General Chat

Hi All Susan that must be terrible for you with the water, especially when it so expensive to replace. Your husband sounds a bit like mine with his Aladdin’s cave, making do and mending! You are right; the Banana Guard is a very silly idea!!!! June my sister-in-law always had Yorkies, lovely dogs hers was called Mandy. Sylvia the cat getting in and out is a problem, I have thought about a cat flap but can’t buy them here, we would have to make something ourselves. At the moment we leave the back kitchen window open slightly….not too wide or Dredi the dog jumps in, he’s too agile for his own good. Our dogs are all in the house at the moment but mostly they sleep outside on the back veranda. Did a bit of gardening this morning but have to get out early because of the heat, just some cutting back of Hibiscus and weeding but every little helps. My beautiful white Bougainvillea has fallen over, I need to prop it up and hope it survives. It is really misty out to sea today, I can hardly see the horizon at all, I expect we will get some more rain. Sorry to all those who haven’t had any for so long. We still get rain even in the dry season although we did have quite a few weeks at a stretch without any. We are never happy are we, either too much or not enough. Well that’s all from me. Jacquie Xx

Hi Everyone,what a pleasure to read all your news ,I will have to get on here earlier to catch up on all the lovelly messages. Mixed day at the library,as it was a sunny morning it was a bit slow,except for the computers,which are free to use,you only get two hours and have to be a member of the library,but they are extremely busy,as you can imagine. In the afternoon,it was groups of children with their mothers ,some will let the kids just run about and other s will have them behaving lovelly.Some leave them in the junior library and go on the pcs ,in another part of the library and expect us to 'mind' them,we have notices up saying we are not responsible for them ,but sometimes it is like talking to the wall. Had a salad for tea as the weather was so warm,now it has gone overcast and windy. John has borrowed a power washer to clean the patio and flags(pavers) in the back ,he did a few today and they are great,have to finsh them by Monday ,to return the washer. Bank holiday here on Monday,not sure now what the weather is supposed to be.But a nice couple of extra hours in bed anyway. Catch you all tomorrow. Take care Brenda

Hi everyone, imposible now to name names as there are too many of us. I too am suffering with a bad back June, such a nuisance isn't it? mind you i have had mine for over a year and am hoping for some physio soon. Like you we were at a garden centre yesterday (Webbs of Wychbold near Droitwich) When we got there they had their breakfast at half price so we had an early lunch (if you see what I mean). 2 sausages, bacon, 2 hash browns, beans and an egg for £2. Really well cooked so very good value. that was at 10.30 and we didn't eat anything else until 7pm. We bought several plants and some slate rocks plus other bits and pieces. webbs is a very good garden centre although a bit pricey. Tony did a barbecue in the evening, although we did eat it indoors. We sat in the garden with a drink in the lovely sunshine until 7.15. Typically though the weather today has deteriorated and it is cloudy and extremely windy, although not cold. Just about to complete the forms to send off for replacement passports. But decided to come on here first. Ann glos

Good afternoon all from a bit damp and verrrrrry windy Newcastle on tyne. Seeing as iv'e never been a godfather Judy ,i'm up for it okay ,but ,if any of the feathered friends dive bomb me while i am snoozing in my corner of the garden ,under the honeysuckle ,it's an instant ban from the B,B,q ,i don't mind,cats on my lap [i quite miss my cat from years back],and i love a dog lying on my feet ,but the only two birds of mine were a budgie ,and a thrush called Busby ,after the telecom advert..We found him at the bottom of the garden ,and took him indoors ,he had no feathers and looked to be only a week or so old.Anyway ,we fed him every hour with milk from an eye dropper until he was old enough to eat morsels of minced up worm.Busby thrived into a healthy youngster who would greet me every time i came into the house by whistling ,and flying onto my shoulder. Came the time to let him go back into the wild ,so for two weeks i would sit in the garden with him while he learned to feed himself and learn the wild ways but came the day he flew off and didnt come back that night.He did appear a couple of times,would fly onto my shoulder ,so i knew it was him .and once i saw him pecking at sparrows feet in the garden [daft begger ,they wer'nt worms ], and that was the last i saw of him. My dog wasonly special to me ,a mongrel cross between a border collie and some other non descript breed ,but she knew when i was down and wouldcome and sit with her head on my lap until i took notice ,and then go and fetch her lead,she knew i loved taking her out.pet,s ,once you are used to them it's hard to live without em. I have lots of psuedo pets on here ,and love the stories so please keep them coming lol. If you all behave ,the pet's that is ,i will tell you about my uncle Ray ,and his racing pedal bike in bucks ,a true story honest ,but so funny that i still crease up every time i think of it. It srarted out so well this morning with some sunshine a warm breeze ,but it wen't sour at dinner time ,now we have a strong wind which is pretty cold so i have moved the outdoor tomatoes back into the greenhouse just in case we get a frost.I have put that many garlic cloves into the gardens that i think i will have to sell somein the winter to get rid of it all,but it's good stuff ,and it's keeping the slugs away ,which is grand ,it means that what there are are safe for the birds to eat ,and i only use soapy water on my plants so the greenfly are safe to eat as well.I'm off for a wander round the boards ,butwill be back later on ,so have a nice evening all you aussies and n.z.peep,s and the odd ones in Gredada Spain and whatever.Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Hello Everyone and thank you Bill and Sue for your Emails. I think they are both lovely and I have forwarded them on to family and friends. I hope you don't mind. It has been quite a nice day here, as you in Perth know, but I still have felt cold all day and am in Winter clothes already. Once I start wearing warmer things, I can't go back to thinner ones. Norman has been in bed nearly all day, just managed to get up for lunch and dinner. He feels OK but I think he is getting bored and a bit lazy. I'm not getting enough sleep lately because Norman refuses to go to bed until midnight every night and I have to help him with undressing etc., then the cat, Milo, wakes me up about 6 am, or earlier,every morning. I think we shall have to get a cat door. Have any of you got one? I must go now and put my poor old feet up for a little while. Will see you again soon,Love to all from Sylvia in Perth WA. XX

Hi All Brrr its going to be another cold night tonight, we have been sitting inside with a visitor for a few hours, he just left and when we went to the door to see him off it was a real shock to the system, I did hurry back to the warm. I agree with I think it was Fred that loves hearing about all the animal adventures and to leave them on this thread. We dont have any pets as we live on a main Road which has 4 lanes and there are no fences to stop any animal from going on the road. I can sympathize with people who have barking dogs next door. We used to have a dog next door and he would bark at anything, or nothing. The owner worked of a night and all the dog did all night was stand in the middle of the yard and bark presumably at the moon. We never saw anyone around and if we went out it made him worse. We did complain to the owner and she gave us her mobile number for next time the dog barked, so next time we had trouble we rang....... on 4 occasions when the dog was barking nonstop in the same night and all we got was message bank. Soon after that she moved out and took her dog hooray. Now we have lovely quiet neighbours with no barking dog. Dont get me wrong I love animals but I also love to be able to sleep of a night time. Well I have had a winge, sorry I am a bit unhappy with the footy today, I will go and catch you all tommorrow in a better mood :-))

Hi everyone, Its lovely reading all your messages and tales about your pets. I have a Yorkie dog called Beckham (and yes he is a good footballer.) and a tortoise called Tortie, my daughter and family have moved in with me and she has a Yorkie too called Bonnie, Bonnie is 14 years old and is totally deaf, so we have to keep a eye on her because she cant hear us if she strays away.Gaynor also has 2 budgies, (dont laugh) they are called Elvis and Priscilla. Bill its hard for me to imagine you having frost when we are just beginning to warm up. I like the the tale of you keeping the electric blanket on to keep the cat warm.I must remember that one though my house is warm with the central heating. Susan, I hope you soon get your water problems sorted, I'm glad I didn't find that snake. I have been watching Eastenders on BBC 1, they are having problems with rats, and yesterday morning I came downstairs half asleep, and I thought I saw a rat in the sunlounge, it was only Beckham's toy hedgehog he plays with, lol Brenda, Kath, Ann, and everyone, I hope you are all ok. See you soon, Love June xx

Trudy The part of the garden that was run over is still untidy I have restaked and cut back plants have a orange tree and pomegranite to plant also a bougenvillea. It will take a while to get it back nice at least it is only a small part of the graden. At least the house is put to rights. Wish I could afford to pave. Bill I remember at home the pipes in the bathroom getting wrapped so they would not freeze in the winter, this is in Birmingham. My grandson Jacob wants to swap his imaginary cat Harvey with Puss. In Mundaring they have Bandicoots running wild in the garden, they are like a giant rat with a humped back they realy are so cute. Quite a few homes have them, but cats stalk them. So my daughter will not have a cat. So Jacob made his up, a black cat called Harvey. They have all types of fruit trees it is a fight with the parrots who gets the fruit first they even ate the unripe pears. They have alot of Magpies in their garden but so far none have swooped in the breeding season. As well as the Kookaburras and honeyeaters. I get the other birds but not the maggies. Bill I tried to download the photo install from Hotmail and it would not download also tried from the Msn to send photos I can send them through outlook. But why can't I send through Hotmail? Kindest regards to all Pam

Good afternoon everyone. It's taken me a while to read through all the messages, but it's very interesting. Jacqui, its sounds really nice where you live. I also live in a rural area, and when we first moved here 10 years ago we were a lone 2 acres in the middle of properties of 300 and 500 acres plus. About 5 years ago one of the neighbours died and her property was sold off and now we have some closer neighbours. Luckily there is a by-law and land cannot be divided into less than 50 acres at the moment. I hope it stays that way. I hope it's the same for you. As all Bill's people may know, I have been having a few water problems. A couple of months ago we found a dead snake in our water tank, ( we do not have town water ), and we had to drain off over half a tank of the precious liquid. Since then we have had to but 3 tanker loads. We were wondering why we were using it so quickly as we are very careful and always shower together ( LOL). Anyway, we have discovered a leak on our water pump. Neville has spent the last 2 days trying to fix it, he has put in new seals and sealers, but it is still leaking. He has now decided to make another pump from all the old ones stored in his Aladdins cave. He keeps disturbing me, as I have to run in and out to turn the valve off. Ah, the joys of living on the land. I met my new neighbours today, the ones who have bought from our Japanese neighbour. They are very nice, and have just one horse called Flash and a cat. The horse is really nice a dapple grey ex-race horse. I think that it is better that we keep our animal tails ( sorry tales ) on here, then I just have to look at the one thread. Sorry I am rabbiting on, I will go now see you all later. Susan Bill, thanks for looking at the banana guard for me. We don't grow bananas, the frost usually kills them, ( yes we also had a frost this morning,) I still think its a silly invention. Jacqui, the banana guard is for a single banana.

Hi Bill,our neighbours are expecting a crowd to-night for a BBQ(come over Fred)they are all stalwart Super 12 fans and all geared up with wide screen TV,mini grandstand etc to watch the Crusaders/Warratahs game.As I mentioned I am not a rugby follower so I will settle indoors,much warmer,and watch Foyles War. The Magpies here have now moved further away as the Tuis have returned from their breeding duties up at the Lake.They have such a range of sounds from sweet to the coarse throaty sounds. By the way,how did your sales go ? Regards, Judy

Hi All We have 5 dogs Bill, the cat comes and goes bit of a bush cat really, but doesn't like the rain too much, he can handle the dogs though!!!! Margaret the Goat is about to have her baby's....from the look of her very soon now, I will keep you posted. Judy they are wonderful, my sister lives here too and we say that our dogs are probably the luckiest dogs in Grenada, there are a lot of strays here, people tend to have them as guard dogs although where I live it is very safe....no crime. In fact Grenada is a pretty safe place to live these days. It is very peaceful here too Bill, we are not surrounded by houses but bush and garden...people work the land but don't live here they all live in the Village and we are just outside it. I can see that more people will sell their land though and then we might have some neighbours....hope it won't be soon. Its 9.45pm here and as quiet as quiet only the sound of insects. Dogs very quiet.....shhhh all asleep!!! Well speak again bye for now. Fred are you still up!????

Hi Everyone Another nice day here but getting cooler earlier now in the evenings,not quite as low as your temps. Bill and yes you are right,there are some good threads re our beautiful furry,feathered and scaly friends. Fred,if you agree,my crew have suggested that you would be the ideal godfather so please say yes.Of course you might have to be prepared for Ripley,Anna,Caillagh,Wally,Melita, Milo,Mr.D,Sophie etc arriving for the BBQ ! Your mentioning birds and the patio,reminded me of my father in his latter years,he would sit in the sun in the patio and for many years a little sparrow with only one leg would arrive for a chat and some crumbs,those are the loveliest moments aren't they. June,I do hope your back is feeling better,do take care,sit back and enjoy your garden and leave the labour for another day. Jacquie,your pets sound wonderful,we used to have a houseful but as they have aged we let the numbers dwindle. We have 10 acres here so there was always plenty of room but as we are no longer as fit as we were we have to think of the future welfare of our wonderful companions,fortunately all our family are animal lovers so there are always plenty of tail wagging and licks all round. Regards to All Judy

Morning Bill ,well i got my input ,it's ruddy freezing over there,he he,bit severe though ain't it?,going at the old pipes with a heat gun,i hope you have it turned way down. I had the same sort of bother in march ,our garden water pipe comes through the wall from the kitchen,and it froze once or twice. I'm taking chris to the Museum at Shildon next week ,seeing as my son would rather go fishing and won't take him ,don't know what modern fathers are for half the time ,still i suppose it'swhat grandads are for ,and the kid is train mad,i took him tothe Keithley railway two years ago ,along with Liz to see the railway children line ,and there were ructions when he had to come home. I am going to load in a virus and trojan killer later today ,i hav'nt got one installed and know i have a trojan in the puter somewhere cause of the way it's behaving ,slow slow quick quick slow,and even stop at times.Other times it can run as it used to ,really weird. think i will take Liz her breakfast in bed this morning ,i have some nice bacon ,lorne sausage, some mushrooms,an egg,and beans,we rarely go dinner so this will keep us going till tea time ,by then after having to water the garden paint the patio door surrounds and do the shopping i will be ready for something to munch on ,probably a tuna salad,or maybe a real treat ,a nice swordfish steak, lovely. i'm off to make a drink of horlicks,but will be back shortlyu.Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

cummon you aussie lot,some of you must be having your brekkie by now ,i need some input lol.Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Good Evening Everyone Thanks Fred, for you to remember Caillagh. I dont talk about her often here, so you must have a good memory. Well while Im typing this, I have Wally the budgie sitting on my head, making all sorts of noises and stiring Caillagh up so much that she is barking at him now. He has just spent the last 1/2 hour diving off his cage, divebombing the dog then landing on my head and saying what Im sure is rude words in bird language. Its sounds like he is telling Caillagh off. I wish my video camera was working so I could take some film. Its so funny, Wally just manages to keep out of the way of Caillagh, though she has had a tail feather in her mouth one time. On the subject of pets, we have just aquired another 6 tropical fish. We took in some of our large ones, that were all the same breed and swappped them for some different ones. We must be doing something right with the tank as the ones we returned keep breeding. We have found another 2 babys in the tank tonight. Well David got the games room and study tiled this week. So the house is looking a little closer to completion. Weve only been here 4 1/2 years. Typical Builders house. LOL. Still have a lot of walls to paint. Anyone feel like it. Im sure Pam wouldnt be up to it at the moment. Did you get all your garden re-planted Pam? Now we just have to get some more money together and then we can finish the rest off. Not much more to tell at the moment. I have access to Ancestry at the moment, so Im going to try my luck there a bit. Nite All TRUDY

Good evening all from Western Australia and a special hello to friends from Bills thread. How are you Brenda! Talking of animals I have a dog called Melita she came with the name she is a little belgium barge dog Schipeke. A cat called Puss a friend gave me. My two siamese Chang and Ming died nearly the same time aged 20 and seventeen. The Molly dog a blue heeler died of old age also. Why do people think you want other animals when yours die. My friend was moving away this big ginger striped animal named Puss needed a home why not marmaduke or garfield but just Puss!! I think the cat is taller than the dog. Melita is a one person dog she was upset when her previous owner gave her away, but she settled down with me. Lovely weather today after work I was in the garden weeding actually it is the grass runners worth than weeds. I would like to take up the lawns and lay pavers but it is nice for the grandkids to have lawn to run on also the dog loves to throw her toys around on it. I am on a corner and quite a long block so have all the verge to mow as well, pity the shire does not do it. I think I have said before I am from Birmingham. Married an Australian i have a son and daughter and five grandchildren. Enjoy living in Perth. Must go now speak to you soon. Kindest Regards Pam

Morning All, June hope your back is better soon, nothing worse. Would have been my idea of heaven having lunch at a Garden Centre but probably very costly!!!! We just take a stick off of someone else’s plant and stick it in the ground and hope it takes!!! Fred the Solar Lights are wonderful aren’t they….when in England last Summer I bought some to bring here and mighty useful they proved to be with no lights here for so long at least we could come in in the dark and not fall over!!!! Well, I thought, a cooler evening had some rain will be able to sleep easier …..but my Mother dog Sally had other ideas!!!! Don’t know what she saw or heard (maybe a Manacou – which is about the size of a Mongoose but only comes out at night) but I couldn’t see anything. Then of course all the others joined in, it was bedlam for a while. Sally is half German Shepherd not sure what the other half is, I’m afraid she was a naughty girl!!!! We kept 3 of her 6 pups and they are all big dogs! Dredi is half Lab and black as the Ace of Spades. After stern warning from me that if they don’t stop the noise I will come down to them, they stopped. This morning it is pouring with rain but blue skies can be seen – it will clear up and be hot again. Our lovely Island needs the rain desperately, it needs to recover, the rain forest was virtually destroyed last September, which was for me one of the saddest sights!!! We have no desalination plant (sea water to fresh) here so we rely on the rain, if Gran E’tang Lake is low we have sever water restrictions, at the moment we mostly get water in the morning but then it goes – we do have a water tank so collect it while we have it. It is lovely to hear all about your lives in far flung countries, thank you Brenda and everyone for welcoming us strays, I had only just found Bills thread and it is so nice to be amongst friends albeit ‘virtually’. I think I will have to keep a journal with your names, where you all are and what you do…..as I, like some of you have said, do get senior moments with the old memory at times. Love Jacquie

Hi all ,Please don't start a thread [only for pets] cause Fred has'nt got one so i could'nt join [sniff] and what would i do if i can't see what my furry chums are up to,unless you will class Liz as a pet ,fred says brightning up a little ,you would have to class her as a bird though as she will have ruffled feathers if she sees this ,he he. We do have our birds in the garden though ,and word has got round among our feathered friends,the garden has been taken over big style ,we are inundated by parents ,with the chicks screaming to be fed chasing them all over the garden . It's already warming up here.and it looks like being a nice day once Liz has finished her visit to the dentist.The difference is amazing ,she has lost all fear of thedentist ,and dos'nt mind going anymore ,and this is a lot easier for me as i have put the whip and lead away ,lol. We put a load of solar lights round the garden of which half are yellow and half are white,Liz says they are runway lights for the birds,but i hope that isn't the case cause if one of them overshoots the landing it will come straight through the patio door into the lounge . The door will be a godsend in the summer though cause we will be able to open them ,and the window on the other end of the room ,and that will give us a through draft ,to keep the house cooland as a last resort we have fans ,and an air conditioning unit,but i don't use that unless i have to ,it reminds me too much of bad times in the middle east ,besides ,you suffer for a while when you leave the protection and go outside ,it's like walking into a furnace .lol. I have promised the bairns a B,B,q next week ,so if anyone is coming ,let me know and i will lay in extra rations[all welcome] Hope everyone is okay ,and the sore backs and other ailments are improving.I'm off to check my e/mail and messages in the hope that someone is wanting to talk and not deliver bills ,you know what i mean?,lol.syal.Fred.PtfA&G&G&S.

Hi everyone, Looks as though we have another sunny day here. I had a lovely lunch yesterday with my friends, we met at a Garden Center which is disastrous for me, I always buy something. I bought 3 plants for the 'boots' I have in the garden also a lovely calum lily in various colours of orange. I'm sorry thats all I can type at the moment, my back is starting to hurt again, I shouldn't have sat so lomg the other day. Take care. June xx

Hi Everyone The weather here in the Bay(Hawkes Bay)is getting a little colder each day so I guess we had better get the long johns out,still as they say,you have to go through Winter to reach Spring. I know by the clock we are the first to see the sun but somehow I always feel like the last to report in but then I have loads of lovely messages to read from the night crew. Well the Lions have landed and although personally I am not a rugby follower,I have no doubt I will get caught up with the enthusiasm of the multitude and watch the games. So lovely to hear from you all and to know there are so many animal friends on board.It has been suggested that a thread be started just for animal tales (tails) what do you think? Hoping you all have a happy day Judy P.S. Congrats to all you Liverpool fans.