General Chat

Hi
We got some spring-cleaning done this morning. We have someone coming to clean the windows which seem to attract salt-spray which is difficult to remove hence the call to the professionals. In a fortnight or so we are having vertical venetian blinds hung in the lounge and dining rooms, and horizon venetian blinds placed in the convervatory. With the blinds in the lounge means that the window sills can no longer have ornaments etc on them, the question we asked ourselves was 'where do you put them?', no doubt they will find a new place.
Did any of you see the film 'Amazing Grace' with Ioan Gruffudd about the abolish of slavery? We saw recently and thought it was very good. I hoping to buy a DVD of it to add to my collection.

John

Hi all,
Well hopefully Johan will be out of hospital tomorrow. The doctors cannot understand why Johan's blood has become so thin. He does take blood-thinning tablets, but has taken them ever since his heart operation. The doctors don't like the idea of Johan's forthcoming eye operation when they will give him full anaesthetic. They said he should find another doctor and have just local anaesthetic.
I had the mechanic in for our television/telephone/computer yesterday and he solved the problem of why we couldn't get the programme of calling up programmes we had missed on the television, and everything seemed ok. I forgot to check the computer. Last night wanted to look at my e-mails and send one and it didn't work. I couldn't get Outlook Express. I phoned our provider and gave up at 10.00 last night. I was so depressed last night that got up early this morning and phoned provider again and had a nice girl who took me through the programme step by step, adding a new code number etc. then I couldn't type "@", but the girl said switch off the machine and it should come back. Hey ho, it did so am a happy bunny again.
Johan will be delighted when he sees his new massage chair in the sitting room. My help Anita fixed it up for him and I gave Johan's old chair to a neighbour who is so happy with it.
I hope to get to the market tomorrow early just in case Johan is allowed to come home.
Have read all your letters and many thanks for your good wishes.
Sylvia xxx

well I am abck from the dentist that went well not back till june and now the snow squalls have hit I can't see outside at all and then they will clear just as fast, the winds are really blowing , it will be hard for the children walking home. this is supposed to go on till saturday but maybe they will be wrong . going to put some soup on the stove for later bye fornow dorothy

Goodmorning all Fred ,Here in NZ corned beef does come in butcher shops Just as well In fact farmers who do home kill their own beef usually send it off to get cured Some more successful than others
Nothing nicer than a nice piece of corned silverside
Today we are getting a light drizzle but we need rain badly or restrictions for watering will come on
Our flower garden is just about planted and the vegetable gardens doing well Have actually dug some new potatoes ! early for us Tomatoes in glasshouse should be ready by xmas My shade houses of fuchsias coming along and I need to be organized as two garden clubs are going to visit this year1 Margaret

What a lovelly lot of messages,
sylvia hope Johann is doing ok,please let us know like Fred says.
Fred will you stop making my mouth water please.Hope your "cornbeef "turns out ok
Had two lots of bad news today ,my friend went to have polyps removed but they ended up just taking a peice of the largest one and its been sent for biopsy.she is rather worried,as she has had them before and knows they can turn nasty.
Then my other friend met us for lunch and said her brothet who lives in Ireland on the small family farm has bladder cancer and it may be in the kidney as well,so she was upset as he is her younger brother and she is off to Ireland tomorrow with her older brother. to see him
She had tried to phone work all morning to tell them but could not get through,she said she would try again this afternoon,but is worried they will not give her time off as it is a supermarket and they have a no holidays in DEcember and JAnuary policy.
Surely they have a compassionate leave policy even if she doesn't get paid..
Kathleen ,nice to see you again,I am having a spot of car trouble myself,hope it doesn't escalate like yours!!!
I am off to Tenerife myself next week and am getting ready now after all the hospital polaver.
Speak to you tomorrow.
Brenda

goodmorning kathleen you have had an interesting time with your car lets hope it is allright for a while, sorry about your daughter it is never easy when things don't go well for the ones you love, fred as usual you are a busy man do you ever put your feet up , no news on sylvias husband as yet hope things are going better for him, I just sent off an e-mail to brenda re another matter and told her that we are undera major weather warning snow is expected up to 15 cm every 12hrs plus winds of 70-90 miles and hr for the next two days my area may get up to 40 cm well I can well do without that to bad it is clear at the moment so I will have to make my dentist apt would not mind if that was cancelled, my son phoned last night to checkin with some news his wife (lindy ) has been moved from a .5 teaching postion to a .7 double dutch right, well she will now teach all day mon and thurs and then all the other mornings, with the chance of this turning into a full time position in the new year, the down side of it is that the teacher who has the full time spot is not a well lady she has a bi-polar condition returns each sept to teach but then it gets too much and she fades out after nov for the rest of the year. luckily the teachers have a good union that provides a very good sick plan for them so while lindy is pleased she is also a little sad as she really likes the other lady. well time to hit the shower and get going lets hope the next time I am on here I am not snowed in. bye for now dorothy

Good morning everyone, had a lot to catch up on as I haven't been able to use the computer for a few days.

So sorry to hear that Johan is unwell Sylvia, I do hope he is feeling better now, it must be worrying for you so please look after yourself.
Hope you get your op done early in the new year Brenda, enjoy your holiday and get a bit of rest after all the running around.
Fred, some butchers used to do corned beef but only to order - and in this country they didn't do it right anyway. Nowadays there seems to be fewer proper butchers because of the supermarkets so it's not easy to find one who is willing to do it anymore - you need to go to the East end of London and find a kosher Jewish butcher who can supply proper corned beef. Our butchers always called it salt beef anyway and that was what it was really - just soaked in brine for a week. Most people seem to think of corned beef as coming in tins with Fray Bentos on the label !! Was so pleased to hear that your son and his family got the best of the deal and that bungalow owner got what he deserved - you know what they say Fred "what goes around, comes around" he surely got his come-uppance. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when the other prospective tenant pulled out at the last minute - serves the nasty so and so right.
My car had to have it's MOT about 8 weeks ago, I knew I needed at least one new tyre - had to get two, it passed ok and I was relieved at that however..... a month later I needed a new battery, a couple of weeks later some little b..... smashed my windscreen (in the middle of the afternoon and just after I had finished cleaning it out. Then the seal on the rear window went but the windscreen man fixed that for me, after he had resealed the windscreen which had leaked (a big puddle in the offside footwell - I was driving and paddling at the same time) then the little monsters smashed my nearside mirror and the struts went on the hatchback (it hurts when that comes down on your head - OUCH) again the windscreen man came to my rescue and got me second hand ones and fitted them for £60 - the struts alone would have cost £25 each new. Altogether it has been a pretty expensive couple of months - so I am cancelling Christmas until about May next year Ho Ho Ho!!!
Apart from all that we are all healthy (so far) so a lot to be thankful for except for eldest daughter who has lost the plot completely and is causing us much heartache and many headaches. So if you can spare a minute say a little prayer or give a little thought for my girl please. She is taking herself off to Tenerife for a week and I fear for her safety - mental illness is so hard to cope with.

All take care,
God bless
Love
Kathleen

Morning all,pretty cool here this morning ,but no sign of snow,thank goodness ,i need to get out to the shops for a few bits and pieces before we start decorating the spare room.
Thanks to a member of genes ,i have the names and birth ,christening dates of Mr Richard Barnes,and all his children,cor ,magic,this is gonna take me forward good style.
I only had two of his childrens names,but knew there were bound to be others ,these barnses,being very prolific hee hee[easy to see what they did in the days before tv before radio and t.v for entertainment in the evenings] lol.
I think next week is earmarked for the fitting of the new dish washer ,so if you all hear muffled swaer words and banging under the draining board,it's only christmas Badger trying to back out of the door and gotten stuck hee hee.
I't only a bench top one mthere only being the two of us,and space in the kitchen being at a premium,but it will take four place settings which is more than enough,and will leave more time to do the interesting stuff ,like trying new recipes.
Once the washer is in place i may be able to do away with the wall brackets and put the new mic' straight onto the top.or even move the mic' to the other side of the kitchen,out of the way of the benches and work tops
We are going out this morning to get the beef in for the corning of ,which will take anything from a week or a fortnight,we then intend to cut it all into slices ,and put it down into the freezer until required,this corned beef is reckoned to be very tasty hot,or cold in sarnies,so ,a report at the time will be forthcoming especially to Mary ,in oz bless her for putting me onto it.
Seems in nearly all countries but england ,some butchers actually supply corned beef ,already salted and cured so that all you have to do is cook it,but ,of course ,the brit's are behind the times as normal lol.
I will have to make sure the greenhouse is locked at night or we will be overrun by stray cats after the meat ,because it's the only cool place i can think of to put the beef while it's curing ,i may even put Hissy on guard duty with my trusty catupault lol.
I hope Sylvia will keep us informed as to how Johan is doing i think more than a few of us are rather concerned over the bad news.no fun ,is it ,when your rock is poorly.
Well ,off now to get a cuppa before disturbing the wife ,who ,for some reason has had a restless night,but there dosn't seem to be anything actually wrong .
Maybe she is sneaking around behind my back looking for her chissy presents for a nose ,HA,out of luck lass ,they are at your daughters hee hee.
Catch you all later.
Christmas Badger[aka Fred].

hello sylvia I do hope that your husband is feeling better soon look after yourself as well. fred glad to read about hissy's antics de worming does not sound like much fun. the weather was bad last night lots of blwoing snow along the highways coming up to us it was during rush hour so many accidents were reported. the repair shops will be doing good business. at the moment it is clear and cold so I am popping out to do some shopping as it is calling for more snow flurries to-night being so close to the big lakes we get a lot of flurries of the lake. brenda are you all packed for your trip bye for now dorothy

Hi everyone,can not say much I have not had any internet at home ,bit of a blimp. At work and can't say much will be back tomorrow.Brenda

I am very sorry to hear about Johan,Sylvia,it's to be hoped they get him sorted out quickly and return him home,i for one will be thinking of you both.
Dorothy,hissy followed me around all day yesterday ,curled up on my lap all the evening and then followed me to bed ,where she promptly settled on my arm so that i couldn't so much as move without waking her,and then slept soundly till this morning.if i had been mad at her [which i wasn't] ,quite funny looking back on it,after last nights close attention.i couldn't have stayed mad at her lol.
No,she is now a fully fledged member of the family and i love her to bits ,daft half hours and all.
She won't be too lively today because i have just wormed her,and i noticed last time ,thay it slows her right down for a few hours.
I am going to clear up the patio today,remove all the wood offcuts from my woodworking spree,and sack the lot up,and dispose of it.
I was going to take it to the recycle point in Newburn,then i remembered Martins mate,Brian ,who has just got himself a new job as a ranger in the local forest,so the off cuts will come in very handy as kindling for his range wood burner cooker in his new bungalow.
This lad has his head screwed on all right,getting a job as a ranger,but having his own bungalow on the edge of the domestic site,gets most of his meat free ,from the culls and shot rabbit and gets all his fuel free too ,all for the sake of going into the forest with his chain saw ,and cutting up all the fallen boughs for his range ,and fire,hee hee,nice work if you can get it.lol.
The worming tablet is having some effect already ,usually by this time Hissy is having a mad half hour ,thundering up and down the stairs and along the top landing growling and spitting at her shadow lol,none of that this morning ,so ,i will enjoy it while i can ,cause no doubt she will be back to normal by tomorrow.
Have to go now,the boss is up ,and i had better at least LOOK busy ,or i will be getting extra jobs [whine ] hee hee.
See ya later peoples.Badger.

Hi all,
Well all my plans have gone to the wind again. Johan has been taken into hospital and has lost blood from his anus. They are going to start with giving him 2 bags of blood. I have to cancel the mid-week holiday we were going to have on Monday.His heartbeat is irregular too.
See you tomorrow.
Sylvia xxx

goodmorning oh fred you do get into the wars did hissy apologise! nice to see john back and get up to date with his news it seems like everyone is getting ready for xmas all this food talk makes my mouth water. I have the family over between xmas and newyears, the menu is an assortment of everyone's favourite dishes, chicken kiev for the children and adults plus ham for the son and heir, mixed vegatable plus the campbell soup green bean cassarole. salad and small dinner rolls. crackers on the table we all wear the hats. plus an ice cream desert. not the usual xmas fare but this is requested every year. off to-day to pick up a phot frame I ordered one of those digital ones the photo's keep moving on I am not explaining it well but I thought that lindy and andrew would like it as they have one of those digital camera's. the weather is not too bad snow coming this afternoon but just flurries. had an e-amil from my sister in calgary she said it was -25 yesterday so she is not putting her nose out of the door can't say I blame her bye for now dorothy

Morning all,and hello to John,nice to see you back.
Your carrots shouldgroww well ,as would parsnips if the soil is very sandy,they usually grow fat and long if given some good ,liquid feeds at the roots..I now have my two tattie bins covered to keep them dry till needed,i will open the first barrel christmas week,and hopefully won't have to buy new potatoes for at least three months.
I have a lovely graze on my forhead this morning ,courtesy of hissy ,the flying cat grrrrrrr.
We have a shoe cupboard at the bottom of the stairs in the hall,which is handy because we can sit on the bottom stair to put our foorware on.
Now the family are gone [yippee] we only have three pairs of shoes in at any one time ,so it's pretty light,any way,i had the bottom door open [which opens down over] ,a bit like most oven doors these days.
There was Fred,sat down reaching for the first shoe ,when that plurry cat decided to help master,launching herself from half way up the stairs,hee hee,i saw this black and white streak come past ,over my shoulder, just before all the lights went out
She must have landed on the open drawer catapaulting the cupboard forward till it hit me on the head,i tell you folks ,i have never seen stars in daylight before ,nor yet without looking up to the heavens .
I called Liz to help me get up but she was useless propping herself up on the door jamb,shaking with mirth[i will talk to her later]
I have already got the veggies done for the dinner,and put thewheelie bin out which gets emptied this morning..
I noticed yesterday that i still have two leeks in the fridge ,so i will use the tattie peelings ,and leeks to make some soup up for tea,we usually have our main meal dinner time and have soup with a bread roll for tea.
Know how you feel Brenda,when my angina was really bad before my op ,i was starving myself ,because every time i ate ,i had such bad chest pains that i had to force myself to eat at all,only eating something when i had to,no fun at all is it?,still .hopefully you will have that op pretty soon and then get back to normal.
Pity you arn'e in the states where a lot of stone op's now are done using ultra sonic sound waves ,the noise breaking the stones up so that they pass out of the system without surgery,still ,you know us brit's, ten years behind anyone else lol.Have a nice day all.Badger.

Good evening team, Haven't we grown? Looking through this thread a month has elapsed since I was here.
The vegie garden is surviving and oddly enough the garden at the front of the house gets a lot of rain whereas the back garden doesn't meaning the hose being used. We have even put some potatoes in pots which are actually growing. Fred, you mentioned not trying silver beet, its actually very nice cooked with cabbage. Gayle won't eat silver beet by itself unless it's with cabbage. We may try growing carrots yet.
Christmas is getting closer each day. This month we have had three dinners - the first one on 17 Nov. was an amputee's dinner and Gayle joined me and 23 others for an end-of-year function. Then on 19th we had a home group's dinner with about 14 people, 93 people sat down to an Over 55's dinner at the RSA on 21st . There is two more luncheons to go to before Christmas when we'll stop eating.
As fellow Kiwis have mentioned we have been having great weather with temperatures 20+ and higher.
That's it from me
John

Hi all,
Quite a peaceful day. I sent Johan out to the Post Office to get our Xmas stamps. He bought 6 sheets of 20 stamps. We pay 29 cents a card instead of 44 cents. I wish they would reduce the overseas rate too. I can use these stamps until 4th January and if I have any over then I can still use them but must add extra postage to them. The Post Office do this for us every year.
The washing I did this morning has now been ironed and everything put away. Lovely feeling. Tomorrow we are going to the Makro, the wholesalers. When I get back from there I will be knackered as it is so much walking, and I never want to miss anything!
Enjoy your peace Fred. I loved the photographs.
Sylvia xxx

Evening all,weather dry but not too cold and at least its not wet.
Went to my ex m.i.l funeral today must say it was weird being with my ex and the mother of his daughter,and his present partner(who I work with sometimes ) and the family of his second wife.!!(I was the first) LOL
Mind you its so long ago now that what ever has gone on is well past.
Dad got his cooker fixed so he is happy,my sister phoned from Cypress where she is on holiday and is happy sat in the sun with a nice drink.
John played a good round of golf and should be out again on Wednesday ,weather permitting so he is happy.
Me I am feeling ok wouldn't say happy until i have had my holiday and operation as I am still restricted on what i can have,
Off to do some emails and look at getting an e11 card on line ,Brenda

goodmorning brenda, fred, sylvia and other friends well fred your first evening sounded great I am sure the cat will get used to being able to roam about without the help of the children! your free energy saving device sounds grand, oh brenda you are good buying two of neils books I am sure he will appreciate that. it is a cloudy day and we are in for rain and snow showers later to-day they say. brenda where are you off to next week I am sure you have mentioned it but I have forgot and also could you sned me a private e-mail with your address and phone number I was going to phone you yesterday and can't find the address book I took to england with me anywhere. I have put it in a safe place so safe I can't find it. going to have a housekeeping day to-day and swing the duster around the cats will love that bye for now dorothy

Hi Brenda,Dorothy,Edith ,and everyone else.
i was so pleased to hear that they have traced your problem to stones Brenda,an easy peasy op that will have you out of bed the same day ,or the day after,and should see you home ,hale and hearty in no time,treat it as a little holiday,hee hee,you could do with the rest.
Liz and i are still getting used to this peace and quiet,and even Hissy is still skulking around under chairs and furniture in case the kids pounce to pick her up lol,but i expect she will chill out in a couple of days.
She did however sleep the whole night between me and Liz ,curled up on top of the quilt,so she is improving ,even staying there till 8 oclock this morning ,so old Badger got a lie in [yipee]
Going into town today for the ingredients for the corned beef,most of it i already have in ,including the cloves and coarse salt,but i may have trouble getting allspice kernals ,you learn something new everyday however ,i allways thought allspice was just that ,a mixture of spices ,but ,it seems ,not so ooooops.
I may even have to use the ground varietyif i can't get the other,we will see.
The weather up north has turned mild again but i don't think that will last very long this time of year.
I'm off now ,to wait for the person to arrive and start this trial of the energy conservation device which is being fitted to our shower unit,it is supposed to cut the energy used qiute a bit,and the beuty of it is ,if it works ,i can keep the unit after the trial finishes,a sort of free chrissie' present.
See you all later.Badger.

Just a few quick lines ,Fred glad all turned out well in the end,you and Mrs fred must be feeling a wee bit lost in your house now.!!
Made a start on the wrapping of dads christmas presants.will take thn over later this wek and start on my own.Want to be sure all that sort of thing is done before i go away next week.
At my ex mother in laws funeral tomorrow,We did have a few disa greements but she was also very good to me at times .
Dorothy,I seem to have ordered two of the Neil White books ,so someone else is getting an extra christmas present.Will be looking at the web site for the book awards again later in the week.Brenda