General Chat

Back again folks ,after seeing out the two lads who arrived early to put the extra layer of insulation in the loft,had to run the hoover over the floor straight away of course to get the dust off the floor,that on the missus's chest wouldn't do her any good at all.
I have just ordered the new Olympus battery off ebay ,a third of the price of the official Olympus price,and from a very well known battery maker,which will do me ,a spare in the case at al times ,that's me.
Sorry to hear that the leg is getting worse Brenda ,it's no joke as i know too well,having it in the right leg ,left ankle ,and both hips ,you will need to take the pain killers when it gets really bad,but have to learn to live with it worse luck.
I will call you over the next two days ,Dorothy too ,then you will both have my new number,but the new phone has sat nav ,and the internet on ,which will come in handy when in town anywhere.
I think i should write the recipe for the oven bottom pizzas down ,and have already taken a pic of them in case anyone asks for it.
My own today i added red pesto in with the puree .for a different taste,and with the caramalised onion ,cheese and chopped chicken breast ,plus a little wild garlic grass out of the herb garden ,they were really yummy.
I have managed to get a little more done in the garden today ,with both the bushes in where the tattie barrel was last season,the lumps of grass and dandelions taken out from under ,and between the rose garden cover plants,and the first batch of cabbage seeds in the greenhouse.
Away to do as little more work now ,be back later ,Fred

Morning all,its grey and chilly here today ,hope it bucks up, I have loads of washing to get dry. David has left his bedding and uniforms in the kictchen for washing ,he is usually good and brings it more regular but has not brought it down for a few days !!!
Having trouble with my arthritis ,its affecting my left ankle and leg now and is painful at the minute,been to the doc s and was told take paracetamol for the pain and rub brufen gel on the painful parts,!!
Have managed to get about but very gingerly and with a funny limp!!
Hope you are all ok ,see you soon take care ,Brenda

Afternoon troops ,Dorothy ,Brenda ,and Edith,where are you Gal he he,off galivanting again ,or are you dancing with that bear ,lol,pleased to hear that your snow was melting again and you are chomping at the bit ,and ready to get started on your herb garden.
The phone was sorted this morning,and i can now phone Canada/America ,and Australia/New zealand ,120 minutes a month for both.
The number yoy have Dorothy is the house phone number which we use all the time,and will be keeping anyway for phoning in the u/k and all incoming callsfrom outside if it/s cheaper for you.
I will bell you in the next few days which will give you my mobile number as well,so use which is cheaper for you ,lol.[the scot coming through again he he].
I will phone Brenda too,so you will both have the number [mobile ,and home].
I have finally got our Mary's number right too so i will call her tomorrow morning when it will be early in the afternoon in Oz,don't want to call when she is still counting Joey's jumping fences ,lol..
I am very glad i decided on sorting the back garden and early plantings first this last week ,because our weather is back to normal ,rain ,wind and chilling back down,which means i can now swap to greenhouse work which oi can do at any time ,and with plenty of seed sowing to do ,i am still plenty busy.
Glad the wedding went well ,Brenda ,but i reckoned it would tire you out somewhat so ,i hope the few days in June with us staying in Southport will give us a chance to meet up in better weather i reckon i owe you a cream tea.and i need a subject for the new camera [i have to use someone as a test piece don't i?
Well ,time to go and start the tea ,a little salad tonight with a jacket tattie methinks.
Take care all Fred.xxxx

goodmorning fred as usual you are a a wonderful gardner I feel I learn something from you all the time look forward toyou sorting out the phone and look forward to hearing from you again and when you recieve a new number I will be able to call you and liz, we had a weird evening and night we were under tornado warnings late in the evening and the sky was alive with the lightening and the the roar of the thunder the last time a tornado hit this area was about 25yrs ago I did not live here then but it caused havoc and great damage, I just put my head under the covers and went to sleep living on the 11th floor if a tornado hit not much I could do about it, woke up fine it is about 20c and will go down to 3c to-night it is the change in temperature that causes a problem, brenda glad you enjoyed the wedding have a good rest for a couple of days. bye for now dorothy

Evening all,we had a great time at the wedding and the weather was brilliant,Glad you are renewing the genes membership Dorothy,Fred you watch your self as well if you have now got bronchistis.We are shattered after the wedding so have not done much today,
LOVE BRENDA

Evening to all ,late again due to a veeeeery busy weekend in the garden,but i have now come indoors ,had a cup of tea ,and now i'm settled for an hour here.
I now have six of the nine Asparugus plants through so i am looking forward to my own veggies from these within as week.
The first tattie barrel is cleared ,and the compost from it is in three big compost bags ,ready to do back in the barrel once i have moved it to it's new home next to the other one.
The other barrel will be emptied out through this next week and then i can start next years crop,but both barrels being together will make it much easier to manage in bad weather ,no traipsing over the lawn to reach either of them,both being behind the shed where i can stand on the concrete to see to both of them.
This now ,however leaves me with two bare spaces for a couple of dwarf trees,suggestions anyone?
I have been up the ladder to look at the shed roof ,and thankfully the roof felt is sound,the leak being where the bitumn seal between strips has broken down ,hah ,a brush and car underseal will fix that in a jiffy.
Other than that ,the broad bean seed is now in ,,i have planted other seed in the greenhouse ,and some out ,he he ,the cucumber in the greenhouse ,and the courgettes under the kitchen window ,as usual,things isssss lookin' good.lol.
The new phone i got with the new T-mobile dongle contract is a cracker ,a new android touch phone ,but although i can phone out over the u/k ,something is wrong with the configuration and i can't phone to oz yet,but seeing as i am off to the metro centre tomorrow ,i will call into the shop,buy another monthly call card for Canada and have them configure it while i am there ,weeeell ,that's what i am paying for ,he he.
I have cancelled the Vodaphone dongle contract online ,but the dongle is mine to keep ,and i will get one of the free sim cards [pay as you go] which i can put in if i ever need it.
The new camera is a belter now that i have connected to the computer and configured it,i can now do all sorts of photography with it from landscapes ,to porterate work ,pet work with soft edge photos ,and really high power telephoto ,and wide angle shots,or i can just slip it on to auto and snap away,this camera is a lot better than the fine pic that i had to give the missus,it being far too complex for her to use,but she can use the fine -pix well ,thank goodness.
Hope the wedding went Well Brenda and hope you didn't over tax that ankle,the cold being enough to put up with on it's own.
The wife and i have had this bug for well over a week ,nearer two in fact,and in my case has turned to Bronchitis,and i reckon it may be a trip to the docs and antibiotics if it gets any worse.
Once i get this new phone up and running properly Brenda ,i will give both you and Dorothy a call,so that you have the new number which should appear on your phone for storage,as i will only use my old Nokia for travelling,it being connected to the car.
Going to go and get my tea now ,some left over mash ,from our own tatties,an egg ,and some chopped up bacon.yum.
Catch you later all.Fred.

goodmorning after a lovely day yesterday awoke to a overcast and threatening rainy day my sister is now back home in calgary after a good rest in the warm weather of arizona and california, and little barckley (the dog ) is back to good health though they did recieve a hefty bill from the doggie hospital 2200 dollars 1dollar and 60cents is equal to a pound so you can figure it was a hefty bill in pounds. but my brother in law will spare no expense for his animals and has done so in the past , she noticed quite a differance in places in the states that they drove through due to the recession she said that sales of houses was on the increase even the expensive ones were selling for much less than what people had bought them at and the unemployment was very high. I know that several people i know have recently bought homes in florida as retreats in the winter and have not spent a lot of money I guess it is a good time to invest in property in the states but it bothers me from the point of view that you gain from someone else's bad luck. rum old world at times. brenda hope the wedding went well and that you are feeling better, and fred don't overwork in the garden I spoke to anne yesterday and she was doing quite a bit in her garden she said it was a lovely day in bury, will be watching the golf this afternoon and I would like to see rory win he played so well yesterday on all 3 days as well I should say bye for now dorothy

hi glad to see you back brenda and hope that your infection and your leg problems clear up and do have a nice time at the wedding on saturday from the looks of the weather reports I have been reading you are in for some nice weather this week-end, yes it was great to talk to fred and of course he is busy in the garden it should look wonderful when in full bloom, I am going to the bank this am to get a money order to renew my gene's account they have stopped issuing money orders tot he uk at the post office, I don't use credit cards anymore as I am not flying these days and I am aware the gene's site is a secure one but use my debit card over here if I am not using cash, I still like to use cash if possible otherwise the debit card works for me I will pop it in the mail to-day it is due next thursday so should arrive in time. so all of you enjoy the week-end bye for now dorothy

Hi all, I am sorry i have not been on for a few days ,with not feeling well and a few other things going on,I have not had chance.
The doctor was very nice and thinks I have damaged a muscle in my leg with the excersises I have been doing!! I did not feel like I had done anything when doing them buit you never know I have to rest it ,keep it evelated take paracetamol as a painkiller which I have been doing but it doesn't always help.I am able to walk more ,but it can ache when I am not doing anything as well.
As for the chesty cougth, I have no infection so no antibiotics,just hot lemon and honey,she did not think shop bought medicines were any good.It is actually clearing a little and seems more like catarragh or sinus ,I am getting some menthol chrystals to have an inilation see what that does.need to have it cleared for Saturday we are going to a wedding.
Hope you are all well and glad Fred got to phone Dorothy.
Take care Brenda

Evening troops ,sorry to be a tad late today ,but i have been a busy body in the greenhouse and garden ,while the sun is out.
Got the other weed and feed for the front lawn and got the front lawn finished ,so i will run the hose out tonight ,and water it in if it dosn't rain tonight.
I also brought another systemic weed killer from B & M,along with a proper wood parasol to slip into the patio table ,so things are coming together nicely.
Seed wise ,the french climbers are in [beans].the runners are in ,beetroot,calabrese,and brussels, leaving the broadbeans to put into the buckets tomorrow ,giving us beans until September ,october.
I finished off today by filling the first trough for the wife ,so that she can put the first row of Pak,choi in tomorrow morning the other side will be filled with cut and come again salad,and a second trough will be set away in five weeks.
The other two troughs will be filled with little herb plants ,four to each ,which will keep us going until October.
Think i will do a nice little stir fry for tea,using some of the first stuff out of the herb pots,which are really starting to move along.
Hope you got some good news from your doctor Brenda,and it's nice to hear that the pooch is well again Dorothy.
Hope your little friend is still able to visit with the snow Edith ,the pic of her i have as my desktop background ,lol,and from the way Hissy sits looking at it , i think she approves ,lol.
Catch you later all ,Fred.

goodmorning I recieved an e-mail from my sister this am the little doggie is all better and back to normal they are in montana at the moment(yesterday) on their way home to calgary she said it was only 4 above not like the last 5 weeks with temps in the 90's they should behome on friday and then they leave again on the 9th of may to isreal (hope I spelt that right) I think they are going with a group from their church should be interesting.hope brenda that you are feeling better, I read in the paper that you guys should be in for some nice weather hope that is true, it is going to be about 11c to-day and on sunday 22c from the cold to the heat very strange. I am going with bryan to-day after school to pick up his new brace apparently it has arrived from california of course that could change if his dad gets back from his meetings earlier than expected we shall see, take care bye dorothy

hi what a nice surprise I had this morning a phone call from fred it was very nice to speak to him and fred the fish I was trying to think of was red snapper it has a nice sweet taste to it, and the 2nd surprise was that the sun was shining in both places , I will pop your number fred in my phone book I forgot to ask you what it was but it showed up on the phone so that was good. brenda Ihope that you are feeling better to-day I have had no news from chris as yet so not sure if the doggie is better or if they are on their way to calgary, no special plans as yet for to-day but it is not 10am yet so who knows what the day will bring, bye for now dorothy

Evening Brenda ,and Dorothy,have had a lazy day today ,just put a few seeds [beetroot,and calabrese ] in cups in the greenhouse,sorted the case out and put everything away until the next trip,and that's about it.
Glad you were well away from that burst main ,Brenda ,from what i saw on the news yesterday morning ,it looked more like a river than a road.
The wind is still a bit on the high side here ,but it looks to be calming down somewhat.
That pic Edith sent on the other thread of Chloe the cat ,is a pip,she looks lovely,but would be no good in this house ,her being a long hair,it would play hell with my missus's chest.
Going to try phoning you via Virgin broadband tomorrow Dorothy ,hope it works out okay ,lol, i tried phoning the virgin operator today only to find they have done away with the 100 number so that there is no direct link anymore ,what a service,i call it disgusting,lol.
Made a nice egg curry tonight using the old eggs up before starting the new ones ,after i had checked to make sure they were safe to use.of course.
Catch you all tomorrow morning ,Fred.

hi still raining so it seems to be bad in both places may it be over soon I have not had any updates from chris re the doggie maybe no news is good news, it does sound like parts of manchester had it bad with all that water. and I saw on line that the little girl in bury was buried the one they say that her mother killed her very sad, fred I guess that you and liz are glad to be home and that hissy is pleased to have you back. brenda hope you like the new doctor and that she can help you, isobelle saw her doc yesterday instead of wed, she has severe tendinitis in the right knee and yesterday was almost unable to walk so he said to come up right away he thinks that physio will help and some heavy duty pain pills so I hope that will help the left knee will have to be replaced, gosh this getting older is fun, I am heading over to the family house about noon lindy has a university course this evening so I will keep an eye on the three grandchildren plus I will make good use of the washing machine etc. andrew is in toronto for meetings he usually stays down but is only 2hrs away if he is needed, but now that an american company has taken over his meetings go on and on well into the evening so it makes sense to stay in the hotel, bryan was fitted for his new brace that he will have to wear till the surgery at the end of the summer it will take 10 days as it is coming from california not sure why it is coming from the states well hope stays well with you all bye for now dorothy

Afternoon folks,we have another wet and miserable day here and its really cold.
Had to but a cardigan on over a longsleeved top this afternoon
Glad you and Liz gothome ok fred,and had a nice greeting from Hissy.!!
Hope you are both having a nice restful evening.
Dororhty hope your sisters doggie is going to be ok it doesn't sound very good.
I have made a casserole for tea ,hope it warms us up!!
John heard about the Flooding fred ,its not near us it was the end of the Mancunian Way near salford aparently.
I am feeling a bit better today but am still going to the docs tomorror,seeing a new doc as well so I will see how she is.
Better get the cabbage on to have with the casserole
take care ,Brenda

Hi Dorothy ,we are home again,after a late,breakfast and a tearful goodbye between the wife and her sister.
Hope Your sister is okay after the news we sdaw on the tele before we left ,a huge water main burst ,the manchunian way partially flooded,and a lot of homes flooded,as well as some of the gardens,what with that ,and an accident on one of the main roads leading in to Manchester centre ,it looks like being a busy day for the police and fire service.
We never got back to southport ,both days the wind and rain made it a waste of time trying,even today on the way home ,the rain was lashing the car ,and the national speed limit was down to 50 mph,with gusting winds making it even more difficult.
Getting home we found the garden furniture all over the garden ,and half the covers missing altogether.
Hissy was very pleased to see us .lol.and has stuck to me like a limpet since we opened the front door.
have to go and get the unpacking done ,be back later ,Fred.

hi everyone seems busy at the moment hope all is well with the vacation fred, we have had rain since last night and it is still coming down but we are going to be warm this afternoon 15 degree's (60f) then it goes cold again and rain and snow on wednesday, recieved an e-mail from my sister this am they are still in palm springs as the little dog is ill in the doggie hospital with bleeding gastroenteritis may still be there till wednesay day they are quite worried about the dog after almost 6weeks away chris is looking foreward to being in her own home regardless of the 30cm of snow that calgary got the other day, just noticed this is really a weather forecast note. no tennis this week so not much going on as yet but it is only monday take care dorothy

Morning Brenda,hmmmm,sounds as though a trip to the doc's is the order of the day,those tablets should be changed for another that dosn't cause tummy discomfort,there are a few around.
We did get into Southport to have a bit of a look around despite the weather,wind this time ,lol,plus a few showers ,but it is a place worth returning to ,and we may try on Sunday if the weather improves.
We went to The Tramway last evening for a carvery,£3-90 a head which was very good,run by the same group who run the one up in Seaton Sluice up near Newcastle.
Time for the brekkie ,,beans on toast i think,backlater mif the wife lets me back on,he he,Fred.

Afternoon folks,from a very windswept Manchester,we have had rain on and off all morning and we now have a bit of sunshine,but still have high winds.!!
Had a couple of errands to do this morning and thats all I did the errands and back,did not even walk round the local market,!!! just wanted to get home my ankles have started acheing as much as my hips,hope they are not starting with the arthritis as well.!!!
Silks has been on tv for a while Dorothy ,its just started a new season,unfortunatley I do not watch it but I have friends who do,and they love it.
Hope Liz is managing to enjoy her holiday even with the weather not being good.
Used to go to Southport when I was a youngster,it was a good day out ,haven't been for over 40 years but other memebers of the family go at least once a year for a day out.
Should be at my Spanish class but would not have been able to walk down there with the pain in my ankle,I will not take the painkillers as they can upset my stomach.will listen to my discs instead and see what I can make out of it.
After that i am making a chicken casserole for tea.
Take care ,Brenda

hi it is wednesday evening about 8-45pm sorry the weather is not great fred but you are right you don't want liz to get ill hope you like southport I do remember going there as a child (such a long time ago) it was a nice day to-day and I did get my hair cut so I feel like a new woman but the forecast is for snow flurries to-morrow so I shall stay in if that happens soo fed up with the snow we have had enough. waiting for a show to come on the tele criminal minds not sure if youget over home just read about a show you get called silks any comments on it. tennis does not come on this evening till about midnight as it is basketball on all the channels but I shall not stay up that late tennis mad I may be but I am not that crazy goodnight all dorothy