General Chat

Good afternoon all, though I am not sure what is good about it. It's cold, grey and very wet :-(

It's nice to see you Gwyn. You really did get battered in last week's storms. What a shame about the classroom roof and the play equipment but the important thing is that the children were all safe. Is this the school where you help?

There are still a number of summer flowers blooming, as you say Gwyn. A couple of days ago I cleared a trough of a pretty dark-leaved, white begonia. I had to do it while I had the time but it was a shame to pull them up. They were still looking lovely. I've still got 2 big pots of yellow aryranthemum by the front door and some antirrhinums in the garden, though I have stopped deadheading now so I expect they will go over soon.

I hope your back is easier today Mel. You have my sympathy. You can't keep on like this with your laundry, you definitely need to sort a new machine though, as Frank always said, it will be MORE EXPENSE. It sounds as though you still have your mouse problem to sort out as well. Fingers crossed you have caught the ones already in the wardrobe and no more will be able to get in.

I'm sorry you didn't have a good night last night AnnG. I've slept quite well the last couple of nights though I still seem to be tired when I get up. I hope you have a better night tonight.

I seem to have had a busy day today. I did some washing, then had a bit of a sort out as we are shortly going to be away for a few days and I wanted to make sure thick jumpers and other clothes were all clean. OH and I had a friendly discussion about why he didn't plant anything in the pots I had suggested. Apparently he had listened but assumed I was just making suggestions and it would be quicker and easier to plant it differently. He was amazed when I explained the things chosen for the small pots were so I would have colour in a bit opposite the kitchen window where the big pots don't fit very well. I had also wanted the early spring bloomers in pots that I would later want to use for summer plants and the later bloomers in pots I probably wouldn't need in the summer. He admitted he hadn't thought of looking ahead like that, he had just been intent on getting the job done. Ah, bless (as the youngsters all seem to say).

I don't really miss the very large garden we used to have. It was a lot of hard work but that meant there were enough "big" jobs there to keep him occupied so all the flower and veg growing was left to me.

My iPad is playing up a bit. I think it needs a new battery so I am upstairs with the desktop computer. I haven't put any heating on up here and I am beginning to get very cold so I think it's time for a hot drink downstairs where the heating is on. Stay warm everyone.

Good morning all, ... although it's not very good looking out of the window.

It's wild and wet and the wind is howling.
A lot of the trees around here still have many leaves and that's a problem in strong winds, as the wind can't just blow through them, but meets a barrier and sometimes it's too much for the roots to hold the tree firm in the waterlogged ground.
The local school lost a new mobile classroom roof in last week's storm and some of the children's outdoor play equipment was ruined too, but everyone was safe, thank goodness.

Mel, you really are having quite a time of it, aren't you?
Just when you might be wanting to do extra washing of things from the wardrobe, the washing machine is faulty.
Have they sorted out your water pressure yet? ..It's been quite a while now :-| :-|
I hope everything gets sorted soon. I'd hate to not have full use of my washing machine.

Loved Vera's 'Oyez' announcement :-)
So pleased that you got it sorted at last, but what a lot of bother :-0 :-| When a system was working so well, why change it?
Strange how different surgeries / pharmacies have different ways of working, isn't it.?
When I pick up repeat medication from the pharmacy, I have a 2 months supply and with the meds comes a copy prescription for the next lot. When I get to about 2 weeks from when they run out, I tick the prescription list for required items and post it in the GPs reception area. I must admit that I do this in a special way ever since I went to collect my meds one day and thought that the bag seemed a strange shape for my usual items. The doctor had requested the 2 items on my prescription, which I didn't need, but no sign of the 3 sets of different tablets which I did want. :-| :-|

Now, when I tick an item on the form, I write YES at the end of that line, so there can be no ambiguity.

Ann,
You really are getting sorted in your garden aren't you? I hope Jake can source a suitable shed for you. We need a new shed too. I am thinking of going for a rigid plastic next time. My neighbour has one of a good size and it seems to be standing up to weather conditions well.
I thought of you gardeners, when I went for a local walk yesterday. Perhaps we have milder conditions here generally, but I saw many summer flowers still looking really good and not at all 'over'. Busy Lizzies, Bergonias, Geraniums, Hebe, gazanias,Cosmos and marigolds were all doing well and in 2 gardens I noticed shoots of spring bulbs a good few inches high.

Mandy, Have you got any Christmas craft projects on the go this year? I know the school staff sometimes keep you busy :-)

As it's an 'indoors' day, I will sort a few things for the charity shop. I seem to have 2 pairs of curtains belonging to my elder daughter too :-S ...They can go back, then perhaps there will be more room for my own things here.

Take care and keep warm, everyone. :-D

Don't rush to do it Mel if your back is already hurting. Leave it a day and rest your back. and, yes get a new washing machine. :-)

!0 times I emptied the baking tray. I have my bedding in it now but I shall need to go and get a new machine as I can't go on like this.

My back is still a bit bad after moving the bedside unit thats in the bottom of his wardrobe. I shall also have to have the top shelf out to see if the mice have been up there as I did'nt do that yesterday.

Wish me luck......... :-(

Miin C'tane typ Morning all,

cloudy 11 degrees pc playing up.

Caught another mouse in the wardrobe. Went to put washing machine on and it just filled up with water and says its on a anti crease finish and its half full of water which I shall probably have to drain.

May be back later if I can.

Morning all,

Dreary morning here with rain I think it should ease up by lunch time so glad I got my washing dry yesterday .
Not sure if we'll shop today we could go in the morning as I checked the time for our hair cut and it's later than normal she usually comes at 11 o'clock but tomorrow its 1.30 so good job I looked at ths calendar.

Enjoy your lunch Anng hope it stops raining but you might need your umbrella.

Good morning pouring with rain here at the moment and 9 degrees. I am hoping it is not going to continue all day. I need it to stop by 12 o'clock when I will be walking out to the local pub for lunch.

Just couldn't get to sleep last night dozes off and woke an hour later then tossed and turned for over two hours, eventually dropped off, woke once for the loo then slept until 7am.

I have to say that a lot of rather large spiders were released into the garden today. Hope they are not making their way indoors here. I also checked the hedgehog house. There is a nest in it so it has been lived in but not one in there at the moment.

No Mel, no greenhouse as I don’t need it. I only grow tomato seeds and that can be done in the conservatory.

Mandy I suspect if will be here sooner than expected that will not be a problem and would be good to get it done.

Vera I doubt if Mac will bother about getting a fence panel up, I am not sure of his age but he must be about 86/7 at least. He is Scottish and watches his money. He will probably tell me it is my fence but I know it is not.

I have just seen the horrific number of pharmacies that have been lost in the South West. Some towns left without one at all. Lack of staff, huger rents, no government funding. Why do they always high light these problems when it is almost too late to solve them.

Are you having a new greenhouse too Anng?

I have had the bottom of the wardrobe out and sorted everything I want to keep and thrown some stuff away. Blocked up the hole where the pipe comes through with the metal scourer in two places so hope that will stop anymore coming in. I shall have to keep my eye out for droppings incase one can get in again.

I darned a hole in my cardi that I caught on a clip in the kitchen cupboard and hurt my back doing that and now its playing up. Hoovered all the spare bedroom and some of the hall and the uti room.

Now my tping ss plauy.. I ge up

They have had a good day in the garden Anng so you might get the shed up sooner than you thought if they can find one you like so that will be good .

Hip hip hooray hang out the flags Vera has got her tablets :-D :-D glad it's all good now Vera it's a worry when you need tablets and they mess you about .I'm like you I only have my cocodamol now and again as I have 100 at a time too
Oh dear poor OH he tried his best bless him you never know he might have planted a few in the right pots lol but you won't know until the spring.

I hung the bedding out and it all got dry ,I just let Max out and its just started to rain ,tomorrow should be a wet day and we wanted to shop tomorrow as the hairdresser is coming on Thursday so we'll see how it goes if it's tipping it down we'll stay in the dry.

Sorry Vera I missed you there. Oh thank goodness for that, ok too many pills but that is 100% better than none.

I think your OH does it on purpose to make us smile. Trouble is I was already grinning before you got to the point of him getting it wrong. Predictable poor man. He really doesn’t seem to take it in.

I have just washed on a low wash in the dishwasher, 16 China (mostly) pots for holding plants in flower pots of all varying sizes from very small to quite large that were stored on a high shelf in the shed.. I am hoping that some may find a home when people come to the garden interest group on Thursday. Otherwise I have to take them down to the charity lady

It was all finished. By 3pm. Looks strange there at the moment. Have to wait now until Jake sources the new shed.

They finished at about 3pm. All down, and cleared away, just the bases left and a large gap into next doors garden. Good job neither of us have a dog. I have to wait now while Jake sources the new shed.

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez.......town cryer announces Vera has tablets. Put out the bunting and give 3 loud cheers :-D :-D

I went to the pharmacy and said to the assistant that I hoped she was going to say they had a prescription for me because if she didn't I was going to have hysterics in the shop. Poor girl looked a bit worried but came back and said it was there and the chemist would make it up straightaway. The chemist himself brought the pack out to me and was almost grovelling as he had to tell me that the prescription said co-codamol capsules and they didn't have any capsules so he had to give me the tablet form. I had to laugh - I didn't even want co-codamol.. 3 items are on repeat batch and I get them every 4 weeks, the co-codamol is separate and comes 100 at a time and I just order when I'm getting low. I'd gone from having nothing to having everything whether I needed it or not. I think both the surgery and the pharmacy are tiptoeing around me a bit as I certainly made my feelings known when I went in yesterday.

My neighbour who goes to the other doctors' practice in town is also having problems so it isn't just my surgery. As AnnG said, if you had read this sort of thing a few years ago you wouldn't believe it would happen in our NHS.

Well, AnnG, you have had a busy day but good to have some help getting your shed cleared. They do seem to be good workers. We could do with someone like that round here. Do you think whoever owns your fence will put a couple of panels up now you have a gap there?

That's good you found your mouse hole Mel. I hope you can manage to block it so they can't get back in.

You have been doing well with your garden Mandy. It sounds almost winter ready. I was fretting a bit about not getting all my bulbs planted so OH said he would make a start. I went round the garden with him showing him which big pots could be used for the taller plants (mostly daffs and tulips), then we went into the garage and I showed him all the smaller, shallower pots that I use for things like mini-tulips that only grow a few inches. These fit nicely in an area I can see from the kitchen window and give me a bit of colour there. Did he listen? Did he, heck. We have a large half barrel filled with mini plants that will barely be seen over the top, and nothing is where I wanted it planted. I also told him to label the pots so I knew what was in them. He decided I should do that so came in and told me that on each pot he had put the marked paper bags the bulbs were stored in so I would know what was in the pot and could label it accordingly. Of course, it didn't occur to him that it might rain. It poured, the names inked on the bags got very smudged and the bags started to disintegrate, so I can't read what's planted where. Grrr, what would you do with him? The stupid thing is I feel guilty for being cross because I know he was only trying to help. Sometimes I think common sense flew out of the window when he was born.

I must go and get dinner ready. I have Ladies Club tonight so we need to eat about 6 pm.

Well my day was sorted for me. I had a message to say Jake was coming to finish off the sanding of the drive. I had put my bedding in the washer and was just having breakfast when he and his Dad arrived. After putting the sand down they wanted to look at the shed and greenhouse. I had already opened it up as I was still sorting stuff to go in the garage. So Jake said he would help me empty both of them if I told him what I wanted to keep and he would take the rest away. so I sorted and he carried it all to the garage. then they decided to get on with demolishing them both. They are halfway through and have stopped to go and get some chips for lunch. Not sure when they will do the new shed. No doubt they will tell me.
They do work fast and work well together. I had forgotten there was no fence behind the shed. It is not our fence so I don't know why there is not a bit there. so it will be a gap until the new shed goes up.

Found where it got in the wardrobe. Its where the central heating pipe comes through for my bedroom. It had started to make a nest and has chewed a suit liner I had hanging in there over oh's suit. I shall have to get one of my wire scrouers and see if I can stuff it in the hole.

Morning all,
Lovely sunny morning here ,I nipped out to get the bin in as they are always here about half six to empty it and it was very chilly .

Yes Anng we've done well getting the garden tidy this year ,I stil need to get all the dead leaves off the hostas in the pots out in the front garden but they look like they need a few more days they are not quite dead enough to just pull off easily.
I have stripped the bed and thats just finished in the machine so I might hang it out although there's no wind so it might come in as wet as it went out .

Oh Mel thats good you've caught the mouse let's hope it's only the one :-0 if the plastic bag has all gone it does sound like they might have used it for a nest so i hope you can find it ,we had an old tilt in the wood shed a few years ago and a mouse shredded it and used it for a nest .

Fingers crossed you get your tablets today Vera.

Morning all,

8 degrees here and once again bright and blue sky with clouds but a bit of rain also. Just had a lovely rainbow out the front. I was up at 7.24am and it was a bit chilly so I turned the heating on and went back to bed for half an hour.

Mandy yes I remeber Weekend chocs. I liked the marzpan and the jelly and the nutty almonds and there was a fudge and I think a nouget. You had such a nice selection for all the family. I wonder when they stopped making them and why not bring them back now?

Shopping comes today and then the rest ofthe day is mine to get on with some ironing and HW. I need to hoover.

I caught my mouse in the spare bedroom wardrobe so now I have to get all the stuff out to see if it made a nest in there. Its oh's wardrobe and lots of thing on the floor. When I went in there the other day on the carpet in front of the door there was lots of plastic carrier bag bits so I opened the door and I had a fan in there covered in a polythene bag. The fan was bare so the mouse must have eaten it and left just crumbs of it. It must have been one of these starch bags the bio degradable ones. I put the superdooper mouse trap in there on the side cupboard that in there and popped some sunflower seeds in it. Then I looked once and nothing in it and forgot for a day or so and when I ooked yesterday there was the mouse in it but it had died. That needs a good wash now and I shall reset it incase he had a friend.

good morning all clear and cold here this morning. I slept very well last night and was up just after 7 and put the bedding in to wash. 7 degrees here so chilly but at least it is dry. I hope to get a bit more cleared from the shed today. I am almost down to the rubbish now. At least I don't have to clean it out when empty. Still have things in the greenhouse and bits on walls , hooks etc I might try and keep so will have to remove them.

Vera, you really couldn't make it up about the trials of getting a prescription from your surgery. It is beginning to look/sound like a Two Ronnies sketch. It is certainly a farce. But it is no laughing matter now is it? The real trouble is that none of us have a problem believing it. Who would have thought it could happen if we had red about it 10 years ago?

Mandy you are well ahead with your garden by the sound of it well done.