General Chat

Morning all,

Bright morning here with a little sun ,should be another nice warm day then its down hill next week back to cooler weather.

What a shame the cake wasn't as good Vera ,you'll know next time to add just a little milk to loosen it a bit .

Anng at least you've caught the Robin before it's got a nest with eggs in ,hopefully it will find somewhere else to nest .

Ann thats good OH has got back to going to the football games again but I bet you worried until he was home I know I would have if it was Colin out for the first time on his own.

Oh Mel more deer eating your plants then if she looks like she's carrying again .
I haven't forgotten your little bits you wanted I have to do one now and again as my fingers play up after gardening I think its using the secateurs.

We went to see family yesterday, poor son had toothache again and has antibiotics for it ,he did say they all enjoyed the trifle last night .

Just having a cuppa.

The only time I can tell which Robin is which is when he is feeding her. The pair round by the chicken wait for me to put some fat sticks on the top wood of the run. They have both been there in the mornings and afternoons lately waiting in the holly tree and as soon as I put the fat up there and walk away they are down and eat it and he always takes her a piece and feeds her in the holly tree while I am watching from a distance. If its a really cold morning hse comes down first and takes one then waits for him to feed her.

I see you have all been busy in the garden now have a rest today. I am itching to get out and do something but can't with this boot thing on and have to put my wellies on to go to the chickens. Thinkj I may have another sweep out the front again today as the birds are still chucking the moss off the roof.

Mornig all not read yesterdays posts yet so be back in mo.

Been watching the mum deer and her two babies from the other year. She looks like she may be carrying again.

Good morning all.on another bright morning. It is going to be a nasty shock when we revert to 'normal' weather again. it is cooler this morning at only 3 degrees. Yesterday around this time it was 9. Still as long asit stays dry I don't mind.
Vera, even though I was out there almost an hour I seemed to get very little done. And I really suffered with my back yesterday evening too. It is a bit easier this morning and I slept well. I did put Ibruleve gel on it last night which helped.
The trouble with my back is that I can never tell if it is the gardening (yesterday involved a bit of bending to pull up weeds), or the indoor work which yesterday involved sitting at the table doing monthly accounts and sitting at the computer for an hour writing a letter etc.

Anyway I am not planning on doing much today but we shall see.

Vera, what a shame the cake was disappointing. Is it trifle today??

I think that, given it will be busy down that passageway by the house, the robin is going to have to take its chances. I will avoid the bit where it is but it has plenty of tome to go and build another safer nest.

Good morning

It’s a fairly bright day but not much sun yet. It’s 7 degrees but there’s a cool breeze so it feels colder

I slept reasonably well but was awake at 4.30 am. I just lay and half dozed till 6.30 when I decided I might as well get up. OH was up just after 7. I have no idea what I’ll do today. OH’s 12.30 optician appointment breaks the day up. I expect I’ll just potter about.

Have a good day everyone whatever your plans.

You’ve been busy in the garden again AnnG. Perhaps your robin will build another nest somewhere else. They are infuriating birds. They are supposed to be ground feeders who love mealworms. Our robin won’t go near a ground feeder or touch mealworms. He/she will only eat sunflower seeds from a feeder hanging from a tree.

I hope your OH enjoyed his football match and was able to relax for an hour or two Annx. Why are people so inconsiderate when they park? There are a few narrow lanes with passing places round here and the council have had to put up Do Not Park notices because people park in a passing place and go off for a walk. The boarding in our loft is there permanently now. Your sister’s birthday will have been a day of memories for you, happy ones I hope.

My cake was disappointing. The first time I made it we both thought how good it was but it seemed quite dry this time. I measured and timed everything carefully but I should have gone with my instinct and added a bit more liquid and perhaps adjusted the timing a bit. I will make it again as my first attempt was successful.

OH has an appointment with the optician tomorrow. I don’t know how long they have been seeing patients on Sundays. It’s at 12.30 which is an awkward time so we’ll have to have our dinner in the evening. I’ll need to go with him in case they put drops in his eye as he won’t be able to drive home in that case.

I hope you all sleep well tonight.

Some sad memories for you then Ann, but I hope happy ones too

Yes, it's the parents watching children's football on the park that are causing some of the problems AnnG. Even on the reasonably sized carpark there they block people in by parking down the middle of it, assuming everyone there is watching the match. They've churned up all the roadside verge parking down one road at the side of the park and also park on pavements the other side of the road leaving just one lane for traffic coming each way. Then they park all along the winding road into the village reducing that to one lane for traffic travelling in both directions and fill the shop carpark. Your Robin is not happy with you is he/she. Maybe another site will be found if you or Jake are walking up and down there and making some noise.

It would have been my sister's 69th birthday today.

It has clouded over here now but is still quite pleasant and still 17 degrees. Our one day summer I guess.

Frustrating if you need to go to the shop and all the parking is taken, sounds like chaos with the parking on the road. Is it mainly people watching the children's football matches? that is what we get in the village and even though sometimes the rugby club offer their parking area when they don't need it these young parents would rather park on the road. which is a bus rout so it causes a lot of problems.

Robin, either mr or mrs, not sure I only see one at a time when I go round there and it throws a paddy zooming past my head. It seems to be a very young very small robin and the nest is in a really precarious place, it is just a pile of leaves on the edge of a shelf. It is out of the rain but I can't see it surviving. I am secretely hoping it will go and build another nest somewhere else.

a shame that your OH's friend was too ill to go to football but better he got the flu before they went, as you say G really does not need flu right now.

Afternoon All,

More glorious sunshine then has opened all the Tete a Tete little daffodils. I was pleased to see some of my pink Chionodoxa on the front have escaped being dug up, as the ones that were dug up to go round the back last year perished before they were planted. Now I can salvage these that got left behind.

I cut OH's hair before we showered and went to the shop. As well as sport on the little park, there was an event on at the village hall, so cars were parked in ridiculous places, including round all the bends making them blind and younger people take no care and speed round the bends even when they can't see what's coming the other way, so we met some head on. It meant the shop carpark was almost full and a huge queue in there to pay at the till. When we got home I smashed the rest of the pot that the frost broke and transferred the black grass that was in a plant pot in it to another ceramic pot. OH came outside and we pulled up just a bucketful of weeds for the garden bin between us. I see you are tackling the weeds too AnnG. I hope the Robin finds more suitable accomodation!

He's gone to a local match now, but on his own as the friend he was going with texted him to say he was in bed with the flu!! OH doesn't need to catch that, so they are going to meet up for a coffee once his friend is better.

I tried ringing the bathroom place to see if they had brought out a later catalogue, but found they shut on Saturday afternoons now! What with eateries often being shut on Mondays and our Pharmacy closing on Saturdays it looks like other places are closing at less busy times to save staffing costs.

I can't get my old camera to charge and have tried 2 different batteries in it. It might be the charger or the camera, but I don't fancy paying the price for a new charger in case it's the camera!

Mandy young Lewis soon learned to ride on his older bike then. I imagine he soon wanted to be able to like his older siblings. His new bike sounds good and needs to be under cover like you say. When I was young I used to leave my bike anywhere, but there are too many thieves about nowadays. A tracker sounds like a good idea.

It sounds like you have a choice between Swallows or Wrens in the shed Mel.

I hope your Manor House cake turns out well Vera. Can the boarding put down in your loft stay there now?

I think I will carry on with more wardrobe and drawer sorting to start filling another bag next, after a COT.

Just spent just under an hour in the garden. Cutting back more ivy and trying to stop it choking a rambling rose which has managed to get through. I then pulled up quite a lot of grass growing in the borders along the gravel. I guess the grass is from the original lawn.

Mel it is a problem but whether the wren builds in the swallows place or not is not a human problem. that is for rhe birds to sort out I think. aren't we told we should not interfere with nature?

My birds had pancakes this morning Vera! The suns out n ow but theres a very cold wind and for all of the 10 degrees it feels cold out there. My hands were frozen when I came in and are still cold now.

It is a problem Mel but a nice problem to have. I would love to see some birds nesting here. At our old house we had wrens nesting on the outside of our shed, right on the door jamb. The big mower lived in the garage thank goodness but if we wanted anything out of the shed we had to carefully open the door a few inches and try and sidle in. Good job we were both slim.

I've made a Manor House cake this morning from Mandy's recipe and that's cooking now. When I made it before we both enjoyed it but found it a little bit sweet for our taste so I've cut the sugar down a little bit but I didn't want to leave too much out because of messing up the balance with the other ingredients. The mixture also seemed a bit stiffer than I remembered from last time. I'll let you know what it's like. If I've messed it up the birds will be in for a treat - cake crumbs with lots of sultanas.

It seems I have the same problem as last year. I have just seen Mr. Wren going into the filter shed with a beak full of moss. I hav'nt been round there yet to see where he is building the nest but shall go later on. I have the little window open on the shed but not the door. Shall I close the window or not and let him build his nest in there but it could be on the Swallows nest again????

Morning girls,

Much brighter here this mroning than it was yesterday its 10 degrees and pc is telling me tomorrows high may break the record.

Just the hsop to do this morning and then I shall just potter about doing what I wnat to do. Slept really well but a bit achey when I woke up.

Good morning

9 degrees and bright here too. It was a warmer night so no frost this morning.

It sounds as though things are moving along for you now Annx. Lovely for OH to get the flowers; it just shows how much he is appreciated.

I hope you enjoyed your overcooked sponge cake Mandy. My answer to any sponge cake failures is to freeze them and then use them up in trifles.

I haven’t got any plans for the day. I might just potter about.

Good morning all quite bright and nine degrees here this morning. slept well last night. Not sure what I am doing today. Could go to town but I will decide later. Hope you all had a good night

Mel you could write a book about your lawn mowers.

Good that BiL took you to get all you needed.

Vera pleased that was done and poor OH all the blame and it was not his fault after all.
I hope you don’t have any problems both of you after your wine shifting routine. See all that wine is obviously not good for you.

Ann how lovely, another bouquet for OH his work is obviously appreciated.

At least you have found someone to fit a rail even if you have to wait

Mandy so all that work caused you more work.

That was handy BIL could drive you to get the bits you wanted Mel saved you having to drive with your foot .

Oh Ann that was good you both had a better night ,it does make a difference to how you feel the next day .
Lewis could ride his new bike ok he did have a smaller bike but I think son is hoping this one will last till he finishes school ,it wants too as they paid over three hundred pounds for it ,I think son was thinking of putting a tracker on it as its the make that the thieves go for, at the moment he brings it into the kitchen as the bike shed they have isn't big enough for it so they've now bought a new bike shed , no way would son let him leave it in the garden.

Vera that must have been a picture you both bent over trying to shift these boxes with your bad backs ,I'm sure the plumber would have helped you out with them ,he was using your ladder after all.
That's good it was an easy fix one less thing to worry about .

I made a sponge for family but I did a silly thing ,when it was in the oven I thought the handles on the cooker looked quite dusty in the sunshine so I wiped the handles then just wiped over the knobs on the cooker which moved the oven knob over to a higher heat ,when the timer went off I opened the door and thought oh they have got really brown this time ,when I went to turn the oven off I could see why it had gone up to 200
So we had that sponge and I made them another one , I made a nice orange trifle just got to put some cream on top in the morning .
Got two loads of washing dry , I had so much I used all ths pegs I had ,where does it all come from ,we must be very messy people to make all this washing :-D

Oh dear Mel, your bil does seem to have a problem with the mowers. Is he a bit heavy handed? Still, he’s very good to come so often to help and it’s handy that he’s driving you to Holsworthy. You did well to drive to get your feet done but that’s probably enough for one day.

Plumber has just gone, he was only here about 20 minutes. He went up in the loft and took some photos to show OH. It wasn’t OH’s repair from 10 years ago after all. That’s still intact. It was something to do with a pipe from the shower and was easily fixed. Now we just have to wait for the bill from the emergency plumbing service we used. Goodness knows how much it will be. The chap who came has now given us his direct number so if we want him again we can go direct to him. It’s been a faff having to get the loft boarded and constantly waiting in for workman to come but it’s reassuring to find out what was wrong and get it fixed without OH trying to do it himself.

We’re getting there. Next thing is for the glazier to come back next week with the new window for the kitchen. I’m certainly feeling more cheerful and optimistic than I did a couple of weeks ago.