Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 27 March 2016

Morning all:

Lindybird: Very good verse! Throwing in the trowel was exactly what I did (after I howled in frustration). :-)

Brenda/Heather: Quite a few people here have installed water softeners, but I gather they have their "cons" as well as their "pros."  Our bathroom shower heads don't get blocked thanks to some spiffy product they (Grohe) use for the nozzles, but the surrounding hardware gets gunky. I soak those in vinegar and water now and then, which helps, but in the garden I'm finding it's best to use plastic connections which, though not so tough, don't seem to gunk up as much as metal connections. Still, in the greater scheme of things, this is a minor problem, given that some people in the world have no access to clean water at all, hard or soft.

OG: I imagine you're not sleeping well and are still fuzzy headed, leaving little energy for chatting. Take care of yourself and let the boys take care of you too.

Margo: Also hoping you're doing somewhat better. Hugs to you.

Off to sort out the day.

Hi, all.

Cold here with a High Wind Advisory. Gusts up to 55mph this afternoon. It's making me jumpy. Then a Hard Freeze Warning tonight. There's snow just north of me. I've just had a prolonged and stern discussion with a fox squirrel. I heard a loud plonk on my roof. I thought a limb fell and went outdoors to investigate, only to find the squirrel staring down at me from the roof.

I said, "Get down from there. The roof is in bad enough shape!" Without any urgency, she wandered out of my sight. I walked down my sidewalk to make sure she left, and there she was, sitting on the far edge of the roof grooming herself. I clapped my hands and said, "Get down! You know the rules. No wildlife on or in the house!" She gave me an irritated look like "Dang, woman, we thought you were nice!" None of the animals are afraid of me. LOL

I don't want her getting any ideas about chewing a hole into the attic and turning it into a squirrel maternity ward for the spring. LOL I added, "Don't even think about the car, either!" She was cute, though. :-)

Brenda: I hope you enjoy your visit with your daughter. Ruby is a fine dog. Very sweet.

OG: Hope you're feeling at least a little better today. Sending you good energy.

AQ: I'm sorry about your arthritis pain. Hope your wrist heals well.

Lindy: Nice verse. I hope you feel better and that your area doesn't have major flooding.

Annette: Sorry the fountain required so much effort. Well done on creatively repairing the wind chimes!

Heather: Hope the fencing man didn't damage any of your plants. A rude response from your neighbor!

Margo: Hugs to you!

Everyone enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Good afternoon everyone, Its seems an age since I last sat down and messaged.

I hadn't been well for a number of weeks with unexplained right sided pain, all the tests and scans etc showed nothing.

So after many weeks, the pain suddenly resolved?! very odd.

So i'm back exercising with no symptoms at all.

My mum had been very ill with pancreatitis,  she is now recovering well, although gone from 15 stone to just under 9, she needed to lose weight, ideally not so quickly, but that was the least of her troubles.

My daughter and partner had a baby girl, 10lb 6oz 4 weeks ago born by caesarean, a little sister for Seth.

I am babysitting later, their first evening out for weeks.

Secretly dreading it in a way, its been a while as Seth is now 5, I have lost touch where babies are concerned, I have

told Laura (daughter) I need babies evening routine written down :/

Our Spocker Spaniel 'Indie' is now nearing her 1st birthday, after all our previous doubts whether to have a puppy or not, she's a little gem.

Training classes have been going very well, she still needs more work on her heel walking, but they say these things take time, we live in hope.  We have spoken about agility training, due to her high energy levels, not too sure if we are fit enough.

She has settled in with our 2 cats very well, the cats will now tolerate her in the same room, they soon put her in her place if she puts a paw wrong.  Indie sat whimpering on one occasion, when we suddenly realised that Oska was blocking the way through, she hadn't dared to pass, we did laugh.

Anyway I am now going to read through the recent posts before I head off to Bedford to babysit.

Have a good evening everyone.

How nice to hear from you, Tina.  You sound very busy: congrats on your daughter producing a granddaughter for you. I'm sure you'll enjoy your babysitting! :-)

Diane - enjoyed hearing about your conversation with the squirrel.  Hope the winds and cold don't do any damage to your house.

It's been very wet here again - after raining non stop all night, our feet sank into the grass where we park the car this morning, and it continued to rain, so we wrapped ourselves up and went in search of a coffee in a cafe we know with a good view of the coast and of the rolling, churning waves of the sea. The cafe was warm & welcoming, and my OH enjoyed a freshly made hot scone with jam with his coffee, whilst I had a mug of hot chocolate with cream & marshmallows on top!

We bought newspapers on the way back, then had eggs on toast for lunch and sat by a roaring gas fire to watch the rain! It sounds as if other parts of the UK had sunshine today. It finally dried out at about 5.00pm, so we went in the car to a nearby beachside walk - during the winter, some of the path had been eroded. Bonnie enjoyed meeting other dogs and having a gambol about. She also ran around with a couple of dead fish she found, but thankfully left them on the ground.

We talked on the drive back about how she is finally beginning to mature. I watched a super Starling murmuration against the backdrop of Snowdonia, as we returned. There were a lot of tiny lambs in the gorse bordered fields, and folks have planted cheerful daffs in the hedgerows - lovely.  When we got back we realised that Bonnie smelt of the fish, so a wash in warm water was in order before she was allowed inside!   We dried her off, then whilst my OH went for his own well earned shower & brush up, Bonnie looked decidedly green -- if a dog can look green!! I grabbed one of her bedding mats just in time to stop her throwing up on the carpet....  she had eaten a large very old starfish we had noticed on our walk......

Ditto, TINA, welcome back! Good luck with the babysitting. I had a 14 year old here this evening and realised that I simply cannot communicate with teenagers!

There are times I think teenagers can only communicate with handheld gadgets.

In bed now....Damp dog, feeling decidedly sorry for herself, has dried out. As she had doggy shampoo applied to her white chest area, she looks very smart, for the moment....

I got undressed and realised that I've been wearing my comfy stretchy trousers back to front, all day!  As they are nowadays baggy around the knee area, I must have looked strange from the back.....LOL!!

Hope that both OG and Margo feel lots better tomorrow.