Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 2 July 2017

HEATHER   like you I always think I have done something particularly daft with my specs. Washing machine and fridge come to mind.

LINDY    The Queen tribute were excellent. Mercury was amazing and his energy boundless.

OG  Great meal at Riva and like you the service very attentive. Last time we went with friends the service was pretty poor, so pleased it has improved.

Relieved to hear that Heather has found her specs. It's soo annoying when you can't find something but are convinced that it's not far away....

Not surprised, really, that you're still finding it difficult in social situations, OG. You were very poorly and for a long time, so it takes a while to get back into the swing of things. Maybe you should just do things in only short spurts, for a while.

Glad you had a good time at the concert, Dibnlib. I would have been swaying, and joining in!

I walked into the town but found it more of an effort than usual, as it's still very warm, though cloudy. Now sitting down with a cuppa and hoping to see some of the tennis today. Lots of Brits still in!

Forgot to say, yesterday, that when we sat quietly in the garden we were thrilled to see a male GS Woodpecker on our feeders. We've not had one for a couple of years, and my OH reported that there were no signs of nesting in our nearby woods.

DIBNLIB, - I'm a great QUEEN fan, daughter and I listened to a CD last night.

OG- After all you have been through, I would think that a reactive low mood and the other things you mentioned were almost inevitable. Thinking of you.

Hope that you are making headway with your chores, LINDY!

I have done some of them .....but not all!  Also had a minor drama this morning, will write about The Great Dog Bed Wash later!!

HEATHER   Yes a great band and still on tour. At Brian May's behest they reformed in 2005 with someone called Adam Lampart (I think) as their frontman. He will be on Ken Bruce next week chasing "tracks of my years"

I'll be listening out for that, then, Dibnlib.

I've just had a nice phone chat with Brenda's husband, John.

He wanted us all to know that their daughter Beccy gave birth to a daughter a month ago, who they have named Dorothy Margot. Mother and child are both doing well.

He said in our chat that he thought that our Margo would have been so thrilled about the new project for Ospreys at Poole Harbour, right next door to where Margo lived. We both agreed that Our Margo will now be looking down and nodding approval. :-)

The Big Wet Dog Bed Wash:

As it's been good weather for it, I've looked around for things to wash. I promised my OH that I would see to one of the dog beds being laundered today, but only remembered it after I had dressed ready to go out this morning. We have two of those softly structured oval dog beds made from a kind of fleece fabric.

I got hold of the dirtiest one, and put it into a Belfast sink we have in a corner of the garage, together with some liquid detergent. Then sloshed in lots of warm water - the sink soon filled up, and the bed soaked up the water as I tried to move the bed around, wearing rubber gloves. After a while, I decided to let it soak for a bit while I ran around and closed all the windows in the house.

The dog bed obligingly made the water very dirty, so I let it all drain then filled up the sink again, twice.  It was very hard to move the thing around, as it nearly filled the sink, but I decided it would have to do, and looked around for something big enough to transport it outside to dry. I found one of those rectangular boxes we all bought a few years ago, in a drive by Sainsburys to encourage us all to reuse things for our shopping.

It was an effort to get the thing into the box, but at least it had handles, so I lugged it out onto the lawn and tried to ignore the fact that I'd got a wet "shirt front" doing it.... There was obviously no point in trying to use pegs, so I looked up at our "roundabout" washing line.  Hmmnn..... it's quite high... I'd have to lodge the thing over the stretched lines to dry.

I decided in my wisdom "I'll only get one go at this!"  -  so I drained off some water, grabbed the fabric, and flung it upwards with all my might...  You've guessed it, of course.....  it went up and over, but was then directly above me.  It dripped a deluge straight down, soaking me below in the process.

I rearranged it a bit, then ruefully looked at my rubber gloves. If only I could have worn a complete wet suit!!!

I went upstairs to change out of my Best T Shirt......

LINDY- I could picture it!!!  Just the sort of thing that would happen here. Thanks for making me chuckle- I hope you don't mind :-)

Nice to hear news from BRENDA's family. Thank you for passing it on.

Good evening, all.  OH was rained off in the garden this afternoon, but is going to do a bit now, I think.

Heather – good to see that the specs turned up!

Dibnlib – pleased it was a good evening, both meal and show, celebrating your OH’s birthday.

Linda – I too received a call from Brenda’s OH.  Sad that she never saw her first grandchild, but good to see some good news for the family, and to know that John can now drive again after all the eye problems he had. 

              I had a good laugh at the dog-bed washing account – sorry!

Another beautiful evening now – I wish we could have more of this lovely sunshine during the day.