General Chat

Evening all

It's been raining all day, but only the fine rain, so the bigger pots haven't had enough water.

OH was okay in work yesterday and is also in all over the weekend. The boss had a chat with him to make sure he was alright, she told him he's not to go anywhere near anyone who has the virus, which at the moment is one person. They had three in total, but sadly two passed away while OH was off. The staff that were looking after the ill ones have been sent home for 7 days isolation. Luckily they have an area in work they can put anyone who has the virus to isolate them from the others and there is a separate way in and out of that section for the staff, so no one comes into contact with anyone else. Knowing that has put OH's mind at rest and mine to.

Sorry to hear you've got a bad tum Mandy, I hope you feel better soon. Good idea to move the smoke alarm to an easier place so Colin can reach it, you don't want him falling off the ladders down the stairs.

Pleased to see you managed to get a shopping slot Vera, so you have a couple now to tide you over.

Thanks AnnG for letting me know how I can use some of my tuna. I remembered a sort of recipe I did years ago where you mix the tuna with a tin of baked beans in a pan add some herbs put it in a small tin cover it with cheese and pop it under the grill, it's really nice and quiet filling to, so I might make that again. I like it with some chips, but could have it with potatoes or rice.

Good you didn't do your lawns today Frank, give your back a rest, the lawns can be done when you feel up to it. The rain will do the lawns good to. Ours was starting to go brown with the lack of rain, but thankfully it's greening up now.

I hope your order is there to pick up Ann, maybe they were just to busy to send the email to confirm it.

No I didn't get any further with my family tree Mel, I'm thinking of leaving this section and moving onto someone else soon, if I can't find what I'm looking for. Did you do any crafting today, now you've seen things on Pinterest?

Well we are full to capacity in the fridge and freezer now and it took me an hour to wipe everything and for us to get it all squirrelled away. I didn't get the seeds I wanted apart from some Night Scented stock. I'm exhausted now and enjoying a cuppa. We were impressed with Asda though and the chaps who wheeled our groceries out were so cheerful and friendly and giving us the thumbs up as we drove off. Even at this time people were queuing round the outside of the store waiting to go in.

Because I haven't been outside of the front for over a week I hadn't realised I'd forgotten all about watering the wall pots and those little Violas are beyond reviving.

It looks like OH has another hernia the opposite side to the repaired one he had done years ago. He will just have to be very careful now as it is small and he won't want to be going anywhere near a hospital at present!

O dear I hope it dos'nt get any bigger Ann. I was thinking of you today when I drove into the Grardens as the wild garlic is blooming in the front. I must dig some up and send it to you or I may just collect someseeds for you. Shall have to see how deep it is rooted.

Gill plod on with your tree you're doing very well. It dos'nt sound good if the two people died in the home oh works in so I hope he is safe and has to wear all the protective clothes. He is a real hero I think. Give him my kind regards he's doing a wonderful job and a BIG clap to him.

I did finish some crafts today so now I just have to fet them packed up and sent if I can get up early enough to get to the post van in the village.

Good you got your cick and collect Ann and is'nt it a job to wipe everything down. It seems to takae me forever and I get fed up with it after a while.

It stayed dry here all day bt was cloudy with a cold breeze. Cold enough to have to put a coat on to go outside.

No Jane today?? Hoe she is ok and sending lots of love. <3 <3 <3

Poem I think by Pam Ayres
Pam Ayers has been at it again. I think she wrote this for all the oldish girls out there.
This needs to be read. So true and funny.??????

I'm normally a social girl
I love to meet my mates
But lately with the virus here
We can't go out the gates.
You see, we are the 'oldies' now
We need to stay inside
If they haven't seen us for a while
They'll think we've upped and died.
They'll never know the things we did
Before we got this old
There wasn't any Facebook
So not everything was told.
We may seem sweet old ladies
Who would never be uncouth
But we grew up in the 60s -
If you only knew the truth!
There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll
The pill and miniskirts
We smoked, we drank, we partied
And were quite outrageous flirts.
Then we settled down, got married
And turned into someone's mum,
Somebody's wife, then nana,
Who on earth did we become?
We didn't mind the change of pace
Because our lives were full
But to bury us before we're dead
Is like a red rag to a bull!
So here you find me stuck inside
For 4 weeks, maybe more
I finally found myself again
Then I had to close the door!
It didnt really bother me
I'd while away the hour
I'd bake for all the family
But I've got no flaming flour!
Now Netflix is just wonderful
I like a gutsy thriller
I'm swooning over Idris
Or some random sexy killer.
At least I've got a stash of booze
For when I'm being idle
There's wine and whiskey, even gin
If I'm feeling suicidal!
So let's all drink to lockdown
To recovery and health
And hope this awful virus
Doesn't decimate our wealth.
We'll all get through the crisis
And be back to join our mates
Just hoping I'm not far too wide
To fit through the flaming gates

Morning Anng and all,

Ha ha used to love Pam Ayres poems so true to life. Thats great.

Cloudy here again this mroning but there is blue bits inbeteen the cloud out the back to the south, the fronts just grey.

If it not too windy its chicken clean out day today. They need it .

All the trees here are getting their leaves now and the apple trees in the orchard have some blossom out already on the south facing sides. The Beauty Of Bath is always the first but there is also a Bramley doing it.

Our apple tree has blossom on it Mel (Good morning). The sun is shining but there is a strong breeze which is bringing all the blessed slossom down on our plants, it is in the garden at the end of ours and we get more of the blossom and leaves than they do because of the way they had it pruned.

Our son has got me another slot for 9 May which is just under two weeks after the one we have on 27 April

Gill your OH is certainly one of the heroes we clap for. I hope he manages to continue to stay safe which he should do as it sounds as if they have the isolation under control. Have any of the staff had the virus yet?

Annx So plenty of food for a while now. I was surprised that son got us a slot so quickly so it must have eased off a bit as long as you can stay up until midnight.

Hope your OH's hernia behaves itself. My OH has had one now for about 10 years, he saw the hospital consultant who said they didn't always believe in operating and to go back to his GP if concerned. He does mention it occasionally but it doesn't seem to occur to him that he really should not be lifting heavy pots (despite his age).

Mandy hope you feel better today.
frank hope your back pain has eased and now is not the time to cut the other lawn.

Jane hope you are ok <3 <3

I have prepared the meal for tonight, it is in the slow cooker, stewing steak, mushrooms, butternut squash, carrots and onions with gravy made with tomato puree from our tomatoes, which was in the freezer. I have also prepared french beans, asparagus and carrots and will have Aunt Bessie's potatoes with it.

You have to be a fan of Dolly Parton to get this. Seen on FB.

Anyone getting to the point where it would be Ok if Jolene came and took your man? :-D :-D :-D

Sun came out after I posted this morning and I have Had a bit of a sweep up out the front of the bungalow. So much muck comes down the road during the winter and off the car which is parked out there.

Bantams were making a noise earlier so I went down to see what was going on and looked in the nest box and there were two little eggs, one cold and one warm so they have started to lay again this year. Well one of them has I think the other two are a bit too old now to lay.

I can't see it as I don't go on facebook.

what can't you see mel. I just posted the line that I saw on Facebook, I didn't suggest anyone looked on there for anything.

It’s a much better day than yesterday which was grey and a bit showery and not very warm. It’s sunny and not too cold though it’s very breezy.

Yippee, my kitchen’s spring clean is finished at last. We got the last couple of cupboards cleared out and washed and then I took out everything from a wooden corner cupboard and shelf unit that was part of the dining room furniture in our old house. The cupboard has all our “good” glasses and the shelves hold some china pieces that were my mum’s. I gave it all a very careful hand wash before it went back. While I was doing that OH washed the skirting, the doors and the window frames and cleaned the windows. Then everything, microwave, bread bin, soup maker etc. came off the surfaces and had a good clean, kettle descaled and so on and on and on... What a marathon it turned out to be! Now I have to decide whether to tackle the conservatory or the utility room next.

I hope you’re feeling better now Mandy. When your insides aren’t working well it can make you feel rotten. I have prunes every morning for breakfast and I understand pears and grapes are good as well.

I hope your back is easier as well Frank. Don’t go overdoing it and setting it off again, and these husbands with hernias must be careful with lifting. If they are anything like my OH they’ll act first and think about it afterwards, but they need to think first.

How are you Jane? Was it today you had to have blood tests?

Gill, it sounds as though the Home where your OH works has thought about how to handle the virus and has got good systems in place. You must feel a bit easier in your mind now.

I am glad your Click and Collect order was ready for you Ann. Doesn’t it take an age to wipe things down and put them away?

For both Anns and anyone else who reheats rice: please be very careful. Rice is a well known cause of food poisoning. It contains a bacterium that multiplies when the rice is warm, so if you want to reheat it you should cool it quickly after the first cooking. When I had to do a food hygiene course many moons ago the advice was never to reheat rice but I think it’s been updated now. The NHS site has some information about it.

AnnG, thanks for posting the Pam Ayers ditty. She may not be the greatest poet in the world but she always makes me smile and she somehow hits the nail right on the head. There are times I’d even take my OH to Jolene but he was so good at washing paintwork and windows yesterday that I think I’ll Stand By My Man.

One of our coffee group is 80 tomorrow and doesn’t live far from me so I am going to get my exercise by walking round to her house and popping a card on her doorstep. It’s a bit like playing Knock Down Ginger as I’ll ring the bell and run away. I think I’ll go and do that now while it’s still sunny.

So Vera is all nice and clean and tidy and now going out to play knock down ginger. My grandad used to tell me the things they did when young and one was nockk down ginger and another one was they would tie string to a knocker one side of the street and the other end to a knocker on the other side of the street knock one and run away.

My friend Jane and I tied a penny to a piece of string and up to her bedroom window which was in the front of the house. Just at her gatepost we would put the penny over the hinge so it dropped between gate and gate post. Up to her bedroom and grab the end of the string which ws through the window and wait for some one to walk past. As they went by we would drop the penny and laugh when they looked everywhere for it. It backfired one day when someone saw the penny and walked off with it string and all.

I can remember often finding money in the street but nowadays it is only a penny or two I seem to find. Found a fiver twice once on the same day.

Afternoon all

Lovely and sunny here today, I've sat outside a few times drinking my cuppa's, I put the waterfall on and it sounds lovely with the birds singing in the background. So different from the cold wet day we had yesterday.

Thanks everyone for your support, OH's temperature was up yesterday, but so was everyone else's so nothing to worry about, the reason they were hot was because the home put the heating up. One of the first questions I ask OH when he comes home is what his temperature was, silly I know but this virus is on my mind a lot when he's at work.

None of the staff have the virus and no other residents have got it either, so hopefully the home will be virus free from now on. They still don't know how it got into the home though. The mattress's and bedding have all gone and the isolation area has had a good deep clean, so that's good. The third person to have the virus only has mild symptoms and is on the mend. They are going to keep him separate from everyone else for now incase he gets it again, better to be safe than sorry.

You must both feel great now the kitchen cupboards are all clean Vera, it was a big job wasn't it. I'd have a nice rest before you tackle the utility or conservatory, at least the weather has improved so you can sit outside and relax.

Love the poem AnnG, I noticed you'd put it on another thread, that's where I saw it first, it made me laugh, I love Pam Ayres she is so funny, I've got a book of her poems somewhere, bought for me years ago for Christmas.

How are you feeling today Mandy? I hope your tum is on the mend.

Yes, I was wondering how Jane was, I hope she's on here soon.

How is your back today Frank, did you do your lawn in the end or rest up until your back is okay to manage the job?

So you got your shopping okay then Ann, that's good. Not so good when you get home and have to wipe it and put it away though. At least you are well stocked up now so won't go hungry. Hope your OH's hernia doesn't get any worse, I'll keep my fingers crossed it doesn't, like you said the hospital is the last place he'd want to go to right now.

Did you make it to the post van Mel. How lovely your girls are laying again. I've noticed some blossom around on apples trees in the neighbours garden's. We cut our big apple tree down a few years ago, but do have a small one in a pot which is starting to flower. I have just enough off that one to bake a couple of apple pies.

Going to have a drink now then watch a programme I've recorded for myself on the Royal family, OH doesn't like those kind of programmes so I want to watch it before he's home from work, we can both watch something he likes then.

The post van dos'nt come over the weekend Gill oly in the week for a couple of hours and if I get up late I miss it. I hav'nt parceled it up yet anyway.

I am going out in the garden now to do a bit more and have a look and see if any seeds have come up. I am not holding much hope for what I sowed in there last week.

I must sow some short beans in a pot again this year as oh likes my one but not shop bought ones!! I pick when they are small and skinny.

Have put more on the asda rder for this week and some seeds too so we will see what we get this week. Last week I only got one packet of poppy seeds. This week I have runners, cues, and gardener delight toms on it.

Evening All
I have had a couple of rubbish days hence me nt being around. But I am ok.
I had no sleep at all last night dur to a very painful shoulder.Chris thinks it is an inflamed ligament probably due t othe way I have been doing my cross stitching. So I am giving that a rest for now.
I went back to bed for a couple of hours this morning after `i came back from the hospital for my bloods.But now I feel ready to get back into bed. Lazy or what LOL

I hopefully will be back again tomorrow :-D. Havent read any posts I am afraid .

Don't worry about commenting on the post Jane you just rest and we will be glad to see you on here tomorrow when you feel better.

I have been out in the garden all afternoon. Swept a bit more of the front and then was watching the solitary bees at the bug hotel and decided to make them more flats to move into. I cut up all the dead hollow stems I could find and put them in a flower pot and put it next to where the other one is. Its not at all elegant but I hope they like it. They keep trying to get in some hole in the ends of my shed doors and end up in the shed and can't get out. I have to keep catching them in my bee trap that I can open outside and let them go.

Iv'e come in now for a cuppa and a scone.

Evening All,

What a nice day even if a bit breezy at times. We were able to go to the 'Garden Restaurant' for our lunch today, a nice chicken, leek and ham pie with broc, cabbage, carrots, green beans and a root mash and gravy.

Oh yes Mel, I love the wild garlic down your way. I shall miss seeing it in Cornwall in May, also the banks of wild flowers and the bluebells. Some seeds to sow would be great.......thank you! :-) I meant to say that I think the Polygala shrub would be ok in dry soil. Mine on the front is in a sandy patch from sand the builder used for the drive and we hardly ever water where it is. The one round the back is on the slope at the side of the waterfall and is in full sun so it gets dry there.

I have planted the night scented stock, some radish and some other sweet peas that are old so not much hope with those. I've also planted 2 alpines I still had in pots. I thought they had died but now they are shooting. I had old plastic milk containers in the greenhouse that I fill to water the wall pots and they had perished so I have filled a humper with them and other old plastic things for the recyling, so that made some space. OH took the shredder in the garage and shredded some of his old papers in there.

I knew you had to be careful about rice Vera, but the sachets of cooked rice you reheat should be ok. I tend to heat things to really piping hot and add a minute to the ready meal times too. I can't say I've ever reheated rice I cook myself, but if I did it would be cooled very quickly in the fridge and used the next day.

Better go.....the virtual concert is about to start!

Evening all,

Much better day here with lots of nice sunshine but still a bit chilly with the wind blowing ,we've had a really lazy day i did make a Shepherds pie and there's enough left for tomorrow .

I had a much better nights sleep and tummy has settled ok now thanks .

Vera you are having a good spring clean in your kitchen it's a nice feeling when you can look around and think well that's all nice and clean now .
I'd have a day of rest and then you'll be ready to start again on the next room plus your making me feel right lazy for not getting going with mine :-D

So your all stocked up again now then Ann ,i have my shopping to do tomorrow with all the wiping when i get home .
Yes OH must be careful now with the hernia he doesn't want to be having to go any where near the hospital with the virus about .
Your poor little Violas it's easy to forget them ,i did water my pots out the front the other day when we went out to do the rose and they were so dry ,most of them have Hostas in and i can now see them beginning to come through .

Mel we've been looking the trees and watching them turn a lovely green .
Did you get the girls cleaned out or was it to windy today.

AnnG i love the Pam Ayres poem :-D it's a really good one
There's been once or twice just lately when i would have willingly let Jolene "come and take my man " :-D

Gill that's good they are looking after OH at work and it must have put his mind at rest knowing he doesn't have to go any where near the poor chap who is poorly with the virus .
I meant to say that Crafting programme with Kirsty starts tomorrow ,i'm looking forward to watching it ,it's filmed at her home .

Hope you can get a good nights sleep tonight Jane you must be so tired with no sleep last night and then having to go out to get your bloods done .

No Frank today? i hope he hasn't knocked his self up trying to cut the lawn .

mandy no I did'nt do the big girls in the end as I got side tracked with sweeping in front of the bungalow. Its such a big space I have to do it in stages and the moss was coming up fine after that little rain we had the other night. They will be as dirty tomorrow as they were today and the nests are clean anyway so no dirty eggs. With it being dry they do spend most of the time o ut in the run.

Looking forward to the Kirstie programs too. I should think its mostlly for the kids as she makes a dog out of toilet roll middles.

Our main SKY box TV is showing an HDPC problem and won't work!! We've unplugged and checked connections and nothing works. :-S The 2 bedroom tvs with mini boxes are working fine but we can't record anything new now as the SKY iQ box does all that. :-S I think OH is hoping it will right itself overnight but I have my doubts. Googling hasn't helped!

That's good the home is being careful Gill. It must have been a surprise for your OH to hear the 2 residents had died though.

Vera what a marathon, but such a good feeling to have the kitchen and cupboards all clean and orderly. Yes, OH acts first too and has been carrying heavy pots despite me saying to wheel them along on one edge. He never learns though so perhaps Jolene could have him for a day!! Or maybe I could swap with you on a Sunday as your OH has done so much today. When I asked OH what he was doing today he said he wasn't doing anything as it was Sunday!!! I suggested I might do the same next Sunday and he said 'yes'. I then added 'like not cooking a lunch'. That soon made him stir his stumps.

I like Pam Ayres and the rhyme is a good one AnnG. She could always make me chuckle.

I hope you manage to get some seeds Mel. I put veg seeds on my order but only got the flower seeds. I know what you mean about beans. It is the same with runners and broad beans, they are nicest if picked when they are young.

I hope your shoulder improves for tonight Jane. I have not heard of 'cross stitchers cramp' before, but it does sound painful if you were awake all night.

Everything is growing fast now isn't it Mandy. When we went to collect the groceries yesterday I couldn't believe the lovely cherry blossom that was all in flower. Good luck with the wiping tomorrow. The best bit is when it's all put away. :-)

I have ordered more seeds for this week so we will see what arrives if any. I could do with Jolene too just to have one day to myself would be a reall treat to do just as I like and eat when I wanted or not as the case maybe. It seems to take me an age to cook a meal and clear away and I never seem to get enough time to do what I want when I want to do it. He does wash up for me but leaves the tea or dinner things till the morning.

The blossom is lovely at the moment as when I went down the village for my Saturday shop the trees were out in bloom. One person has left the Christmas lights in a little tree and when I used to go for the F & C's they were alwasy lit up which was nice. You should all know I love my lights and have lots of solar ones in the garden. One set has been out there all through a couple of winters. The are on a copper wire and have been the best ones I have ever had. I have a few more sets of those and they will also light up under water.

Sorry about your box Ann. I used to have a bt box I could record on but that went wrong and we did'nt do anything about it but I miss recording things during the day that I coud watch at night.