General Chat

Meant to say I have rung the bells in Okehampton many times as we used to go each week to ring there. Not that far from us on the edge of the moor.

Nice to see you pop in Island.

Frank it was a hedgehog I took picks of which should'nt have been out during the day.

The other thing I keep meaning to tell you lot is that it was not a Snipe in the garden but a Woodcock. On the papers we have from where the estate was broken up and sold it said that there was good shooting of pheasents, grouse and Woodcock so they must be still about after all these years and as there has'nt been a shoot over the back for well over a year perhaps they are coming back into their own. I do hope so and hope we see it again.

I wondered if your snipe might have been a woodcock Mel but don't the latter snortle around in woodland undergrowth secretively?
Get it to show it's beak next time LOL

Mind you, seeing a snipe is pretty cool.

I'd love to see a hoopoo :-D

You and me both, Island. Not much chance of it though :-( Anyone remember the old radio soap called Wagonners' Walk? I think it started up when Mrs Dale's Diary came to an end. I remember there was great excitement on there because one of the characters had seen a hoopoe on their roof. That storyline was dragged out through loads of episodes.

Island theres woodland all over the back to us right across 80 acres so I expect it came from there.

We used to listen to Waggoners Walk when we were on holiday here in Devon with my first hubby. Thats a blast from the past.

The mower arrived at 11.30, very good service, only ordered yesterday. Nice young man asked if I needed any help with it so I asked him to put it in the garage. It can stay there until I want to open up the box. I wanted to get the lawn cut with the old mower while it was dry as rain is forecast for tomorrow. I spent an hour and a half in the garden, cut the lawn, had a go at the edges but can't use the strimmer yet, daughter will show me how when they next come. I then tidied up the bed where the dahlias were, raked it over ready to plant wild flower seeds in a week or so. Bin is full now and out on the drive ready for collection tomorrow.

Afternoon all,

My goodness Gill how good were you keeping the move a secret :-D you'll have to let us all have your new address ,it sounds like you will have plenty to keep you busy with the house and the garden to get all sorted ,i hope you'll be happy in your new place .

Thanks everyone for the info about the surnames ,not sure about the Hannah Cowling ,its quite a while since i've done any thing on my tree so i will have to check that one some time .

That was good service with the mower coming today Anng ,son got the new washer today he sent a photo of it all set up with a wash going so they had good service too.

Been shopping today all wiped and put away ,Aldi was quiet again but you should have seen the queue for Mcdonalds which is near Aldi loads of cars i expect they came straight from the school after dropping the little ones off .

Yes i remember hearing about Waggoners Walk i think mum must have listened to it .

It has been an absolutely beautiful day here 12 degrees out there now, really warm in the sun, just sat out there with my book. Quite a tonic. Makes everything seem to much better.

No sun here AnnG it's raining and chilly .

Just booked my covid jab 11.10 this Wednesday :-D

Not much sun here at the moment, just a few gleams in between the clouds and it’s a chilly 7 degs. I’m expecting Tesco in an hour or so . These wipe down days seem to come round very quickly. I can’t believe it’s 10 days since the last delivery. I must get some bags out and also remind OH to take the recycling bin and the garden bin down the road. Both due for collection tomorrow. It will be the first time the garden bin has been emptied since Christmas.

I had a walk round the garden earlier and checked our “pond”. For those who don’t know the “pond” is about the size of a large washing up bowl but it attracts frogs and dragonflies and insects. There was something poking out of the water and when I looked closer it was the feet of a very dead, quite bloated frog :-(. It was pretty disgusting but thankfully OH offered to remove it for me.

Aawe Vera poor frog, not nice to find though. I was so pleased that we had a warm sunny day, it made all the difference to my mood. Back to normal tomorrow though but there is the feeling that spring must be on the way. Sorry everyone else has had rain though.

Must do my order for the weekend. Yes they do come round quickly.

O poor chap getting drowned in your "pond" I hope you have a little slope of wood so they can get out now and you may get some frogs spawn. Since oh made out ponds above ground we don't get the frogs now even though one little puddle is'nt fenced its still above ground off the decking by my pond. Oh like it as the dragonflys lay their eggs in that one and he watches them when they start to emerge.

I bet you were glad the garden bin will be collected tomorrow then you can fill it up again.

Its been a beautiful day here today with wall to wall sunshine and oh's brother turned up sothey sat in the garden at a distance and he is still here leaning against his car and oh is sitting onthe mower tweo meters away from him. They had lunch in the garden and I have mostly stayed indoors and in my shed out of the way. I was going to do so much today too. At least I swept my shed out and repotted my nice begonia Glowoing Embers but I am not sure its going to grow this year as it had some vine weevils in it and it is three years old now and they are supposed to be annual ones. I hope I can get another this year from Mole Valley.

Nice and sunny here today so OH is back cutting down the pampas grass, the fun bit will come when he has to dig out the roots. I don't think it's going to be a quick job.

The hedge won't be cut down for a while yet so the hedgehogs will be okay, I'll just have to make sure there's no bird nests. I noticed a rook building a nest in the big tree over the back of us, it's in the field but is massive. Thankfully that way is North so it won't block any light to our garden.

Have you used your new mower yet AnnG? I agree the sun does make you feel better than a dull day.

Oh Vera the poor frog at least you didn't have to remove it so that was something.

Good luck with your Covid jab Mandy, I hope you don't have a sore arm like my OH had. He's just had his second jab so is hopefully fully covered now, well as covered as he can be. I'm still waiting to hear about my first jab. I was contacted by my doctor but only because they still have me as Sandra's carer which I'm not anymore, so I think I'll give them a call to find out when I'm having mine. Until I have the vaccination I'm still a bit nervous of going out and meeting people.

Going to make some more phone calls now, I need to sort out the subscription for our garden bin, if I do it today then we should be able to put the bin out tomorrow and get rid of some more pampas grass leaves.

Evening all :-D

Not a bad day at all here, I could feel 'promise' in the air and the realisation that all those winter indoor jobs hadn't been tackled. I'm sure I'm not alone with not coping well with the dark days - especially this winter which seemed to go on forever with no social 'highlights'.

Poor froggie Vera :-( I wonder if he/she froze? In fact - where do old frogs go? I suppose they get eaten by birds. Our frog was spotted a couple of days ago, well a sudden splash in the pond anyway.

Anng, I can beat your delivery time. I ordered from Argos - 'order now to get it by next day' giving time slots. I ordered at five past midnight and item was delivered at two in the afternoon! I wonder when 'next day' kicks in?

Gill, your move sounds exciting with all that work to make it your own. You've made me think of some of the properties we looked at 8 years ago but decided we only wanted to decorate so opted for a house in a nice location thinking re-wiring before we moved in would be the only 'upheaval'. Ha ha ha! We - or rather our wonderful builder - practically rebuilt! The garden has been a 'work in progress' too. Not that we are complaining.

Mel, that was a brave little woodie.

Afternoon All,

Sunny here earlier but I was doing my course so didn't see much of it! Today would have been my sister's 64th birthday and the bitterly cold day of her funeral 2 years ago. I still can't believe she just didn't wake up one morning. There was no saying goodbye, no-one expected it.

Gill when we dug out Lady Monsell's hedge that was part way across my old garden (it was originally her land) we found a few toads that were deep down among the old roots so look out for those too as their brown skin makes them hard to spot. The builders round here that want to take them out cover them in plastic net so they can't build nests in them. Don't do too much before you know where all the bulbs are as you may want to move and keep some. First OH and I gutted my old place and redid all the garden (whilst e were both working). It is hard work, does take longer than you think, but at least everything you do is bespoke and just how you want it so it is very satisfying. It sounds like it will be a nice garden once you have sorted it and with the field at the back. It sounds like everything is coming together now so you should feel less stressed, but like AnnG says, a good sleep pattern would help you.

That's good you have your jab appointment now Mandy and very soon too. :-) Fancy there being a queue at Macdonalds like that already!

I've had Glowing Embers in my pots in the past. They are full of flower and make quite a bush.

Yuk Vera! We used to find the odd drowned mouse in our little pond and sadly, Hedgehogs once. It's good when the menfolk offer to deal with them! I hope the wipe down passed quickly! It does seem that no sooner is one lot packed away you have to think about the next.

That was quick service with your new mower AnnG. It will be much better for you than the petrol one. I'm glad your mood picked up a bit. You are putting me to shame with all you are getting done.

That's good your new neighbour seems nice Frank. Your Harvey sounds like a treasure, not only doing all the jobs he does but all the cooking too. I think I need a 'Harvey' too!! lol.

Mel, we don’t have a piece of wood in the pond but a nice little rock which just sticks up out of the water. We do get frogspawn and then tadpoles but not every year. I don’t think froggy will have frozen Island. I have seen them under the ice when the surface has completely frozen but when I’ve melted the ice a bit they seem quite perky.

I’m all of a doo-dah today as I’ve been thinking all day that’s it’s Tuesday. It was when I reminded OH to take the bins down the road that he told me I’m a day early, it’s only Monday. I should have realised it was Monday when one of our neighbours knocked with the Monday offering. I might have told you that our neighbours one side have grandchildren who live abroad and most Mondays they do cooking with them via Zoom. They can’t eat everything they bake themselves so they distribute the excess round the neighbours. A couple of weeks ago we had gingerbread biscuits, last week it was shortbread and today we had a some squares from a yummy cappuccino tray bake.

Tesco were a few minutes early and the wiping down didn’t take too long. Only one sub. and nothing missing.

Gill, you’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you but you’ll enjoy getting your house as you want it and planning your garden. It will be something positive to focus on. I hope you are able to get your first jab soon. That will give you a bit more confidence and the clocks will go forward soon as well and everything seems better when there’s more daylight.

OH has said he will sleep in the spare room tonight as he seems to be in snoring mode at the moment so I’m hoping for a better night’s sleep. I hope you all sleep well.

Late pop in from me. I didn't want to sit through HARRY AND MEGHAN so went to bed, couldn't get to sleep so came out to the lounge, and IT'S STILL ON.

Had the delivery of the BEAUTIFUL DECANTER. for Harvey and Julia's Silver Anniversary this morning. Not until 27/05/21 But it's here, So well packed, I am chuffed with the quality. I am going to buy Harvey a bottle of something and see what Julia drinks and get something for her.

I am going to wait for Ros to go to bed, then I will read my book, until I feel like sleeping. I have felt so tired today, so can't think why I can't sleep. I have taken my evening tablets also my SLEEPER.

I assume most of you will be tucked up in bed. Mel is still likely to be up, as I know she's a night person.

Sleep well all, see you in the morning.

Thanks for all your advice about the garden. I think it's going to take us most of this year just to clear it as we'd like to wait a while to see what is already there. The hedge is the first thing to go so providing there's no wildlife in it that'll be our first job. Once that's out we should be able to see how big the garden is. I've had a look from above on the Internet and it looks really big compared to all the other properties on the close, but it's a funny shape and goes off to the left on an angle as you look out of the back door. It's like a jungle at the moment and you can't really walk around it in any direction so we'll need to clear it from the bungalow and work out way outwards. I'm looking forward to it as I love gardening. We're hoping to put most of the 500 pot plants we've got into the ground as we think they'll grown much better that way, although I'll need to do a soil test first to make sure it's okay and won't kill any of my plants.

I organised the garden bin today so that's been paid for and can be used in a couple of weeks once the permit is sent through to me. I was hoping we could of used it tomorrow as it's the first garden bin collection since lockdown but I was told I had to wait a couple of weeks for it all to go through at the council. Luckily OH's friend let him put some of the pampas grass leaves into his bin which was nice of him and has also said he can use his bin every two weeks so long as he doesn't fill it and there's enough room left over for his garden rubbish. So hopefully it won't take to long to get rid of the pampas then I can go out in the garden. I'm allergic to pampas grass which is why OH is taking it out.

I've phoned a builder so I'm waiting for him to get back to me about some of the structural jobs that need doing.

Poor Sandra made a mistake of giving her card details out to her friend and now it looks like he's used it to pay his electric bill. I've said to Sandra to go to the bank tomorrow and let them know and to cancel her debit card and have a new one issued. I said if she gets a bit confused and doesn't know what to say to the bank to ring me and I'll let them know what's happened while she's there. I also said for her to draw some money out of the bank as she won't have a card for a few days and she needs money to live on. She's also going to let her support worker know what's gone on and said if she's get stuck explaining it to her then she'll ask her to ring me.

I rang our solicitor today about Sandra's flat explaining that it's urgent and was told they are waiting to hear back from the vendor's solicitor. Hopefully that won't take to long then Sandra can move in and finally be settled. At the moment she's in temporary accommodation and can't stay there for to long. Her support worker rang me today so say they need the flat for someone else so could I keep her in the loop as to what's happening so she could let housing know.

Sandra's going to bank early in the morning so I'm going to bed now so I'm awake should she need the bank to ring me.

I'm hoping the jobs I've already mentioned will be the only one's we have to have done Island, but I have a feeling our builder will practically rebuild too. At least we can have everything the way we want it and not the way someone else had done as nothing has been done on this place since it was built around 60 years ago. It is quite exciting but a bit worrying to as we don't have that much money and need big jobs doing like the gas metre, central heating and boiler, not to mention a new bathroom and kitchen. At least we don't need the central heating for a while so can always save a bit more towards that.

I watched Megan and Harry Frank and was quite shocked at some of the things they said. I hope you manage some sleep. I don't seem to sleep well since we moved here with OH working nights, so you're not on your own.

Gill I told you to get Sandra to change her card after her so called friend paid for all that take away they had which I think you said was £40 and Sandra only had a burger and chips. This is why we all said for her to change her card right away. I do hope she can get it sorted in the morning with the bank and they can stop the payment and get her a new card. Good luck.

Good morning all, lovely morning not sure if it will last although I think we should not get rain until tomorrow.

Oh dear gill, some friend that was. And that is the problem with Sandra being so trusting. Really that is a matter for the police It is stealing but at least make sure Sandra gets that card cancelled. Unfortunately she won't get her money back from the bank as she gave him the card to use.

Interesting with your garden starting from scratch. If there is a strange shape at the bottom it will be ideal for putting a shed or, like here where we have a sort of hidden patio at the end of the garden behind rustic trellis.

Do you not have a council tip near where you are? If so one journey with several bags filled with pampas grass would be worth a visit.

Frank, a late one from you, hope you managed to sleep ok

Vera today is TUESDAY!!!! It is so confusing when we think it is one day and it isn't isn't it?

I have just realised my Tesco order is Friday not Saturday again this week so I had better do the list soon.

I slept well last night must have been all the exercise and fresh air in the garden.