General Chat

Ann :-D :-D :-D does that mean he had used up the last of the plaster. Better get a new roll tomorrow then. Hope it has stopped bleeding now.

It has come over very black and looks thundery, but no rain so far.

Afternoon All,

It's hot here today so we were up early to go to the art exhibition a few villages away. It's the first one I've been to there since the pandemic as I missed the first ones when they started up again. OH wanted to come so we went in his car. The standard is very good, but there were fewer paintings than there used to be. There was a lovely large painting of the late queen in 1953 on one wall. A photo had been blown up and divided into squares and each member of the group had painted a square each, then they had all been put together to make the big painting which looked very effective.

Well Vera I can imagine my OH doing that too! I just told him what your OH had done and he smiled but looked a bit sheepish. He has done something stupid himself today and not used his perfectly intelligent brain either. We went outside to do a bit more weeding and he found some longer loppers in the garage and was using them to cut more branches off a taller shrub. As usual he managed to injure himself by gouging the back of his hand on a cut edge of branch, so off he went inside to put a plaster on it. Well he came out a bit later with a long piece of fabric plaster wrapped from one side of his hand over his knuckles to the other side to cover a gouge the size of my small fingernail. I don't think he'd thought to cut a piece off the length of plaster. Well would he stop fiddling with his hand, flexing his fingers and pressing it till a small spot bled through. I'm sure he was convinced then that due to his blood thinners he was going to bleed to death. I pointed out that he hadn't bled to death at the dentist with an extraction, in fact he didn't bleed at all. He looked at me amazed when I asked him why he hadn't worn his leather gardening gloves that were at the side of his sun hat he'd remembered to put on. It was only yesterday, he'd pushed cuttings and twigs down in the gardening bin and the red berberis I'd trimmed back had stuck in his hands. I'd asked him then why he didn't have his gloves on. He said I should have warned him, but he usually uses the empty humper to push the twigs down in the bin. I told him he needs to get better aquainted with the Berberis that has been in the garden for at least 10 years so he should have known it was prickly. Worse is to come! After lunch he usually plays his music in the kitchen while washing up the things we need every day, the rest going in the dishwasher. He has some large rubber gloves in the drawer, but did he put them on......no! He plunged his hands and submerged the fabric plaster and the blood of course oozed through. So what does he do, he grabs first the teatowel, then hand towel, both of which were clean and I'd put out half an hour before and gets blood on them. He then goes into the bathroom and manages to get blood on his bath towel too. A woman would have used a paper towel or even toilet paper! I had to sort him out then with an out of date first aid dressing in a first aid box I keep in the car. He'd told me ages ago to throw them away, but I'd kept them saying they were better than nothing. He's been under strict instructions to not fiddle with it and keep his arm up since and it's not bled through again. So with having my nurse's hat on and doing an extra wash I never got the kitchen floor mopped or the fridge cleaned before the food delivery. He did say I was good to him, but what are they like eh! lol.

Rain did'nt last that long this morning but it seems to have freshened everything up and the leaves on the trees look more colourful.I had lunch and then pulled a bit of ivy off the fence at the end of the decking but I really need to have a good go at it as it is behind the Albertine rose its a bit hard and I can't stnd down the hwole off the deckking and get back up again easily as its quite a drop. I need a couple of breezeblocks down there to stand on.

Have I sent the rain over Mandy?.

Oh Vera, we would be a very dull lot without your OH. Please tell him not to change. Obviously he took what you said very literally. But, as you said, why didn't he question it. (Maybe he was scared to!!)

Mandy the trouble with our climate is we get all or nothing. It would be lovely to have two days of gentle steady rain then up to a week of sunshine and not much wind. But it never works like that.
You have reminded me I ought to weed outside the front fence. Trouble with that is, when Jake and his Dad put the fence up they trapped a lot of the weed roots in concrete for the posts. Why they didn't weed it fist I am not sure.

When we get that heavy rain it certainly spoils all the young plants ,a nice steady rain all night would be lovely but we can't pick and choose we have to have what comes .

Colin went into the shed to clear his tools away ,when he does a job every tool in the shed seems to have to make an appearance then they are just get put inside on the floor or the saw table ,I have a little moan and it seems to do the trick :-D
I washed Colins big ladder that hangs on the back of the fence it was getting a bit green in places so needed doing then we both went out the gate and weeded and swept along the outside of our wall so that looks better now .

Computer says 17 degrees and sunny, iPad says 21 and sunny and phone says 22 and cloudy. About the only thing they agree on is that there isn't going to be any rain for several days. Fwiw, it's definitely sunny and feels hotter than 17 degrees even though it's quite breezy.

Annx, OH is fine with the planting provided I give exact instructions of what to plant where. He did make one silly mistake yesterday. I wanted a phygellus repotted as the pot it's been in is now too small. I sorted out a big pot we have and suggested OH put plenty of crocks or polystyrene in the bottom so we wouldn't need to use quite so much compost - it is a very big pot. I showed him the level the plant should go at and left him to it. My instructions weren't exact enough; I didn't say to take the plant out of its small pot first! He had put a load of bricks in the container and just stood the original small pot on the top. You couldn't make it up. When I asked why on earth he had done that he said that's what he understood me to mean though he did think it was very odd. So why didn't he query it? And this is an intelligent man.

This morning I think he is trying to make amends. He has removed from another pot a Chilean Guava that I've had for years but is now not looking happy so that's in the brown bin. I've now potted the phygellus into that pot. OH has also given our big American style fridge a good clean out for me.

I saw what I thought was 2 young robins on the feeder this morning. They were clearly fully fledged but hadn't yet got red breasts so I wasn't sure but later I saw them sitting on the fence with an adult robin. I think they are nesting in a garden to the side of ours.

I've just seen the time. I'd better go and sort out my veg for Sunday lunch. Enjoy the rest of the day whatever the weather is in your neck of the woods..

We have a yellow warning now so I guess all the plants that have been flowering nicely in the dry spell will now be bashed down.

"The warning is in effect from 12pm on Monday until 10pm that night, with forecasters cautioning that up to 30mm of rain could fall in under an hour, leading to potential flooding and hazardous driving conditions.
"Forecasting exactly where thunderstorms will form at this range is fraught with uncertainty, so please stay up to date with the Met Office forecast through the weekend, and any severe weather warnings which may be issued."

Hope it get to me soon then.

Just walked down to Irene's with five books and a bag of 15 pairs of socks. Hopefully she can find a home for them.
21 degrees still mostly sunny but windy as well.

Its raining here.....................

Morning all,

Cloudy here now but till bright and dry at the mo. Its 15 degrees and pc says cloudy.

More potting and watering today I think but will see how it goes and just mosie along. No one is coming as far as I know so I am hoping for a peaceful day.

Mandy, the book exchange stall is only there once a month but I take 6 books then so still have some left so plenty of holiday reading. Irene has told me to knock if I need a book as they are always available.

Morning Anng ,morning all,

We have a lovely blue sky with hardly a cloud so it should be another good day.
Not a lot planned for the day just going to havs a see how it goes day

Anng when you take the books to Irenes can you swap them for some for your holiday reading or does she only have them out to swap on certain days .

One job I must do is give my Hostas in the pots out the front some water ,they only get a bit of evening sun so don't dry out very much.

good morning all I guess Genes had a sunday morning lie in this morning as I have not been able to get on here for the past half hour.

Sunny here again and 9 degrees so looks like being a nice day. And looks like another water the plants day.

As usual for Sundays, nothing planned. I will probably walk down to Irenes to take some of the books back.

No not seen the baby Robin's yet but he's still taking food away. I have a pair round by the chicken run that I havet o take some fat pellets to each time I go round there. They wait in the holly tree for me and I put them on the top of the run fence. as soo as I turn to go away thye come down.

Just one more lot of the strawberries to repot and that those finished. Then I have to clean the soak tray and see if I can get them all in one big tray and the little one on the end so I can do away with the tray that hangs over the barrow. Lets hope the squirrels don't tuck in this year.

Evening all,

It's been a lovely sunny day but there's been quite a strong wind , Iwe have been out in the garden getting the garden table put together and getting the chairs out .

Vera thats a lovely lot of plants ,hope OH got them in the right places for you anc now the watering starts ,I have been using water from one of the butts but we soon need rain as they will soon run dry .

Ann have you given the shower head a good descale lately ,I know we told Colins brother ( the plumber) that our shower was taking a while to heat up and he said descale the head and it worked ,I thought as I had clean it regularly and it wasn't that but he was right .
Knees not to bad I can still feel it ,it feels tight at the back and I hobble a bit when I get up .
Aldi had those little begonias on Thursday also lobelia and pertunias .

That's was awful about that Sycamore tree ,why drive out and chop the tree down and film it makes no sense to me I hope they throw the book at them.
We have a Sycamore tree over the way and I'm always pulling the little saplings up they mix in with the plants and then I suddenly spot them when the leaves get bigger ,we have loads of the little spinning aeroplanes come in the garden .

Shame you couldn't find the right colour blue top Anng ,perhaps blue isn't in this year ,I love blue its my favourite colour .

Oh gosh Mel fancy having to eat three eggs a day ,I hope she doesn't get egg bound :-0 still it gets your egg supply down a bit .
Did you ever see the baby Robins.

Did the shop and cleaned out the chickens nest box. Then I did the pond filter on both ponds. I was just fishing the huskd out of the big pond as I had fed them and there was still a lot of food in there uneaten when Aron called in for eggs. His wife needs to bump up her vitamin d so was told by the doc to eat three eggs a day. Great I thought he had two dozen and left me a tenner for towards the next lot.

I have mixed up a load of compost to repot some strawberries and my little indoor plants,(Cape primroses) Streptocarpus I have four from cutting I take in water on the windowsill but they are all white ones.

I need to sow my new runner beans too as theres nothing showing on the ones I sowed ages ago. I'll sow a lot so I can give somet o Aron and Beccy and Janine and Simon.

Did you see about the Sycamore Gap tree in the paper today. I think those two men should serve a longer sentance than 10 years. I always oved that tree and we used to see it on Country file and in the film Robin Hood and its been in other things over the years. Such a beautiful shaped tree even though I call them weed trees here as they sow themselves everywhere you don't want them in this garden.

Just washed some pots so am off to do some planting and sowing now.

Just a burger to cook tonight so not a lot of prep there then.

Yes and watering tends to run off thesurface rather than soak in too. I've just done battle with unpacking the spray with weedkiller container and lugged it up the garden. I'm not sure that I like it as you have to keep pumping it even for a half inch wide short spray that soon dribbles. If I pump it up more the container hisses as if it's the maximum pressure it will take. I'll see what OH thinks tomorrow and have left it behind the shed out of the sun for now rather than lug it back. Nothing seems to work properly here just lately. The shower for ages now takes ages to warm up and so wastes a lot of water. I think it's the new boiler we had and will have to get them back. I ended up using the ensuite shower this morning as the other went cold again just after I thathered my hair. Then when I was soaked I realised there was no soap in there and I'd forgotten to bring my bigger towel with me. :-S At least the car window is still staying up.

I went to see The Wheel Specialist yesterday, about 6 miles away and OH came and decided to wait in the car. He managed to trigger the car alarm after I'd gone inside! It's the first time I've heard it so at least I thown it works. Apparently the diamond cut wheels are dearer to refurbish......guess what mine are! I could have them plain grey instead and not have the spare wheel done which would be a bit cheaper. Each wheel will cost almost as much as the spare wheel I bought for it but that was 7-8 years ago. I think I'll stump up my earnings from ERNIE and get them done though. I don't want to have to swap the car yet so will see some benefit for a few more years and if they get worse they might not be able to do them at all.

The trouble with planting anything now, when it has been so dry so the new roots can't find any water in the soil is that they have to be well watered in and then watered a lot each day until established. I am hoping that the forecast is righ at we are expecting to have rain on Monday. Then reverting back to hot and dry afterwards. Hope it is a good steady soaking.

Afternoon All,

Another sunny day with no rain so I might try the new weed sprayer while OH is out at footie! I still haven't done the border at the bottom of the garden that has an area cleared of plants I want to keep. I can then start planting it up in a few days. There are a couple of plants I want to move from the front garden that can go there, one is a nice geranium with pink flowers and there's a Fuschia.

Vera it sounds like a nice selection of plants you bought that will look lovely in your garden. I would not trust my OH to plant them as he dosn't plant things deep enough and when you tell him he thinks he can just squash them down rather than dig the holes deeper. He's ok planting runner beans but on the whole destroying things is more his forte! Bit by bit he's enjoying cutting down some tall, too vigorous shrubs we no longer want in the back garden! Our garden bin is almost full again already.

Mel I remember having a small plastic model of the coach with lots of horses pulling it too. I wasn't even born by VE day either.

Gwyn I'm having second thoughts about those three cornered leeks and think they are best kept out of the garden! lol. They would be a handy free addition for the soup kitchens in the area though! I had a manager once who used to help in the local soup kitchen at the weekends. If I walked into the nearby city in my lunch break with him, and we saw any of the regular tramps they would all come and speak to him like a long lost friend and he was always very kind to them.

It's a shame there aren't royal blue tops in the shops AnnG. So often these days you find a top you like to find it is at most only in a couple of colours whereas years ago it would be in more. I've had to water the pots this morning.

I hope your knee is ok now Mandy and that you have stopped hobbling. It doesn't take much to twist or overstretch something does it. Have you finished planting everything up now? I still need some of those little begonias to plant where the sun beats down and it is very dry.

I also tidies out my sock drawer. Still have loads left in there, maybe need another sort out.