General Chat

Good afternoon all ,wow ,we just got indoors before the deluge ,and by the time i had locked the garden gate ,the path was an inch under water.
At the minute Brenda ,it isn't so much being busier ,more a case of getting out there while i can ,he he ,all this rain is leaving things so wet ,cutting either grass or hedging is a no no ,lol
If your hubby was going to lift flags to make space for greenhouse bases ,tell him not to bother,my last who houses have been put direct onto a heavy wooden plinth ,the plinth being screwed to the flags using anchor bolts.
This last greenhouse hasn't moved an inch despite howling gales since it was erected 7 years ago..
My house is in partial shade from trees at the bottom of the garden ,all i did was turn it round so that the long side was in sun for most of the day.
By the time you pay out for perspex ,and tubular metal greenhouses ,you would be well advised to buy a proper aluminium one with proper glass ,just as cheap as buying new ones of the other sort ,and far more sturdy.
You can get them second hand from the local papers mine cost me £30 with glass included.
two trips in a car to shift the lot.
We are still looking for our new Blue rose ,as near as we can get for our Sapphire Anniversary at the weekend,so far ,with no luck ,but we have one more market garden to try..,I did get my last two compost bags for this year,60 litre ones ,one bag to fill up my potato bins to the top ,and the sack i have my Charlotte potatoes in.
The other bag will do anything else in the greenhouse that i need to grow.
We are now into cropping ,wahey,calabrese ,courgettes ,the second round of asparagus,and, plenty of herbs.
The missus has just made a big pan of asparagus soup ,so we will be having some for tea ,the rest going into the freezer for winter use ,i love this variety ,no salt or any other condiment needed apart from a tad of mace.
Time to do the tea now,so i will sign off and see you in the morning .Fred. :-D

Morning all,bit chilly and grey here today ,rain is predicted but we have not had any yet.
It stayed dry yesterday so i managed to get the bedding and some other washing dry!!
John was thinking of lifthing the flags to grow more things ,and has decided where he will put the greenhouse,and was saying he would put in like you said with the long sides to the sun.A freind of ours got hers second hand and has told John to do the same ,so its up to him.
Its his birthday today,he is 63 and we are going out for lunch,not sure where yet ,but I know we will enjoy it ,well i won't be cooking anyway !!!
Be back tomorrow. Brenda

Morning all,bit chilly and grey here today ,rain is predicted but we have not had any yet.
It stayed dry yesterday so i managed to get the bedding and some other washing dry!!
John was thinking of lifthing the flags to grow more things ,and has decided where he will put the greenhouse,and was saying he would put in like you said with the long sides to the sun.A freind of ours got hers second hand and has told John to do the same ,so its up to him.
Its his birthday today,he is 63 and we are going out for lunch,not sure where yet ,but I know we will enjoy it ,well i won't be cooking anyway !!!
Be back tomorrow. Brenda

hi brenda and happy birthday to john hope he has a good day, on the week-end it was rib fest in barrie teams from canada and the states compete to see who has the best bar-b-que ribs most of my family went and Ian at the most 3 sides on saturday and two on sunday along with bloomin onion( a huge onion done on the coals, also several strawberry daqueris(no booze in them) made with the fresh local berries, I went over on sunday to see bryan who was home from came for a total of 30hrs and we had a meal of ribs etc that andrew had brought home it was good to see bryan and here about camp. yesterday the mail started to get caught up with the back log I recieved 2 coppies of hello but am missing 1179 recieved 1180 so I will see if it will turn up if not a phone call to head office will take place and they do send the missing ones, then a parcel from lisa with neil's new book arrived I am trying to be good and not read it as yest as I have quite a few books from the library to finish, very hot at the moment and to-day I am off to the doc,s for a perscription I have an early apt. before it gets too hot, fred asual your garden is just amazing and the soup liz made sounds great oh yes by the way the postage on the book was 5pounds 29p. I thought that was awful I shall be sending lisa a tenner even though she said not to but I so appreciate getting the book I just wish neil had the rights to have his books sold over here.well time to get ready so bye for now dorothy

Morning to all Fred is reporting in ,minus a toofy peg ,lol but still cheerful aff the same ,despite ME not being the winner of the Euro Millions ,sigh , i had made such plans he he ,us two taking a huge world tour to see all the genes folks over the ponds .
Oh well ,we will wait until the jackpot rises again and give it another go.
We parked the car in Aldi as normal ,and walked over the road to the Dentists,which has an arrangement with the store thee being no car park at the practice,so we decided to call in the shop on the way back to the car.
I was so glad we did ,because on the way out i spotted a little petrol generator which was just what i was looking for ,in case of power cut's this winter.
The unit is light ,neat ,and powerful enough to supply emergency lighting ,AND drive the halogen heater we have for camping,so ,no matter what ,i can keep the wife warm in the winter,and at the reduced price of just over £40 pounds ,result.
Anyone see the woman in America who gave birth to a 16 lbs baby oooooow ,i bet she didn't half smart ,he he ,it must be the worst pain for a woman ,or anyone else to go through on Gods earth.but even this poor woman never even got near to the record.
A woman in 1870 odd gave birth to a 26 Lbs one ,though it didn.t say if the woman survived what must have been the first cesarian operation in the world ,no way could that have been a normal delivery,but i bet if she did survive ,she would never have let her 6 foot four husband anywhere near her again he he.once bitten and all that.
Having the rest of the day off now i isssss going to sulk while my jaw calms down a bit ,lol,have a nice day all.Fred. :-\.

Evening all,another good day here weather wise and another good day painwise as well.went to town to meet some friends ,but did not stay for lunch,had some shopping to do and it was in the opposite direction.
managed to get most of the errands done,but had to leave one but I can go to a local retail park and get what I wanted from the branch there
Sorry to hear about your tooth fred ,hope you will not have any more trouble in that area.. glad to hear that some good came out of your misery ,so to speak.
Glad your post is getting back to normal Dorothy and pleased you have your new book from Neil,hope you enjoy it,I did.
The cost of the post is a bit on the dear side ,i have another birthday card to send to OZ this week thats going to be another £1.68 at least.
My friend is thinking of getting one of those Kindle books ,where you download the books you want to read for about £3.99 each and you keep them stored on the Kindle.so you can read them when ever you want..She said it would be worth it for when she is on holiday as she can read a number of books and she would not be worried about the weight.
Think they are a bit expensive to buy at first,but work out quiet cheap if you read a lot.
I think I will be using the traditional books for some time.!!!
We are having some of Johns home grown potatos tomorrow with some pork steaks and green beans(not home grown.......yet)they are a lot better than last years,
Glad you got to see your grandson Dorothy,the ribs seem like they wer enjoyed.
I was not the winner either Fred,could not even begin to think what you would do with that amount of money!!!!
Lot of confusion the the street today when the bins changes to a differnt day for collection. we have all had two letters telling why it was happening and then we all got a letter and cards etc with the new dates when each bin would be emptied.and yet half the street still put the wrong bins out!!!
Hope the good weather continues for you dorothy and that it improves for you Fred.
Take care ,brenda

hi it is wed. evening I had a great day to-day I was out for lunch with the 14yr old grand daughter as she does not eat meat etc. we went to a sushi place that andrew has taken the family before not a clue what to order but in the end we did ok, then across the highway to chapters book store for a browse then they have a starbucks coffee place on site so we had a coffe ice coffee for laura and it was free as their computor was down. hope that your mouth feels better soon fred and the item you bought sounds great. brenda andrew bought me something like a kindle 2 xmas's ago and I did not like it for me there is nothing like holding abook and of course on holiday I buy far to many but mail them back.yes the good weather is going on strong not as hot to-day and a nice breeze but the next few days are to be hot hot so if I go out in will be early in the day, on friday I have a 8am apt. at the local hospital for a routine mamagram so will be home by 9am at the latest I prefer early apts. then you don't have too hang around bye for now dorothy

Good morning all, we have sunshine again today and i am thinking of going to our local retail park today rather than saturday as the weather is supposed to be wet then,
I also would rather have an early appointment ,you have the rest of the day to do other things,
John is helping a friend to do a bit of painting today,just emulsioning the living room and dining room in the house they are hoping to sell or rent out.They bought a bungalow which they have had done up and moved into but even after a good few veiwers their old house is still for sale.They are giving it a tidy up aftermoving out ready for any tenants they might get when the estate agents put it on the rental market next week..
When he gets back John will be watching the Open when he gets back,he doesn't watch it all at the start as he says it is not as exiting!!
Hope you enjoy the warm weather and your books on the balcony Dorothy and that Fred and Liz are havinbg the same sunshine as us,
Brenda

Morning Brenda just a quick on today before i take the missus out for dinner to keep her quiet [for two reasons] 1, seeing as it's a full moon tonight and i need to lull her into a false sense of security before i hide the broomstick ,and get the Henbane out,lol,
Secondly to celibrate our 45 th anniversary which is tomorrow.
We can't make up our minds yet as to go for a Chinese Meal at the Metro Centre ,or go back to the Carvery at Seaton Sluice.
The rain has started here ,so back to autumn we go ,lol ,good job i got those lawns finished yesterday isn't it? :-\.
Got to go peeps ,back later Fred

good morning fred I hope that you and liz have a happy anniversary and enjoy your meal out, after rechecking my calander I find my apt at the hospital is next friday ah well another senior moment!!! so no need to dash out early this am, brenda I hope that john enjoys the golf the young man that was at the top yesterday has fallen back a bit but how great for him yesterday, yes our hot weather is still holding and is to get hotter this week-end about 40 with the humidity , Ian finishes his sailing lessons to-day he has enjoyed it very much his parents asked him if he would like another session so he may do another 2 weeks when he gets back from camp the middle of august.lindy and Ian have been out strawberry picking again so more jam on the way at least I hope so the local crop has been good this year, some of the local produce is coming in from the farms it is a little late due to the rain we has in may, but local produce does taste so good, bought a great cauliflower the other day and some other veg. nothing much planned for this week-end will just enjoy the weather . be in touch soon bye for now dorothy

Hello everyone,Hope you and Liz enjoyed your wedding anniversary lunch Fred,and congratulations,
Dorothy ,John is enjoying the golf,today is wet and windy so we shall see how it goes.
Managed to get to the retail park yesterday and got a few bargains in the sale.anice pair of navy pants ,my other navy pair are more like washed out now!!! Also got some great belts to help hold my other pants while i am loosing a bit more weight,Have been fairly good this week,not had any biscuits or cakes this week,plenty of fruit and veg!!
Mind you I did some baking and made some scones the other day,but there was only 10 scones between the three of us ,some did not raise well and looked more likr biscuits so they did not have any jam or butter on them.!!!!
Not doing much ourselves this weekend so might get some house work done ,!!!
have a good weekend ,take care
brenda

hi everyone went out early yesterday(sat) to buy some produce and then the library after that came home watched the golf and watched the temperature rise to 31 and that is without factoring the humidity so about 4pm I gave in and put on the air conditioning , to-day it is going to be 34 at some point but the sky is blue and the sun is shining so much better thanthat white stuff, I have already had breakfast out on the balcony and looked after the blooms as there is a nice breeze, hope john is enjoying the golf I shall watch it again to-day I hope that darren clarke wins it would be nice for him.my sister called and said they had spent the day at the calgary stampede yesterday taking in all the sights sounded like fun.andrew and family are up at the cottage for the week-end so should have had a good time on the lake with the canoes etc. of course bryan is at camp it was fun to hear him complain about the young kids he is in charge of staying up till midnight and keeping him(16yrs) awake how soon they forget that was him last year doing the same thing to the councillors he has 6 ,8-9 yr olds in his cabin with of course a senior councillor. well I shall go and spend the day with the gold and lots of water to keep cool good luck with the eating plan brenda it does feel good when you need to buy belts to keep up your pants keep up the good work bye for now dorothy

Evening all from a very wet and grey manchestyer,
It been very cold as well.
Glad you have some good weather Dorothy and are enjoying the weather and your balcony,pleased also that the family are enjoying their pursuits.
I was doing good on the eating until today when I have had a peice of sponge cake!!!,i only bought it as it was one Johns favourites and on half price,!!!Any way it will be gone later tonight when John and David finish it off.
We have a family christening in a month and I want to wear a dress and jacket I have had for a while and worn only twice,,so need a few more pounds off.Would like to get a bit more active again so will be having a go on my WII again this week. Speak to you all tomorrow Brenda

Evening all,well its been wet again but not as wet as we expected.Was out and about doing some errands this lunch time and early afternoon,Did get caught in the rain once and did not have time to get my brolly up so my hair is now all frizzy!!
Just had a lovelly if naughty tea of sausages and mash with onion gravy!!also had carrots and cauliflower.
But will be good with fresh fruit salad laterno cream or ice cream.
My friends daughter finely had her little boy yesterday ,he is called Brody David Morgan Decort.!! He weighed 8ib 9oz. .and is gorgeous!!
Going to have a look at the holiday sites now ,my other friend has phoned to say they have some good deals on today.!!!
hope everyone is ok.
Brenda

hi its 8pm monday evening and I am melting it is very hot 35 plus the humidity but brenda your tea sounded lovely oh gosh sausage and mash and onion gravy how I envy you I had a bowl of strawberry yogurt it was too hot for anything else, wow big bay glad all went well, I had a call from Ian this evening sailing is finished so we have a date for lunch on wednesday it will be hot but not as bad as thursday is supposed to be 37 plus, so I will look forward to that he is very good company, other wise have been doing nothing much though I did enjoy the gold on sunday I was glas darren won did joh see it, fred is low key at the moment hope he and liz are well bye for now dorothy

Morning to all ,from a sunny ,yes ,sunny Newcastle ,so Fred has been quickly out back and fed the onion boxes ,before the rain comes back ,as promised by our weather people grrrrrrr.
With all our rain these last three weeks i am struggling with the lawns and hedges ,as i can't trim them being soaking wet ,but the extra water has compensations ,lol,my onions are swelling up nicely ,i think a bumper crop is coming in..
The beans and brassica are doing well too ,and we are now enjoying the courgette and cucumbers ,so we are having all home grown stuff now.
I am so annoyed with our bairns ,only one sent the wife an anniversary card ,this being from our daughter who knew it was our 45 th and the wife is still a bit upset ,it took the daughter to go on the phone to get a response from the two sons ,needless to say ,i am NOT impressed with either of them :-( .
The missus is out of bed already ,i can here the sun and breeze calling to her ,get up lazybones and get the washing done ,lol
Doing a defrag at the moment which is slowing things down so i will sign off ,and call back later .Fred :-D

hi just read ove what I wrote last night and I must put the spelling errors or hitting the wrong keys down too the heat I do apolgise fred sorry that you are a little mad at the boys after all these days a 45th wedding anniversary is special, your garden is doing well in spite of the rain I have just come in after having breakfast on the balcony and taking care of the pots so far they are doing well in spite of my black thumb almost 2months and I have not killed one. brenda I have been reading about the problem at the stockport hospital not very good I used to stay with a friend many years ago on cemetary road in stockport when andrew was about 3yrs old quite a nice area then hope that they catchwho ever is doing it. the bbc this am is full of live reports re the hacking scandal with the police top guy quite interesting. well time to do a little housework before it is too hot Ithink that I shall have toput the air on early to-day and I don't really like it but the humidity makes it hard too breath at times, yesterday and to-day the men are here to wash the windows outside I feel sorry for them in the heat I think that they knocked off early yesterday there are rules for people working outside they do have the right to stop at a certain temp. bye for now dorothy

Good morning all ,please notice the change of avitar ,he he ,welllll ,i had to do something to cheer myself up ,it piddling down here again as usual,and again the temperature is down to 17c and we have had to turn the heating on.grrrrrr :-
The wife had a snooze yesterday afternoon ,so i slipped out and went to my favourite spot on the Durham moors a few mines away ,and was dismayed at what i found.
A culmination of natural and man made events have made the moors into a disaster area,starting with the land commision ,burning the gorse and bracken to allow grass to grow for sheep,which over the years has killed off all the sphagnam moss which was so good at retaining rainfall ,allopwing the ground to dry out killing even the heather.
Now with the rain fall since early May all the rain has sunk into the ground ,soaking down so far that it has flooded all the old iron and lead mines ,so that all the contaminated water has come back up to the surface ,causing even more damage to the environment and wildlife.the moors are a disaster area,i came home sad and upset.
Makes me wonder ,WHEN will the people who work these areas learn to let nature take care of it's own? :-(.
Poor Hissy ,she goes out onto the patio ,and hides under the table out of the downpour ,sitting there looking woebegone and miserable lol,then she comes in ,turns round ,sits down and looks out of the atio door a disgusted look on her face.
Well done Dorothy ,looks like the thumb is changing colour for you :-),and ,of course you will have to take it easy in that heat ,only a fool rushes around in those conditions.it seems Canada ,is sharing it's woes with the American heart lands ,,they are in REAL bother ,crops scorched to death .huge dust storms ,and in a pickle with finances as well ,think i will put up with the rain .
Think this phone hacking has a long way to go yet ,there are government officers embroiled in it too ,including the oncoming investigation in the U S A.which i think may be a smokescreen to take the heat off Obama who is seeemingly adept to finding ways to slither out of tight spots a bit like Nixon ,he he maybe they should find a new name for the two of them ,Obama & Cameron[ the slitherin' twins.or the potter duo ] a right pair of con merchants.
Well,at this point ,the courgette out back is starting to cower under it's leaves ,knowing i am going to take a knife to it ,slice it down the middle. and stuff it full of rice ,a few sultanas ,mixed with a few herbs and peppers before puttting in to the oven.
Enjoy a BIT of warmth all [still a tad jealous ] all, but keep those fans handy,Fred :-D.

Evening all,we have had a chilly but dry day here today so i have managed to get some washing out on the line and driedso decided to wash some towels and got them on the line in the late afternoon ,not dry just yet but will bring them in shortly and dry them off on the cloths horse..
Nipped up to the library at lunch to order some books,then had a wander round Sainsburys.
Have some piccies of my friends new grandson he is gorgeous !!
I can understand how you were feeling about your anniversary fred,my sisters and I always sent cards to my parents but my brothers did not,but my mother used to say ,what do you expect they are men.!!
One does not even send birthday cards to any of his sisters or his only brother,but we have got used to it,he does do special birthdays when he is told in advance.!!
Can just imagine Hissy sat under the table,we had the same thing with one of our cats but he could have come in by the cat flap.!! They usually come running in wet througth and jump on our laps!!.Sharing their misery at the wet with us!!
Out for lunch and hopefully a bit of shopping tomorrow,meeting a friend whose birthday is friday she is working on the day so we are out tomorrow,We(my friends who call our selves the DOERS) will be out altogether on The 1st August when another of my friends celebrates her birthday.We usually go out Monday lunch as the three who still work have days of then,.
The Stockport Hospital story is very disconcerting,have not seen any news today ,but John said they have been talking to a nurse !!.
If the weather stays dry we are hoping to try another walk round Bury market on saturday!!
Need to get that washing in now.Take care #Hugs Brenda

hi wed eve about 7-45 well to-day was hot as they said it would be 34 plus the humidity to-morrow in toronto it is expected to be about 37.6 the hottest since records have been kept, but a date with a young man for lunch was not to be missed so in spite of the heat Ian(12) and I went out to the maderin a chinese buffet place great food and of course we ate far to much, he is good company so I had a great time, when I returned home it was time to put the air on and cool the place down, I saw on the news brenda that they are intervieiwing a nurse at that hospital, fred sorry that your afternoon out was not what you expected sad when things change so much. I have to say I love recieveing cards more than presents and I have all the ones the grandkids have ever made and all the ones andrew has givien me. on friday andrew has meetings in toronto and will swing by and bring his dad up for the week-end so that he can see bryan when he is home for his 30 hr leave, he has also almost firmed up the plans to take his dad to las vegas on august 14th so he can see his sister and husband and the family his dad will like that sunday to thursday I believe, so I will stop by to see bryan this saturday I shall let his grand dad have him to himself I guess andrew and his dad will drive up to get him and his mom will take him back sunday later in the day. well I think that I shall call it a day the heat is making me sleepy, brenda if you are at the market on saturday remember to say hi for me oh gosh I can see the place in my minds eye I wish I could take a magic carpet and fly over bye for now dorothy