General Chat

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.

Afternoon All,

Another nice sunny day. We had a good night and were up early and went to Costa for a decaf skinny latte and egg and mushroom small cobs. OH picked up a book he'd got a good discount on from Waterstones opposite and then we called in Sainsbury's. We can't get Mullerice on the Asda orders anymore and he likes those, so we got those and some crispbreads he fancied. We picked up a few other bits and bobs and then called in the usual shop for me to pick up an Amazon delivery. It is some A-Z pages for my notebook so I can get it organised better.

I called the curtain rail fitter I'd found and heard a disconnected sound so it looks like he isn't trading anymore. Not to be beaten I rang a large curtain warehouse to see if they knew of a rail fitter and they did and gave me his details. I rang him and he told me he was out of action for a month following an operation, so I wished him well and said I would phone again in 5 weeks to see how things were. At least I'm not in a rush for it to be done.

A lovely bouquet of flowers arrived this afternoon from one of the multi academy school trusts OH does work for, which was a nice surprise.

I'm looking forward to meeting up with Fitz next week. He will be having his hip operation in April so I imagine will be out of action for a little while after that.

That's good BIL took you to get provisions for the chickens Mel. They need feeding up with producing all the eggs for you now. :-) What a cost for a part for the new mower though! Everything is shooting up in price.

Thank you Mandy. I hope OH doesn't have to wait long for the scan too. At least it should be quicker than the NHS. I remember those little outfits with the caps too. Could Lewis already ride a two wheeler bike or did he have to learn on his new bike he had for Christmas? I was aged 7 when I had a two wheeler that was too big for me and dad had to screw wooden blocks on the pedals.

I'm glad the plumber arrived Vera and that the pipe will soon be sorted. What a game though with the two of you moving the cases of wine with bad backs. It does sound like a sitcom sketch, so I hope you haven't both made things worse!

Not much frost this morning and it’s another bright sunny day. I haven’t seen much of the sun as I’ve been having a h/w day

I think OH may have overdone the gardening over the last couple of days as his back is bad as well now. So that’s 2 of us hobbling about and groaning. Just before lunch we had a delivery of wine - 3 cases of it. The driver put it in the garage for us for OH to unpack and put in racks out there. Then we realised it was in the way of the ladders the plumber would need so we had to move it. Lunch was ready and we didn’t know when the plumber would come so we didn’t really have time to unpack it all. We just had to get 3 large, heavy boxes out of the way. You should have seen us. Talk about comic cuts. First we had to manoeuvre a box onto an old sack barrow whose handle wouldn’t stay up. Then I had to bend double with the sack barrow horizontal to the floor and stagger backwards while OH bent double to stop the box falling off and shuffled forwards, all the while trying not to bump into the car, the freezer, the work bench and all the junk piled up waiting to go to the tip. We had to go through this process 3 times. It would have made a good sketch for The Two Ronnies :-D. Methinks our next purchase will be a nice strong sack barrow.

Hooray, plumber has just arrived in his car. His van which broke down on the way to us last time is still out of action which is why we are providing the ladders. I think I’ll stay well out of the way. Keep your fingers crossed that it can all be fixed this time.

BIL came not long after I was back from having my toenails done at the surgery. I managed to get my proper shoe on ok and drove there myself which was ok. BIL came not long after I was back and went up the top to do something to the new mower and then came down a little while later and he said he would drive me to Holsworthy as I needed chicken corn, pellets and a bale of wood shavings. He's now gone back up to Em's dads up the top where he keeps the new mower. He managed to bend the lifting bar for the grass box to empty it and had to buy a new one so he can take the one he bent on the tree branch, back to work with him to get it straightened out so he will then have a spare if he should manage to do it again. The new one was £90.!!

I walked down to Irene's then had a little tidy up down the side of the house until disturbed by a very cross robin. I do hope he or she is not nesting down ther as Jake and co will be working down there next week. Once before they built a nest down there but never used it.

Been to the foot doctor to have my nails cut so now I m all comfortable. Went in my shoes and my foot is a lot better today.

Morning all,

No frost this morning but ths suns shining so it's going to be another sunny warm day

Got one lot of washing done another has just gone in the machine so I'll get those out on the line ,want yo make family a cake and a nice trifle I think.

Mel the girls costumes I made quite a few years ago now was for a trip they did to our local museum, I made those mop caps and little white aprons with black skirts.

Ann thats good things now seem to be going in the right direction for OH hope the MRI scan soon comes through .

I did a post last night and lost the lot when it whooshed off to i don't know where .

Morning all,

Its 10 degrees here but cloudy with grey skies and no wind to speak of. Slept very well.

It was only to check how you were as you said you were in pain. But that was on another thread not this one. But it was only six days ago and I was not worried as you often take a while to reply

AnnG I've only just seen your email this evening. I'll reply tomorrow eve, x

It clouded over here just after lunchtime and now there are a few spits and spots of rain I saw on the pond. Its 11 degrees and pc says light rain. So its on its way. I did'nt think the nice weather was going to lst much longer but I just hope when it rains it knows when to stop.

Good to hear all your news Annx. I am surprised you have time to breathe at the moment. Your poor OH has been messed around with his eyes but will feel reassured now he has seen Doctor Sarah again. Although I am sure he is still stressed he does seem to be doing well after his cardiac arrest. Best wishes to him. You are getting on with things around the house as well. Let's hope the new lock means you have no more problems with your front door.

I hope Stu turns up to help you eat your chicken casserole Mel. If he doesn't perhaps you could freeze a portion to have another time.

Mandy, I remember World Book Day well. We always seemed to be in Yorkshire when it came around and would be roped in to think of ideas and help put together costumes for 3 granddaughters. I particularly remember the year only the youngest was left at primary school and it was all planned for her to go as one of the Harry Potter characters. Then she found out that virtually her whole class would be in Harry Potter costumes and refused to be the same as everyone else. Cue a rapid rethink. I came up with Lyra from His Dark Materials as she could wear stuff from her own wardrobe. We rustled up a shoulder bag with a stuffed toy meerkat poking his head out and we told everyone that it was Pantalaimon, Lyra's daemon. The things we do for our grandchildren, lol.

AnnG, our coffee get-together must have been going nearly 20 years, apart from a break during lockdown. It has always been very fluid, people just turning up if they feel like it and, of course, over the years we have lost people to ill-health or death or moving house. There can be any number between 4 and 12. We probably average 7 or 8. There are, however, now only 3 men who come and I knew that the other 2 (and their wives) wouldn't be there this morning because of other commitments so OH decided not to come and be the only man. This morning there were 5 ladies there and it was very pleasant chatting.

I left OH gardening while I went for coffee but was quite nervous about what I would find when I got back. He had cut all the dead helenium down. I would have left it a little bit longer while we are still getting frosts but I don't think the clumps will come to much harm. He had also cut down 3 grasses and they should be OK. I was quite relieved; it could have been a lot worse. On the old gardening thread that some of us used to post on he was known as Mr Crewcut.

Two other good things happened today. The original plumber eventually rang us and is coming in tomorrow afternoon and our doctors' surgery rang to book us in for a spring Covid jab. We are leading such a normal life now that I would probably have forgotten about booking a jab so I'm glad they rang us. It's not till 9th April but it's on the calendar now.

Time to get my lamb casserole in the oven and have an afternoon cuppa. I might even sit outside with it before the temperature starts to drop. I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine too.

I don't think you could have made the post shorter with so much to tell us. Good that G is going to football again, that will make him feel more 'normal'. He has obviously been very lucky being one of the 5%. Hopefully things will start to move more quickly now.

And goodness you have managed to get a lot sorted around the house too. Good that they have at last fitted a new lock to your front door. I have Jake coming next tuesday to start on this years list. I have discovered that they have a waste disposal licence so have asked him to clear a lot of junk that has accumulated down the side of the house.