.he hasn't been well for a while now has she.Maybe it is just a nasty virus and nothing worse.

Ann it sems to me the visit home and to see MIL have been the cause of FIL's upset ,falls and further confusion.What a pity, as he was doing so well.I do hope his falls haven't caused any long term problems now.He needs to get back to the home and his Pal Jack :-D

Ann if there is anything I can do at all .it doesn't matter what ,please give me a call.Even if there is nothing, if you need to escape for a bit maybe we could meet for lunch :-D..I can understand totally how stressful all this will be for you both and sadly it doesn't appear to be getting any easier :-(

The sun has just come out ,so I am going to get down the garden and pick the first of the Dwarf Beans :-D :-D

Thanks for all your kind thoughts. :-) They are much appreciated. We just got a call to say they have taken FIL back to the care home. He's exhausted so they've put him to bed. He can stand from a chair but the paramedics say his mobility is poor. In some ways it's better he has gone back to the home he is familiar with for now, but we expect there will be more falls in the future. They are putting a pressure mat at the side of his bed so an alarm will go off if he tries to get up. Then that pesky woman volunteer rang wanting to visit MIL again. It was she who was pushing for FIL to visit MIL in hospital in the first place, so I told her what had happened and she seemed taken aback......good!! I've told her she's best to speak to OH before she visits, so she's ringing later.

On the way back from taking the laptop in I saw a Kestrel fly across in front with what must have been a rat in it's claws. I never realised they tackled things as big as that as It was nearly as big as the body of the Kestrel.

After lunch we went for a relaxing stroll round where the ice house is and through the pine spinney at the end, then down along a footpath through a field full of maize that the squirrels have pinched in previous years. It must be 7 foot high in places, but the corn is nowhere near ready yet so it will probably get even taller. I was wishing I had my camera with me.

Frank I don't blame Ros for ironing in her nightie......in hot summers I used to iron in just my undies!! :-0 I never had pet insurance for my ponies either and they never needed a vet. They were hardy native ponies though so they were kept out all year and fended for themselves and were only given a bit of hay in the winter when the grass was poor. Maybe we were both lucky! Poor little Ella must be fed up feeling poorly. Hopefully the doc can give her something. I think I used to get 6 old pence for a tooth.

It sounds like Rosie's stash of nuts was running out Gill and she had come to your supermarket to get some more! I bet Sandra was pleased to see her.

This warm wind should dry the roof timbers in no time Pat. Let's hope they can push on with the roof before the next showers come.

Ann I thought it was a neighbour who visited MIL I did'nt realise it was a volunteer. I would certainly tell her in no uncertain terms you did'nt want her going to see her again, but I suppose it is up to Gordon. MIL ws'nt happy last time she went anyway.

I have done some more pickled eggs this afternoon.

It is still raining here on and off and poor oh is trying his hardest to get the filter done inbetween the heavy showers. There's a lot of huffy and puffing going on and the airs a bit blue too.

Ann I am glad FIL is back now.As you say familiar surroundings and faces will be
the best thing for him.Pressure mats are great .If he did get out of bed in the night someone should be there in a flash :-D.The last couple of days will have been quite traumatic for him so hopefully he will have a nice long sleep and no doubt he will have forgotten all about going back home and to the Hospital to see MIL.I think no more outings will be on the cards now :-D
As for that woman ,she now needs to leave MIL alone and go and visit someone else LOL

Well we have had no rain today until now and it has just started to drizzle.I don't know why but Chris slept until 10.30 this morning!!!!!.I kept going up to check he was still breathing lol.

I'm not sure what I made of that programme last night Partners in Crime.I thought it was all a bit stilted (if that's the right word).I have just watched the Joanna Lumley one.
What a great series that was.I think she is so elegant and a bit mesmerising.i think it is her voice.She certainly doesn't look 69 !!!

Pat fingers crossed everything is dry for the roof now.You don't want any hold ups now .
Yuk Mel .I don't fancy Pickled Eggs.Although I have never had one.I think it put me off seeing them in those huge jars in the Fish and Chip Shops.
Your OH can swear as loud as he likes there as there is only you to hear :-D :-D.It does sound quite a job .

I haven't been out at all today but haven't been able to settle to anything.Just a bit of ironing and tidying and colouring :-D .I think it sounds so funny to say I like colouring in .I'm still on the first picture in the book that Hannah gave me and i need to learn not to grip the pencils so tight as I get cramp in my hand :-S.I could do with one of those special lamps as if the light is not good it I find myself squinting and screwing up my eyes :-S

I must have missed the post about Ros ironing in her nightie.I do that all the time :-D
I know my Sister often does hers with nothing on in the summer !!!.

What is everyones weather like today?

Crikey Ann are you sure it was a Rat the Kestral had????? It must have been a whopper.

Evening all,

It's been raining here on and off for most of the day ,hubby was rained off at work so we have been out for the day ,we had a nice lunch and the went to the garden centre ,it's son and DIL's wedding anniversary on Thursday so we bought them another Rose bush for the garden ,this one is called Take it Easy ,a pinky red colour
I also bought another pair of gardening gloves as the last pair i bought there are so comfortable to wear , they have rubbery palms and cotton backs .

I'am glad FIL is now settled back in the home after his falls Ann , it sounds as if visiting MIL has really unsettled him which is such a shame as he really seemed to have settled in the home with his friend Jack.
I think that woman needs telling that MIL is now getting really tired and that you think it should only be family that visit her now .

We haven't watched The Partners in Crime yet but we really enjoyed the Joanna Lumley programme ,i think she is quite comical at times .
Did you see the size of the glass of Vodka they gave her on the train :-0 :-D

It's not only Kestrels catching rats did you see on the news where a Seagull had swallowed a rat "whole " :-0

What a horrible day it's been here today, nothing but rain all day.

OH has been touching up all the paintwork in the hall and living room today ready for tomorrow when the new agents come round to take photo's. I just hope it's not raining as it gets very dark in our bungalow and the garden photo's won't look as nice either.

Rosie has turned up again for yet more nuts, Sandra is thrilled. I like the way you called it my supermarket Ann. Glad to hear your FIL is now back in the home, the pressure mat sounds like a good idea. Is he still having to go to a nursing home? Kestrel's are quite hunters, we had one here a few years ago and they just go for all the pigeons and anything else that moves, it's horrible to watch and if you go out to try and stop him, he just picks up his prey and flies away :-( Glad to hear you both managed to have some time alone to relax <3 I guess you don't have the rain the rest of us have?

Hope your OH managed to sort out the filter today Mel. So you've been doing pickled eggs today, I've never tried them, but like Jane have seen them in chip shops.

Sorry to hear Ella is still not very well Frank. Hope she feels better soon and her appointment at the doctors was ok. £10 for a baby tooth is good, I used to get 50p and thought I was rich LOL.

Sounds like you had a good time in London Pat. Hope your new place has started again if the wind has dried everything out.

So you've started your colouring in now Jane, I love colouring in, always have since I was little. It's nice to know there are adult colouring books around, might treat myself to one and treat Sandra too.

Going to get something for my throat now, it's really sore today, so I never did any baking in the end. I think it might be the paint making it sore.....at least I hope so

Morning All, :-)

Not often I'm first on here! It's dull and cloudy here and was breezy earlier but no rain yet.

A summer house has been delivered and erected next door this morning and someone up the close has had a load of building materials delivered so it's been all go out there. lol.

OH is at his mum's house this morning trying to clear stuff to make room for the bed in her front room and measuring up. Luckily when he visited her yesterday the Occupational Health lady backed him up strongly about there needing to be plenty of room around the bed as well as the space for it so she was boxed into a corner if she wanted to go home and had to agree to OH getting a charity to collect some of the furniture. He decided her double bed upstairs could go too as it won't be used again and it will make a bit of space to put other things. She started to quibble about it but he pointed out where would all of her occasional tables go etc and she had no answer. The furniture's being collected on Thursday. She must be feeling a bit better as she was going on about FIL not wearing a tie again and about his hair again and wanting more phone calls made. Good for OH he cut her short by saying those things were hardly high in his priorities with what else needs doing at the moment!!

The volunteer lady is from the WVS Mel and she also does MIL's shopping so OH can't say what he would like as she will need her once she's home. No-one said why FIL didn't need to go to a Nursing Home so maybe it's because he didn't break any bones.

I've managed to sort the main part of a wardrobe this morning and with what OH has sorted from his stuff (loads of ties!!) I have 4 bags to drop off at the charity shop. Gawd I don't think I will ever need to buy any more pants for me with what I have found!! lol.

Thanks for your kind offer Jane and it would be good to meet up. Maybe towards the end of next week or the week after might be best for me after the trauma of MIL getting home and being sorted out.

Cuppa time now and then pop to the dog's home with these bags of things.

Morning All, Evening Kim.

Hope everyone is well, I am managing to stay on the computer a bit longer, so it's good to have a natter.

I have added a post to the finding Ancestors thread & the Genealogy thread, as I am needing some ideas to help me with my current research,


I will added it to this thread to.

There's a story in my husband's family that his Great grandfather George Herbert Fairhurst, b 1888 , Standish Wigan , Lancashire, left his wife and 3 little children to join a Music Hall group of entertainers that traveled all over Lancashire ,
My husband's granddad used to get annoyed when the subject was brought up saying his dad was a bad one, granddad was the youngest of George's three children.

Recently I have been looking through the Newspapers on Gene's & Findmypast, and have found many advertisements and articles for a Musical Hall group from Lancashire presented by an Arthur White (seemly a well known comedian )and there is a George Fairhurst who is an actor/ Baritone singer in the group, they were performing right through the 1920'2 and still going strong in the 1940's

I would very much like to find out if this George was my husband's Great Grandfather, but not sure where to look first , perhaps Lancashire Family history
Society would be of help or a library or perhaps a local museum in the surrounding area where the Fairhursts came from.

Any ideas would be most welcome

Morning all and evening Kim,

A better day here today with a little watery sun but it is dry.

Oh is out cleaning the old filter ready to take the water from the new one. I think he may be nearly there to try out the new one properly. If it stays dry today he should get it all fitted up and away it will go.

Fiona I am glad you are feeling able to get on the pc a little more now. I hope you improve even more on these new meds.

It's shopping day today but I am not up with the usual jobs yet so we will see how long it takes me to get ready to go.

Afternoon all,

I have to tell you I am going through a terrible personal trauma at the moment I am unable to go into details bet needless to say It has been going on for a very long time (years) It is nothing to do with my marriage but me. I can't go into details on here as I don't know who will be able to read it.

I am needing to take myself in hand, hopefully without the intervention of the DOCTOR.

I will be away from you for the next week or so. So please look after yourselves and I will be keeping a eye on you all.

Big Hug Frank <3..You know where I am xxx <3 <3
Have PM'd you

Take special care Frank. I hope you feel easier very soon. XXX. <3 <3

Ann ,it sounds like OH has the right idea now :-D.Ties and Hair Trims for FIL are the least of his worries right now LOL..I'm glad he has managed to get the furniture problem sorted and that it will now be a more safe environment for MIL to go home to.

Shall we say the week after next for lunch? I can book our usual place say for the Wednesday .It can always be cancelled if you can't make it,but as you know it is best to book ahead.I think that would be the 12th.

Mel has it stayed dry for OH to finish the job?We have had a couple of light showers.I have a load of towels and shirts on the line too :-|.They might just have to stay out.

Fiona it sounds like you are improving day by day now which is great news :-D :-D
Hopefuly someone will be able to help you out with searching for the info you need.

I had an email from a person who is related to me by Birth.I think he is a cousin once removed or something .He and another family member is trying to arrange a big Family Gathering of the Porters in Scotland next summer.I think there will be people from Australia and Canada coming.It's going be quite a challenge for him to get it all set up by the sounds of things.Rather him than me lol.He has sent out a survey to all family he has traced to find out thoughts of dates ,place/venue,how much people would be willing to pay etc and also what kind of things everyone would be interested in at the reunion such as talks about the history of the Porter family,Old Photos etc,or just a good old get together and chinwags.I know my B Cousin Ann in Greenock is keen to go so I might go with her.I doubt if B Brother Peter would want to.But Joe the other one I think wild horses wouldn't keep him away LOL

I think I might have seen a Hedgehog last night on the lawn.It was too dark to really make out but I wonder if it was sniffing out the Cat Biscuits in the Summerhouse !!!!!
I had to leave Thomas out last night as he was too late to come in.I have had a look around for Hog Poo but haven't seen any.

It's almost 5pm !!!!!!!.I must get a move on.The freezer drawers are empty ,so the fridge stuff will just go in the big cool box with some ice blocks in tonight.Just need to unplug tonight.I did find some mess in one of the freezer drawers.It looked like icecream.Have got rid of that now .But I am not cleaning the whole thing out as it is going for recycling,and it's not really mucky anyway.

It's my Sisters Silver Wedding today.We are going down on Sunday to take them out for lunch and give them their present.

Sorry to hear you are feeling out of sorts Frank hope you feel better soon XX <3 <3

It sounds like your OH has had enough of his mum ordering him around and has finally put his foot down.......good on him. He has so much to do as it is and like he said things have to take priority now and sorting out the furniture is very important for his mum to return home. When is MIL coming out of hospital, do you know yet? How is FIL now, has he settled a bit better now he's back at the care home? Hope you have a nice time with Jane at lunch, it's just what you need right now <3.

So you think you've seen a hog Jane? You're probably right it can smell the cat biscuits. I had a bit of a shock before, I came into the living room and there was Rosie on her hind legs on my window sill trying to get my attention so I'd give her some nuts.....She's such a funny little character. Needless to say she got her nuts and has now gone merrily on her way.

It's been raining on and off all day today :-(. We've had three new agents round here over the last couple of days and now we have to decided which one we are going to change to. I rang our agent earlier to see if they could do fresh photo's only to be told they were to busy again, so I'm looking forward to changing agents in a few weeks.

Off to get something to eat now and settle down for the evening, I've been so busy today, this is the first chance I've had to sit down all day.