General Chat

Well ,i don't think it's any better up here Brenda ,lol,19c ,in the middle of July,methinks we may yet again be in line for a long ,cold winter,i am taking no chances ,there are a couple of extra gas canisters on order already for the emergency heaters.
It was threatening rain up here yesterday afternoon ,so i did the two pork and apple burgers,and the two beefburgers [all Morrison] ,ones on the indoor grill we have ,and put them in four cheese muffins [toasted lightly].and made some onion rings which i did in a saucepan mixed with a cube [oxo].and finished it all off with a small side salad taken from the garden.
I froze down four calabrese heads this morning and left one other on the plant for todays dinner,and will be making another stir fry for tea with the veggie and courgette from the garden .
One of the courgettes i am leaving on the plant to grow marrow size ,which i am going to stuff with minced meat ,peppers and long grain rice ,which will make a nice dinner someday next week .
Nothing posh today ,he he ,i am being lazy ,two pieces of left over from two weeks ago ,toad in the 'ole ,from the freezer ,some nice new tatties sprinkled with a sun dried tomato mix which the wife fancied trying ,some french bean ,and carrot,should do very nicely i reckon.
The broad & runner bean are covered in flower now ,and it looks like a bumper crop this year ,and with the cabbage ,beetroot ,and kale ,we should do very well out of our little patch.
I saw a piece this morning about the brit' return of the heatwave Brenda ,he he ,i think we both sneezed and missed it ,either that ,or Dorothy and Edith have snaffled it while we were both looking 'tother way.
Time to go and make the coffee ,my turn today ,but the missus makes the bedtime drinks ,catch you later peeps,Fred.

good sunday moring I was up at 6 to start watching the golf must be crazy I know, yes fred I guess we have snaffled the good weather another lovely morning nice and warm and not humid at the moment, as usual your menu sounded good made my mouth water, and my egg and toast somewhat dull. the bar-b que last evening was very good about 32 people showed up so a good time was had by all. to-morrow I am off for a repeat mammagram and ultra sound I don't believe there is a problem this happend last year as well but with the family history it is well to be careful but to-morrow they have put up the parking fee's it used to be 7 dollars for all day now it is 15 dollars and 9 for just one hour, but then again the boss of the hospital just recieved a big raise so do you think that has anything to do with it!!! wehave some new taxes in the province at the moment and all kind of things are goingup there now is a 13% tax on funerals, hydro has gone up it will be even more expensive for those of us who have electric heat but wait for it I just got a 0.03% raise on my old age pension about 11 dollars a month and I have figured out that some of the increases could cost me about 50-60 dollars a month makes you wonder thank goodness for priviate pensions that boost up my income. well enough maoning back to the golf bye dorothy

Hello everyone,from another grey wet and windy day here. I am at my friends house for a few days house and pet minding!! All their family have gone away to Ibiza for the week .we could have gone but would have been the only ones without youngsters and so we went earlier in the year.We know the animals but not the kitchen and found it a bit like a self catering holiday when we made tea tonight. John is nearer his golf club,so he is ok ,but I left my car at home and will be stranded sort of til he comes home tomorrow afternoon.So he will take me home for my car and a few other things we forgot after lunch tomorrow.
Fred i hope you enjoy the "fruits of your labours as they say ,you seem to be doing so up to now. you make everything sound wonderful.
Glad your BBQ went well Dorothy and hope the repaet check ups are ok asweel.Things over here are going up I have noyt used my free swimming passm yet and its finishing next week,and they are talking of stopping the free bus pass.But the parking charges are not good anywhere here at the minute and the hospital near me well they are parking along all the main roads and walking at least tweny minutes into the grounds before paying the fee.!! Better go and have my horlicks ,See you soon ,Brenda

Morning all ,huh ,we are back to normal up in the north east ,drizzle ,very cool ,and ,looking at the web page on science ,it seems it's all to do with the sun being very quiet allowing the upper layer of the atmosphere to shrink allowing heat to escape,so it looks like we have had our summer for this year, again.
Still ,It seems the sun's quiet period is coming to an end ,so there may be better seasons ahead [i hope].
This is a reason for my veggie [some of ] doing so well this year ,and others not,cabbages like tons of water so the brassica do well ,but stuff like carrots and peppers like tons of sun,so those are at a standstill ,win some loose some as they say.
This may be a reason why the victorian gardeners did so well with their massive glass houses on the country estates ,they could plan things ,far better in the days when seasons were more reliable .
Enjoy your pet minding Brenda ,he he ,i can remember being innundated many times at my sisters smallholding a few times while she was still alive ,lol, three dogs ,four cats ,goats ,pigs ,geese and ducks ,chickens and assorted other pets and livestock ,a busy time ,but a change of air and scenery ,i used to love doing it.
Glad to hear that someone managed a good outdoor B B Q ,huh ,i am thinking of putting up another greenhouse so that i can do mine no mater what ,he he ,might make some of the crops grow better as well,a bit extra warmth .
Have to get the battle bus out now ,an errand for my youngest son while he has a day off ,a trip to B &Q to change some excess flooring for some paint ,but i must remember to take my bank card or they won't exchange [the flooring was paid for on my bank card you see ,yeah ,that's what dads are for ,lol.
Be back later after i have done this chore ,and a bit dusting,Fred.

Morning folks,we have another wet start here but it shoild dry up and be nice and warm and sunny later if they have it correct on the tv !!
Was up at 3.30 this morning as one of the cats got out of the kitchen and woke the dogs in the dining room ,got up the stairs and in our room and woke us up as well,talk about Muldoons picnic !!
John was not amused to say the least,if it happends again tonight we might have to split the sleeping arrangements up and one stay here and one at home so we can at least get some sleep.
John has gone to his golf and I am here so not much change there.!
You are a busy boy again Fred,mind you lisening to my friends and family ,you are right thats what dads,and mums are for.One of neices was booked to go to Turkey with the firm that went bust over the weekend,so who has stepped in with help fianancially while he travel authorities sot things out good old mum and dad,!!.Her friends have borrowed money from one of the others mothers as well,and need to repay it at somuch a moth when they are back.They have managed to get a week all incluscive to Eygpt for about the same as they paid for Turkey or a bit more..Better get my other emails sorted,See you soon Brendal

goodmorning one and all it is a dull monday here we had a storm last night but we needed the rain and we should get more to-day I looked up the five day forecast for greater manchester this am and it seems like rain every day for you brenda but they must have it wrong if john is out golfing, hope you enjoy the house and animal sitting it can be fun , spoke to anne yesterday and she said she had lots of rain but she did go to the store openigs on friday she said it was very crowded but didsee some bargins she see's the specialist on the 29th and is hoping he will book her for the other eye to be done she has fallen down a couple of stairs lately with one good eye and one bad, not sure why the long time between surgeries over here it seems to be only about 3 weeks between as a rule. I enjoyed the golf yesterday and watching the scenary was great. my friend isobelle in brampton has decided to book a trip to the artice circle to-day for next year at this time if she books to-day they get it at this years prices one of our other nursing friends is going to go with her not quite my cup of tea as aboat cruise is involved as part of the trip and I only like ships when they stay in dry dock!!!!. but it will be something to look foreward too for the both of them.that reminds me I have to renew my passport they now have two ways to do it a quick way and a long way and I should be eligble for the quick way which is one short form and one photo and not a lot of other siginatures so I must get one it in august even though I am not planning a trip you never know what comes up in the future, well time to get ready for the visit to the hospital and the re test so bye for now dorothy

hi it is tuesday 6.58pm my time almost midnight your time first of all my recall mammagram test went well what they saw was a kinked blood vessal so that was goo that was yesterday to-day andrew phoned this am to say he has found a specialist who will see me in toronto about the middle of august time and date to be confirmed documents were being faxed to them from my doc's office to-day so that was the good news followed by the sad news that they had booked rocky in at the vets for 4-30pm to be put to sleep apparantly he was not able to walk very well to-day and the vet felt that the bacteria spilling into his blood stream had reached the brain, Laura phoned me about 5pm and said grandma he's gone to sleep and we had a little weep over the phone. I don't usually come on the computor in the evening but I thought I would keep myself busy hope you all are well, anne said the rain was very heavy in bury to-day sleep well bye dorothy

After a wet and miserable start its turned into a really nice day here.
Managed to get up to Bury today went on the tram and met my friends there.Had a walk round the market ,will do the new Rock shopping center another day ,probabaly when its not Market day everywhere was mad.
hope the recall checks go ok Dorothy,had a few of those myself.
At home now and just going back to my friends,she does not have a printer and wanted to print off some stuff
See you all tomorrow
Brenda

Mornin' girls ,hoping for a better day today so that i can get the privit hedging cut back ,it gave me one hell of a shock ,coming back off holiday to find the son never did it for me as promised [lazy git that he is] or maybe he just forgot ,seeing as he has a memory like a sieve ,lol.
The way it looks at the moment it's out with the heavy cutter ,some of the twigs are more like branches ,he he ,i think it will take me over an hour just to trim the inside [sighs] and here was i hoping to get straight on with the weeding too.
One of these trips Brenda ,i will go into Bury for a look see ,as i have never in my life been ,and you make it sound so nice ,and markets are always a pull to me
The courgette i left on the plant to grow to stuffing size for a dinner is nearly there ,and at last i have cucumbers ready as well ,so it looks like i have no need to buy salad stuff for a while.
I was sent a do and don't to do with onions last night which i have passed on to a good few people ,seems cut onion ,not used straight away becomes loaded with bacteria and can poison people,so i ,for one will be buying smaller onions in future ,and will be binning any left overs that are raw .
Glad to hear that your recall turned out to be a false alarm Dorothy ,but ,as they say ,better safe than sorry,and at least ,my mums recall years ago meant they caught the cancer in time to cut it out ,and put her in the clear .
Sorry to hear about your Rocky Dorothy ,but the dog had a good life ,was well loved and loved you all in return ,so at least one dog ,was not left in a shelter where he had no family to love .
I always found the best thing to do ,was rescue another pet to give it a loving home ,it always seemed to help my sister and me .
Well ,it's time to go and start that perishing hedge ,he he ,it might be a good idea to put my camo' jacket and tin hat on in case i find any jap soldiers hiding there , yeah ,believe me ,it's that bad ,[groans before i even get the cutter out of the shed] lol.
catch you later Fred.

Hi Everyone,was a nice morning for about an hour earlier on,but since then its been coming down in bucket fulls.
Sat in at home waiting for the gas man to service the boiler,wanted to go and get some trainers as I am supposed to join the gym with my friend tomorrow!!Miight have to just go to the swimming,.
You will enjoy Bury Fred it has a website for the market,I am sure you will like it
Have just done Johns car insurance for another year,he can not do with all the palaver as he puts it,but he could not get them on the phone and that does his head in as well!!
You make all your gardening sound quite pleasurable Fred,even the hard bits
We where watching the Gardneer that works at my friends house and some of her neighbours the other day ,he trimmed the lawns by the side of the paths etc,mowed the lawns and we thought he would weed ,but no he packed up and went on to the next and that was twenty pound s for 40 mins work !! John wondered if he could under cut him a fe wtimes
Brenda

hi one and all it is going to be another hot and sunny day to-day so I will go out early to the library as they have 4 new books in for me a new quintin jardine and a new john gresham , jeffrey deaver and I forget the 4th. yes it was sad about rocky but you are right fred he was well loved and gave us love in return the three grandchildren are still upset, as for another dog I think that lindy and andrew will take some time to decide lindy says no at the moment as she thinks the kids are getting older and will be moving on into uni etc but as I know that is ot for a while I bet they do get another dog and it will be a rescue dog. good news for me I have an appointment on august 18th in toronto at 1-45 with the brain specialist so I am very pleased about that. fred my 3 tomato plants have come to a standstill no further tomato's the leaves are green and growing up the wire cages but no flowers and the tomato's that are on are not growing in size any suggestions, but at least my black thumb has not killed them they get lots of sun but being on the 11th floor I do get strong winds. brenda glad you went to bury I love to hear that and I do think that fred would like the market. our ontario produce is hitting the supermarkets big time with the good weather we have had the crops are coing in sooner and everthing taste's so good bye for now dorothy

Morning again all ,up real early this morning [4 am] because the furry pest woke me up by doing arobics on my chest grrrrrrrr ,so i thought i might as well get up.
I was outside on the patio by 5 with my cup of coffee sat on my usual seat ,watching my breath in the morning air ,cold or what? July ? ,more like an early October morning he he,but never mind ,so far there are no clouds in the sky and it looks promising.
Yesterday was a washout in the true sense of the word ,by the time i got the cutter out and turned to get the power lead connected in the greenhouse,the drizzle started ,[where's that ruddy lass on the tele' who promised a dry but cloudy day, she needs to get a new job ,lol,one where she dosn't tell lies in public [mutter ,grumble] .
Well ,i suppose i will have to do it this morning before we go shopping ,leaving the clearing up until i get back .
If your plants are a decent height Dorothy ,i would nip the tops out to force them to grow side shoots ,and produce more flowers hence more fruit ,i would also suggest changing the variety next year ,as the ones you have in sound a bit iffy to me ,some varieties don't do too well in some areas ,where others will.Try a good feed too,that may help a little
My big ones ,this year are not doing too well either ,but it may be the season here with the temperatures going up and down like a yo yo,maybe i should grow those next year ,lol,i think i will go back to Ailsa Craig though ,i grew them for years ,and no matter what the season was like ,they always did me proud.
I will look up that website Brenda ,sounds interesting ,and well worth a look ,until i can get to see the real thing.
I do enjoy my garden ,yes ,even these days where the poor old bones slow me down a lot ,and i have to sit down for a while every few minutes ,lol, it beats mooching about getting on the wifes nerves ,he he ,and safer for me too keeps me out of her way ,and stops my back siezing up.
Crickey ,i would undercut that gardener,what a lazy git he sounds,£20 an HOUR is the going rate not 40 minutes ,and old as i am getting i can still cut my big lawn ,trim the edges ,and weed the borders in under an hour,your friend needs a new odd job man and sack the other perisher ,that's a good screw is that ,six gardens a day,at £20 a shot ,cor ,i wish ,better than forty five years doing factory work any day.
My runnerbean are all over the side of the greenhouse now ,scarlet flowers everywhere ,looks like a bumper crop this year ,i may land up selling some to the local shop after i put a load down in the freezer ,amazing what you can do in a very small garden area with a little planning,i must take a couple of pics for you two and send them over the net ,he he ,you could even show one to the wannabe gardener and tell him to do some REAL gardening he he.
Think i will put in a few more big canes this autumn and use them next year to try these climbing fench bean ,sounds like i could have more of them than i get now ,using these new bean plants rather than the old dwarf ones ,even more crops using the same amount of ground sounds just the ticket to me.
Hope this weather will last till past this weekend ,we have the grandson for three days ,and he ,like me .loves his B B Q's and i have some lovely spiced snags in the freezer begging to be used ,they ,and the pork and apple burgers will go well in some halved pitta breads,along with some salad stuffed in them ,under the burgers.
Well time for a look round the boards before i go out and attack the hedging ,he he ,the waste rubbish men are going to love me this coming Tuesday when they come to compost it ,lol the bin will weigh about 60 kilos by the time they come to lift it,they will have earned their crate of Christmas lager come December .
Catch you later Peeps ,Fred.

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Just a quick message this time as I need to go and see if I can get some trainers,as I am going to (hopefully)join a keep fit class on Monday ,should have been today,but only realised I needed trainers late on Wednesday and couldn't go Thursday with waiting in for the gas man etc I did not have time. I have really broad feet and have problems getting good quality shoes at a reasonable price as it is.!!
Will let you know how I get on,Brenda

goodmorning from a rainy but pleasant morning in barrie thanks fred I shall take your advice re the tomato plants as soon as I have had the 2nd cup of coffe I actually did not by the plants the family arrived with the three big pots so there are 3 varietys, I had a great morning yesterday at the library came home with the 4 I had ordereded and 6 others that were on the new arrivals shelf sometimes I think that they tell fibs re that shelf!!! then poped in to the grocery store then was brought home, as this is friday it is the afternoon tea so I shall go to that and catch up on all the gossip in the building !!!! it is a friend of mines turn to take the goodies and she was baking a cake this am, bye for now dorothy

hi I guess you all are busy brenda I recieved the book from anne yesterday (neil's latest) he really has to get a canadian distributer it cost 2pounds 80 from amazon and then 5pd 67 for postage, anyway anne said instead of sending her the money as I planned she wants me to use it to buy a first birthday gift for isobelle's grandsons birthday in august and this saves her sending something over so that works out well for both of us. I shall put the book on one side till I run out of books from the library well at least I will try it looks interesting, three of the family have gone to the cottage for the week-end lindy and bryan and laura, Ian has a birthday party and sleep over on saturday night so he is staying home with dad I expect they will go golfing weather permitting and then on sunday andrew is off to ottawa on business for the week so I shall go over and spend a few hours with Ian till the rest get home I shall enjoy that time with Ian . at the end of next week it is a holiday week-end and on the monday the kids go to camp laura and Ian for 2 weeks and bryan for a month as he is going to be a leader in training and this is done through three camps. they will meet up with 5 cousins so it is a fun time for them all but differant for bryan this year if he likes it he can do this next year he won't get paid for the first year but the hours count towards the 40 hours needed of community work towrds the high school diploma no hours no diploma even if you get 100%, it is good for the kids to be aware of service in their communities, we used to get a lot of students helping at the hospital it also helps in giving them a tste of what the jobs they may like are really like. well of to do some house work enjoy the week-end bye dorothy

Just in from the garden ,and have time to add a few words before dinner bringing the thread to the fore again .lol.
Had a long sit in the garden yesterday ,watching some aircraft to and fro ,from Newcastle airport to the Sunderland air show and saw a few old favorites ,and a couple of new ones ,notably the euro Fighter ,and A raptor as well as a hornet belonging to the Netherlands air force ,i missed a spitfire ,being upstairs having a shave ,but the sound of a single Merlin engine meant ,spit' or hurri' the sound unmistakable from any other piston engine coupled with the supercharger whistle .
Thank goodness the garden is just about up to date now ,only the lawn edges to do out front plus the borders to weed and tidy up,and the greenhouse to tend.
Hope everyone had a good weekend,catch you all later ,Fred.

good monday morning it is a great morning not too hot and a nice breeze I had a nice afternoon over at the family saw andrew off to ottawa and then spent a fun time with Ian, the rest of the family arrived back from the cottage about 8pm so I headed home. nothing special planned this week I did what fred suggested re the tomato's and I noticed I have a couple more flowers coming along. it was strange going into the house with no rocky to greet me . well seeing it is not too hot I am going to go and have a walk around the property and have a look at the gardens all the flowers are in full bloom bye for now dorothy

Well here I am one o'clock in the morning and wide awake ,two hours ago I went to bed and count not read as my eyes where so tired!!
But turned the light off and ping ,that little switch went on and I could not get off,if an half hour on Here does not make me tired I will go and have some Horlicks!!
You both seem to have had great weekends,Mine was ok
I got some trainers ,they were 12 pounds and sort of a quilted canvas thing and they are pale blue,but the time of the keep fit class we were going to got moved due to school holidays and it was no good for us or rather my friends ,I am going to check the website to see what it says for the other times in the holidays.
I am so glad you got Neils book Dorothy,it is rather good.,I picked a book up on Saturday ,but am still waiting for 6 others,,Hope your tea party went well,they sound really socialable in your building.Our garden will be water logged soon !!,theres no pleaseing us is there!!!
I am grwoing an aubrenge and don't know what to do with it ,I actually thoiught I had picked up a cucumber plant!!.Any ideasFred,.
Better check that web site,Brenda

hi brenda glad you got the trainers and are now all ready for the get fit classes, yes the building does have quite a few social things not everyone attends as we have a wide selection of ages young and older.it is a great morning at the moment a lttle on the cool side but going up to 30 later plus humidity si UI am going to go for a wlak while it is cool. lindy is busy getting the three grandkids ready for camp I just slip them some spending money for the tuck shop not that there is a lot to buy other than candy as they are in the wilderness at least I think it is the wilderness two weeks of bathing in the lake does not do it for me. while the children are away andrew and lindy are having the painters in to do the master suite and bathroom they did the childrens rooms last year. they decided not to do the master suite them selves as it goes across the back of the house and has a sitting area so is a bit on the large side plus andrew may have to fly down east. bye for now dorothy

Good afternoon all,
I di dnot get back to sleep til half five this morning, ended up sat downstairs with my Horlicks clearing out some old magazines ,will send some to Johns mother and some to my friend.
Ended up having to wake David up when I came back to bed at 5.30,he normally gets up at 5am,he was really late for work,I had thought I had heard him moving about ,but it must have been the cats.They can sound really heavy,more like elephants can cats sometimes.
We are still looking for a holiday in Sept but they are still a bit exspenive so we will hope we find a good deal later ,we are also looking at more places so we should get something.!!
I am making a shepherds pie for tea so will have to go and get it started soon.Enjoy your good weather Dorothy ours is wet again,!!
Brenda