Will catch up later, but see the last page of yesterday's chat for updates from folks - including the last one from Diane!
Oh Annette, not another new week already!!! I hope you have sorted your priorities and invested in carrot cake. LOL
Alan - I was puzzled that ospreys were nesting so late in the season in New Zealand. Ah ha, ‘tis Dunedin, Florida, not Dunedin NZ. Another new geography fact learnt from the bird blog.
Margo - What a beautiful e-card. Thank you for your kind words.
Dibnlib - Poor seal with icy whiskers but big beautiful eyes.
Linda - Sorry you have been unwell. Not good at any time, but worse in these busy weeks.
Diane - Great to hear from you. Very wise to wait a month or so before deciding where/what and all that.
Hello to everyone I have not mentioned.
Last night I completed Xmas cards to interstate & country friends. Then forgot to post them after church this morn. Never mind we are out visiting m-i-l later, as long as I get them in the postbox by 6 pm, all is well. That only leaves me to do those in suburbs. Some friends are phoning or sending e-cards. I’ll stick with the old-fashioned way as I am too short of time to learn something new! It is not the cards which take time, it is the individual letters I write to each. Years ago we stopped giving gifts to "our" generation. The children & g-chn issue wish lists but none have appeared yet. The Consumers Assoc reports that 1/3 of gift cards expire before being claimed. Also 2 years ago a local CD/DVD store went bankrupt and refused to honour their cards. So I am beginning to think it will be cash in a card this year if I don’t hear some suggestions soon.
Hi everyone: Spent 1 hour 40 minutes hanging on the phone this morning with Costco Concierge service person in useless attempt to reach Panasonic Customer Service. When we got on the line at the beginning, I told the Costco person I had to leave at 11:55 a.m. and he laughed and said he was sure we wouldn't be on hold that long. He then kept coming back on the line (he'd been transferred four times!), sounding more and more apologetic, eventually saying, "I can't believe this." He then bumped the problem up the line to his manager, who called me an hour later; then 30 minutes later I got a call from a Panasonic manager, anxious to help. She is going to follow up with the exasperated local service guy on Monday after failing to reach him today. In the meantime, the television is still behaving but we daren't do anything fancy like try to watch a DVD. Stay tuned (we can only hope the telly does the same!)
AQ: Have no idea where the weeks/years go. I think carrot cake is right at top of priority list, especially since other priorities have proved fruitless.
Lindybird: Hope you're feeling better. Too bad you missed Sweetpea visit! Can you put a trivet next to the stove to hide the burn? Hope the broken cup wasn't part of a set.
Sheila: Getting older folks to give up their independence is a real challenge; does your Aunt have any family members closer by than you? I had a terrible time with cellphone coverage in this house until I bought a new phone with new technology - made all the difference; used to have to stand in front of the garage to get a signal. Re Christmas gifts for guys, my OH and I just sort of buy ourselves gifts at this point that we both end up using.
Lynette: Christmas party food sounds perfect for a youth group - pizza followed by ice cream. Whenever my grandkids used to come and stay with me in Long Beach, I'd go grocery shopping and always end up with pizza and various ice creams in my basket.
Brenda: Part of our problem with the Panasonic is that we have just one authorized repair guy in the area (the one who threw up his hands yesterday). The next closest one is in North Hollywood in L.A.!!! Santa Barbara is beautiful, but oh my, there's definitely a lack of services (not to mention no Target store).
OG: We used to have outside pipes at our house in Watford and we'd wrap rags around them in the winter to try to prevent them from bursting. Ah, the days of getting dressed in front of the oven and chilblains....
Diane: You're probably completely snowbound by now; do take care of yourself. When we push ourselves for extended periods, we don't realize how tired we are until the pressure is off, then our immune systems finally crash and we end up getting sick. Don't knock yourself out remodeling the house; take your time if possible; it would be so nice if you could stay out there in the country. Something will turn up. How nice that your woodpecker welcomed you home; I'm sure all the other critters were glad to see you too.
Gary: Assume you're battening down the hatches in preparation for that storm? Weren't you having visitors or was that a post from another century? :-)
Take care everyone else and have a good Sunday. I'm off to bed.
good to have you back DIANE Good idea to take plenty of time for decision making - you don't want to rush things. so glad to hear your woodie welcomed you back.
BRENDA What a shame about "Nutcracker" We have enjoyed it a couple of times at Eden Court.
Whoa! - No one on here since Annettes post?? You must all be busy with Christmassy things.
Morning, Everyone: Foggy across the fields again today. OH brought me cup of tea in bed as usual, so I've had a lazy start after a pretty good night, but even though I feel better we dare not visit Son & Family in case I pass on the bug. Discussions are on as to when we can make it, now. He had a lovely visit yesterday from our Eldest & Girlfiriend, plus his in-laws. Thanks to all who expressed concern over my yuckiness, but I'm sure there are others on here in much worse state than I.
Will try the trivet idea, Annette; Friend told me tale of how she burnt her parents new kitchen top and covered it with a breadboard, but of course it was eventually discovered!
Hope that Hamish is still bouncing around, Alan, and good as new. I think vets are wonderful.
Nice of Diane to come on and post: you must be so busy with all sorts of things now, and of course it goes without saying that we are all thinking of you just now. Very sensible to make your arrangements before a big storm, hope it all went well and that you can now sit at home and ride out the bad weather. Agree with Annette that you should not make any hasty decisions, just rest now and come to terms with how you are feeling. Big Hugs.
Am going to potter around today: Husband put up the outside lights yesterday & I was Chief Assistant, with Dog in attendance bouncing round & adding to the chaos. (wiring everywhere, and trying to hide it near the front door so that visitors/postmen do not trip over it). Nice effect as darkness fell, of the twinkling hedge and our holly tree with coloured lights all over.
Have a Good Day & A Good Week, All!
Morning all,
Margo : Thank you very much for the lovely e card and the wonderful words. It brought a manly tear to my eyes.
Linda : I am sorry you have been feeling unwell and have not been able to visit your grandson,
Diane : Nice to have you back among us after your difficult time.
George : Glad you managed to get out and about despite the weather.
Annette : It seems more and more difficult to get things fixed these days. If something is broken it seems to be the norm to replace it with new bur your panasonic must be under warranty so they have a duty to fix it or supply you with a brand new one.
The weather has turned frosty again this morning with white roads,pavements and cars when I woke up. Not as cold as previously though as the bird bath was only slightly frozen. Current temp 2.8c. Hamish seems fine as he took exception to a cat which was in his way this morning and went after it. Luckily he was on the long lead so I managed to restrain him. Our outside lights are all up and working now so it does feel a lot like Christmas now.
Have a good Sunday everyone
see dibnlib came on whilst I was rabbiting, above!
Glad to hear that Hamish feels up to a bit of cat chasing, Alan. Had to laugh at your remark that 'all the outside Christmas lights are now up' as if they had been done by magic elves!
Thought you might all need a bit to brighten your day, today, esp. if you have the fog as we do, and not the promised sunshine - Here are some pics I took last year when I got a new window feeder, and was rewarded by daily visits from a little blue & yellow friend.... (great that now I can manipulate them & show them to you at last)
(do you like my cheerful coloured kitchen tiles? - I decided to be brave and not have something 'safe')
Good Morning to you ALL.
We woke to a white and frosty morning and had to de-ice the car before we went to church.
Diane, Lovely to hear from you. I hope you can give yourself time to recover some energy. It obviously isn't the time to make big decisions or take on major tasks.
I have read articles and seen photographs of the avian keratin disorder, but didn't know of the research. There have been photographs on the other RSPB sites, where people have been asking, ' What is wrong with this bird ?'. Thanks for the link.
I have just read that the Tech. Folk are warning that for the Update on the system, this site will be down from 6.00am on Tuesday, 14th Dec. until around lunchtime.
I must go now but will look in later.
Good afternoon all it's nice that Diane has taken time to let us know that she is back home I hope she will take time to come to terms with her feelings and not to be hasty in making any decisions. We have a big yellow thing in the sky today although it still feels a chilly. Loved the e-card and the other pictures. Glad to here that Hamish is back to his normal self.
ALAN have been able to get out occasionally during our cold spell but one day taking the car out of the garage the car slipped and the front off side tyre caught the edge of the garage door and put a hole in the tyre wall so a new tyre was required but that has been the only problem I have had. I have had SiL out shopping twice and on Friday called in to see her sister.
Hope everyone has a snow free week .
george g
Well here in London we reach that most significant of days which is the darkest evening of the year. From Tuesday onwards our evenings are going to get that ever so small amount lighter. People further north will have to wait a day or so more but by 16th December everyone should have ever so slightly lighter evenings.
Not sure exactly when it will happen for those of you in far off lands.
Ej's countdown clock will reach 100 on Wednesday.
Brenda H Thank you for alerting us to the announcement that the big software change is going ahead on Tuesday.
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