General Chat

Morning Frank and all,

Guess what ? we have fine rain this morning and its very welcome for the garden as long as it stays that way and dos'nt fall in torrents out of the sky. The skyis grey at the moment but it may brightten up a bit later on.

Frank I am so pleased Ros slept well last night. I expect it was the anesthetic that helped her with that. Sleep is always the best medicine I think.
Hope she has a good recovery and am thinking of her and sending lots of love. Is she aloud to Knit????????? She will have to find something to do for the 6 weeks till she is able to do more heavier work. You are going to have your hands full trying to keep her still if I know your Ros. Good luck with that. <3

Oh dear Frank, not another tumble!! I hope you weren't too badly shaken up! Glad your patient had a good night. I would think she would be allowed to do knitting so long as she doesn't lift anything heavy!
How lovely to have mother duck and her babies on your pond Anne! It's true they do foul it a bit but they are such sweet little things, it's worth a bit of muck!! Have you any pics?!!
This morning we have a chap coming to knock in some posts across the big paddock so as we can divide it. We can then keep Merlin one side while OH sprays the other, and then in reverse!! Oh he's just arrived so OH has scuttled off!!
Think it might rain later particularly as we've watered!!
Our Swallows have just about finished nest building so we hope to add to our kindergarten of baby birds. Three blue tits, four baby robins and a wagtail family who have yet to emerge! I think we have nesting pigeons too, so OH has put up our CD pigeon, scarer! He's threatened to shoot them but I can't allow that so it won't happen!

Afternoon Everyone
Frank,I hope that tumble hasn't done any damage other than to the flowers !!!!
Ros has had a good sleep and as Mel says it will be the Anaesthetic still in her system. I hope she isnt in too much discomfort.

Mel ,Hannah didn't try on my Garter but i am sure it would have fitted. She has gone off to her friend's Baby Shower and Gareth is here trying to pay for some sports thing on the TV. He seems to be having a bit of a problem so I will leave him to it :-D
What a lot of Baby Birds you are going ot have Liz :-D :-D. We have plenty nesting here in various places .But Thomas is being a killer at the moment :-(. He has had one bird this morning that I know of. :-| :-|

No rain here so far but we did have to come in from the garden just now as it got really blustery and lots of dark clouds.The sun peeps out every now and then.
At least I have got all the towels dry.
I have a big Chicken in a bag cooking as Gareth will need a meal before he goes out this evening with the partners /husbands of Hannah's friends . She is going to a hen do
but will have had lunch and shall be eating out tonight .I can't keep up with it all LOL
Lord knows what time they will be back tonight.I just know it will be by taxi and they will pick their car up again in the morning.
I think I might start sorting out what clothes I need to take away on Monday.Trouble is I would normally put everything on Hannah's bed but I cant now ....Actually I just realised as James is not here I will use his bed :-D Problem sorted :-D

Yes Jane, that's the only downside of cats! I remember our much loved little cat called Marmite caught a swallow as it dived out of a stable door at our last house! It was the only time that I ever felt really cross with her!!
Posts are in and the chap only charged £20, so that was good! We've just been out putting the chain link fence up so all OH has to do is make a field bar to cover the gap.
How's your back Jane? My sciatica has finally, after 4 months, cleared up!! I've got these leg strengthening exercises to do which involve balancing on first one leg and then the other!!! Also back stretching, and also a couple of lying down one's!! Tbh I think they're working, as it does all feel better!
Hope you enjoy your time away, and the packing isn't too stressful!!

You Silly Billy Jane of course James is away so thats your problem well sorted.

We ave had light rain showers this morning but some sunshine inbetween and its a bit breezey here too so it sounds like our weather is much like yours Jane.

One lot of our Robins are on their second lot of babies. The blue tits fledged in the box over the pond decking and the blackbirds are on their second lot too. I have had dad and two baby blackbirds comeing on the patio by the back door trying to get the mealworms I put oput for the Robins. Sparrow is feeding a baby too but there are not that many Sparrows down here now not like in other years but we have had the sparrow hawk settling on the box hedge a lot.

We,ve loads of Pigeons and they nest all year round.

The little stag was in the garden when I went out to the shop so I had to drive very slowly up the garden and he went behind the caravan.

Em was out with the boys as its their cousin Harry's 10th birthday so only Ed was at home. Fred the dog always comes to greet me when I have parked the car. He is such a sweet dog and so soft to the touch. He's a small greyhound and quite old now but still goes to work with Ed everyday. He told me (Ed) that he is part of the workforce. They have a publishing company locally.

I really must have a dust around as my desk is dreadfull and so is the tv.

Hope you are not too shaken up Frank and are managing to look after that lovely wife of yours. <3

Just been back to the paddock as OH wanted to show me some Bee orchids that have suddenly appeared. They are pale and dark purple and so delicate, and beautiful. OH has carefully sprayed a blue square round them so we can find them easily as they'll need protecting when we spray. Fence finished, with the bar being added tomorrow so a good afternoons work. Oh, and the swallows are sitting, so more babies on the horizon!
Tomorrow afternoon P is calling in to see us on her way home from a competition she's involved with. It'll be lovely to see her, so something else to look forward to!

We have so many Baby Blue Tits !!!!! There seems to have been an explosion of them :-D It sounds like all have so much bird life at the moment :-D :-D We don't talk about Pidgeons here .They make such a mess EVERYWHERE :-S :-S Dirty Birds :-|

Liz you must take a pic of the Bee Orchids. I would love to see them.
Its all go here. I will be back later

Hope Ros is ok Frank :-D

Yes I will Jane , I'll go up in the morning, they are so lovely. I know pigeons are a problem, but they can't help being what they are!! :-( and I'm not sentimental!!
We've got Duck legs for supper new potatoes and new carrots, nice and easy (as usual!!)
Very windy here and chilly! No rain though! Nothing much on TV, so either a recording or 'another' channel for us this evening!

Made a load of cup[ cakes this afternoon. Some have fruit in them and others I have put ginger preserve in and some are plain so I may put a bit of icing on those ones. Have had to put cherries on the shopping list as I hav'nt any in the cupboard.

When I lived in suffolk we had loads of bee orchids growoing over the old gravel pits and around the village. Some where there is a picture of me sitting among them one year. A friend up the road in the village had one come up every year in the middle of her front lawn and she had to mark it with a stick so hubby would'nt mow that place.

I meant to say that when we moved down here there was the ordiary pink orchid that came with us in some pond plants. That seeded itself right acorss the top garden and into the field next door. I have kept them going through the years and always have some in pots onthe patio and they have even spread to the big house fields. The seed is so fine it just floats on the wind. They are all out in the garden at the moment. The originals came from Suffolk.

Good afternoon all

Hope Ros is feeling comfortable Frank I expect she is keeping you busy . Sorry to hear you had another fall it must have shaken you up, how is your tum now?

The ducks haven't returned so no obvious damage done but we do have two filters, a small one in the bottom pond and a large one kept outside under cover by the Koi's. I have forwarded the photo that Richard took for facebook to Jane but it has come out really small when trying to forward it on Paul helped me but he couldn't make it any larger either.

We don't have any nests in the garden but there are blue tits and wagtails feeding from the coconut shells plus the ever present wood pigeons and quite a few magpies too.

Ruby is busy watching the TV I have The Wonderful World of Puppies on at the moment.

I have never seen a Bee orchid so would love to see a photo Liz

Mel your cupcakes sound delicious so you have been busy baking today.

Richard and Paul have gone to a birthday dinner in Farnborough it's quite a way from here but their friend Craig is giving them both a lift as he only lives very near to here. They are all connected through Ice Hockey

Have forward the pic of Mum and Babies Anne :-D Lovely pic :-D :-D

Thanks Jane

Oh Anne, thank you, they look such sweet little things with their proud Mum!! Thank you Jane for forwarding it.
I love the thought of Ruby watching her own tv prog!! Cas used to react to the tv, but not anymore, sometimes she looks up, but I think she thinks we're pulling her leg and she's wise to all that now!!
Hope you've had a reasonable day Frank.

How sweet those little ducks and mum. I see you have the marsh marigold in your pond too. Mine has just finished flowering. They are so nice and bright in the pond on a dull spring day. I have a white one too which is a smaller plant but seems to flower more.

Thanks Jnae for forwarding it.

I must get the steak on now or oh will want to know where his dinner is. :-(

Evening all,

Nice and sunny at the moment but it's been quite a cloudy day ,we has a few spits of rain first thing but it hardly wet the ground .

Oh dear Frank i hope your ok after your fall this morning thank goodness your neighbour was about to help you up ,Poor Ros won't be able to help so do be careful what your doing .
Glad to hear Ros had a good nights sleep ,i hope she's not in to must discomfort today and is doing what Nurse Frank tells her too.

Lovely photo of the mother duck with her little ones Anne thanks Jane for passing it on .
So Ruby likes watching the tele :-D some times Max will stop and have a look if some thing catches his eye :-D

Lots of birds here but no nests in the garden ,there's a big Sycamore tree in the church yard and there seems to be lots of Blue tits coming and going from the tree ,
that's the tree we see the Squirrel in .
The blocks for the birds i bought on thursday have all gone so i bought two more today ,i've moved them where the old pigeons carn't get to them as they just stripe them out in no time and the smaller birds don't get a look in .

Mel cup cakes seem to be the thing at the moment but i still call them buns LOL ,i make Coconut buns ,Cherry buns ,Sultana buns and chocolate chip ,the children love them , i was going to make Apple cake today but haven't had the time ,Colin wanted me to help him tidy at the back of the shed ,there was three old wheel barrows he wants to take to the tip ,he did take the wheels off them as they were ok and will fit the two barrows he has left , i found a couple of pots i had been looking for and there's other bits to go to the tip next week ,no good going at the weekend as it gets so busy .

Liz i googled the Bee Orchid they look pretty i would like to see a photo of the one you have in the paddock ,i'm sure when i was little and use to play in the field on Rushmore meadows there where some on there ,we use to pick all the wild flowers that grew there and take them home to mum .

You'd get in trouble now if you picked orchids!

Well I have just looked at the solar monitor to take sown the reading for tonight and it was the same as last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shock horror so that means that when the leccy went out yesterday afternoon for no reason at all it must have gone off then. We have lost a whole day of solar money now and its usually about 15 to 20 a day this time of year. At 50p for a unit thats quite a lot. Oh said he will go up the loft in the morning and take a look. It may need resetting or something. I am afraid I don't know anything about the converter in the loft or who to ring if we can't get it back on. :-S

Morning all,

Bit of rain and grey skies here this morning. We,ve nothing planned for today except of course the big breakfast so will see how things turn out. I may do a bit of craft but I have loads of ironing to do.

Frank how are you this morning and how is Ros too? I hope you are ok after te tumble you took yesterday. We can't have you out of action when the wife needs looking after. Give my love to Ros please? XX

Hi all

Cloudy here today so we might be in for some rain later.

Well, Mr Grumpy (Victor Meldrew) next door didn't stay kind for very long, he had a right go at my OH yesterday about the rubbish on his garden, saying it's ruined his garden and if he has to get landscape gardeners in then we'll be getting the bill, he even said we'd scratch his car taking the rubbish from his garden to our car to take down the tip. We haven't scratched his car, which next door said might of been there before so he's letting that go (nice of him, the cheeky old so and so) but the rest of the garden he isn't pleased with. I wouldn't mind but it's a lot tidier than it was before we started the work as he had lots of cut down roses all over it, not to mention weeds and long grass growing in his border which I kindly took out as we were working along the boundary line. We've even taken out a very large tree that was in his garden at his request that took us two days and got rid of it all down the tip for him, we even had another neighbour helping us with his chain saw and have we had any thanks for it or even any offer to cover some of the cost of petrol (not that we would of excepted it) NO, he could of at least said thank you.

When he complained to OH about the rubbish OH hadn't finished taking it all down the tip, we even ended up having a load of rubbish in our car over night as the tip was shutting and OH wouldn't of made it there in time, so he's taken it today on FATHER'S DAY when he should be enjoying his day. We are so annoyed with him and I wouldn't mind but there's nothing wrong with his garden apart from the grass got a bit flattened so OH has raked it so that is okay now.

We've decided not to bother putting up a fence to match the front now as another one of our neighbours gave us a load of wood 8 foot long, so we're going to use that and make a ranch style fence instead, it would be easier and quicker so if Victor Meldrew doesn't like it then that's hard luck. Why should we go to more hard work making it look good from his side when we doubt he'll even give us half the money like he said he would. It wouldn't surprise me if he refuses saying he'll keep it for damage to his garden, which there isn't any. I wouldn't mind but it was his idea to put the rubbish on his garden in the first place, if he hadn't of said it we wouldn't of dreamt of putting anything on his side. All he has in his garden is grass and that's not in very good condition and like I said it looks much tidier and pleasant to look at than before we started the job. With all the hard work I thought he would of been a bit more grateful. We've decided to put up some evergreen plants along the boundary to block him out again so having a ranch style fence would suit us better that way the air and sun can get to the plants and we won't see much of the fence anyway so why go to all the trouble and expense of buying a posh fence so he gets the benefit and we don't.

OH and I think he just wanted the big tree and other plants taken away without having to pay someone to do it and now they are gone he's started being nasty again. Talk about crafty. I'm going to take some photo's of his garden incase he damages it and tries to say it was us. I wouldn't mind but he's been looking at the rubbish all week so why didn't he say something earlier? He waited until most of the clearing was done before complaining and like I said I bet he refuses to pay half by saying he's using the money to sort out his garden. I wouldn't put it past him. At least all the dead or dying plants have gone so we don't have to look at them anymore. All he does in his garden is cut the grass and that's once in a blue moon, he's definitely not a gardener that's for sure.

Sorry moan over. I just needed to get it all off my chest I hope you don't mind?

I haven't read any post yet as I'm still having problems with my Internet, it said I wasn't connected this morning but when I checked the router it was fine, so I shut down my laptop and tried again, luckily it worked that time, so I don't know what the problem is. It seems to have a mind of it's own and only works when it feels like it.

I'll go and read the posts now. Be back later. Sorry for my long post.

Morning All

Gill your next door neighbour sounds a nasty piece of work using your OH as a reason for his side looking worse when it wasn't . With hindsight you could have taken a before and after photo, does he live on his own? He sounds so miserable not the sort of person you need as a neighbour. It is good that you can come on here and get it off your chest, that's what friends are for .

I have been wondering how Frank & Ros are as no news I hope they are both OK.

We now have a lot of really tiny frogs hopping around in the garden so have to watch when walking round not to tread on them. We did seem to have a lot more tadpoles this year.

just going to sort out the veg for Sunday roast, it's leg of lamb this time.