General Chat

Morning girls,

Dull dreary calm and wet. 16 degrees here too.

Not sure which day Stu is coming as it could be tonight I need to get some thing out of the freezer for dinner and have a good tidy up. I am hoping its gong to be tomorrow. There is more ironing to do too. I did a load the other day walked in the spare bedroom and found another lot. I too need to dust and hoover o I think its going to be a day of work. Iv'e also got some bills to pay.

Morning all ,

Dull old morning here with a steady rain at least the wind has dropped
I think it will be a day of doing inside jobs ,there's a bit of ironing and I need to have a dust and hoover in the bedrooms.

good morning all 16 degrees and dull but dry some should feel a bit warmer but it doesn't and there is again a very strong wind.

U3a main meeting this afternoon. Talk is on the huge incinerator that deals witha lot of our waste. If you ever travel down the M5 (or up) it can be seen near junction 12.

Re my leg pain Ann. I thought I had answered this question before but memory being what it is I probably didn't.

I do need to see a doctor but I also know that when I try and make an appointment to ask about aching/painful legs I won't be given a doctors appointment before I have seen the resident physio. Which is all very well but, as each appointment with whoever, takes about 3 weeks before available it is going to drag on and I decided to get blood tests out of the way first until after my week away when I can work out when and how to get there for more than one appointment. And now, of course I have to get there on 18th October for the covid/flu jabs.
Waiting for blood test result and anticipating that I will have to go for a second one as I will be borderline yet again.

Evening All,

I'm late for me but had a good sleep and a lie in, so not so tired tonight. Also OH has been to a meeting and then gone with his friend to a match so he would only wake me up again.

Mandy I didn't see your email till after I posted yesterday, but the banket is lovely with the texture the raised hearts give it. The edging is so neat as well and the tassels were such a good idea. It will be good to see the second one in the different colours.

Happy Birthday to your great grandson AnnG ! That is a lot of Christmas Cards you make so it's good to start early. Have you seen your doc about your painful legs? I know I need to go back about my ankles that get puffy, but it's less now it's cooler. I hope you found a nice kettle and I think your old one has lasted really well. I was wondering whether to get a 2nd cheap kettle for my hot water bottle in winter.! Don't laugh! I thought to save water I could just empty it into the kettle each day and boil it up again. Mind you OH is liable to make himself a coffee with the water!

Vera, sometimes less is more with these talks isn't it, as the brain can wander when it gets overloaded with some talks. I had no idea the Fens were so big though. It was a shame about the soup recipe, but until you try a recipe you just can't tell. It disappoints me how so many recipes have chilli in them now, even tinned food is the same and I have to read the labels really carefully as I hate it!

Mel we don't seem to have had as much rain as you, but I see it is supposed to be rainy all morning tomorrow. Two dry warmer days then, so I hope to do something in the garden.

I did manage to clean the ensuite, did some hoovering today and mopped the kitchen floor. Also got up to date with the admin.

Not as bright as it was and still very windy though it has eased a bit. I’ve had quite a busy day. I stopped at the Co-op on the way back from the chiropodist and got a couple of bits and pieces, came home and made some more soup. I had quite a bit of beetroot I wanted to use up so googled for suitable recipes for the soup maker and found a few. I picked one that sounded OK which was made with beetroot, onion, leek and celery and whatever liquid you wanted. I use a vegetable stock. Well, it was OK but that’s about the best you can say for it. Apart from a slightly earthy taste I wouldn’t have known it was beetroot. Good job I had bought a couple of nice rustic rolls in the Co-op which perked it up a bit. I have frozen the rest as I don’t like wasting good food but I won’t make that recipe again.

After lunch I did a bit of tidying up and tackled the ironing.. Now I need to think about what to do with some cold lamb for tonight.

Our talk at the Club last night was about the Fens. I didn’t know the area called the Fens was so big. It’s 10 million acres. We’ve had this speaker before and his talks are so interesting with lots of slides and a bit of humour but he tries to cram too much in. He spoke for an hour and went from pre Roman times up to the modern day and it’s hard to take it all in. We are only a small club but it was nice that we had almost a full house last night. Only 1 person couldn’t make it. All in all it was a very good evening.

Iv'e got 4 subs today and two are going back. They sent Raspberries instead of cherries and soft mints instead of polo sugar free. The beans are ok and they sent del monte manderine oranges instead of Asda's both acceptable.

Morning all,

Still windy 14 degrees and a bit overcast the sun is trying to peep through the clouds .

Happy birthday to your great grandson Anng where has that year gone, I hope he has a lovely day .

Glad you all liked the blanket I was happy with it and the tassels do finish it off .

Off to do a bit of shopping later ,its Chelsea's birthday on Thursday she will be 18 so I need to find a little something for her to unwrap , we do put money in her card but it's nice to gave a little something to open too.

Morning all,

Brightish here this morning and I think like Anng the wind has dropped for the moment. The bad news is that the pc says expect 5 rainy days starting tomorrow and its 14 degrees. Will this rain ever stop? First we need it then it comes and forgets when to stop.

Yes the blankets are lovely colour and our Mandy is very talented. I love the colours Lacy has chosen for her blanket.

Good morning all, 11 degrees dry and bright. and the wind appears to have dropped.
No plans for this morning but hopefully Cynth is taking me to Dunelm this afternoon as I need a new kettle. The one I have is still working but, it is the same when you have things for years and don't really look at them. Looking at my existing kettle which is probably 10 years old, a red Morphy richards, very solis and in constant use. I can see that it needs replacing it is looking very shappby, almost rusty around the bottom edge.
So that will hopefully be my outing for today.

Mandy, I remarked on the email but forgot to post it on here. That is a lovely blanket and the tasssels were a good idea to finish it. I like the colours of the next one as well. You are very talented.

It is my youngest great grandson's first birthday today <3 <3 <3

Good morning

It’s bright and sunny at the moment but still very windy. I’ve got the chiropodist at 10 am but no other plans.

Mandy, that blanket is gorgeous, very professional looking and the tassels finish it off nicely.

Have a good day everyone.

I make between 70 and 80 Christmas cards Ann.

Right leg is still painful but not quite so bad. Left leg where the BCC is is painful too when it flexes

Yes, what a night! I'll have to apologise to the neighbours when I see them. I think it must have been the air disturbance in the car from the Moth's big flapping wings that must have set it off. Thank goodness OH spotted it before the security light went off.

As you say Vera we are so lucky we still have them and they are very good in lots of ways, but they are twins as we've said before! :-D OH recently decided to sort a food cupboard out. I kept quiet at the time, but I tend to group like things together with duplicates behind so I know I have more when I remove the front one. I put things only OH has at one side and things only I have together at the other side. Also with all labels facing forwards so I don't have to turn things round to see what they are. OH had no such system. It all looked very neat and tidy, but I couldn't find anything I wanted and if I asked him he didn't know either and worse, after a week or two was asking me where things were that HE'D sorted! It's gradually going back as it was. As for getting in the way, I'd better save that for another time, but it sounds very familiar!

Mandy you have made the blanket squares far more quickly than I imagined and it will be great to see the finished blanket. Tassels will be a nice finishing touch.

Mel, the baby birds are lovely to see, but it's hard to be sure how many there are as you say. I was surprised to see they have used white feathers in the nest as it would make it a bit conspicuous, but then again when I kept canaries, different birds would use very different materials even if I gave them all the same mixture.

The service list didn't show anything for the alarm AnnG so I don't think the garage had touched it. I think some alarms are quite sensitive. I know with one of OH's previous cars, if he nipped into a shop and left me in the car but had taken his ignition key with him by accident, the slightest movement I made would set his alarm off. At least I know it works now though as I'd never heard it before. How is your leg today, any better? I also wonder how many Christmas cards you usually make.

Sent the photos

The wind really got up late morning and there was a few big spots of rain but not enough to wet the ground,since then we've had a bit of sun on and off and I did think about hanging the bedding out but decided not to in the end .

Oh Ann you'll be really tired and ready for bed tonight ,thank goodness you found out what if was or it would have just kept going off , that's good that you know what it was though to save taking it in for them to check it out.

Mel thanks for the photos I thought I could see three in the nest ,my goodness they have made a mess in there .

Vera ,I have a man that likes to get in the way to mostly hovering when I'm dishing up the food lol what with him one side and Max the other I can hardly turn round .

I have finally finished the blanket but had a job to get it all in the photo so I folded it in half so you can see the tassels ,I did one in each colour and the edging is also done with one colour each side , you wouldn't believe how heavy it is so it will be nice and warm .

O Annx what a night you had. You would'nt believe a moth could cause such prolems. I'm pleased you found out why it kept going off in the end but what a bl**dy nuisance and a big disruption in the night and don't these alarms sound louder in the dark. It was best to keep going out and checking it. You must be exhausted after that episode.

Vera I think most men are the same. I always got on better if oh was out or up the garden out of my way. I think Annx is like that too and can get on better when hubby has a meeting.

I can't make out if there are three or four swallows in the nest either there were four eggs. They are such good parents giving them lots of attention and in the evening they all chatter away in the shed. If there is four that wil be 14 she has raised this year. The mess in there is unbelievable and stinks but I don't like to go there too much as if I turn the light on and look up at the nest I have beady eye watching me and they keep so still they look like fake birds.

I have cleaned the mealworms today and sorted them out a bit and sived the mess out and given them fresh litter (oats or bran) they are well fed with fresh carrot so that is done for another few days. The only thing is I have'nt seen Robby for tweo days and I am hoping it just the wind and rain. I have even put cut up ham fat out there and thats still there so he has'nt been while I was in.

Better go and corn the girls now and feed the Robby round there.

My goodness Annx, that was some night. You wouldn’t think something as light as a moth would set the alarm off but at least you know you have a good working alarm system. I was a bit fed up as our security lights work on motion sensors and a strong wind is enough to set them off so a light was going on and off all night long and shining in my room. At least it was quiet. I’m not sure why the only light always affected by the wind is the one on the side wall of the garage opposite my room but it is a bit of a wind tunnel there.

AnnG, I have counted to 10 more than once today. OH is just being a typical man, thoroughly getting in the way. We moved in here 12 years ago this week. There’s a large cupboard in the utility in which there are all sorts of cleaning materials, ironing board, broom, kitchen steps etc. it is next to the washing machine. After 12 years of functioning perfectly well why did it need rehashing? And why this morning as I’m trying to do the washing? Every time I needed to get to the machine I had to clamber over all the stuff he had taken out of the cupboard, only to find he had moved the laundry basket or the detergent etc. Don’t get me started on the scratch on the lounge floor unless you want to be here all night. I just can’t understand how a man who had a very responsible job that involved looking as far as 20 years ahead and making long term decisions can’t see beyond the end of his nose at home. Enough said, I’m fortunate that he is still around to drive me mad.

I can’t really make out the swallows that clearly Mel but I think there might be 4. It doesn’t seem possible that they will shortly be ready to fly to winter quarters but apparently few of those left behind survive the winter here so I hope they can.

I’m looking forward to seeing the blanket Mandy. The girls are lucky to have you to make these things for them.

We have a meeting of one of our clubs tonight. The committee were having trouble getting a speaker at a price our small group could afford and so had got a quiz ready but I had a phone call this morning to say they have got someone to give us a talk entitled The Fen Men. That should be interesting. We’ll have the quiz after next month’s AGM.

Oh what a night that was! Hopefully it won't happen again but the alarm is obviously very sensitive. Strange it has never happaend before, wonder if they did anything to the alarm to increase sensitivity when it was at the garage.

Afternoon All,

All this blustery wind is such a change from the stillness of 3.00am (more on that later!). We had a coffee and egg cob deal at Costa after showering first thing and I wanted to see what the leopard bath towels were like in Next but couldn't see any. The carpark is very big but very poor directionwise as you have to wind all round it with much one way and not clear and as we were leaving a young woman actually parked on the road in front of OH so he couldn't drive through the proper way. He was getting irritated when she didn't move which didn't help, so I got out and went and explained nicely what she'd done and showed her she needed to move forward, not backwards and turn left to where there were spaces. Her accent was foreign (Italian?) and she hadn't been there before and thanked me for explaining. I reminded OH of the difficulties he had when he first used the new carpark when I got back in the car. It even has faded out things like zebra crossings, only they aren't and neither cars nor pedestrians are sure what to do at them.

I had issues with paying the Asda order on Saturday. I got and entered the code from my bank to make the payment which was ok and went through as usual, then another code came up from my bank on my phone to pay £15 something. I thought it was a scam at first and couldn't enter it anywhere anyway as the iother payment had been already been made so there was no box to enter the code in. Eventually I worked out that the bill on the confirmation email I then got was the sum of what they had charged me on the first payment plus the £15 odd I couldn't pay anyway. As the site says they will contact you if there are any discrepancies I just kept my fingers crossed. It didn't help that the delivery was the latest it's ever been, but I had to send subs back and it seems to have sorted itself out.

Just as I was about to go to bed last night a car alarm went off and flippin' heck it was mine!! It was pitch black outside so I went and flicked the security light off and on so it would light up again and couldn't see anyone and clicked the car lock off and on and it stopped. We made sure all our outside doors were locked and OH went to bed. I was sitting wondering whether someone had seen the crooklock and thought the car had no alarm as it is 10 years old and had tried to get into it the passenger side. Then it went off again after about 10 minutes, so we went outside with me shining the torch everywhere, including the back of the car, as well as the security light on to make sure no-one was there. The alarm had stopped again but red lights were flashing on the dashboard, so I got in the car and started it up and the lights went off. We thought that was it and went inside again and then 5 minutes later it went off again! We followed the same procedure of going out, starting the car and coming in again getting more conscious of the annoyance to neighbours and me deciding to take it to the garage as soon as they opened in the morning. I was getting concerned about keeping starting it up and the battery going flat though and OH said I would have to take it for a spin during the night if it carried on which I didn't fancy in pitch darkness. It lasted half an hour then before going off so I decided to check the windows and boot were fully closed and they were. I even wondered if a mouse had got in while it was at the garage on Friday! Embarrassingly It still kept happening but at random times, lasting almost an hour before going off sometimes. I began to think I might just as well stay up all night! OH wondered whether a fly trapped inside had set it off, so the next time it happened I opened the car door for five minutes. Just as we turned to go back inside again OH pointed to the windscreen and the security light showed a huge moth flapping about inside! It then landed on the driver's door window so I unlocked the car and opened the door wide and quickly flicked it upwards so it didn't fly back in the car. That's what it was as peace and quiet reigned again in what was left of the night! Of course I didn't go back to sleep for ages being fully awake by then.

I will catch up with posts later as I need a COT now,

Thanks for the photos Mel, I think it could be 4, but what a heap they are in. I am wondering if they will be ready to fly and what happens if they get stranded here?

Deep breaths Vera!! What has he done/not done today to incur your wrath?

Sunny spells and dry here but oh, that wind!! iPad is telling me it is 16 degrees but the wind is making it feel like 9. It feels even colder outside to me; I had to put a jacket on when I stepped outside. I’ve hung 2 loads of washing out and there’s 1 more in the machine but everything is very firmly pegged. I haven’t put anything on hangers as I usually do.

Going to have a look at your swallow pics now Mel and then I think I’ll go and strangle OH who is driving me mad this morning. Might bbl