General Chat

Think I need new runner bean seed and dwarf bean seed as there's nothing coming up so I think the seed is too old.

Morning girls,

Nice bright morning here today and it says partly sunny on the pc and 13 degrees. Dos'nt look like much breeze at the mo but that could change later on.

Have to find out if its today or tomorrow at Stu's this week.

My back or side, left, is playing up I don't think it like this gardening lark after a winter of rest. I shall carry on though when I can.

Going back to sticks I have one Iv'e had for years, since 1973 when I moved into our bungalow. It was there and its very plain wood with a very comfortable flattish knob on the top. OH also bought me a walker like his one but mine dos'nt have breaks you can put on only like a byke you can use the brakes to slow you down or stop. They are great and you have so much confidence with them. I use it round the houise too when its needed. I still have oh's outside and go up the garden with it. YOu can walk so much better with a walker chair and if you need to sit its there in front of you. I always think of mum when we used to go shopping saying she would push the trolly because she could walk better with that but she would'nt have a walker at home only one supplied by the age concern people when she had a bad leg.

Side of my back still giving me pain so see how I get on today may give gardening a rest don't know yet.

Morning All,

You are an early bird AnnG. I slept well last night and OH was up sooner than me and came to fetch me to see a Buzzard on top of the tall hedge in the field. He said it had been chasing a Heron a few minutes earlier which may have picked a frog or something out of the overgrown pond the other side of the hedge. I managed to get a photo or two but it was hard to keep the camera steady enough at that distance. It's a good idea to have a stick handy when you go out AnnG and I think people are more careful not to bump into you if they see a stick which is good if you think you might be a bit unsteady. It can also take a bit of weight off a leg you feel is unreliable at the time!

A shower next being careful of the knee. Hopefully I will manage to go to the solicitors appointment with the gel rubbed in as I don't want to have to cancel it. A pile of post came yesterday, so I will be sitting doing admin this morning. The sky is looking very overcast.

Good morning all only 4 degrees here but it was a chilly start yesterday and ended up being a lovely sunny day. Trouble was, there was a very cold wind until it dropped later in the afternoon. It is bright this morning (still only 0715) and there doesn't seem to be much wind so fingers crossed I can just get some more tidying jobs in the garden. I always like to get it tidy the day before the garden interests meeting which is tomorrow.

Ann I keep one of my sticks by the front door so I can grab it before I go out if I think I am going to need it. I still sometimes think it necessary when I walk down to Irene's. And still sometimes I take my folding stick in my bag when I go shopping. It gives me confidence to know it is there if I need it. My legs seem ok one day and then may be achy the next. I assume that is down to age.

Mel is the time of your order already in there or do you have to enter it every time as I do with my Tesco order? Could be a glitch or a computer update changed it in error. Have you managed to get it sorted?

Yes Gwyn the field with all the May blossom out looks lovely at the moment. It is an old ridge and furrow field and we fear it could be built on before much longer. The next field to it at our right will be the start of where they are to build some huge, very tall depots. Once they are built, the remaining field at the back of us will be vulnerable. I've never seen three cornered leeks, but they sound a bit invasive.

There's nothing worse than waiting around for someone to call Mel as you can't do much till they do. Our Asda delivery is usually at the earliest time of the slot, but it has been late a few times. It sounds like you need the mower and trailer to cart away your efforts with the brambles! It sounds as if you are making some impact on them though, but the barrow can't be easy to push with a flat tyre. I hope your hip is improving a bit now.

OH went to his second school meeting since January tonight and had a very warm welcome and the Head got him a comfy seat to help his back.

Mandy I thought about using one of my Nordic walking poles if needs be. I don't have a stick, but one of the poles collapsed down a bit would help if the knee starts to give way. It is a bit better now with resting it and if I walk slowly and carefully round the house, so fingers crossed I may be ok to walk into the solicitors as we can park on their front outside the door usually. I did one of the balance games on the Wii at the weekend, as they are supposed to strengthen your knees, but I think it may have been a bit too much for mine at the moment while they were still recovering and made them worse. It's a good idea to have a stick though, as you never know when you might need one, so I think I'll get one of those folding ones.

It's a nuisance when toilets keep running but it sounds like your clever son will have it fixed soon. I bet you were both glad Colin's test was ok, but the next appointment is a long one isn't it, so a good idea to make good use of waiting for him by taking your crochet with you.

Oh gosh Gwyn have you got that three cornered leek thing like Kate Humble had in her garden it took over her veg patch. You can eat it you know, I think it has a garlicy smell if its the one I am thinking of.

Just come in for a drink. I have been cutting out the brimbles from the climbing hydranga down at Prickley Bottom. They come in from next doors field. I have a barrow piled high with them but had to come in for a drink. Its not so far to walk than up the border. and easier to get it to the bonfire down here. The only thing is the barrow has a flat tyre.

Well done to your grandson, Ann. He had a very good time and raised a lot of money.

Annx Thank you for the lovely picture of the cows.They look fine beasts, but I would be wary too of such strong animals.What a lovely scene to look out onto.
I do like cows in general particularly the faces of the Jersey ones- such lovely characters.

It sounds as if you had an interesting and enjoyable time with your family, Vera. I hope you have caught up with at least some of your sleep now ;-)

Mel, It's horrid when you feel you've missed out on a day because you've been waiting around. I hope you manage to get your extra shopping soon and that in the meantime your pain eases.
I was gardening for a couple of hours on Sunday with no ill effects, then today the slightest exertion seems like a great effort :-S
I was really pleased to have got so much in the garden bin, while the ground was dry and indeed I think we had a slight shower Sunday night, but nothing to speak of and the ground is so cracked and dry.
The bin was emptied today, so ready for me to wage war on the rest of the 3-cornered leeks and invading ivy :-|

I waited and waited for my delivery today. It came at 2.18pm. I asked why they were so late and they said that was the time it was for between 1pm and 3pm. I said it sould have been 11am till 1pm but when I looked on the pc it is down as 1pm to 3pm and it was last week too. Now I am wondering if its to do with the bank holiday or is that the time it is going to come every week now? Its not conveinient having it later as I was going to go out this afternoon for chickens food and some other bits I can't get from Asda but by the time it came it was too late and I seem to have wasted the whole day now and not even been up hte garden yet. I have tried to ring Asda with the phone number on the site but it said that number was discontinued so I rang another one which you have to pay for and hung on for 4 mins and then hung up. I also tried to message them but they did'nt put up what my querie was and no box to add a reply. Thoroughly frustrated now.................. :-(

Poor Ann I know just how you feel as I have had hip trouble with a lot of pain over the last two days and I use the gel too. I wondered if it was stretching over to pull out weeds up the border of something like that standing at funny angles to reach and cut the brimbles. I must remember to use my two pronged fork oh made me whih I use to dig or as a walking stick in the border or for balance. It really is the best gardening tool I have so I am glad I broke off one of the side tines and he too the other side off and bought me a new border fork.


Good idea to take some crochet to the hosp appointment Mandy as you can get on with that while you are waiting for Colin to be seen. I used to take my Country Mag with me to mums appointments.

That was a good amount of money raised by your granson Anng for Alzheimers.

Afternoon all,

Cloudy day with the odd shower ,keeps brightening up then clouds over again .

Anng well done to your grandson for finishing the marathon with a good amount raised for charity too .

Ann I hope your knee soon feels better ,have you got a stick you could you it would just take a bit of the strain from your knee and help to steady you ,you don't want to be going down .

Son came this morning to sort out the upstairs loo it needed a new bit in the cistern as the water kept running after flushing ,he had a look to see what bits he needed and then went off to screw fix to pick them up started doing it and then decided he needed another bit so off he went again came back but he had trouble with one bit so he'll be back on Thursday to finish it ,the time was getting on and he wanted to shower and have some lunch before going back to work .

I can't remember if I said that Colin heard back about his glocoma test which was OK but he needs to go back for them to check his cataract now as they thought that was affecting the glocoma result so he's got an appointment in about a fortnight's time ,this time it's a two hour appointment, think I might take my crochet to pass the time .

Afternoon All,

It was really dull earlier but is sunny now but still chilly. We went to Costa for a coffee and an egg and spinach cob, then went across to Sainsbury's over the road to see if the Timson's there cut keys for the new front door barrel as we need more spares. They do the ones we have but have run out till Thursday so we will have to go back. I still can't get my head round a spare door key costing £26 now! We need 2 more. We bought spare keys costing as much for the first lock on the front door that after 18 months faffing about with adjustments needed the barrel replacing as we originally thought, so it is an annoying expense again when the fault wasn't ours. On the way out of Sainsbury's my right knee seemed to give way and I hobbled to the car with it aching like mad. We called at the little shop next and I got out of the car, walked a few steps and got back in the car again and OH had to get what we needed. I will just have to rest it today, as we have a solicitor's appointment tomorrow afternoon, so I hope it will be a lot better by then. I've smeared some Ibuprofen gel on it as I can use the gel but can't take the tablets.

I'm glad you had a lovely time Vera and it seems your son has moved to another very nice area and possibly a bit nearer distance to you. It is weird that our emails to each other are going into spam isn't it? I love to see Highland cows too and they seem a calm and gentle breed, but we rarely see any here. We mostly have Herefords and Holsteins. Just up the main road on the way to the shop I use most is a farm with lovely Jersey cows and also Guernseys and I like those. I'm not keen on the big, brutish Charolais we have round here they raise for beef. It's good your plants have survived ok and I found toms soon start growing with some warmer weather so they should soon be ok with the warmer weather that's on it's way.

As I replied AnnG well done to your grandson and great he has earned some money for Alzheimers too. What a lovely smiling photo memory of the day too.

Mel I read the other day that Asda tops the list of supermarkets sending subs, but you don't seem to get that many which is good. Have the Robins hatched yet? I want to check whether the Magpies are still feeding chicks or whether the Buzzard has been back. I doubt he'll leave it now he knows they are there.

Well, as I can't get on with much with this knee I might get my paints out and practice a few effects on some scrap paper after lunch. Thank goodness I did a meal in the slow cooker I can just heat up and add rice.

Yes he raised over £300 for Altzeimers. And I have sent the photo out now.

Morning girls,

Just caught up with the posts from yesterday as I did'nt check before turning the pc off last night.

Sunny morning here and 9 degrees and the shopping comes today with two subs. One is ok which is loo rolls and they have sent mega ones instead of standard but the other is baby potatoes which I usually have the extra special ones and they have sent firm and flavoursome ones which I have never had. Don't know whether to send them back or not???

I did say I loved the pics of the cows Annx they look well looked after and nice and clean.

Glad your home safe and sound and hope you had a better nights sleep on your own Vera. My oh used to snore even if he was on his side but I got used to it and it was quite comforting. It was the telly on I could'nt stand. I don't have that problem now as I don't even know how to turn the telly on in the bedroom never have never will.

Your grandson did well doing the marathon in 4 hours fifteen mins then. was he sponsered? and did you send out a pic as I hav't had one.

Not dressed yet so better get on incase the shopping cmes early.

Good morning all. 5 degrees here so chilly but bright and still dry. I don't think that, unfortuantely, there is no rain in the forecast.
Good to see that you had a good safe journey home Vera. and also that you had an enjoyable time with your son and daughter and son's family. Try not to overdo it today as you said you had a busy one. Hope you managed to sleep OK last night.
All being well I am off to Dobbies this afternoon with my friend who had a knee op about 9 weeks ago and is happy to be driving around again.
Have to water Cynth's potatoes first which are much larger than mine, because she planted them a lot earlier.

Evening ladies

We are home safe and sound and had a good journey back. Daughter is a very competent driver and the traffic wasn't too bad at all. She came back by a slightly different route which avoided the roadworks we encountered on the way there on Friday.

Annx, son and dil were supposed to move at the end of October but there was one delay after another and they eventually moved from Yorkshire Christmas week. They come under Warwickshire but are right on the edge of the Cotswolds. It is a lovely area. I was a bit puzzled and wondered what I had managed to miss with talk about cows but then someone mentioned a photo so I checked Spam and there it was. I like cows and your pictures are lovely. They seem to have plenty of lush grass to keep them going. For a few months over the summer we usually have Highland cattle in the water meadows by the river, so I shall have to check if they are around.

I haven't had much sleep for the last 3 nights as I've been sharing a room with a very loudly snoring OH. It's made worse because a leg problem means he has started sleeping most of the time on his back which is bad for snoring. So I am feeling quite tired and am going to try for an early night. I'll try to post tomorrow but I do have a full day including a Ladies Club meeting in the evening so you might not hear from me.

Sleep well tonight.

EDIT I meant to say Well Done your grandson AnnG. That's a good time for a marathon. Also my tomato seedlings seem to have survived OK while we've been away though I wish they would grow a bit quicker. They seem to be developing much more slowly than usual.

Afternoon All,

Chillier here today, so I had a coat on when we went to the bigger Co-op shop. We were the only ones there at the self service tills and OH couldn't get it to produce a receipt. The lady in the kiosk shouted across that that till isn't producing receipts. I said why not put a label on it to say so and she just said people would take it off. I didn't believe her, but why not cover the till or switch it off? How would we know we hadn't been overcharged or we might have needed a receipt if we were shopping for someone else? The new battery I got for my bedside clock soon got it going. OH said the old battery I took out had an expiry date of 2017 so it did well to last so long.

We never go anywhere on Bank Holidays either because of crowds, traffic and queues. In the past we might have gone for a walk along a canal, somewhere without many people.

While we were having lunch in the conservatory se saw two Buzzards high in the sky. One came down lower a distance away and was flapping around the top of the tall hedge as if he'd seen something, up he flew again without landing and the next thing he swooped down above the tree over our fence where the Magpie's nest is and flapped a minute before taking off again. He came back again after a few minutes and was trying to land but gave up and flew off again. I bet he'll be back again if he heard the chicks so I must keep my camera with me when we have lunch in there again just in case. It made me wonder if that's why Magpies have a twig roof on their nests.

OH has topped up the garden bin with more weeds and put it out for the morning and I have some chicken and veg in the slow cooker with a chicken tonight sauce and low salt stock cube.

I've just been amusing myself checking on line if any of my old cars in the past are still on the road or when their last MOT was and mileage! I need to search for of a photo of my last car though as I can't remember the Reg. It shows the last service and mileage of cars and I discovered my current diesel is ULEZ compliant so I can drive into London free of charge if I wish and being a diesel I didn't expect it to be.

Louis looked quite grown up in his birthday photo AnnG so he is probably not so cheeky now.........he probably had a talking to beforehand as well!

Yes the grass in the field is really long as nothing has been grazing there since the old farmer passed away last year Mel. It sounds like you have a bigger bramble problem than us, but OH was getting lots of small ones up here today to go in the garden bin. I prefer the small chunk Brantson too and their caramelised onion chutney is really nice on a cheese sandwich.

It's nice and cosy in a greenhouse when it's chilly Mandy so it's a good idea to do a job in there today.

I hope Vera has or had a good journey and that her OH's eye is doing well.

My youngest grandson ran the Milton Keynes marathon today in 4 hours fifteen.

Been up the border cutting out brimbles there's so many sowed theirselves up there. The wind had blown the Clematis on the iron thing down and the bearded iris had flowered through it all and I knocked a bud off trying to set it free and stand up the pinicle thing. Hav'nt picked everything up as Em came down for eggs and she had my Branston small chunk I could'nt get in Asda so we did a bit of bartering money wise for the eggs. If I can get some bits cleared up there I can put cardboard down and I have all that stuff from the shredder I can put on top.

Really enjoyed that this morning so colourful. Watched the fly past as well. Young Louis was very well behaved today, he must be getting better as he gets older.

I have sowed some seeds and had a tidy up in the shed. It dos'nt look much better yet I need to chuck a lot of stuff out.