General Chat

Mel Fairy Godmother - Devon baking in sunshine. No place for bald-headed men like me without sun hats.

Work? I used to work hard for a branch of a well-known Insurance Company with a = in its title. I now belong to the Concessionary Bus-Pass elite & I use it frequently at my leisure. I must start looking out for local 'old peoples' homes soon, of which there are many in these parts.

I'm off now to dip my toes in the sea at Seaton.

Dermot I meant to ask you what occupation you have or had please?

Hi Dermot. :-D Whats the weather like in Exeter?

Liz I would'nt have the op on MIllie's eyes done at her age. You can get all sorts of trouble with the anesthetic in a dog that age. Are you still doing her eys with tea or drops from the vet?

Thought For The Day - Life After Death.

The 'smart' answer might be that I believe in life before death - but, that's just a silly retort.

I believe & hope that there is life of some sort after death - better than the present one, hopefully. But, this is the faith I have practised since birth, handed down by my parents & through various previous generations.

Death is, of course, an appointment you cannot postpone. However, it is something that should not be feared. You would have thought that we might have got used to the idea by now - it's been happening since Adam & Eve.

From of old, death has been the lot of all humans. And, of course, death is very individual & it cannot be shared. We travel on alone.

I heard an anti-abortionist say once:- "Don't be afraid that your life will end - be afraid that it will never begin".

It is an emotive subject.

Oh dear Mel. that is awful about the blackbird(s). We had the same thing happen when we lived in Somerset - a hawk swooped down and grabbed a bluetit from the bird table as we were watching them feed during breakfast!! at least it didn't have a nest anywhere, that makes it 100 times worse!
Chap has just rung to say our blinds are in and he will coming to fit them at 12.30 today. Hooray,as the sun in the evening (lovely though it is) is very blinding particularly if you're trying to peel spuds etc!!
We've got Sky, but only buy the two channels we're interested in, (not sport!!) that, the main channels and the freebies suit us fine.
Millies eye is a bit better so we are plodding on with the bathing! The vet suggested an operation like a face lift to pull her eye lids away from her eyes, but unless it became very painful for her we are not keen, particularly as she is 10 and getting a bit old to be pulled about. At the moment she isn't distressed, so hopefully we can keep it that way. Would really appreciate your views Mel, as you know about these things!! Off to hang washing - beautiful day here.

Morning All and Evening Kim,

Bit cloudy here today and not so bright.

David so sorry to hear you have been in pain. I hope you will be able to get a bit more sleep during the day. Another day nearer to your recovery anyway...... <3

Ann's remark about her oh's Leeky Flies made me laugh so much I nearly fell off my chair. Meant to say that last night after reading her post. Makes a change for Ann to get a good one over Gordon after all the things he says to her.

Well this morning on camera after the hedgehog there was still a blackbird taking the food from the bowl put out last night so someone is still feeding baby blackbirds.

Had a bad night,had to ask for pain killers.
Was given a liquid oral one the took the edge off it.

Every one's buzzers are soundng so they're iin pain or need the loo

That new walking frame with the front wheels has a buckled wheel already.

Another day

Frank you put Willies instead of Wellies yesterday lol Mel in her smock and willies :-D :-D

Morning/Evening all
I have just opened my curtains and its another morning of wall to wall sun :-D :-D
BBQ weather.we haven't got one at the moment.Im never sure if it is really having one.I just bung everything in the oven and then cart it outside.

I will be going to get new Tomato plants later :-D Im not going be allowed to forget lol Just about to have my second cuppa.

Ann that was very witty of you Leeky Flies

:-D :-D Did he have to cover himself up to get out without having people notice??

Mel that must have been terrible seeing the Hawk snatch the Blackbird.I do hope the babies will be ok

My wife won't let me........................

Frank I have a hole in the pocket of my old navy one (smock) oh bought me at the Cornwall show when we were first together. Worn out by carrying around my knife and various other things I keep in my pockets, secatares, string, sissors etc. May sew new pockets on it. I have another which mum bought me that has one maroon and one green sleeve and the pockets are royal blue and red main body is black collar is yellow and it has a v neck. Bought another in the charity shop for a fiver and that has the slit neck and is a lovely deep emerald green.

Just a quick hallo,

Jane, WHAT IS WILLIES FOR.?? I don't know where that came from.

Ros is all packed, I think she is looking forward to having a break from my temper, and tantrums . I know it must be difficult living with me 24/7, But ha ,that's marriage for you.

Rang Lewis just now. Chelsea won the Semi- Final. While on the phone, he stood up and banged his head on a metal candle holder. I think he has cut his head. Silly boy !!!

How could you kill those poor tomato plants Jane, ?? I have loads of plants in the conservatory , but look after them and WATER THEM each day. !!! TRY IT :-D :-D :-D I bet he won't leave you in charge again.

Mel, I was a very proud owner for many years of a fishing smock. Blue canvas. I wore it every time I went sea fishing in the summer months. It's demise came one day when I took it off and pushed it into Ros's M G B sports car, across the battery terminals. The acid leaked onto it , and burnt a nice big hole in it.

Tonight I was singing "Can't get away to Marry you today, my wife won't let me" Ros said where on earth do you find these songs, I replied "from my Youth"

Looking forward to seeing you all SATURDAY EVENING. Bring a bottle or two !!!

I can agree with all of that William.
That walking through the frame today has made the knee and hip very sore,but Iv'ee to get used to it,got no choice.

Life's ful of suprises innit ,I can walk faster than I can hop lol vrooom xx

Evening All,

Beautiful day again and the Buzzards were circling this afternoon over the field at the back and the newts have been enjoying the sun. You can hear the Buzzards before you notice them! I got my blood test done this morning with no hitches and then we went to vote. I took my slip round the back of the little islands where you vote and then for the life of me couldn't remember whether to put a tick or a cross!! :-| I stood a few moments trying to decide, thinking a cross might mean 'not that one!! 'lol Then I decided it was definitely a cross that was required and went to 'post' my slip in the box. OH wondered where I'd got to and said the 'officiators' were beginning to look concerned!! When I told him what happened he just rolled his eyes. :-)

We used a voucher we had to go for lunch and ended up with 3 icecream puds. They had got OH's wrong, so fetched him another and said we could have the wrong one as well!! Phew, we were good for nothing after. We had baked cod with cabbage, leeks and peas and crushed baby pots for our main course ( I gave OH most of my pots) but weren't too impressed as the cod had a pepper crumb on it and was on a very hot spicy sauce. Neither of us could taste the fish and it didn't go together somehow. I should have stuck to the mediteranean veg lasagne with salad that I usually have there. Anyway, I did have a really good, mop your eyes, laugh at OH!! :-D After the meal he went to the bar to pay and on the way back I noticed he had an extremely large, green splodge of his dinner veg, smack on the front of his flies!!!! lol. 'What's that' I said as he arrived back at our table. 'Oh goodness me, how did that happen', he said. 'I know what it is' I replied and couldn't stop a big grin spreading......'your flies have got a leek !!!!' Well he doubled up with laughter and every time he looked at me it set him off again.

I managed to felt my bag, but it escaped the pillowcase halfway through the wash and I thought I would lose the little flowers. It is much smaller than it was, very thick and I managed to pull it into something like the right shape and it's been sitting in the hot conservatory with 2 soup tins inside to hold the shape while it dries!! I've started decorating the flowers now, ready to sew on the bag. Then I'll send a pic. It will be interesting to see what everyone else's look like at class tomorrow.

Frank, I'm sure we could manage without S*y but I'd never persuade OH to give up the sports channel they have. Ours costs a lot as we have more than 1 box, but he's working and pays for it so I shan't fuss. I'm not surprised Ros came home early. I don't think I could sit and do closework all day!

David as the others have said, there was nothing you said to offend. I bet you will ache a bit, getting those ligaments and muscles stretched after the long rest they have had, but it will gradually get them strong again. Your knee will benefit too. I hope you've got brakes now you have wheels. :-)

It does sound nice where you are Ruby......I must take a closer look at The Piedmont........does that mean foot hills? Peach trees with fruit on smell lovely.

Jane, I CAN'T believe you have killed his tomatoes!! :-S

Ooooo William Melly Ward . Melly is what oh calls me.

Here I am and still in my smock!!!! It is a fisherman smock not an old fashioned one.

Did some sowing but it was so hot in the tunnel I had to come down for drink and did'nt go back. Did some ironing. Missed the start of the Politians Husband so am going to watch it on replay later.

Jane fancy killing the tom plants. I hope you know what flavour they were to get the same ones!!

We had a nasty experience tonight just before dinner. A big hawk came down and took mummy blackbird right in front of our eyes. We had a head of a daddy blackbird left in the garden the other day but oh seems to think that was a cat. Now I am not so sure. The thing that is worrying me is they were feeding babies........is it a pair we have lost or have the babies still got one parent?? I do hope so or what wil happen to them? May have to go and search the box hedge tomorrow. I have put the camera up there alongside the box hedge as this morning I got the blackbird eating and taking away the rest of the hedgehog grub. She managed to get two pieces of dried cat food in her beak at once and flew off with it and came back for more.

David's mention about hospital things reminded me of the last time I was in for a fortnight. The one thing there was a lack of was sleep! The lights would stay on anything up to 11.30pm, ages after the nurse had been round and given you a sleeping pill if you needed one (waste of time!!) Sometimes they'd wake you up to insist you have a sleeping pill - very logical!!! In our ward was an unfortunate soul who had been in there for ages, was severely handicapped, couldn't even sit up in bed. He had to have one of the special beds that had a motor in it and was on 24/7. Apart from that, he was very cantankerous with all and sundry. Come lights out, you'd still have the noise of this motor and it's various modes. I must admit, I learnt to get used to it, but not so newcomers, who would make more fuss about it than the actual bed was making noise.
Then there were the various other night noises, snoring, someone knocking something off their locker in the dark, farting (see David, it's everywhere!), someone talking in their sleep, someone shouting from one side ward to another, and so on. Then there were the times when all the lights would go for some patients emergency or another - or a new patient would be admitted in the middle of the night with the utmost of noise and disturbance.
So, no - I got very little sleep at night. The best snooze I got was after the visitors had gone at 8pm, most of the chatty nurses were on changeover or evening break and some mobile patients trundled off with their visitors to the main entrance or for a crafty ciggy. The drinks (supper??? some hopes!) trolley didn't come round till about 9ish if you were lucky. One new patient did make me laugh on his first morning when the 'breakfast' trolley came round. He actually asked the nurse if there was any chance of a cooked breakfast! I don't think HE'D been in hospital before.
Anyway, after we all had a sleepless night, and were just about to drop off in the late/early hours of the morning - the lights would all go with a vengeance - and then complete nothing for an hour when, with any luck, the tea trolley would come round.
Another hospital thing that I always find amusing is the pull-around curtains. Do the staff think they are soundproof as well? They pull them around and then out loud discuss a patients most intimate medical details or maybe even worse. And you have to pretend to be reading or listening to the radio on your earphones. One poor soul had to be re-catheterised in his gentlemen's wedding tackle - you could hear his screams on the entire floor. Did I feel sorry for him.
Where did all this happen - Melly Ward, George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton.

So stay well, and stay out of hospital if you possibly can. But I have to say, otherwise the G E has been very good to both Carmel and myself - we just have to do our sleeping at home LoL. :-D

Getting my glad rags out for the Party :-D :-D......I bet Frank will be locking his doors now lol

Mandy I totally forgot the tomato plants were in the summerhouse :-S Ooops !

I'm just getting ready now to watch the 'Politicians Husband'.I enjoyed the first one last week.
My Nephew in Law (if that is the right saying) will be back tomorrow morning to finish off the wiring job.He worked like a Trojan today.I have a feeling he is under charging us,so will have a word with him .We were quoted about £800 ,and he reckons it will be about £450/£500.That is a big difference.I don't want him to be out of pocket just because we are family.

I'm feeling a little chilly now.Maybe because I am still in my strappy summer top lol and no heating on .

Evening all ,

I feel worn out ,had the family here for tea today ,they come in like a whirl wind ,coats dumped on the chairs ,shoes kicked off and toys every where , i love it really :-D

Ruby it sounds a lovely place where you live , imagine picking peaches from the tree ,do you have peach trees in your garden ?
We travel through Brandon when we go to Stanstead airport , how long have you been out in America ? are all your family out there ? sorry just me being being nosey :-D

Frank , i would love to see your face if we all turned up for a party :-D :-D :-D :-D
Sorting out my party gear as we speak :-D :-D :-D
I daren't ask what the Willies are :-S :-S :-D not after mentioning the Chopper !!

Oh no Jane , he's only away one night and you've killed off the tomatoes !! :-D
I don't think it was murder !!....... just neglect !! :-S :-S :-S :-S :-D :-D :-D :-D

David , just got to do as your told and strengthen the leg muscles gradually ,you don't want to be VROOOOOOM VROOOOMING to quickly and put your self back .

I hope you have brakes David :-D.You might be hurting now but a little bit more each day I'm sure will be easier and begin to strengthen those wasting muscles.
Soon you be doing a real VROOOOOOM VROOOOM. :-D Speedy Gonzales !!!!

I'm still getting grief about the tomato plants :-|..He is calling me a murderer :-S lol

Well I'm in here tonight and possibly tomorrow as well.
They have given me a different walking frame with 2 wheels at the front and I've to no put weight through the damaged leg which seems half an inch shorter than the other du to atrophy of the muscles and ligaments.
The limitted walking I've done has made real sore.
It's going to take some time to turn this back into a strong healthy leg.

No ifs or buts,it will be vrooom XX