General Chat

Morning Brenda,hope your visit to the dentist is painless in both ways ,lol ;-),and that you have some luck in your search for a washing machine.
We went down that road last year ,going to Curry's again where we found a combo ,of a washing machine and a tumble drier ,both on offer ,which we snapped up.
Most of our electricals we buy at the same place ,the service ,and the prices ,we found ,second to none,and any service required is fast ,and good.
Took the grandson and wife to Tiddly Bay yesterday to show Marta the sea side,she being from inland in Poland,and have to say ,she spent two hours just looking in rock pools ,and walking on the beach ,before the two of them went into the amusements in the town centre itself.
We stayed on the sea front near the cafe ,and had a roll ,and coffee ,amusements? been there ,done that AND have the tea shirt. ;-).
At last ,there is a break in the cold weather ,so we have the B B Q planned for tomorrow,it being a no go until it warmed up .believe it or not Marta commented that our winter was as cold as Polands ,and that she was cold here ,because now ,at home ,the temperatures are up to around 25 to 28 c ,cor ,i wish lol.what a lousy spring we have had.
People won't believe me when i say ,that as a sprog ,by mid march to april we were out in the sunshine ,shorts and teeshirts on ,and the lawns cracked because the ground was so dry :-0,oh ,how the seasons have changed down the years.
Garden is doing well anyway with a tad of help with the watering cans,and all is looking good.
Hope you are enjoying your break Dorothy ,and hope that things are warming up over there at last.
Catch you all later ,Fred off to Beamish [i hope ] :-)

Hello fred and dorothy,we have a really lovely day here today,bright blue cloudless sky and SUNSHINE.
Dentist was a no go Fred,we had a call from them at 8.20am informing us the dentist was ill so all his appointments had to be cancelled !! we have been rebooked for next Thursday at 12.15.pm
Had a look round and got a washer yesterday from a small place recommended by a friend.It's hopefully being delivered within the next two hours!!.
After that I need to get out for some shopping ,and petrol.
Tyre was done on the car yesterday ,but they said there was nothing wrong with the exhaust,I had been told when It was MOT,in March, that it was ok for now but needed looking at within a couple of months,!!!! .
So we had a good day all in all.Had to cancel lunch with my friend today but she was ok about it and I will see her tomorrow.
We really need a new door bell as we can not hear the one we have now when we are in the garden,we turned up the volume changed the batteries,etc but unless we are in the hall or living room it can not be heard,we do not have a knocker so people end up knocking on the door window which is still not that loud..
Hope you are all enjoying your visitors and visits.
Hope the weather is good for you all.Take care ,Brenda

We have had a brilliant day weatherwise here today,but about an hour ago it started to rain,hope it doesn't last as I know a lot of people who are at the Take That concert at The City of Manchester Stadium .There were also A lot of fans in the city centre and judging by what they were wearing had not anticipated rain.
Had a nice lunch with my friend but did not manage to walk round town much.my legs started to ache after one shop!! Think it will take a while before I can shop like i used to,and that will include Bury Market.
Have used the new washer a couple of times now and its that quiete after the other one we keep going in the kitchen to make sure its working.!!!
have been looking for a bamboo curtain for the back door to try and keep the flies out!!,have only seen them in a magazine but they where £20 each ,which we thought was dear. Any ideas Fred?
Have tried B&Q,,B&M and (a couple of pound shops for a cheaper plastic version as a stop gap.)
Hope Dorothy is enjoying the tennis with her friend and has agood journey home..
Hope you and the family have a good weekend and are enjoying the visit ,
Take care ,Brenda

Hi Brenda ,Bamboo,curtain ,? no ideas at all ,i have never looked for one myself ,but i expect you need to be looking in curtain shops ,and on line places for those.
Trouble is ,Bamboo ,like ALL woods are becoming very dear,and many countries are refusing export licences now because resources are becoming scarce.
I got a hell of a shock a few weeks ago while in the local market garden ,bamboo canes have really shot up in price ,and i actually brought a couple of packets extra to put in stock ready for future needs.
You could try B&M though ,i seem to remember seeing something like that in the one in Fleetwood.
We had a lazy day yesterday ,the younguns out for dinner and tea,we only had Chris and ourselves for both meals ,so we monged it nibbling on bits left from the you know what ,some chicken legs ,Bombay Potato ,and side salad ,with some fried up bubble and squeek.
I was about to put my leeks out this morning ,when it started to rain ,grrrrrr [not really ] so i will do it one day this next week ,the ground is so dry up here ,i am sort of expecting cactus to start sprouting in the middle of the lawns ,he he.
Time to go and get some dinner ,he he ,on our own again ,and the Pak Choi is waving at me ,lol.Fred. :-)

Hi all.change in the weather or what,grey again bit of rain in the morning but dry since.
Was hoping to get my washing out , but put it on the maiden instead ,as i did not want to be rushing out to bring it in.
Had a lazy day as well today Fred,just cooked breakfast and dinner,put some washing away from yesterday and tidied up the dining room as best I could.We have a few bags to go to the charity shop and a box of books and knick knacks.so it loks a bit untidy.
Have looked on line for the bamboo curtain ,and they are more than we thought ,but we realise now that its probably going to be what we will have to pay.Will let you know.
Take care and I will see you tomorrow.
brenda

Morning all,still grey here but at least it is still dry.
Going out shortly to the library,want to order some new books.Would do them on line but can not seem to get the hang of it,plus by going to the library I can see some of my friends at work!!!
Have had acouple of good emails this morning giving me some good news.so thats a good start to the week.
Hope you all enjoyed the weekend speak soon,Brenda

Morning all,still grey here but at least it is still dry.
Going out shortly to the library,want to order some new books.Would do them on line but can not seem to get the hang of it,plus by going to the library I can see some of my friends at work!!!
Have had acouple of good emails this morning giving me some good news.so thats a good start to the week.
Hope you all enjoyed the weekend speak soon,Brenda

hello one and all well I am back in barrie after a wonderful eight days in brampton had a great time watching the tennis and then had visits from all my friends most days and got caught up on all the goings on in their family, also recieved some lovely belated birthday gifts including a d.v.d of the royal wdding and also the movie kings speech, a new solar light for the balcony to put on this stand I have for the lights it is like a giant candle in stone work, plus two hanging baskets so I now have a toatl of 5 out on the balcony, isobelle's daughter came over 2 evnings and brought the children and that was fun and on sunday we went over for a meal. sorry to hear that the legs are acting up brenda that can't be much fun and to think that you may not be going to bury market is something I did not want to hear, maybe when the weather warms up you will feel better, to-day it is hot 30 degree's and with the humidity to-morrow could be as high as 48 in the shade, but it is better than snow so no compaints from me , fred glad you are having a good time with your visitors it sounds like fun was had by all, well that is it from me take care all of you bye for now dorothy

Morning all ,cor it is ruddy chilly here again today,at 5 am i was in the garden to find that i could see my breath in the morning air ,seems Dorothy that you have overtaken us with your summer well and truly arrived,lol.
apologies about your card ,i did send it Honest ,glad to hear that you had a good time on your birthday anyway ,and that you enjoyed your visit to your friends.
Our company went home yesterday and Hissy spent the next two hours looking for them ,he he ,she was not amused ,lol. :-\
Well, it's now catch up time ,i have tons to do in the house and garden with hedges to trim ,weeds to root out ,but at least all the planting is finished.
I had two spare bits of trellis which i have put up alongside the Leeks next to the path ,to keep madam off them until they grow to the point where she will stay off them.
I spent nearly the whole day in bed yesterday ,i woke up dizzy hot and feeling really yucky,and felt as though i was going to fall over as i stood up.
I did a blood test ,which was normal ,and as soon as my breathing loosened i checked my heart rate and looked for any sign of an angina attach ,none ,so the only thing i can think of ,was that when i dusted the garden last night because of the ants ,i got a lungful of dust on the breeze ,because i couldn't be bothered to get the dust mask pout of the greeenhouse,won't make that mistake again. :-(.
The new patch repair kit for the lawn is great ,i sprinkled it on a week ago ,watered it in ,and i have new grass growing already,a good product from Evergreen ,and i will recommend it to anyone :-).
You still need to take your time Dorothy ,you will get there ,and the warmer weather will help your recovery ,as Dorothy says ,and you will need to get yourself some woolly stockings for the winter to keep the cold out of your bones.
Have to get the car cleaned today ,as it goes in for it's service tomorrow and i want to get a close look at the body work ,to make sure there is no damage before the guy comes to pick it up.
I will make him wait while i check it when it comes back too ,after it was damaged before i even took delivery in their workshop, i will NOT be renewing my car from Nissan ,that's for sure.
Have to go out and get some shopping in ,catch you all later,Fred :-)

hi its 4pm and very very hot some big black clouds rolled through but missed my part of town thunder etc at the other end of town and up the highway to-wards orrila hailstones crazy weather but I and the baskets on the balcony are enjoyin the warmth, hope you feel better fred and next time put the mask on sounds like yur garden is coming along very well. not much new at the moment we have visitors from england on the 14th floor they are here for just 2 weeks friends of the lady who used to look after my cats, next week she is doing an early or late xmas dinner for them a truly canadian feast and I am invited more on that later, it is too hot to cook so I am going to have a salmon buttie for supper and some yogurt soemthing simple I think, bye for now dorothy

Evening all,glad to see you back after having such a great visit with your friends Dorothy.
Fred you look after yourself ,I keep telling John he needs to use things properly,like the spray you used.He got himself stuck up with superglue recently when trying to mend something.!!! luckily he did not have too much on his skin and was able to get unstuck and scrub it of.!!
Been trying to see if I had a match with someone who emailed me,but could not find one,same name and dates but wrong area.I have not been contacted for a while and was really exited but soon realised that it wasn't what the person who contacted me thought.!!!
Still checked it out ,but it was like I thought..
My legs have been ok today and I have been round the supermarket,might try the local market this weekend ,see how I go,but its a day by day thing on how I am.( i do not want to think about not going to Bury)
Went to a garden centre on Tuesday and they had some smashing things (smashing prices as well)!!!Got a rose bush for my best mate called forever friends ,she has been a great friend to me and is having adifficult time at the moment so thought It might cheer her up.
Been waiting for a phone call tonight from my neice who I was inviting to have a meal with us on Sunday,but it might be on hold as they have been invited to .somewhere else ,but it is not definate yet so I am waiting for her to let me know.
John is waiting to check out a golf club where he is going to play next week,so I had better go.See you all soon,Brenda

Morning all ,another very chilly night and morning here,and we are expecting rain [i hope] we seem to be missing it all at the moment ,and i am having to drench my onions with cans of water to stop them going to seed.
I am doing very well out there though despite near drought conditions [the driest spring and summer [ so far] on record,with four counties farmers banned from taking extra water from rivers or mains ,to feed grain crops,sounds like bread is going up yet again ,lol.
My new leeks are doing well and i am up to date on the hedges and weeding,so i can slow down now,and take my time.
Sorry to hear about John ,the super man ,he he ,but joking apart ,he is lucky to get away with what happened to him without serious damage.
When you go to the market next Brenda ,get him a tube of solvent in case it happens again ,quick squirt of it will loosen the bond and enable him to free himself easily.
A better glue called Areldite is better than super glue anyway ,you get plenty of time to clean it off the skin before it hardens ,and it is just as strong,good for repairing golf clubs ,and fishing rods,most plastics and ceramics.safer in use as you have to mix two components together before it will harden..
Very glad you enjoying the warmer weather Dorothy,and your Balcony plants will certainly enjoy it,enjoy your Christmas Dinner too ,funnily enough ,there is a village in Bucks called Flackwell Heath that does just that,has a special dinner with all the trimmings and decorations on June 25th ,never went but it was only about 12miles from High Wycombe ,and any one could go to their two pubs for a meal,delightful custom i think..
Yep certainly i will be using the mask in future ,stupid of me to think i could get away with it ,specially in that wind ,blame the missus ,calling me daggit every time i put one on [reference to Muppet out of Gallactica] cheeky woman he he :-P.
The fir hedge looks to be recovering somewhat from the severe winter and frost burn,or is it wrong feeder [my fault ] ,but what ever ,it beats having to rip it out and replace it.
Good one on the legs Brenda,just remember the old saying ,softly ,softly,catchee Monkey,otherwise known as take it easy lady Rome was not built in a day ;-)
Well ,time to go and get some work done,after which i think i will do a Dorothy for dinner ,Salmon sarnie sounds just the ticket :-D.
Catch you later peeps ,hope you all 'ave a brill' weekend Fred

Morning all ,another very chilly night and morning here,and we are expecting rain [i hope] we seem to be missing it all at the moment ,and i am having to drench my onions with cans of water to stop them going to seed.
I am doing very well out there though despite near drought conditions [the driest spring and summer [ so far] on record,with four counties farmers banned from taking extra water from rivers or mains ,to feed grain crops,sounds like bread is going up yet again ,lol.
My new leeks are doing well and i am up to date on the hedges and weeding,so i can slow down now,and take my time.
Sorry to hear about John ,the super man ,he he ,but joking apart ,he is lucky to get away with what happened to him without serious damage.
When you go to the market next Brenda ,get him a tube of solvent in case it happens again ,quick squirt of it will loosen the bond and enable him to free himself easily.
A better glue called Areldite is better than super glue anyway ,you get plenty of time to clean it off the skin before it hardens ,and it is just as strong,good for repairing golf clubs ,and fishing rods,most plastics and ceramics.safer in use as you have to mix two components together before it will harden..
Very glad you enjoying the warmer weather Dorothy,and your Balcony plants will certainly enjoy it,enjoy your Christmas Dinner too ,funnily enough ,there is a village in Bucks called Flackwell Heath that does just that,has a special dinner with all the trimmings and decorations on June 25th ,never went but it was only about 12miles from High Wycombe ,and any one could go to their two pubs for a meal,delightful custom i think..
Yep certainly i will be using the mask in future ,stupid of me to think i could get away with it ,specially in that wind ,blame the missus ,calling me daggit every time i put one on [reference to Muppet out of Gallactica] cheeky woman he he :-P.
The fir hedge looks to be recovering somewhat from the severe winter and frost burn,or is it wrong feeder [my fault ] ,but what ever ,it beats having to rip it out and replace it.
Good one on the legs Brenda,just remember the old saying ,softly ,softly,catchee Monkey,otherwise known as take it easy lady Rome was not built in a day ;-)
Well ,time to go and get some work done,after which i think i will do a Dorothy for dinner ,Salmon sarnie sounds just the ticket :-D.
Catch you later peeps ,hope you all 'ave a brill' weekend Fred

Morning all .it's sunny but chilly here again and I have taken the plunge and hung some washing out ,in the hopes that it will blow dry in the wind before the rain come!!!
How did the christmas dinner go Dorothy,Hope it was good,
Heard about the drought situation on the tv Fred ,I keep telling John we need a water butt ,which he disagrees with !! Salmon sarnies sound good ,might put some on the salad with tea tonight ,took some on holiday with us and had a brilliant lunch with acrusty baggeutte .tomato and cucumber (before the Ecoli thing),nice cup of tea and sat on the patio in the sunshine Brilliant!!
Had a walk round the local market yesterday but did not buy anything ,its getting more like the flea market each time I go.there are just a couple of stalls i enjoy the plant stall and the card stall,which is a lot smaller than it was.I do prefer the one in Bury.
My sister is on holiday from Mon 20th so we are planning on going up to the market in Bury for a mooch round. We are not going for anything in particular so if I can not do it all we can come home with out any worries.!!!
Have a good weekend Hugs to you all,Brenda

goodmorning I was up early about 6am and the weather was great now the big black clouds are rolling in but it is still warm so no compaints from me I guess I should send all the rain over to fred, glad to see you are giving your legs another go at bury market brenda hope it goes well, the xmas dinner is this evening I will keep you poster as to how it goes, I now have to move all the garden!!!(5 baskets inside for 2 days as on mon&tues they are going to be painting the balcony railings sanding first and then painting plus all the solar lights etc good job I did not clean the balcony door/windows as they will end u p with lots of dust so that should look good they have solid sections across and an open view railing at one end. tennis was supposed to be on at 7am but so far it is not it is coming from germany! well I may just pop out for the week-end paper before the heavens open so have a good week-end bye for now dorothy

Hi Dorothy ,and all else who come for a visit today lol,from a much for cheerful Fred ,after a night of steady rain [thanks Dorothy] .
The sun is now out and it looks like it could be a nice day.
We have marties in the greenhouse in the greenhouse ,and what looks like a couple of Cucumbers starting on the four plants,and the Courgette plants are growing fast.
The rain overnight seems to have worked miracles,the brassica have moved at least half an inch in 12 hours,so i'm hoping the sun will help today.
The poor people in the states with the tornado ,Dorothy ,bringing a new ,unknown fungus with it ,that has infected loads of people ,and gone on to kill a few .
I hope it doesn't come up your way ,and start causing problems for you on top of everything else.
Your meal on the patio sounded ace Brenda ,with any luck we will get ours outside today,because ,after a night of steady rain the sun has at last broken through and it is warming up nicely
The water butt is a good idea ,the plant's watered from it will grow lots quicker than that watered from a mains tap,and it may yet come to a garden ban on watering ,a couple of butts make a plant saving stop gap,and i reckon £17 is a good investment.
Looks like i may yet have a bumper year for my onions ,and leeks,bring it on ,he he,lots i can do with those and a bit of kale he he.
Anyway peeps ,the cat is demanding i go out for my coffee on the patio,he he ,these females are very demanding ,i must be too soft by half . :-D.
Catch you later all ,Fred.

Afternoon all,just back from visiting my sister and showing her some wedding photos.
Her grandaughter was there she is 18 monthss and a darling really.She is teething and had been up since 4.30am so was really tired.
Had a couple of telephone chats with somew friends as well today so not done bad.
Have made a nice chicken ad roasted veg dinner which is almost done,it smells great hope it tastes as good.
Good news about your veggies Fred and your balcony sound slike it will be brilliant when painted and you pots are out again.
Take care .Hugs
Brenda

Morning our Brenda ,hey ,sounds as though you have had a busy time these past few days ,but good with it ,long may it last for you. :-).
Thanks again Dorothy ,i had my mornings sunshine yesterday and then it turned wet again,and looks as though it rained most of last night ,brill' you keep sending your spare well stuff over here ,us thirsty brit's need it about now .lol :-D.
I have just read on disaster watch about the new quake in Christchurch ,with people again trapped in rubble from more collapsed buildings,these poor people seem to be getting more than their fair share of troubles ,what with storms ,fires and everything else,my heart goes out to them .
Read too that there is a new menace in America,seems the new tornado somehow picked up fungus spores that ,driven by the wind can be breathed in by the populace or driven into the bloodstream by infected wood breaking the skin ,and entering the body that way,causing sickness ,and in a few cases ,death,i just hope it dies off quickly and dosn't become endemic ,or worse ,spreads to other places. :-S.
Just taken the missus up her cuppa ,and am sitting watching the rain hit the windows and patio ,Hissy is watching too ,tail lashing back and forth ,boy ,she hates the rain and mews pitifully outside the window if caught out in it,he he.a swimming cat she ain't ;-).
I got the feeder on the front lawn just in time for the rain to take it in so i'm looking for the lawn to start greening up quite quickly now [hopefully],and it looks like i need to get to the back of the garden out back ,the runner beans are getting to the top of the canes and need stopped,to encourage the flowers leading to lots of tasty beans .yum :-D.
The temperatures are starting to climb again ,up to 18c this morning ,so that will help my crops along ,and yippee ,the new Asparagus roots i put in have broken through the soil.yep ,i know it will be two years before i can crop them ,but it does mean i have again,9 buckets producing.
,Only three weeks to go ,and we will be back in the land of Fleetwood ,and Cleveleys for 4 days and nights ,just what we two need to recharge the batteries,lol.
Off for a look round the boards now,hope you are ALL enjoying the first day of the week ,tis alright for me and Brenda ,who are now in the land of the Take Your time Brigade,you others will have to take your turn he he :-P.Fred.

Hello Everyone,well at the moment we have sunshine ,which is after the showers we had this morning!!.I know we need the rain,but just wish it could be a bit more considerate and come at night so i can get my washing dried outside.
My sister will be watching the New Zealand news as she is going there on holiday in Novemmber ,the last quake did something to the hotel they should have been staying in,but they did not know where they would be going ,till nearer the time as they had been rebuilding ,Do not know what will happen now.
Also had some bad news on my ex today thats davids dad,he is seriously ill in the intensive care ward,and they do not know whatswrong ,david is there with him and his half sister and step brothers and sister.
Hope you have a good little break when you go to Fleetwood fred,hope the weather stays good,you both deserve it.
Take care ,Brenda

hi to one and all well the last 2 days have not been great weather wise dull and a bit chilly but apparently the weather is going tohot up again mid week in the high 20's ie. 28 and up still having some showers so hope they make it your way fred to help with the garden the men came this am to sand and prime the balcony the main coat of paint should go on to-morrow weather permiting, just read the news re your ex and david's dad hope that they find out what is wrong and maybe they can fix it not the best news too have. anne's daughter lives in whitefield and she is 40 and single and has decided to buy her self a 2nd hand silver alpha remao ( I think that is how you spell it) I spoke to her the other day and she said perhaps she is having a mid life crisis I told her if tht was the case buying a sports car is a great idea in my book, when I was over 4yrs ago she bought a house in whitefield it was a semi and a lovely house I really liked it, she had been living with a chap for quite a few years and then he decided to move in too greener pastures!!! she has picked herself up quite well. hope that you and liz have a great time in fleetwood sounds like a great idea, well nothing much going on over here at the moment school will be out at the end of the month for lindy and the children so that is it for me for to-day off to make my supper steak and mushrooms and local grown asperagus and some salad sounds good to me bye for now dorothy