General Chat

Morning peoples,Fred is going to have a great weekend what with the news my son Martin gave me last night as he said he would be dropping Chris off this morning while he goes to Carlisle at a big shoot.
It seems that his ex wife ,has at last seen sense over chris and him going to Oz for good,saying there is no future for her son in britain.
So,with any luck ,they will be emigrating next year,and we will be going out for a holiday shortly after ,and of course ,the wedding.
Rachael is now looking at buying a farm ,or smallholding,and i have already said that if it has a grannie ,grandad flat on the land ,then Liz and i would consider going too,the weather being lot's warmer would be better for Liz as well.
Martin is shooting for the pot today,and the estate is hard against the sea making it possible to bag a couple of geese as well as pheasent ,grouse and partridge,as well as rabbit,a goose would be nice,i could freeze it and have it for easter,and pheasant is nice anytime.
Hopefully our Brenda will soon be sorted with a hospital date ,and then an enforced rest my girl hah ,lol.
Things are going well Dorothy,the window side of the kitchen is finished up to and including handles ,on the doors and drawers AND the microwave is in place.
If i have your email addy [i will look later] i will send you a few piccies of the progress,but there is no rest for Fred in sight yet,the boss says ,on with the other side [sighs] AND chris has demanded a dinner of hot dogs ,[i thought he might] so i got the finger buns yesterday,and will do a few chips to go with them,and onions ,of course though chris dosn't like them,so we do his with tomato sauce.
He never has hot dogs anywhere else though ,he is addicted to nana's home made tomatoe sauce ,hence the number of tomato plants in Mary's chalet lol,i think he will be asking his new mum to make it when he settles down in Oz .
I have the base ,and wall units to update on the other side of the kitchen today,and then all that's left to do is mount the new wall brackets and mount ,connect the dishwasher ,and all is finished wahey.
Next week we have a load of beetroot to lift and pickle for the summer months and Freds salads.
We also have loads of leek ,and kale which are keeping us in fresh veggies and kalgannon until the spring,along with the tatties in the barrels ,we are doing okay thank you.
Liz will be giving me a hand throughout feb' getting the garden ready for the coming season.
Fancy trying some parsnip and carrot in buckets this year,and a different sort of leek,the musselbrough were a little iffy ,so we thought of trying Lyon ,another good breed.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend,catch you all later.Fred.

Hi everyone
Happy belated birthday Sylvia.
The weather over the past few weeks has been quite hot in both islands and we are wanting rain which although forecast never comes. Gayle and I have resorted to watering the garden early in the morning before sun come around to the front of the house. The vegie garden also gets watered - sadly the cauliflowers and cabbages didn't do any good but the tomatoes and silverbeet are flourishing. My sister-in-law told us to plant the cauliflower and cabbage in March when it gets cooler and not so many white butterfly about.

John in NZ

afternoon all,well been to the hospital had all the checks etc,But still waiting for a date,should get a letter soon giving me 7 to 10 days notice ,but what is "soon"!!Plus with all the winter crisis going on it could still be cancelled at the last minute.
Hope the tennis is worth burning the midnight oil Dorothy,I remeber david delivering the local paper and all the inserts that went in them!! all for 1p per paper,he had 150 to 170 to deliver on a Thursday night.He also had a normal morning and evening newspaper round,these days you cannot get them delivered for love or money.
Nice to see you Kathleen,hope you catch up on your sleep,remeber a few years ago when there was abunch of us on Genes most nights!!!
Brenda

Hi all, just a quick message hoping you are all keeping well. Hope you get good news at the hospital Brenda, you've waited a long time for your op.
Pleased to hear you had a good birthday Sylvia, hope Johan doesn't have any more trouble with nose bleeds. Had that problem some years ago, ended up in hospital but it stopped just before they took me down to theatre. They eventually decided must have been infected sinuses.
Fred, bet your kitchen looks great now with all the work you've put in. Haven't had rabbit for years now, good in casseroles on a cold day.
Dorothy, that plane could have been a horrendous disaster. A brilliant job that pilot did, the planes pass very low over houses, a main road and the underground station. We are on the south side of the airport but it was still a bit close, it was trying to land on the southern runway. Happily only 6 people with minor injuries.

Must get to bed, have been waiting for my son to arrive home, they were driving back from Yorkshire - but he forgot to tell me and I thought he was at work!! Worried myself sick as I couldn't get him on his phone - flat battery - eventually he did phone and got home about 4am.
I've had to "wind down" a bit before trying to sleep.

God bless
Love
Kathleen

goodmorning good luck to-morrow at the hospital brenda I hope that you get a date soon,fred you do deserve a fishing trip your kitchen should be on show in one of those home syle magazines, just been watching the plane that had a problem at heathrow great that it ended without many injuries, yesterday the weather here was quite nice cold but sunny , some snow expected to-night. I am somewhat sleepy as I have been up into the wee hours watching the tennis from australia , friday I am helping out with the grandchildren as andrew is out of town and linda has a teachers meeting after school the oldest two have paper route's so they have to get the papers to-gether as on friday they have about 30 inserts to put in these are all the flyers from grocery stores and others. they only deliver on wed, and fridays just in their area. they use tobogons to deliver them . I was going to go away for the week-end but seeing the snow is on the way I have decided not too. my friend in brampton her dog has been diagnosed with cancer so she is a bit upset he should be allright for a while but he is only seven, well that is it for me bye for now

Just finishing my lunch ,and then off to the post office with the letters and stuff at work,its throwing it down and windy so I might drive down as its a bit of a walk,don't usually mind but today I'd be like a drowned rat when I got back..!!!!
Going to the hospital tomorrow so will let you know how I get on.
Take care,Brenda

Morning all,just a few lines to pull this thread up a little.
Tou have to be joking Brenda lol,the missus had me back at the store yesterday to chose the handles yet,and then expected a load fitted as soon as we got home he he.
I can def' feel a fishing trip coming on,a 24 hour one ,as soon as possible,if not sooner lol.
Two of the drawer fronts have to go back because the size is not standard,but i had a word with the board cutter in the workshop ,and he has agreed to cut them both to size for us,and luckily the cut ends will be out of sight ,and i have some iron on edging ,just in case things don't go quite to plan.
Off out now for a walk while the weather holds.
Catch you all later.Fred.

Hi all.just a few lines as we are having the pc security updated by NTL.so don't want to be on long incase I get cut off ,shouldn't do but you never know/.
Weather still miserable and wet here,but at least we have not been flooded.
Fred your missus knows how to keep you busy!!must try that with John.!!!
See you tomorrow,but not sure what time.
Brenda

Hi Brenda,John,Sylvia,Dorothy,and everyone else lol,sorry to be missing for so long ,but it's been a frenetic two weeks and i have been out half the time.
Everything seems to be calming down ,and i have been having a read of this ,and other threads i frequent.
Sorry i missed your birthday Sylvia,but i'm glad it went well ,and it does sound as though you had a good day.
I am back to normal now ,as much as can be expected, what with Liz keeping springing suprises on me ,the latest being new doors for all of the kitchen units and drawers just after i put up new wall units on the far wall next to the window.
I have now moved the new microwave over that end of the kitchen too ,leaving thje other main wall to hang the new brackets on ,ready for the dish washer which is still in the shed.
The son has promised to come down to help me lift it into place ,it being a little heavy for me to do on my own.
Once this is done ,to all intents and purposes we have a complete ,new kitchen,just in time for Fred to go out in the garden to get started on this years planting lol,no peace for the wicked he he.
I used the new slow cooker yesterday to cook a rabbit hot pot ,which was lovely,and therte is enough left to put two meals down in the freezer for another day,must sat though ,that the cooker is exellent for any tough meat ,the rabbit was so tender ,it fell off the bones.
Getting back to normal now peeps ,all the rich food gone ,and back to my rice salads ,ordenery salads ,and sarnie teas, the main meal being dinner times.
Today i am doing either mince ,dumplings and roast potatoes ,with cauli'& carrots,or cottage pie with the same veggies ,but without the roasties.
I tried Jamie Olivers roast tatties over christmas ,and liked them so much ,i do them that way all the time now ,nice and fluffy and awfully tasty.
Must go now ,and start these doors ,or i will be in trouble with the boss.
Catch you all later.Fred.

Hi everyone,had a busy day off ,taking Dad to the hospital for his check up,due to a couple of clerical errors we ended up there from 1pm til gone 4.30pm.i finally got home at 5.30,and was shattered ,the roads we came home on were not busy like I expected them to be at rush hour but part of the way we were going opposite to the traffic.!!
Glad you had a good weekend Sylvia,and had some nice visitors.
Margaret i will try and find out exactly where Danielle is going I am sure its the north ,but they mentioned Dunedin ,and we had seen a BBC programme on tv last week about people moving doen under to OZ and NZ and Dunedin was in it.

Be back tomorrow
take care ,Brenda

Hi all,
Just had my last visitors go and can now relax. Yes, I had a very busy birthday and am really knackered but happy. Even my dear grandson and his girlfriend came today. He is such a busy lad as he is still learning to be a cook, and with one day a week at school is busy. Any of his free time is for his girl friend. Even his mother moans she doesn't see him enough. So I am really privileged.
See you tomorrow.
Sylvia xxx

Goodmorning Brenda and all
Dunedin is in South Island Ashburton so perhaps they are going to NI as well
Beautiful time of year for a visit lets hope they like what they see Although immigrants Miss family most do settle and love this place
Kiwis arent a bad lot :)

goodmorning sylvia glad you had a great birthday and enjoy all the rest of your company quite a week-end you have had, brenda it sounds like you had a fun evening as well, to-day is tennis day for me but not until 8pm our time I am so looking foreward to it. so far the promised snow has held off though it is supposed to snow all week,with all that anne has going on in her family I am still hoping that she will come over for a visit this year this time last year I was planning my trip home, and it was a wonderful trip . nothing else new at the moment the winter is a slow time of year for me. bye fornow dorothy

Hi Everyone,glad you had a good birthday Sylvia,hope the next visitors are good as well.
Had a nice time at the party last night,Johns neice is going to the north Island in NZ to Duneden I think thats how its spelt.
Have a lot o do today ,things seem to cartch up on me faster these days.
Take care ,Brenda

Hi all,
Well I had a fantastic birthday yesterday. The biggest surprise was when my daughter walked in with an old friend of mine. I had told my daughter on the phone that I would like to see this friend, but this friend is 82 and although very fit and active doesn't like driving too far. We have spent so many holidays etc. together. They used to have a house in Spain and we've had many a laugh there. Her husband died a few years ago. My daughter picked up my friend and took her back again in the evening. Anyway, I had an extra one for dinner too. I made a casserole of pieces of chicken wrapped in ham, pieces of tomatoe between the chicken rolls and then placed in a large foil dish (can be thrown away after), with a herb sauce and topped with lots of grated cheese. I did French garlic bread and cucumber salad and a lettuce and tomatoe salad to go with it. Oh, we had homemade tomatoe/vegetable soup first and followed by apple strudel ice cream.
I had around 30 birthday cards and lots of telephone calls. Johan's nose was the only problem as he had been to the ear, nose and throat specialist who had put a prop in his nose to stop the bleeding. Johan had a long black thread hanging from his nose which was a little unsightly! I helped Johan take out the prop this afternoon and the bleeding has stopped.
Tomorrow have two sisters in law and two brothers in law, ex son in law and new wife and grandson coming. I have baked 3 cakes today and a large pan of soup again. Not sure who will stay for dinner, but they can at least have soup and bread rolls.
I have sold all the cards I have made, so have to get down to making some more cards as soon as possible.
Am feeling a bit tired now, so will close for now.
Sylvia xxx

afternoon all,just finishing our lunch break.and having a cuppa before the next onslaught of kids and borrowers.
Out tonight at the "do" for Johns neice who is off to NZ next week,they are loking at the possiblities for emigrating there.
See you tomorrow.brenda

Happy New Year to all - a bit late with the greeting and only 12 days have gone from 2008. The news the world learnt yesterday (11 Jan) was the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary, TV dropped some programmes to pay tribute to him. I was cruising around the various Sky channels and saw tributes there also, even the presidental events gave way to Sir Ed. Some people will be wondering if the History channel had third sight when it screened the Everest climb last eveing - oddly it was scheduled back in December when their magazine was sent out. Sir Ed's family have agreed to have a state funeral for him which will be screen on TV next week.
Just heard from Craig and he says that will be coming for a visit at the end of the month.
Coffee break coming up so I will catch you another time.
John

hi brenda sounds like you had a good shopping trip you certainly got lots of goodies yes I am keeping nice and warm no snow as yet but lots of rain. anne called this afternoon to say her daughter in law had the surgery by key hole in turkey this am and all went well, but she has picked up hepatitis the better kind from they assume the cottage hospital in russia remember I said the european hospital in russia was closed for the holidays!!!!!. had afternoon tea with some of the ladies to-day did not expect to go but ended up popping in for a while, well now to see what is on tv for the evening bye for now dorothy

Goodmorning
Brenda sounds as if you had a successful shopping trip
A lovely morning here have just been up to Local Farmers market raspberries for dessert today! not a lot we need as garden is producing well But I do like to have a look and usually meet up with someone for a chat Margaret

Hiya,had a good day shopping today,managed to get a carigan for work,not exactly the one I wanted but the price was right and as they get pulled ad things like that at work I don't want to pay too much.Also got a great bedspread makes the bed and the room so much more comfy.!!!My sister got some underwear and a bag for work,I got some lovelly fresh veg from the market and then a BBq chicken for tea tonight I have heaps of ironing so did not want to be cooking as well.
It was cold but dry so we did not do too bad weatherwise.
Have a good birthday weekend Sylvia,enjoy your visitors.
Hope you are nice and snug Dorothy,
TAke care love Brenda