General Chat

Quite a good day, got 7 cards made. Then Cynth took me to the small nursery garden centre to take the last two bags of flower pots and seed trays for recycling. I have been told that they re-use a lot of them in the nursery which is great. I also bought some tulips and narcissus to plant in the box/trough that tomatoes grow in. The bulbs will be finished by the time the tomatoes need to go in so it makes double use of it. Slowly getting rid of rubbish from the shed.

good morning all and another month gone. November to me is the start of winter and the run up to Christmas ugh!!!

Vera hope all that chopping was worth it and that you enjoyed the stir fry.
That was good getting the eye appointment, hope all goes well with that. At least it will be out of the way and one less appointment to look forward to.

Mel, at least they are close subs. :-)

Morning all,

Dull dreary and raining but pc says rain to stop and 10 degrees but it feels cillier than that.

Shopping comes today and I have two subs one my tenderstream broccoli for tenderstream tips 20p difference in price and only 100grams instead of 160 grams and Walkers crisps multi pack instead of plain ones same price.

It’s been quite a nice day here though I don’t think it’s been as warm as at Mandy’s. There hasn’t been much sun and no wind to speak of but it’s been dry. I did 3 wash loads but they just hung there and were only slightly drier when I brought them in. I finished off some stuff with a short time in the dryer and the rest is hanging around the house. I’ve still got bedding and towels to wash. How can 2 people produce so much laundry?

OH thought he fancied a stir fry tonight so I’ve been cutting up veg and meat. I know it cooks quickly but it seems to take ages to prepare.

I didn’t get out to do anything in the garden today but OH spent an hour out there. The garden bin is full again and doesn’t get emptied till next week

I am overdue for an eye appointment at the hospital and today I got a phone call offering me an appointment tomorrow. I expect they had a cancellation and fitted me in. We did have plans to do a bit of shopping at Freeport (a retail outlet centre) and have lunch out but it’s more important to get my eyes looked at so I accepted the appointment. I think the doc will be pleased and I won’t need an injection. I certainly feel my eye problem has stabilised.

There’s an open bottle of wine in the fridge with my name on it so I think I will go and pour myself a glass. I’ll enjoy that before I need to start cooking :-)

Mandy I have roses ut onthe wall and my Albertine rose at the end of the decking should only flower once but it has flowers on it again now. Its planted on the north side of a wall with a fence on top so it get the sun from out the back. I have never seen it flower twice before and I hav'nt cut it back this year.

Phoned the waterboard again and they said they wiuld send someone down and that they would ring me the day they were coming to look at the new stopcock they put in. They seem to think its that thats not letting enough water through.

Afternoon all,

It's been a lovely sunny morning so we've been in the garden doing a bit of cutting back of the roses ,I meant to say the white rose in the front that only flowers once has three or four flowers on it ,I've never seen it flower twice .
It was really warm out so we sat out and had our coffee out there and you could feel the heat of the sun in fact it was so warm I took my jacket off ,hard to believe its late October.
We need to put the bin out this afternoon ready for the morning they are usually here about half six and usually wake us up with the lumping of the bins .

Hope you can get somewhere with the water board Mel ,it's a nuisance having to go all this time with the low pressure.

Done the post van and put the recylking out popped in the shop for my scripts.....not there yet.

Fed the girls and fish and put a coat of rubber on some new moulds.

Amended the Asda order and I am now going to ring the waterboard AGAIN.

Morning all,

Nice and bright here at the moment and it 10 degrees and pc says mostly cloudy and rain later. No change there then.

Need to go to the post van today and get on to the water board again as they have still left me with no water pressure and it driving me mad now having to wait so long to fill the water filter jug up etc. and I still can't use the shower.

Hav'nt done anymore int he garden over the weekend.

Must check the Asda order too so I better get on.

good morning all 11 degrees bright and dry. sort of slept ok but not as well as I would like. A few small jobs to do around the house and garden and I must walk down and post a birthday card to my 4th Grandson.Other than that I can make some more Christmas cards.

Vera you did very well yesterday, hope you slept ok last night too.

I was thinking the same as AnnG, Mel. I’ve had lamb shanks from Tesco and Sainsbury’s and squeeze everything in the pouch into an oven dish, put it in the oven and it cooks with plenty of gravy, usually flavoured with mint or red wine. Are the Asda ones different?

I didn’t sleep well last night so I was up early and as it was dry for once got on with jobs in the garden. I was out there for just under an hour but my back is paying for it now. OH spent a while out there later until it started bucketing down again. Goodness knows when I’ll get around to planting all the pots with bulbs but at least we are beginning to get the garden ready for winter at last.

We had roast loin of pork with stuffing, potatoes, parsnips, carrots and broccoli. The broccoli had 5 minutes in the microwave but all the rest went in the oven. I usually manage to cook a crumble or something like that in the oven at the same time but we had a cheesecake from Iceland today.

Finished my library book so I’m going to search the Libby app and see what I can borrow next. I don’t use many apps but Libby has been a boon.

Was there no liquid in with it Mel? I squeeze all the sauce stuff out onto the lamb and when it is finished cooking for 40 minutes at 180 there is a lot of sauce/gravy with it. Never had it stick.

O it raining here now and 11 degrees.

It was ok but it did'nt half stick to the baking tin I put it in and it was a bit dried up so I won't be buying that again. Its the first roast I have dne for ages but I enjoyed it and thats the main thing.

Em just came round as she got me some Tomato juice on her Tesco rder as I forgot to order it last week.

That is the way I cook the Tesco lamb shank Mel. If you do it in the microwave, because it is partly cooked you would be in danger of over cooking it. I have a feeling if it is not too big and you have a container that fits you might be able to cook it in the air frier.

O and I have cleaned out the big girls this morning and started making 5 moulds of small pork pies. fished leaves out of the pond and fed the fish and chickens.

I have bought myself a lamb shank from Adsa for today dinner as a treat and it says to cook it in the oven. I have always done them in the microwave and its in a big thick bag like the Morrisons ones. I have to put it in a dish and take off the packaging and cover it with foil and bake it for 46 mins.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I shall try it this way as I have 4 huge baked pots in ther and I am going to do roast parnips carrots and tatoes so filling the oven up.

Morning Anng and all,

Another bright sunny morning here with 10 degrees and wall to wall blue sky. I think this must be St Lukes little summer a bit late but I am not complaining.

Woke at 4.30am and heard a sound so lie there a while and listened. I think somehow a mouse has got in the channel the central heating pipes run in under the floor. Got up for the loo and then lay listening for quite a while and there was what seemed to be a tap on a window. Anyway I did drop off again and then woke at 8 am but had a lie in this morning as I have been up early all week with this water man thats supposed to be coming and the washing machine man. I know its good to see people but in your own time please?????

Got a parcel to do up today ready for the post tomorrow and I am working on something for someone who wants a pig on a roasting spit. I have made one but don't know if she will like it as it has its head cut off and its back trotters. Alos she wants some little pork pies so you know what I shall be up to today.

Hope Vera had another good nights sleep even if Anng and I did'nt.

Love to Ann and Mandy.

Good morning all, 7 degrees and a bit grey at 0745. I didn't sleep that well, just drifted off in fits and starts. I did remember to put all the clocks back. as T won a couple in golf tournaments there are several to do so it is good that the PC etc do themselves. It is nice to have it a bit lighter in the mornings but not looking forward to dark evenings and late afternoons.

that was a nice long post Mel, you were busy yesterday which is why your arm ached I expect, maybe give it a rest today.

I really need to get on with making my Christmas cards now so that is what I will be doing. Although I already have the bedding in the washing machine as I have changed the bed. and I have a couple of things I need to do in the garden so that will be my day gone.

We do still have a Nat West in town which is good but not sure how long for. I like it as the cash machines are inside and it feels safer to draw money from those. We have one in Cheltenham as well so one of them is bound to close soon.

BIL came this morning so we did the filter between us . The pond has really cleared since he put two new UV lights in it and he gets the mesh screen out of the box filter I can't reach so I can clean that. This morning poor Tangy fish who has been floating upside down for weeks had passed away as I could'nt see her gills working so I fished her out to be disposed of later and then BIL turned up so he got Crazey fish out from the bottom of the pond and he had pssed too so he took them both down the garde at the end of the back field and buried them for me. OH used to do that down there. I now have 11 nice healthy fish in the pond now.

Mandy it sounds like they are teaching Jake good things and I am so pleased about the extra money they gave him and those sausages will taste wonderful tonight because he made them. Is he enjoying it there? It sounds like they are nice people to work for.

Well BIL came back just now and I was so surprised but he had forgotten his kindle and likes to read before bed to send himself off to sleep. He said he's lost withut it.

Vera you did get on well today with all sorts of jobs, just shows what a good nights sleep does to you. I hope you have another one tonight.

Yes clocks back tonight and back into erly dark evenings and probably dreary wet days. Its been quite nice here today with a chilly breeze from the direction that was blowing all the leaves in the big pond so I have been fishing those out today.

I did a bit on the rockery utside the kitchen window yesterday, cut the box ball back into shape and chopped off all the geranium that grows along there so its looking a bit tidier now but I need to do the weeds on the road again underneath it.

My arm has been hurting a bit today with that sort of work so I have just taken some more painkillers.

BIL brought pasties in for lunch again today so |I only need a sandwich tonight and I bought some of the nice ham at the shop so thats what I shall have with a bit of salad.

Mandy I do online banking its so easy and yo9ucan see just whats gone in and gone ut so easily. but I understand you wanting to use the bank to keep it open. So many have closed locally herein Holsworthy we used to have 4 banks now theres only HSBC left. No Nat West in Bideford either or others. Its such a nuisance when you want to bank something but I do it in the post van now which is good.

Well I think I have bored you lot enough for today so will now go and do my sandwich.

Wish our Ann would pop in... <3

Not really done a lot. Put away the Tesco delivery and hopefully have contacted c services over two very short dates. Have to use either phone or what’s app so as I struggle with the phone I have used what’s app. Not heard back yet though. I also did some admin connected to the photography group and filled a large Bac
G with rubbish from the shed for the bin.