General Chat

Our visitors have just gone as they are going back to Surrey tonight, and have to call into son's cottage on the way. Probably just as well as it is very black outside and cold!!
We had a lovely day with them although they were late as they had a puncture, and had to stop at a garage for repairs!! I did far too much food, so they've gone home with a few goodies to tide them over!!
I hope your day went well Jane, and that Janice was able chat to you. A trouble shared etc!!
Next week I shall move Christmas up the list of ' to do' so by Dec 1st it should be in my sights!!! ;-)

We haven't really thought about the sex of the dog Mel, i think we'll just wait and see nearer the time ,we had Bonnie and then Toby so we've had both and i really don't mind it will just be nice to have the company of another dog during the day again.

It's good the deer managed to get free from the fencing Mel, it must have frightened the poor thing getting tangled up like that ,and it wouldn't have been nice to have seen the poor thing all tangled and would have been a job to free it too !!

I suppose it's to be expected that there might be air in the system Gill after the draining down of the radiators .
It will be good that you can now have the viewing and be able to say we've had a new boiler fitted , a good selling point for you .

Pat it will take a while until you get things as you want them ,you'll be moving things around for a while i expect .

We have a nice piece of Gammon for tea so a nice easy tea to do tonight .

Mandy, I was very very reluctant to have another dog after losing Millie and I wouldn't entertain it. It took OH over a year to persuade me and even then I wasn't convinced, but since Cas came into our lives, I haven't regretted it for a moment as she is such a lovely affectionate, good tempered little girl. So I would say, 'go for it!' particularly a lab, as they are so lovely, smashing with children and such good companions. (daughter had one, Dottie who was a gorgeous girl, dying aged 14!!) We did think of having one, but our Cabin is quite small, and they can be quite big girls!! so we opted for another cocker.
OH has been asleep!! I think our son wears him out!!!

Evening all,

Tony took and bought me home from the pub at lunchtime. The match wasn't that good, but the beer was excellent. (DUMBAR) I forgot to take my pack of doggie chews, and there were three of my pals there around my legs, even jumping up to sit next to me.

Nothing to watch on Tele, so I had my forty winks. Have now been watching the cooking programme. Nigella doing Christmas things. I think it will be ITV 3 this evening as normal TV is rubbish.

Glad you enjoyed your company Liz, and I expect Jane and Janice are talking the hind leg of the Donkey :-D :-D

A puppy Lab sounds just right Mandy, they are so easy to train and such good company.

Better sort out what we are going to eat tonight, and start preparing for tomorrow. the turkey crown needs two and a half hours in the oven, so will get that done in the morning. That will leave the cooker free for Roasts etc.

See you tomorrow.

Liz we have definitely made up our minds we would like another dog but it won't be until the spring , we need to get over losing our dear old boy :-(

Well i can tell you what the weather is like because i just looked out the window and
WE HAVE SNOW !!!! :-D Big flakes coming down , don't think it will lay though as the ground is wet .

Evening All,

Well I'm lost for words for poor Janice and Larry Jane. I'm glad she came to see you after all. I know a few hours away from your normal environment can help ease your troubles. Her son just doesn't know how lucky he is with his parents. Little William sounds a lovely boy and it's lucky he has stability with his grandparents, but his dad is teaching him not to get attached to anyone if they keep disappearing from his life.

Frank for some reason I couldn't see your sky photos. :-S I bet the dogs down the pub were really disappointed at you having no treats for them. I hope Ros is feeling a bit better now. She needs to wrap up in this cold.

Pat I bet you will be moving your stuff around for a while yet! It's good you have found a charity shop you can do a stint at! I bet it feels more like home now!! lol

So you got your boiler in in the nick of time Gill........just before it turned cold. I bet you feel better in yourselves now it is cosy. I've noticed the pressure in our new boiler changes when it is on, but it still stays within the right range. The boiler man didn't bleed our rads so I thought we might need to but they have been fine up to now. Hopefully Sandra is back to her happy self now after getting upset at strangers in the house. It's good you know how to deal with her to calm her down.

I wondered if you might consider another dog Mandy and Labs are sweethearts aren't they. I could happily have taken the little black Lab puppy home that I saw in the supermarket the other day. I suppose it will be whatever kind of dog you see that takes your fancy though. They are all good company aren't they. :-) I'm wondering how long it will be before my sister gets another. We saw snow on the top of a couple of cars in the village this morning. I wonder if yours will blow this way overnight!

Our answerphone was weird the other day and there was a message from our boiler man asking me to ring him. When I rang him he asked me what he could do for me which didn't bode well....!!! We ended up laughing as he couldn't remember ringing me or leaving a message and I had no idea what he might want. lol. Anyway he decided it must be the boiler serial no even though I'd given him it before when he left a message a few months ago. I sorted that for him and then played the second message and that was for me to ring Adult learning (beading classes etc) as they wanted to give me a refund. Well I'd had a phone message about that a couple of months ago as well as they'd overcharged me, so I decided the answerphone must be regurgitating old messages and just deleted it. Then at class yesterday my friend said she'd had a message too and that it was about our fused glass workshop we did!!! :-S She said they are going to refund us for it as goodwill as the lady whose kiln they use to fire the glass has been off sick for a month and they don't know when she'll be back!! That'll teach me to delete things without checking. OH was highly amused as usual and said 'how come your life gets so complicated!!' I wish I knew :-S. lol.

This afternoon I went northeast of the county to another garden centre that had a super Christmas display last year. It is a lovely ride there through some nice villages and countryside. One of the villages has such narrow roads and blind bends the speed limit through it is only 20mph. Even that was too quick when a couple of peacocks walked in front of my car. I had to get out in the end as I couldn't see them appear either side of the road and didn't want to run over them. The daft things had been walking up the road out of sight and just in front of my car as I'd edged forward so I had a bit of shooing to do to get them to the side. The Christmas display this time was just as good and they had some unusual games and toys. I nearly got OH a little wind up plastic man in swimming trunks and goggles that would swim the crawl in the bath!! All I bought was a couple of pairs of shoes, one pair with a small heel. It was so hot in there for me with my coat on though I had to get a can of iced Lilt on the way out. Phew!!

I saw something on the back of a small motorhome that made me smile yesterday.......will see if I can email it.

O you lucky thing Mandy. Wish we could have a bit again but nearer Christmas would be nice. I love to watch the snow falling.

Morning All

Just popping in quickly as it will be another busy day.
It was so nice to see William yesterday .He is such a lovely little boy.So polite but hilarious and a right little character.Thomas shocked us all by actually going up to William and making friends.They were then rolling on the floor together !!!!.
Larry took William home to his Daddy (and the girlfriend) she came back :-S
I don't think my Sister and BIL are too impressed.

Anyway I shall go now .We are going to be out and about today .Gareden centres ,shopping etc :-D :-D..Chris will be able to have a few hours peace and quiet.

Have a nice day everyone.I will try and get back tonight .

Morning All.

The suns out but it's cold Brrrr.

Getting ready for church, I need to leave about 10.15 as it takes me about 20 mins to walk down there and then it's a quick nip into the church centre to visit the little girl's room , and then into church, MUST REMEMBER to turn my phone off, I went to a funeral in october and the phone went off, lucky the service actually hadn't started , but it was still embarrassing,

Better get my coat on, hat and gloves, xxx

Morning all and evening Kim,

Sunshine again this morning but for how long I don't know.

Ann loved that on the back of the camper. Need that on my car I think.

Well I have managed to do something to my back yesterday or it could be my hip but I think it is my sacroiliac and maybe a touch of sciatica. It hurts if I cough or when I get up.

The heating is on and I wonder if Mandy still has snow?

Meant to say Jane pic of William and Thimas came out upside down again and very stretched.

Morning all

It was raining when I got up, but has stopped now. Still cold though.

I envy you your snow Mandy, Sandra would love it if it snowed here with enough to build a snowman. A chocolate lab, how lovely. Waiting till the spring sounds like a good idea.

You've got a busy day ahead of you Jane. So the girlfriends back now then, do you think she'll stay this time? It won't be good for William to watch her come and go all the time, he'll get so confused and upset. Hope everything turns out ok for everyone.
I bet William was happy that Thomas wanted to play with him. I liked the pic you sent, it looked like they were having lots of fun together.

The photo of the sunset didn't show up Frank

I liked the message on the back of the camper van Ann, it did make me laugh.

Sorry to hear you're in pain Mel, hope you feel better soon.

Good idea to wrap up warm Fiona for the walk to church. The weather has certainly changed from last week hasn't it?

I had trouble with Genes yesterday and couldn't get past the previous page, it just kept saying error. It all seems back to normal today. I didn't unplug my router with it playing up yesterday, so luckily it came back on today, hope it stays that way.

Nothing planned for today, OH and I will have to box in the pipes on the new boiler tomorrow as he's in work today, then it'll look better for the viewing on Tuesday.
Sandra's radiator is still playing up, but with a few more days of bleeding it, it should be ok. I suppose it just takes time before everything settles down. it's nice to have a warm bungalow for a change though and the heat travels into her room if she leaves her door open.

Going to get a cuppa now, see you all later <3

Cloudy now and it has just poured with rain...................

Sunny here now, maybe your rain will turn to snow, like your wanted Mel :-D :-D

I've just had a lovely HOT bath, it only took 10 minutes to run instead of the hour it took before and the water is so much hotter that I had to put in lots of cold water to cool it down a bit, something I NEVER had to do with the old boiler.

For the first time in a ages I'm not having to wear three layers of clothes to keep warm, IT'S GREAT ;-) ;-) ;-) :-D :-D :-D. We had the fella put the temperature up slightly on the heating and it makes such a difference.
Sandra's radiator is still playing up so we might have to call the boiler people back if it doesn't change next week. It's only just warm and when we try to bleed it water is coming out, then air, then water again. We'll keep bleeding it for another few days to see if it improves.

Going to dry my hair now. Sandra is doing her roast chicken again......I could get used to this. I thought the novelty would of worn off by now, but she's still keen to do it, bless her <3

Afternoon all,

I have just taken a break from the kitchen, but not for long.

I made stuffing balls, with sage and onion stuffing mix, fresh parsley, thyme and onion all blitzed together. Then I blitzed chestnuts. Mixed it all together with a knob of butter, and rolled them into golf ball size. Pigs in blankets all done.

I put the Turkey in at 12.00 pm it needs two and a half hours. Parsnips and Potato's part boiled, Cauli, Broc, carrots, and brusell's all ready to go on. Bread sauce and Cheese sauce made, Gravy made. Sweets thawing on the sideboard, Cheese board ready, and Red wine breathing. HAVE I MISSED ANYTHING ????

Will catch up on posts later, but hope you all had a good morning, and are staying warm. I'm in shorts and bare chest. That kitchen is like an oven !!!

We're having a peaceful day here; yesterday was quite 'active' as they came with their two dogs (!!) One of which is a large greyhound/lurcher, a rescue, and a little Welsh terrier who is 13, and, poor little girl is blind! They were very good, and Cas was fascinated by them!! It was a good day though, and our son is a lovely chap, a bit action packed, and not one for sitting about so a good walk was in order!! But he will always come over and help with any job that his dad finds a bit difficult, so he's a good chap!
We've got Pork for lunch, roasts, and brussels, mince pies for pudding. DIL(?!) brought us an xmas pudding, and a christmas cake both of which she had made. I thought that was really kind of her and will save us from having to make!!!

Afternoon All,

It's cold here especially now the sun has gone in. We went down the road for breakfast and read of the papers this morning, then went to a LOROS craft fair at a garden centre near the deer park I walk around sometimes. It was a garden centre I didn't know and small but very interesting as it had lined polytunnels with antiques and yesterday bygones in! I saw 2 of those mexican hat poultry feeders I have always fancied planted up so I'll have to think about that now.

I bet you feel as if you are in the Bahamas now Gill...lol. If the rad in Sandra's room still has air coming out it should gradually clear if you keep bleeding it.

Jane Thomas is a really handsome cat and his white bits are so white! He looks really chilled with young William down at his level! Perhaps he was used to children before he arrived and settled with you. I hope the girlfriend is back to stay now. We have all had the odd tiff at times, I know I have!!! You have to act a bit differently to make sure young children are not going to get hurt though.

Liz your son does sound a very active kind of person and good to help out when you need it. I must admit with having a younger sister and much younger brother 15 years my junior I thought there may be a bit of help with odd things if I needed it in the future!! Sadly they are both disabled in different ways and me, the eldest is the fittest!! It was nice of your DIL to bring those goodies for you.

Oops I've been summoned to go out again so will catch up later!! :-) :-) He wants to go and look round another garden centre we know that has antiques now!! The fresh air and walkabout will do us good too.

I'm looking forward to Monty Don again tonight. I think he's doing edwardian gardens this time. :-)

Afternoon all,

Suns out and the snow has gone ,it wasn't very much just a fine covering on the car roof ,it didn't really lay on the ground .
We have a few odd showers of snow this morning but it didn't lay ,i've seen pictures from Norwich and they had quite a covering .

You must be so pleased to be nice and warm again Gill.
Hubby said what you need to do to bleed Sandra's radiator is turn your heating off ,then turn off all the rads except Sandra's , turn the heating back on and this will put the pressure to Sandra's rad which you can then bleed better ,hope this helps.

All go at yours then Frank, i hope your going to put some clothes on before your guests arrive ;-) :-D :-D
What a feast ,you always put on a good spread i'am sure they won't go home hungry .
I couldn't see the sunset photo either .

Hope your pain soon goes Mel, perhaps a day of rest is what it needs .

I loved the photo of William and Thomas it did come through sideways but i turned the lap top on it's side to see it :-D
They looked happy laying together .
I wonder how long the girlfriend will stay ,must be very confusing for William when she comes and goes like that .

That was a nice surprise Liz having a cake and pudding made for you ,will save you the job .
Just think if they came to stay or a week Liz you'd be worn out !! :-D
We're worn out when the grandchildren come ,they come in like a whirl wind !!

I had to smile at the words on the back of the camper van Ann, at one time people had stickers in the back windows with all sorts written on them ,you don't see so many now.

Another lazy day here for us ,just watching another christmas film .

OH gawd Mandy! I wouldn't be able to stand the pace or the cooking!! Our grandchildren are the same, particularly little boy!!! The two girls are 15 and,12, so they're much quieter now, but he, aged 8, is a lively chap!!! OH has made him a new walking stick for Xmas as his old one has become very warped!!
You saying that about bleeding radiators took me back, as I can remember having to do that to our bedroom one years ago and that's how we did it. It worked a treat!!!
Goodness Ann, that's quite a gap between you and your brother!! My younger Uncle was 15 years older than me. We lived with him and my grandparents during the war when he was still a schoolboy, so all his life for me, he was half an uncle and half a brother!!

What a nice present ,some thing made by his grandfather , i bet he feels so grown up when he goes on his walks using the stick his grandfather made him.

The rains really coming down now it's beating on the front window !! and it's so dark .