General Chat

That is the way I cook the Tesco lamb shank Mel. If you do it in the microwave, because it is partly cooked you would be in danger of over cooking it. I have a feeling if it is not too big and you have a container that fits you might be able to cook it in the air frier.

O and I have cleaned out the big girls this morning and started making 5 moulds of small pork pies. fished leaves out of the pond and fed the fish and chickens.

I have bought myself a lamb shank from Adsa for today dinner as a treat and it says to cook it in the oven. I have always done them in the microwave and its in a big thick bag like the Morrisons ones. I have to put it in a dish and take off the packaging and cover it with foil and bake it for 46 mins.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I shall try it this way as I have 4 huge baked pots in ther and I am going to do roast parnips carrots and tatoes so filling the oven up.

Morning Anng and all,

Another bright sunny morning here with 10 degrees and wall to wall blue sky. I think this must be St Lukes little summer a bit late but I am not complaining.

Woke at 4.30am and heard a sound so lie there a while and listened. I think somehow a mouse has got in the channel the central heating pipes run in under the floor. Got up for the loo and then lay listening for quite a while and there was what seemed to be a tap on a window. Anyway I did drop off again and then woke at 8 am but had a lie in this morning as I have been up early all week with this water man thats supposed to be coming and the washing machine man. I know its good to see people but in your own time please?????

Got a parcel to do up today ready for the post tomorrow and I am working on something for someone who wants a pig on a roasting spit. I have made one but don't know if she will like it as it has its head cut off and its back trotters. Alos she wants some little pork pies so you know what I shall be up to today.

Hope Vera had another good nights sleep even if Anng and I did'nt.

Love to Ann and Mandy.

Good morning all, 7 degrees and a bit grey at 0745. I didn't sleep that well, just drifted off in fits and starts. I did remember to put all the clocks back. as T won a couple in golf tournaments there are several to do so it is good that the PC etc do themselves. It is nice to have it a bit lighter in the mornings but not looking forward to dark evenings and late afternoons.

that was a nice long post Mel, you were busy yesterday which is why your arm ached I expect, maybe give it a rest today.

I really need to get on with making my Christmas cards now so that is what I will be doing. Although I already have the bedding in the washing machine as I have changed the bed. and I have a couple of things I need to do in the garden so that will be my day gone.

We do still have a Nat West in town which is good but not sure how long for. I like it as the cash machines are inside and it feels safer to draw money from those. We have one in Cheltenham as well so one of them is bound to close soon.

BIL came this morning so we did the filter between us . The pond has really cleared since he put two new UV lights in it and he gets the mesh screen out of the box filter I can't reach so I can clean that. This morning poor Tangy fish who has been floating upside down for weeks had passed away as I could'nt see her gills working so I fished her out to be disposed of later and then BIL turned up so he got Crazey fish out from the bottom of the pond and he had pssed too so he took them both down the garde at the end of the back field and buried them for me. OH used to do that down there. I now have 11 nice healthy fish in the pond now.

Mandy it sounds like they are teaching Jake good things and I am so pleased about the extra money they gave him and those sausages will taste wonderful tonight because he made them. Is he enjoying it there? It sounds like they are nice people to work for.

Well BIL came back just now and I was so surprised but he had forgotten his kindle and likes to read before bed to send himself off to sleep. He said he's lost withut it.

Vera you did get on well today with all sorts of jobs, just shows what a good nights sleep does to you. I hope you have another one tonight.

Yes clocks back tonight and back into erly dark evenings and probably dreary wet days. Its been quite nice here today with a chilly breeze from the direction that was blowing all the leaves in the big pond so I have been fishing those out today.

I did a bit on the rockery utside the kitchen window yesterday, cut the box ball back into shape and chopped off all the geranium that grows along there so its looking a bit tidier now but I need to do the weeds on the road again underneath it.

My arm has been hurting a bit today with that sort of work so I have just taken some more painkillers.

BIL brought pasties in for lunch again today so |I only need a sandwich tonight and I bought some of the nice ham at the shop so thats what I shall have with a bit of salad.

Mandy I do online banking its so easy and yo9ucan see just whats gone in and gone ut so easily. but I understand you wanting to use the bank to keep it open. So many have closed locally herein Holsworthy we used to have 4 banks now theres only HSBC left. No Nat West in Bideford either or others. Its such a nuisance when you want to bank something but I do it in the post van now which is good.

Well I think I have bored you lot enough for today so will now go and do my sandwich.

Wish our Ann would pop in... <3

Not really done a lot. Put away the Tesco delivery and hopefully have contacted c services over two very short dates. Have to use either phone or what’s app so as I struggle with the phone I have used what’s app. Not heard back yet though. I also did some admin connected to the photography group and filled a large Bac
G with rubbish from the shed for the bin.

I don’t think any of us like winter much, do we? It wouldn't be so bad if we got cold but bright days; our winters always seem so grey and dreary.

So a new washing machine Mel. Is the damaged one very old?

Enjoy your sausages today Mandy. They’ll taste extra special as Jake made them. Like you I think of people’s jobs and never use the self service checkouts at the supermarket but I do make use of online banking. Most businesses I deal with, even the window cleaner, prefer it. I think it is cheaper for them. There’s also a time factor. I can check our statement, pay bills, send birthday money to the grandchildren, transfer money between our accounts and so on and nothing takes more than a couple of minutes. To go to the bank, do my business there and then wait for an infrequent bus back would take at least 2 hours.

I slept well last night. Today I’ve been catching up on lots of jobs that have been put aside for when I have time. I’ve done some mending and sorted out the freezer in the garage. I keep a notebook of what’s in the garage freezer but my record never seems to tally with what’s actually out there. I know OH takes stuff out and forgets to tell me and I sometimes buy something because it’s on offer, shove it in the freezer and forget to add it to my list..

I’ve also done a bit more in the garden and watered and tidied up the indoor plants, prepared tonight’s meal and done the veg for tomorrow’s roast dinner. Now I am going to take it easy until it’s time to start cooking.

After lunch OH went upstairs to scan a letter into the computer and send it as an attachment to an email. I haven’t seen him since so I think he’s either dozed off or is having trouble with the scanner. I don’t think it’s the scanner as I haven’t heard any shouting or swearing, lol. Maybe I had better go and investigate to check he’s OK.

I am not a lover of winter and hate it when the clocks go back.

I think they will do the shed in January February and will also source a shed for me and put it up.

Sorry Mel that was obviously finger trouble. But it is beautifully descriptive :-D

I nipped into town this morning although there was not a lot of nipping, more a bit of waiting around for buses that were not following their timetable. I can't work out why we should need fewer buses in the winter but that is what has happened, a change in the timetable and a reduction of buses.

Morning all,

Very dull here and it was foggy first thing but it has begun to clear a bit now .
We're having a lazy day as yesterday we had Lewis here so we were on the go most of the day ,we walked to town and saw Jake in the butchers ,bought some sausages he had made which we will have today .

So it looks like you need a new washing machine then Mel how old is this one ,more expense as Frank used to say .

Vera what a todo with the card glad it was all sorted in the end ,all these security checks are good but when you've had an account for so long it's a heck of a job to remember the passwords you used so long ago .
Son keeps saying mum you should do on line banking its so easy you can see instantly what's going in and out of your account but while I can get to the bank and sort things out over the counter that's better for me ,plus I hope it helps to keep the bank going if people are using it .

Anng I meant to say it sounds as if the chap and his father are good in helping in the garden doing the bigger jobs of cutting back ,I suppose the next job will be finding a new garden shed ,will you leave that until the spring .

I often wonder how Gill is and how she is doing with her garden .

Clock's go back tonight everyone ,don't like the darker afternoons and evenings.roll on the spring.

Morning all,

Once again we have bri9ght sunshine and I hope it lasts all day pc is saying Heavy rain later so we will see whose right I suppose.

Don't know if BIL is coming today or not but he may as he did'nt come yesterday. I expect he will be over Exmoor with his camera. He puts pictures online somewhere but I don't know where. I should find out. They will be under Robert Cowlard.

Sorry you're out of sunc this morning Anng.

good morning all. still quite dark here but looks dry if dull. Might just pop into town this morning. Tesco delivery is due 3-4pm but I need to post a card that is going to be late but going from the main post office won't be too bad. I was completely out of sunc with the dates.

At least you know now Mel.

He has just left and did'nt charge me anything as there is nothing he can do. It corosion on the back of the drum and he said it will still be ok for a while but |I shall have to keep draining it myself. I think I need to look at washing machines.

I was so busy laughing at Mel's typo that I didn't notice AnnGs chickle :-)

It was very foggy and damp this morning. Even after the fog lifted it was very grey and mizzly. The computer is telling me that it is 12 degrees and partly sunny. I don't know which part but it's not here.

I spent a couple of hours this morning on admin. type jobs. OH wanted me to do an email for him to send as it was very important that it was clearly understood and he is sometimes a bit too wordy and confuses people. It took me a little while to get it just right. The next thing was OH sorting out a credit card. This is a second card on my account and when using it in a machine recently OH pressed the wrong button and it was locked. He had a letter telling him to phone the company to get it unlocked which he did, but of course they had to speak to me as well as I am the main account holder. Well, the poor man on the end must have thought he was speaking to the village idiot. First I had to keep asking him to repeat things as I couldn't hear him very well. Then he asked me a couple of security questions and I was fine with those. Then as another check he asked the date we paid the last bill. I had no idea as it's paid by DD and just goes straight out of the bank account. He suggested I check the statement but we don't have a paper statement. I said he could wait while I turned the computer on, found the banking website, logged in and found the right transaction. At this point he said he'd try something else. Then he said he had sent a 6 figure code to my phone. That meant a hunt all over the house to find my phone. Eventually I found it on a sideboard that sits in our hall and he asked me for the 2nd and 3rd figure from this code. Then he said he had just one more security question - the name of my most memorable teacher. Well I set these security questions up 15 years ago and haven't needed them since so I hadn't got a clue who I had named at the time. I tentatively said that it might be Miss P. (my old Latin teacher). I still don't know if I was right or not but at that point he gave up and unlocked OH's card. I'm sure the poor man thought I was a dozy old dear who had no idea what she was doing and he was probably glad to get off the phone.

After all that kerfuffle I did some garden jobs. At the moment gardening is really hurting my back but we are way behind this year and it's got to be done if we want a nice garden next year. Apart from clearing beds I need to get lots of pots cleared and bulbs planted in them. I have so many bulbs now that I don't think they will all get planted but I do like to see all the pots of colour in the spring.

I have Tesco delivering between 7 and 8 tonight which is later than I usually have it but I was late booking a slot and couldn't get what I wanted. I'll need to have our dinner early and the kitchen cleared before he comes as I have a very big order this time and will want the surfaces clear to put everything on.

Time to make an afternoon cuppa now I think. Oh, put the flags out; I've just seen a gleam of sunshine.

EDIT They were strange dreams AnnG. I often wake and know I have been dreaming but not knowing what I have been dreaming about. Mel, has your washing machine man sorted out your grit problem yet?

Wshing mchine man has just rung to say he will be out shortly. Hooray!!!!!!! :-D

Just before I woke we had somehow moved to being in a car Daughter driving. She parked and got out. didn't put the break on it started to move I leaned over to steer as she ran to catch us and I woke up.

That is weird Anng. Did you wake before the meal came?

I have washed out bird feeders and chicken bowls and drinkers and the suns still shining and its12 degrees.

I had a really weird dream goodness knows where it came from. I was with daughter and SiL and on holiday at some sort of place like a down market Butlins. We were all sitting at a long table waiting for a meal that never came, there were lots of people there. daughter went to challenge the woman in charge and she said something like 'you just have to wait for it'. Weird.

Morning all,

Another bright and sunny morning here but pc says mostly cloudy and only 9 degrees.

Got up in the night for the loo and could'nt get back to sleep again. I must have dropped off eventually as I had a funny dream about the washing machine man coming and mum got out of the van!! Then the sun woke me up and the man with the chainsaw over the back who is thinning the trees. He's been at it for a couple of weeks now taking lower branches off and cutting some right out. He starts about 8am so its like an alarm clock for me and time to get up if I have overspept. I am very concious of not being dressed if the man comes.