General Chat

Morning all,

Quite bright this morning and still a bit windy but its dry and thats the main thing. There is some blue sky and greyish white clouds and its 17 degrees wioth a cooling trend over the next three days according to the pc.

Nothing planned for today may do a bit in the garden will see how I feel as I still have abckache.

Your plants sound nice Anng and I'm sure you will be able to keep the little hosta ok.

That is a worry on several counts Vera re your garden fence painter. Not only about his well being but your paint or money as well. I hope you can eventually find out what is wrong.

Home on Monday Vera. Wondering what state my garden will be in as I know it has been as hot there as here.

Good evening all

At its hottest today the temperature got to about 25 degrees which was a lot cooler than the last few days. It’s also been overcast most of the day. I managed to get into the garden fairly early this morning and spent an hour out there before my back told me it had had enough. I did a little bit of weeding but it was a real job as the ground is so hard at the moment. The rest of the time I was deadheading or just generally tidying things up. Later this afternoon I went out and took a few cuttings of Argyranthemum which I’ve trimmed up and put in water to root. They usually do root OK but I seem to have lost my gardener’s green thumb this year and not much seems to be growing as well as it usually does.

You got a few nice plants at the garden centre today AnnG. You should be able to keep your blue mouse ears flourishing. I’ve had mine for a few years. It’s true that it isn’t as good this year but I think it could do with repotting and moving elsewhere in the garden. Your trip out yesterday sounded very pleasant as well. How long are you going to be at M.K?

Annx, the blinds and curtains you are going to put up will “dress” your windows and I am sure will look good. We only have blinds and I do keep thinking about curtains for the downstairs rooms, at least in the lounge and OH’s bedroom. It’s not so easy upstairs as some of the windows are set in alcoves formed by the sloping ceilings and there is no room either side of the window frame for a curtain to hang. They would have to hang right across the windows and even when the curtains were open they would take too much of the light.

Putting those cone shaped baskets into a large flower pot or a bucket while you work on them sounds a good idea Mandy. Barking dogs are a pain during the day but at night they sound so much louder. I hope you get a quieter night tonight.

We are very concerned about our handyman/fence painter. We are now convinced that something has happened to him or he would have been in touch somehow or other. Although we have had delays and problems with him, he has always let us know what is happening. We don’t know much about his family life but one of the delays we had with him earlier this year was when his mother-in-law died and he was her executor and had to deal with her affairs. If he had a mother-in-law he must have a wife but she isn’t responding to phone calls or his emails either. It’s all very worrying.

We had asked another chap if he would be interested in doing the job and he came and had a look yesterday. He had a shock when he saw how much fencing there was to do. He had done a couple of garden jobs for us before and I think he thought the only fencing was the bit round our garden but there is a length that goes down one side of the house and a length the other side that goes down the side of the house and behind the garage. Anyway he said he will do it but he might have to do it over a few sessions to fit round his other regular jobs. He is coming in next week to sort it all out and see when he can make a start. OH went out to his favourite big builder’s merchants this morning for the paint. They didn’t have what we wanted but are ordering it in for us and that’s another small problem. We had transferred some money to our original painter’s bank account as an upfront payment for the paint and he was getting it. This means, if he had already purchased it, he has our paint or, if not, he has our money but until we have contact with someone we can’t get hold of either. Well, we’ll worry about that at a later date.

Sleep well folks. “See” you all tomorrow.

Son and I went to the mall garden centre. They had an excellent display of plants and all at reasonable prices. It is a good job the I was constrained the thought of filling up son’s car. As it is I bought a small Heuchera to grow on, a small sedum that grows to. Eight inches, a larger sedum another aloe white, name escapes me and a blue mouse ears hosta. They had a really good selection of hostas but I had been wanting a mouse ears. They are expensive but this was a good sized one for £9.95. I just hope. I can keep it.

Afternoon All,

It's a bit cooler today here for a change, so I feel a bit more like doing things. Yesterday the blind man came and was a big, jolly chap and very helpful. He soon measured up for the ensuite blind and then sorted a swish type metal curtain rail for the bedroom instead of the poles we have and so the curtains being almost to the ceiling will cut out the light, heat and cold better. Also Mr O opposite's early morning security and headlight glare from his big van in the winter. I can attach an extra blackout lining to the heading tape on the curtains to block out the sun or cold even more if it works better. It is a bay window almost the length of the wall that the sun beats down on. He did suggest concertina blinds that fit inside each window frame that slide up and down and are very neat and effective, but they are fabric covered and having had some venetian blinds in the past that I was forever dusting I thought they would gather dust quickly in the same way. In here in the study He is putting a similar rail up so I can have curtains as well as the existing blinds making an improvement heat and coldwise in here too. MORE EXPENSE as Frank would say, but prices are going up so fast these days it will only get dearer the longer we leave it. I may make the curtains for in here as it is a small window.........or look in the sales!! :-D

OH has been for walk this morning and gone off to a local match this afternoon and I went to the shop and also picked up an entry form for the village show that was on their counter while I was there. :-)

Mel that's not a bad idea as I find it hard enough to remember things myself! I know I'm so lucky to still have him and am always mindful of that, but with my own brain being less reliable I have to keep my mind on what I'm doing and he's such a chatterbox and at just the worst times. :-D That was a quick visit from BIL then. Your veggies are doing well now. I have missed having the runners this year.

I hope you get to a garden centre this afternoon AnnG. The smaller ones tend to have some plants you don't see at the bigger ones, so you might find some to take home with you. That poor kitty with a tender mouth. I hope he's managing to eat ok, but it might be less painful for him now the teeth are out. That was a nice trip you had yesterday and I would have been interested in the Bon Marche and the glass beads!

Mandy a barking dog at night is annoying when you want to sleep. Windows are often open on hotter nights too. The old dog next door can hardly bark at all and makes a very strange sound, but he would bark till the neighbour got home if he was left even if it was for hours. I suppose he thought it was hearing his barking that would mean she came back. Similar to Mel I was going to say that when I had some of those cone baskets I put them in a large empty flowerpot to get them to stand up. Not much good though if theyare trailing over the sides a lot. How are you doing with the crocheted squares?

Vera that was a good idea to send the email. The poor man sounds overwhelmed with so much on his plate, but he will understand that you can't keep putting off the work getting done. It's odd you can't get hold of him, so I hope nothing has happened to him because he can't cope or has happened with his family. He may be behind with work for other people too and maybe not everyone has been as thoughtful and kind as you.

Good morning all. Not quite so hot and the sky is grey. Not gone anywhere this morning. Son has gone for the weekly shop, DiL gone to visit her Mum Granddaughter is still at her dog sit.

Just Grandson (on his PC) and me here at the moment.

Hopefully going to a small garden centre/nursery after lunch.

Its 24 degrees here now with a nice brisk wind thats very cool. BIL been and gone as he had a message about his car tyres so off he went without doing anything. He was going to stim the back field fence.

I think I said about hes bought another bit for the mower so he wanted to make some room in the garage for it but its ok as there is enough room.

Mandy if you have a large bucket you could stand your cone baskets in that to save Colin holding them for you. I used to do that when I was given the cone basket to make up for someone.

I have been deadheading on the patio plants and picked more long beans, the last few blueberries and fed the toms and cue which drinks an awful lot. still got three cues to pick and it now growing across all the tom plants. Found anothe catapilla on the leaves of the toms this morning too.

Morning Mel, morning all,

18 degrees here this morning and very overcast ,I think it should be cloudy all day ,it feels very muggy indoors even with windows and back door open .
Had a decent night's sleep woke at three for the loo then off to sleep again till about twenty to seven ,just stripped the bed so thats in the machine ,I need to hoover through and then do some more dead heading ,the hanging baskets need doing, I get Colin to lift them down so it's easier to do he has to hold them as they are the cone shaped baskets so don't stand on their own ,there's only the four on the gazebo to do.

Anng that sounded a lovely day out yesterday and treated to the new clothes too so can't be bad , hope senior cat is better today poor old thing will have a sore mouth .

Mel I expect bil has a job to do ,he is good doing all your mowing and helping .

Better drink my cuppa .

Morning all,

Quite a bright morning here but the sky is pale grey. Its 18 degrees and pc says partly sunny.

BIL said yesterday that he may come today but I don't know what for! He mowed yesterday so its not for that. He said something about working in the garage.I just have the shop to do this morning and then I am not sure what I am going to od.

Just had a COC as I was thirsty.

Annx you need to get a little slate and chalk and hang it by the door with all the things you need on it and when G comes to talk to you just ask him if he would first read out your check list for you. With all these scans and appointments you would think they would come up with some answer for G by now.

Done a bit of casting this afternoon and watered the toms and cue and looking in at the toms I saw a fat caterpillar on one disguising its self as an orange toms. I removed it and put it under the bird feeder and went back I found three more green caterpillars on the tom leaves so I better keep my eye out for any more as one has made a hole in a tomato.

Hello all

We are just back from a run out past Towcester. Firstly to an old dairy farm where there are a lot of small shops one of which is a jewellery and other crafty made shop. It is the third time I have been there and again bought a bead necklace. This one goes over my head but is not so long as the other two. It has glass beads in several coloured, red, black, white, dark green to name a few colours. It is genuine 1969s apparently. Sold on behalf if the two elderly ladies as the others were.
We had coffee and shortbread in the cafe there and son had his big breakfast which looked very nice.

Next we drove to a place called Bell plantation. Lots of shops round a garden centre. One of the shops is a large BonMarche which was good as I had a 20% voucher to use. Well I did use the voucher but since insisted on buying my stuff for my birthday so that was trousers (pull on 25 inch length), a pull on blouse top with long sleeves (autumn) and a T shirt. Thought of you Vera as they had a lot of 31 inch.

We looked round an antique shop next then went for lunch if a cold drink and a Brie and caramelised onion ciabatta. Then after a glimpse in the extremely hot garden centre we drove home for a much needed cup of tea for me and DiL has a hair appointment.

Senior cat is under the weather after having some teeth out yesterday.

Afternoon all,

Another lovely day, supposed to be a bit cooler but it's really hot out there ,we've been tidying up in front of the shed having a good sweep up as some of the pins from the old sheets on the shed had dropped down when the old sheets came off .
I also did a bit of dead heading and fed the toms and cues ,sat and had a nice coffee then didn't want to really get up again but I did eventually get going again .

Ann thats good it went OK for OH's appointment hopefully now after the xray and another MRI it will give them a clearer picture of what's going on and OH can have some treatment to help all this pain .
Oh it would be nice if you could do the painting course Ann ,Colins always saying has Ann done any paintings lately .

Vera thats the best thing sending an email to the chap ,covers you should he turn up after someone else has started the job , if the chap is very poorly you'd have thought he would have got someone to ring his customers to keep them I formed of what was happening about his jobs you can't keep waiting around jobs need doing before the winter arrives .

Mel I could never get on with one of those drainers for the dishes ,I just pile it all up on the drainer and wipe some up as I go along .

Oh three o'clock "everything stops for tea " now where have I heard that .

Morning Mel and All,

I was up early to go to a garden centre about 5 miles away. I slept well and it seems a bit cooler today, but more sun so it feels hotter than it says. I managed to quickly water the flower beds and pots and was just gathering what I wanted to take and dash off to be there for opening time when OH interrupted me, saying I should take his loyalty card and then started asking me various unimportant things. Blow me once I got to the garden centre I found I'd forgotten my purse, the magazine I wanted to read in the cafe and a pillowcase I wanted to match some wool to! Adding insult to injury he then phoned me to tell me I'd fotgotten my purse! Luckily I remembered the loose change I keep in the car and realised I had enough to get a coffee and at least buy a card I wanted. I was quite cross though as OH does this every time I go out when I am in the middle of sorting what I need to take with me, yet I never do it to him when he's still getting things together he needs to take when he goes out. :-( That's my grumpy moment for the day!

I'm waiting for the blind man to come and measure up for the blind in the ensuite now. All they could tell me was that it would be PM so I can't do much else till he's been. OH is on a Zoom call so I can't make any noise either.

My old Art teacher from the pandemic times has emailed me this morning about a 10 week course he is doing on Zoom from the end of next month. It has a variety of topics including still life and figure drawing so I am condsidering doing it as it might kick start me painting again. He has stopped doing the online ones with WEA since they changed the rules as have most of the teachers they had.

Better get changed out of my scruffs next and tidy the bedroom.

Good morning ladies

It’s another hot day after a very sticky, sleepless night. Goodness knows when we are going to get some rain but the 10 day forecast is saying none expected during that time.

Your OH’s appointment with the rheumatologist seems to have gone well Annx. It’s all moving in the right direction but it’s a shame that pain in the head has come back. Hopefully the medics can sort out some way of easing that for him.

We are having problems with our fence painter at the moment and are concerned that he may be ill again. I do feel sorry for him but this is the third time we’ve been left in limbo. The two previous times we gave him a lot of leeway and delayed other jobs till he could complete his work but this time we can’t even get hold of him to find out what is happening. His phone is never answered and it isn’t going to an answering machine and he isn’t responding to emails. We do fear the worst and feel guilty if we are harassing him but all the work round our house should have been completed by June and we need it done now before the autumn/winter weather sets in. So that there is something in writing, even if he doesn’t respond, OH has just emailed the chap to say that we are sorry but as we can’t get hold of him to discuss it we will be asking someone else to do the job. We’ve got a man who did a couple of hours work in the garden recently coming to give us a price for doing it. Nothing seems to have been straightforward this year.

I’m wondering what to do for the rest of the day now. I’ve done the essential jobs this morning, including some ironing that’s been sitting there for a while, but it’s now too hot for more h/w or for gardening. Think I’ll try and find something that I can do sitting in front of a fan.. Hope you all manage to stay cool and hydrated.

Just washed loads of pots and pond baskets that have been waiting for ages.

The thing I hate cleaning is the basket for draining the washing up. It always seems to take ages and dos'nt fit in the sink very well. When you wipe it over it always splashes evrything around it.

23 degrees here now and getting hotter by the minuet.

Morning girls,

Nice morning and its 16 degrees already. I think I saw BIL creep round as I got up and when I looked out of the bedroom window the long handled fork has gone from the trailer outside the bedroom window. Then I saw him disa[ear throguh the archway.
I wonder if he's picking up the stuff I left on the ground that I cut off the potting sheds.

Evening All,

Not quite as hot today thank goodness. We went for a coffee and bap at Costa in Next first thing. OH didn't have a good night as those pains in the side of his head that seemed to have eased lately were back. He took tablets and after a shower he felt better. He had his appointment with the NHS rheumatologist this afternoon which he said was good. No treatment yet as he wanted an up to date X-ray (done there and then) and has to wait for another MRI appointment first to compare with the last ones, so more waiting, but it's a step forward. He didn't have to wait around and was seen and back home quickly.

The knob came off my craft lamp earlier. I heard a tinkle noise and thought it must be on the desk or floor. Well I lifted the laptop, moved boxes, looked between folders, notepads, under the desk and on the floor,every where I could think of that it might have rolled, but no joy. The small stump the knob was on was really difficult to turn and I was thinking I'd have to do a better search tomorrow as I wrestled to turn it off, but standing to use more force, what should I see resting on the bottom of the magnifying glass on it but the small white knob!! I don't know why it came off as it feels really firm now it is back on.

Mel you are very lucky as that would be very light traffic here. We have a mile long queue through the village past our close at certain times now. When I retired there would hardly be any cars in the daytime.

We've seen a Pigeon going in the thick part of the Hawthorn tree and think there might be a nest there or they are using the Magpie nest. They seemed to lose interest a few weeks ago, but maybe they've decided it is a desirable residence after all!

Otherwise I've paid some bills and done other admin, sucked some of the spiders up with long legs thst just vanish if they spot you are after them and which seem to be everywhere just now.

Edit: just spotted you post Mandy! I can't face watering tonight so am doing it early in the morning. I'm not surprised you are tired after doing the shed with it having been so hot. I bet your tomatoes are loving the sun though! You will be able to freeze some sauces from them.

Evening all,

Phew another hot one and after all the sorting out of the shed roof I feel worn out , i have to admit to having a nap after lunch i was so tired ,I didn't sleep to well last night it was so hot and about four o'clock a dog started barking, that went on for about quarter of an hour and then another further down the road had to join in ,all went quiet then blow me five o'clock the little devil started up again , he's a little dog like a Jack Russell his name is Jasper and he's always getting out he takes himself off over the fields and comes home on his own people have told the dog warden and he's warned them but he's still roaming.
We did our shopping this morning and called into sons for a coffee ,bought them a nice lot of fruit and bought dil some flowers .

Ann thanks for passing on Anng's photos , the wild flowers looked lovely i especially like the cornflowers but there was a good assortment in the field they must have looked a picture in the sunshine .
I still haven't looked in our Rangs properly since it opened and I keep meaning to look upstairs at the craft stuff .

Mel could all that extra traffic have been people on holiday in the cars ,they are not use to the narrow little roads .

Well I'm off to water in a minute, it seems never ending but the flower's look nice and I'm now picking loads of tomatoes .
Think I'll get a drink and take out with me .

Morning all and what a morning it had been so far.

I had to get two labels and go up the post van before 11am and I had'nt done the parcels up so that was the first thing I had to do. Had trouble taking pics of the labels as it seems to come up different every time I try to so it. On the way to Shebbear I met 5 cars coming the other way so had to wait for them to come past then get into the village behind three very slow cars but managed to park near the post van. Could'nt get wifi inthe village to delete all the postage labels on the tablet but Dave showed me how to do it for when I got home by doing all the five I had on there in one go.

Set off for home and when I got to the last crossroad there was a huge tanker lorry opposit with two cars behind. I wanted to go straight ahead and he wanted to turn left but just as he was going another huge lorry came along from the left and wanted to turn left and he had another car behind him. Iv'e never in all the years I have lived here (33) had to give way to so many cars and lorries. Anyway the one opposit came towards me and the cars behind him came through and then the lorry was able to turn left into my road and the one behind him went straight on. The others moved and I was able to drive across the crossrad and then the tanker reversed back so he could turn left.

When I went out Ade was cutting more of the old tree up outside the wall and I had'nt spoken to him but did so on the way back. All this time there was that fine rain.

I am now going to post this and go and feed the girls and relax a bit. What a performance for a Thursday morning and I still have to go up the garden and get the rabbit trap out as theres something in it. Don't know what yet.

Good morning all. That was a very hot and sticky night. Full sun again this morning. Only plan is to go to MK central shops with son. DiL working and taking cat to the vet for his teeth, granddaughter is on a dog sitting job for three nights and grandson working from home.(son has day off, most of the week he has been working on his phone while doing other things.)