General Chat

Morning Brenda and John ,as well as anyone else who looks in,from a pretty breezy but sunny [at the moment] where my missus is frantic.trying to get the washing out on the line . :-).
I did say do you want a hand but she said no thanks ,and i am not going to push her to accept when she seems to be in good fettle this morning .
Glad to hear that you enjoyed that pastry Brenda ,a little of what you fancy does you good once in a while,even if it's bad for a diet ,you know .if you only do it once or twice a month ,it should make no difference ;-).
Yep i can see where John gets annoyed when he can't get out on the golf course when it's ,sunny because the ground is sopping wet ,and i can feel for him because i am in the same boat ,with the garden being unable to cut the lawns and hedges ,and can't get near the soil with a fork or hoe to even get weeds out,what a bummer.
Got most of our Christmas shopping finished yesterday ,and that's all the presents in that we can think of.
i have pulled the two big beef joints out of the freezer ,and they are in the oven thawing out ready to start on .i get them cooked around now .slice them and put them back in the freezer in bags until they are needed ,saves sooooo much time over the festive season,much less cooking then apart from the veggies.
I will be starting the corning tomorrow ,a two week process .which means storing the meat in the fridge as the meat matures,again ,you don't want all that meat in a freezer in the week leading up to the big day ,lol ;-).
The Duck breast we found yesterday at Sainsbury's was a find an a half as well ,a whole £5 and some size ,a case of being in the shop at the right time,so all we need now is a Goose Crown,and a Turkey ,the turkey ,the whole bird ,the only one cooked on the day ,and the legs broken down into pieces for curries ,the wings i like to nibble on :-D.
The three bird roast we will cook up when the grandson comes up mid month before he goes out via North Shields ferry port on the way to Germany and his new camp for three years,we can't have him going out there without his home cooked Christmas dinner can we ?
time to get on with some work now ,and then some family research ,seeing as i have just found some info on the founder of of our Rowan branch ,an old email off another family member who found some siblings of Andrew in the late 1700s who moved to Australia ,so that's me more than happy withe the link to Oz and New Zealand i have been looking for :-D.
Catch you later peeps,take care ,Fred,The missus and The Furry one who is happy this morning after i cooked her up some cod for today's meals.only the best for our puddy tat..xxx :-)

Evening Fred ,Liz and John,,its been dry here again today and John did get out today ,but the ground was really heavy,he says anymore rain and it will not dry out till next Easter.!!!
Got to town and got a few bits and pieces,and met my mates had ayuna panini ,well half of the panini as it was very filling.
You always seem so organized Fred.,I have lots of good intentions !!
John is watching United on tv tonight so I need to find something to do.
Have not done much research for ages need to get cracking or my membership to Ancestry will be a waste of money.
Take care Brenda xx

Good morning one and all ,plurry cold here laast night ,but we are in to a nice sunny day [so far] so i may get out into the garden later ,after i have put the dinner in ,and dead head the roses,and the other big bush[Hydrangea ]before it rains again.
Dinner today is butterfly stuffed chicken breasts with chive and cheese, [Philli] with roast Apache potato's ,roast parsnip.sweet peppers and onion,with steamed green beans ,and asparagus ,with onion gravy.
I am doing this early to do a Sunday tea later this afternoon ,egg mayo with watercress sarnies ,with a few odds and ends such as cheese straws ,fruit buns along with a nice cuppa. :-).
Hope the hubby enjoyed his golf Brenda ,a little too parky for me i,m afraid ,lol,i am getting to be a bit of a wimp these days,and can't take the heat ,or the cold very well.
Have to take the missus for her check at the hospital tomorrow afternoon ,to see if any further treatment for the chest is needed,but thankfully this year we havn't even had the snuffles after the flu jab ,can't be bad.
Hope everyone is enjoying a lazy weekend in the warm ,catch you later ,Fred ,hissy And the two legged boss lady . :-D xx

Afternoon fred ,and anyone else having a look in.
It started out a nice day her and then about a half hour a go it started to rain it was really heavy for about twenty minutes or so,but has stopped now,still plenty in that grey sky we now have.!!
Just having a bit of a lazy afternoon,cooked a roast chicken yesterday and will have it col d later with a baked potato and salad or may be some mushrooms and tomatos.
Tea will be a tuna or ham sandwich with water cress and tomato and perhaps a mince pie or two for John and abowl ofstrawberries for me.!!!
Went to visit John mum earlier,they are doing fine.They had watched the rememberance service and it always gets her in a very melonchlic mood to say the least.
Have the electric people coming to put a new meter in tomorrow ,need to up and ready by 8am as they are coming between 8 -12am !!!!
Going out with my friends for one of their birthdays ,so hope John is home early from golf in case they are not her or finished. by the time i need to leave.which is about 11.30.an
Hope its all good news tomorrow for LIz and yourseld Fred.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
take care Brenda

Morning to all,rather a wet morning so far but it reckons to dry out a bit by mid morning,which will give me the chance to finish in the garden.
I managed to get all the roses in the back pruned and got the wife' s bushes out front done ,so all that's left to do is a little hoe work in the borders,and the ;lawn edges trimmed before the snow hits us ,which i reckon won't be very long now.
The wife did well at the hospital yesterday ,the specialist was pleased that ,so far this year is holding her own and he is happy to move the appointment to one a year,with the proviso that if any change occurs that she get in touch straight away,which has pleased us both no end. :-D.
Got those wraps to make for dinner today ,as we were too late in from the hospital last evening to set about making them,so we have some nice chicken wraps to look forward to .
Going to get cracking now ,two days housework to be getting on with [grumbles under breath ] he he.
Catch you all later ,Fred,xx :-D.

Hi Fred and everyone else.Glad Liz had a good report from the hospital,you aren't half looking after her!!!!
Wet and miserable here today ,not sure if it will brighten up or not, did not catch the weather report this morning.
Have a few jobs in the house to do,and the carpet of leaves in the garden needs sweeping up and put in the compst ,we have our own and one that the council take away,so the next dry day ,that needs to be done,John will then stack all the empty tubs and trougths in a corner of the garden and put the ones with shrubs in ,in the other corner to protect them (hopefully)
My meal out with my friends was abit of a shambles,they had changed the menu,and had new staff who althougth polite etc had no idea what to do...
Hope they are trained by the time we go in December..
take care brendaxx

Morning all. weather dry and cold and grey again here,but as long as it is mainly dry as I am out and about ,then i am a happy bunny,
Going to do a bit of clothes shopping with my friend today ,and then with my sister tomorrow.!!
Hope you are all ok.my leg is still painful ,but managable at the moment hope its not going to get any worse,especially as we go away two weeks tomorrow (not that we are counting)!!!!
Have been to the doctors again but all I got was pain killers,so have to wait till my next hospital appointment ,which is after my holidays.Have phoned to see if I can bring it forward ,but no luck..so hope the sunshine will help/
Need to get on with some house work before I go out.
Take care Brenda

evening all.had a great day in town with my mate ,but we did not find what we wanted.
Hope I have some luck with my sister tomorrow .we are off to Bury,!!!
Take care Brenda xx

Morning to all ,tried sending a reply to Brenda yesterday ,and it went walkies as i hit the submit button ,grrrrrr ,i was too tired to go back on and try again ,so i am trying again now ,lol :-).Yep ,get your trips in while you can Brenda,the met people say we are heading for the worst winter in 100 years [ouch] :-(.
I can just about remember the years 1940 ,-42 when the snow started in early January ,and went on for 11 weeks virtually none stop,,the airfield my dad was stationed at was so bad with ice and snow they couldn't get the runways clear enough for use and there were no ops for two months.
Am i glad i have the house stocked well up with bottled gas for the heaters in case we lose the power without which we can't cook or run the lights or heating.
I have a two burner cooker in the shed which is complete with a grill ,and another one which is just a ring burner using the little internal gas container ,so ,as long as we have water ,and the food tins we will be okay. :-D.
The grandson should be here by 7 pm tomorrow to start his embarkation leave of ten days so i will be starting the cooking of the corned beef as soon as i finish here,blast it ,i should have planned it better ,cooking it yesterday so that i could have a slice as a birthday treat ,lol,never mind ,i will have some with the grandsons Christmas dinner ,which i am doing for him on Sunday, the three bird roast now at the top of the freezer ready to come out Friday so that it can thaw slowly. :-).
Have to get on with this beef so that i can get it into the slow cooker before going shopping,so ,catch you later guys.Fred ,Liz and Hissyxxx :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Fred,hope you enjoy it ,even with all your jobs ,including the making of the corn beef.
I had a few hours in Bury on Friday with my sister,got almost all we wanted.!!
Might be back next week with John.Weather was really good for us.
Have a few alterations to make on some clothes for the holidays.which will keep me busy.
Hope you all enjpy your grandsons leave,
Take care Brenda x

morning to all ,another day, another good one after the wind and rain yesterday .lol,the washing is out on the line already before the return of the rain and winds over the weekend :-(.
Bet you are looking forward to your holiday Brenda ,i am already looking forward to our first one in April next year,he he ,and the winter proper hasn't even started yet.
Have to remember to take the bird roast out of the freezer tonight so that it is thawed by Sunday morning ,and ,by the way ,anyone buying one of these three or four bird roasts for Christmas ,remember to follow the cooking instructions to the letter,but do NOT cook it in the foil tray that you are supposed to use ,but put it in a proper roasting tin ,and use either a two part roasting tin or use foil.
Cooking in the provided foil tray produces a lot of fat in the bottom giving a greasy joint that is not cooked properly on the bottom.yuk :-(.
The email by the way Brenda is now doing the rounds,and i liked the bit about the politicians who are STILL screwing the system as regards perks and paid gallivanting that are supposed to be for drumming up business for the country ,but are ,for the most part a cheap ,expenses ,public paid holiday :-|.
Off to see about the new motor today ,looking at the B max and C max ,as well as another Nissan if the clutch problems have been sorted out,.lol.as soon as it gets really cold overnight ,i am going to be asking for mine to be done ,and will be getting their fitter to come out to pick it up ,THEN let them come and say there is nothing wrong with it,and i will threaten them with an R A C inspection. :-| :-P.
The missus is starting to perk up a little ,the tablets and steroids having the desired effect ,and the breathing is a lot better :-).
Well ,time to get myself into gear ,i have a bit of work to do before we go out.so ,catch you later guys and dolls ,take care ,and you take some sticking plaster and bandages with you when you go to bury next time Brenda he he ,a holiday spend will leave your poor purse feeling a little limp and under the weather ,lol .Fred ,Liz and The other female family memberxxx :-D.

Hi All,did not go to Bury ,change of plan,Went to the local shopping "center",Got a new light weight suitcase,and then some other bits and peices.
Bumped into a friend and had a cooffe and a chat ,
Got home and put the washing on the maiden to dry and some on hangers in the dining room ,
Hope you got the three bird roast deforsted Fred and tomorrows dinner is brilliant.
Just finished the bulk of my christmas cards ready to get in the post while I am away .other wise it will be first class stamps !!!
Do not think I will be doing this many again ,
Will be looking at ecards etc.
Have agreat dinner tomorrow FRed

Take care Brenda x

Morning peoples .bit damp here this morning ,and i have just fed the birds ,and ducks in the back garden he he,but was pleased to see that upon opening the patio curtains ,i did not need me wellies this time ,lol :-).
That three bird roast was very nice Brenda ,i can recommend it to anyone,and notice that the new one ion Aldi is a 4 bird roast which i may try next time.
We had a good helping each with a slice of the corned beef i did a couple of days ago ,so we ate very well.
I sliced up what was left ,and had enough for three meals for the two of us to freeze down for future use,lol,we will do well this winter ,by the time i cook the duck breast ,the turkey and the goose crown,so we will only have to wonder where the veggie is coming from ,most of that from the garden i reckon ,the leeks ,brussel ,parsnip ,and carrot ready for use ,and some beetroot still usable,not at all bad from a small garden ,havn't even started on the late savoy cabbage yet ;-).
The wind here has swung already and is now coming down from the north ,brrrrrr ,plenty of ice and frost on the way methinks,but i'm not too bothered ,we are well in credit with the gas and electric ,and have plenty of bottled gas ,just in case of breakdown,which shouldn't happen now ,the gas board finally got their butt in gear and got the boiler serviced last week ,the last time they will be doing it ,the job being given back to Home serve :-D.
well that's me for now ,the binmen have just arrived ,so i will bring the bin in and then get on with the grandsons washing a dryer job today seeing as we have to get it dry ready for his hold all's ,he is off to Germany tomorrow ,Hanover i think is his new home for three years,but he is now in pension earning service ,is well paid and has good prospects ,even when he leaves the air force ,the world really is his oyster ,lol.maybe i should have stopped in too ,i would be on a darned good pension now as well .
Catch you later people ,take care ,and be safe ,Fred and the tribe xxx :-D

Evening all,weather has been ok today better than weekend.Yesterday was a bit miserable and plenty of showers.
You would think that i would be all readt and packed for the holidays but no ,, I am on the last minute as usual/!!
looks like we are in for some bad frostin the next few days.
John hopes it does not rain tonight as he might get a gane of golf tomorrow ,the
.course has been closed for three days,
Glad the three bird roast went well ,my sister has had one in the past .but her husband did not like it/
Hope it all goes well for your grand son.
take care Brenda xx

Afternoon allhave had a couple of bright sunny but absolutely freezing days yesterday and today.!! John did get out to play golf ,but said it was very very mddy ,looking at his shoes socks and pants I can see why!!.
last of the packing will be done after tea and then we can "relax "till tomorrow morning when we will go to our friends.And from there to the airport. HOORAH
Hope its warmer were we are going,can't be any colder.think they are having rain at the moment but its still75%
Have to get on have a chickem to cook for tea ,that will give David something to have tomorrow so he does not have to got othe chippy straight away/
Take care will try and log on while away.
Brenda

OOOOOf into the wild blue yonder goes Brenda ,and into a warmer place for a while .lol,enjoy it Brenda and John too ,who will be able to play a round in a warmer ,and hopefully drier place he he :-D.
Well i had a lousy night on Wednesday and finished up at 3 am ,downstairs changing Liz's computer station from towers to a laptop which i upgraded from vista to windows 7.:-).
I then spent the rest of the morning destroying the hard drives in the towers using Kill Disc ,to prevent anyone getting any personal info from them ,before removing the hard drives from the towers and taking a hammer to them ,and finishing off cooking them in the incinerator .
I then took the towers ,hard drives and the old monitor to the council recycle on the way to do the shopping ,and found space in the house that i didn't know we had ,lol,suprising what you find when you de clutter your house he he ;-).
The reason for the sleepless night ? easy really ,Sean was on the way to His new camp ,and on the high seas for 14 hours ,not a place to be in the fog in wintertime ,so i spent a fretful night waiting for the email to say that his ship had docked in Amsterdam.
Got another email last night at 7 pm to say he was in Celle, at his hotel ,so by this time of adding this post ,he will be on his new camp taking delivery of all his furniture at his new home ;-).
We didn't see a lot of the lad while he was here because he was doing the rounds of family and friends before shipping out ,but hey ,that's what grandparents are for ,lol.
I didn't realise that he meant so much to us both until it came to the crunch and never thought that his safety on a boat wound be far more unsettling than him flying ,but there you go ,must be me getting old , ;-).
next thing for me to do is buy a windows 8 disc ,and convert my Toshiba laptop to the new system and give it a look see ,that way i can see what it is like before the day comes when i have to buy a new laptop ,and ,it will give me something to do in the evenings,lol.
Time to go and do a bit of work for a change ,i have some hoovering and dusting to get on with ,lol,Catch you later guys and dolls,take care all.
Fred xxx :-)

Hi Fred and anyone else looking in,taking a few minutes from my sunbathing LOKL to see how you all are.We are having a godd time.But John will not be getting any golf in its too dear.
Take care Speak next week
Brenda xx

Hi Fred and anyone else looking in,taking a few minutes from my sunbathing LOKL to see how you all are.We are having a godd time.But John will not be getting any golf in its too dear.
Take care Speak next week
Brenda xx

Morning to the weekend ,Brenda ,John if he looks in ,and anyone else who drops by ,lol, think that takes care of just about everybody :-D.
Ordered a new desk stand for the wife two days ago ,one that the laptop sits on ,has the two built in fans to keep the lappy cool in any weather ,them driven through the laptop via a usb port.
It can sit on the bed over the operators lap ,or has extendable legs for sitting on a low table,i thought it would be handy for the wife to use in bed ,for the lap top or her kindle fire if she is watching a film.
Anyway ,seeing as i can't go out until the courier brings it ,and can't deliver anything to do with the family's presents i took the duck crown out yesterday afternoon ,and cooked it this morning ,chef's style he he ,scored the breasts both sides applied the seasoning to the inside of the crown first ,turned it over ,seasoned the skin ditto ,melted three ounces of butter in the big frying pan ,and seared the skin for five minutes ,basting a few times to get the skin nice and brown.
Then ,it;s into a hot oven ,around 200c for 50 minutes ,basting the skin with the melted butter from the frying pan every few minutes .
Result? one duck crown with a lovely crisp skin [eat your heart out Mr Rue junior lol] which is now cooling down so that i can slice it before putting the slices down in portions of 4 ,ready for the festive season ,the wings ? cooks perks ,he he ,i will haave those lovely ,moist delights with my tea ,yum :-D.
Sorry to hear that the rounds of golf are so dear Brenda ,but hey ,he could take a putter and ball onto the beach for a little bunker practice he he.never mind John,the holiday is a bonus at this time of year :-).
Got my extra two bags of rock salt and grit mix in ready for the back end of next week ,and think i will get three more to store in the greenhouse in case we get snowed in big time ,which is likely on the cards,one more reason to get the family stuff delivered early next week.
Once that is done ,it can please it's bessie [as the saying goes] ,i think i have allowed for all reasonable situations.
Time to go folks ,from the commotion upstairs ,the cat is helping the missus wrap some presents up ,he he ,Hissy had better watch out ,or SHE might land up getting wrapped as well.
catch you later folks ,take care on your trip home Brenda ,hope you have had a brill' time ,Fred And the two bosses.xxx ;-).

Evening all,well we got back from our holidays early this morning 3.40am we
walked into the house.H.ad a quick cuppa and went to bed ,we were shattered,
.Spent the day catching up with the washing and the mail etc.
The holiday was good nice and relaxing,John did not miss the golf Fred,but was looking forward to going tomorrow,b ut it looks like he will have to wait a bit longer his golfing partner is still on holiday ,John thought he w as back today like us but
he is not back til tomorrow.
Glad you are on top of all your christmas preparations Fred,the Duck sound great.
Need to get my own pressies wrapped and delivered.
Its then I realise that I have forgotten something.
Take care Brenda