Weekly Chat, Sunday February 6, 2011

Thanks Heron for starting us off. 

Was out all day poking about at various garden centers looking for some nice stepping stones among other things. Found some I like at the very first place I went, but of course didn't buy them because I didn't know what else I'd find, which was nothing as attractive. May pop back there sometime next week and pick them up if they haven't disappeared.  Also had to get something to cure the warped leaves on the Monterey Brush Cherries and some dormant spray for the roses. Went by a place called Island Feed and Seed and found "clean" bird food at half the price in other stores - but still quite a bit more expensive than the giant bags of Western Bird Seed at Costco.    This evening I've been busy playing with my new ironing board!  :-)   It's very flash, has all kinds of additional bits and places to put things; is sturdy and much lighter than my old one.  And - let's get to the important part - it's the same color as my iron!     OH not happy with his new office arrangement - I was afraid he would feel cramped and he is. We're going to talk about options tomorrow.

Have a good Sunday all. It's Super Bowl Sunday here - the biggest football match of the year, which means it'll be a great day to go out coz most of the population will be glued to the telly.

GARY I am so jealous. Need a regular update and pics please. Especially need to know about the mischief and then I can have a "told you so" grin!!!!

ANNETTE  An all singing, all dancing ironing board which matches your iron.  Heaven, mine is boring but I do like the cover which is the same colour as our blue forum background and has flying seagulls on it. The things we find to talk about!!!

1. Off to chuch without OH as he is feeling a bit iffy. Has to work later so looking after himself this morning.

Morning all,

Thanks Paul for starting us off.

Annette : It is often the case when looking for something to buy, the first thing you see is the one you come back to. What you need is an ironing board that does the ironing as well.

Dibnlib  : Sorry your OH is not feeling so good.

Brenda : Forgot to say yesterday that I was feeling better. Not 100% but I have my appetite back.

Very mild again today with current temp at 12.9c. Glimpses of sunshine but mainly cloudy. Still very windy with gusts in excess of 30mph expected today.

I have also had difficulty getting onto the site and had to go onto my page first today.

There is an egg at Shephardstown eagles and now 2 chicks at the Sequoyah nest.

Got late going to bed.  Then had really bad night-cramp, which was very slow to respond to massage and manipulation, so OH had to walk me up and down the corridor.  Then slept late this morning.  Still not quite “with-it” so got sent away from trying to help prepare breakfast!

But I suspect I was up before Heron, seeing he was still awake at 3 am – thanks, Paul, for starting our new week!

AQ – Tebay services Southbound just after Shap is nearer to Orton as the crow flies.  Northbound opened first – exit just after Tebay turning – and was named Westmoreland Services – also with a very nice hotel which we once used when fogbound.  The whole thing is privately owned by local people from around Orton, and each services area has a farm shop selling their own meats and other local produce as well as deli items.  But if you are in the UK and around there, you could also call in here a bit further north for a “Tea and a wee” stop!  Your current weather sounds a bit more bearable – would still be too hot for me!  Getting on here has been “iffy” all week, but Saturday was the worst, and not even consistent in missing links etc.  Have a cool week!

Annette – Nice that you can now “tweak” your new garden with little extras such as the stepping stones and make it your own – enjoy.  And a new ironing board too – not sure whether to suggest you should enjoy that one!  Hope office options can be amicably sorted today – best to face it straight away!

Dibnlib – hope your OH will feel better after a rest at home while you go to church.  We haven’t gone – couldn’t face the eight hymns and songs planned for today – all-age service – and wouldn’t have been ready in time anyway.

Alan – pleased you have your appetite back – obviously a priority!

Ate breakfast halfway through this, will also need to move lunch and dinner later!  Now off to hose down and hopefully finish waking up!

Morning, Everyone.  Glad to hear that you are on the mend, Alan.  Thanks for the dramatic pic of the Peregrine yesterday.

Can now just picture Annette busy at her ironing board, with the matching iron!  How very grand!  As Alan says, what you really need is something which actually does the ironing for you. Hope you can get those stepping stones you liked - I usually know what I like the minute I see it, but to the annoyance of Husband, go on looking, just in case there might be something better in the next shop!  Hope you can get something sorted out for your OH re the office space problem.

OG:   Hope you enjoyed the 'Bear Family' films - it was a nice little interlude even though they didn't cover all of the facts about the bears, and after the things we had read, seemed a slightly distorted view of the situation.  Nice to see them, however.

I thought you might like these few lines about the weather (although it has at last stopped raining here after about 2 solid days & nights):

"Thirty days hath September
April, June and November
From January up to May
The rain it raineth every day
All the rest have thirty-one
Without a blessed gleam of sun
And if any of them had two-and-thirty
They'd be just as wet and twice as dirty." 

(hasten to add, not written by me!)

Oh Dear, OG  - I overlapped with the above and now see that you had a bad night with the cramps.  How awful - you have my full sympathy as my OH sometimes gets a bad cramp in his thigh & the pain can be so intense as to make him faint.  Hope its gone away and doesn't come back for you.

I had a rough night too, as coughed so much I got up at 2.00 am and went downstairs to try and sleep sitting up - not entirely successful.  Perhaps you and I & Paul should all get together at 3.00 am in future!

We seem to have gone through nearly all our wood stack already, with it being so cold, and have bought more coal than last year.  We spent yesterday cutting a couple of the trees we planted when we moved here nearly 20 years ago (that made OH feel old, the thought that we’d been here long enough to crop trees) and hauling them round to the woodshed.  That’s my exercise for this week and a start made to next year’s log heap.  Went to see The King’s Speech last night which was excellent, completely lived up to Lindy’s review and agree with Brenda that the time went very quickly.

Actually Paul, I would like to think we were not going to try to beat the posting record every week, it’s hard enough already to keep up with reading, let alone joining in the conversation LOL!  Fancy being up late enough to start us off this week, thanks.

Sue, we stayed at Moorfield House in Boat of Garten last year, it was fine, although one of the reviews on the website weren’t so hot. Enjoyed the John Ireland piece, also watched a few others.

Gary! Now we can have a puppy pic every day!!! Yes please.

Alan, my OH writes regular letters to his MP and knows about those replies on expensive paper too.  We were moved for the last election and our new MP (Lab) voted to keep forests, and our previous one (Con) didn’t.

Annette, I see you’re not allowed to post about “Little Richard” Cheney! What an exhausting day with all that cleaning – I wonder if it would be worth my while getting you a ticket to come and do mine...but no ironing, I don't do that except on special occasions.

AQ – yes! We could all meet up in a service station, then travel in convoy to LG!  I haven’t had any problems getting in to the site this week, although sometimes people refer to things I don’t remember reading (that could be me...).  Also, I am reading in email, writing in Word then going to the site to reply or look at pics that don’t always come up on email so maybe I catch it in a good mood.  I know I don’t get edits in email so could miss additional info like that.

OG, sorry to hear about the cramp, hope it’s all gone now.  As usual, we haven’t managed to get round your side of the Solway to see geese yet, hopefully next weekend.

Lindy, sorry to hear you are both under the weather still, keep on with the whisky!

Hope is being so sweet with the babies (and haven't they grown?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRCJ3jD2MN8

Good Afternoon All. Wind is not quite so bad, but still forcasting gusts 40- 50mph. Anhow slept a little better last night. Sorry for all still getting that contiuous heavy rain.

Thanks Paul for starting the week, especially as it was 3.00am. Were you watching the cricket? Least said about that, the better. Think they lost interest after winning the ashes.

I agree about this site. Took me four attempts to post yesterday and get so irritated when the page 'IE is unable to disply this page' appears. 

Margo, Good to hear that your BG contract will cover your repairs.

Sue, I hope you get your LG accommodation sorted soon. Thanks for your photographs and the link to John Ireland's piece, which I enjoyed.

OG, The Italian restaurant we go to is run by an Italian family and the food is excellent, but would never stop me going to Italy, where they can pick the fresh fruit/ veg just prior to cooking / serving.

AQ, 24c would suit me fine. Not too hot to carry on with life. Just watched on TV, the latest fires in Perth and yet moore flooding in Queensland.

Annette, I haven't nooticed matching irons and ironing tables. Mine are four years old and definitely don't match. Oh dear, your OH not happy with his office arrangement, just when you had finished cleaning the whole house !! Good Luck.

Dibnlib, Sorry your OH is not feeling 100%. Hope it is not something you can catch.

Alan, Good to hear you are feeling a little better.

OG, Sorry you had such a bad night, sounds really painful. Just to be fair, your OH must also feel tired this morning and he prepared breakfast. Hope there are no repeat performances and you sleep well tonight.

Linda, Love the new version of ' Thirty days hath September'. I spoke to my sister on the Wirral. She is so 'fed up' with the rain. Respite from it at the moment but returns later. Sorry that you also had such a disturbed night. The whisky just doesn't seem to be working for you.

Terry, Not surprised you have got through your wood store. We have just had our gas bill for the quarter, which was much higher, even when taking the price increase into account. So glad you enjoyed the King's Speech.

Lunch is ready and OH is prowling to see if we are going to eat it yet.

Cam is not great but pic of eaglets at Sequoyah nest:

http://suttoncenter.org/pages/live_eagle_camera