General Chat

It’s so sad to hear about Frank. Poor Ros must be at the end of her tether as it’s a 24/7 job taking care of someone with dementia. I hope a good home can be found for Frank where he will be happy and Ros will know he’s being cared for. I also hope that while Frank still had good understanding they got a Power of Attorney set up or Ros has a bit of a struggle ahead of her.

Sorry to hear that you haven’t been well Mandy. I hope it was one of those bugs that quickly goes and you are feeling better now. Get plenty of rest.

Hopefully the physio will help your OH Annx. It’s not good to hear about his arthritis but good that it’s not his osteoporosis causing the problem. Let me know how the oven racks cleaned up as mine are in a sorry state and need a good clean. OH always used to give them a bit of a clean after our Sunday dinner but he seems to have given that job up.

Shame that Stu is unwell, Mel. Stew was a good meal to cook because you can reheat it for you tomorrow or freeze the leftovers for another time.

It’s been a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine but sooo cold. We went for coffee to friends who live about 15 minutes walk away and normally we go on foot but even OH decided to get the car out. I think we’d have turned into icicles before we got there if we’d walked. After lunch I got on with several jobs while OH spent hours on the phone trying to sort out a website problem with the company’s tech people. He needed to use it to set up various important things to do with his finances. Now he has to wait for a couple of days for this company to email him to say everything has gone through OK. Any transaction seems to be so complicated these days

It looks like being a very cold night again so I’ll be taking my wheat bag and a hottie to bed with me. I’m still not sleeping well so I’m hoping for a better night. I hope you all sleep well. Sweet dreams everyone.

I think th eflowers are like a forget me knot but darker in colour.

Its very frosty outside again tonight my car is all white.

The
Lang with the name I mentioned is the variagated one dark green wiiyh silver variagationthat gives it the Jack Frost name. Has small blue flowers apparently

That's sad and a shame about Frank Mel. Poor Ros must have been under a lot of strain. Do you know why he is in hospital? Like FIL he would probably be fine once he settles in a home and would enjoy the company and entertainment. It would be easier for Ros too as dementia can make you quite demanding and not easy to deal with at times. I think he must be about 86 now. I do miss his funny posts and things he did.

I thought the frosted one was the variegated plant, but maybe there are several others that are variegated. They are a nice plant, do well in the shade too.

Yes those fires are dreadful with all the destruction they are causing, cars and expensive homes. Awful trying to decide and grab what's dear to you before you escape the flames too.

Colder still here tonight if they are right and down to -5 degrees! :-0

There is a varigated form of that plant Anng and the leves are really pretty. I had the ordinary one years ago.

Shame that Stu is ill Mel, I know that you look forward to his company. good job it is stew and it will heat up nicely tomorrow.

Oh dear poor Frank, or rather poor Ros, It does seem that when a person suffers dementia it is the partner who suffers. I am sure that he will be better off in a home and she will be too She is probably worn out.

Ann yes it does seem that as fast as I complete one job another one crops up. I just seem to not being able to catch up with myself at the moment. None of the jobs are urgent though so it does keep me occupied.

the meeting went well, not a lot of gardening to talk about but we covered many other subjects such as the LA wildfires, the Tsunami from way back and the depth and type of snow in Canada compared to ours (One member's daughter lives near Ontario.
We did talk about plants that have survived winter temps and the following is one that has done well in several gardens. I might look out for it.

Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', also known as Siberian Bugloss, is a hardy perennial plant with large, heart-shaped, silver leaves and small, bright blue flowers:

Gosh that made me laugh, how are you getting on. I know just what you mean as oh would do the same to me.

Hope Mandy is feeling better now and she gets over this bug quickly and that Colin dos'nt catch it or her son having just gone back to school.

Sun is still out but its so low in the sky and its still bitter out.

I have been meaning to say that our Frank has got dimenture badly now and Ros can't cope. He is in hospital and she has lost 8 stone last year looking after him. She thinks he will have to go in a home as she can't is'nt able to look after him anymore. Its so sad.

I have also just realised I did'nt send the pics of my Christmas flowers they are still on the desktop so I will send them today.

Afternoon All,

You poor thing Mandy, that's horrid to have. As you say it's one thing after another. It could have been from the hospital visit as you say. I hope you are soon better and that your son doesn't get it or Colin. Thanks for the mention of new series of the chapel renovation coming, I'll look out for it.

It was colder here last night with more frost. I was watching them clearing up from the floods round here on tv and was surprised to see a nice pub at Whetstone we've eaten at and less than 2 miles away had been flooded. The owner rescued a woman from her car stuck in the floods and his wife said the water had been up to his chest in their carpark. The fields on the way to the shop were still like lakes this morning but there's still no sign any gritting has been done and the puddles left are sheets of ice.

OH had his phone appointment with the doctor this morning. They didn't seem to know what it was about yet they had asked for him to make the appointment! Anyway his x-ray showed arthritis in his back, but no compression of his spine which was the main concern with his osteoarthritis and they've booked him in for physio. They are repeating one of the blood tests next month, but OH said the doctor didn't seem concerned.

It's a long time since I could shoot anywhere Mel especially out of bed in the morning! Oh that's a shame Stu isn't well. At least you can freeze some of a stew though for another day if you wanted.

I chuckled at your 'to do' list not shrinking AnnG as it sounds like mine! I think it sounds even colder than here where you are. I hope you have a good meeting with the group.

I've put my cooker metal racks in the bath with hot water and dishwasher tablets. I read about it for cleaning them online so we'll see if it works!

I'll be glad when OH sits down to his online meeting and then is out to another meeting as he pops in and out of here like a jack in the box to chat which does'nt help me get anything done! Then he asks me how I am getting on! :-)

Stu's girl just rang to say he's not well so he is'nt coming tonight. I have the stew on so it looks like it two days dinner for me then.

Suns still out and I have a weather alert for snow and ice and its 2 degrees out there. Nice........I don't think.

I had two eggs this morning so it looks like they might be coming back into lay. I have been having just one a day with a day off here and there. The one that lays the bluey greenish eggs had been laying all winter but neither of the white laying ones.

I had a tidy round and did a bit of casting but only two things and now I am hungry so am going to have some toast and honey and then I'm going to hoover. May even do some ironing.

mornig all, Jack Frost has been again here too cars all covered in ice but at least it has'nt snowed and laid.

Beautiful sunshine and an 2 degrees and pc says light rain.

Woke at 745am and could see it was going to be nice today by the sun coming up so popped back in bed it was so nice and warm I then awoke at 9.50am with brilliant sunshine flooding the room so I shot out of bed.

Stu comes tonight and still not decided what I am going to cook be it stew for Stu or Toad in the Hole. I think maybe a nice stew with butter beans and dough boys.

Sorry that you are poorly Mandy I do hope that Colin doesn't catch it from you. Hope you feel better soon.

Morning all,

We have frost and lovely sunshine, it should be sunny all day .

Not to good today I had sickness and diarrhea from about one o'clock till four so feel a bit tired ,don't know where I picked that up from ,the hospital maybe ,its just one thing after another here .

good morning all Alexa is telling me it is -5 degrees.so it must be icy out there. there is frost on roofs but it is not as white as yesterday .
Have to get the house ready for the meeting this afternoon, otherwise it is just back to following the jobs 'to do' list which has not shrunk much.

Those fire's are terrifying and so sad.

Oh thank you Vera no hurry when ever you have time .

Ann I recorded the pottery throw down, I did read that they have done or are doing the next chapter of the Chapel renovation so something to look forward too .

I think its freezing again here the car looks quite white already.

They were just showing the fires in Los Angeles, all those properties gone and they should still get hurricane winds overnight so there will be lots more gone .

Vera I can see that we are thinking the same about comparison sites. We and now I used to have LV for two cars,buildings, contents and gravel insurance and they were always very good, very efficient. It was good too when we were able to have family discount via son being a manager with them for about 35 years. It was sad when he took early retirement as we lost that but they were very helpful with car and home insurance when T died. I do think that you get what you pay for to a certain extent and it would be awful to take out a very low cost insurance that didn’t pay out for a claim.
Mandy yes I have decided to stay with LV. Not sure daughter approves but it is my decision and she will accept that.

If only I could find an email address for LV I would do that, but I can’t Vera
Ann I hate having to change anything like email address etc.

I suspect that my cousin will have everything backed up somewhere. He was a very precise person and always passed info to me where it applied to my tree too.

That's a shame about your cousin AnnG. I wonder how he recorded the FH as it would be a shame if it was lost like Mandy says. Mine's going to the Records Office here who told me they will have it. I agree it's best to stay with your insurance if it is going to cause you stress. Life is too short as you say, as proved with your cousin' untimely passing. I should change my email address or get a new one so I don't get all the scam emails after my provider's data was stolen, but the thought of changing my emails on so many sites now fills me with dread and so I don't get round to it. Has anyone ever changed their broadband provider? Ours is cheap anyway, or was, but they are so complicated with what their packages are. OH breaks out in a sweat at the thought and is convinced it would go wrong and we'd end up with no internet if we did it!

I'm concerned that they might start messing with the flood maps and just widen the areas out that they include for insurance risk. We are quite near the river but far enough for our insurance not to be increased now. We are so much higher than the river, most of the city would be covered if floods were to reach us, but if they just go by distance if they change things, who knows.

I hope we don't get snow Mel. I don't think we are due any at the moment hopefully. We still have the floods and roads closed only a couple of miles towards the city and all the access roads to one village are still closed because of floods.

The whole of our close only ever has one quite dimmed street light on now, so it's pitch dark as the main road lights are not on either. A few years ago it was like daylight a lot of the night and a huge light glow was over the city.

I enjoyed the Pottery Throwdown that's started again and wonder how Keith's chapel revonation is doing.

Mandy, just seen that you couldn’t open the email. I wonder why? Never mind, it will take me 2 minutes to print it out and pop it in the post to you. I’ll do it in the next day or two.

I’m glad Colin had a good night Mandy. Hospitals are noisy places even at night so I’m sure he will get more rest at home. Fingers crossed that he will soon be completely back to normal. I dug out that cheesecake recipe and emailed it to you yesterday.

Sorry to hear about your second cousin AnnG. It’s always sad to lose a family member. Comparison websites are OK and can save you money but there are downsides. If you’re comparing prices you need to be sure you are comparing like for like in what cover you are getting and how can you know about customer service and speed of dealing with claims etc? We have used them but for the last few years we have stuck with LV and have buildings, contents and car insurance with them. Our house insurance is reasonable but our car insurance went sky high in September, presumably because of our age. OH rang them and eventually they reduced the premium by £100. I know phone calls are difficult for you AnnG but perhaps you could email LV and ask why your premium is so high and if there’s any way of reducing it a bit.

Is it still snowing Mel? Have you got snow yet Gwyn? I saw on the weather forecast that some was expected along the coast in the south east. Has the flooding round your way subsided at all Annx? I think we’ve been lucky round here. There was only one lot of snow that cleared quite quickly and there’s been no serious floods. Today the wind has dropped and we even had some sun but it has been bitter cold. We popped to Sainsbury around 2 pm and I froze just walking from the end of the car park to the shop.

I’d better get my skates on too as I’ve got tonight’s meal to prepare and a few jobs to do. Stay warm and take care if you have to go out.

If your happy with the insurance then stick with who you know Anng its not worth all the agro and worry as you say life's to short .
Sorry to hear about your second cousin passing away ,it will be a shame if all the family history is lost .

Oh Mel if the temperature drops the snow might begin to lay ,you might wake up tomorrow with a covering of snow .

I think it should snow down on the south coast and might even get up as far as us ,but tomorrow should be sunnier then today .

Vera sorry I meant to say thank you for the email but I couldn't open it :-(

I do think the nights are pulling out a little even though its been a dull day it seems lighter tonight .