Diane: Will REALLY miss you on here. Like Heather, I enjoy your updates on RTH and other critters.
Spoke to niece in Newport Pagnell today via Facetime; saw pix of her cats snuggled by the fire and snow piled up in the garden.
Have been shopping for a new laptop and a replacement iPhone (an older model) so I can pass on mine to one or other family member with an even more ancient and failing model. My laptop screen keeps dimming plus odd video symptoms pop up and it turned itself off the other day. Costco has a really good deal on one and I do like what they call their "concierge" service that adds another year to the manufacturer's warranty. They were a great help in resolving a problem with a new TV we bought some years back when the manufacturer and local service person flaked out - they arranged to have someone drive up from Los Angeles to sort it out (we ended up with a replacement), but Costco handled the whole thing.
Have a good Sunday everyone.
Good morning, ANNETTE, and thanks for starting the week. I think OH will be trying to dig the cars out of the ice today.
Good morning to ALL.
BBL.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Good Morning, and thank you to Annette for starting us off. Hope your shopping is successful.
Cold still, here, but at least the snow is almost gone. Hard to think that your car is still snowbound OG, after all this time. Hope EE takes his time in digging the snow, it's a lot of effort.
We are staying in and finalizing our packing. A lot of my shorts don't fit me as I've been comfort eating, can't live on lettuce in these temps!
Today's pic(s) --
Thought we'd cheer ourselves by seeing some of my first flowers of the year in our garden:
Well the last three days have been interesting (not). It snowed heavily all day Thursday leaving us with 3ft snowdrifts around the bungalow and very much no exit for OH. Friday I managed to get a person sized track from front door to road and managed to stumble around to the chemist to find it closed. Rather an urgent prescription in there. OH found a Facebook blog page which a lady had set up “Forest of Dean and surrounding area Roadwatch”. It was very busy with road enquiries help requests and offers of help where possible. Saturday I bit the bullet and posted for help to clear a way out for us. Within minutes we had an offer from a couple living 10 minutes walk away. The village also has a community orchard with Facebook presence and OH asked for help from there. In half an hour we had 5 people furiously digging. It took half an hour between them to clear us a power chair sized path right to the road. We were both very grateful as I would never have been able to do that in less than 3-4 days minimum.
It has now started to thaw at last and local roads are now passable, some with care and I should be able to go shopping tomorrow and get prescription. It would now be nice to see if we still have a sun! Meanwhile no Sunday lunch round the pub for us today, they ran out of food yesterday. It may not seem like it but there is one hell of a lot of community spirit here when it is necessary.
Lindy: As for our flowers, they are under heaps of snow!
Good morning - and thank you, ANNETTE.
I keep meaning to ask, ANNETTE - how are the folk doing who were evacuated the other day? Are they back at home yet?
OG - Maybe EE will be able to use the car tomorrow for Monday shopping? How are the roads around you now? I hope that EE will take it easy when clearing the ice.
LINDY - After a few days in the sun and doing your usual walks on the island, your shorts will fit! My friend in Wales, who was widowed just before me, has suggested that the two of us go away to the sun at some point. She is coming up to spend a few days here, in the Spring and we will have a chat about it. We first met in Tenerife, many years ago and her OH and mine became firm friends who had a lot in common.
FORESTBOAR - So glad that you asked for help with the snow clearing. You are certainly part of a very caring community.
My two sleeping beauties - granddaughters Amy and Katie - will be woken soon when I start making loud kitchen type noises. They crept up to bed at about 2am. I slunk downstairs to ensure that all lights etc were switched off. Everything was fine. I had to chuckle - they had even plumped up the cushions on the sofas! They had better be ready to eat soon as I think the plan is for lunch at Pizza Express. Eldest son in law will join us as his trip to a bike show in the central belt was cancelled due to weather.
LINDY Love your spring flowers.
HEATHER Going away with your friend sounds a nice idea.
My poor cousin has to have a feeding tube inserted into her stomach on Tuesday as she now has trouble swallowing. She will still be able to eat puddings and drink soup, but the tube will be used for the supplements she needs. She just goes from one medical problem to another. I do feel for her.
Hi! J helped OH with snow and ice removal (two hours work with hot drink between) – both cars liberated! Good thaw has set in – nice and slow so no flood risk here. Actually trying to rain now, and that is included in forecast for next couple of days – with temps no lower than 3 degrees. Looks like J will be able to get to jury duty tomorrow – if he can’t drive on local roads, I suspect OH will assist and take him to the bus station before going shopping – main road is real black tarmac now. I myself have no intention of attempting outside yet! We aren’t sure where the new car is right now, as we don’t know whether the hoist man managed to collect it in the recent weather!
Annette – good luck with tech shopping! I hope you find what you are looking for, with some level of after-sales support.
Linda – sorry about the shorts – but I am sure cotton trousers will be suitable attire. Nice to see the bulbs. I think our crocuses may have finished, but haven’t had my nose outside the front door to check! Snowdrops will probably reappear from under the snow by about Tuesday!
ForestBoar – glad you received the help you needed – I hope the medication delay has not caused any problems.
Heather – good for you to be making holiday plans with your friend from Wales. Since you met on holiday, you will have experience of your common interests when in foreign parts, so you should get on alright. Will the girls mind having a parent sharing a meal today? Enjoy the rest of the weekend with them.
Dibnlib – sorry about further bad news of your cousin – will she be remaining in hospital?
Good afternoon from a snowy Kirkcaldy haven't posted for a while but have been keeping up to date. This cold weather has been causing me some problems as my heating stopped working because of a frozen condensate pipe and as it have way up the building I could not reach it so had to wait till the temp rose for the heating to work and this happened both Wed and Thurs but now the temp is on the up having no problems. Went outside yesterday and cleared a road to my bins and to the bird feeders as the snow had been drifting and it was at least 18 ins. deep. I keep my car in a garage on a site at my back door and when I looked the snow was about 2feet deep but when I checked this morning some kind person had cleared the whole site so I will be able to get my car out the garage to go shopping as I am getting low on milk.
Had a visit from my son last week and we had a run around Fife ending up at Loch Leven Larder and the place has been altered since I was last there.
I think their is a thaw on and I hope everyone keeps warm and I hope the ospreys stay away until the weather improves.
Keep well everyone
george g
ForestBoar - So good to hear that you got lots of help with your snow clearing. Good neighbours are such a boon. Hope you can both get out and about, now. My photos of the flowers were taken a whole week before it snowed! The crocus are looking decidedly sad now, but the hardy snowflakes are still blooming all around the garden.
OG I see you have also been released from being trapped at home, but I don't blame you for not wanting to go out just yet. It's still cold, though it's all thawing now thank goodness. I will manage 3 pairs of shorts, so am taking some extra pairs of short leg type trousers for going out & about in. I'm determined not to rush out and buy new shorts in a larger size, or I won't make the effort to slim down a bit this summer!
Dibnlib - Such sad news of your poor cousin. Some people have no luck. The medical staff are wonderful in these cases, but it's no consolation.
Excited to see that I will be here for the announcements of the winners of The Oscars this year, as I am usually away this week and then can't find out what the results are unless I can manage to buy the newspaper for Monday. Not sure I'll stay up that late, though!
Nice to hear from you, George, and that someone has also cleared your snow. The problem with the gas boiler seems to have been quite widespread: It was on Facebook and the cure mentioned, which is to put hot water on the pipe. Not easy if yours is too high up, though! My OH, who knew this solution, went out 2 days ago to someone we know, and took a bucket of hot water with him - which did the trick! Their boiler is quite new but they had no idea it could be cured so easily.
I was thinking about the ospreys' return and hoping that they don't rush back!