General Chat

Afternoon all,

Nice and sunny here ,i nipped up to the fish mans stall on the market this morning and got a nice Cromer crab which we had for our lunch and it went down a treat.

I have made a few masks so we're ok if when we go out ,i've also made DIL a couple of mask extenders as she was saying her ears get a bit sore from wearing her mask .
I soon crochet her a couple but had a job to find some big buttons to sew on them ,plenty of small buttons but they won't hold the elastic .

AnnG i read that if you wash your specs with soapy water and let them air dry it should stop them steaming up .

I hate ants Frank ,if you can find where the nest is a bit of boiling water might do the trick or i have put talc down they take that back to the nest on there feet .

Hope Vera and Ann had a better nights sleep ,it makes you so weary when you don't sleep .

Love to Jane <3

Afternoon all

Very cloudy here but dry and not to cold.

Thanks for letting me know about the comet Mandy, I tried to see it but it was to cloudy. I've got a feeling I may of seen it the other morning when I spotted Mars and Venus, I noticed, what looked like a bright star moving quite quickly across the sky, but it didn't have a trail behind it so I thought it was a plane. Now I'm wondering if it was the comet after all. I didn't know about it back then so didn't put two and two together. I'll take another look tonight if the clouds go away. It sounds like Colin is busy again making a planter now.

I had a late night last night Mel, as I was looking out for the comet, but I did have a half way decent sleep when I finally got to bed. What a pity about your old plum tree, we had to take ours out so we could put a shed in I do miss all the fruit trees we used to have, but not the big apple tree, there were far to many apples for us and if we didn't pick them quick enough they'd fall to the ground and rot, I hated picking them up, so don't miss that anymore. Have you found a nice place to put your new Penstemon plant yet?

It sounds like you're going to have a job on your hands when the big Acer needs taking out Ann, but if it's that close to the electric box it definitely needs taking away. A Camellia is a good idea as like you said they are evergreen. We have quite a few of them in pink and red and although the flowers go brown when they're finished, they do look lovely when in full flower. What colour Camellia are you thinking of buying? Starlings do make a racket don't they, you should see them on our bird feeder, fighting with each other, they're not the quietest of birds.

You have a nice array of butterflies in your garden AnnG, it must be lovely to sit and watch them. We've seen one or two Red Admiral's but not as many as last year. It sounds like you had a nice walk, I love all the pictures. Pity about your achy legs I hope they feel better soon.

That wasn't very professional of the hairdresser to let Ros down like that Frank, especially when it was her who made the appointment with Ros in the first place. Let's hope there's a cancellation so she can have her hair done before 29th July. Sorry you didn't get your ride around the villages and you were looking forward to it to. Your lunch sounded nice, at least you got out to have that. Hope you can get rid of the ants you don't want them in your conservatory.

I hope you had a better nights sleep last night Vera, it's horrible when you don't have a decent sleep. The “Blueberry Wheats” cereal don't sound very nice, I guess you won't be rushing out to buy any in the future. At least they were free and you gave them a go. You're doing really well with your blueberries, I love them and was thinking of buying a blueberry bush, but believe they take a while to grow and produce the berries. How long have you had yours? Have you sorted out your Zoom quiz yet?

We don't have any face masks, I did see the news mentioning they had to be worn from 24th July so I'd better buy some, we don't want to be fined.

I agree with you FG, if everyone wears the masks it'll make it safer for all our us. Enjoy your drive out and walk, hope the weather stays nice for you.

I use boiling water if I can too as we can't put any poison down anywhere cos of the fish and the wild birds. Trouble is I sometimes get them under the stones of the sort of rockery bit so they have to stay. e hav'nt had that Day of The Flying Ants yet. They love my car roof and the birds have a feast. Once I left a window open and had a load in my car.

Mandy oh would be jealous of your lunch as he lves vrab. I can't stand anything like that, prawns, lobster, crab or smoked salmon, winkles, cockles or welks and mussels and oysters......yuk yuk yuk....... if I have left anything out I don't like that either if its fishy.

Frank a lot of our ants flew a couple of days ago.
It has been grey here today as well but it is 17 degrees so not too bad.

Mandy Ooh lucky your I love fresh crab, was it all prepared for you. could just eat a crab sandwich now!!

Gill yes the butterflies are lovely to watch not so many the last two days, they seem to prefer the sunny weather.

Mel, I will eat cockles and mussels if I am sure of where they have come from (so easy to get food poisoning from mussels), I have never eaten oysters and can't say I fancy them but love crab, lobster, prawns, shrimps, clams and any other shell fish and ordinary fish.

We are plagued with flying ants in our kitchen one day a year, they're horrible and we have to pull the fridge out to spray them, then I have to mop the kitchen floor and put the fridge back. If I'm lucky and the living room door is shut they can't get in there. It doesn't matter how many years I've sprayed that area they always come back. Yuk.

I love fish and would love to have eaten some of your crab Mandy. OH's not keen, all he likes is battered cod with chips.

Yes, I've noticed more butterflies when the weather is sunny AnnG, they're lovely to watch.

A Blackbird washed himself in our water feature the other day, he was there for ages and seemed to be enjoying himself. It's full of water after all the rain we had, so quite a few birds drink from there to.

Going to do my meter readings now or I'll end up with an estimated bill and that won't do now they've reduced our monthly payments, I don't want it going back up again.

Comet NEOWISE should be visible from about an hour after sunset by looking in a northerly direction. It will travel from the north-west to north-east through the night. If the skies are clear, it will be best seen at about 2.30am by looking north-east just above the horizon.

Not a chance to see it here then as we can't see any horizon from our house.

Yes Mel, Abby is very good about being groomed. We usually have her stripped in the summer (not this year!!) which makes keeping her clean much easier. apart from her face and ears which I always do, I also clean her teeth front and back about once a week with a brush and doggy toothpaste! We've done this since she was a wee puppy of 9 weeks so she's used to it. All in all she is a good clean girl! <3
We both love shellfish too, but you do have to be careful! The fresh crab sounded delicious!

Hi All

I didn't expect to be back indoors just yet but dark clouds were looming just as we were about to have lunch outside. It didn't rain but would have tipped it down if we'd stayed out!

We have to many large white butterflies flapping about like pegged out sheets on a blowy day. I want to plant some PS broccoli but we'll need to build another cage to keep the blighters off. I saw one poking its bum through the mesh once to lay eggs on my brassicas - the cheek of it!.

Frank - why did the butterfly flutter by?
because the spider spied 'er

Apparently shop staff wont have to wear masks! I can understand them being uncomfortable all day but surely they can lower them when they aren't attending to a customer? I made some for us weeks ago as my fella had to go for bloods. I happened to have some craft* pipe cleaners so used those in the top to bend over noses.
* I wouldn't like anyone to think we're pipe smokers LOL

Annx (I think) is the mixed media programme on tv or 'net? I'd love to have a look.

Mel, thank you for the lovely foxy pics. We haven't seen any now we're 'semi rural' but they were bold as brass in the city - one stood in the car park staring me out, I was glad to be three floors up on our balcony!

I've forgotten what I've read now lol so, wishing Jane well and everyone with aches and pains a comfy night.

Oh! The comet! About what time please? I read 3.20am but I don't want to be getting up that early lol. UK

I think it's safe to go back outside.......

Mel, you posted as I was typing - I'm a slow typist.
Thanks for time and direction of the comet. It's bound to be 8/8 cloud though :-|

Hi all, I thought I would surprise you by an afternoon visit.

Eos left here ar 10 20 am and didn't get home until 3.45 pm. She had been everywhere with Carolyn. I tried to ring her, and her phone RANG on the TABLE. Silly PERSON forgot to take it with her.

What a horrible day it has been, overcast all day, and plenty of signs of rain, but none around. I expect it will rain through the night. (I HOPE)

Ros is trying to find out how to text from her mobile. She is on the phone to Val at the moment, and is arranging to go down to her in the morning, for her to show her.NO GOOD asking me, I hardly know how to use a mobile, in fact I don't know where my phone it, and I don't really care.

I will look out this evening to see if I can see the Comet. But there is no way I will be up at 2.30 am looking for it. I need my beauty sleep, I have enough of a job getting a good nights sleep, without staying awake to watch out for MR COMET. lol lol

Ros has had lots more requests for FACE MASKS. Now that you will have to wear them going into shops, from later this month. So I have just ordered her, 100 metres of round elastic from EBAY. That should do a air few lol lol

Time I got sorted for tea. Cold Pork and chips, with curried baked beans. Will make a nice change from a roast.

See you in the morning. Have a nice evening. xxxx

I had a fractionally better night yesterday in that I slept from about midnight to 1.30 and then from about 5 to 8 am. I am still heavy headed and sitting here yawning away again now. I hope you are all OK.

We did go to Dobbies today but I wasn't at all impressed with them. We didn't have any branches in this area until they took over a big Wyevale. We went twice when they first opened and they weren't very good but we thought we ought to give them a chance to settle in which is why we went again today. It's strange as I know they have a good reputation and seem to do well in other areas. They didn't have a lot of plants in their outside area and those they had looked half dead. I think it's the first time I have been to a garden centre without at least wanting to buy something. I did stock up on greetings cards and was able to use my vouchers on those but even that was a kerfuffle. They had sent me an email with a voucher code and instructions to show this to the till operator. The till operator was a young man who looked about 12 and insisted I scrolled up and down this email so he could scan the barcode. There was no barcode but he couldn't get his head around that. It took ages to convince him to punch the given voucher code into the till. I wouldn't have bothered but this voucher code gave me £9 off £25 worth of cards so worth having.

I didn't think their safety arrangements were very good either. There was no member of staff near the entrance and you had to take your trolley and wheel it into the store before you could use the sanitiser, which sort of defeats the object. None of the staff wore masks or gloves but were handling everything that went through the till. I didn't feel comfortable there and used plenty of hand gel when we got back to the car.

OK, rant over. The car got a run and I got some nice cards so not all bad :-)

Mandy, my OH is drooling at the sound of your crab. Poor man rarely gets anything like that as I am allergic to shellfish. Even if we go out for a meal the seafood platter is usually for 2 people so he doesn't have it. Sometimes he'll have mussels for his starter.

Gill, by all means buy some face masks but you are handy with a needle and they are really easy to make. If I could do it, anyone can. We bought a couple of beautifully made and shaped ones right at the start of lockdown but the elastic on them goes right round the head and I needed one with elastic over the ears for when I had my haircut. There are loads of videos on YouTube and you only need some small pieces of material and some elastic. I think I might need to make a couple more so we have plenty of spares if others are being washed.

OH is cooking tonight. He is doing gammon steaks though I don't know what he is doing with them. I think I just have time for a glass of wine before we eat.

Anyone had Mr Fothergills courgette seed ,there's a warning as the courgette seed is bitter when you eat it and can give you diarea and sickness .

AnnG it was a dressed crab I bought today but I do get one and can dress it myself .

I had a nice sit out in the sunshine reading my book today watching Colin making the planter .

Gill the masks are so easy to make ,have a look on you tube ,I made mine by using a dinner plate ,you just draw round it and cut it out fold in half and cut then cut each half in half so you end up with four quarters with round tops .
You put two quarters right side together and stitch round the top ,then do the other two the same ,you then stitch those two bits right side together leaving a bit so you can turn them to the right side .
Give it a good press ,stitch the two edges together where you turned it through ,then turn the pointed sides in to make a seam then thread elastic through ,knot the elastic and pull the knot behind the seam ,job done .
If you want three layers just cut another half a plate and cut that in half and add to each quarter if that makes sense .

:-D

Here you go Gill I think this is what Mandy is talking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRfhuRNua_E

Looks good to me.

Island I am not a slow typer which is why my letters are round the wrong way soemtimes a smy brain is ahead of my fingers. See Sometimes!!!!

FG you need one of the hair trimmers my oh has. A rechargable one that fits nicely in your hand and I expext you could do Abbey with it. Its a Remington.

That's the one Mel.

Meant to say new lot of Our Yorkshire Farm now started on channel five

Just watched it Mandy. Nearly missed it cos oh was watching something else.

Morning all,

Another grey cloudy day. I hope I get more done than I did yesterday. Just could'nt get into anyhting in the afternoon after all the wiping down in the morning.

I have a bit of rioning to do and some washing and there's always that thing that gets fluffy the longer you leave it. May even clean the windows inthe kitchen. Will see what transpires during the day.

Ann the picture is great and I always say it you are a clever girl. Love the birthday card too and it would be good to frame it as you say to remind him.

Morning all

What a grey day!
I fear for the garden produce. The runner beans might just survive as they did last year with all the damp but I'm worried that the toms may only come to a jar of green chutney and the cues fail. We have a great crop of blackberries coming on but will they all go mouldy like last years?
On the bright side - I did a little dance the other day when I spotted blackfly on the bindweed! Let's hope Sluggie and his mates get stuck in too and ignore the courgettes and dwarf beans, I don't want to speak too soon but given how much rain there has been I'm surprised by the lack of slugs.

Mandy, thanks for mentioning Our Yorkshire Farm. Just in time to record the catch up so will be watching it this evening. We would have been disappointed not to see it.

Mel, I say life's too short for ironing.

Fat chance of comet watching eh folks? :-(

Have a nice indoor day.

Just lost A BIG POST, So will try again later.

Island I think sluggie and his mates are all down here. I have spied blackfly on the docks down here so they can stay there till I cut them down but could you take some greenfly off me please?

Frank sorry you lost your post try again please.

Just had a delivery of chickjen food so I have to go out and wash out the feed bin now. Not a job I wanted yet. They were supposed to ring me before it was delivered but they never do. I went rushing out to thank the driver and had'nt got my teeth in!!!!!!!!!!!!! He said it was a bit tight coming in and I replied I can get a fire engine through the arch. He drove out and had left his back door open so I rang Mole Valley and told them to let him know and the girl said she'd ring him. So you know what I shall be doing for the next half hour then its got to dry before I can put the sack of food in.