General Chat

Morning All,

Much the same here, 16 degrees and a bit windy but no rain yet, although the sky is very grey. Not sure if we are going out as OH is at the dentist for a check up at the moment.

AnnG after fiddling skinning tomatoes to freeze in the past, latterly in the pandemic I just washed them and liquidised them skins and all, very simple and froze them in portions for a sauce. You can't tell the skins are in the sauce and I used them added to lamb mince and rice or chicken or made lasagne. My tomatoes were the smaller than a golf ball gardener's delight. I'm glad you got some sleep again last night and hope the dressing isn't too irritating today. I could well imagine your SIL having been a rugby player in the past. We would love to make our garden walled all around, but it would be very expensive to do, so I am envious of walls too! They shelter as you say and hold the heat from the sun too which helps the plants. Your daughter does have a big garden if that is just a part of it.

Well done! You've made the 100 then Mandy! :-D :-D When will you give them to the lady? I bet her face will be a picture when she sees how many you have. It's good that vets can help ease things for dogs these days and I think I could do with something like that for my knees, although I do take glucosamine with chondroitin tablets. He's a bit older than I thought now, but the time seems to fly lately.

Vera enjoy your coffee meeting. You must be glad of it being a bit cooler after sweltering for so long. Fingers crossed you might be discharged from the eye hospital tomorrow. :-)

Morning all

There’s a real change in the weather for us today. It’s grey, wet and windy and feels cold although my iPad is telling me that it’s 16 degrees. I think you’re right AnnG about the temperature starting to drop in the early hours now.

I hope your nose isn’t too uncomfortable this morning. I’ve made tomato sauce with excess tomatoes as well and sometimes just frozen them if I am in a rush and then used them in casseroles. That probably wouldn’t work very well with tiny tomatoes.

Your tumbling tomatoes have plenty on them Mandy. Naughty Max, I shouldn’t think green tomatoes would be very good for his tum

I worked really hard at h/w yesterday so don’t plan to do much today. We’ll meet our friends for coffee as usual and will get some fresh veg while we’re out but that’s all I’ve planned. Tomorrow I have an appointment at the eye hospital. I keep hoping that they will discharge me. I thought the first appointment was a one-off to sort me out. I didn’t dream I would still be going 2 years later. They always put in several different drops so I may not be posting tomorrow. It depends how blurry my eyes are.

Good morning all. A mixed night and one time I was actually cold when I woke up so the temp must have dropped, around 3am I think. But I did get some sleep. My problem last night was waking and my nose was blocked as if I had a cold and my throat was dry as I had been breathing through my mouth. I do get a blocked nose sometimes and I can clear it by blowing my nose. something I can't do at the moment.

Mandy I will think about tomato soup but I may make a tomato sauce and put in the freezer, that is what I often do. I am not sure the tiny currant tomatoes would be any good for that though as they don't have a lot of pulp.(think red currants).

Ann yes Sil is very tall and broad, not really fat although he could lose a bit of weight. He is not a big eater though, was a rugby player in his youth (Rugby League). He is being trained to assist with gardening and has taken on the lawns. That is only about a quarter of their rear garden, they have a corner house with a large plot. And the wall (of which I am very envious), Because it is sheltered the plants do very well there and are often advanced on mine even being up North.

Could you make some tomatoe soup with the toms Anng thats the trouble you either get one or two that ripen or a whole load of them ripen together you don't know what to do with them .
I can see mine all ripening together but I can pass some onto son and dil as the children will eat them and last year I gave some to a neighbour.

Ann Max is 8 and we've been giving him these flexi joint tablets for about a year and a half now since he pulled a muscle in his back leg ,these last lot are flexible plus with the green lipped mussel extract.

Two more poppies and that will be 100 :-D

Thank you for the photos AnnG. Your SIL is tall isn't he. I only came up to the chin of my first OH, so similar to your daughter. They have a nice garden and the flower border is very colourful. I like the landscape views too as it is years now since I went to the lakes. It is a strange dressing as you said, but smaller than I expected, But I would be worried about knocking it off as well. Your tomatoes look so good and plenty of them and grown outside too!

Yes OH is good on football questions, but he's good at quizes on tv on general knowledge, probably reading such a lot of variety helps. I can only stump him on nature and cookery!

You and Colin have done a useful job ready for the roof repair on the shed Mandy. It's supposed to get very windy, so it was good to get it done today. Your tomatoes are looking healthy with plenty to come as well. Is Max getting a bit creaky with his joints? I can't remember how old he is now.

OH rang me quite late to say he could be another two hours and to get my own lunch and he'd sort himself something when he got home which he did. Would you believe it he's out to another match tonight, which I'd forgotten. He said it was so he could take some of his football programmes to a pal he will see there and I thought he meant some of those from the garage, but when I saw them I told him they looked very new and made him smile and he agreed they were just ones from recent matches! The little tinker!

Yes but then I have the other problem of there being too many for just me and Cynth doesn't eat them.

Yes I am concerned at how the dressing stays on. I wonder if there is some typ of adhesive or maybe a titch through the back of it. I am very worried about knocking it off I have to say.

Sounds like you will be having a rest this afternoon after clearing all that behind the shed. down the side of my house is a bit like that all stuff dumped down there when T was alive.

Ann I think it is good for your OH to have an interest in something. I bet he is good at football questions in quizzes.

I have had one scone with jam and cream and it was delicious. Yes my daughter is good to me. She goes on holiday for two weeks to Santorini at the end of August. I hate it when they are out of the country.

Ann thats a lovely lot of toms ,mine are still green .

Afternoon all,

Nice sunny day here and we've been outside all the morning tidying up and pulling alsorts out from behind the shed ,there was a lot of down pipe and guttering that Colin stored there from his jobs when he was working ,the school had a lot of it a few years ago as the children use it for play ,Colin has cut it up ready to go to the tip , I had a good sweep so it's nice and tidy now and when son gets time to do the shed roof there's nothing in the way .
I cut a few leaves off the tumbling toms and Max went straight for a tomato so I'll have to move the tub down near the shed behind the gate out of his way .

Lovely photos Anng nice to see where you went while away ,that is a strange dressing on your nose when I looked at it I thought how the devil does it hold on as it looks just like a blob of clay on your nose ,I'd be worried of catching it and it dropping off .
That was so thoughtful of your daughter to send the cream tea ,you enjoy ,you deserve it after your op .

Ann that was good in and out before your time that's how I like it no hanging about .

We had a day yesterday of waiting for parcels to come ,both ordered from amazon at the same time and they usually come together but not yesterday one came mid morning that was my liquid talc and the other was Max's joint tablets they came through the letter box about five o'clock.
The liquid talc is nice for my hands when I'm knitting if they get a bit hot and sticky but it's also nice for your body too ,id never heard of it until dil had the children and we got some from mother care years ago.

Hopefully just going to send a photo of the tomatoes I have picked over the last two days. All outside in pots.

Afternoon All,

It's 17 degrees here now. Early start this morning as I had a thyroid blood test appointment at 8.40am. We didn't hang around once we were ready after our showers and set off early. I'd barely sat down when I was called in and was back in the car 10 minutes before my appointment was due, so that was good. Recently they'd made 9 of the 18 parking spaces just for the doctors, but today we saw only 2 are for doctors now. I think a lot must have missed appointments because of nowhere to park and we thought taking 9 spaces was excessive considering most of the doctors spaces were empty when we went and most of them work part time now. OH has gone 30 miles to a council meeting about a complaint so lunch will be late today.

What a thoughtful and lovely surprise from your daughter AnnG! Just what you need a bit of spoiling!! It's good you slept better last night. Stitches can itch a bit as healing takes place, but, as you say, don't sneeze! OH only has to look at the sun and he sneezes!! I use SPF50 on my face now and used SPF15 all year for many years. I don't usually have anything on my arms and legs, but don't sit in the sun much or for long. I have pasty skin and a few freckles so am more at risk of burn. Someone I worked with years ago used to use sunbeds 2-3 times a week! I know 2 people who have had melanomas which can be more
serious. One was a very young woman and the other needed several operations. Hers was where you wouldn't notice it.

Yes OH does love his football! His dad started it by taking him to a match when he was 7 years old. He watches it on TV most days, has a newspaper and magazines about it, including football grounds and numerous books about grounds. I call it an obsession, he calls it a passion! lol :-D. He has a very active mind and does find it relaxing and some men have worse hobbies don't they! As long as he doesn't neglect everything at home I don't mind too much. I'm not mobile enough at the moment for us to do the walking and cycling we used to do and he never minds me doing whatever I want and if parking nearby is a concern for me will always offer to take and fetch me, I don't need to ask. Importantly, matches didn't matter to him when I was in hospital for surgery and he was there all the hours he could stay, sitting and reading and doing crosswords with me.

Mel what cute baby Swallows and they are already so big it's a wonder none have fallen out of the nest! Your tomato has made me wish I had grown some, but never mind, there's always next year.

No txt from OH to say he's on his way yet, but I think I'll get the plates in the warming drawer ready. I can do my scripts online too.

That was thoughtful of your daughter AnnG - what a lovely surprise. Don't worry about weight, just enjoy your goodies. You deserve a treat. Thank you for the lovely photos you sent. The scenery is beautiful. We do like the lakes but haven't been for a long while and these days I certainly wouldn't be able to tackle the fell walking we used to do. I still have my walking boots but they haven't been on my feet for years. OH managed to leave his behind somewhere when he was away on a men only jaunt. Now I think about it there are bits of him scattered round the world. As well as his boots, pyjamas have been left somewhere or other, a shirt somewhere else and an electric razor in Sweden (we paid the postage to get that back). You won't be surprised to hear that I wasn't there to organise him on any of these trips, lol.

That dressing looks quite uncomfortable Ann. It's in such an awkward place as you wear glasses but you look as though you are managing very well. I hope you continue to improve every day.

Mel, thank you too for the photos you sent. It's lovely to see the swallows nesting there again as they are losing so many of their traditional nesting spots as old buildings get pulled down and new houses get built. Your tomato made me smile. I know I shouldn't laugh but, as AnnG said, it did look lonely though I bet it tasted good. I have some tomatoes turning red at last. Mine are outside in pots.

The weather thingie on my PC seems to be stuck all day on whatever it says when I first open the computer. At the moment it is saying 14 degrees and sunny which is clearly wrong. My phone says 20 degrees with sunny intervals and a moderate breeze which sounds about right if you translate moderate breeze to very windy.

The car came back about 6 pm last night so it is now serviced, MOT'd and valeted at an exorbitant price, though Volvo do include their own breakdown cover for the next year so we don't have to join the AA or similar organisation. The electrician finished his jobs and I was surprised when I went into the kitchen to see how tidy it all was. Goodness knows what all the hammering and noise was about but I'm happy that I haven't got to clean up the kitchen. With the car and the electrical work yesterday was an expensive day and the bank balance has a bit of a hole in it now.

Today I have done the ironing and a couple of small jobs and, if I can rouse the energy, I'll clean the upstairs bathroom and my en-suite this afternoon. I had a good go at the downstairs cloakroom and OH's en-suite on Monday. We're waiting on a package that is out for delivery today but can come any time up to 10 pm so we won't be going out at all today

OH is getting lunch so I'll be off downstairs in a minute. We're just going to have some Boursin and I suggested that he got out some crackers. I want to use them up as they are just starting to go a bit stale but I'm sure he wasn't listening. I expect I'll get it spread on bread and put on a plate with some rocket and a few baby plum tomatoes. He can be very predictable Oh well, at least he tries to help. My neighbour's OH does a little gardening and that is about it. He refuses to vacuum or cook or do much else really so I'm glad I've got the OH I have.

Daughter is encouraging me to put on weight. I have just opened the door to a man with a box for me. (Not sure who was more surprised, I was expecting a delivery from Amazon and he certainly was not expecting a lady with a blob of white on her nose.) In the box is a beautiful cream tea (4 scones, clotted cream, four little pots of jam, some tea bags, a packet of Cornish Fairing biscuits and two fingers of butter shortbread). I am looking forward to this. Naughty but very thoughtful and nice. a card in the box that says 'get well soon.'

Yes it is the results that are a concern now Mel. the skin graft needs to take as well as the stitched area to heal. One thing that I am quite encouraged by is that both nostrils seem clear, even though they block occasionally and I can't blow them. I really don't need to catch a cold now though and I hope I don't have one of my sneezing fits.

thanks for the photos Mel, hope the babies soon get to fly out ready for their jjourney.
that is a lonely little tomato

Morning all,

16 degrees here and pc says mostly cloudy but its quite bright at the mo but with pale grey skies.

I wonder if I will here from Stuart today about dinner tonight? or if he has a job on like last week when he had to take a car to Bideford in the evening.

Its not been raining here as far as I can see as all the road looks dry and if its been raining it usually wet.

I had a lie in this morning so a bit late on parade.

Glad you had a bit of a better night Anng and managed some sleep better without the extra pillow. Hope this one dos'nt take as long to heal and the results are good.

Take care all.

Good morning all. 8 degrees here and fairly bright. I did manage to see the moon around 1.30am, I was awake until then trying to get to sleep.
which I eventually did and slept for at least 5 hours which was an improvement. I decided to drop down a pillow.

Yes Mel, it does seem a long time to have the dressing on. I assume that is the time it takes for hopefully the skin graft to work. Of course the waiting is worse for not knowing if the procedure he did will work. And even on the 28th the appointment means waiting all day as it is at 3pm.
One of the annoying things about the dressing is that I can see it as the top is in front of my eyes. and another is that sometimes the threads from the stitches, that are under the dressing, itch.

Annx your OH really loves his football doesn't he?
goodness 64 characters for a password! I guess that one would not be remembered without it being written down. Unless it was a sentence. But what a pain having to type that in every time.

Vera , like Annx I would have enjoyed that talk on Constable, always good to hear background info

Gwyn I do wear a daily moisture cream on my face that has a certain amount of protection but I have been getting these BCCs now for about 20 years, If I am going out when it is sunny I add a factor 30 or 50 depending where I am going (town or by water). I think it is in my blood. I was told that it was due to sunburn many years ago which is probably because there was no sun cream when I was young growing up near the sea and spending hours on the beach. Then in 20s and 30s going on holiday every year to Cornwall where the aim was a suntan and still not a lot of good protection. During our months spent in Tenerife post retirement I did wear factor 50 or 30 suncream but maybe not enough.
I have had about 17+ BCCs now all non malignant and strangely a lot of them were on parts of my body only exposed to the sun in a swim suit.
Regarding scars, most of mine have eventually flattened, depending on whether the BCCs were scraped, frozen or cut and stitched. However I have one from 3 years ago that is really lumpy and that was cut and stitched and took 8 weeks to heal, it is on my upper back.

The talk on Constable would have been interesting for me Vera. I hate it when I hear crash type noise from workmen and have to go and see what has happened! Yes, OH is doing well in the garden and has started on the bottom border now next to the field. It's a smaller area as half the length id dense shrubberyWe never even caught up before last winter, so it's never been so weedy before and I've even spotted a few small Oak trees between the shrubs, probably forgotten Squirrel stores! I think part of his being so keen at this point is the fact that tonight he's at his 5th footie match since a week last Saturday!! :-0 He's not daft and knows that if he's not neglecting things he says he'll do at home, I won't be asking does he really have time for footie. :-D I like some of the fancy teas but not all. I have a cup of green tea sometimes because it is full of antioxidants and good fo me, but some teas smell like hay to me! OH sometimes has the fruit ones but they recommend drinking plain water after those because of the acid on your teeth. :-S

Mel I must look up how to get the sim card out of my new phone as I don't know with this new phone. No simple instruction booklet with anything these days. You'd have thought they would have had some way to trace you without you knowing your account number! We don't need much internet on our phones and just pay £7 a month for unlimited calls and texts and 5mb internet. We are with Asda mobile who use Vodaphone now I think. I'm in sympathy with you today about the stress sorting things out though as I've had some of the same. Years ago I got a few shares when my building society was bought out and now the company that's taken over the management wanted my bank details if they'd changed which they have and need to be updated. I needed to register with the site but despite it recommending your email address as your username, by the time you leapt through all the other hoops and wanted to submit, it wouldn't accept your email and still suggested at the side again that you used your email?? I've never seen a password request with an upper limit of 64, yes 64 letters, numbers and characters before. To cut a long story short before you all start yawning, I rang them and had to press this, that and the other and put in reference number, say name etc before I spoke to a person with poor english spoken fast!!! Arrrrgh!. Asking her to speak slowly was soon forgotten and I'm beginning to think payment of wages must be per call. Anyway, part of the trouble was that I had not 'signed out' when I couldn't try again, which seems odd that you still had to sign out when you hadn't even been able to set up an account? Anyway it is sorted now and OH is not looking forward to doing his next as he has changed his bank too!

Colin soon won't be able to say he didn't hear you will he Mandy! It's quite expensive having the wax cleared now isn't it. I'm expecting to be told I really need hearing aids next time I'm tested and am wondering whether to have my hair a bit longer over my ears.

I hope you have a better night tonight AnnG.

Gosh that seems a ong while till its changed. Its getting dark her enow so I better get my solar lights in postion as I put them in the sun during the day.

Steak in ale tonight with broccoli and new pots and the chickens will get the mash fromt he meal for one. I ordered a Asda cottage pie and its huge compared to the meal for one ones. It is microwavable too and half the price of the mela for one.

Thanks Mandy.

Mel, no the dressing doesn’t get changed until the consultant does it tomorrow week.

Gwyn I think Colin will notice the difference once he gets the new aids and I certainly will if it means I don't have to keep repeating my words .
The poppies will be on the pill box near the railway station crossing which is not far from us about a ten minute walk away so I'm hoping to get a few photos once its all covered ,well that's if she gets enough poppies to cover it ,last year they had nets with poppies flowing out of the windows if that's what you call the narrow slits in the pill box so hopefully they will be used again to help cover it .

Anng I hope you have a better night's sleep tonight I should think you'll be really tired .

Do you have to go and have the dressing changed Ann?

I have sent the first pics of my baby swallows and my first tom which I had on Sunday with my breakfast.