General Chat

Evening All,

lol Mel, you tell him you're a tastier bit of stuff than he is!! Could you stick a bit of net over the window opening? It's no joke getting bitten like that.

You do make me chuckle Dermot! My OH has very little hair on his head, he lost most before he was aged 30 I think but it has never bothered him and he says he'd hate to have any hair on his head now! No comb overs for him and he is usually the first to make any jokes about it. Like you he does have hair everywhere else though that is doing from strength to strength and also has a beard. I should know as I am his barber who does his hair. I offered to get him one of those personal hair trimmers you can buy for the sprouting hair, but I think seeing Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean getting the implement stuck in his nose hair must have traumatised him as he never took me up on the offer and sticks to using scissors and doing it himself. He only had a few chest hairs when I met him but now it emerges from his collar and threatens to join his beard and I've told him I'll need a curry comb for his back soon. Of course it's changed colour over the years going from black with ginger glints to farmyard tabby and is now more grey and white. Still it puts a smile on his face when I tell him I've heard that 50 shades of grey is sexy. ;-) :-)

Yes I would agree that Fitz has very nice hair and plenty of it too Jane. I wonder what Hannah has planned for your birthday?

That's good news that Paul has decided on his flat Anne. Now he can start to make plans. The Disney trip sounds good and I bet the children are so excited about it.

Well, the Focus Group went well this morning and I bumped into the nurse I knew again. He has seen the last filming and said it was fine. I've also been asked to come to another person's Focus Group later this month. I had to pull over and stop for a while on the way home.......the rain was so heavy the water was covering the kerbs at the side of the road and you couldn't see ahead either. It's stopped again now though.

OH has made me laugh the last couple of mornings. He got some new socks recently and has done the same as me and bought black ones with coloured toes and heels so they are easy to pair up after washing. Yesterday he had orange toes so I told him he looked like Daffy Duck. Today it was yellow toes so I said he looks like a canary. I just hope he doesn't remove one of his slip on shoes tonight while he's at a meeting! lol.

The flowers have arrived from FIL's bank in apology today and look very nice. Even better they have paid the money into OH's bank. :-)

Its good the bank has handed over the money now but it should have been done earlier than this. What flowers did you get?

All go for Paul then Anne. Hope everything goes smoothly with the transaction and he can move in quickly. Hope the weathers nice for the trip to Disneyland Paris.

Jane is it a surprize for your birthday or will Hannah tell you whats going on later? Its bound to be something really nice as she usually chooses just the right thing. <3

It poured here this morning and I thought good its shopping day but by the time I arrived in Bideford the sun was out and it was quite hot. By the time I got home it had come over all grey again. We did get a bit more sun but it started to rain lightly by 9.40pm when I fed the hogs.

My right knee is playing up since I got home. It feels like it wants to click and also like I have twisted it. I hope its better by tomorrow as I want to pot up some plants and sow some seeds but I can do that in my shed.

Hi folks I've hurt my wrist and couldn't type, which is why I haven't been online for a few days. I was doing some jobs in the garden with OH while he was off work and tried to pull a tie off one of our trees that someone had put on there, it broke off and my hand banged the tree behind it, giving me a nasty bruise right on the wrist. OH wanted to take me to A&E as he thought I'd broken it, but after a while the swelling started to go down and I could move it better, so I didn't think it needed X-raying. I now have a black and blue hand and wrist.

I'm pleased to hear Thomas is on the mend Jane and you are doing okay giving him his meds.

Disneyland Paris, how wonderful, the children will have such a great time Anne.

Hope Max starts feeling better soon Mandy, it can't be much fun teething :-(

Did anyone watch the life of kittens, they were so cute? It's a 2 part show like the life of puppies was. The second one is on next Monday.

My OH is going bald Dermot and says if he loses much more then he'll shave the lot off. He got a bit sunburnt the other week so now has to remember to put some sun screen on his head if he's working outdoors.

That was a lot of Lodges Ann, pleased to hear your knees weren't as bad as you thought they might of been. The lodges sound lovely, are you going to buy one?

How are you teeth now Mel, have you got them sorted yet? Sorry to hear you got bitten, a bit of net sounds like a good idea to put over the open window.
Sorry to hear about your knee too, hope it feels better tomorrow.

So Frank is back tomorrow, it'll be nice to hear all about his holiday. Hope Ros is better now. Yes the garden will be like a jungle with all the rain we've had recently, so that'll keep him busy for a while.

It really rained here today and flooded the patio again, we've decided to re-lay some of the patio slabs so that the rain can drain away more easily, but it'll have to wait until my wrist is better. It was so dark we ended up putting the lights on at 3pm, just before the heavens opened. Sandra wanted to go to the library but decided to leave it to another day with it being so wet, so we've spent some of today catching up with some programmes I recorded. The garden can wait until the weather brightens up again.

Well, I'd better go and catch up with the rest of my programmes before bed time.

See you all tomorrow
Night Night

Morning all

Sunny here today but lots of clouds so I doubt the dry weather will last. The grass has taken over with all the rain we've had recently and it's far to wet to cut it just yet. I hope the weather improves by the weekend as OH and I are planning on finishing making the frame work for the screening we're going to put up around the garden. We made a start on it the other day but then it rained and started to get dark so we didn't get much of it done. Once that is finished and the new patio has been done we can move the greenhouse to it's final position and start sorting out the garage so that can be removed. I hope everything goes to plan and it's all finished soon, it seems to be a very slow process at the moment and the weather isn't helping either. I'm really looking forward to putting in the plants and making everywhere look pretty.

I was suppose to be chatting to Michelle online this morning but she's had to work so it won't happen now. We haven't spoken online since the beginning of March and now she's saying she might get rid of her internet, so it doesn't look like we'll chat again if that happens.

Not a lot planned for today, just catching up with some programmes I've recorded.
What is everyone else up to? Is Frank back today?

I sometimes think that I would like to work as a 'Proofreader' particularly for one of our local weekly newspaper publications. I have no appropriate training & sometimes my own scribbling leaves a lot to be desired.

I occasionally read an article & then consider how I would have summarised the same event. I know I'm just being picky on occasions when, for example, I read a report of some miscreant's appearance at the local Magistrates Court.

Here is a typical example of what I mean: 'Mr Smith was accused of the robbery of a mobile phone at the Magistrates Court yesterday'.

As it sometimes turns out, the said Mr Smith may well have been involved in the robbery but it occurred no way near the Magistrates Court nor did he rob anyone yesterday because he spent the previous two nights in custody at the local police station. Can you understand what I'm trying to say?

The newspaper reporter might go on to say that Mr Smith, the accused, is well known by the police. 'Well known by the police' is one of those clichés which newspaper reporters, in particular, refer to as shorthand for a string of previous convictions as long as your proverbial arm. So, why don't they just say it straight out then?

It worries me in so far as I am well known by the police in my neck of the woods - well, by at least two of the Special Constables who happened to be in my class at school many years ago. They both regularly pop in for a chat & I have been known to change a wheel for one of them when she was unfortunate enough to have a puncture in her squad car nearby. If I cannot help an old mate in her hour of need, the world would be in a poor state.

Crime reporter junkies are also frequently guilty of doing a disservice to the investigative powers of the boys & girls in blue. Say, for instance, a man is found dead in a ditch with two bullet wounds to his head, his hands tied behind his back & six-inch nails driven through both his kneecaps. It hardly takes Taggart's talents to spot the telltale signs of a murder - but reporters announce nothing more than 'The Police are treating the death as suspicious'.

Suspicious might be if the chap in the ditch just had a strange bump on his head. Admittedly, in the case of suicide, where rather than add to the distress of the deceased's family - the reporters say that 'the Police have ruled out foul play'.

Diplomatically worded, don't you think? Such is the beauty & versatility of our lovely English language.

PS: Go ahead & embarrass me now in front of regular contributors to this thread by highlighting any errors in my short piece. Go on! I won’t be upset! Really! :-P

Nice to see you Gill. The bush you were asking about is either Blackthorne or Hawthorne, hope this helps!! I'd try not to worry too much about Michelle, easier said than done I know, but so long as she's ok that's the main thing and she knows where you are if she wants to chat. It's hard I know, but try not to let it niggle at your life <3
I'm off now to have a look at those swallows!!!

Mum's turned up offering to take Sandra and I with her to the garden centre. The sun is still here so it'll be nice to go out.

Thanks Liz for the name of the shrub.
I'm leaving Michelle to it, I'm sure she'll speak when she's ready.

Mum is waiting so I'll get off, see you all later <3

Morning all,

Nice to see you Gill sorry to hear you have hurt your hand and wrist , these things happen so quickly don't they you don't have time to react and stop your self getting hurt .
Have a good time at the garden centre , don't spend to much !!

Quite bright here this morning but the sun is a bit slow to appear ,they say more heavy showers for us later ,at least we don't have to do any watering .

Jane Max didn't seem at all bothered about the thunder yesterday ,might be another matter if it was over head.
I wonder what Hannah has planned for your birthday , some nice pampering maybe.

l should think our Frank is on his way home , he will have a nice tan and we will all have rust with all this rain !! LOL

Morning all and evening Kim,

Guess what? its pouring here.

My knee is no better this morning and I have to walk with my leg bent a bit. I have three more bites this morning too.

Dermot my oh thinks a bit like you do. He is always commenting on what people say on the telly etc.

Hope your hand gets better soon Gill. You must have given it a hard bash on the other tree. Ouch!

I hope it brightens up later as I have a load of washing waiting to go on the line.

Good morning everyone

Pleased to see you back Gill and hope your wrist is feeling less painful. I hope you enjoy your trip to the garden centre this morning. My eldest son, Mark never rings me and unless I make contact I never hear from him but I think his Aspergers could be the reason for this.

Mel I hope your knee stops hurting soon, I also get bitten this time of the year, Mostly when I am near the ponds the worst place for me is the Scottish Highlands [one of my favourite places] but the midges have a field day biting me, no other family member is affected.

It is quite sunny here at the moment and Amy has had her walk and fast asleep now. She isn't afraid of thunder but the cats are both terrified. When I worked at the Arts Centre the director at the time had two little dogs called Rupert & Sally who he used to bring to work with him one day, when he was at a meeting there was a terrific thunderstorm and two of us in the finance office ended up with a terrified dog on each of our laps, both shaking with fear.

How is Thomas now Jane, I expect he can't wait to get out and enjoy his hunting again when Timmy was finally allowed outside he was a little unsure about venturing out at first but he wasn't one for going far any way.It sounds as if you are going to have a lovely treat for your birthday Jane.

I wonder if Frank and Ros are on their way now I hope they have a safe uneventful journey home

Don't know about rust Mandy I think I have gone to seed!

Just think of all the emails he'll have in his inbox!! It will take him weeks to get through them all........ <3

None out of all the dogs I have had over the years has been afraid of thunder till mum got Tessy. That and fireworks going off at the big house a little way away sent her crazyily barking her head off.

I can't remember if I have told you this or not? We had the deer in the garden the other day. After seeing it over the back field behind the chickens with a new baby it brought it in the garden and gave it a tour of my border telling it which things were nice to eat and what things they could tread on. I took a few pics but need oh to download the camera for me. I wish I could do it myself like I could on my old pc. I just don't understand this one.

Lovely sunny morning here!!! Lots of very threatening clouds all round, but warm and sunny overhead. Mel if you look on line you'd probably be able to find out how to download your pics onto your computer. I did this with transferring pics from my computer to my Kindle. You only have to ask/give Google the relevant info and it will take you through it step by step, sometimes even a YouTube video to help.
I've taken a couple of pictures Gill, so I'll get them onto my Kindle, and email them to you.

Hubby has just had a call from the hospital ,he has to go next wednesday for his pre op and in for the op on the 12th July so he's happy ,he now has more pain and just wants to get it done now.

Nice and sunny here and we have had a nice walk , we met one of those dogs with the really wrinkled face ,Max wanted to play but the other dog just had a sniff walked off so Max just carried on with his walk ,he is really good on the lead no pulling he just trots along ,still picking up all sorts !!!

Do you go somewhere where Max can run Mandy or is his walk all on the lead? Only just wondered! We take Cas into the field either ours when Merlin isn't there, or the field behind us when the horses/cows aren't there! At the moment they've just cut for sileage so the coast is clear, but I think next week the cows may be back! :-\
Max sounds very good on his lead! Our naughty girl can pull for England!! She's always so keen to investigate long grass, hedges and anything else that catches her eye, that she just charges off! She's on a half choke, and a friend has lent us an anti pull collar which we haven't tried out yet. It's her only fault though, in everything else she's such a good girl, her recall is brilliant, her temperament fantastic, clean and dry, sleeps all night and can be left without any problems! So you can't ask for much more!!
It's clouded up here now and I think it's going to rain, but it's been a pretty good day and we've managed to get all the mowing done so quite chuffed!
Cas is playing with what's left of Teddy!!!

Afternoon All
Haven't read through all todays posts yet.Just Dermots so far. It did make me grin :-D
I am one of these people who find it so funny with the way some things are reported. Surely things are checked before going to print..I think proof reading would be a perfect job for you Dermot.
Loved your post today.

Well ,I'm not sure about Thomas today.He has been behaving so strangely .He was scared of his bed,his scratcher ,his toy and just about everything.It was as though he didn't know what they all were,and he was creeping around the room in such a weird way.I was really concerned earlier so have rung the Vets.We have gone through everything we can possibly think of as to why he might be behaving in this way.
So I am just going to monitor him and see if he goes back to normal..You would have thought he was high on something and maybe hallucinating !!!!! He is actually behaving more normally now so I just hope whatever it was is just an odd blip.

I'll pop back later....Thought we might have heard from Frank by now.

Sorry to hear about Thomas Jane. Was he asleep before this strange behaviour? Maybe he'd had a nightmare over what's happened to him and all the things he's had to go through since. It might be a delayed reaction to it all. I'm sure he'll be okay soon <3 <3

Thanks for the pics Liz, I think I could make out one of the birds but it was a bit difficult to see. Was it right at the edge staring at you?

I'm pleased to hear your OH has got a date for his op Mandy, hopefully he'll be a lot better once it's all over, it must be so upsetting being in pain all the time. At least he doesn't have long to wait, so that's good.

How lovely to see the deer with her new baby Mel, lets hope your OH can put the pics on your computer for you, Sandra and I would love to see them. Sorry to hear your knee is still playing you up, hope it eases soon <3

Poor Rupert and Sally, Anne. It horrible to watch animals so afraid of loud noises and you can't explain to them what it is. At least they both had laps to sit on and a gentle cuddle each until it was all over.

It absolutely poured with rain before, luckily we'd just left the garden centre and was on our way to mum's, but the rain was so bad mum could hardly see where she was driving so had to slow down and almost creep home. Mum is looking after her neighbour's cat while they are away, she has got the cat at hers and Sandra and I met her today. She is called Poppy and is so adorable. She is pure white and so affectionate. I tried playing with her but she didn't seem to know what to do, so I don't think she's ever played with anything before. Mum's neighbour only got the cat a few days ago from someone who was renting a flat as the landlord said she wasn't allowed any cats. Sandra run the hoover round for mum as my wrist is still a bit sore and poor Poppy shot out of the room and into mum's bedroom almost knocking over her mirror, so I encouraged her to come from behind the mirror and onto the chest of draws where I gave her a gentle cuddle until Sandra had finished, then when Sandra wanted to do mum's room I picked Poppy up and took her into the living room and shut the door, she jumped onto the window sill and stayed there. The poor cat got another shock straight after the hoovering was finished as the window cleaners turned up, so all in all I don't think poor Poppy has had a good day. Hopefully it'll quieten down a bit for her now we're home and it's just mum with her.

I didn't spend much money at the garden centre, I was after a ceramic pot for a peace lily Sandra bought me for Mother's Day, as it had outgrown the pot it was bought in. I managed to find one with three plants in it for £8 which I thought was a bargain, when I got to the counter the fella said "call it a fiver" so needless to say I'm really chuffed. Luckily the rain stopped long enough, when I got home, for me to take the three plants out and put them in individual pots of their own leaving the ceramic pot empty for my lily plant which has now been re-potted. Just as I'd finished doing all that the heavens opened again, so that was timed just right.

Sandra and I are going to catch up with the last of the programmes I've recorded now as there's nothing on TV until later apart from football :-| Sandra wants to watch Big Brother at 10pm.

Jane how is Thomas now? Iv'e been worried since your post.

I can hardly move today with my knee. I must have twisted it somehow as I can't straighten it right out. It would have to be the other side to my bad hip!! I must look about 100 when I walk round to the chickens. It take sme ages.

I planted up my Cucamelons in a window box thing today and oh is going to fix up some pea netting for them at the end of the decking.

G4S got such a bad press coverage some years ago during the Olympics that I had a little sympathy for the organisation.

The problem I frequently encounter is my inability to get past so-called security personnel, otherwise known as 'Bouncers'. Maybe it's something to do with me having a face like a retired hawk.

And when someone who has a neck like a small tree trunk addresses you as ‘pal’, you can safely assume it is not designed to suggest he wants to be your friend, virtual or otherwise – no, this 'pal' is normally the closing word in a short statement that begins with ‘you’re not getting in this gate....pal’ or ‘move on there...pal’.

It’s a uniquely Irish term of endearment – indeed rarely heard if truth be known outside of our capital city – but it’s up there for inappropriate use of a friendly term with, say, 'sunshine' – a word often used in a similar circumstance.

The ordinary stewards are mainly models of good manners & decorum, showing the middle-aged fans of Riverdance like me to their seats as a waiter might show you to your table. They presumably realised that an audience with an average age the wrong side of fifty didn’t present much by way of violent threat – unless you got a clip in the side of the head from an old guy enthusiastically imitating Michael Flatley's impressing array of dancing steps.

But these goons in black suits, hired straight from central casting, carry with them an inbred (a most appropriate word indeed) threatening aura about their very being. It’s not that they’re necessarily fit – indeed one bloke appeared to be suffering from an advanced case of furniture disease. His chest has slipped into his drawers.

They all have knuckle tattoos – normally it’s ‘hate’ on both hands – and a buzz haircut to accentuate the size of their enormous necks. Some have pinstripe suits which give them the air of 'an extra' in some Bugsy Malone musical – and all of them have impenetrable Dublin accents.

Most of them went to the 'University of Leeson Street', those dingy underground night-clubs where - unless you were a model or a footballer (I'm neither!) - you were greeted with the sort of look that suggested you had inadvertently stood in something & the smell was still on your shoe.

As for getting in, apparently it was more than their job was worth - which seemed strange given that they were paid to work as doormen & that presumably involved letting people in to the venue. The alternate reply was that you were getting in over their dead body, which initially seemed like a win-win result - until you realised these geniuses also boast a rich line in irony.

“Begorrah! I’ll go home instead - so I will”. :-0

Morning All

Mel ,Thomas seems back to normal now thank goodness.I have no idea what made him behave like that yesterday.He does seem to be sleeping more than he did when he first came home.But maybe this is a good thing.

Mandy,great news about OH's op.Not too long to wait :-D

Have to dash now but will BBL..Where's Frank???

Morning all

Sunny here today for a change, Sandra and I have just emptied the greenhouse ready for OH to move it (yet again) to another part of our garden when he gets in later. Hopefully this time it'll be out of the way of all the jobs we still need to do. I need to move the flags the greenhouse is on now, to the other side of the garden where the greenhouse will finally end up, for now it's being moved to outside our living room by the back door. Hopefully it won't be to much in the way for the short time it'll be there.

Another good read from you Dermot ;-)

I hope your knee is feeling a better today Mel.

Pleased to hear Thomas is back to normal now Jane, it must of been worrying for you? Maybe it was a delayed reaction to everything that's happened to him. Give him a gentle hug from Sandra and I.

Yes where's our Frank? :-S :-S I hope he got home okay. Maybe he's in his garden, tackling the long grass he's probably come home to.

Off to move the boxes out of the front room now into the back room. I've decided to buy a couple more wardrobes to match the ones already in the front room so I can finally empty the last of the boxes from the loft and get everywhere straight again. The cupboard I bought still smells musty, so we've decided to get rid as it's starting to smell the back room out.

My wrist, although still a bit sore, is starting to feel better, now I've rested it for a few days, but the jobs won't do themselves.... so here I go again LOL I think I'll take my time though as I don't want to do to much to soon. Sandra said she'd help, which was nice of her.

What is everyone else up to today?