General Chat

I meant to say out of those lovely pictures Ann sent of the garden they visited yesterday my favorite has to be the waterlily. The reflection and the light on the water and petals is beautifull.

Just got up from the pc and its pouring with rain!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(

Afternoon all,

Nice and sunny here and feeling much warmer today .
The children went in the pool on Friday but haven't been in since as Colin has had a tummy bug so we told them not to come as i'm sure DIL and son wouldn't want that to go through the house .

Jane the new dog looks a nice little chap and i hope he settles in well with the other two dogs ,it's probably best not to know what sort of life he's had ,he's going to have a lovey home now with his new family :-D

Mel the baby black birds have really grown ,it's nice to see them changing every few days ,mum and dad will have their hands full feeding that lot .
The Pheasents like the sun !!
Looking forward to seeing the little Christmas tree when you've finished .

Sorry to hear you've had another rough night Frank ,to much spice maybe ?
Hope you are feeling better today for your meal with Simon and Sally .
It sounds like fun and games with the shower :-D didn't you have problems with it like that before were the water wouldn't urn off or did i dream that one up.

Vera your poor OH what a time he has had lately i hope today he is feeling a little better and can move a little easier ,lets hope they don't keep him waiting to long for the hospital appointment .

Hope the antibiotics are working for you Gill and the pain has eased now , you were both about early getting your washing out and OH getting the gate painted ,it's nice to get the jobs done so you have the rest of the day to please yourself with what you do.

Lovely photo's Ann ,i like the Cornflower and the Waterlily's
Get OH a camera Ann he'll be busy getting his own photo's he might leave you in peace to take your own :-D
It sounds like you both had a good plateful of food each :-D perhaps next time you could share one now you know how big the portions are :-D

AnnG poor OH not putting the suncream on and getting a bit of sun burn, how is his cough today ?

Right i must make a start on the birthday cake ,i'm not really in the mind for doing another one i get a bit anxious in case it doesn't work out right with the decorating of it but i said i would do it so i'd better get on with it .

We are now on our own here as daughter and son in law have gone up to Workington, they had papers to sign for the new house. They will then go to a rugby league match as Joe is club president then on this evening to Manchester airport to stay overnight for their flight to Turkey tomorrow.
We have been to the Docks museum cafe for lunch, I had scampi chips and peas and T had brunch, (sausages, bacon, chips and beans.) all good value at £5,75 each. We had a look round the museum afterwards. Barrow is such an interesting place. It is tempting to think it is just an industrial town but there were some fantastic ships built in the shipyard and it is interesting to note that in the 19th century the men came from all over to be ship builders, work in brick yards etc. So the heritage is of people from Cornwall, Scotland, Ireland and all over.
Downstairs in the museum there is a wildlife photography exhibition with some really excellent photos by various wildlife photographers of the year.
We then paid another visit to Tesco as we had run out of gin :-( :-( and needed tissues for OH. Then we called in to the Range where I bought some craft bits.

T’s cough is still with him. But seems a bit easier today and his face is just brown now. Last night daughter gave him a Sudafed tablet to ease the congestion and although that was a half dose it knocked him out for the night, in fact I got to the stage of being tempted to nudge him this morning to see if he was still breathing :-D

Frank, maybe you being sick was because you laid down very quickly after eating spicy food so you were not able to digest it properly.

Mandy hope the cake turns out ok as I am sure it will. Sorry Colin has a bug and hope that you don’t catch it.

Mel, can’t remember if I said that I love the photos of the little birds with mouths wide open. You are lucky to be able to get near to them

Gosh Gill that was an early start for you. Have you got bored yet with no jobs to do?

We wll want to see a pic Mandy. Have you still got the pic of the last one you made to give you and idea?

Oh yes Mel I thought one of the other girls might want a unicorn cake so I kept the photo just in case .

The cakes are in the oven now ,I just hope to goodness they turn out OK as I haven't made a sponge in this new oven since I've had it .

Afternoon all

I have read all the posts but, to be honest, I feel too shattered to respond right now.

At the moment.we seem to be taking one step forward and two back. Last night OH developed really severe stomach pains which just kept getting worse so at 3.30 am I called an ambulance. They arrived about 4.15 and spent an hour trying to sort out what was wrong. OH's blood pressure was sky high and his is usually on the low side. The pain was intense. In the ambulance the paramedic dosed OH up with morphine which helped the pain a great deal so his blood pressure started to come down. At the hospital the staff kept taking blood pressure and temperature readings and they were gradually coming down, they did all sorts of blood tests, scans, X-Rays etc. and the only thing they really discovered was that he had a urine infection so they have put him on anti-biotics for that. But, because of the level of pain, they are wondering if he might have a kidney stone or stones, so a kidney scan is being arranged. I hope he doesn't have to wait too long for that.

By mid-morning the pain had subsided considerably and his blood pressure was normal again so we were allowed home with instructions to call an ambulance if he went downhill again. I called our daughter and she drove to the hospital to collect us and drive us home.

He seems much more comfortable and cheerful now so I am hoping we are over the worst.

Neither of us has had any sleep and very little food so we are both very tired but we are trying to stay up till something like a reasonably normal bedtime.

Goodness Vera, it is just one thing after another isn’t it? Does he have to wait for a kidney scan if the hospital suspect a stone. Our son had that and it was really so painful the his PA called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital. I think he may have passed it in the end and was allowed home. I hope that he can get scanned quickly. That could also account for the nausea. You must go to bed wondering what next? I hope you can get a good sleep tonight. And do try to eat something.

Well I seem to have lost a long post :-S I cant go through all that again but see poor Vera Oh my goodness what a dreadful time you are having :-0. It must feel like it's never ending for your dear OH at the moment. I hope that you wont have to make another call for the ambulance .You will both feel like you have been through the wringer many times :-(

I love the pics Mel and Ann :-D. Those Pheasants looked in heaven there basking in the sun. I too loved the Waterlily pic Ann. What a beautiful garden .
Frank, did you eat many food with yellow colouring in for your Chinese? I think they are the ones with lots of MSGs in which may well have upset your tum.

This humid weather is playing havoc wit hmy hip today. I have hardly been able to hobble. I have often thought hot and humid weather makes the pain worse.

Janice's dog ..... is a mixed breed but Bassett Griffon x Duck Toller Retriever!!!. I think Larry wants to have his DNA done at some point just to see exactly what mix he is.
James should have been home ages ago from Canterbury ,but no word .I always start getting a bit on edge when he is this late . I am hoping it is just heavy traffic and that he is unable to ring beause he is in the car. Dinner is almost ready too :-S

Oh Vera I'm so sorry to hear about your OH, I know how painful kidney stones can be as Sandra had them a few years ago, I've never seen her in so much pain, she eventually passed them herself, but it took a while. I hope he's starting to feel a little better now the pain has eased a bit. You must be wondering "What next?" I really hope things improve for him soon, he must be so fed up of it all now. Sending Get Well Wishes from Sandra and I.

How did the cakes turn out Mandy in your new oven, I remember the first one I made in my new oven didn't work, I got the timings wrong but I soon sorted it out and have lovely cakes now. I hope they turned out okay for you. That was a good idea to keep the photo of the last one you made, it'll be easier to do now you have a picture to follow. Sorry to hear Colin has a tummy bug, I hope he feels better soon and everyone can go in the pool again, good idea to keep the children away for now, the last thing they need is the bug going around the family.

How are you feeling now Frank, maybe it was the spicy food you ate. So you'll be having a new shower soon, at least you'll know when it's coming on and going off then. OH painted the gate in a cream colour to match the bungalow, it's right at the side of the bungalow so looks good being the same colour. It's a good job he did it so early this morning as we've had some rain this afternoon. Luckily the paint had dried by then and I think the sealant I did yesterday has dried to, as that wasn't effected by the rain either. Yes, Sandra was taught to say thank you for anything she received and then she decided herself to send the thank you cards. Like I always say to Sandra "Manner cost nothing"

It sounds like you've had another lovely day out AnnG, sorry to hear your OH has still got his cough, I hope it clears soon for him. No I'm not bored yet lol, to be honest I fell asleep for a couple of hours, probably because I was up so early and I've been taking another look at OH's family tree this afternoon, so that's kept me busy. Sandra brought the washing in for me while I was asleep, which I'm grateful for with having a bit of rain this afternoon.......she's ever so good.

Evening All,

What a torrid time for your hubby and you Vera, but thank goodness you managed to get home before these other things happened. A work pal I keep in touch with had kidney stone and she said it was the worst pain she'd ever had so no wonder his BP was up if that's what it was! I hope he is ok now and that you both get a good night's sleep.

Frank, I hope you feel ok now. Maybe it was eating something spicy and later than usual and laying down too soon after that did it. It sounds like you have a plan with the shower so that's good.

The friend I just mentioned who had the kidney stone has a Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen Jane. I had to ask her to repeat it when she first told me! lol I expect that is where Janice's new dog gets his shorter legs from. For what it's worth, she was so pleased with her 'Billy' as he has a lovely temperament and is no trouble at all. I hope James is back by now. I know with OH travelling long distances in the past it could be worrying when he was very late.

We have been to another open garden today at Earl Shilton. The owner gave us chapter and verse on the history of the place as soon as we got out of our car, which was ok except he was that long my knees started aching and I thought I'd have to go and sit in the car instead of go around his garden! :-S OH noticed me shuffling about and started moving off which finally shut him up! We really didn't need to know all about people building on his land and access for other properties having to be made elsewhere.!!! :-( The garden was very nice with curving borders which I like and on a bit of a slope. The outer edge had tall mature trees with a pathway all along it and shrubs and trees on the inner side of the path next to the main garden, so it was like walking between shrubs and trees all around the outside edge, with little openings to the main garden here and there.

Mandy I hoped the new oven behaved with baking the cake and it turned out ok......I bet you were watching it through the door! Good idea to keep the photo of the previous one as I'm sure the girls will be looking to see if it's just the same! I hope Colin is feeling ok now and yes your DIL wouldn't want any bugs passing on! A few years ago I gave OH my old (easy to use!) camera,so he could take photos too and he did take a few on one holiday. I don't think he was that interested though and would forget to bring it or charge the batteries. I think you need more patience than he has for photography but don't tell him I said that!! lol.

Well the sponge cakes turned out ok but since then i've decided not to do the cake ,Colin still has the tummy bug and i've been washing my hands and disinfecting door handles and any thing else he has touched and don't feel i should make a cake with a bug in the house so i rang DIL and she's going to buy a cake for her instead ,i would hate to think we had passed this bug on to anyone .

Oh Vera your poor OH what a time he is having and such a worry for you too ,i do hope he doesn't have to wait to long for them to see him and they can find out quickly if it is a stone and then do what ever needs doing .
I hope tonight is a better night for you both you must both be so tired .

Oh no Ann i hate it when you get pounced on like that you just want to get away and look round with chapter and verse .

I do feel for you two Vera. It must be awful to be in such pain and scary for you too. I hope B is a lot better now and has some pain relief and you both get a good nights sleep tonight. As the others have said its just one thing after another for you at the moment.

Poor Colin having a tummy bug. Its best for you to not make the cake while there is this sort of thing in the house no matter how careful you are its best to be on the safe side and let DIL buy a cake. Glad it turned out alright though so you will know for next time you have to bake one it will be ok. How many l;ayers do you cook for the unicorn cake?

I hav'nt done a thing today except the big breakfast but have just slobbed about. Its been a really dreary day all day even after the rain its been dark.

I did put the recycling out and took a pic of the scarecrows while I was up there.

Morning all

A bit of a damp day here so it looks like the rain we had yesterday stayed overnight. It's stopped now so we may have the sun back later if these clouds disappear.

How is your OH Vera? I hope you both had a good nights sleep and he's feeling a little better today. Sandra had to take some medicine for her stones, it was a while ago so I can't remember the name of it, but it broke them down a bit so she could pass them herself. My poor mum had to have them lasered so it was more painful for her. Either way there is something that can be done, so hopefully if that's what it is it'll be sorted soon for him. I hope he doesn't have anymore problems and recovers quickly.

So you're not making the cake now then Mandy, good idea for DIL to buy one, it's better to be safe than sorry. Are you going to eat the cake, it seems a shame not to, now it's made? I hope your OH is feeling a bit better today.

Your day out sounds like a lovely place Ann, pity about the chatty man though. If he wants people to know the history he should make up a booklet for people to pick up and read themselves. I love curved borders to and the edges sounded really good where you could pop out to the main garden in different places. Pity your OH doesn't take his own photo's, it would leave you to take your's then.

How is your hip today Jane? I didn't realise humid weather could play it up. Not long now to your op then you'll be skipping through the daisies in no time lol :-D :-D :-D Did James make it home okay last night? I should think they'd be a lot of traffic around this time of year as people go away or return home, so lots of traffic jams everywhere.

It sounds like you had an interesting day out AnnG and your meal was a good price. How is your OH's cough today, they can linger sometimes, which ends up being more annoying than anything, especially if it keeps him awake at night. I hope it's eased off for him now.

Did you have a nice time out yesterday Frank? How are you getting on finding a new shower, have you found one yet?

I'd love to see a picture of the scarecrow Mel. I had a lay in this morning and didn't wake up until 8am. OH brought my antibiotic to me at 6am as he was up, but thankfully I fell back to sleep. I must remember the time I take these tablets as I took the last one for yesterday two hours earlier than I should of done by mistake. So I'm making a note of the times today, I don't want to be doing that again.

Morning Gill and all and Happy Midsummers Day,

Dull old day here again today but its dry so thats not too bad. Looked out the bedroom window this morning and there was a Bullfinch on the weeds round by the workshop garage. By the time I had walked through the bungalow for my camera and got it set up to get a pic he was'nt in the right postion but I took a couple of pics and he then flew off with a beak full of weed seeds.

Hope all the aches and pains are better this morning for those not well and that Colin's tummy bug has now gone too. My fingers are acheing again this morning but my toes feel better.

Don't think I shall see Di today and I don't know what she is doing or if she is working.

Shall send a couple of pics now.

Morning all,

My goodness it's so muggy here ,just moving makes you hot ,poor Colin was up twice in thefor a trip to the loo ,I nipped out early to Tesco to get some Imodiem, he's had two tablets and hopefully they will help.

Hope you've both had a better night Vera and OH is in less pain .

Frank I hope you had a good night and you all enjoyed your meal yesterday.

Mel I'd love to see the scarecrows too.

Gill I usually write on the box the time I have the tablets that way you don't get muddled up , do you think they should
are helping ?
I only made the sponges yesterday I didn't do any icing so we have two plain sponges to eat .
Mel I usually do three layers of sponge for the cake ,I make the four and we usually eat the one I don't need.

Right coffee time for me ,water for Colin .

Good morning all

I just wanted to come on the thread quickly this morning to wish Jane all the best for her op, and Gill’s OH as well, as it might be a day or two before I get back.

OH is not at all well. The pain has subsided but he was quite sick in the night and generally feels very ill. We are waiting on a home visit from one of the docs at our surgery. They have said it will probably be between 12.30 and 2 pm. I don’t think anyone is convinced by the possible kidney stone theory but no-one can pinpoint what else it can be.

May be back later. If not, will see you all in a couple of days.

Will be thinking of you Jane <3

Good morning to you all,

Oh what a horrid time you are having Vera, I do hope they find the trouble with OH. I had kidney stones some years ago. I had to go and have them BLASTED with sound rays or something. The pain was terrible, but the two chaps just laughed when I tried to move away from the machine. They were both Liverpool supporters, and I mentioned I was A West Ham supporter. That's all they needed. !!! It was all taken in good humour,even though it hurt like mad.

Not long now Jane and it will al be over. Good luck to Fitz. and my love to you. I hope everything goes to plan. Just do as you are told, and I'm sure you will be fine. xxx

Mel, those photo's are lovely. Did you make both Scarecrows ?? The blackbird babies are certainly growing day by day.The Pheasants certainly love sun bathing. Do you every shoot one for dinner.?? or do you just treat them as pets.

Mandy, I hope Colin's tummy has improved this morning.I find Imodium does the trick for me also. How did your SPONGES turn out. I can'r remember last time Ros made a Victoria Sponge. She has bought a Scone mix, and a pot of clotted cream, when she will make them I don't know. ;-) ;-)

Yes Ann it might be a good idea to get Gordon a camera of his own, he might JUST get interested enough to wonder off on his own and leave you to enjoy your photo shoots :-| :-| :-|

We had a lovely afternoon with Simon and Sally. We arrived andtheywere sitting outside in the fine weather. We joined them, and had a drink. The waiter came and took our orders, and called us when the table was ready. We had RUSTIC bread and three plates of Olives to start, followed by Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Roasts and Veg. Poor Ros cut into one of her potato's and it had a BIG BLACK streak running through it. The waiter soon replaced it with many apologies. It was nothing to do with the Kitchen, they can't see inside a potato. ;-) ;-) ;-)

I told you we put two palms, in big pots, on the tree stumps in the front garden.Well this morning, we noticed the posts are full of WEEDS. They must have been in the Compost, which I don't think could have been very good quality. So Ros is out there weeding, before Barry comes tomorrow. With all this rain and sunshine the gardens have grown out of control. So I can see MADAM taking drastic action, and refilling the green bin once it is emptied tomorrow. !!!

I hope you all received the Video and photo's of WINSTON and FLORENCE. They do look very cute. Don't they. I am sure Sandra will enjoy seeing them. xxx

Spots of rain in the air, as is A RED KITE, it keeps swooping over on the thermals and the Rooks and Crows keep chasing it away. Quite funny to watch.

Would you believe that the shower is working perfectly well again. I went in yesterday and pulled the RIPCORD. It didn't come on, so pushed the start/stop button and on came the shower. I tried it three times, and it worked every time. GREMLINS in the system. So no new shower YET.

I see now it's afternoon, so I had better start to sort out what we will eat tonight. BE GOOD or BE CAREFUL as my Mother use to say !!! :-D :-D :-D

O Frank arn't they just lovely and I love the video and its a nice long one. could'nt you just give them a nice squeeze. Such a lovely colour too.

I'm so sorry to hear your OH is still unwell Vera, I hope the doctor can pinpoint what the problem is and help him, it must be getting him down now and it can't be easy for you to watch either. Sending get well wishes from Sandra and I <3 and hope he has a speedy recovery. Thanks for the best wishes for OH's op, I'll pass it onto him later. He's gone to see his friend today, as he won't be able to get out and about for a while after his op.

Sending get well wishes to Colin to Mandy <3 I hope the Imodium works quickly for him. I find the Instant ones work well when my tummy is playing up. Good idea to drink plenty of water or he'll be dehydrated otherwise. Wishing him a speedy recovery to.

Sandra's still laughing at the kitten's Frank, thank you for sending them. Was that Florence chasing Winston? I think you said the smaller one was Florence, or have I got them the wrong way around? Like Mel said it was a good long video, Sandra watched it twice and said our cats used to do that. I've been doing a bit of weeding in the back garden today to, this changeable weather is bringing lots of weeds out. I added a bit of compost to my conifer tree I have in a pot and noticed a few shoots of grass growing, so it must of been in the compost I added like you with the weed seeds. I just keep pulling it out when it grows so it doesn't take over the pot, but it is annoying when that happens isn't it? Pleased to see your shower is working okay now, let's hope it stays that way. Do you think it might of been the pull cord, maybe that just needs changing?

I think I'm getting some cones growing on my conifers I planted at the bottom of the garden 11 years ago, I wondered what they were as they are only small round things at the moment, so I assume they are cones. Time will tell though.

Thanks for sending the pictures of the Blackbirds Mel, Sandra asks about them every day and said they look more like birds now they have some feathers. She's loving watching them grow and change day by day. She loved the scarecrow to and said he looked like FATHER CHRISTMAS with his white hair and beard. Did you make both of the scarecrows, or is the other one the one that was already there?

I think I've found another tree match for a woman I've just added to OH's tree, so I've messaged her, hopefully she'll be able to guide me in the right direction as to who she married as I can't seem to find a marriage for her, unless of course she never married. I can't seem to find her in the 1901 census or beyond, so I assumed she'd married by then. Thinking about it she may of passed away, I know some people died quite young back then, so I might go and see if I can find a death record for her.