General Chat

Morning people, Evening Kim,

I have been stuck in front of the T.V. What a dissaster for Brussels. Last report 23 dead 35 injured. All transport and airport closed. It just shows what a few of these terrorists can do to a Country. I won't view my ipinions on here, but I know some of you know my thinking.

On to better things. Carolyn rang this morning she has managed to shower and wash her hair, Ros has gone down to put a few rollers in it for her. She has also done a whites wash, so Ros will hang that out for her.

John went "DOWN" for his knee operation at 4.30 pm (he had been there since 10.15 am) He phoned Carolyn but she said he was very drowsy, and was ready for a good sleep.

What a beautiful morning we have here, clear blue sky's as far as you can see., with the slighest of a breeze.

Chicken Casserole tonight, Carolyn doesn't eat a lot of meat, so there will be plenty of root veg in the casserols,and I will do Mash and other veg for her. She hasn't realy eaten since her hand operation last Thursday. !!

David you are so spoilt for choice of cars that will suit you. Get yourself on Ebay and put in the search for Automatic Citreon, peugeot, ford etc. You will see so many your head will spin with choice. You can then narrow your search to size of car that best suits you. If it's a people carrier type, you should find plenty of room to get in and out. GOOD LUCK.

"FAT SAUSAGE" indeed. You two do have some banter don't you. ???

I haven't looked at my emails yet, so will look forward tos seeing Thomas. That Cats programmes was so good. We all sat and enjoyed that, also the programme last night with Davina McCall. I can just imagine Jane and some of you girls in a tent 600 foot up in a thunder storm ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0 :-( :-( :-( :-(,

New laid eggs then Mel,Nothing like it, even if they are a bit on the small side

I am surprised that the conservatory darkens your room Gill. We find the exta light we get is very good, and always very warm with the slighest sunshine. Does your neighbour have a solid roof ???

I mentioned to Carolyn, how much she paid her chap to cut the lawn £40.00 a throw. I know they have a BIGGER LAWN. but that sounds a bit high. I offered to do it for THIRTY. If only I was FIT. I could earn my beer money
l

;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

Thank you Frank and others I shall have a look :-)

Good morning all

Thank you Mandy for sending on behalf of Jane the lovely video of young Thomas and the tiger he is such a big boy makes my two look like midgets.

it's a lovely day here as well clear blue sky and getting quite warm.

Gill have you looked on line on the Check A Trade site for a builder in your area?

I have also been viewing the Brussels attack there are so many evil people out there killing and maiming innocent people who are just going about their lives. They are such cowards and what good does it do to their cause, not sure what that is anyway.

Our conservatory brings in a lot of light and it is very warm in here today, I have been watching the different birds and there is a woodpecker tapping away at a nearby tree. Amy has had her walk and didn't see anyone else apart from David next door who was taking his Mum's King Charles out but in the other direction, she is a sweet little dog but can be very yappy at times .

I am doing pork chops for Richard tonight and I will just have all the vegetables as usual, we had chicken yesterday and I eat that.

I have one solitary Goldfinch feeding off the sunflower kernal feeder and one Greenfinch. we hav'nt had Greenfinches since they had that illness that killed loads off.

I have two pairs of different Siskins feeding there too.

Had another banty egg today so pickled eggs here we come. We love them pickled and so does my BIL who should be down to see us this year.

People round here Frank charge £10 an hour for all gardening, including cutting lawns, so the price varies depending on how much needs doing. £40 just to cut a lawn is very expensive, unless there's acre's of it :-D :-D :-D

Our living room overlaps the kitchen so there's not much light at one end anyway. Our neighbour's is the same and although he has a glass roof his living room is like a cave because there's no windows in there only a glass door leading to the conservatory, (the glass door replaced the original window) so ours would be worse as we didn't want a glass roof, we wanted ours tiled so OH could climb onto it to get to the bungalow roof. Our neighbour said it cost him 4k just for the glass roof so I dread to think how much the whole conservatory would cost and because of the size of it we'd need planning permission too as it's 14 foot by 20 foot.

This is why we've decided to just knock through to the dining room and make the dining room into our new kitchen. We are looking at putting up glass doors between the two rooms so the kitchen can still be closed off from the living room if we wished or be open plan.

Apparently we can have sliding glass doors that open into the walls so it looks like one room when the doors are opened. One of the builders we spoke to the other week, when we had him round to see a bungalow we were thinking of buying, advised that, as it was space saving. I thought it was a good idea, rather than having doors that open into one of the rooms.

Once we've knocked through there'll be more light because of the window in the dining room, so effectively we'd have two windows and could even put another one in if we wished, as the new kitchen will be on the corner of the bungalow, so we'll have two outside walls up that end, plus the one window we already have in the living room, so lots of light. I just need a builder to do the work.....easier said than done, as the builders I've been in contact with haven't got back to me yet.

My computer is playing games with me !!! it has cut me off twice halfway through a post. It's not because I back spaced either. One minute the cursor is right the next it has moved into the middle of the last Paragraph. How weird it that. ??

I was telling you all about a rotton egg I broke into the pan to go with my sausages, beans, and toast. It stank the kitchen out. I have reported it to Tesco, and saved it for them if they need to see it.

The sun dissapeared a couple of hours ago, and left us overcast. So no sunbathing this afternoon.

Ros As if she hasn't enough to do, has been working on Tony and Val's front garden. digging out all the weeds in the flower (joke) bed. I have told her off, and said if he's too lazy to do it himself, let him pay someone, like I might have to do. The patio table is full of plants to go in our own garden. I bet he won't offer to help Ros !!!

Gill the problem with most builders is they have been taking orders for jobs during the winter, and are now in the position to get started. If there are any builders who haven't got work BE CAREFULL. I know all the builders round this way are full up with work loads. As are the landscape gardeners, painter and decorators too.

Ros is taking Carolyn in to visit John later this afternoon. I have got the chicken casserole all done, and ready for the oven, just the potato's to peel later on.

Afternoon All,

Yuk a rotten egg Frank......what a pong they make! Give Age Concern a call to see if you can get an idea of cost for doing your lawn. They sent someone to do MIL's lawn when they couldn't manage it anymore. I think they charged by the hour.

It's been dull all day here and no sun, but hopefully the washing is drying. I'm off to a talk at the hospital where I took part in the study tonight. They are doing a free talk about what to look out for with your eyes. :-) I wish I knew whether it will be hot or cold there. I think a cardigan would be good so I can whip it off easy if it's hot.

We went to the fav carvery today which was buzzing with people and noticed a few birds of prey on the way. We think there are far more of them round here this year than last.

Anne, I like bacon too and chicken despite not bothering about other meat that much.

OH is working on his eulogy speech for the funeral.

Wasn't it 'clunk click every trip. You know it makes sense' David?

Afternoon All

Oh we have been a bit of a tiz.Thomas has been gone since 3.30 AM and not a sign og him since.That never happens.
So Chris went to have a look along the road and in the back fields(with a big plastic bag :-S )I rang my neighbours to see if they had seen him and they hadn't.
But just a few minutes ago one of my Neighbours rang back t say she had just seen him heading this way..........He is here now :-D :-D..I have felt at sick as a pig.
He is looking as though to say 'what's all the panic about".
I expect he has just been on a big hunting expedition(maybe looking for that Tiger that was on the Life of Cats ) :-S :-S
I can relax now :-D and I will read todays posts.

No Annx, I'm referring to an ad much older than that for beer

Not sure if was Mackeson or Guiess

Do you recall the late Owen Branigan singing She's a big lass and a bonny lass and she likes hor beer, and they call her Cushy Butterfield an a wish she wa here

Jane I can imagine how worried you were about Thomas going AWOL we have had that with Shadow. It would be interesting to fix one of those tiny cameras to him like they did on the TV with family cats.

Toby was in my bad books earlier he kindly presented me with a dead robin it made me want to cry. My two never eat anything they kill just bring it home to me.

Still sunny here so much for all the snow that they forecasted a couple of week ago, not that I'm complaining. I can't get it into my head that it is Easter weekend coming up.

Just going to start on our dinner although Richard isn't in yet.

Oh Frank ,that egg !!!!!.Where are you keeping it???.Outside somewhere I hope lol
I expect David will sleep off the anaesthetic now.Hopefully he had had plenty of painkiller.

Gill £10 and hour is really cheap for a gardener .I think it is an awful ot more around here.I remember my mum paying £20 an hour and that was back in about 2002 !!

Well the little horror has the wind up his tail(no not Chris).I have had to shoo him out as he was going for my feet and legs !!!
Oh No!! Chris said he has just seen him with a rabbit under the hedge :-(..He said it was alive,but now is most likely being eaten :-S :-S..

I have made a nice Beef Casserole for a change.But the mash I have done is all a bit gloopy :-S..Nothing I can do about that really.As long as it tastes good.

This Brussels attack is just appalling :-( :-(. I see they found an unexploded Suicide Jacket..So one of the attackers was happy to kill all those people but chickened out when it came to blowing him/herself up !!...I thin kit is just a matter of time again before something dreadful happens here..This is why I worry so much about Hannah .She walks through St Pancras and Kings Cross Stations every morning ! But I just have to keep telling myself that it is just a slim chance she should be in the wrong place at the wrong time .Normal day to day life has to go on..Something must be done to stop these evil b******s ..What and how though I have no idea.

Gill ,at least you know now that you are definitely staying where you are,and you can take plenty of time deciding exactly in deciding what you think is the best thing to do with extensions/Conservatories etc.You don't need to rush into anything :-)

Ann ,I bet you both can't wait now to get Thursday over.What time is the Funeral?
We have Joan's funeral next Tuesday and James will have Jess's Grandads the day after that.

We saw Fitz yesterday .He came to see the new suite.he reminded me that it was 4 years ago yesterday that I drove him to the hospital when he went in to have his op to remove his Cancerous Kidney.I dropped him off and he walked off with his little bag,and gave a little wave as I drove off..He was in theatre for 7 hours !!!! as it was a very difficult op .I can hardly believe that was 4 yrs ago.He is due to go for his annual scan now.

This casserole is smelling darned good :-D.I know James will be ready for it as soon as he gets in LOL

Oh Frank ,that egg !!!!!.Where are you keeping it???.Outside somewhere I hope lol
I expect David will sleep off the anaesthetic now.Hopefully he had had plenty of painkiller.

Gill £10 and hour is really cheap for a gardener .I think it is an awful ot more around here.I remember my mum paying £20 an hour and that was back in about 2002 !!

Well the little horror has the wind up his tail(no not Chris).I have had to shoo him out as he was going for my feet and legs !!!
Oh No!! Chris said he has just seen him with a rabbit under the hedge :-(..He said it was alive,but now is most likely being eaten :-S :-S..

I have made a nice Beef Casserole for a change.But the mash I have done is all a bit gloopy :-S..Nothing I can do about that really.As long as it tastes good.

This Brussels attack is just appalling :-( :-(. I see they found an unexploded Suicide Jacket..So one of the attackers was happy to kill all those people but chickened out when it came to blowing him/herself up !!...I thin kit is just a matter of time again before something dreadful happens here..This is why I worry so much about Hannah .She walks through St Pancras and Kings Cross Stations every morning ! But I just have to keep telling myself that it is just a slim chance she should be in the wrong place at the wrong time .Normal day to day life has to go on..Something must be done to stop these evil b******s ..What and how though I have no idea.

Gill ,at least you know now that you are definitely staying where you are,and you can take plenty of time deciding exactly in deciding what you think is the best thing to do with extensions/Conservatories etc.You don't need to rush into anything :-)

Ann ,I bet you both can't wait now to get Thursday over.What time is the Funeral?
We have Joan's funeral next Tuesday and James will have Jess's Grandads the day after that.

We saw Fitz yesterday .He came to see the new suite.he reminded me that it was 4 years ago yesterday that I drove him to the hospital when he went in to have his op to remove his Cancerous Kidney.I dropped him off and he walked off with his little bag,and gave a little wave as I drove off..He was in theatre for 7 hours !!!! as it was a very difficult op .I can hardly believe that was 4 yrs ago.He is due to go for his annual scan now.

This casserole is smelling darned good :-D.I know James will be ready for it as soon as he gets in LOL

My dinner is almost ready. Casserole all cooked and smelling nice, potato's simmering away with brussels and parsnips. BUT NO ROS AND CAROLYN. I bet there are shopping after seeing John.

Jane I felt for you as I read your post. Fancy Chris going off with a big plastic bag. (did he give you 5p) lol lol. We can smile about it now, but I bet he wasn't smiling when he was out looking for him. NAUGHTY THOMAS. (stroke stroke) <3 <3 <3

David you have me stumped for now. I will try to think back to those adds. !!

I woyuld have thought you need to look out where you are going Ann ;-) ;-) I bet there are lots of things happening around us that we don't see, because we are in such a hurry. I bet it will make you stop and look around you after the talk tonight. I hope you enjoy it.

Nothing planned for this evening.

Oh a rotten egg Frank, how awful, I don't blame you for complaining, where are you keeping it? Not in the bungalow I hope, you'll have a job getting rid of the smell if you have.

Yes it's bad what's happened in Brussels those poor people, it seems to be happening a lot lately. OH and I noticed there hasn't been any planes in the sky today, I wonder if it has anything to do with it?

I've just been outside and it's lovely and warm, yet it was cold during the day......very strange weather. I think you might be right Anne, about the snow, I can't see us getting any which will disappoint Sandra as she was so looking forward to it, especially now she's over her virus.

So Thomas went missing Jane, that was a long time for him to be away from you I wonder where he went? Maybe you should get a little camera and attach it to his collar, then you can track him to find out where he goes. Mind you with all his killings that might be a bad idea, you wouldn't want to see that. But it would be interesting to see what he gets up to. Maybe he's got himself a girlfriend LOL :-)

Yes I've had a few ideas and the longer it takes for a builder to get back to me the more ideas I have. I've now thought of splitting the garage into two. It's got five panels along the side so I thought of putting up a wall inside the garage to split it into two one side and three the other, then we could use the three section as a summerhouse as that would be around 12ft by approx...7ft, leaving the two section of 8ft by 7ft to use as a shed area for OH's tools and the garden stuff, including the lawn mower.

I just need to find someone to put a new roof on once we've had the asbestos one taken down. As for the look of it, as it's very ugly, we could put in some windows and a door and then have the rest cladded in something more appealing. All these ideas I have, I wonder what we'll end up with in the end LOL.

We have given up on the idea of an extension as it would make our living room far to dark so it looks as if we'll be going with the idea of knocking through to the dining room instead. Up to now we haven't thought of anything better, so we'll probably go with that. But like you said Jane, there's no rush, although if we do go ahead this year I'd like it finished before the winter comes back and Michelle gets here in October.

I did find out the name of the doors that go into the wall, they are called pocket doors but if they come off their tracks it's not easy to put them back on so we might just have sliding doors instead, it's the same thing just on the outside of the wall rather than inside.

Well OH's just got in so we're going to watch a programme I recorded the other day then have an early night. So I'll sign out now and see you all tomorrow.

Sweet Dreams everyone
Night Night <3

On the way into Bideford all the sides of the roads have clumps of primroses in flower and the hedge garlic is just showing tiny flowers. The gorse is blooming too lovely yellow flowers. You can see why yellow and green are spring colours.

On the way I also saw some thing I have never seen before and that was a set of temp traffic lights they had up as the lengthsmen were work clearing the side of the roads and drain ways, they were all led lights in the rounds.

Naughty Thomas going off like that and not telling you he was staying out late. Its just like having teenagers again. Bet he was playing at being that big cat he saw on the telly and forgot the time. But could'nt you just knock their blocks off when they do that to you?

All the way home I had to follow a wide load so came home at between 20mph and 10 mph it was so boring.................................. :-( :-(

When I got home oh was on the digger behind my pond. When he came to bring the shopping in he told me he had dug another pond!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I said we don't need anymore ponds two and the puddle are quite enough. When I went down to let the bantams out he had planted the Gunnera in a bog garden bit he had made for it. It had got too big for its pot. In fact its pot was half an orange juice barrel if you know how big they are.

Frank were'nt those young lads very very lucky when they went through that barrier. I had to show it to oh.

I hope John is recovering well Frank and that you enjoyed your dinner. :-) The talk was very good and given by an eye surgeon. She explained all about the main eye problems cataracts, AMD, glaucoma and diabetic eye disease and all the treatments and things to get checked urgently. She showed us paintings Monet did when he had cataracts and how they were more brown and red due to his cataracts affecting colours he could see. It was freezing in the lecture theatre so I was glad I took my coat! I thought I was going to miss the talk as it took me half an hour to travel the first 2 miles from here in all the traffic!

The funeral is at 9.45am Jane, the same time as MIL's. We found at that time it was all nicely paced and a good time for the buffet lunch afterwards. I shall take OH's cousin to the station like last time and things tended to break up then so I expect it will be the same. His cousin has had a new hip since MIL's funeral so it will be interesting to see how mobile she is now. :-) Fancy Thomas going AWOL! I can just picture Chris on the cat hunt!

Off to bed now.........dentist checkup first thing in the morning! :-S

Morning all and evening Kim,

Grey sky this morning but its not dull with it if you know what I mean.

The talk sounded interesting Ann.

Morning everyone, evening Kim,

Horrible morning here cloudy and dam right misserable.

The girls got back here about 7.00 pm. I let Carolyn dish up her own meal. It wasn't enough to feed a fly. A tiny piece of chicken a piece of mushroom and carrot and a little gravy, a spoonfull of mash that wouldn't have been a fork full for me. She seems so proud of herself that she's not eating. Ros and I had our usual helpings.

John was told off by the doctor, he sat on the bed with his legs dangling over the side. He should have had them up, supporting them. I bet it's like talking to a brick wall. !!!

Thanks for the video Jane, he certainly took interest in the tiger, Did anyone see the farming programme last night. All those tiny lambs, calfs, chickens. Those farmers are so dedicated to their animals, The surroundings they work in , is to be envied.


My computer is playing silly Bugg##s again this morning. The cursor keeps jumping and I have to keep looking for it.

No plans for today, other than to keep warm and read my book Ros has the ironing board up and doing a basket of ironing. So that will keep her quiet for an hour. ;-) ;-)

Afternoon all

Dull here today and it looks like we might get some rain, so OH is cutting the grass while it's still dry. Hope it doesn't rain before he's finished. We've just put everything back in the garage that was scattered around the garden and in the greenhouse. There's no point in leaving it where it can get wet when we have a perfectly good garage we can use.

I think you might be right Frank about the builders with none of them getting back to me. They must all be booked solid, so it looks like I'll have to ring them when the winter gets here again to make sure the jobs we want doing are booked in for next spring. I'm a bit disappointed but these things happen I suppose. Hence why we've put things back in the garage for now.

So John got a telling off for dangling his legs, he should do as he's been told or he could end up making things worse for himself in the long run. It sounds like Carolyn is trying to do things for herself which means less for Ros to do. Ros does work hard doesn't she, so I expected she was pleased that Carolyn had done a few things? So long as Carolyn doesn't hurt herself by doing to much to soon though.

I've been thinking about your cursor Frank, do you have a mouse that has a ball underneath it, if so, then maybe the ball needs cleaning, it might be clocked up with dust and just be sticking. I found that happened to me when I had a desk top computer. Now I have a laptop I don't have the problem anymore. It might be worth trying to clean it. It certainly wouldn't do it any harm <3 Just remember to do it when you computer is off otherwise you might end up on some strange website LOL.

The talk sounded very interesting Ann, you do go to some good ones don't you?
The timing of the funeral sound just right, there's nothing worse than grumbly tummies in the church because people haven't had their lunch yet. That's happened to me a few times and it sounds so loud in a quiet church.......very embarrassing. I've got someone coming round tomorrow about our loft insulation so I hope everything goes smoothly, if that's the right choice of word, tomorrow as I doubt I'll be online before you go. I'll be thinking of your both <3 <3

OH and I saw an owl last night, we weren't sure what it was at first so sat quietly outside, then realised it was an owl. They are so quiet and graceful aren't they and this one was quite big. When we first went outside there was a cat right by the mouse trap and I don't know who jumped the most me or the cat LOL needless to say the cat ran off. I've been checking the mouse trap but we haven't caught one yet, so I think it's moved on to another garden as our neighbour next door but one said he has a few in his garden which his new puppy barks at......bless her. I met his new puppy the other day, she is so tiny and very lively but doesn't bark or growl at people, she was so friendly and just wanted attention and fuss. She's called penny.

How is Thomas today Jane? Hope he hasn't gone walkies again, you don't need that sort of worry do you?

Oh I forgot to say yesterday Anne, yes I have looked on check a trade but it's the same people I've already contacted, so they must all be to busy to check their messages and emails. Like Jane said there's no rush and it just means we can save up a bit more money so we might be able to get everything done in one go once a builder is free to do the work.

Going to get some lunch now then catch up with some programmes I've recorded while OH is here, the planner is starting to fill up again because we can't watch the programmes until OH is off work, so hopefully we'll catch up with a few of them this afternoon.

I have been in the garden before lunch tidying up my strawberry plants I took as new ones for this year. I grow them in stacking pots like Frank has got but now I have too many for the pots I have!!!!! and I hav'nt seen them this year in the shops. May have to do as Gill does and put them in big pots. Then where do I put the pots where the bantams won't get at them???????

Naughty John Frank I hope you told him off too.