General Chat

goodmorning sorry to hear that due to the snow you are housebound fred hope it clears up soon for you love to hear about the spring flowers, we had snow yesterday with more to come most days this week. so I will not be going out . so back to watching the olympics I guess . made a nice pasta dish yesterday with lots of mushrooms and garlic bread living alone I can indulge in my liking for garlic bread.my friend anne in bury had her new carpets laid on saturday it cost her 10 pounds to have the old ones put into the garage until she can get the council to take them away, I found that strange when I had new carpet in the house the installers took the old ones away part of the service . well that is it for me for to-day bye for now dorothy

goodmorning sorry to hear that due to the snow you are housebound fred hope it clears up soon for you love to hear about the spring flowers, we had snow yesterday with more to come most days this week. so I will not be going out . so back to watching the olympics I guess . made a nice pasta dish yesterday with lots of mushrooms and garlic bread living alone I can indulge in my liking for garlic bread.my friend anne in bury had her new carpets laid on saturday it cost her 10 pounds to have the old ones put into the garage until she can get the council to take them away, I found that strange when I had new carpet in the house the installers took the old ones away part of the service . well that is it for me for to-day bye for now dorothy

Morning all ,and a very cold ,white one too grrrrrrr.
There's Fred,new boots and rose loppers ready to do battle at last ,opens the curtains and goes out to bring the bin in,,and what do i see ,more ruddy snow[throws boots back in the cupboard in disgust] and comes in the kitchen to make a cuppa.
Looks like it's back to work in the house again for the time being ,there being more snow forecast for the rest of the week.
Still,it is only Feb' but i can't help thinking of ,and wishing of the early spring we had two years ago ,lol , i would have been sat outside at this time of day enjoying a cuppa ,and wondering what to see to next..
The tulips and daff's should be fine ,they are very hardy,and come from climates colder than ours ,he he ,if they can grow in Wales which has worse weather in winter ,that we are likely to see ,i don't think for one minute that a bit of snow will hurt them
even my bluebell are now showing and holding their own ,so i think ,once the weather does break ,we are in for a glorious spring.
We have one of those Morrisons curries for 2 meals for dinner ,that should keep us warm till tea time ,when no doubt i will have some soup again,though i don't know what sort yet.maybe Tomato,or even Leek & potato,along with some french stick.
Time i was starting the housework [spit's out of the corner of the mouth] and looks longingly out of the window [sighs ] blast it ,still snowing.Fred

Hi all.Dorothy I do hope all is well when you have your check up,I do know how nurses are ,having one for a sister,she is good at getting others to do things like see the doctor,but not so quick herself.You look after yourself.
We had snow this morning not a lot but it was still there ,it has gone now and I hope we do not have any more.
Still not found the ho;liday ,but we have pleanty of time.
Better go now have a few emails I need to send while i have this to myself,
Take care ,Brenda

goodmorning yes brenda one of the joys of retirement is that you can pick up and go at a moments notice, last evening I went out with my daughter in law to the the church they had a show and silient auction to raise money for some members to go to ghana they are linked with a church there, the entertainment was good it was a chap that sings and does paradies to the songs and then desert was included, it was a good evening, lindy was a bit sore in the legs as they had been out on the slopes most of the day and she was snowboarding not ski-ing to-day. I would like to mention that if I am not on line for a few days or so it is because I am having a bit of a problem with the ticker a few episodes of sort of feeling like I am going to pass out happened at the church last evening and that made me quite mad as I was trying to avoid the family having any idea till I get it checked out with the specialist the blood pressure and the blood sugar are fine so not sure what it is, of course nurses new or old are famous for self diagnosis anyway I am sure it will resolve it self so hope you all had a good week-end bye for now dorothy

well its sunny again today,and its not as cold!!
Hope you get the summer you want Dorothy,we are hoping to go in May somewhere ,but the prices at the moment are more than we want to pay.
As I will not be working we can go when ever we see a good deal,which is good, we had to leave a couple of deals last year as i could not get the time off.
Its was quite here this morning .well steady really,till just before lunch,then it was really busy for 10 mins.
Have just opened again and its getting busy so I have to go.take carem
Brenda

oh gosh brenda daffs and tulips how I miss spring in england even after all these years took a friend out for her birthday lunch yesterday there is a very nice fish resturant near me called the fish bowl! she had the fish and chips special and I had the shrimp linguine both of us were stuffed after a great meal, the weather is still very cold and some snow off the lake but not much, so five weeks till retirement I do wish you a happy one it does take a bit of getting used to but as fred says you will find yourself being quite busy and wonder how you ever made the time to work . freds holiday booking sounds great not sure what I have planned this year nothing in mind at the moment. if it is a good summer I don't need to go away with all the lakes and great areas around me to explore so I shall see what comes. back off to watch some of the olympics and do a spot of ironing at the same time hope you all have a great week-end by for now dorothy

Sftrenoon all,its has taken agaes to get on here ,not sure if its the site or the pc???
Can not stop long have to make a phone call at 3pm and then go back to the chemist for my prescription.
Working tomorrow ,so need to go today.
Weather sunny and cold again but it does look nice through the windows .Some Daffs and tulips are pushing up now hope this cold will not see them off.
Great news about your holiday Fred,will be looking for a bargain when I am retired.
See you all tomorrow take care,Brenda

Morning Brenda ,Dorothy and all you other readers ,lol,the nearly retired ,and the ones who have gone before.
Yes ,retirement will be a blessing for you,but ,i think you will find that you are going to get a shock,finding yourself busier than ever he he ,the upside being ,you will be your own boss ,and can make up your own mind as to which way round you do things ,and more to the point ,when you decide to do them .
Well after a little deliberation ,we went ahead and booked our two weeks in September ,going down to Cornwall next to Newquay for a look see.
Booking now [an early bird ] we get a luxury 6 berth caravan ,gas and electric in with the price, for £370.
We hope it will be nice as i fancy returning next year if the fishing is any good,and we can even call in at Plymouth on the way down to see the nephew ,who is in the navy,and his wife and children,i can also take a pic of the war memorial with my uncles name on for my records[really must apply for his service record too].
Nothing special for dinner today folks ,only four very large mushrooms which i am going to stuff with cous cous and fried streaky bacon,served up on toast,time i tried a few new things he he.
Time to go now ,things to do ,lol,us retired folk are never done [evil snigger ]Fred.

Hello all.its freezing here today,the sun does keep trying to get out but its cold.John had to defrost my car and scrap the frost from the windscreen,took him ages.
Hope everyone is staying well and warm.
Working all day today ,and am now counting the weeks till i finish,which will be 5 weeks today.YIPPEE.
Better go and get some shelving done.
take care
Brenda

evening all,I agree Dorothy that Fred can really get your mouth watering when he lists his menus.!!!
Had a busy day today ,thought the rain we have been having would keep people in ,but it hasn't.
Had a few jobs to do for the team leader so have been busy here,will be ready for home very soon,but giving a lift to a colleague who has a large parcel to take home and usually gets a lifyt from a friend who is on leave ,she had forgotten and will have two buses to get if she hasn't got a lift!!
See you all tomorrow.Take care ,Brenda

goodmorning I really have to stop reading fred's messages so early in the morning over here his dinner reciepe from yesterday had my mouth watering once again and I have not had breakfast as yet sounded smashing fred I bet you all enjoyed it. I had a fun day watching the olympics and seeing canada obtain the first gold medal on home soil . dthe grandaughter is learning to ski moguls hard on the knee's i think but she is keen on it and goes really fast she has no fear I guess I can hardly watch . most of the province has the day off to-day so the roads are not busy for a change though the road up to the ski hills has been busy since about 6am. Ithink that I will do some cooking to-day I have been inspired by fred Ihave anice beef pot roast and i shall do some small baby spuds turnip and asparagus and I have a sticky toffeesd pudding left over from xmas in the freezer that will be desert bye for now dorothy

Morning troops,nice and mild here this morning ,a little warmer than yesterday ,and the weather seems to have brought the birds out to play.
Made the missus and grandson a special dinner yesterday ,to let her know what day it was ,he he,her face ,when she got the online card said it all ,she thought i had fogotten, he he.
I got up pretty early and got out into the garden where ,supervised by the furry boss ,took out some button brussels ,carrote ,parsnip and potatoes.took them indoors and prepared the lot by 7 am.
We landed up by having an early dinner ,12 0,on the dot of a fresh roast chicken done with orange which i stuffed into the cavity after a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper,put into the oven witjh roast potato,parsnip,carrot ,and red pepper,and of course ,caremalised red onion,home made country stuffing ,mashed potato ,cabbage ,green beans ,and a rich gravy.
The other breast off the chicken i stripped off whole and put in the freezer,before i boiled up the carcase and added some herbs ,salt and ground black pepper ,plus leeks from the garden,which we will be having for tea this evening.day even doing the washing up as i went along ,leaving the wife nothing to do.

In return ,she did the tea leaving me the afternoon and evening off ,luxury for me.,so i have had a lazy afternoon and evening .
I see the board is jumping around again ,so i will swap over to my other Browser which seems to be far more stable and controlable ,back in a mo' Fred.
Let's see now ,where was i ,lol.i really must remember to come onto genes via Google ,not I.E which seems to be the root cause of this jumping about.
I ended up last evening doing a complete factory restore on the acer ,which is now spot on ,and ready for Blackpool.lol.i didn't realise it was so long since i had used it ,and it seemed to be simpler to do the restore other than having updates come up every half hour for days,i even backed the puter up for a future restore by using two discs to back up to ,rather than using the other method which takes far longer.
Hope everyone had a good weekend,i am off down to the metrocentre now to see if i can find a laptop stand to put into the bag for the next trip out.
Take care all Fred.

goodmorning well we had a little snow yesterday the weather man forgot to mention that so it was surprise i should send it on to vancouver they need it I have enjoyed the olympics so far vancouver is three hours behind this part of the country I sometimes forget how big this country is. this is a holiday week-end to-morrow being called family day feb. being one of the months that did not have a long week-end this was put into place. the children will be happy to have the day off school, I believe my group are going ski-ing for the day they will all enjoy that Ian likes to ski along with his dad and bryan and laura snow board and lindy does a combination of the two, and grandma just watches from the ski lodge and enjoys the hot chocolate and sits by the fire can't beat that. bye for now dorothy

Good evening everyone,still cold here but no snow ,thank goodness,had a few flakes again yesterday ,but nothing stuck.!!
Could not sleep last night,and got up late this morning so am a bit behind with what I was to do.But they can wait,went shopping to a local retail park,got a new handbag with some money I had from last years birthday,its taken that long for me to decide what I wanted.Also looked for a new coat but as I want to loose weight i think I will wait for it. Really need to get my head together on this diet,seem to be putting on not taking off,if you see what i men.Its the snacking that I can not stop ,even tried having carrots and celery chopped up in the fridge but have them and toast as well.!!!
Better go have a couple of phone calls to make.
See you all tomorrow.Brenda

hi everyone well it is a nice day so far sunny and cold but no snow I was out for a while this morning and it felt good to be in the sun. spoke to anne yesterday she said it was cold in bury but no snow I also spoke to my sister in calgary it was her birthday 63 this time she does not like that mentioned but I like to tease her about it. I mean she is a very active woman with all the mountain hiking they do and snow shoe-ing I think she does well and she is also very trim.the olympics start to-morrow so that will be fun to watch I always get a bit teary eyed when the athletes march in on the first day. well I am now going to think about starting something for my dinner this evening not sure what as yet take care bye dorothy

Hello all,from a sunny but very chilli Manchester,it looks glourious outside,but is really cold.,it has not tried to snow yet but I think its on its way.
Not working this weekend but have lots of errands and things to do,mainly with selling dads house.
Hope you get some gardening done soon Fred,and Dorothy well done on showing the lads how to iron,David does his own and sometimes John does as well.
see you all tomorrow,Brenda

hello all this talk of food from brenda and fred had my mouth watering this morning all I can add is that I had dinner at the families on monday evening and it must be sale's the world over andrew had been shopping he was home from halifax and bought two roasting all ready seasoned chickens so he cooked those for supper with mashed potatoes cauliflower with cheese sauce and green beans, when he is working from home he often starts dinner or cooks it so that when lindy gets home from school dinner is ready. I was over there to help out with the ironing that had accumalated due to both he and lindy being busy ie out of the province at the uncles funeral and all the kids activities, normally this does not happen but I enjoy ironing always have I am told that I am daft but I do enjoy it. and it was only shirts 19 in all well three guys it adds up. I am in the process of teaching the boys how to do it usually there dad does his own so they can learn. to-day we are having a little snow not much it looks quite pretty sorry that you are getting it again fred when you were so looking foreward to getting out in the garden bye for now dorothy

To use a mild swear word [Bu***r] woke up to more snow again this a m with the ground again frozen so any thought of the garden is kapput, lol.
Yes ,we were at Morrisons too ,and a lot of the meat was half price ,so we got four loads of steak mince ,which is now cooked and down in the freezer ,some steak fillets ditto ,and four nice little pork fillets which we had for tea ,done in a nice sauce made with cheese and mushrooms.
I have been watching the situation in Australia this last week ,things look rather grim ,the guts ripped out of some places by storms and torrential rain ,other places hit by very high temperatures and drought ,and yet ,more places by fires ,still raging in many places ,and suburbs,so ,i reckon we people this side of the pond are the lucky ones,cold it may be ,but you can keep yourself warm and dry without too much hassle,keeping yourself dry ,and cool ,well ,that's a different matter,and fires are not the problem here that they are over there.
Brenda ,you need to buy yourself one of these shopping bags which fold up flat ,no bigger than a folded carrier bag ,but with wheels,ideal for you when you are on your own.
They sell them in B & M up here for £6-50 and fold up for the car boot when you get to it ,lol.,the wife can haul 15 kilos in hers,so they are very handy to have around.
I find the Filo pastry too time consuming ,and only use it for special meals ,preffering shortcrust ,which to my mind is easier and tastier by far,to my mind anyway.
We treated ourselves to a Greggs pasty for dinner yesterday ,never again ,they have changed the pastry from a shortcrust to a half puff pastry which is greasy ,stodgy and has faaaaar too much salt in,yuk.it's back to Peters for us,he he ,we both had indigestion after the pasty so ,i'm afraid Greggs have turned a corner ,and are going downhill.
I noticed as well that some months ago they removed the oggie from the shelves ,and then bought it back a few weeks ago with this same pastry ,the filling not nearly as nice ,and 30 p dearer not a good move.
Now ,i am REALLY looking forward to my usual bakers in Fleetwood for a decent pie again he he.
Hope none of you poor people have Toyota cars ,thank the lord i decided to stay with Nissan at the last minute instead of changing ,i don't think we have heard the last of the Toyota fiasco,quality control must be none existent at the plants where they are produced,bit like Browns Parliment ,he he.
Off to get some work done people ,see you later ,Fred.

Afternoon folks,lovelly sunny afternoon after a dismal and grey start,still bitterly cold but the sunshine makes it look good and " lifts" you a little.Been shopping for a couple of birthday presents this morning and got a few bargains at the freezer shop, I don't go often to this shop as its a walk to the car park and i can not carry things too heavy all that way,but John was with me so got a few things!!! .
Made a steak and guiness pie at weekend but it did not go down well,David and I did not like the meat in the beer (too strong a taste!)and John did not like the top which was filo pastry ,it was a Rosemary Connelly recipe.which I will not be repeating.Might use the filo pastry again for some pies but use a bit more.
Braising some steak and onions tonight with mash and cabbage.Morrisons had all their steak half price a few weeks ago and I got quite a bit in.
Better get on with ordering some books on line ,again for presents been meaning to get them for ages,and need them before the end of the month.
Take care,Brenda