General Chat

I was just looking up the garden and thought I saw a rabbit but it ran towards the big yellow conifer and it had a long body and tail so it was a stoat. That will take our rabbit population down. It had gone under the conifer so no chance of a picBut I shall keep my eyes peeled.

Morning All,

More sunshine here and not too hot as yet. I went to bed early and slept well last night and woke at 7.00am.

What a shame your boiler still won't work AnnG. I expect you are getting the chap back to look at it again which is a nuisance.

Oh Vera, not you stricken down as well now. It sounds as if your back is improving now though which is good. All these headaches are very debilitating though, so I hope keeping mostly off the computer for a while will see them on their way soon. OH is getting more of them now with all his meetings and writing notes. I have told him to massage his neck and walk up the garden regularly to see if that helps.

My random Covid test arrived yesterday so I will do that after lunch. OH has offered to help but I think I'd rather do it myself. He can do the timing for me!

I need to liquidise some toms to freeze next :-) Then we are having an Asda breakfast with added grilled toms and mushrooms plus 2 poached eggs for OH and toast!

I used to love how mum's chickens and the turkeys would run to you when you approached Mel. All the little noises they make are lovely. We get lots of flies and fly poo with having the field and cattle at the back.

We had a battle of britain in the sky earlier with a mix of magpies, jackdaws and crows. One had a lump of bread I had put out and the others were determined to get a share. They were swooping around for about 5 minutes.

Good morning all. Oh dear Vera, I think you said the last time you were on here that you had the start of a bad back, I think from gardening. It is so easy and so frustrating to overdo it. I hope that you managed to sleep last night and that you feel a bit better again this morning.

Mel, we didn't have any rain but all yesterday from about 4.30pm we had the most odd sky, it was very dark and as if someone had thrown a blanket over the sun, the sky was a peculiar yellow colour like when we get the sandstorms in the air. then there was a rather odd sunset. It is quite clear and bright today but the sky is a sort of milky bluey white. 18 degrees.

No changes here except OH sort of swayed forward in the bathroom at the loo last night apparently and hit the bridge of his nose on the cabinet on the wall. I would not hear him if he fell which worries me a lot but he is not usually unsteady, he must have been half asleep, not sure that helped his headache. He is dozing in the conservatory at the moment. His appetitie is awful at the moment, he is normally a very good eater. But he did have egg on toast for breakfast and enjoyed it.

Great to have a stoat in the garden, pity you couldn't get a photo.

The gas people are coming on a recall this afternoon so hope that can be sorted. Luckily we do have an immersion heater and the shower is separate too, and there are always kettles. Luckily it is not cold.

We have hair appointments at 12 so will be good to get that out of the way.

Other than that I am doing nothing today except maybe make some Christmas cards. :-)

hope Frank is feeling better as well as Vera and also Gill and Annx's OH's back, Island and FG's daughter. what a poorly lot we all are Hope Jane is looking in, thinking of you Jane and sending love. <3

Just sent out Vincent's masterpieces to you all.

Good afternoon to you all,

I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to post today,as when I opened the computer it suddenly close down, and it took ages to get it to reboot.

Nice picture Mel, who painted it ??

I have been under the weather again today, back and forth to the loo. I can only put in down to all the water I have been drinking.

Just had a BIG SHOCK. A woman in the village, who runs the art club and book club, went into hospital yesterday for a small operation on her ear. She, they think, had a massive heart attach, and died on the operating table.She would have been a similar age to Ros.

after 4 phone calls, I have finally got confirmation for a table booking for Saturday evening, for Ros's B'DAY. Harvey, Julia and Lewis are coming up. The table is booked for 8.00 pm. I get so annoyed, when you have to leave messages and they don't bother to return your calls. My final message this morning, was RING ME WITHIN 30 MINUTES or I will cancel. They rang within minutes, so they do get the messages, but just ignore acting on them straight away.

Two lines of washing blowing in the breeze outside. Ros changed the bed this morning, and also did a BIG coloured wash.

Pam and Denis have the builders in, they are having a conservatory built right across the width of the bungalow. There's been a fair bit of banging going on. PLUS someone is working on another house, over the back somewhere.because there is a lot of noise from that direction. I have closed the conservatory door, to cut out a lot of the noise.

I hope all of you, who are poorly or your OH who are under the weather. feel better today.

Had a couple of Weetabix this morning for breakfast. so won't want any lunch. Not sure what we are having for tonight . Something light I hope. Oh just forgot it's F & C tonight, but not sure I fancy that. ;-) ;-) ;-)

See you all later. xxx

Frank oh has been working on the sunflowers for weeks.

They are beautiful Mel, really look good on the shed well done your OH.

well 3 hours it took the young man for the boiler, such a polite friendly young man, always wearing a mask as well. The 3 hours included having to go off and get a new timer which was the problem in the end. Not only was the timer badly wired it actually was not working properly at all so, a good job we have money saved from cancelled holidays as that was another £270. hopefully we will be ok now for another year.

OH is suffering a bit today, what with having him here all that time so not being able to move around to ease his back and b*m but he also had the hairdresser and insisted on waiting for me in the car. He is going for a lie down now.

Afternoon All
Just a quick post again I’m afraid.Not having great days at the moment.
WOW Mel what a fantastic work of art Vincent has made.Love the Swallows and Bees too.
Frank are you going to be up to going out for a meal on Saturday?You really haven’t been we’ll have you.
Have you been tested for the virus?

What a do with the boiler Ann!! At least all sounds fine now.I do hope that poor OH doesn’t have to suffer too much longer with this back and head trouble.Im not surprised that you are so concerned.
Vera how is your back today? A good rest from the gardening sounds a good idea
Island I hope you are ok and feel brighter soon

Mandy ,congratulations to your son on getting the job.At least he knows the ropes already after working there before.
Ann how is that dickie knee today.Any more clunking?

Hope I haven’t missed anyone out.I have only briefly gone through the posts.

Oh Gill I left you out. How are you feeling now.Did you ring the Dr about your headaches?

I’m off to lie down again as it is more comfortable for me pain wise.

Good to see a post from you Jane but sorry youa re in so much pain. can they do nothing to help with that? And I am sure this heat doesn't help. Thinking of you, sending wishes for a painfree night. <3 <3

Afternoon everyone

Jane, it's good to see you posting but I'm sorry to hear that you are having bad days. You know we are all thinking of you and sending lots of positive vibes your way <3 <3

I hope things are looking brighter for you both, EOS and Island. I'm sending a smile :-) and a wave ~~~~~~~ your way.

Gill, have you spoken to the doc. about those bad heads yet? Are you eating proper meals or are you getting by on snacks when OH is working? You do need to eat healthily and to take in enough fluids to help combat the headaches.

Your poor OH AnnG. He must be feeling completely drained by now and it's very hard on both of you when he has been fairly healthy and active up till now. At least it looks as though your boiler is fixed now. MORE EXPENSE as Frank would say. Our boiler is being serviced on Saturday but as far as I am aware there is nothing going wrong with it so it shouldn't cost us anything.

How is your OH's back now Ann and your knees? I hope both have improved. We are a sorry lot at the moment aren't we? My back is improving slowly all the time though I think I will have to be careful for a few days yet and my head pain is much better today. I have been getting a bit down from time to time because of not seeing the family. We usually see them about 3 times a year but, come October, it will be a year since we last visited them and who knows how long it will be after that before we are able to visit again. I know we are lucky really. So many people are estranged from their families and we are a very close family but, oh, I do wish I could see them again. Ignore this old miseryguts - I shall be smiling again tomorrow.

You'll be relieved to have your table for Ros's birthday meal finally confirmed Frank. That's one thing fewer for you to worry about. I know you want to take her out and have a nice family meal and I am sure she will appreciate it. I hope you are well enough to enjoy it too. I know just how you feel about people not responding to messages on their answering machine. It's just bad manners and bad business practice. We are having the same problem. We are considering having a different flooring laid in our lounge but we have to get it right because we have underfloor heating. OH has twice rung a company doing engineered wood which might be suitable. No-one answers the phone so he has left messages but no-one rings back. He was going to try for a third time but I said no. It doesn't seem to me that they want our business so we will look elsewhere now.

Well, Mel, what can I say about Vincent? He can give Van Gogh a run for his money. What an artist! It's not how I imagined it when you said he was painting sunflowers but much better. I think it's great.

It is a gorgeous day here today. It's warm, but not too hot, sunny but not glaring and with a warm breeze. Our friends that we have a stroll with on Sunday mornings called in on their way back from a hospital appointment and we sat in the garden with a coffee and just chatted for an hour or so which was lovely. We are at ease with each other because we know how careful we have been and as we are just two couples it's easy to distance indoors or out.

I think I am going doolally in my old age. Yesterday at bedtime I put my glass of water in a cupboard and put my sunglasses on the bedside table :-S Good job I realised or I might have tried to drink them during the night. Today I took some smoked haddock out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. Just took it out of the fridge to find it wasn't fish at all but two chicken breasts. How did I manage that? Chicken and fish aren't even in the same drawer in the freezer. I'd better sign off now before the men in white coats arrive for me.

O Vera you did make me laugh what with the smoked haddock turning out to be chicken and drinking your sunglasses. Did you have to change the menu for tonight dinner much?

Oh said it was only a bit of fun as he had'nt done anything like that before. He's glad you all liked it.

Painted oh's stone this afternoon. He has'nt seen it yet but I don't think its very good. Today the paint just did'nt want to spread on he stone. I would much rather paint in watercolour as the paint dos'nt dry out like acrylic does so you can come back to the same colour off your pallet.

Jane I am so sorry your in so much pain and I hope you have a better night tonight and feel a little better and brighter tomorrow. Sending lots of love and many wishes. <3 <3

Evening all,

Another very warm day here with lots of sunshine .

Lovely to see you looking in Jane and sorry to read your feeling so rough it's good that laying down can ease the pain a little for you <3

Vera what a rough weekend you've had with your back and then a bad head ,was it too much gardening that set your back off ,i think you did say you had done quite a stint out there one day ,i'm just the same don't now when to stop and then have to suffer for it .

Oh Mel i love Vincent's master piece ,well done to him he's made the side look lovely and bright with the flowers , birds and bees , only one thing he hasn't signed it :-D

AnnG i'm glad you've managed to get the boiler sorted out ,one less thing to worry about .
Your poor OH sounds as if he's suffering badly now after having to keep out of the boiler mans way and then sitting in the car ,hope tomorrows a better day for him and you too as you must be so worried about him .

Ann hows the clunky knee today ? hope you managed to get the covid test done ok ,i think it would make me gag having that poked down my throat .

Shopping day tomorrow and i need to stock up with loads of extras so that means the wipe down will take longer :-(

Chelsea 's birthday on Friday she will be thirteen so i must remember to get her a card .

Mel Vincent has done really well with painting the sunflowers and so many of them too. I loved the bees as well! OH did smile when I told him that he had also been painting the 'birds and the bees'. ;-) I bet you are pleased there is a stoat around now to help reduce the bunny population. I can't remember when I last saw a stoat.

So sorry you are having rough days at the moment Jane and I do hope you will soon have have some better ones with the help of the nurse. I hope Hannah is keeping well, she must be blooming now! :-) The knee hasn't clunked anymore thank goodness as it was an unpleasant sensation, but it aches like anything at times. I think it just needs time and not too much aggravation.

Frank I am surprised you feel well enough to even consider eating out. Have you got back to the doc about still not being well or had any results of the water and blood tests?

I think some businesses still have staff furloughed and may also have cut back on some staff. I doubt they want to lose business at a time like this but they do need to make sure they keep the phones manned or they will do.

That's good your boiler is finally working again AnnG. Not something you can manage without in the winter so the expense has to be paid. Your poor OH hitting the bridge of his nose now on top of everything else! We can all lurch around a bit at night when we are half asleep though. I hope his back is a little better since the boilerman went and he could move around a bit more. Sitting for his hair to be cut wouldn't help either I suppose.

Vera I can only imagine what a close family is like and grew up not used to that, but I can understand you missing yours after all this time though! At least your children are not living abroad like several of our neighbours children are, so will be easier to see than theirs once we have more normality again. All we can do is sit it out and keep ourselves safe and well in the meantime. I'm glad your back and headaches are slowly improving like my knees. OH managed to make his back a bit worse again carrying a heavy basket of laundry this morning, so has been careful since. I did smile at your getting chicken from the freezer thinking it was fish! We are really losing the plot as well. After 2 blunders not locking outside doors, last night we left the conservatory windows open!!

I managed to do my Covid antibody test on my own and loaded up the photo of the result and sent it off on their site. It was negative, so I haven't had the virus. It said on the East Midlands News last night that the Oadby and Blaby districts of the county have the 2nd highest rate of infection in the country now!! We are in the Blaby district so it looks like we will be locked down soon. :-(

Off to bed to watch All Creatures now. :-D

Missed your post Mandy. I can hardly believe young Chelsea will be a teenager! Don't they grow up fast. I keep meaning to ask if you got the bunting finished and did you take a photo you could send?

The covid test I did isn't the one where you poke a swab thing down your throat and up your nose. I wouldn't fancy that one either! With this one you have to prick your finger and cover a square on test strip with a drop of your blood. Then you add 2 drops from a tube to another lower patch. This soaks it's way up the strip from the spot of blood and within 10 minutes 1 or more red lines appear across the strip. Just 1 line like I had means you haven't been exposed to the virus as you have no antibodies. Good luck with your wipe down tomorrow!

Good morning, sunny here again this morning. OH still dozing although I know he has been up and down all night, he can't settle day or night. So hard seeing him in pain I would rather it was me.

Vera, what are you like? Did you have to cook the chicken or was it still frozen when you realised so you could put it back? Meals here are a problem at the moment, I have to get OH to decide what he feels like and have to find things that I can make smaller prtions for him, usually means me having to eat a bit more than I would normally. Last night he chose sausages and mash and a few baked beans. He actually took over the cooking of the sausages as I don't do them how he likes them and he usually cooks them. He did eat a fairly good meal including two sausages that were quite big ones.
We didn't know we had anything wrong with our boiler until it had maintenance done a few weeks back by the engineer who was doing next door, he obviously didn't do a a very good job although he did mention it took several goes before it fired. (Incidentally he was supposed to have checked out something for us but never came back and never sent a bill. I have to say that over the years we have had a few minor problems always put down to a sticking valve, nobody before has thought to check that the timer was working properly.

Annx pleased that you got the test done OK But I am sure you knew you had likely not had it given that you had not been out.
Yes I am often a bit 'wobbly' when I get out for the loo. Trouble is it dents your confidence.
That is a worry that there is a high incidence of Covid in your area. Probably from schools and workers gone back I suppose. Gloucestershire has gone up a lot as well compared to what it was.

Mandy Goodness Chelsea a teenager, the years go too fast.
Yes it was hard for OH yesterday as he didn't feel he could keep walking around while the boiler lad was here and I had told him to drive home and I would walk, it is not far from the hairdressers, but he wouldn't do it. He is worried because the pain is now across his front, I am pretty sure that all the twistng and turning in bed to get comfortable has affected the muscle across his front but he is concerned because he has a dormant hernia which he was told he didn't need to have treated/operated on about 8/7 years ago and he worries it might be affecting that which he doesn't want on top of everything else.

Well on with the fray, better get dressed he is up now. will be time to put his socks on soon! :-D

Morning Anng and all,

Beautiful morning here with plenty of the yellow stuff, blue skies but a bit of a wind.

Poor T I hope its not the hernia. My oh has one too and should have gone and had it operated on some years ago but he decided not to have it done. He hates hospitals... They are stubbon our men arn't they.

Not sure what I am doing today. I had a really bad night which you know is quite unusual for me although I do get them occasionly. Went to bed at 1.55am and lay awake till 3.34am when I needed the loo. Then lay awake after that for ages till oh got up and it must have been about 5.30am. Then I must have dropped off but my eyes this mroning feel like they have been pulled from their sockets. I was on the pc late as I had a thing from Ancestry and I added a few to my tree. Anyway onward and upward and carry on as usual.

Hope you all had a better night than I did.

Gosh Chelsea 13 tomorrow I can hardly believe it that the little girl I sent hedgehogs to is that old now. A Teenager gosh. Are you making a cake Mandy?

Mel T didn’t make the decision not to have the op. Specialist said it was not necessary. It was around the time when they decided hernia ops carried a risk that could be more than not operating.

Good morning Mel, AnnG and all

Sorry to hear about the bad nights people are having. I didn’t sleep well either and after tossing and turning for what seemed like hours I got my book out and read till 4 am. I was up before 8 but I don’t feel too bad at the moment. My back is still a bit achy but my head’s OK.

I hope T’s new pain isn’t his hernia playing up. Sometimes with an injury like a bad back you walk and stand differently and put a strain on other muscles so maybe it’s that. When does he get his scan and blood tests?

The chicken was part defrosted when I discovered it wasn’t fish so I chopped the breasts into small cubes so they would finish defrosting more quickly and cooked it in a white wine and cream sauce (from a tin). With a jacket potato and some veg it went down very nicely. It’ll be smoked haddock tonight. I found a new recipe I want to try.

I’m just off to the chiropodist so I’m going to poke my nose outside and see if I need a jacket. It looks bright but a bit breezy. With my black face mask and my dark, heavy sunglasses I look like Gangsta Granny ;-). I only need a toy pistol and I could rob a bank.

Have a good day

Morning all

Lovely and sunny so I'll be doing some washing soon and pegging that out. We've had a few nice days of sun which makes a change from the rain.

Love the pic Mel, he's very talented isn't he?

Sorry to hear a lot of you aren't feeling very well and wish you all a speedy recovery.

My headache's are easing off now so no need to ring the doctor.

Well, I'd better go and turn the washing machine on, it won't do itself

Nice to see you posting Gill and the headaches ease off.

Vera so its smoked haddock tonight then. The chicken sounded nice yesterday and I am glad you enjoyed it.

Now where's opur Frank this morning or should I say afternoon.

Hope Island is feeling better too. I bet she's in the garden tinkering about.

I have jsut had to water my plants outside the shed as they were all wilting and I shall do them again tonight. I did fill up the wter tray a lot of them are in but it looks like I may have ost a dahlia.