General Chat

It is the Fall Fair this weekend. Other years we have paid to go in and had a wander but this year I think we will give it a miss. We don't "do" the rides and I am not sure I want to spend time looking at the valley's tomato, cuke, pumpkin etc.
Still haven't pickled my beets, my back is still a little touchy and now the plums are almost ready and Norm will want to make plum jam...harvest time!!
I chatted to Edith last night and she is alive and well and kicking. She "volunteered" to be the temporary tour director for a senior's club and is busy organizing trips and tours all over the place. I cautioned her not to get over tired but she is a smart lady, she will take care I am sure.
Very hot again yesterday. I only managed to sit outside for about an hour and Bella wanted to stay in as well. Norm just soaks up this heat and is browner than brown.
Have a great weekend everyone. Les <3

Hi All ,just Fred with a quick message to say we have arrived in fleetwood Lancashire safely,but have to batten down everything by nightfall ,before the cyclone hits us ,after coming over from the eastern sea board of the States,luckily being downgraded ,but still very high winds and driving rain.
Off straight away to make an early tea ,so i will catch you all tomorrow.Fred.xxxx
:-D.

Wow, Fred, a cyclone!! Reminds me of 1991 when Norm and I were on our "gap year" LOL. We drove west to Worthington (is that the right place, NW coast??) and were the only ones in the camp site. It was blowing a gale and we parked in the lee of the shower block. We got a little adventurous and went for a walk across the golf course towards the beach. We literally walked over the edge of the cliff, no signs!!, and fell only about three feet thank goodness....it cold so easily have been a 20/50 foot drop!!
There were strange folks with lights on the beach that night....often wondered what they were up to.

Hot and hotter here. Today is supposed to be the hottest day and then it should cool off a little. It was up to about 35 yesterday. i was going to do the beets but tomorrow is only supposed to be 24 so am going to wait...at the moment the house never cools down...maybe tonight.

More later. Lesxx

Morning Les',the night wasn't too bad ,but the latest forecast this morning is for the wind to increase until late tonight or even tomorrow morning.
Train service and ferries already disrupted and some motorways closed to high sided lorrys.
Cyclones are WELL under hurricane strength winds so ,we are lucky in a way,as we normally only get winds like this a couple of times a year.
Liz can't go out in it because it catches her breath and leaves her feeling a bit unwell,but hopefully it will be okay later tomorrow when we plan to take the whole family ,who are down on holiday too ,for a carvery along at The Tramway,our local eatery /pub should be interesting when we go in and ask for a table for 11,lol.
They will find themselves out of pocket when we leave ,he he ,the sweet will be hit hard when the bairns ,and some of the grown ups go back to refill with the ice cream up to three times if i know our lot ,lol :-0.
The sky is ink black now ,rain is on the way ,so i am going for a shave and wash ,while the boss has her play on the puter,think i will put my new tea shirt on ,lol ,the one with the picture of Fred Flintstone on ,a look of horror on his face , and a caption underneath saying ASK THE BOSS.
Gale force level yellow up now winds up to 70 mph with only red to go ,up to severe gale to storm force ,looking interesting he he.Fred.xxxx :-0

Hey Fred, can you see the ocean??? Nothing better than being warm inside and watching the waves crash around. Cooler here already today. A little cloudy also. Now they say it will rain by Saturday. We were going to have our final yard sale of the year...but now???

Did you know that we had an earthquake on Friday?? North and west of here at 6.7. Norm was complaining about the china rattling on the table and the light over the dining room table was swinging a bit. Now today we have an after shock at about 4.5. We will be glad when we get the trailer back from the RV doc so that we can kit it out and then be ready for all eventualities.

We made dry ribs last night. Norm invented this rub and it was good altho I might have liked it a bit spicier. Also think I would cook it at a slightly lover temperature next time. Today I have a craving for shepherds pie must be my winter cooking mode starting to set in.
Where is everyone else?? Hiding??
Enjoy the holiday Fred.
Later Lesxx

Morning our Les .we isssss still here ,lol,thankfully the winds havn.t got as high as they reckoned ,not here anyway ,and we managed to get into Fleetwood before it really picked up yesterday afternoon.
We are about four miles from Blackpool so we had to rely on reports from our son and family who did get in yesterday morning ,he was walking along the front and got soaked as the waves came well over the piers.
We brought one of those shepherds pie mixes down with us and we will make one up tomorrow evening to use for dinner Thursday,now't wrong with either,shepherds or cottage pie ,lovely any time sometimes even with a sprinkling with cheese.
We did hear about your quake Les' but didn't know about the after shock ,so,i hope there are no more,we felt the remains of one of those in Aden many years ago and that was more than enough for me,not nice at all .
We are so lucky in our country ,a storm like this one once in a blue moon , a tornado every few years which thankfully are only small ones,and our last tsunami was forty years ago which caused a lot of damage in the south east ,mainly around Norfolk.
The last REAL Tsunami was a few hundred years ago which struck the other side of our fair country over in Cornwall and Wales.
Afraid i cheat with the rubs ,and dry marinade mixes ,buying them in ,too lazy to make my own,but i love them too ,nice on steaks ,chicken and even pork.
Hope everyone else is okay ,and just too busy to come on the pooters at the minute,,hope our little house is okay at home too ,still ,we carry full insurance,and if our roof is okay when we get home ,the work we had done is well worth it,if it has stood up to this storm i will be well satisfied.
We are going to Fleetwood sea front later to find the missus a new pair of shoes[or two] lol,dinner and a sit on the sea front to see the rough sea ,cameras at the ready ,still ,and cam corder.
Catch you later all,Fred,in wet holiday mode he he. :-)

Got our first load of wood today for the stove. Looks to be nice and dry but Big!! Norm thinks he will rent a "splitter". Think that may be gas powered and has a track that the axe head rolls down and whack.....split city....or something like that.

Put the ad in the paper today for the yard sale. Sure would be nice to get rid of the last of the "stuff"!! Dau is taking home some of the china from her grandparents that has been living in my cabinet for years. Have to make way for my cups and saucers that I am suddenly collecting....and don't even ask me why, I don't even drink tea!! Did think I could probably sip wine from them. :-D I got one on ebay last week and am waiting for it to arrive.....it's OK I know, second childhood and all that.

Picked the last of the broad beans and pulled out all of the plants yesterday. The beets are still in the ground. I am still not in bending mode, Norm says he will pick them but I think Dau and I will get at it maybe on Thursday.....we'll see.

Hope the weather bucks up a bit Fred. Meanwhile there is always something quite awesome about watching a stormy sea. Don't forget me when you send out the photos.
More later. Lesxx

Hi Les' yep ,we did get some pics of one veeeeery rough sea when we went to Blackpool yesterday but we forgot the camera and had to use the wifes phone to get them.
LIke a stupid old git ,i forgot to check on the state of the tide before we parked the car next to the sea wall.
Leaving my poor car ,we hopped the tram into the golden mile before getting off for our walk ,stopping off at the south pier cafe for a drink and watching the poor little gulls cowering on the concrete below ,it being too windy for young birds to fly in ,and we took a couple of picks of them as well as some of the sea breaking over the new sea walls that have only just been put up to prevent that very thing ,oooooops ,think the wall should have been at least two metres higher guys ,lol.
When we did get back to the car ,wow,the sea ,as we turned the corner was well over the road and the car was covered in sand ,salt and foam,and i was soaked before i got anyway near it,so i turned back to the wife who was some way behind me ,and told her to go back to the main road ,and wait there :-0.
The poor car looked very wobegone as i got near to her ,and i could have sworn she looked at me with accusing soaking headlights ,he he.
Never mind ,i took her out after breckie ,got a bit of veggie for tomorrows last tea ,and got my car cleaned and spruced up at the local car wash.
Out to tea tonight at a carvery ,and or last tea for this weeks stay will be a nice Shepherds Pie ,with roast pot's onion,and Parsnips ,with cauli done Polish style ,in a cheese sauce and sprinkled in a cheese ,breadcrumb mix.
Have to get the dinner out now ,so i will catch you all later ,Fred. :-D.xxx

Well Fred, it is just you and me at the moment. A little bird told me on Facebook that it is Mary's birthday??? Is that right Mary?? Well if so Happy, happy and all that.

I did make shepherd's pie, Fred and it was yummy. I made mushy peas to go with....gotta love those mushy peas. Dau arrives today and so I am going to make a batch of minestrone soup in the slow cooker. A local bakery makes amazing foccacia bread with asiago cheese and olives. So we'll have a loaf of that, maybe some balsamic vinegar and EVOO. Nicky arrives fairly late so it will be good to have supper ready and waiting.

We have had a bear rambling down our back alley the last couple of nights. I sure wish I knew when he was there and then I would sneak out and try and get a pic....dangerous I guess especially if he saw me and hopped over the fence. Then he'd see my plum tree and that would be that!!

Hope you car is now nice and warm and clean Fred. Also hope that Liz didn't get too cold or wet on that little jaunt.
Lesxx

Hi everyone..Sorry haven't been in for a few days but when you get my email you will guess why I have been feeling a bit stressed lately..
Thanks for the birthday wishes and yesterday was a big day for us,,A diagnosis for John and a birthday for me..We ended up with a big bottle of red bubbly last night with dinner to commiserate and celebrate..don't know which was first..LOL..It feels like a big weight has been lifted off our minds and we can now go forward knowing what we are up against..Thank God for the Professor of Neurology we went to see..

Les Just you watch yourself with those bears.. don't want you being bear dinner.. did the van pass muster...and is it this weekend you are having your garage sale..put a stand of your aprons out ,,good advertising if nothing else..and you might sell some.. ;-)

Fred.. Hope you are enjoying your holiday,,The weather dinny sound to good but then you are in the UK... :-D :-D

My silver beet is nearly a foot high.. will start snipping bit off soon.. :-)

We have had lovely weather here.. into the mid twenties yesterday and for the rest of the week..

Have a lovely weekend all..

~~~~~~~~to the missing Edith..xx

Love Mary xxx

Hi Mary ,and all else who look in ,glad to see the cavalry has arrived he he :-).
We had a good trip down yesterday but had a few hairy moments as we came near to Lyneham ,it raining so hard the drains couldn't clear the water off the road ,resulting in large rivers running down the road sides.
I hit one very large lake lol,and aquaplaned a good twenty yards while i backed off the gas pedal ,got a bit of a fright as i wasn't expecting it ,lol,but managed to keeep the car in a straight line :-(.
A mile further down the road i came up behind another intrepid motorist who was really taking it slow ,so i rather gather he got
a fright too ,lol.
Couldn't go through the village ,because all the roads were shut off ,and there were tarmac wagons everywhere,so i couldn't do my usual coffee break :-\, lol ,i rather gather that they were resurfacing all the square in the village prior to the official name change to Royal Wooton Basset today.
I hope that ,if this is the case ,that the bunting is still up when i go to get my video footage later this afternoon.
We now have to go home on Thursday morning ,my daughter needing a hand to get her furniture out of storage ,the son being at work ,and me being the only other driver with Pan Tech' knowledge ,he he ,i am beggining to think i am a removal man, ;-).
Glad to hear that you know know what the problem is with John Mary ,it may not be good news ,but at least you are now in the know ,and can fight it all the way.
I need to call in at a fishmonger on the way home this time ,to get Hissy a peace offering ,she wasn't best pleased when she realised we were leaving her on her own again so soon after coming back from Blackpool,,we had one hell of a job getting her in from her last trip out before we locked up ,making her pitiful mewing noises as i ushered her back indoors,,whoever says cats don't understand things should have seen her,i must admit i came away rather subdued and upset,not nice at all.
Rather looking forward to Seans move back to Brize Norton ,so that when we go to see them ,we can call in to see cousin Sharon who lives a few miles down the road,AND i can visit family members from the Barnes ,and Baird ancesters in the high wycombe and west wycombe church yards on the way home to pay my respects.
Well ,time to go for now ,and get the hammer and nails on the go lol,silly old duffer Fred ,never thought to bring the big stapler gun with him that fires nails as well as staples,DOH,so back to the old method with usually ends up with a sore thumb and at least one sore finger as well,ouch ,lol.
catch you later all,Fred. :-D

Busy as always Fred! And Mary I have already emailed you but again I am so glad that there is an answer finally.

It was raining on Friday afternoon so we had to put up two "gazebo's" and a tarp. Nicky is well trained in the tarp area from her camping days and soon we had rope criss-crossing the front yard and then the tarp over the top of them. Saturday morning we got up early and the tarp had shifted and so all of the tables were were wet. Anyway we managed to get it undercover and hauled all our stuff out. What an amazing day. We had hundreds of folks wander in and and at the end had another $680 in our hot little hands!! Norm now says no more yard sales as it took us hours to take down all the ropes etc...we went to bed at 8.30 and I slept on and off until 8.30 next morning.

Yesterday we went to a yard sale just around the corner and found a fabulous pine book shelf about 5 feet tall, just right for the kitchen and the cookbooks. means we can get rid of the ratty white one we have...yes!!!

We had the gas fire on this morning, first time this Fall....it was chilly. Now the sun is shining but it is a cool day. I think we will leave on Friday with the trailer all things being OK, no monsoons or gale force winds etc. I am going to start to load it today.....that will be pretty exciting.

I decided to put a couple of coats of satin varnish on the bookcase so I am off to sand and continue.
Keep safe and well everyone.
Les <3

Hi All ,from a sunny but coolish Lyneham,but ,hey ,it's that time of year now ,and everyone has to take what comes. :-).Got our video footage of The royal place ,he he ,and so decided to visit my first R A F home this morning ,only four miles down the road towards Calne ,R A F Compton Basset,cor ,all that's left is the main gate ,locked up ,looking very sorry for itself ,and needing a few defaulters to give it a lick of paint ,lol.
The whole site is now a land refill site and council recycle plant ,so nothing but the gate to be seen.
Found the local in Calne too ,still a pub ,but up for sale ,so ,no more lovely toasted cheese sarnies being sold,more's the pity,but ,things change.andi suppose ,you have to move on.
Just outside the camp is a little village i never noticed before ,but i can finally say i have been to New Zealand without ever leaving blighty ,lol,nice little village too,clean and well loved by the locals ,not a smidgin of rubbish to be seen anywhere..
Seeing as we go home Thursday morning ,and we won't see Sean and wife together until next year ,we are taking them both out for a meal this afternoon ,in Swindon ,a nice buffet lunch in the best chinese place in the town ,yum, :-.
Glad the yard sale went so well Les',loads of pennies ,well earned,and now you have lot's more room to build up clutter again he he .well .we do ,every time ,lol. :-(.
Time to go now ,so the wife can have a play on her games and whatever,see you later folks,Fred.xxxx :-D

A very Happy Birthday and blessings wished for VP <3 for 22 nd
Blessings wished for everyone else too
JA :-)

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Lesley
Happy Birthday to you..

Have a lovely day lovely one..

Lotsa love
Mary xxx <3

Quick happy birthday to our Lesley, just arrived back home ,spent a few minutes with the cat who was all over me like a rash ,lol,and am now off to start unpacking ,see you tomorrow peeps ,when i am rested :-Dxxx

Thanks Guys.
Was in Qualicum last night to give my presentation on the British Home Children. Hopefully this is the last one!! The weather was atrocious, almost zero visibility driving out over the Hump to get to Qualicum. When I left to come home at 9.30pm, headed out to the highway and wow!!! the high beams don't work. This is the first time the car has been driven at night time if you can imagine that, so this was a complete surprise and therefore a bloody miserable drive home as it was still bucketing down.

Today we will pack all the remaining stuff into the trailer and then tomorrrow we are hoping to leave. The weather forecast is not great but maybe we will get lucky. I have found a really nice rv park on the beach just outside of Victoria, so hopefully that will work out.....$50 a night tho with hook ups....yuk!!

Wuill try and post while we are away, will have to use Norm's mac. Will also try harder at taking some pics.
More later.
Les <3

Morning world ,tis a brand new day ,and all is right over in Newcastle in the north of England.
Hmmmmm ,sounds as though you need a new main beam relay in your car Les,not expensive to replace ,but it could have been had the weather been even worse,not the best way to have to travel,having had one blow on my old Ford Escort many moons ago ,he he ,luckily there was a good moon that night which helped me a lot ,but i wouldn't have envied you being in the dark ,pouring rain ,and under forest canopy to boot ,you must have been very relieved to get home in one piece.
We got the day off yesterday ,the lad who drove the van for my daughter the first time finding he was available after all,and what with the two sons and one grandson to help the move back from storage, we wern't needed after all.
That being so ,i decided to bottom the house top to bottom ,finishing off bu using our carpet cleaner to shampoo the carpet and deodourise the lounge.
Yikes ,the colour of the water the cleaner sucked up [i felt like a young maiden caught out in the woods adjusting her dress .lol] blushing in shame wasn't in it , :-\ :-0.
The water ? same colour of the soil in the back garden ,i kid you not,this machine is soo good ,i will take it down to Lyneham im March to clean all the carpets in the house before he marches out ,saving a packet on hire charges from Rug Doctor.
I was pretty tired by the time i had done ,the wife coping with the cooking while i got on with it,and was sat ,getting my breath back.when i spotted a flutter of grey and white plumage settle on my back fence,blast,a pigeon ,where are you Hissy,lol,but no .Fred Does a double ,no ,triple take out of the old eye balls,but there is no mistake ,there sat in all it's glory is a young Barn Owl.i squeaked to the wife owl ,on the garden fence ,owl on the garden fence a bit like the typhoo advert on the tele ,and Eagle ,he he.
The missus grabbed the camera and very quietly slid the door back on the runners,but the little critter heard and flew off but landed on our neighbour George's house over the back where she did manage to get a long range shot of it.
I am now hoping this bird is out sorting out it's hunting territory and will come back so that i can get to use MY camera which has a far better lens than the one i gave to my missus ,when she lost her other one.
I was rather exited, it being the first time i had seen an owl since i wast last in Lincolnshire at my mums,and i never expected to see one in the suburbs of a city ,even if there are farms within a few miles of here ,it made my weekend anyway.
The sun is showing itself too ,and it would finish the weekend off if i can get the front lawn done ,probably the last time this year if the weather gets bad as it looks to do.
It would give me a week or so to get the hedges done too ,probably the last time for those as well .
Well ,veggie wise ,we are fine ,i have cabbage ,leek,kale,onions,beetroot and brussel to start on,as well as all the tatties ,so the shops are going to have a lean time for a good few weeks from us,he he .we even have the freezers chock a block in case we do get snowed in,we finished the upstairs freezer with a four bird roast ,in case we do get snowed in and can't get to the mates farm for the Christmas meat and poultry.
I have the two other bottles of propane gas in too ,giving us five bottles in all,and the emergency genny in case we loose the power,but ,no matter ,we are sorted for all methods of keeping the house warm,and in case we get the white out we are expecting.
Today for dinner we are making a Chicken ,leek,pie ,i a cheese sauce with a potato covering,Chicken from Aldi.Cheese sauce from aldi,leeks,potato ,and onion from Freds garden He he.
Hope all are having a great weekend,take care everyone .Fred.:-D xxx

Hello all, Have just returned from a visit to the U.S.A
Toured the upper half of Minnesota with 48 Seniors from our local club.
My first time as Tour guide and I am not sure if it is my last Trying to please that many folks is liken to an Olympic exercise. The other lady and myself
fell into bed every night totally exhausted. Then of course did not sleep well as we went through the next days agenda.
However all the folk said they had a great time so I guess we did o.k.
Learned a lot about our neighbors to the south and enjoyed the scenery and a lot of different sights. Their economy is very low so they were happy to see we Canadians boosting their coffers.
Will be home for about 3 weeks then off to the big city again for some Christmas shopping. Seems to get closer every year :-) :-) :-)
Haven't had a chance to read all the posts as yet so hope all are well and I will get back again soon. Edith <3

Well here we are at Weirs RV park in Victoria. Getting here was quite a trip. We had good weather until we reached the road from Mesachie, thru the mountains to Port Renfrew...it bucketed. Had it been sunny it would have been a very pretty drive. At Port Renfrew we stayed at Pascheedaht RV park. It is on native land, mostly not looked after but we were able to camp on the beach for $20 a night. Saturday was a lovely day, we beachcombed much of the day and then this morning we awoke to torrential rain. We set off on the first leg of the journey to Jordan River and drove what is the worst stretch of road we have ever been on. By the time got to our destination I told Norm he was now qualified to drive anywhere in the world with a trailer on the back!!

However, as always with us!!, as soon as we were in our spot at Weirs and levelling the trailer a flash storm came thru and Norm and I were soaked to the skin. Then inside the trailer all the drawers had flown open so more chaos and then the bathroom door would not open. Ha! Norm says to me, you must have pressed the lock.....er...no!! Well in the end Norm had to unscrew the door hinges and lo and behold the broom had fallen off its hook and was wedged in the door handle....what a palava!!

Norm and I ran around in our undies, guess the neighbours enjoyed that, and then it was off to the laundry to wash and dry all our stuff. Now we are hooked up to city water for the first time and the taps are leaking....and on it goes. Never a dull moment with us two!!

Tonight I am cooking chili from scratch. Yesterday we had grilled chicken and grilled veggies and new spuds....very yummy. I quite like cooking in the trailer. It has a largish counter so easy to chop and dice etc.
More later. Good to see you Edith, glad the trip went OK.
Lesxx