General Chat

Phew it's been a hot one today ,poor Max has just been laying about all day ,his coat is so thick even with the good brushing i give him and i get loads out .

Well Mel what i want to know is did you own up about the shirt ??? :-D or will you just keep mum ,what he doesn't know carn't hurt him :-D
You ought to have a spare though ,suppose the moths got to the other one :-0 :-D
Does anyone use Moth Balls any more ? don't they pong !!!!

Hope mum gets the all clear with her test Gill ,i'm sure the sweet and sour will go down a treat .

Oh poor Ros having to keep those thick stocking on in this heat ,i bet she wasn't best pleased to hear that .
So you have a young mans BP then Frank all you need now is the rest of the young mans body and you'll be well away :-0 :-0 :-D

You were lucky to get the kettle changed with out your reciept Jane ,we have loads of trouble with kettles i have really found a good one yet ,but saying that
we're using a bargain one at the moment ,DIL found them in Wilko's reduced to £5 she bought one and liked it so i said would she get me one if there's any left and she went in and got two more one for me and another she's keeping as a spare at that price if they last a year it will be good .

We're thinking about getting the swimming pool up at the week end ,it never saw the light of day last year with Max about ,hopefully he will leave it alone this year ,the little ones keep asking if we're getting it out ,so i think we'll get it put up and surprise them ,Jake and Chelsea can now swim ,they have been with the school so it will be nice to see them swimming .

I used to love a pernod Jane. I liked the way it turned milky when you added water and ice! Aldi have come high in comparisons on their wine for value with others. It's a pity you can't give Thomas a trim, but he wouldn't appreciate having it done, even if you could keep him still.

Your mum would be very tired if it's a colonoscopy she had Gill. OH has had two in the past and the second time he went straight to bed and slept for a couple of hours. Hopefully she was told everything is fine.

Frank I might have to get one of those fly screens. We never used to get any flies inside here when it was a meadow over the fence at the back, although there were a few strange insects that would go in the conservatory. Since the cattle have been in the field it's a different story and we seem to get far more flies and big bluebottles in the bungalow.

I'm getting a bit worried about our widowed neighbour in her mid 80s that lives a few doors away. She has no children, in fact not many relatives as far as I know, and lives alone. I saw her walking down the close earlier and she looked unsteady and was using a stick which I've never seen her do before. Hopefully, she's just pulled a muscle. When we moved here she was about my age and used to take the then next door neighbour's dog for 8 mile walks!

Very hot here too, I took Ruby for a walk at 8.15 just after Richard had left for work. it seems a lot of people had the same idea. She is lying flat out on the carpet at the moment and hasn't wanted to play all day. The cats are no where to be seen I have had the conservatory double door open wide all day but even so it has been like an oven in there we also have ceiling blinds which should work but still too hot for them in there.

Gill I hope your Mum was given the all clear from the bowel cancer tests today.

Thank you Ann for the photo of your lovely glass work, are you going to make anymore?.

Nightmare noise in the close then Ann this morning with all the beeping.It is such an annoying sound. We are getting it a lot again now from all the works going on across the other side of the A14.It all depends on the air pressure as to how loud it sounds ,but sometimes it is just like it is in the back garden :-S. I am often shouting out "SHUT UP"
Are you on speaking terms with your elderly neighbour?Could you ask her if all is ok ?
It is always a worry when you see someone struggling and knowing they are on their own.

Mandy ,does Max like a fan? I used to put a small one on the floor for Chester when it was really hot and he would lie in front of it. It must be so uncomfortable for animals with thick coats at the moment . I just hope that people have the sense and not leave dogs in cars . Fitz's old neighbours did that with their dog Juno and the poor thing died.
They were animal loving people and just has a lapse of common sense.They will never have another dog as they were so ashamed and distraught about what they had done.It was very sad :-(

Ann I enjoy a Pernod too.But just the odd one now and then. It can have an effect on my tummy (the liquorice affect if you get my gist)

Chris has gone for a shower after a very sweaty day in the garden.Neither of us are that hungry yet so I think it will probably be about 9 when we eat.
I have taken the duvet off our bed and just put a sheet on top(like you Ann).Big fan all ready blowing . I might even put some ice cubes in a bowl under the fan as I have heard that is a good way off cooling off a room.

Yes i think Max likes the fan ,he lies on the settee so he can feel the cool air .

I've heard that if you freeze a bottle of water and stand that in front of the fan it gives you nice cool air ,i should think it would last longer than the ice cubes ,you just have to remember to stand it on a dish or something to catch the condensation from the bottle.

Ann all that noise first thing in the morning ,i should think it's getting on your wick now.

I know it would get on my wick. Its such an annoying noise anyway and to have it going off in the early morning must drive you up the wall.

The noise we have at the moment is the silage machines. Some go on through the night too.

I must admit I don't really get hot at night. We can't have the window open as we get all the midges in. Once when I was first with oh he had the window open and I was fast asleep and he woke me and told me to go in the other room while he sprayed the bedroom. The ceiling was black with little flies. Needless to say I had to stay out as I could'nt stand the smell of the fly spray. He did'nt open the window again till a couple of weeks ago and that was alright surprisingly. It was only open about an inch anyway. What makes me cross is mum would'nt have a fanlight put in my bedroom window as she said it was too expensive. Having windows to the south and the west there is only one opening window out of the two and that the fire escape window for the end of the bungalow so that has a special clip thing you have to press and the window opens right out. Oh is so big now he would'nt be able to get out of it!!

O I meant to say oh bought me a little presnt today. He ordered a clock for the front of his shed and that arrived. He daid the little parcels for you. When I opened it it was a lovely wall plaque of a Green Man for the autumn.

When he opened his big parcel and got the clock out in its box the face was cracked right across it. He was so cross so now it has to be sent back.

Morning all

We've had a bit of rain this morning which cooled everywhere down but the sun is out now so no doubt it'll be another hot day again. My poor tomato plants in the greenhouse have a few burnt leaves at the top, hope I don't lose the flowers with all this sun or I'll end up with no tomatoes this year.

Mum had a good nights sleep, she wasn't allowed to go home from the hospital on her own yesterday as she needed someone to keep an eye on her for 12 hours because of the sedation, they only let her go as she was staying here, otherwise she would of had to stay in hospital over night. Yes, Jane I think that's what she had done. OH has just taken mum home as her friend is coming round today and she didn't know mum was staying with me. The sleep has done her good and she's okay today.

Thanks for all the photo's everyone, the glass was lovely Ann, and those birds were so cute Mel, Sandra loved them <3

What a shame about the clock Mel, it's so annoying when that happens isn't it and now he'll have to send it back. Did it not have fragile on the package? Mind you not many people handle things with care even with a sticker saying fragile on it. Hope it's sorted soon. Your wall plaque sounds nice.

I re-potted some more plants yesterday and still have more to do. When I planted the winter Primula's last year I added some trailing ivy in between them in the pots, it looks nice but unfortunately the ivy is starting to take over the pots so I'm taking the ivy out and planting it on it's own, in separate pots. There are 16 in total, I did 8 yesterday but it got to hot to do the rest, the pots are a bit wet from the rain we had this morning so when they dry out a bit I'll do the rest of them.

Going to get a cuppa now, then I think I'll take another look at my family tree as I haven't had a chance to look at it properly for the last few days.

Morning Gill and All,

Well what a night, I went put to see if hog had been and as I turned to come back in I saw strange lights inthe sky to the south and west. This was at 5 to 1am. I went in and took a look out the spare room window and it looked like you woud expect the blitz to look with bombs going off a way away. I went and woke oh and told him there were strange lights in the sky and I though the aliens had landed. He said its thunder and I said there is no noise with it. I watched it for over half and hour and then went to bed. It was still going on and then a while later I heard some thunder and then it started to rain and boy did it rain.

I had asked oh whether it was going to rain last night because my car windows were open a little as it gets so very hot in there. He had said no so I did'nt shut them. Then in the height of the storm last night I remembered they were open but went back to sleep. First thing I did this morning was go and close them but the car looked surprisingly dry to my astonishment (Sp).

Anyway my hands are still achey this morning and I did no gardening yesterday except take a few dead heads off my violas in the pots on the patio and decking.

It sounds like you had a bit of a strange night last night Mel, you were lucky your car seats weren't wet after all that rain. Maybe the heat of the car dried them out for you.

The sun is really shining here and it's forecast to rain on Monday. We like to spent Sundays just relaxing so I'm going to finish off potting the rest of the ivy while it's dry before I catch up with some programmes and try and sort out this family tree. It's driving me nuts at the moment, the lines I'm on are proving to be very difficult, the people just seem to have disappeared :-S :-S :-S It doesn't look like I'm ever going to find out what happened to them all.

Oh I meant to say Mel, thank you for sending the info on Edmund, I assume that was his birth from the workhouse, it was a bit hard to read? I can't believe what was written about him being the second Bast**d child of Caroline being born in this house, what a horrible thing to write, you wouldn't find that these days would you? Did you come across Caroline's first child Thomas in the same workhouse, as I believe he was born in one too?
I couldn't make out which workhouse it was, do you know?

Morning all, Evening Kim.

I didn't say "GOOD" as it isn't for me. I laid awake until 2.00 am got up and watched T.v. until 4.30. Woke this morning with "GUT ROT" I've beed with my WHITE FRIEND eight times this morning so feeling rotten.Have had a piece of dry toast so will see what happens.

A lot cooler here this morning. We had rain in the night, and the breeze is very strong this morning. So hopefully it will be a better day. We are a bunch, aren't we. Moan when it's cold and wet and Moan when it's too hot ;-) ;-)

Had words with Madam this morning. I went to the fridge and noticed some packets at the back of the shelves. They were these Creamy sweet things, unopened but the Sell by date was 9th APRIL. Needless to say they went in the bin. I don't mind what she buys, but I hate to see it wasted. I'M DONE NOW. !!!

JJ should arrive about 2.00 pm today. They will drop him off on the way to Kerry's. Lets hope tomorrow will be fine for the BBQ.

I will be getting the fan from the garage this morning. That will make the weather change :-| :-| :-| ;-) ;-) ;-)

That wind is really getting up now, so might need to close the conservatory door. It's blowing things over on the table.

No Aliens then Mel, How strange to see lights like that. Didn't have too much PORT did you. LOL LOL.

Keep cool today girls, and don't work to hard. !!!

No I did'nt have any port Frank in fact I hav'nt had any alcohol for three months now.

Very windy here today and grey sky but it has just started to brighten up a bit.

I have to go to the shop now and deliver the eggs then get lunch as I am starving having had nothing this morning but a mug of water and milk.

If you get your fan out Frank it'll rain LOL :-D :-D You're right us Brits do moan a lot about the weather. Mind you it has been very hot lately so I think we might be forgiven :-) So JJ's on his way, I bet you can't wait, he's good company for you. Sorry to hear you're not feeling so good today, have you tried Imodium, it's really good and works almost straight away, it might be worth having some in the bungalow. I buy the ones that melt in your mouth, that way you can take some out with you and don't need a drink to take them. Hope the weather is nice for the BBQ, I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's supposed to be cloudy here tomorrow but dry, the rain is forecast for Monday.

It's gone quite breezy here now and the clouds are building up so we might get a bit more rain before the days out, mind you the gardens do need it with all the dry weather we've had lately. I've just finished potting all the ivy and watered them, but a bit more water courtesy of mother nature won't do them any harm :-)

It sounds like we might be getting your weather with the wind Mel. Good idea to have something to eat if you haven't eaten today, maybe you could have one or two of your eggs, they sound much better than shop bought ones <3

Afternoon All

Frank was it something you had for dinner last night that has given you the trots? Hopefully whatever it was has worked its way through now.You must feel really rung out.
I am always finding things at the back of my fridge that are well out of date..I find though that the salad drawer can harbour all sorts of gone off and soggy things.. Now I blame Chris on that as when he buys all his salad stuff he never thinks to check whatever is there and plonks everything in on top :-S :-S.

He is going to be having a fairly restful day I think as he is not feeling quite himself.I think he got a bit too much heat and sun yesterday in the garden.I got him the Guardian earlier so he can just relax and read that.
Its blowing a lot here now and all the doors have been banging. The sun from earlier disappeared and it looked really stormy but I can now see blue sky again.

That thunder and lightening must have been a fair way off from you last night Mel when you saw all the 'weird lights'.What a relief though that the inside of your car was dry this morning after the nights rain

Gill I am glad Mum is feeling good this morning and Im sure she will enjoy the visit from her friend :-)

So JJ will be there with his little bag for his visit :-) He must know now that he is coming for a stay :-D Next Saturday night I will be baby sitting Benjy !! James and Jess are going to an evening Wedding do. I hope I will be able to settle him down for the night and not have to sit up until they get home in the early hours.He always sleeps with Jess(and James ) when here.Not sure that James is particulary keen on that.

It seems to be getting really muggy again now.I've suddenly got all sticky again. 3 fans are on downstairs !!. I am looking a 2 huge washing baskets full of dry laundry.It all needs sorting as i need one basket to put the next lot of wet washing in.I might just look at them for a bit longer :-D.I was up and wide awake at 4.30.So was Thomas :-S.It was just like the middle of the day with the brightness.I let him out and sat at the patio table for a little while to cool as it was nice and fresh.Then back to bed and read for a good hour or more before dropping off again.I think Chris woke me with a cuppa about 8.

It is sooo busy out on the roads. Silly me went to Tesco again and there was a queue going in to the car park !!! I only really wanted a new mattress protecter for James 's bed as the underneath of his had kind of melted or something in the dryer and had all crinkled up and stuck . So as I was there I got another 6 bottles of wine :-D :-D... That is your fault Mel LOLOL
Got plenty now :-D

Afternoon all,

We've had thunder and lightning this morning ,it started off nice and sunny then the sky darkened and down came the rain ,now it's bright and sunny again.

I have just been to feed little Molly my sisters dog as sister had to go out ,poor little Molly has a problem with her skin ,she has patches of fur the looks quite thin in places ,the vet has done a skin scrape to send away so at the moment she is on more antibiotics until they know whats what with her , sister wondered if she has touched some thing in the garden as she has thin patches on her nose too.

Mel was that an electrical storm in the distance last night ? when we were on holiday in Menorca we had a storm like that it seemed to last all night with the sky lighting up but no thunder with it .

Colin's brother has brought me some Tomato plants and Cucumber plants this morning so i need to get them potted up this afternoon.

Hope your tummy is better now Frank ,was it some thing you had to eat that caused it do you think ? you need to get better so you can enjoy the BBQ tomorrow.

Poor Chris Jane getting to much sun ,its easily done though when the weathers good you just want to be out and enjoy it , Colin had bad sun stroke several years ago ,we had been to the coast for the day and the sun really got to him ,by the time we got
home he was shivering and felt so bad it frightened me i can tell you.

Mandy have you decided to get the pool out? Let me know if you do and I will be there :-D
You say about Molly and losing hair. My sisters poor Oscar had huge bald patches and little pustules :-)..He had had lots of tests but no answer as to what mught be causing this. I think they are going to go to another vet for a second opinion.
Maybe little Molly just has an allergy to something .Hopefully her skin scrapes will show what might be the cause. Oscar also has a strange cough .But in himself Janice said he seems fine. It is all a mystery.

Blooming Thomas has been out since I let him out at 4.30.But has just wandered in ,did a wee in his tray and has gone off again !!!!!. Surely he could have done his wee somewhere outdoors. Now I will have to sort the tray out :-S

I just saw on Facebook a post from someone in the village ~i grew up in in Plymouth to say that last night there was a silent lightning storm. I bet it was the same one Mel saw. It is looking pretty dodgy here now.I wouldn't be at all surprised if we get a good downpour soon. Thing is the clouds are moving so quickly it could well pass over us.
Watch this space.

Mandy ,about once or twice a year Chris ends up feeling a bit 'not right' after hot days doing too much in the garden.I can hear him yawning in the study reading the paper now.I bet he goes for a bit of a nap :-)
Thomas is back in and has flopped by my feet.I bet he wishes he could take his 'coat' off :-D

Hi all, Yes Jane the clouds are building up, it's getting very overcast too. The wind is easing so it could well P down before long.

I had a Ribeye steak last night with peppered sauce, which I don't usually have, plus fried onions which never agree with me. So that could well be the problem.

I am usually a sun person but this week I have stayed away from it. I get tanned fairly quickly and get very little effect from the sun. Poor old Chris, feeling like that. A lie down and forty winks might be the answer. !!!

So Mum was allowed home to yours yesterday Gill. Pleased she had a good night and went home today. Hope she gets better soon xx. I have had some Imodium and touch wood I haven't been anywhere since. You know what I mean !!!

Mandy that must be terrible for the little dog, when you can't really do anything for them. Would a nice hand cream help to make her feel a little easier. Is she scratching at the bad bits ??

Ros has bought JJ another new squeaky toy, so he will be biting on that all evening. We expect them in the next hour. He will be chasing round the garden the moment he gets here. (my poor lawn) LOL LOL.

Jane the Salad draw is my pet hate also. She will buy salad stuff and just leave it in there. I often have to have the draw out and wash it from all the gunge that is left from rotting salad.

Our dear neighbours have a Weedy Tree against our fence and with this wind blowing it's branches are tapping against the conservatory windows. I keep looking up to see where the noise is coming from. :-( :-( :-(

Sounds like the fried onions then Frank :-S I always try and stay clear of them even though I do love them.Any onions in fact,Leeks too. If I know I am not going out anywhere the next day then I will eat them :-D Maybe just the combination of the peppered sauce and the onions was just too much for your digestive system.

Still blowing here,No rain. I can hear someone shooting nearby. Must be one of the neighbours with the very long gardens that go down the to back field. A dog is barking too so I think it might be next door.

I have all my fingers taped up so I can tap away on the keys :-D.They actaully feel and look a bit better today. Chris has had his little chill out time and is now going to do a bit of ironing for me :-D as just holding the iron can make my skin worse.Just want it all to clear up and have my fingers feeling normal again.

It is getting darker her by the minute. I bet Wicksteed Park will be emptying now. It was heaving there earlier when I drove passed.It is such a great place here (as you know Frank) for all families just to go and have a great day out even without spending a fortune on all the rides.
I think I might just go and pull a few windows shut a bit .

Pleased to hear the Imodium seems to have worked Frank. Not long now before JJ is with you :-) It's brightened up again here but a lot cooler than the last few days, with a nice breeze.

Poor Molly, I hope the second vet can find out what the problem is Mandy. At least she's on the antibiotics so if there's some sort of infection she'll start feeling better soon. Did you manage to get your tomato and cucumber plants potted up? I'm glad it's a bit cooler today as my tomato plants were starting to suffer with the strong sun, even with the greenhouse door open it was hot in there. I've been having to water them not stop lately so they don't dry out.

I used to think the same as you Jane about our cats and often thought they'd love to take their fur off when the weather was hot, especially with them being black cats. They must feel so uncomfortable sometimes.
I've never heard of a silent lightening storm before. That's nice of Chris to do the ironing for you, sorry to hear your fingers are no better, isn't there anything else the doctor can do for you, it's been going on for ages? You must be so fed up with them by now.