General Chat

Morning all,

Still raining have you lot got it yet? It is dark and grey and not very nice out there at all.

Typical bank holiday weather is the way I would discribe it.

Oh is just opening up pour new lot of meal worms for the birds.

Come on a pinch and a punch and all that its May Day.

Good Morning All

It sounds as if everyone has been busy in the last couple of days. Richard has been helping me in the top part of the garden mostly weeding and pruning plus cutting back some of the trees. He's not up yet but nothing unusual when he's not working.

How is young Max now Mandy?

Ruby is now loving her walks apart from her getting dressed, still not co-operating there. It was lovely and sunny first thing but is now looking very grey but we desperately need some rain.

That was a good photo of the Jay,Jane we used to have one on the birch tree at the top o the garden but I haven't seen it for a while. It was good to be able to buy the deodourant for the young man but different thing for him to ask for.

I'm glad Sandra enjoyed watching her DVD, was it identical to the books?

We watched the final episode of Line of Duty and thoroughly enjoyed it , now we have to wait for the new series and perhaps find out who H is. Very good acting and sound quality.

Morning my lovelies, Evening Kim,

Happy MAY DAY to you all.

We have one of those black magnet net curtains on the conservatory door, It is handy when the door is hooked back.We tried those strips of plastic, but the wind blew them open and in came the insects.

Mel, We have repaired the hose with tape before. It holds for a while then squirts out where the tape ends. We have had it many years so a replacement might be the order of the day. I was looking on line for one of those Hoselock's but they are close to £120.00. So a replacement HOSE hooked on the fence, will still do the job I want and a lot cheaper.

Jane it so often happens when you see something that takes your fancy, then get it home and wished you hadn't bothered. I do it on occasions in Tesco with a Sausage roll.

Clouds scarring across the sky, with a fair bit of blue sky. We had some rain in the night, but not enough to do any good.

Well if anyone wants a free meal today. COME ON OVER. I have prepared a BANQUET and there will be far to much. Leg of Lamb, Roast potato's and Parsnips.
New potato's, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussels, Runner Beans, Broad Beans, Yorkshire Puddings and Cheese sauce. For afters, Lemon Meringue Pie with Cream, and a cheese board. Nice bottle of Red for Harvey and I. (if he's not driving)

Not a great night again last night. I ached all over. It's times like this when you wish you had a bath, so you could lie back and have a good soak. My problem would be, GETTING OUT AGAIN ;-) ;-) ;-) I was awake three times between 11.00 and 7.00 this morning. Kept turning over but couldn't settle.

What are you all up to today ?? I am doing nothing apart from cooking. They should be here for 4.00 pm so dinner about 5.00 pm. Pity that Lewis can't be with us, he will be working until 6.00 pm then out with his mates. Well he is EIGHTEEN !!!

I could'nt go to sleep last night. Lay there and tossed and turn and then my pillows were'nt comfy, then I was hot but my knees were cold. I nearly gave up in the end but must have dropped off.

Morning all

We've had some rain in the night but not enough to do any good. The seed potatoes are now planted and put with the tomatoes and strawberries in the greenhouse. I prefer to keep all the food plants together then there's no chance I'll forget to water them, plus it keeps all the bugs off them.

Pleased to hear Max has left his scar alone and doesn't need to wear the ring Mandy. Good idea to keep the children away from him for a while as like you said he would probably get to excited and start running around. I'm sure they understood why they couldn't visit this time. How is your fly curtain, hope it's doing the job for you and Max doesn't want to play with it. Did Colin see the results of the F1. I felt sorry for Lewis Hamilton as he had a problem with his car so only came 4th. Pleased his team mate won though and his first win after 80 races, he looked so pleased with himself and rightly so, he drove brilliantly.

Sorry to hear your fingernails are still playing you up Jane, hope they heal soon, it's been quite a while now hasn't it? I love the pasties in Cornwall, but find it doesn't matter where about in the rest of the county you by them they just never taste the same as the Cornish ones. It's the same with the Scottish shortbread, I love it when my aunty, who lives in Scotland, brings some down on her visits.

You were busy in your garden yesterday Frank. Isn't it annoying when the hose pipe gets holes in it, the way Mel said to repair it will save you having to buy a new one and a lot cheaper too. If it doesn't work then you can always do what Mandy said and use it as an irrigation pipe. Just noticed todays post off you, pity you have to buy a new hose, but you could still use the old one the way Mandy suggested, which would make the watering a little shorter in time for you both. It's a shame I don't live closer to your Frank I love lamb LOL. I'm sure none will go to waste though. Pity Lewis can't make it. Sorry to hear you had a bad night and Mel too.

Oh poor Phil, that was nice of you Mel to put some food down in a sheltered place for him. Hope it's nothing to serious with his foot and he is soon better. It sounds like you had enough rain to water your garden, we could do with a good downpour here. It quite cloudy so you never know. When I went into the shed today I noticed a wasp, luckily I managed to get it out before he built a nest. I think he flew in when OH opened the shed door this morning as we have a Camellia right outside the shed which the wasps love. I'm no so keen on them after being stung a few times, so was glad I could get it out. Hope it's dry enough for you to do your chickens today, at least you managed to get a few jobs done indoors yesterday, pity about the bird poo though.

It sounds like you had a lovely day yesterday Ann, did you take any pics, I'd love to see them if you did? How are your knees today, hope they are feeling less sore. I agree with you, it's nice to be able to see the things you are buying rather than in a picture online, as it's not quite the same. We're not going to plant anything in the ground as since we took the garage down the garden floods and we don't want the plant roots to rot. It does take time to water them all, but at least we know they are getting the right amount and after having so many pot plants for so long I've got used to the routine now :-) It is nice to just potter in the garden this year after all our hard work last year. We do need to tidy up the front garden though, which we're hoping to do sometime this week. OH and I are feeling much better now, so it'll be more of a pleasure than a chore. Luckily there isn't that much to do.
I meant to say the other day that Sandra found the card you sent her so funny, she said it was like Rosie and she loved the pink tutu the squirrel was wearing. She kept all her cards as she does every year and loved them all.

No Anne the DVD was slightly different, but we still enjoyed it. It was nice that James Bowen got a part in the film of his own life and a very clever ending I thought, with the line "It felt like I'd lived every moment" He was in a line of people who had read the book and was taking them to the actor who played him, in a book signing, the way Bob looked at him was to say "Don't I know you" A great ending to a great film. There are some extra scenes which Sandra will watch at a later date as we didn't have time to watch it the other day. There was a programme coming on the TV she wanted to watch.

Did Sarah have a nice 50th yesterday Anne? We're both the same age, well until this November when I'm 51 :-)
It sounds like you've been busy in your garden like me. Cutting back trees, that brings back memories of last year, hope it wasn't as hard as it was for us. It's nice to see the garden all tidy though, isn't it?

I didn't realise how long my post was ;-) ;-) ;-)

Just taxed my car online again. Gone up £5.

We were lucky this year Mel with our car tax. With changing the car we had to tax it in March, so avoided the tax rise for a year. It is a lot of money though isn't it, especially if you have more than one car to tax?

Sandra has gone to watch the last one of "Line of Duty", she's been following it and wants to know who the masked man is. I haven't been watching it so I hope it's a good one for her and not a silly ending.

They may do another series of it and she will have to wait.

I think Poldark is on in June this year.

Afternoon All

Wow Frank.Sounds a real feast at yours tonight :-D..Deboned Chicken for us tonight.

Gill,I agree with yoo about Pasties.Only the proper Cornish ones are the best.You can't beat them.I was so disapppinted with the couple I bought.The Pork Pie too which I tried a bit of today was pretty tasteless.

It is nice now that Ruby is enjoying her walks.It makes it much more enjoyable for you too Anne.

Mandy what a memory you have !!.Yes I did get the chain flyscreen caught around my neck.I think I was trying to get through it with 2 plates of food at the time.

So all stocked up with new beads Ann :-D.It is nice you got some different kinds at the sale. There is a Pub called the Dun Cow in Dunchurch.When Hannah worked at Onley Prison I think she went to that pub after work with collegues sometimes.

How lovely to see and get close up to Alpacas and the birds.Fancy the Rhea laying its eggs right near the fence!!I bet it was worth walking that little bit further Ann :-)

How is Phil and his bad toe today Mel? Poor thing sounds in a bit of a bad way with it.

Gill,my nails will take months to clear .It is a matter of waiting for them to grow out.I just hope that the GP is right in saying that these tablets I am taking for my fungsl toenails will sort out all this blooming Psoriasis issue.A magic wand would be wonderful :-D

It looks like it is about to tip it down so I need to get my washing in.

This afternoon it stopped raining and the sun came out so I cleaned out the big girls and helped oh move Graham's dumper to the back of oh's workshop by towing it as he steered it. Then I did the bantams bedroom bit and cut some of the brimbles down.

Evening All,

Oh Frank........I missed a lovely dinner at your place then!! :-S I love lamb as well. :-) I expect the aches are from planting things in the garden yesterday. I wish I could have a nice warm soak in the bath sometimes but would struggle to get out too! Sorry you had another bad night. I seem to be sleeping better lately and slept from about 1.00am till 7.00am. It seems to have helped me switching the radiator right down and keeping the window open.

I'm glad Sandra liked the card Gill. I thought of her as soon as I saw it, what with it being a squirrel and of course the PINK!!!!

We went to Hedgehog Hall today, another place with a garden open day, out near Melton Mowbray way. We nearly didn't get there as we had a few narrow squeaks on the tiny country lanes with folk driving far too fast round narrow bends coming towards us. Then it happened, we were driving gently downhill towards a right hand bend with high hedges both sides and one of those huge, dark green John Deere tractors pulling a huge trailer came fast round the bend towards us taking all the road up. OH slammed his brakes on and lucky for us there was the start of a small track going off to our left and OH was able to swerve and we slid through the gap skidding across the loose gravel and just avoided a head on collision. Needless to say, the tractor just carried on regardless. :-S

The house had a steep drive up to it but I managed ok by going slowly and it spitted with rain for a bit while we were there. The garden had a very high bank to the left side with a hedge and field beyond that at the top. They had been very clever and made 3 pathways the length of it, each higher than the next, like terraces. It was all planted up with perennials so you couldn't see the paths from the driveway and it just looked like a wall of colour. At the back they had a small, cosy, cobbled courtyard all walled in with large pots with Acers in them and roses up the wall. I'd have liked to get a few photos but my battery fizzled out after taking a snap of the house nameplate and it was too far to go back to the car up the hill to get my spare. We carried on to a garden centre near there afterwards and then rode through some of the villages we didn't know that were off the main route on the way back.

Sounds llike you had a nice day after all. The tractor incident sounded really hair raising. We get that around here too. Some of the young farmers tear around our roads and other are quite polite.

Morning All,

A nice sunny one here. :-) I spoke too soon about sleeping well, not so good last night. I heard a bee buzzing this morning and had to get up and check it wasn't inside!! :-0 It looks like I shall have to shut the window early in the morning till I get someone in to sort them out. They aren't mortar bees, definitely some sort of bumble bee.

Yes you are right Mel, we've had some that will pull over into gateways when they can to let you by. It is the young element that seem to do all sorts of daft things on the road and they can while there are so few police patrolling.

OH has gone to do 2 jobs he hates, one is having a blood test, then he's going to the tyre place as despite having new tyres last month, they are still going down fast enough for the beeping and warning light to come on!! I just hope it isn't the wheel rims he's damaged........more expense if he has!!

I've just sorted out some old newspapers to go in the bin as it's bin day, but no sign of the window cleaner yet. The man over the road who has sold his bungalow and is moving out this month seems to be a bit OTT with cleaning up before he goes. :-S He was cleaning all the windows the other day and yesterday when we got home he was sweeping a large section of the road!! There is still some mess from the builders vehicles, but the mud has washed away with the rain. This morning he is sweeping and hoovering his drive, which is a big job as their drive holds 6 cars!! The place has never had such an intense spruce up! I can see the point of doing it all to help sell a place, but he's doing it after it's sold. I'd be saving my energy for doing the jobs that will need doing at the new place I was moving to!

Better go and see what else needs to go in the bins now!

Morning all

Lovely and sunny here today but to hot for me. I have made a start on the front garden with OH and Sandra, cutting down a large prickly bush, but I got to hot so had to leave them to it until I cool down a bit. That's the problem with the front garden, it's south facing and gets really hot. Hopefully we'll get some clouds later then I can go back out and help them bag up the rubbish. In the meantime I'm doing some washing and other jobs that need doing around the bungalow.

It sounds like you had a lucky escape yesterday Ann with the tractor incident. Pity your battery ran out on your camera, the place you went to sounds so beautiful and what a clever way of hiding the paths, having paths will make it easier to walk around I should imagine. Sorry to hear you had a bad nights sleep, I find if it's to warm I don't sleep very well, so have a fan next to me incase I need it. Let's hope you have a better nights sleep tonight. Hope it's not the wheel rims that are at fault as like you said that could be expensive. I'll keep my fingers crossed it's nothing to serious.

Well, I'd better get back to the washing, it won't do itself.

Morning all.

Nice bright day here with blue sky and big white cloud hanging on the breeze to dry. Dear old Max Bygraves.

Oh woke me at 20 past 10 by knocking on the bedroom window. I wanted to get up early today as its shopping day so I can get back earlier to do something in the garden.

He is working on Graham's dumper today by the looks of things.

Sorry you had a bad night Ann. We have lots of bees around in the garden at the moment. BIG and small and masonary ones too in the south facing wall.

I keep meaning to say, I don't think I have said it anyway, that I too had a wasps nest in my shed. I kept getting these BIG wasps in there and had killed about six when I heard on buz and loooked up fly swat in hand to see it on the ceiling adding to a net the size of half a ping pong ball. I swatted it and squashed the nest in doing so. When I had trodden on the wasp outside I looked at the nest and it was beautiful with three little cells in it being formed for the young I expect.

We get lots of wasp nest around the garden too so in the spring when I see a big one I try to kill it and oh says, "thats another nest we won't have to kill".

Morning Ann and ALL Evening Kim,

Beautiful sunny day here. Clear blue sky and no breeze. I am in my shorts as I intend to put a few rows of seeds in "MY PLOT" I must leave room for all my runners . Nobody told me when you plant yours lol lol.

The meal was a real stunner yesterday. The only trouble was they were suppose to be here by 4.00 pm but didn't arrive until 5.15 pm. You can imagine trying to DELAY a complete meal for over an hour. The Roast were a little brown, the meat had already been cut and was wrapped in tin foil ready to warm when I needed it. All the veg was in the two tier steamer, so was able to keep that under control. There was me thinking we would be eating the "LEFT OVERS" today. BUT. Lewis wanted a dinner plated up so he could have it last night or today. I was lucky to get enough meat for him as Harvey was tucking in like "FRIAR TUCK" !!!

Ros had made meringue baskets with Raspberries and coli with fresh cream and a lemon meringue tart. They both went down a treat, and what was over was sent back to Lewis. He will love it. !!!

How hair raising was that Ann. These tractors come through our village like "Bats out of Hell" with no consideration for anyone. Plus if they have just come of the field, there is MUD flying off the wheels. They never ever come back and clear it up. So when it rains it gets spread all over your car.

I belive B & Q have the retractable hose with 40 metres of hose for a reduced price of £90.00. As it's OAP day tomorrow 10% off. We might go down and have a look.

The big clear up is going on at the moment in the lounge/dinning room. Ros is having to get all the things back in the sideboard and glass cabinet. Being a small bungalow it's always a job when you have company.

Harvey is having his workmate to make us a new door for the conservatory. He took all the measurements last night, then when it's ready he will come and fit it.

Have a good day folks, I might get back later.

So the meal was a success in the end then Frank and nothing left over thanks to Lewis wanting a plate made up. You did well to keep it edible with over an hour to kill. It did sound like a lovely meal. How are you getting on with your planting. I can't help with when runners go in as I've never done them myself. Maybe you could Google it.

Well, all the washing is on the line and wouldn't you know it the sun has gone behind a loads of clouds. It's still warm enough to dry the washing though so that's good and it doesn't look like rain. I'm so pleased with myself and the way I designed the garden last year. I wanted to be able to use the whole line so now the garage is gone and the greenhouse has been moved back 10 foot I can now use the whole line and not have to worry about the washing being blown onto the garage and greenhouse anymore, plus I don't have to go out and peg more washing out once the first lot is dry as I can now get it all out in one go.
I know I need to get out more LOL :-D :-D :-D :-D

I've been bobbing in and out helping OH and Sandra with the front garden each time the sun goes behind some clouds. I really can't take the heat of the sun directly on me for any length of time so have to wait until it's cooler. At least I'm helping and OH said just do what you can and go in if you have to. He knows that if I get to hot I faint, so I'm glad he's so understanding. I do feel guilty though with not doing as much as the other two.

The sun has come back out now so hopefully the washing won't take to long to dry.

Mum's just turned up so I'd better go and put the kettle on. See you all later <3