Hobbies and Crafts

We've had our first bird on the bird table, a little Robin. As you can guess Sandra is thrilled and is now waiting to see more birds on there. I'm quite surprised as I wasn't expecting any birds for a while yet. The first visitor was a squirrel after the nuts I put on there, but since I changed it to bird seed it's not been back so the birds can now have a feed. I bought a fat ball but I'm going to wait a little longer before putting that out as I don't want to encourage the squirrel back again.

I'm sure your Alpines will be fine Ann, I keep mine in the greenhouse over winter and bring them back out in the spring and they've been okay. It sounds like we have the same weather as you, sunny but not very warm.

So Friday is golf day for your OH? My OH has gone to his friends for the day, a bit of male bonding lol. I'm colouring my hair today while he's out of the way as he tends to want to use the bathroom every five minutes if I do it when he's here. Having a quiet day will be good for your card making. Are you making Christmas cards?

I'm sure the Goldfinches will show themselves soon. I've just been online with Sandra looking at all the birds so she knows what they are called and can keep an eye out for them in our garden.

So far Gill I have made 4 Christmas cards and two birthday this morning, using Hunky Dory toppers which I love, they are not cheap but so far that is six cards from two sets (£2.99 each so I think that is good value. I reckon I will have made another 4 cards by the time I finish the two sets so that works out at about 60p each card, dearer than buying a cheap pack but better I think, and one is a personalised card for my sister.

Yes the Alpines are pretty hardy I am sure they will be ok.

we have our fat balls in a fat ball feeder which hangs, the blue tits love them.

That does sound good value for money, although I'll have to use Google again to see what Hunky Dory Toppers are LOL. I don't make cards and Sandra uses stickers mainly on hers as it's easier for her, so I'm not familiar with what is used nowadays. I think personalised cards are much better than shop bought ones, I love the ones Sandra makes for us. There are some pretty shop bought ones out there for people like me who don't make cards though, so everyone's happy.

Poor Sandra, she was excited when the squirrel first went on the bird table, but it's just been back and eaten all the bird seed so she's not happy with it now. She said she wants to see the birds, so I'll have to see if I can find some squirrel proof feeders so she can watch the birds and the squirrel as she likes them both, but not the squirrel taking the bird seeds off the bird table though. I can then put nuts on the bird table for the squirrel and have the bird feeders for the birds, that should make her happy that way everyone gets something to eat and she can watch them all. I'll have to do it soon though as I noticed online this morning that we're suppose to be having a bad winter, so I should imagine that means snow will be on the way and food won't be easy to find for the wildlife. Snow will please Sandra though as she loves it and making snowmen all over the garden. Last time we had snow she made a family of them.

I've just Googled it and I know what you're talking about now Ann, I have bought some for Sandra in the past but didn't realise what they were called. There is a shop a few miles away that she likes, it's more of a haberdashery but they have a few bits and bobs in there for her card making. They have a dog in the shop which she loves to cuddle when we go there. I must take her back there soon as we haven't been for a while. I like to sew so I can have a look around to.

Gill, oh dear the squirrel has the bird table in its sights now. Yes best get a feeder that it can't get to I wonder if there is some way that your OH could prevent it getting onto the table. I assume it is running up the pole. That is why the wrought iron poles for feederds are good as they are too thin for squirrels to climb them, cats too.

Good idea to get a bird book for Sandra, nice for her to have an interest in the birds and learn what they are.

I did walk down the garden to shoo the squirrel away but by the time I got there, there were no seeds left on the bird table. So a separate bird feeder I think will solve the problem. I'll take a look at some on a thin pole like you said Ann and hopefully the squirrel won't be able to get to the bird seed then. I can then put some nuts on the bird table for the squirrel so all the wildlife will get something to eat and Sandra will be able to watch everything without worrying about the birds not getting any food. I'm hoping once the birds start coming into the garden Sandra will learn what they all are. I don't know the names of all the birds so it'll also be interesting for me to see and identify them too.

Hope you find an anti squirrel feeder Gill.

We are just back from Cheltenham where John Lewis opened on Thursday (3 years I think since they started proceedings). Huge shop, huge crowds and, of course al lot of things not cheap.Still a nice shop to look round but it will be better if we go in during the wekk rather than weekend.

had lunch in Wetherspoon On their 2 for £8 something they had some new meals so OHhad small fish and chips and I had small scampi The scampi was quite big enough for me and but I think the fish was a bit small for OH Still we enjoyed it as it was nicely cooked.
I also bought a skirt from M&S and a sweater as we had 20% off vouchers.

It sounds like you had a lovely day out Ann. The meals were cheap weren't they? You're probably right and it will be less busy during the week rather than battling the crowds at the weekend.

Our neighbour over the road got broken into last night so the police and locksmith have been at theirs today. Her car was stolen and a few electrical things from the house. They broke in through the kitchen window then got out through the patio doors as she had left her key in the lock. They haven't long moved in either.

Sandra is a bit nervous incase they break into ours but I think I've managed to calm her down saying they won't be back as all the neighbours will be keeping an eye out now. She is sleeping in the living room on her mattress as the moment as I've only just finished the insulation in her bedroom and it's still a bit wet, so I've said to her to come and wake me up if she gets nervous in the night. I don't think she will, but it's put her mind at rest knowing I'm only in the next room. We live in a bungalow so she's not completely on her own on a different floor. She'll be back in her own room tomorrow so it's only for one night.

I noticed today that I've got some more flowers coming up in my back garden from the two pink plants I bought the other week, so they'll look nice down the bottom border soon.

Now the insulation is finished in Sandra's room, we'll take a trip out one day next week to see if we can find a suitable bird feeder that the squirrel can't get in to, then we can put all the food out for both the birds and the squirrel. Sandra will enjoy watching them both then.

Just watching the qualifying of the F1 at the moment, I'm hoping Lewis Hamilton wins the championship this weekend, he has to come first which hopefully he will. I don't want Vettel winning, he's very cocky and I don't like him.

Sounds as though you had an enjoyable day out Ann.

I feel for your poor neighbours Gill. I hope Sandra sleeps well tonight and doesn't get too anxious. I also hope you manage to find some squirrel proof bird feeders. There seem to be quite a few different sorts around so I am sure you will find something suitable and Sandra and you will get a lot of pleasure from seeing the different wildlife.

Our weather hasn't been at all bad the last couple of days but I still haven't managed to do any more in the garden. Twice a week (Thursday and Saturday - market days here) a large group of us meet up for coffee in our local Wetherspoons. We have loads of coffee places in town but Wetherspoons are cheap and don't mind having a large group. The ladies occupy one corner and the men go off and find their own table.

After our coffee this Thursday the ladies went off to a pub out of town for lunch to celebrate the birthday of one of us, than it was back to the birthday girl's house for tea and cake. I say birthday 'girl' but she is 86 and looks and acts more like 70.

Friday I had to do some housework and food shopping and in the evening we went to a quiz night in aid of a local charity. It was good but so hot and noisy that I came home with a splitting headache.

Today it was coffee in Wetherspoons with our friends again and then after lunch OH and I went to see what the new company are making of the Wyevale they have taken over. It was well worth a visit and they were selling off a lot of the old Wyevale stuff quite cheaply. I got a lovely darkish green glazed pot half price and I also bought some bright yellow mid-height tulips so I can plant it up and give it to a friend for her birthday next week. I got a big tray of pansies and also a drum of 50 fat balls for the birds for 4.99. They are a good quality and I think this brand is normally about 15-20 pounds a tub so I was well pleased.

I have had to put pounds as I have now lost the pound sign on my keyboard. I think it is gradually giving up on me. Several weeks ago the " and the @ signs reversed so I have to type @ if I want " and vice versa. Now if I press the pound sign key I get #, if I press the # key I get a forward slash which I also correctly get if I press the key for a forward slash. I have now tried all the keys in turn and the pound sign seems to have completely disappeared :-S

I don't know if that makes any sense. Probably doesn't as I am beginning to think I am going completely barmy :-0

Vera, how confusing for you with the signs all wrong. Maybe a new keyboard is required!!

Your coffee meet ups with friends sound good, although twice a week could be a bit of a tie if you went to all of them. Maybe people turn up as theya re available which would make sense. Glad to hear the new garden centre is a success so far. We had notification this morning that the Wyevale we go to is being bought out (taken over or whatever) by Dobbies which we are pleased about as we like their garden centres and the nearest is some way away from here. I wonder if Wyevale are in trouble or if they just took over too many a few years back.

Gill, your poor neighbours, there are some awful people about. I don't suppose they have caught the burglars. Has anyone in the area got CCTV? I hope Sandra has settled now and is not nervous still. Very disturbing for everyone though.
I looked in our garden centre this morning and they have wrought iron bird feeder poles shaped like a shepherds crook. They have two heights but I think the short one would be too low that was £5.99, the taller one was £9.99 and that one would be better so cats and squirrels can't jump up.

Ann, we have another keyboard tucked away at the back of a cupboard somewhere so we will get it out. However, whatever was wrong seems to have corrected itself today. Most of the keys only went wrong yesterday but the " and @ have been reversed for some while. Now they are OK as well. I just don't understand what is happening :-S

As far as our coffee meet ups are concerned, yes we do all go as and when we are available and feel like it. There can be any number between 4 and 16 there - this Saturday we had 5 ladies and 3 men.

I was going to go out this afternoon but the weather is supposed to be getting pretty cold by next weekend so I thought I had better make the most of a good day to get a bit more of the garden ready for winter. I lifted and potted up virtually all the rest of my more tender plants. I now have 32 pots that I have left outside but I can bring in at the first hint of frost. With the cuttings I have taken I should have plenty of plants to fill at least some of my troughs next year. There are too many for the mini greenhouse so I'll be making use of the conservatory again.

Next job will be to cut down the helenium (one very big clump) and the rudbeckia (lots of smaller clumps) and also tidy the hostas which are now looking very bedraggled. Then I think we'll be all set for the winter.

We have re-organised the conservatory ready to bring in the tender plants, mostly geraniums. OH’s Christmas cactus are already inside and in bud. The two small troughs from the front garden with geraniums are inside and in fresh troughs out in the front garden I have planted grasses and pansies.

How strange about your keyboard Vera.

That's strange with your keyboard Vera, I wonder why that's happening :-S Did you manage to sort out all your plants before the weather turns cold. It's definitely getting colder here, there is a nip in the air most mornings now. How nice to have meet ups with all your friends. 50 fat balls for £4.99 that was definitely a bargain.

The neighbour opposite the poor couple have CCTV Ann but not covering over the road so it wasn't any good. I don't think they've caught them yet and yesterday OH was chatting with a mate of his whose dad does window and doors and he said his dad has been very busy lately as there have been more burglaries around the area, so he's having to sort out all the broken windows and doors. It sounds like it's the same people doing the burglaries as they are breaking into properties to take car keys so they can steal the cars, but also taking electrical items from the houses to, so the same as the couple in our street. I hope they catch them soon as it's quite worrying, wondering if they are going to come back or not.

I was concerned about Sandra last night as she had a panic attack, so I think it's still playing on her mind. She's back in her own room now I've finished insulating it, so hopefully she'll start to calm down soon. It was a fright seeing her like that though, she was as white as a sheet and it took OH and I almost half an hour to sort out her breathing, she was complaining of pains in the chest, but once her breathing was under control the colour came back into her face and the pain stopped. I hope it doesn't happen again though.

Going to get a cuppa now, I've caught a bug and have been feeling awful lately with a sore throat and I've been sick a few times, so I'm going to take it easy today and rest up, hopefully this bug will go soon then I can get on with insulating the spare bedroom.

Gill, just a thought. Are there any fumes from the insulation? do you know what it is made of and what do you use to stick it to the wall? Could it be that causing your sore throat and sickness?

Has Sandra had panic attacks before? Is she maybe worried she will catch what you have as well as thinking about the burgary? Or maybe something in the insulation affected her breathing. Do you control her breathing by getting her to breath into a paper bag? I saw a tecnique used in one of the soaps (of all things) when the person not having the attack held her hands out for the person having the attck to hold and made them look straight at her eyes then breathed with her saying 'in and then out steadily while holding her gaze.

So sorry to hear about Sandra Gill. Do hope she's feeling better. I've also been wondering whether it's your renovations that are causing your sore throat and general feeling of ill health. Do you wear one of those light weight white nose and mouth face masks that protect your throat and lungs against the dust and fumes that you breathe in when doing DIY jobs? I expect you probably do as they are invaluable and readily available on line or at DIY shops, also B&Q which is where OH gets them from!
I've finally finished all the outstanding weeding!! :-D. Have cut back the Lupins, and, with the help of OH, moved the Avocado plant/ tree?! into the greenhouse! Apart from tidying jobs, I think we are finally ready for winter! better be as I'm knackered!!

I used some filler Ann which had fumes so it could of been that or even the spray OH was using to clean away some mould in another couple of rooms. We had the windows open but maybe it hadn't cleared properly. The insulation is made of polystyrene with a lining paper on it and I stuck it on the wall with thick wall paper paste, so I doubt it would of been that, so it must of been the filler or spray as they did smell quite strong.

Sandra's never had a panic attack before and we didn't have a paper bag for her to use. I've seen that work before to. I tried to get her to focus on me, but she was panicking to much. In the end I gave her some chewy mints to eat thinking if she's chewing and swallowing she wouldn't be able to take short breaths which is what she was doing. Luckily it worked and her Big Brother programme came on which she loves, so watching that and eating the mints solved the problem in the end, but it took a while and it wasn't pleasant to see her is such distress.

She had a good sleep last night. I had to wake her up as it was 12.30pm, she was quite surprised herself how long she slept for. Thankfully she's much better today and has had something to eat. She's watching her programme in the other room while OH and I watch one in the living room we recorded, then we'll catch up with some recorded programmes together that we all like. We've been so busy lately we've decided to have an easy day for a change. The insulation for the spare bedroom can wait for now, there's no rush with the room not being used.

I started with the bug before I started the insulation, although the fumes off things we were using wouldn't of helped. I have a sore shoulder today which I think happened when I was being sick in the bathroom last night, I think I've jarred it so I'm sitting here with a hot water bottle on it. I've just eaten so I'm going to take a pain killer, hopefully that'll work as it's very painful at the moment.

I don't know what are we like? lol ;-) I'm sure we'll both be fine soon.

Well, I'd better get back to our programme, it's on pause and OH is waiting.
I'll let Sandra know you were asking after her.

Didn't see your post there Liz.

Yes, I wear a mask, like the one you mentioned. Sandra is much better today which I'm pleased about as it was quite scary to see her like that last night.

It sounds like you've been busy again in your garden. Mr Grumpy next door has had someone around cutting back a big conifer, which I thought they were going to take out completely, I'm so grateful they didn't and only trimmed the bottom branches off, he also was cutting Mr Grumpy's hedge, although they haven't finished levelling the top so it looks a bit odd at the moment. Knowing him he'll probably leave it that way now......he is a very strange man.

I had Lupins but had to take them out to make way for a patio area we needed to put down. I popped it in a pot so hopefully it'll come back again next year. I did have problems with it last year though, it was covered in aphids and no matter what I did, I couldn't get rid of them, so hopefully it it's comes back next year it'll be safe from them. I might have to Google how to get rid of the aphids otherwise.

Well, I'd better get back to this programmes I think OH is getting fed up of waiting for me.

Sorry Gill, I think I've been a bit bossy!!! It's probably fatigue that is getting you down, so a good thing to take a break!!
OH has been chain sawing, splitting and stacking logs all afternoon in preparation for a cold winter!! I'm planning on preparing some pots for bulbs a la Monty Don, but not today!!

Not bossy Liz, we are just concerned and it is proabaly a combination so a day doing nothing is a good thing to do.Looking after a family (or even an OH) can be quite tiring this time of year with all the gardening and house clearing (Me that is 4th trip to the tip today from the loft), etc. We all need a day's respite sometimes.

Gill I have put a small envelope of mainly butterfly stickers and parts of sticker sheets of butterflies in the post for Sandra. Second class so hopefully it will get there by the weekend. These are surplus to requirements, nobody could possibly use all the butterfly stickers that I have. :-D :-D

I think the important thing is to make Sandra concentrate on anything but trying to breath so giving her the mints helped. Anything to take her mind off it.