General Chat

Good morning all. 4 degrees here so a lot warmer.
Joan what a performance with the water, thank goodness for your friend, hope he can get it sorted for you.
Florence good that the snow has disappeared and you are now stocked up a bit more again.
Linda, it must be frustrating not knowing when you will be moving, hope it all goes through soon so that you have some sort of date to work with.
Chocolates, Hmm! yes three boxes for Christmas and I am slowly eating them before getting back on the low carb diet as I put on weight over Christmas.

I am glad that you have your water back Joan. I hope that the electrical problem isn’t too bad and you neighbour can sort it out for you.

You are all very naughty tempting me with chocolates. That won’t do my weight any good :-0

If I eat too much chocolate, it makes me wheezy so have to restrict to like 2-3 squares of chocolate or 2 say milk tray. It's because of my asthma.

I just fancy a nice boiled fruit sweet like Foxes fruits but I haven't got any and couldn't see them on Tesco either. Infact there wasn't a great choice of fruity boiled sweets.
I cant really donate any of mine as they are all open with a few missing from each box ;-)

I have a lot of Christmas sweets, too, Florence, and don't know what to do with them, as I very seldom eat sweets, and don't want to start.

I might donate them to the local foodbank - though not exactly nourishing for their clients!

No Ferrero Rocher, thank goodness - my least favourite.

:-D :-D :-D @names def not :-P :-P :-P Cant stand to watch that dreadful programme, makes me feel sick first time I ever saw it!

Fav pizza, big fat chips for me, soup and half a pizza for her,

We still have loads of sweets from xmas, quality street, after eights, maltesas etc Im just fed up with them ,oh and a 24 tray of Ferrero Rocher.

Is Florence’s daughter a fan of I’m a Celebrity……
A bit chewy perhaps.

:-D :-D :-D :-D

Hi Florence. I hope your daughter has bought some lovely teats for you both to enjoy.
Yes our friend is a lovely man, only young, a very kind person.

Daughter has just been here to check on the holding tank, it is now full to the top, she has switched the generator off.
I am so relieved, our friend just needs to locate the breakage in the wiring now, once that's been sorted the pump with do it's own thing in keeping the tank topped up.

I just hope there are no more problems, I don't think I can take much more stress.

Joan.

Oh Joan, what a lovely man and so glad he can help you by giving you a generator so you are not with out water. Those kind of people are hard to come by. thesedays and those that are ready to help charge the earth!

Daughter just made it for the bus and now home with bags of goodness know what lol
I have just put the heating on now as the temp seems to have dropped sharply so it will soon be warm in here.

Linda, my estate agent said that the local authorities are the ones that take ages to answer all the questions about land etc... we have no chain and just the buyer and seller and she said end of Feb beg of Mar hopefully. So until all the paperwork and land registry forms have been dealt with, they cant give you a date yet. The searches here have all been done and completed.

Hello Linda, I do hope the house sale goes well for you, you deserve something good to happen.

Our friend has been to check out the water situation, it would appear there is no power reaching the pump, he will need to check the wiring that connects the pump to our electric supply, in the mean-time he is going to connect his own generartor so as to get some water from the well up to the holding tank.

I don't know how we would manage without him, he is an electrician by trade & very knowledable re plumbing so he is very useful, & very willing to help.

It is thawing nicey here just now, icicles have gone & most of the deep snow on the roof has cleared, the guttering however is full of snow !

Lots of deep snow all over the garden not touched yet, many of the shrubs can'r be seen at the moment & I reckon it will be a while before we see the mass of Snowdrops.

Joan.

And then it was gone......

Afternoon all. Had a very sleepless night as my sinuses are really bad and just kept sneezing and blowing me nose every few minutes, just awful. But then the rain came and was lashing on my bedroom window at 4am!

However I eventually nodded off after sleeping sitting up with loads of pillows but when I got up at 8am, opened the curtains to find most of the snow had vanished as if by magic :-D

So daughter away to town to collect some things and then back at 2.30 . I have made another pan of lentil soup today as she really enjoyed the other pan.
We did do some baking but.... my cinnamon swirls were not the best. They were edible but not that tasty and wasnt worth the pile of washing up either afterwards!!

Anyway no baking today.

I am carrying on with the friends family tree to get it finished asap. Daughter is working on a Diamond Art I bought her for xmas and its keeping her busy.

Joan, Oh my no water upstairs!! Gosh what next? I so hope your friend can sort out the pump for you. Yes phone the hospital and explain your situation. about not being able to do any washing. Here's hoping you wont need a new one, maybe its just because of the freezing temp and snow maybe.

AG, that's a real nuisance with the freezer but its lasted pretty well. Think my mums old fridge was about 25 years when it finally gave up. I sometimes wish we had space for another or larger freezer to build up a good supply for when we cant get deliveries. My fridge freezer has 4 drawers so not huge but there is only 2 of us but like you we are rural. I don't have a garage or shed and although kitchen is a good size, there really isn't room for any other appliance.

The courier has just been and delivered me a large Thermos Flask I ordered last week. One of those things we just never got round to buying. Its 1 litre in size with 2 cups and will be handy especially as there is a big storm heading this way next few days so perfect timing :-D

Well better check on the soup and make some crumpets for me lunch then more family tree work.

Hope you get sorted Joan

Florence in the hebrides

Oh Joan, the water problem is just what you don’t need. It makes me appreciate our mains services. I hope that your neighbour can get you up and running again

I have spent all morning answering queries from our new buyers solicitor. So it looks like they did buy the searches from the previous buyers and everything is progressing quickly. I just wish we had a timescale so we could have a rough idea when we will be going, assuming everything goes through smoothly of course

Hi again.
Daughter came up & checked the holding tank, it's not empty but very low, it's at a level where the upstair taps & toilet cistern can''t get water so avery nice friend who has helped us in the past with our water supply is coming to have a look at the pump etc to see what the problem is.
Our daughter tried to check it out herself but she could get the lid of the pump house.

Our friende lives across several fields from me & has been a real help for me & hubby since hubby hasn't been able to sort these things himself anymore
In the meantime I shall have to just wait for the friend to check things & then let me know whats what.
I am hoping we don't need a new pump as they don't come cheap & the current one is not very old, but we do have a spare new one should it be needed !

Joan.

I’d forgotten about your water source, another issue to raise when they try to send hubby home.

You need to let the ward know about the lack of water so you can’t wash his clothes, even if you could get there to pick up and drop off. Make sure they know that it is well water and not frozen pipes.

Oh dear, Joan - it's one thing after another, isn't it?
I hope your water situation is sorted out quickly. From that point of view, thank goodness your husband is still in the hospital.

Perhaps the pump is frozen?

The thaw has finally started over here in the west, too.
Most things are still snow-covered, but tree branches and twigs no longer have a layer of snow sitting on them, and there's water dripping off the roof.
A very welcome sound!

A thaw has also set in in my freezer, unfortunately.
It's not getting cold enough, and some food has partly thawed.
I've tried defrosting and restarting it, but that has made no difference.
I've had it for 23 years and 3 months (yes, I keep old paperwork too, Florence) , so it won't be worth repairing, even if parts are available, but it's done very well, so I can't really complain.
I won't order a new one immediately, as I'm going to try doing without it.
I have a fridge-freezer as well as the freezer, and a ridiculous amount of food in the house for just one person - but as I live several miles from a shop, its a security/comfort thing.

I hope everyone else is a bit less snowy now, too.

Good morning to you all, though it's really not that good.

I woke this morning quite early & discovered we had no cold water upstairs, I was desperate for the loo but didn't want to have to flush in case the cistern didn't fill up again.
We have cold water downstairs so I am thinking that it's not frozen pipes but that the holding tank for our water supply is empty ! which would indicate the pump down by the well has stopped working for some reason !

Our daughter is going to come over & check both to assess the problem.

The cold snap seems to have released it's grip here at the moment as I can see dark spots where the snow is melting & we have light rain just now, howeve there is a LOT of snow so even rain won't shift all the snow that quickly.

Yesterday there were icicles hanging from the 2 front bedroom bay windows that are situated into the roof space, there were 16 hanging from one & 26 from the other, only about 3 on each this morning.

As if I haven't enough happening for me at the moment this happens, the hospital are going to have to not change hubbys clothing on a daily basis as I don't have water to wash them & neither does daughter, her pipes ARE frozen ! Nightmare.

I hope the weather is not too serious for any of you.

Joan.

Oh dear Linda, what a morning you have had!! I think personally, charity shops are a lot more picky thesedays and some are almost run as a business. I know they want to make money for their charity but should be grateful for all the free donations they get surely?

I noticed some time ago, the last time i was in a charity shop, that the prices for things have really increased. I wonder is that a national thing like where you are etc? I remember years ago, my son needed a thick overshirt for his xmas play as he was a woodcutter. So I went in a shop and they had just what i needed but it was £5! So I went down to good old Woollies and there in the sale was one for £2 so I bought it, job done.

With dark furniture, a lot of people sand it down to the wood and varnish. It can look really great.

Anyway hope someone takes it for you and at least your Amazon delivery came.

No such deliveries here. I have seen a handful of cars, no doubt brave carers but no buses or anything else on the rds.

Its getting really windy here and when a snow shower comes, its blows everywhere.

I have finished my ironing and now going to make a sandwich and a cuppa for lunch. Daughter wants to do some baking so will no doubt be plenty of mess lol.

Joan, you were quite right to stay indoors else you may have slipped over and hurt yourself. So if hubby took a tumble whilst being helped, how on earth can you manage him alone at night if he needed the toilet?? He may not want a fuss, but if it had been my dad, I would have complained.

Spoke with dad last night but his xray shows left lung full of fluid which explains him being short of breath but he hasnt been prescribed anything yet to get rid of that?? His speech is really good now almost normal but he sounds very frail. He says he has put on 1/2 stone but now he says he has fluid, that would explain it as his appetite isn't too good. But for now he's holding his own.

Hope everyone is keeping safe

Florence in the hebrides

Grr, I don’t believe it. The charity turned up, but then said that they wouldn’t take it. Firstly because the two cabinets have glass in the doors, so the volunteers can’t carry them and secondly because they are dark wood and they have now decided they aren’t taking dark wood as they can’t sell it. I did show them photos before Xmas and it was fine then, but not now!!!
There was someone on the Facebook site who was going to collect it before Xmas, but I had to cancel her when the house sale fell through, so I have sent a message to see if she still wants it. If not, I will have to put it on the free sites again

On a more positive note, my Amazon parcel has turned up, so I can get that posted.

No thank you Florence, I don’t want the snow. It sounds to be very pretty, so you keep it where it is :-)

I am still waiting for the charity shop to come for the furniture, there I still half an hour if morning , so hopefully they will still turn up. I have an Amazon delivery due in the next hour. It is a birthday present for my great niece. I need to wrap it and take it to the post office this afternoon, so it will arrive in time for her birthday. If the furniture people haven’t arrived by then, I will ring and see what is happening. They do have my phone number and if they weren’t coming because it is too icy for their volunteers, you would think that they would ring and let me know. We shall see

Morning girls.
Still VERY cold here & some more snow through the night, must be up to 6 inches deep now, deeper n parts where the it has piled up against things.

The fist clump of Snowdrops I spotted a few days ago are well hidden at the moment, the snow scen might look pretty but it's a real pain to cope with, looks like there has been several Deer around the house during the night, there are signs all through the garden that they have beeen here.

Re esterdays carry on, as we were all ready & set to go out we decided we would go & visit hubby any way, he seemed ok, he's so very tired & sleeps alot, he has had his latest transfusion but I'm not sure if it will help him or not ?

Would you believe he took a tumble whilst being helped with the toilet !
I wasn't best pleased but he didn'e seem too bothered about it &he had done any damage & didn'r want us to speak to the staff about it !

Apparently one of those who should have been at the meeting couldn't do so because of the SNOW !!!
That was the reason WE were asking for it to be re scheduled !!

I decided not to go with daughter for my weekly shop today, too much snow lying in the house road & just as we were about to set off it started to snow & blow so I stayed home.
Hope daughter manages to get everything for me.

Take care if going out & about.

Joan.

Morning all!
You want snow?....we got plenty more last night eeek

All schools are closed, no bus services and am so glad daughter managed to town on Monday.

The garden is a sheet of pure white snow at the back and in the front, its up to nearly the top of my garden fence. The roads have a covering but look awful and explains why I havent seen any traffic on this normally busy rd this morning!

We still have power though so thankful for that.

Joan I hope you are ok in your area although I suspect you will be worse than us?

Linda, what is your OH thinking of lol. I guess hes bored and wants out but at what costs with the bad weather?

On top of the snow we are on storm alert for the weekend but we are use to it here really so winter storms are the norm.

I must tackle the mountain of ironing in the basket before it becomes too big and the vacuum cleaner needs an outing lol

My next scheduled delivery is the 25 th jan, son fingers crossed by then we will all be back to normal!

Stay safe and keep warm everyone

Florence in the hebrides