General Chat

Still a nice sunny afternoon here.

Ann I couldn't open your Email about the Garden.

Ros is back from SHOPPING. She has bought a new top sheet for the bed. KING SIZE as the normal size is to small, as I pull it all round me and she has none. !!!

They went to Aldi and the vegetables were so cheap. Parsnips 19 pence as were carrots, Jersey Royals were available but were more expensive She bought two bags. A leg of lamb was £8.00. It's a fair size, so can be for when we have company or out in two.

I have watered the pots and baskets in the front garden and down the drive. Will do the patio in a while.

So little Madam is ready to play after her afternoon sleep. Bless !!!

I have provisional booked a table at "GREENS" a restaurant on the local Golf course. It's up a flight of stairs from the car park, over looking the golf course, so if it's a nice day we will have a nice view while easting. That's another you will like Jane, :-D :-D

Well I had better get the watering done, before I start cooking. A WOMAN'S work is never DONE. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Afternoon All,

I've sent the photos in 2 emails now Frank to see if that will work.

I'm done in now after more sorting of clothes, hoovering, spot cleaning the bedroom carpet and hall rug and testing my new vileda mop in the en suite. Phew, however did I work full time as well all those years! OH had a weed all around this morning and did some pruning (bit drastic with the bottlebrush shrub. I'll have to give it a few tweaks when he isn't looking!!) He left about an hour ago to go to one and a half footie matches with a pal. The first is the other side of Coventry.

I know I have one mistake on my tree as it won't let me connect a relative on mum's side who married and became my gt grandmother's 2nd husband on my dad's side. Several people have my dad's name wrong on their trees. He changed his first name by deed poll in his 50s and when his death was registered they put his original name as his second forename which is incorrect. I think it's probably marginally better to see a tree with some errors than a tree you can't look at at all because it is locked, as some of the information could be useful and fill some gaps. It's never bothered me if people copy anything I've made public, it's there to share as far as I'm concerned, even if I have put a lot of work into some of it.

On the subject of mistakes, we rely on birth certs etc to be correct, yet we read that so many children were registered with the husband's surname yet unbeknown to him he wasn't the father!! In all those cases our family tree will only be correct on paper evidence and we will be barking up the wrong family tree!

Evening All

I think i am going to scrub today from the calendar. Not a good day. Started off with Chris and I not really talking after 'words' last night.Then I had a bath and then ran the water away.Just after that Chris called me down and said water was coming down th e wall in the garage.The main drainage pipe had come apart just where it joined the ceiling. Luckily most of the bath water had already gone through before the pipe broke.
So now the main bathroom is out of use totally until someone comes out on Thursday. We have Home Serve.The lady said she would pass my message on to the Engineers as am emergency.But we still have to wait until Thursday :-S..Thank goodness we have the ensuite and another loo downstairs.The water from the ensuite goes down a different pipe. Al the brackets have come half loose on hte long pipe in the garage.I jsut hope it doesn't fall down !

Then this afternoon,we had a phone call from the Derngate Theatre to say that all the performances of Death of a Salesman has been cancelled due to the death of the main actor. We thought this would probably be the case. So we have been refunded for the tickets. I have rung Fitz to let him know it is off.We then had to cancel our lunch reservation at Ask ,which is where we were going to go before the play.

Plumber coming tomorrow as the overflow is still going from the cylinder :-S.He is going be back on the phone to the manufacturers .While he is here he will have a look at the new sink unit we have ready to be plumbed in in the garage and sort a date out for doing that.

So that has been my day so far !!!!

Ann,those pics were lovely of the Open Garden.Where was it? You got some beautiful close ups of the flowers.

Mandy ,Molly sounds like she is coming along a treat :-D
I keep looking at the pic of Ruby Anne. It does make me smile :-D

Frank, Ros did well with the shopping today. I think veg and meats are special offers now with Easter coming up. Is Greens the place you have booked for your Easter meal Frank? I don't think I have heard of that .Whereabouts is it?

I must go now.Dinner needs seeing to and I feel a bit brain dead ..... Tomorrow is a new day :-D :-D

Evening all,

Been quite sunny but a bit chilly out of the sun ,another good day for getting the washing dry .

Lovely photo's Ann ,you got some really nice close ups of the flowers ,i liked the little chap snoozing against the tree :-D

So you pull all the top sheet your way then Frank :-D we have a King size duvet so we have plenty to cover us up as Colin seems to pull it his way a lot .
Aldi do have bargains with the veg but i just don't like that shop ,ours always looks like a jumble sale stuff every where and looks a right mess ,and it's a new store too.

Oh Jane what a day for you ,you'll be glad when it's over ,that was lucky most the water had passed through the pipe before it broke .

Oh what a nightmare of a day you have had Jane!! It's lucky you didn't end up with all the bathwater in the garage. :-0 I hope the plumber manages to make some progress tomorrow. OH had pointed out that actor dieing the other day. He was no age either. It's a shame the play was cancelled, as there must be an understudy, but the cast are probably all too upset.

The garden was at the village of Gaddesby. It's funny because we saw Gaddesby mentioned in our local paper today. It was one of the 20 villages across the county where 4 young men aged 18 to 23 went on a car wrecking spree overnight on New Year's Day. They smashed up 86 cars and said they thought it would be fun!!!! It's been taken seriously and magistrates decided the case should be referred Leicester Crown Court. A judge will have greater powers to give them custodial sentences.

Mandy ,yes i will be glad when I go to bed tonight . What with everythng today I forgot I had an appointment to go and donate blood :-S. That has made me cross now too.
I am a right old cross patch tonight

We have 2 Aldi here.The old one is very small so I don't go there very often.The new one has been open about a year now and is much bigger and set out really well,so I tend to use that one, plus there is a lot more choice of things at that one.

I don't know where Thomas is but he should be here as have just seen a baby bunny in the garden.He is no doubt down in Normas's garden on Rabbit watch there.I actually saw him eating a mouse earlier on the patio.Haven't seen that in a while. He has also been hanging around near where the bird feeder is :-S..I reckon he knows that there are babies about :-( He will get a big flea in his ear if I catch him with one.
I have seen Robins todaywith little wriggly worms in their beaks.

Chris is up early in the morning to take his car into Northampton for a big service. He is expecting to be there for several hours .He will have to take a walk in to the centre and find a good coffee shop.

Beautiful evening here but a little on the nippy side now.

Its has been a lovely sunny day here today but still that cold breeze.

Bought myself a new fat block feeder today from the pet shop. I looks like it could be easy to fill up as I don't like holding those fat blocks. That is two thing I can't stand, greasy fingers and sticky finger. :-|

I was in the garden yesterday and suddenly thought about the party jelly dishes we had that were a sort of pressed wax paper with a round hole in the middle and a square top that was all crimped and coloured. Do any of you remember those? Nowadays its all plastic.. Clotted cream used to come in waxed tubs too. I had one somewhere which must have been years old.

The puppies sound like they are both learning fast and getting into a routine. Anne when you feed Ruby do you put her straight out in the garden. I used to do that with my pups and they soon get the hang of in one end out the other.

What a day you have had Jane and I bet you will be glad when it is tomorrow.

Did anyone see the moon come up tonight? O it was really beautiful. When I shut the girls in I had the moon peeping over the trees to the east and the sun going down in the west still making the sky pink. It was a treat for sore eyes I can tell you. I tried to get a pic but it had risen quite a bit by the time I had watched it for a while and then shut the bantams up for the night.

Shot a baby bunny on Sunday and it went in oh's workshop. I could'nt find it but this morning when I went to feed the girls it was dead by the door with blood on it so I did get it. I slung it over the back field for the buzzard. There is still a bunny under my shed though as I keep surprizing it when I go down there and it scurries away.

Jane that is'nt a baby blue tit as its too blue. When you get the babies feeding their feathers are a grey colour at first and the tits usuall time their hatches for when the hawthorn trees are out because they get small moth caterpillas on them to feed to their young and when they are babies they are still asking mum for her to feed them.

Had a look aroudn the village when I went to Torrington today as there's a shop on the corner of the square that sells all sorts of things. Its where I bought Anne's purse for Ruby's treats. I bought a long handled brush for washing up just like the old fashioned ones. Wooden handle and round head with what look like real bristles. We will see as when oh uses them he put them under hot water and the bristles on the plastic ones curl up and then they are useless. He goes through loads of them!! If it works I shall buy more.

I have turned the heating on tonight as it has turned really chilly here.

Hi folks,
Just a quick update from my afternoon visit to Carmel yesterday for those who haven't seen it on Facebook. I had to wait until after my chap who does our garden fortnightly arrived before i could leave just after 1 pm. I left the shed open etc and left him to it and let him treat like it was his own garden, I trust him implicitly, all he had to do was make sure the back gate was fastened when he left.
When I got to Linden Grange Carmel was in fine form. She had a good nights sleep, is able to get to and from the wet room/toilet by herself and is walking a bit further each day. The fact that the surgery has been able to have her supplied with Tramadol to ease the pain where she had the op (it's a 6 inch scar, healing nicely.) has helped her tremendously. The physio paid her a visit and is more than pleased.with her progress. At some point she will come under the Social worker there to sort out her homecoming and our home will be assessed for anything she needs extra. At the moment I think that will be an extra stair rail and a 'washing seat'. We already have (thank goodness for a downstairs loo!) toilet seat raisers and supports, a bath lift and bed rails for her.
There are only two wheelchairs at the home (upstairs anyway) one of which has one broken brake. Dorothy is bringing one from her place which was 'Nanny Dot's', so I'll meet her there later with my tyre pump and she will have her very own chariot. I spoke to the handyman yesterday and he says the brake has sheared off and I think that will mean the chair is kapput. Carmel also mentioned this to the visiting physio (she comes from the hospital) and I think she will raise the matter with the management. There is one good wheelchair there but I think someone has 'made love' to it and they keep it in their room instead of in the lounge where it should be for the use of all. Niggles, niggles, don't mind me.
Anyway, off to make a nice omelette to keep the inner man going. More news tomorrow.Have a nice day. Not such a short report after all!!!

Morning William and all,

Not so pleasent here this morning as we don'thave the sunshine but grey sky instead.

Its good to know Carmel is improving well and is managing to get about a bit already.
It made me laugh about the wheelchair. You would have thought that a nie place like that would have more than one wheelchair would'nt you.
You would also have thought that the hospital would have arranged for Age Concern to get Carmel her own wheelchair which could go to the home too after an op like that.

I had another very strange dream last night. This time I had banged the back of my hand on something and scraped all the skin back just below my right index finger but it was'nt bleeding. I showed mum and oh and as I did so a white millipede (sp) ran across my inner skin then round and under the skin into my hand. Oh said "Right its straight down the doctors for you" and down I went. It was lunch time so all the doctors were out to have something to eat but there was one doctor left there so I had to wait to see him.

Whilst sitting there I looked down at my hand and it had all healed up with just a little scar below my knuckle. After that I came home and a little while later on the far right of that hand a swelling appeared and it started to go numb. wnet back to the doctors who were now all back from lunch and as I was standing waiting in the waiting room a receptionist knocked into me and then said " O there's a white millipede on the floor". Then I was back home again and the dog, I don't know which dog, had jumped up against out chest of draws and scratched all the front trying to look out the window. It had spoilt the wood with all deep claw marks right across the top and down the sides. I said " I told you to keep the door shut". Then I woke up.

Good Morning Will, and all you ladies, evening Kim.

Nice to hear that Carmel is making good progress. How long is she going to be at the Grange.

Those YOBS deserve to do serious time for wrecking all those cars. The poor owners will have to claim on their insurance and will all have an excess to pay, and possible loose their N C B.

We have two Aldi's one in Towcester and one just opened next to B & Q. Both very well stocked and VERY VERY CLEAN. Dos treated me to a nice bottle of RED for only £3.00. I had a glass last night and it's quite nice.

Jane, GREENS in on the Collingtree Park Golf Club. It has a site on the WEB. Just thought as you like to eat in different places, you might like to know about it. We both loved the Pheasant down the road from you, can't think of the village.

You certainly had a day of it yesterday. DEEP BREATH it can only get better. <3 <3

I see ANNIE OAKLEY has got her gun out. What a good idea to throw them for the buzzards, no doubt other carrion will enjoy the flesh as well.

Everything got watered last night. This morning is very windy and looks cold. Ros is allowing me to do some ironing today. I said I would do it while she is at the hairdressers. THIS IS the first time she has allowed me near the iron, so I had better make a good job of it. !!!

Mandy, Ros insists I roll myself in the sheet, so when she come to bed there isn't any to cover her. It's if and when I get out in the night that she retrieves her portion.

Ann, the photo's came through very well thank you. You are very good with a camera. ;-) ;-) ;-)

I think I had better get myself going and get showered and dressed. It's so nice that you can sit around and not have to worry about going out to WORK. I love my retirement . <3 <3 <3

Hi all

Cold and horrible weather.

I've woken up feeling rotten today, I think I've got OH's sore throat and my ear is hurting again, so I'm going to take it easy today. I've just had some soup and stood outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air which seems to have helped.

We've been taking Sandra out and about these past few days and yesterday I coloured my hair and made a start on some more sorting, there's more than I first thought so that's going to take me a while to do, but not today as I don't feel up to it.

Hope every one is okay. I haven't caught up with the post yet, so will do that when I'm feeling better. I'm very tired as I didn't sleep well last night so I might have a little sleep later. Sandra has been giving me lots of cuddles, bless her.

Sending a big {{{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}} to gill from me as well.

<3

Afternoon all,

HOUSE HUSBAND for hire. £10.00 per hour plus travelling expenses . Can cook, IRON, gardening, making beds and hovering. Please apply for references. <3 <3 <3

Mel, what a dream to have, I wonder what brought that thought into your head. It's seems the millipede did his job in healing your hand. :-D :-D :-D :-D

That cheeky Blackbird has been into the garage and eaten all the mealworms, and turned the dish upside down and spilt all the dusty bits on the floor. He perched on the garage door with a look on his face, enough to say "WELL are you going to feed me or not" I opened another packet and filled the dish. The Robin came at that time with tiny worms in his/her beak, so they must be feeding babies

Basket of ironing done, including shirts, T shirts, hankies, Tea towels. Three top sheets, bottom fitted sheet ( what a bugger they are to iron) 4 pillow slips. I have on request left Ros's tops for her to do.

Dinner all prepared. Lamb cutlets in a mint marinade, Jersey Royal potato's, runners, brussels, peas and carrots. I will pick some mint to go in the potato's.

I hope you are feeling a little better now Gill, keep warm and stay indoors. !!!

William thank you for the parcel which arrived this afternoon. They look like they may take me some time to do so don't look out for a parcel too soon. It was very thoughtfull of you both to think of me with these but they may be a winter project.

Thank Carmel for me please. They are lovely.

Good evening all

I hope you had a better day today Jane and the problems are soon fixed for you.

Sorry you haven't felt too well Gill and how sweet of Sandra to give you lots of cuddles.

Abbie was in a car accident yesterday fortunately no one was injured but Paul took time off work to get her checked out in A&E as she had banged her head but she was ok thank goodness, the driver had only just passed his test and managed to write off an £8000 car. Abbie was travelling in the back with Shanie who had to be checked her baby was not harmed but thankfully all was well. It was the boy's fault as he did a U turn and didn't check properly that the road was clear.

I spotted a heron in the garden earlier hovering over the bottom pond but it flew away when I opened the patio door. There is a lovely lilac in full bloom at the top of the garden the best it has been for a few years. The street has a lot of blossom out
in bloom in pink or white, they must have been planted in the early 70's when the houses were first built, hopefully we don't get any heavy winds which often happens at this time.

Mel I do put Ruby out after her meals but apart from 1st thing in the morning, she is very unpredictable as to when she goes and I have never experienced a puppy that pees so often.

Frank I'm sure Ros really appreciates all you do, it's good that both of you work very hard, Peter was a good cook and used to enjoy cooking a lot of our meals.

The Aldi just down the road at the Birch Hill shopping centre is very well run always very organised and stocked well, on the other hand the nearest Lidle in Crowthorne is a shambles a lot of the time, although I haven't been there for a while it may have improved.

Evening All

Gill, I hope that your sore throat and painful ear doesn't last long.You don't have get more than your fair share of sore throats :-(. All sorting ,housework etc will still be waiting for when you feel up to doing it :-D

I see Frank is up for hire :-D :-D.. Cheap at the price Frank :-D

Ooh what a weird dream Mel.Are you sure it wasn't a maggot lol they are used for healing wounds :-D.YUK.

Well the Plumber never arrived.I just messaged him and he is stuck in Wellinborough. But why didn't let let me know.He said he would be here for 1.30 :-S. Lets see tomorrow. The man from Homeserve will be here in the afternoon sometime.Fitz is here for lunch ,and if Tony does arrive at the same time it will be a full house !!

I had 2 chaps here this morning saying that they had come to to bore holes in the back garden for samples of soil. I queeried this and asked why on earth would they want to do that in our garden. Turns out that they are taking these samples from all the gardens that are being sold off for the new housing(when it eventually gets going).I think it will be looking for anything Archeological etc. Anyway they showed me the map of all the gardens they had to do and I pointed out where our house was and the boundary at the bottom. They had just made a mistake and should have been next door.But they have been busy all day with their Geo thingy boring machine,and having been filling lots of cardboard boxes with samples. They had parked the van and big trailer in next doors drive so i could keep an eye on things. Not being nosey or anything :-D.I was a bit worried though that Thomas might have easily climbed in the back of the trailer van,so I did go and ask if before they left would they please check that they didn't have a black and white fluffy stowaway :-D :-D.As i was asking this who should turn up and go right underneath the van Thomas :-S.I think he heard my voice as he appeared from through the front hedge from 2 doors down.
Men have gone now and Thomas is still around.So I am glad he didn't fancy taking a ride to who knows where.

William, I think the lack of wheelchairs at Linden Grange sounds pretty poor, especially as they are for people rehabilitating like Carmel. It sounds though as it won't be too long before she is back home :-D :-D. I am enjoying reading your daily episode :-D

I had a letter today asking me to make an appointment back at the GP. Not urgent just to do with my recent investigation...That will be either my toenail clippings of sskin scrape. But for the next month there seems to be no available pre booking appointments. The first one was the 12th May.But I will be in France then. So it will be trying the 8am phone calls each morning to get a same day one. That is a right do just getting through of course. At least with my mobile I can just keep pressing the redial button every few seconds :-)

The sun has just come out. First time today. Chris has spent hours in Northampton waiting for his car after the service. He spent some of the time sitting in sunshine in Becketts Park reading his kindle . There was def no sunshine here.But I did manage to get a full whirly line of washing dry.I was a bit frightened of putting the tumble drier on in case the water from the broken pipe had got into the back of it.But Chris has just plugged it in and it is fine and didn't go bang ,so my other load of washing is in there now :-D..I just have the dreadful memory of plugging my old washing machine in after we had a flood and nearly blowing the place up. The bang when I switched on the plug frightened me half to death.

James has just arrived so he will be sniffing around for grub now.Got an easy meal tonight. Chicken in a Tomato and Chorizo sauce, added mushrooms, and rice.Simples :-D

Thank Heavens Abbie ,Shanie and Baby are all ok after the accident Anne.The young lad driving the car too. Sounds like a lucky escape for them all. They will no doubt feel like they have been hit by bus today as the body takes a big 'shock' after something like that.

It is raining here now :-S.I didn't think we were forecast any. I have got Thomas .He waa just settling down in the Summerhouse.Now settled on the settee :-D
Ruby will soon get the hang of things in the toilet department Anne :-D.She is still very young .She is getting there. :-D

Evening All,

Frank I think a few of us would like to hire you!! :-) :-) You certainly have some of the qualities needed.

Anne those Herons must have very good eyesight as they seem to know exactly where there are fish. It's good it flew off when you opened the patio door. When we had a pond we were going to stock it with fish till I saw a Heron perched on the back fence!! I know you can use nets but I didn't fancy having to keep moving them and didn't think they would look very nice on our pond. Little Ruby is doing well and it must be hard for Miss Dynamite to remember all the time just yet!

It doesn't sound like you are getting far with the drain issue yet Jane. I hope they turn up as promised tomorrow. It must be a worry with cats when there are open vehicles around as they are so curious. We have seen some of the cats around here looking interested at our open back door when we are in the garden in view and OH always worries about us locking one inside and us then going out. We have had problems with getting appointments at our doctors for years and mostly resort to queuing outside before they open to be sure of getting an appointment. It should be interesting to find out what they have found with your scrapings/clippings!!

Oh poor you Gill! You seem to be unlucky when it comes to bad throats. I hope you are resting up and will soon feel better. Sandra is very caring isn't she.

I remember those waxed carton things with trifles in Mel. I seem to remember some that were round with a sort of flower petal edge that was coloured. Sometimes you would scrape a bit of wax on your spoon with the jelly and eat it. lol. The cartons were like the wax ones that Kiaora orange juice was in that you had at the cinema. OH always throws the mice out of the traps over the back fence into the field for any scavengers to eat.

It's good to read your updates Will and hear how Carmel is. You would think the home would have more wheelchairs. We gave MIL's to the Red Cross or you could have had that. We gave all sorts to the care home FIL was in after he passed away, walkers, clothes, even his hearing aids!

Better go now.......I am being summoned to watch a recording!

Oh has been out this morning and this afternoon over our friends across the road on a digger that Graham hired for he week. He has been digging out trenches for the drains to go in. Graham and Gerry are building thier own bungalow but they got so far about 10 years ago and now they have started again carrying on with the same build. Anyway he came home for l.unch and said there was something in the back of his car for me from Gerry. When I looked in the back there was a cat carrying box filled with hay. it was two hedgehogs. They are cl;earing out an open sided barn and when they moved the bales of straw they found them. IO have opened the carrier and put it under a bush down by Prickley Hollow but whn I took the door off one hog was very small and I did'nt see the other one. Oh said to just leave it open and they would come out on their own but now I am worried they won't know where to go for a nest. I should have taken a look at them while he was out this afternoon but got on with a little sorting of my materials and then started on Di's jam jar lantern hanging in string. Then it was time to do dinner and then shut the girls in and feed the hogs so I did'nt get to look at them.

Quickie before I hit the sack, didn't leave the Grange till 9pm after tucking Carmel up in bed to watch her TV.
Mel, you are most welcome to the contents of the parcel and no rush to complete them, they are YOURS now, do as you please. I've got winter projects piling up here too, I have two model buildings to complete when I ever get time. One is the art deco shops at Upmintser and the other is Romford North Street bus depot.
For those that don't follow my Facebook episodes, I'll update Carmel's progress tomorrow morning.