General Chat

Morning all,

Nice morning here with sunshine and blue sky and clouds Some are a bit grey but are passing quickly.

Oh broke both his mowers yesterday. One's battery ran out right outside the walled garden dpwn by where he has a bonfire. The others brush mechanism broke and he must have swept up the bits that hold the brushes in place so he had to come and put a battery on charge and order new bits for the other one as it won't pick up the grass cuttings withour the brushes. Another £50 for four bits of plastic.

Morning all

Sunny here today but lots of clouds around so we may have more rain soon. I can hear the neighbour over the back knocking and banging again on his shed/summer house, (not sure what he's making but it's big) I think someone told me he's a builder and it's quiet during the week so he must be back at work as the knocking only seems to happen on the weekends. When he stops knocking I can hear a Blackbird singing, it's lovely to hear.

It's the longest day of the year today, so from tomorrow the nights will start drawing in again. I think this year has gone very quickly, we're half way through it already.

Your were busy with your zoom session yesterday Ann, pleased you've found a free website to help make your video's smaller to email. I hope you do well with your painting in the competition when will you hear about the results? How irresponsible of the woman walking the wrong way at the shop then saying she didn't believe in the virus anyway and didn't care. She'd soon care if she caught it and passed it onto other people. It's such a worry isn't it? That's why I won't go out at the moment as there are so many people not taking it seriously and the virus is still out there. I think Vera has the right idea going out for a drive rather than going where lots of people will be walking by.

It sounds like you had a lovely run out Vera and would of been safe in your car. The run will have charge the battery on the car and stopped the breaks seizing up as well.

I've never had a pond big enough to have fish so when the Heron flies by I can enjoy watching him without any worries. I think he flies around our garden because he can hear our little waterfall feature. I have noticed the birds having a drink from it when it's switched off. It's quite funny watching them as they tilt their heads back to drink, so it looks like they are scooping the water up into their mouths with their beaks. Funny the things you notice.

I hope your OH can sort the mowers out soon Mel, I know how he likes to keep the lawns looking nice and tidy and with as much as you've got he couldn't leave it to long could he?
Did he do anything about the clump of clover you had?

No Gill its still there and the pigeons like it so he may leave it.

Had another video of the children dancing this morning from my SIL.

Must get ready to go to Em's with the eggs and up the shop for a few bits and bobs.

I have chickens mash on the cooker and it stinks. Its only carrot and potato peelings and a few strawberry stalks.

Good afternoon all, quite bright with some sun but half an hour ago we had a terrific downpour, I guesss that was the small patch of rain that we saw on the weather last night which was due to either hit or miss us. Typically it hit us so everything is soaking wet again. OH is mending the side of the shed that is rotten. (making a new panel for it. The rest is fine so it must be where water runs down. off the roof.

Ooh Mel I can smell that chicken feed fro here, I remember it from when I was a child, made the whole bungalow smell!

Frank well there you go, have you decided what to buy Lewis, typically when you ask a group of people you get all different answers. Best thing if you want to buy cuff links is ask somebody who knows if he wears them.

Gill hope the rain is not making its way to you, although it only lasted 20 minutes or so it was really heavy.

No the rain never arrived AnnG, we have glorious sunshine at the moment and lovely blue skies with hardly any clouds now, it's very quiet here so the neighbour must of finished knocking and banging for today. You wait now I've said that he'll start with the noise again soon LOL :-D :-D :-D

We have lots of clover in our grass Mel and the bees love it, there's far to much for us to do anything about it, if we tried to get rid of it we'd have hardly any lawn left just bald patches ;-)

I'm pleased we finally have some decent weather, I don't mind a bit of rain, the plants love it and it saves us having to water them, but I think we've had enough for the time being. It's nice to see the sun out and some blue sky for a change.

Pleased to see the rain didn't stay with you long AnnG, hope your OH can fix the shed before the rain comes back. Hopefully it won't though then he can get on with the job. Have you thought of putting some guttering along the shed roof and collect the rain water in a water butt, it would save the shed going rotten again and also save on your water bill as you can water your plants with the rain water.

Someone is cutting their lawn, I think it might still be to wet, I hope it's safe for them. It sounds like an electric mower. So much for the peace and quiet LOL.

Gill, he did get it finished and then it did rain again. No room there for a water butt the side of the fence that was rotten (after 28 years of being there!!) is about 6 inches from a neighbour's 7 foot fence. We do already have a water butt anyway.

Gill to morrow is the longest day and the 24th is Midsummers Day and Di's birthday.

Afternoon All,

It's been a mix of dull and sunny spells here with some nasty black clouds. We could eat outside as it was sunny then and we saw 5 old planes go over and another a few minutes later but it can't be an air show going on so perhaps it's a fly past somewhere.

That was a very strange dream you had Mel. I wonder why guinea pigs popped into it! I used to like the smell of the chicken mash that mum did with all the peelings and mash. I used to get the job of mixing it. The chickens really loved it and it would be gobbled down in no time. I remember you saying Bertha had dropsy and wondered the other day how she was. Sadly she's gone but my fish (tropical) never seemed to recover from it.

I have been paying bills and watering some plant feed on things this morning and OH has been writing things up. I still need to add one or two things to the food order. I'm glad we have ordered Sunday Lunch again as there is the wool felting on FB then the delivery to wipe down. Mandy, the Frankie and Sidney lady has made a little mobile with 3 of the ballerina mice and put a video on her FB page. It is really nice!

It sounds like you had a nice run out in the car Vera and it would have charged it up well too. We have been a few bit longer runs but it does seem strange not to call in places. I was wondering how the colour mix with your penstemon cuttings you planted has turned out if they are flowering yet?

AnnG your shed sounds like ours, but it is the roof and concrete base on ours that have gone and it lists to one side! We have guttering on it that fills 3 water butts but all the roof felt has blown off! We've done nothing with it as we can't decide whether to replace it or put a garden room there or even not have one if what's in there could be put in the garage (once that's cleared out!). One job leads to another!

Your waterfall and pond has been a real attraction for the birds Gill and it must be nice to watch them. Is there a garden where Sandra is as she used to love the wildlife and look up the birds in the book you got her. I do miss hearing about her and hope she is ok.

Yes I think we all miss hearing about Sandra and hope she is enjoying her life with Michelle.
Annx our shed had the felt go a couple of years ago and OH redid it, we could really do with a new shed but now he has repaired the side I expect we will stick with this one at least for a while. Our problem is the greenhouse is a cedarwood lean to onto the shed so we would probably have to replace both.

I do miss just deciding to pop out to the garden centres these days. At the moment every outing becomes a major one, timing it for when it is not busy, taking masks in case they are needed, had gel in case they have none etc that there is no pleasure in it at all.

we have just had scones with cream and strawberry jam, part of OH's fathers' day present which was delivered yesterday from the same firm that my Mothers' day present came from, there is also a fruit cake and a large flapjack with yoghurt topping.in the pack. :-) :-)

I'm coming to yours for FatherDay Anng if there's flapjack to be had. I hav'nt had flapjack for ages and ages. May put it on the list for next week now you have reminded me about it.

Its been a beautiful ( the 9 letter word in word wheel today) day here and guess where I have spent it? yes up te border and the ground is lovely to dig now we've had a lot of rain and my trusty two tined fork and I have got loads of twitch out and now I can see bare earth instead fof a lot of twitch and self heal. Thats flowering and is quite pretty with its dark blue flowers but its coming out.

The deer have onc again eaten the big daisy flowers off so I have put all sorts of things aound them to keep them away. Also they are eating the day lily flowers while they are still in bud. I just have stalks sticking up.

We had two foxes in the garden yesterday and I forgot to tell you both young ones I think.

I had a delivery for oh while I was up there. He bought himself some leather gardening glove extra large and they were still a bit tight getting them over his hands and they had elastic across the back and I had my scissors up there with my trusty ball of string so I cut the elastic out and they are much better now. Then a bit later I had a mobile cuppa brought up to me via the mower and oh which was nice so I sat on my little kneeler thing and drank that but did'nt do much more as I had'nt corned the chickens and wanted a sit down before I start dinner. So here I am typing to you lot.

Evening all,

It's been a lovely sunny day so we've been quite lazy and haven't done much ,it was really nice sitting out and i have nearly finished the little crochet bag .
Colin did make me laugh this morning ,he sat on the edge of the bed and said "it's a job to get going this morning i think my starter has gone " :-D :-D

I hope your OH doesn't have to wait long for the bits for the mower Mel with all the rain the grass will soon grow and he keeps it looking so nice .
Sounds as if you'e had a good day on the border getting all the twitch out ,the naughty deer though eating all your lovely flowers .
That nice of OH to bring you a cuppa .

AnnG your OH was lucky to get the shed finished with the heavy showers about today .

Ann i had a look at the ballerina mice she made they are lovely ,i see it's a snail she doing tomorrow .
There was an old plane went over here this morning and a police helicopter ,we had the Air Ambulance helicopter land the other day ,it came down the other side of the church in a bowling green ,some poor chap was poorly and at the same time there was a fire in a flat so there were sirens going as the helicopter came down.

I bet it was nice having a ride out Vera ,i hope you enjoyed it

<3 <3 love to Jane hope your not feeling to bad <3 <3

Has anyone noticed there have been no church bells ringing? Its one thing that occured to me in the first couple of weeks of lockdown.

Think I hsall have to have a look at these mice but not on FB.

I see you are on the word wheels too Mel. :-) It sounds like you have had a good day on the border and how nice to have your cuppa delivered by OH. I was looking at our soil by the steps and thought I must get cracking on them after tomorrow as the soil is easier to work now it's had a soak as you say. What a shame the mower bits weht missing, but hopefully the new bits should arrive soon. Those deer know where to find your tasty flowers don't they. :-S

I look forward to seeing your crochet bag when it's done Mandy. I forgot it was a snail the lady is doing tomorrow so I may not be so interested in that! She showed it to us last week and I liked how she had wrapped different colours round for the shell. I had a chuckle at what Colin said this morning and know exactly how he feels! :-)

I think Vera's squirter Heron might be good for keeping cats off the veggie bits of the garden.

I've started watching the adventures of a man on a bike and his cat since a friend told me about it. It's an amazing cat he found as a stray kitten. If you want to look put 'the adventures of Dean and Nala' in the search box on youtube.

What a dear little kitten Ann. He such a softy with her too.

Morning all on the longest day,

Brightish here this morning but it rained last night before I went to bed and the wind came up too.

How did you all sleep last night. I hope you got some at least. Anything nice on the cards for today?

If it stays dry I shall have another go on the border as I was pleased with it being much easier to dig.

Morning all,

Drizzling here but it seems to be getting brighter so hopefully it will get out .

Son has just called and dropped off a jigsaw puzzle, chocolates and a nice mug for Colin for fathers day ,it's to wet for them to come into the garden this week but he got a lovely wave from them all sitting in the car .

Yes your right Mel no church bells have been rung here either since the lock down .

Morning Mel you popped in while I was typing .

The churches have been closed which is propbably why no bells.

Mel that was good service, I bet not many people have had coffee delivered by mower. It is usually OH in the garden and me delivering the coffee. Although if we are both indoors he makes it.

Bright here but very wet everywhere as it rained again overnight. I am hoping the weather forecast is right so I am looking forward to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. OH is playing golf tomorrow instead of Friday this week. Can't keep up with his diary these days!

Mandy shame it was too wet for them to go into the garden, still at least you and OH saw them.

Annx yes it was lucky he managed to get the shed finished. He didn't manage to get it all tidy so has left that for now. This morning he is trying to tie down the blackberry branches which have a mind of their own.

OH no Mel you can't have the flapjack. Luckily OH is not keen so I might get the biggest bit. :-D :-D :-D

Good afternoon to you all, SORRY I wasn't around yesterday. I felt like nothing on earth, with a horrible headache, and pains in my right leg. So all I did yesterday was sit and sit a bit more. lol lol

My dear Ros had a letter from the hospital yesterday, confirming her appointment for an angigram (heart X-rays) at 10,00 am Monday morning. Carolyn has kindly offered to take her. She has to take an overnight bag, in case she bleeds to much. What are they going to do to make her bleed. ?? All being well Cvarolynwillcollect her later in the day.

Simon and Sally called over yesterday afternoon, with my Father's day card. NO PRESENT, as he is going to take us out for a nice Sunday Lunch when this shutdown in over. I had already received my Case of BEER from Harvey, and three T shirts from Conrad. SO WHOSE A LUCKY BOY THEN ??

I have a nice leg of Lamb for dinner tonight, New potatoes from "RINGO" a neighbour across the road, fresh peas which I podded this morning (that bought back some childhood memories) Sitting under the rose arch with the peas, shelling them for Sunday lunch. Baby carrots, Cauli, runners and Brussel Sprouts. I don't expect we will eat much before 6.00 pm.

Ros spoke to Conrad this morning in. He booked a flight back to Spain,and left home at 1.00 am in a taxi to Heathrow. His flight was around 4.30 am. It cost him £200.00 for the taxi fare. When he went to book in he was told that ONLY Spanish Nationals were allowed through their borders. SO HE COULDN'T FLY. He then got trains from Heathrow to London then to Exeter, and the local train to Paignton. arriving home around Mid-day. Ros asked if we could come down on Tuesday for a few days until he goes back next Saturday. NO. he said no-one will be allowed to stay, until the PATIO is done. The last thing he wants is another accident like I had.

Where do you think Ros is ??? YES in the garden. Barry rang this morning to say he will be here Friday, to do the lawns and trim the bushes. That will be just right, as I have "GREEN THUMB" doing the treatment on Tuesday. You then have to wait three days before you can cut the lawns.

Have spoken to my SIL this morning. Everything is fine with her and the family, and as far as she knows my Sister is still the same.

Thinking back to all that wonderful sunshine. Ros missed most of it, as she was making all those SCRUB BAGS for the hospital. Her final total was 405 scrub bags, 75 face masks. I am so proud of her, and the things she does for the community.

Time I got showered and dressed, and got the rest of the dinner ready, and made the Yorkshire and Cheese sauce.

Take care all, xxxx

Morning Mel, Mandy and all (well, it was morning when I started)

Grey and windy here with some drizzly showers. OH went out for his walk early this morning and came back soaked.

I felt OK last night so decided not to go in the spare room but to sleep with OH in our bedroom. It started well but he woke me at about 1 am with some really loud snorting and after that every time I started to drift into sleep there would be another loud noise. At 2.30 he managed to wake himself with the noise he was making and heard me mutter "Oh, for goodness sake..." so he took himself into another room. But I couldn't settle after that and ended up reading for a couple of hours. So I now have a real sick headache that I am sure is only caused by lack of sleep. I think OH might have mild sleep apnoeia (? sp?). His sister has it much worse so she has to wear some sort of mask thing when she goes to sleep. Anyway I hope you have all had a good night.

Mel, I remember the smell of that mash of peelings etc. What I can't work out is why my Mum would have been cooking it up as we never had chickens. We always had a cat but our cats were fed on oddments of fish. I used to be sent to the fishmonger to get "six pennorth of pussy pieces". Can you imagine the sniggers if you asked for that today? They used to be boiled up in an old saucepan and stunk the place out as well. And then there was the smelly fish glue my Dad used whenever he was making something. It came in a slab like toffee and had to be melted on the stove and it really ponged. Our house must have stunk to high heaven at times but I expect everyone else's place was the same.

I started this ages ago and then had a phone call and we talked for an hour and a half. It was my oldest friend. I've known her since I was 4 but I was 9 before we became really close friends. We don't get to meet up much these days but every so often one of us will ring the other and we always have plenty to talk about.

Ann, you asked about my penstemons. The cuttings I took and planted in troughs are a good size and look healthy but aren't flowering yet so I still don't know what colours I've got. The ones in the garden and in a couple of troughs down the side of the house are just coming into bloom but I already knew what they were.

We had a lovely day yesterday. We had a light, early lunch here and then drove to my daughter's, about 45 minutes away. We sat in the garden with daughter, granddaughter, grandson and fiancée, and a friend of my daughter, which meant 7 of us rather than 6 but we could all keep a distance. Later on she barbecued enough stuff to feed about 30 - chicken drumsticks, home made burgers, sausages and marinated pork steaks with a few veggie burgers and sausages. She did corn on the cob and vegetable skewers, salads, rolls etc. and had a big platter of fresh fruits and birthday cake to follow. Granddaughter is a vegetarian and I am not a big meat eater so only had a burger. Granddaughter said how much she had enjoyed doing something "normal" for her birthday, though as we went to leave she got up with her arms outstretched and then said "Oh, it's not normal, I can't hug you". Her degree from uni depends on several pieces of work and she is waiting on one final mark before she will know whether her degree will be a First or a 2:1. Her film she had to make, her performance and stage work, and her dissertation have all been graded as a First so it's all hingeing on the last mark which she thinks might not be so good. But a 2:1 is a good degree anyway. We are very proud of her.

Well, I must end this as I am expecting a Tesco delivery at any moment so I will be on the wiping down and then later it's the family quiz on Zoom. This may be the last one as a couple of families have already had to drop out as things have eased and they have gone back to work and school. Btw Ann, Zoom have today sent me that email that you had forwarded on to me - the Host Like A Pro one. It's a bit late now as I did my hosting 2 Sundays ago!