General Chat

Just had a few rumbles of thunder and it's now tipping it down again .

That's a lot of Eclairs you had to make a day Gill ,i can see why you don't fancy them after having to make that many every day .
I made mine and they came out ok ,there's ten !!! we've just had two each as they are quite small ,if i make them again i think i will pipe it a little thicker so they are a little bigger .

Sounds as if you have some comfy footwear for your holiday Jane ,i didn't realise it was next week you go , is it a week your away ?
We will be thin on the ground next week with you and Frank away .

Gill i put the canes in for my Cucumbers as they will soon want some support ,i noticed one had it's leaves bitten so the blooming slugs are about ,i went round with some slug gel i had so hopefully that will help.

Oh Mel i would have liked to have seen the May Bug but at least some thing got a good feast out of it .

Oh yes Gill. I LOVE Poldark! we both do so it's something to look forward to!
What a lovely afternoon. It's been. OH finished the mowing and went to sleep for a couple of hours while I sat in the sun and snoozed. Now OH is cooking supper which is venison steaks (English) from Waitrose, with new potatoes and a watercress/orange salad! should be good!!
Tomorrow we've planned a day in the garden to finish off the planting out except for the leeks! and the dreaded weeding!!!
Nothing on TV tonight worth watching, so a recording for us!!

Good evening all

Been a lovely sunny day here again but we do need some rain Richard and I have been in the garden again, he went for a charity breakfast this morning and has gone to a food and music festival at South Hill Park now, it's free entry so will be busy.

I use to do chocolate eclairs in Domestic Science at school but have never made them since.

Jane you will be glad of comfy shoes in the Peak District there are so many lovely walks hopefully you will have good weather to enjoy your visit, our caravan was at Longnor Wood Holiday Park they advertise rentals on Hoseasons but a lot are privately owned still.. ..

My ribs are gradually improving but still have trouble sleeping some nights.

Still having problems getting on to the post and have given up quite a few times.

Just watching channel 5 about Queen Victoria' s family and after they have a programme on Elizabeth 1st. Going to record the Agatha Christie Mystery that's on afterwards

We have just come in from eating outside tonight .!We chatted for so long and then realised it was 10 o clock !! Chris has gone up to bed now and I won't be too far behind. I just spotted Thomas mooching around and managed to grab him quick to bring him in :-D.He has now settled down on the settee .So we are all in :-D

Anne ,I am pleased to hear your ribs are getting easier now .Fingers crossed it won't be long before you can get a good nights sleep

We are only going to be away for 2 nights next week and then the Peak Distict the midde of June.....I am loving these Skechers(? sp)It is like wearing slippers but with a good flexible and supportive bottom to the shoe.Like walking on air :-D

I am off to bed now .Just need to make sure back locked and tumble dryer off.
Good night all x

I have been in the garden most of the afternoon. I started sweeping out the front under the box hedge as lots of bits had fallen down and some of it was the dreaded rose and I park my car there so did'nt want to get a puncture. Then I emptied the barrow round at the wood after cleaning the bantams out. Then I came back through the arch and went along the border and pulled out loads of weeds and some more dead stuff and filled the barrow again! So round to the bonfire with that lot.

Came down then and made a drink as oh had been mowing.

Yes Jane the post came so it arrived ok thank you. I shall have to lok up these shoes you buy as I think the one pair I have are now wearing out. I coud feel the gravel under my big toe on my funny foot so they must be getting thin where that is.

Anne I am pleased your back is getting a bit better. Its a shame you are not having very good nights though. Sending love <3.

Yes what are we going to do next week without our Frank and Jane? What with having trouble getting on here as well. I get fed up in the end waiting for it to go through only to get the Error Page again.

I had no egg boxes this morning so took the eggs to Em in two trays. When I got there nobody was in so I had to bring them back again. I could'nt leave them anywhere with them being exposed as it were.

I watched a program with Joan Plowright, Judy Dench, Maggie Smith and someone else whose name escapes me. They were all talking and they were showing clips of the things they were in in younger years. It was quite interesting.

Well time for my shower now and a bit of relaxation. See you all in the morning.

Eileen Atkins..........................was the other one.

Morning all,

We have sunshine and its really warm out there today.

Oh is washing the windows for me so thats a good job done.

I saw the two fox cubs run across the orchard this morning. They came from over the field next door behind Em's. I went round to the chickens to see if they were in the back field behind the little woody bit but no sign of them but the deer was in the corner.

Afternoon All

Only Mel so far today. The lovely weather is keeping us all away from the computers :-D

Mel, Chris and I went to see All about a Dame the other week. I did enjoy it but if I had known it was going to be on TV this week I would have prefered to watch it at home.

I have a friend in Plymouth who will be getting ex battery hens Mel and she has asked me to ask you the best way of settling them into their new and very strange surroundings. Do you have to do anything special at all?

I think you would like Skechers shoes Mel. I have the slip on ones. The only thing is they wouldnt be waterproof as they are not leather .Your bad big toe would find them very comfy as there is no pressure. I didn't try the lace up ones which sre more like trainers.There is a much larger range to choose from on line than in the shops.

Chris has been hedge cutting this morning and is whacked out now .It really was too hot for doing that .Tomorrow he has another one to do.
James has just got home from Canterbury and is having a cool shower. I am doing Rib Eye Steaks tonight with Chips(James prefers Sweet Potato Chips). Mushrooms,Tomatoes ,Asparagus and Peas. I am not looking forward to standing frying the steaks though.James likes cook his own so maybe he would like to do ours aswell
:-D :-D

I want a dip in Mandys pool !!!!!!!!

Too hot to work outside so I am going to fiddle with my beads.

Afternoon all

Lovely and sunny here today so we've been in the garden. I've tidied up all my Ivy in the pots I put to edge the border, it took me over 4 hours to do the lot. Then I re-potted 5 conifers that I took as cuttings 4 years ago. I noticed they had hardly grown so thought larger pots might help. After that it was to hot for me to do anymore so we had lunch and watched 60 minute makeover I recorded. OH then cut the lawns and now we're all settled down to watch the last 60 minute makeover. The last one I watched they did the woman's garden as well as 3 rooms in her house, the garden looked brilliant and so much better for her as it was full of weeds before they did it. She cried when she saw it, bless her.

I noticed it's still very quiet on here, but like you said Jane everyone will be enjoying the lovely weather we have. Have you managed to persuade Chris to cook all the steaks tonight ;-) It sounds like he's been busy with the window cleaning and hedge cutting. We didn't get a quote in the end for taking out our hedge and replacing it with a fence, the fella said he'd let us know this week and we never heard from him again, so it looks like we'll be doing it ourselves now.

So there are a couple of fox cubs about then Mel. Have you managed to take any photo's I know Sandra would love to see them if you do?

Yes, I like Poldark to Liz, I noticed it advertised yesterday when I was watching something off the planner, so will be looking forward to it starting. How did you get on with your planting out and weeding, hope it wasn't to hot for you both?

Hope the slug gel has worked and your cucumbers aren't effected anymore Mandy. Have you all had fun in the swimming pool? I do envy you when it's as hot as it has been, I could do with a dip myself right now, but will have to make do with sitting in front of the fan to keep cool.

Sorry to hear you're still having problems with your ribs Anne, hope they ease soon for you. I would of liked to have watched the programmes on Queen Victoria and Elizabeth 1st but I didn't know they were on. I wonder when the drama Victoria will be back on, it can't be long now, I enjoyed it last time.

Well, I'd better go Sandra and OH are waiting to watch 60 minutes make over.

Too hot to work outside so I am going to fiddle with my beads.

I thought I had pressed the blasted thing twice!! It came out before Gill's post and after it!!

No I shan't be taking any pictures of the fox cubs Gill but if they get too close to my chickens I shall shoot them with the gun and not the camera. My last OLD girl is on the way out now. She's off her legs so I have been getting her out of the house and this morning when I did it the others all went for me as if they were sticking up for her. I got a nasty peck on the wrist and I have a bruise there now. Never had that before. Talking of which I hav'nt checked her lately.

Jane if your friend is having some of the rescue hens and already has a place to put them they should be ok. Sometimes I like to shut them in the house for a day so they know where they belong. Some of them can be very good at getting out. It depends on what kind of set up she has. Does she have a covered run or an open one? Are they going to be in a chicken house of some size or a small ark? The one thing I will say is give them a place to dust bath and get a lot of louse powder in there as they can be run alive with red mite especially in this hot weather.

Mel ,my friend has just lost her chickens to the fox :-(.. The last time it happened thet think it was a Badger!. I am not sure of her place where she keeps her girls but she did say it has ot be redone and electrified.I do know that she doesn't have an Igloo thing.
She has one Chicken who lives in the house all the time !!!!!. Crazy or what!. She even sleeps on the bed !!!!! with the cats.I think her bedroom is a cat basket at night. I just wonder about all the chicken poops in the house as I am sure she isnt trained to use a tray like the cats.

I will pass on your info to her thanks :-D

You have been busy Gill. Fancy that chap not getting back to you about the hedge. Maybe he doesn't want the job :-S. Its going to be quite a job for you to do though.

Chris said we have slugs munchng away on the Dwarf Beans :-S :-S. Little blighters.Looks like we are all going to be bothered with them.
Gill he is fast asleep snoring his dear little head off on the settee LOL so I wont be asking him to cook the steaks :-D.. I feel a little cooler now as I have been by the fan for ages so I will do ours later.He won't be hungry yet ,but James is starving and is doing his own dinner now.

I am looking forward to the last Jeremy Thorpe programme tonight.Can't think what it is called a British Scandal ? ? I do wish this humidity would drop .I feel drained.
I think Thomas feels the same bless him with that heavy thick coat he has. I keep coming across him flopped out in various places.

It's been very hot here today, so we've been outside all day!! Breakfast out and in a minute supper! OH got the rest of the planting out done, along with watering and other outdoor jobs! Our hedges aren't cut until late autumn as the farm does them and they aren't allowed to cut hedges between March and the end of August because of potential nesting birds. This suits us fine!!
I mowed the little lawn this afternoon and did the edges so that's another job done! It only takes about 10 mins but does look better!!
Not particularly interested in the Jeremy Thorpe scandal but feel sorry for his son, having all that dragged up again! It can't be very nice for him but there you go, no doubt it's good for the TV ratings!!
Cas is tired this evening, not sure the heat agrees with her. L's hens have settled well and laying!
Chateau tonight, We love Dick and Angel!!!

Evening all,

It's been really hot here again ,the children have been in the pool again they have had a great time ,i think they will sleep well tonight , i must get a photo of them the next time they go in .

I have got most of my Tomato plants in pots now i just need to get a few more pots for the last few plants .

Hair cut day tomorrow ,our wedding anniversary on Tuesday and shopping with DIL in Norwich on Wednesday that's half of next week planned , i just hope it cools down a bit for the shopping day .

It sounds like you've been very busy outside today Liz. Our garden looks much better now OH has cut the lawns, although it will probably need doing again in a few days with all this hot weather we've been having, but like you said it makes such a difference to the garden. I must admit I love my garden now we've added another border, it's so much different from 2 years ago when we had the ugly garage and over grown hedge. Like you say Liz you can't cut the hedge until the birds have finished nesting so it would spoil the look of the garden with it being so overgrown, it's much better now we have fences instead. I don't need to worry about the front hedge as it's very old and thin, plus it's not very tall so we can easily see if there are any birds in there, which there aren't, so taking it out won't be a problem, but only when the weather cools down as it's South facing and far to hot at the moment.

So you're going to end up cooking the steaks then Jane, at least you've cooled down now so it'll be better for cooking. We've been lucky this year and don't seem to have any slugs. Mind you I have seen hogs around so they're probably eating them all. Yes, it's going to take us a while to take the hedge out, well not so much the hedge, but the roots, then we'll have to fill the hole with soil and compact it down before we can dig to put the fence posts in. We've noticed that the hedges around here have been jumped on as ours, along with a couple of other neighbours hedges, have been damaged lately, we think it's children, so hopefully once the fence goes in we won't have the problem anymore. Our neighbour next door but one wasn't very happy when it happened to him, all he could do was the same as us and push it back into place, but like ours it doesn't look very good now.

What are you making with your beads Mel? I don't blame you for not working in the garden it's been very hot today, I was lucky and managed to do most of my gardening this morning when it was cooler.

I missed your post Mandy. I've decided to colour my hair tomorrow, it's needed doing for a couple of weeks but with not being well I thought I'd wait until I felt better. Our tomatoes have flowers on them now so it won't be long before we have the toms to eat. It sounds like the children have had a great time in the swimming pool. It'll keep them all nice and cool. I was thinking of your pool today when it got hot.

Morning all,

Another bright day here this morning.

I have noticed that the roses and other flowers seem to be doing extremly well this year flower wise. Have any of you noticed this too? It could be all the rain we had last year. I also have some iris's down by my shed which I think are really pond ones, just Iris seudacorus and they this year they have three lots of flowers on them.

The other waywood rose behind my pond that oh wanted to cut right down last year is also covered in buds. It only flowers the once but the smell is gorgous.

Morning Mel morning all

Cloudy here today but still quite warm, I don't think there's any rain forecast, but you never know do you?

Yes, I've noticed everything is growing better this year, including the weeds LOL. I have a couple of Iris's growing, I didn't know I had them until I noticed some purple and yellow in my side border, they look really nice. I have a climbing rose in the front garden but haven't noticed any flowers on it yet, it flowers every year so I'm sure they'll be flowers on it soon.

Hair colouring day today so I'd better get on with it as it takes a few hours to do with having to dry and straighten my hair as well. I've got a cream one this time instead of liquid so hopefully it won't make as much mess around my ears and headline.

What has everyone else got planned for today?

It's quiet on here again today, where is everyone?

I've just finished drying my hair. The cream hair colouring was just as messy as the liquid one but seems to have coloured my hair better. Sandra said my hair is really dark now. I think my hair was light because of being outside in the sun so I should imagine it will go lighter again when I do some more gardening.

Going to get something to eat now, I haven't had anything yet and I'm starving, then I'll straightened my hair and water the plants in the greenhouse, I've just realised I haven't done that job yet today and the sun is out so they'll be wanting a drink. Sandra has just opened the greenhouse door for me, it gets very hot in there if the door is kept shut.