General Chat

hi one and all last evening I went to bryan's music concert at the high school it was a great program grades 9-12 put on a great show and a variety of musical choices one senior played the violin solo just fantastice bryan's group played three selections (he plays the tenor sax) so a good evening was had by all. to-day in town is a sad day as we have a funeral for one of our soliders who was killed in afganastan all the streets around me are closed off for a few hours they expect about 3000 people to attend the service at the armourys he was only 24 I am aware off all the british lads that have also been killed it is never easy. his father is a firefighter so many fireman will be lining the route. we have to be very grateful to all the young men and woman who keep us all safe. the highway going up north is very busy as people head off for the holiday week-end we are expecting some rain on saturday but the rest of the week-end is to be sunny and in the middle of next week the temp will get up to 30 , this is a big planting week-end over here fred so all the gardiners will be doing their thing . I recieved a hummingbird solar light as a gift and I have it on the balcony in a large bushy green plant and it looks great at night it looks like it has landed for a rest on the plant and all the lovely colours are great to watch enjoy the week-end bye for now dorothy

Morning all ,wow ,what a grand weekend we have had ,weather ,fantastic,and sunny ,the old legs have turned a nice shade of brown ,and ,no ,it isn't because i was kneeling in the borders taking a few weeds out he he.
The B B Q went well ,with thew daughter and family turning up so no food was unused,or wasted ,even Hissy joined us for the afternoon ,sprawled out in the shade under my chair ,where i passed her a morsal of fish ,chicken ,and beef steak once in a while ,lol,one very spoiled pusser cat .
Garden wise we nearly have a full veggie patch,the runner beans now in ,and only the french beans ,and broad beans to go out,plus a couple of courgettes.
The greenhouse stuff is well away now ,all the herbs ,tomatoes cucumber and peepers ,growing very fast,so ,sorry our Mary ,if you turn up now ,it's the bedroom for you and hubby lass ,the chalet is fully booked.
I was watering the veggiies this morning ,and noticed that the parsnips are showing ,and that has made my day ,the most important crop of the year is now well away ,and to cap it all ,the Rhubarb is growing quickly,which will b very important next year for placing under the brassica ,just a little piece put into each hole before dropping the plants in will deter wireworm ,and stop clubroot getting into the soil.i use all clubroot resisant plants where i can ,and never import veggie from outside sources ,just in case of contamination,it's easier to prevent this disease ,than trying to cure the soil of it ,which is very hard to do ,if not impossible.
I am off on a shop hunt this morning to try and find a good supply of and and insect powder ,and roseclear systemic liquid while i can still obtain it ,before it is removed from the shelves ,those products ,and derris dust ,the gardeners friends that have been around for many years ,are being banned by the E U ,but still freely available in any other country of the union ,what a Pi** take ,the beurocrats again trying to screw britain in any way possible ,.
I think it's time Britain pulled out of the E U and revoked the human rights bill at the same time ,that useless law is only protecting the criminal fraternity and terrorists ,not the law abiding people it was meant to protect,and just think ,all that money saved ,with no overseas coffers to fill ,great ,our national debt and bankers crisis ,paid off in a year,brilliant.
Well ,off the soap box ,and away out to do some mooching round the garden shops ,lol,catch you all later,Fred.

hi well the long week-end has been great weather wise to-day it is 30 and a lovely breeze I have had a good birthday lots of calls and messages brenda thanks for the e. card how you did that on holiday I have no idea. the family and I will get to-gether mid week as bryan is 15 on the 26th and we tend to have a family dinner on tht date or as close a spossibel. glad you had a good meal with the family fred and that hissy enjoyed it as well. I took a few days to think over your comments on the oil spill, the oil is making a mess for the birds on many of the islands around lousianna and florida and the fishing is ruined many people have lost their incomes for this year and many years to come, I shan't get into the rights and wrongs of it all ie who is responsible as Ithink that there is blame on both sides.I was exhausted by the end of the andy murray match to-day as he did not play well for the first 2 sets and that means I do a lot of walking around the place muttering under my breath but at last he got it to-gether and finally won so I am very much enjoying the french open bye for now dorothh

Hi all,just a few lines to say we are back safe and sound from the holiday
We had a good time ,and looks like we left some sun behind!!
Have not read the messages as I have not got time today ,will come back later and catch up. I have 58 emails to sort out!!
Take care Brenda

hi brenda welcome home to you both look foreward to hearing all your news when you get settled in another hot and lovely day over here bye for now dorothy

Sorry to be so late today folks ,seems virgin Media are having real problems with the landlines again today,i reckon the cable optics ,after thirty years of use are starting to break up,a problem we had in the glass fibre industry causing the laminates to become weak after years of stress.
We have finished up today getting two days rebate on our monthly payment [so far] but i reckon that isn't the end of the present troubles after noticing along the other end of the estate next door to us ,that the team has already starting to strip the old cables out and renew them all.
Cor Dorothy ,your weather sounds lush,ours has taken a real nose dive ,back to 10c today in fact ,and it has been wet ,on and off all afternoon.
i found a huge bucket of garden soil feeder ,for £9-65p,nearly twice the size of the growmore bucket and far cheaper ,so Fred is a happy bunny ,enough feeder to do three years.
I Also spotted a gas B B Q in the same store,two burners ,one of which was under a flat plate for griddling and a tray on top of the spreader on the other burner for chippings for smoking.
The lid has a slot for a chicken spit ,and will fold down to help the smoking process ,so,what the heck ,i brought it 7 months early ,but the daughter will be well chuffed as i promised she could have it for her garden ,she only has one of these small charcoal ones at the mo.
Anyway ,to cheer myself up ,i set too and put it together this am ,and it is now under the cover awaiting the first firing up [ now ,where' s me pinny ,lol]
We have taken some carrot 7 apple soup out for the tea today,after finishing off the shepherds pie dinner time,,all i need to do now ,is have a think on tomorrows meals,hmmmmm , if it get's any colder i will be getting the slow cooker out for a nice warming hot pot ,or stew.
Brenda ,i was so glad to hear that you had a good holiday ,it makes a big difference when this happens ,and you have recharged the batteries early in the season,you should now be okay until the fall ,when hopefully ,you will be having another break,lol
We have a Pease Pudding maker up here that is gearing up to invade Lancashire with his product so ,when we come down again ,i won't have to bring it down with me ,so i can enjoy my fav' sarnies ,either savaloy ,or ham with pud ,yum.
Have to go ,time to stick the soup on ,Fred.

Hi everyone,been busy today catching up on washing ,from the holidays ,which I could not hang out due to rain!!! so the house is like a laundry,
Had to go to the photo shop in ASDA to burn some pictures on a cd ,couldn't do it on here as I got a cd stuck in the drawer,david has manage to get it out and I am considered told off about not putting it in correctly!!!i
I had promised the cd to someone today so had to do it.,so I then had to take it to her,had a chat and some lunch with her,catching up etc.
Went to the library to pick up some books and take a few back.
Came home after getting a bit of shopping and got the tea on.
Then have spent almost two hours sorting out my car insurance ,I just do not understand how they get such vast differences in prices.
Now Ineed to cancel the old one but that is a phone call in the morning ,.I wonder if we are having the problems Fred has spoken about with the cables etc,things are really slow on here. Will be back tomorrow to tell youmore about the holiday .Love Brendaie

Morning Brenda ,brrrrrrrr,how very dare you to leave all that sun behind and come home without it,lol,i had to turn the heating back on yesterday evening ,and again this morning,not nice at this time of year.
The sun is out though ,so maybe it will be a little warmer today ,,but it's a good thing i held back on the planting out of the french beans ,as they are a tad tender on first putting out .
The car insurance varying so widely is because all the companies take the P**s out of the motorists,all very greedy ,the only thing to do is shop around and play one off against the other.but you could try going to one of the companies who accept the elder motorists,believing , rightly in most cases that the older drivers are a safer bet,being a lot more careful as to how they drive.
Think it's time to make a cheese pudding for dinner and use some of the old bread up ,it seems that we arn't using a lot of bread lately ,maybe because we are now on low fat unleavened breads,which have less sugar in as well,anyway a cheese pudding is cheap ,and easy to make ,and can be eaten with almost any veggie,which is as well ,as i have a glut of asparagus needing cut and used,yum ,yum.
Would you all believe that the missus received a a catalogue through the door yesterday full of Christmas gear ? i ask you ,taking the mickey a little i reckon,unless of course the post office lost it last year and it has just come to light ,i wouldn't put it past them he he.
At the minute ,the broadband looks okay but i won't be suprised if it goes off again later on this morning ,it may be an idea to come on earlier as i did this morning ,just in case there are a few more suprises on the way.
Time to get the missus a cuppa ,before she gets out of bed ,she is in the best place this morning until i get the house warmed a little.
Catch you all later ,Fred.

Morning all.from a vey damp Manchester,there is an hint of sun so it might be nicer later.I do hope so as I have yet more washing to get dry,bedding this time.
At the doctors later ,to see the practise nurse about my diet ,which I have not been doing properly for about a month due to various factors.but now need to get back onto it.We both felt very unfit when we went walking about last week up hills that did not seem steep but had us really huffing and puffing.!!
Want to go swimming but due to school holiday the adults only is now early morning and late at night ,but have said I will try the early morning .Better get going to the docs soon,be back later or tomorrow.take care Brenda

hi fred and brenda I am not sure that I should mention tht we are still in the middle of a heat wave it was over 32 yesterday and allready at 8am it is 24 and sunny but I am enjoying it. yesterday andrew picked me up at 3pm and I spent the afternoon and evening with the family bryan was 15 yesterday I was spoiled with some lovely gifts from the family, then we all went out to dinner to a place called wild wings they are famous for thier chicken wings and lot of other stuff it was bryans choice, I had a lovely chicken wrap with veggies etc. bryan goes way on friday camping and canoeing up north to algocquin park and the bears are a problem this year so that was the topic of conversation during dinner, several teachers are going who are used to camping and portaging on the lakes so hopefull he will be safe bears have attaked people this year, they are coming out of hibernation earlier this year so there food crop has not grown as yet. anyway he is looking foreward to it so I shall try not to worry. Laura showed me her dress for graduation it is very pretty as she is still in the stage that she would rather wear boys close I was surprised she picked out such a nice one graduation is the 28th of june as they have such a large group graduating this year I think they can only invite 4 guests so I may not get a ticket after mom and dad Ian and bryan get theirs we shall see what happens well I am off to put the chairs out on the balcony while it is still a bit on the cool side bye for now dorothy

Goooood morning campers,and anyone else out there who decide to drop in,Dorothy Grrrrr don't rub it in Lass he he ,anyway ,the weather is improving again so it looks like i can get the old shorts on again by Saturday.
I know the Feeling Brenda,i got a right roasting off my diabetic nurse last month as you no doubt remember ,but at last i have it under control again,so ,i reckon you will do the same ,and you are allowed to relax the regime while on holiday ,Dr Fred says it's allowed.lol
These new mixes i was on about will help no end ,they are working well for me,nice home made sausages ,and burgers with no meats in ,that you can make your own by adding your own spices ,or herbs to as you make them up,just the ticket.
I Have even done away with the bread buns for the B B Q by using pitta pouches instead that are made so that you can open up to stuff the insides with salad stuff ,and a burger,again ,fat and sugar free, so there you go ,lol,no more barms for you Lass pittas are the answer[ i get mine from Iceland by the way] ,the little pockets that you buy in Morrisons are no good you need the ones that are the same size as the pitta bread.
The new B B Q is set up and rarin 'to go ,and the old one is packed up and waiting to go to the daughters later this morning ,she only has a coal one ,and gas is so much quicker to fire up ,and you have far more control over the cooking ,no more incinerated sausages or anything else he he.
My new one is slightly smaller ,which fits in to the corner of the patio under the plum tree better ,and has a hinged lid with the slots for a rottiserie ,in it ,i thought it would enable me to smoke my meat and fish too ,if i so wish,aaaaand i can now cook even if it decides to rain ,a bonus.
I will be doing a lot of cooking on it as the weather warms up,a lot better than cooking in doors where it gets too warm.,and a much more laid back way of doing things
The camping sounds lovely Dorothy ,sigh ,but these old bones can't get down on the ground anymore ,so tents are a thing of the past ,so it's a caravan for me these days
,Hopefully the bears won't cause any trouble,but i suppose everyone over there will have to be careful as to where they have their food till the berries and all the other bear food start to ripen again.
We have had an sos off the grandson in Oxford needing our help in stocking up his big freezer again,so ,as soon as we get the new motor ,we will go down for a week.
I don't know what the younger generation are coming too ,lol,He can open up the doors on a C 17 transport plane which is humungus .stuff it full of gear from front to back,work out all the details as to total load of cargo and fuel so that it can get lift off ,and can't manage to do the same for a freezer ,the mind boggles derrrrrr..
No Matter ,it will be great to see him again ,and we will get a break at the same time.
I Have given my Acer computer to a mate of mine so that he can put an extra partition in the hard drive and load windows x P in it,and this willgive me dual programming.
There are many programmes that i still wan't to use and can't because Vista And windows 7 won't support them so this is the only way forward.
I'm not totally useless with computers and can load windowsX P for myself ,but the partition is beyond me but my mate is darned good so ,i gave him the job.
it will be very handy for me ,the acer is the pappy i take on holiday with me ,because it's smaller and lighter than the big H P,and all the gear goes into the computer case with tons of room to spare for odds and ends.
Time to go and get ready as i have tons to do,and in case we go off air again folks [this could happen any minute] have a great weekend all,Fred.

goodmorning well its 7-30 am and the oldest grandson bryan is already off to the north I was shown all his new lightweight camping stuff the other night as they portge into places everything has to be carried on his back but as he is 6ft tall this isnot a hardship for him. so for the next three days i shall try to put the thought of the group running into hungry bears out of my mind, to-day it is a bit cooler with maybe some rain, we are coming up to the 25th anniversary of the tornado that ruined most of barrie I did not live here at that time of course everything has been rebuilt but when it gets as hot and humid as the last few days it brings back memories for people. my sister had rain and snow in calgary yesterday and was not pleased to say the least . was out for a quick lunch yesterday with 2 of my neighbours and a bit of shopping a nice break. I had a great call yesterday a long time friend of the family a nice guy just 60 has been waiting for 4 yrs for a heart transplant and he recieved a new heart a month ago and is now home and doing well modern medicine is great. so we had a great chat and he is so gratefull as he put due to another families kindness in the midst of their sorrow he gets a chance for a full life hope that you all have a good bank holiday week-end bye for now dorothy

Afternoon folks,from a very wet and cold Manchester ,it was jumpers and cardis and socks again today instead of the cropped pants tee shirt and sandals I was hoping to wear.All hope of getting anything in the garden have gone,have been washing Davids work clothes and some towels have put his heavy stuff (jeans etc)in the drier as he needs them tomorrow and they will not be dry in time and the lighter stuff is on the maiden to dry ,went to a concert with my sister last night she bought the tickets as a christmas/birthday present for me,as they were dear,but the show was really good,the getting out of the carpark later was a pain,!!!we live 12 mins away from the arena and it took 35 minutes to get off the carpark!!Hope your good weather contiues Dorothy at least one of us will be happy.Going for a nice hot bowl of soup now to try and keep happy then need to go and get some milk which some how I forgot when doing the weekly shop. Take care ,Brenda

Well the rain has stopped but the wind is still here and very blustery,good for drying the washing !!
Have managed to get all the photos on my pc from my camera and also from JOhns .
Fred will be having a go at retreiving what is still on my old pc this week,the lad who was coming to do it has had a crash in his car and its a write off,he is ok just shook up ,as is my neice his partner, who was with him.I would go and fetch him but he still has not given me a day he can come.So I am doing it my self.
Johns watching footbal with David and I am doing a few more thinks on here then getting the dinner on.
Roast beef ,with spring cabbage,carrots ,swede and butter beans.and dry roasted potatos.Theres only me likes yorkshire pud ,so I will not bother for myself. See you all tomorwwow Brenda

Afternoon all,dinner sounds nice Brenda ,and i coulddo with a little info on dry roasted tatties if you get a minute.
I Have heard of ,and had water roast which my grandad used to do to save on fat ,which was an idea he got from someone in the war when all fats were on ration.
Water roast are ideal for coliacs too,and don't look any different from ordinary roast and taste pretty tasty.
We Had more or less the same sort of dinner today because we have two grandkids this weekend,only i did some butter drizzled asparugus with the other veggies,mmmmmmmm,spoilt for choice we are ,he he,oh .and roast pork lion instead of beef.
If I want yorkies ,i will have them ,lol,only freezing the ones left till the next time.
Still tiddling down here peeps ,what a lousy weekend.Fred.

good monday morning sorry to hear that the weather is not good for you I am embarassed to say we had a hot week-end 32 and that is very hot also with the humidity about 35 to-day is supposed to be another scorcher but my sister is still getting snowed on in calgary one extreme to the other, bryan come home to-day from the camping trip no news so I gather he has not run into any bears, andrew was cleaning and opening the swimming pool this week-end the children will be very glad about that. he also checked the high fence around the pool to make sure no one can get into the pool when they are not home. and even though the children are all good swimmers they are not allowed in unless an adult is around good rules to keep in place. I don't think that I will do anything much to-day other than keep cool I may even put the air conditioning on I have not used it so far as I do get a good breeze bye for now dorothy

Hi all,have not been well today ,not sure what it was ,just felt out of sorts ,could be the weather whichwas not good again ,went out this evening to see my friend in her am dram show,Calamity Jane ,it was really good.Had a glass of wine and a chat before hand and during the interval with my other friend ,we do not seem to have anytime together at all these days.
We are all going on our diet tomorrow ,thought the 1st of the month was a good time to start!!!
Mind you I will have to start as I mean to go on as I am out twice to lunch and shopping with friends this week and at a 50th birthday party om saturday for one of my cousins.
Take care see you tomorrow,Brenda

Afternoon all ,he he ,notice i didn't say good ,grrrrrrr ,the heating has been on again this morning ,and it is soaking wet outside yet again,still ,i managed the last of the garden last evening ,and now have a full house out there ,apart from a few Swiss Chard plants to go in the spare buckets ,which will stand all next winter ,giving me fresh veg ' over the cold months.
I worked out this morning that the heating has now been on since late last September ,8 months no less ,this dosn't look good for my gas bills ,lol,global warming they say? ,huh ,looks more like a new ice age on the way to me.
Made the wife and i a nice ,spicy beef curry for dinner today to keep the chill off ,and i might yet do a carrot and corriander soup for tea,again to keep the cold at bay,still here with the shorts on ,but the legs are tinged more blue than brown ,sniff,how my ancestors managed the winters up north in their kilts i will never know ,lol,,they must have been made of sterner stuff in those days.
Even Hissy dosn't like this weather over much ,refusing to go out until she has to ,and preffering to skulk indoors where it's warmer ,the little baggage snuck under my bedclothes last night and curled up behind my legs for the night,but i didn't mind too much ,my legs were nice and warm after all.
Time to go for a look around the boards,and then onto Ancestry to look for a cousin of mine ,because i can't find her anywhere on any records ,funny that as i know she is still alive ,he he ,one of these sticky records from the 1940s and the war i think.
Catch you all later ,Fred.

hi sorry that the wether is so bad fred maybe it will wrm up soon I have some sad news yesterday morning (wed) I woke up at 7am having had no early wake up call from sasha and I could only see simon waiting for his breakfast then I found a trail of blood all through the hall and living room finally found sasha under the one of the bed in the guest room, he was in a lot of pain and not doing well at all, so with the help of a couple of friends we took him to the vets near me they know him there by this time he was reallysuffering I guess his kidneys had finally failed there was nothing that could be done and at the age of 17 well I decided to have him put to sleep, from finding him to the end it was only 20 minutes but it was a long 20 minutes for sasha I shall miss him so much, simon is lost he keeps going round looking for him and staying very close to me.the family have been very kind the children have been phoning to make sure simon and I are ok. but I have very good memories of our time to-gether so nothing else to talk about at the moment take care bye dorothy

Hi everyone
Popping in for another visit. Dorothy, sorry to read of Sasha's death - RIP - losing a pet is hard. We lost out cat Tiny two years ago after her kidneys failed and was put to sleep. For awhile there Gayle and I expected to see come bounding into the room and jumping up on to our knee. As we live in a unit close to the main road we decided not to replace her.
Gayle's dialysis treatment is getting closer, she has an appointment with the specialist a fortnight tomorrow and then its action stations.
This weekend is Queen's birthday here in NZ and Craig is coming down and will be with us for a week which will be great.
Spot you next time I'm on GR, John