This week

Hi folks, I’ve slipped behind a bit again, but I have a good reason, well I think it is, I’ve been looking after my friend Sue’s dogs since last Tuesday, I think I may have mentioned I was having them. They have been very good and the weather, thankfully, has been kind, it would have been hard work had it rained, four dogs means a lot of wet towels. Though it did rain for our pm walk, not too much at first but it got heavier so we cut it short, just in time.
Here is a couple of pics of them
This is Nettle on the left Strudel on the right with Ruby in the background. .
This one has got Widget in the middle and I managed to get Ruby to join in, she is not the most confident of dogs and needs a lot of coaxing.
Sue is flying back tonight and will be picking them up tomorrow sometime, bet they’ll go wild.
This is Strudel when she won a Test B in Obedience competition, so proud of her and Sue, as she’s not an easy dog.
On a different subject, I read an advert for squeezing the last of the toothpaste from the tube, called ‘Tube – Wringer’ at a cost of £16 !! maybe I’m a tightwad but I just cut the top two inches off the tube, and scoop it out with the brush, I get about another 6 helpings out.................. £16, they must be bonkers.
Bye for now folks, Be good to yourselves. just in case no one else is. XX

Technorati Tags: dogs,toothpaste

Last night and to-day

Last night was awful! I went to bed at pretty much the usual time around 10.30 pm,, the previous night I’d finished reading a Biography, Jenny Bond , who was the Royal Correspondent , it was OK, I started a new book ..Into The Darkest Corner, by Elizabeth Haynes, her first  novel and highly acclaimed. It’s a thriller, a subject I don’t usually read, as I don’t feel like having to tax my brain at bedtime, which is almost the only time I read nowadays.
Well I read until gone midnight, it was quite a page turner, though written in a sort of diary format.  Eventually I made myself put it down and settled to sleep, ……………and couldn’t, I lay for a while then decided to sit and read for a while longer. As I sat up…..wooooooooooo the room started to rock , oh no, -   an attack of vertigo. I don’t know if you’ve ever had one, if so you’ll know how scary it is. I lay back down and hoped it would go away, I realized after a while I’d have to spend a penny, I got up and staggered to the toilet, bouncing off the walls.  I’d been prescribed  Stemetil so I fumbled for them and took one, willing myself to sleep, the last time I saw registered on the clock was 4 am.  I woke as usual about 7 am. I still felt a bit delicate, so took another Stemetil and got up. Fed the dogs and had a wash,, I didn’t dare have a bath or shower. , breakfasted and after a leisurely morning took the dogs out at around 10 am.  I got home around 11.30, still feeling tired and a bit wrung out, so snuggled up in the chair and dozed off till 1 am, It did me good as I felt a bit more normal. had some soup and a sandwich for lunch. made a cake and went into the garden to test the weather.  The weathermen said it would be much milder and they were right. I went into the shed collected shears and loppers and set about pruning the bushes  and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I worked in the garden till around  4.30 and Tango, who’d been asleep indoors came out and let me know that it was time for our evening walk, Pity, as I was really enjoying myself, as it’s the first attack on the garden I’d done for months and it felt good.
I’ve got some lady friends from the dancing club over to-morrow so I won’t get any more done till the weekend, and that will depend on the weather. So that’s it folks. A grotty night and morning but the day finished on a good note, Look after yourselves and keep smiling.

Technorati Tags: Vertigo,stemitl,gardening

Catch up

Not a lot to report, but I’ll try, My son in law has been decorating my bedroom, and it’s looking good, the first night [Tuesday] after he painted the woodwork I couldn’t sleep with the smell of paint, it was like the breath of a thousand camels, and I woke up with a head like a well smacked punchball,

It will look great when it’s finished, then he’s going to do the porch/dog area.

The other day I blogged about getting soaked in the awful down pour, well here are some photos of the field, it’s a rugby field I was way down at the bottom end in the distance when the storm struck

This picture has got a folly in the background it’s Petersons Folly,they were built by rich men simply to show that they could afford it, this was apparently the first building made of concrete, and at the time the 2nd tallest building in UK

I’ve got another couple of blogs in my mind so i’m logging off for now folks, enjoy what’s left of the weekend.

Technorati Tags: decorating,storm,peterson's folly

Update on cooker

Just a quick update, but first let me thank all of you for your words of support, and a boost, and believe me Anne you would not have liked to be on the other end of the phone, i do like a good ‘verbal’ when my dander is up and I think I’m in the right, [Word press blog]
However, the bod came up after he phoned  telling me he was lost and couldn’t find my address,
He duly arrived and gave the cooker the once over as well as checking the bulb, and, guess what,………….. it was a faulty fitting,  YAY, I was smugly pleased, as I was hoping I wouldn’t look an idiot calling out an engineer just to change a bulb, He will be putting it in his report to go back to the manufacturer, then getting in touch with me with a replacement part. Justice.! 
Off to bed now.

Technorati Tags: cooker,bulb,justice.

Catch up

Just a quick catch up, I haven’t been online blogging much lately,  there have been quite a few pre Christmas activities to be attended to, not complaining about that though.

Just wanted to tell you all about my cooker problem. I got a new one just a year ago next week, it has an interior oven light which  I’ve not used it a lot , then discovered it wasn’t working., on trying to change it I couldn’t budge it, for a start it’s in the most awkward of places, way up inside at the top on the right, which  meant lying on my back to unscrew it. but couldn’t . I’d resorted to using a torch to see inside the oven when baking.

I went into the shop where I’d bought it, and was told it wasn’t covered, so didn’t pursue it further. On talking to a friend, she reckons that it should be covered as it’s part of the enhancements of the cooker or something, Anyhow I decided to have a try, and with one week to go on the guarantee they agreed to replace it.  Next thing I got a phone call from the engineer telling me it would cost me labour, around £75 ! all to change a 30p bulb.!  I told them quite vociferously  I was not going to pay as it was covered for parts AND labour., and I would be taking it further and would probably in fact put it on their site in the review space. and possibly getting in touch with Trades description ombudsman, I hadn’t got a clue how to go about that , but it sounded quite impressive.

I got another phone call soon after saying that it would be changed under the terms of guarantee and have an appointment for to-morrow.  It shows it pays to complain, and all for a 30p bulb.

Take care everyone.

Technorati Tags: cooker,bulb,guarantees,complaints

To-day and to-night

First to the kind bloggers who gave my paintings the thumbs up, many thanks, I do appreciate it, makes me feel a little bit better now.

I made another batch of Welsh Cakes yesterday, to take to our quiz evening which is tonight, there are five of us, so surely we will get at least two questions right among us. Mary from our Dance class is organising it, and she can put on some mean questions. She does it in categories, and when it comes to Sport, I give up Nature and English are hopefully a bit better My daughter Arlene her hubby,daughter and my friend Sue are coming. I’ll let you know to-morrow how we get on.

I’ve got another girl friend coming up shortly for  coffee, so I’ll have to get moving and wash up lunch dishes. She’s got Megan a little cocker spaniel, I looked after her when she went on holiday to Australia  a couple of years ago, it was during the Iceland volcano eruption, and I had to hang on to Meg for about a week as she got stuck in Dubai.

She has told me that she is finding her hard to cope with and may have to part with her, I’m not too happy, she was already rescued, and is now 11, I asked a neighbour’s daughter if she was interested as she liked her, but unfortunately she’s not able to. I’m going to work on Avril hoping she’ll keep her, oh oh she’s at the door, must go, catch you all to-morrow.

A few pics

Hi folks I hope I’ve caught up with and replied to most of your comments to my blogs, if I’ve missed anyone out, I apologise.

I’ve not done anything jaw dropping lately, very hum drum.

The weather has got  a bit milder but now the clouds are building up and the rain that has threatened has fallen, on my head !. As I took the dogs out last evening at 5, it started lightly, by the time I got home it was heavier, I got changed and smartened up to go out and it threw it down, running up the path in heels and skirts trying to keep hairdo intact is something we haven’t been used to for a while.

Watching a gardening prog the other evening, we were advised to put fuchsias  under cover, job done! I have some really nice ones which I’d hate to lose. Other tender perennials are in the mini greenhouse too. I’ve emptied most of the pots of spent flowers,  I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I’d planted my bulbs, well some of them are poking their heads up through the soil already, so they too will have to go under cover, as the first frost will chop them down in their prime.

Oh yes I’ve been knitting, a new dear little tea cosy, see pic.

   isn’t it cute?

This is Tango warming himself in front of the oven while the carrot cake is inside

This is the carrot cake before I iced it.

T

Nasturtiums going for a ramble

Geraniums are still blooming

This feverfew spreads and self slows all over the place, it’s almost crowded out the fuchsia

My son in law gave me this plant i haven’t got a clue what it is, the large buds at the top look about to pop, but If they don’t do so soon, they’ll get caught in the frost

Cyclamen

                       Various bits                                                          Vibirnum, it’s the first time it has      flowered, and that was because I had to   hard pruned it after it got scorched last  winter, it’s recovering well with new shoots popping out all over.

My grasses , the spiky stuff in the middle was growing into a tree till I chopped it down, I don’t mind if it stays this shape

Well that’s about it folks, nothing exciting, but I thought I’d best post up something, just to let you know I’m still in the land of the living.

Technorati Tags: flowers,tea cosy,dog,grasses,geraniums

Hello

Hi there folks, I'm back though I don’t know for how long, Not wishing to sound a moaner, but just to say I’ve had a lot of discomfort from this ‘frozen shoulder’ and not sleeping well, I went to the doctor and was prescribed painkillers, so I’ve been giving it a bit of a rest till it stabilises, it’s a good bit better.

I appreciate the comments you all left on my blogs and hope to get round to replying where I can. Not much has gone on with me so this post won’t be mind blowing.

The weather turned very cold early in the week, gloves, scarf and warm coat was necessary, for me any how, though the postmen are still wearing their shorts, brrrrrr. they’re a hardy lot. It hardly seems possible that we were baking about 3 weeks ago.

Yesterday I went for a walk along the beach with friend Sue with Nettle, Widget, Stroodle and her dad’s cairn, Jasper, it was a cold start but we soon warmed up, so much that we stopped at the cafe on the beach front and had an ice cream, yummee.

  It has turned a bit milder from this morning, I managed to mow the lawn and hallelujah I don’t appear to be suffering any effects. I’ve just about finished the painting of the dogs, so will take a photo to-morrow.

I’ve got Barney for the week-end as his Mum’s celebrating her Mum’s 90th birthday with relatives up country.

I had some friends over on Sunday, and decided to try my hand at baking a carrot cake, never done one before, What a palaver, and not cheap, but it was really nice, not an everyday bake, but lovely for a special tea.

It will soon be Hallowe’en and we are dressing up at the dancing club, I’ve got most of my costume sorted, I’ll take a photograph of yours truly when the time comes.

Before I go try this link   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEH4Yum4nN4&feature=youtube_gdata_player                   It would make even me take up exercise. That’s it for now. Byeee

Technorati Tags: cold weather,beach walk,ice cream,baking,fancy dress,halloween

To-day etcetera.

The weather has been so lovely I just had to spend time in the garden this week, I got quite a bit done even managed to plant my bulbs. For my birthday Karen gave me a planter in the shape and design of an old fashioned perambulator , It is lovely, I planted it with Cyclamen and pansies , but have managed to squeeze in a few bulbs. I bought a new rose, a rambler with pale pink flowers, also another Clematis, one of the small flowered varieties, Can’t recall the names right now, I’ll maybe post them up later.

This morning I was determined to wash my windows before the house became like a tomb. Job well done, I then took the dogs for a good walk, had lunch [home made soup ] and as the day was a tad more dull, I wanted to print off a couple of photos of the dogs, I started at 1.30 and was still struggling with the printer at 6.30 The air was blue, I just couldn’t get the thing to print colours properly, I had no Yellow and very little Cyan.  I changed the paper, did maintenance checks, and generally fiddled and diddled around, I did stop for 20 minutes to sample my cake I'd quickly rustled up this morning, and of course the dogs don’t like missing their afternoon cuppa and biscuit. The cake wasn’t bad, just a quick fruit loaf. Back to the printer, I eventually came to the conclusion that it was the cheap replacement cartridges, I’d only put them in about a week ago. da*n and blast. more money for proper Kodak cartridges.

I managed to take the dogs out again at 7 pm.,  the poor souls had been mugging me from 5.30 their usual time.

I’ve also tried to catch up with some blogs to read and leave comments, times like this I’m happy not to have too many followers. I just couldn't keep up.

Well anyway i want an opinion on what picture to paint. so I've put up the three from the previous blog if you’d care to have a look [dogs] and maybe I can narrow it down.

Technorati Tags: bulbs,gardening,perambulator,dogs,printer,colours

Yesterday and to-day

Hi all, I thought I’d post up thanks and comments on the ‘quickie’ post, thanks all for your comments, it has led me to one conclusion, one whiff of home baking and it draws everyone out of their hidey holes.   I do wish we could all have a bake in and one huge party, wouldn’t that be fun.
Well the Banana loaf was just fine, so I’ll cut down the sugar in future, it is advertised as Sweet Banana loaf from an old cookery book I bought in 1960 for 5/- [25p] got some nice recipes but you have to convert the amounts. It’s a good way to use up bananas that have slightly gone over it uses 3 bananas [one cup] it is a nice moist cake. Also  my best ever Shortbread is in there, scrummy.
The bread was OK I’ve got used to it using the machine ,  it’s surprising how home bread making has cottoned  on, you can buy a bread machine for under £40 and all but one I’ve seen is for a lengthways loaf.
Carrie  I hope you get your kneader fixed. One thing I used to find most annoying was the kneaders got stuck in the bread and when you finally got the bread out, there were two great holes and  chunks missing from the base, I read you can prevent this by taking the bread out after the second kneading, remove the kneaders, and replace the loaf , with no problems and it works.
Gaelic Wifie it tasted just fine, not too sweet and quite banana [y] and no it didn’t sink which I thought it might do.
The smell did linger and was most pleasant when I came home last night.

Technorati Tags: banana loaf,shortbread,home made bread,bread machines

Catch up

Hi all, I am sorry not to have got  back and thanked you all for your comments, but I have had a very busy couple of days. First, the show was good, the weather being much better than forecast, one little shower with the rest od the day a mixture of warm when the sun came out, to chilly and gusty at other times, but it was bearable. I got up at 4.45 am arrived at the show 7.45 am and home 8.pm and judged around 35 dogs, a long and tiring day.  For anyone who doesn’t know i judge competition obedience, not breed, The dog’s intelligence not how it looks. , that’s my last appointment this year, thankfully, i do admit to getting tired especially the next day, gone are the days when I would go out clubbing when I got home. !

Sunday morning I hoped to catch up neglected garden chores, when my daughter phoned inviting me to a latish lunch, I do enjoy Jason’s cooking, so wouldn’t refuse.   A friend of Karen’s was also invited, and afterwards we took the dogs for a walk, Karen has 4, Sue her friend has 5, I’ve got 2 + got barney for a week, we met up with other friends, Dot and Fay and there dogs another 5, so that made 17 dogs in total, all getting on and having a whale of a time. I d wish I’d had the camera.

When we got back to Karen’s we decided to play on the Wii it was beat music  John Travolta style, you have to keep time and mime to the figure on the screen, gaining points, My 13yr grand daughter challenged me, and I beat her twice, she was not pleased typical teenager. bless.

I had an embarrassing moment on Monday when I was at the doctor for physio,

I  wanted to use the loo  which is just off the waiting room [only disabled or gents], there was no light, so Ire- opened the door to check where the 'throne' was, and did the necessary, saw a cord dangle which I thought was a light, pulled it, it was an alarm! ee-aw, ee-aw, next minute someone was banging on the door, and a red light flashing . ,  you never saw panties and trousers come up so quick, I came out red faced to a sea of smirks and enquiring looks, you never saw such a quick exit to the car park .

Hope to catch up with some of you soon.

Till I can, Thanks for now

Technorati Tags: dogs,dog shows,competition obedience,doctors,embarrassing,Wii,teenagers.

To say Hi.

Technorati Tags: eating out,frozen shoulder,church,old graves

Hello folks here I am as I’d said, Thanks to all who have wished me well, This frozen shoulder is no joke

When I first  experienced the pain I thought it was R.S.I. due to sitting awkwardly typing with  my laptop. I had to go to the doctor for an unrelated condition and mentioned it to him, but he didn’t think it was,  he gave my arm some manipulation, gave me tablets and made an appointment for the physiotherapist, plus an X-Ray, I had the X Ray couple of weeks ago and have physio 10th August. It feels a bit easier through resting it, but I do think that the awkward way I sit using a laptop doesn’t help. I took advantage of the enforced PC rest to send my tower PC off to be mended, it had 40+ malware gremlins, and an almost flat internal battery.

Karen came over yesterday and took me for lunch and tea, we had a good day shopping and gossiping, Arlene came over to-day and we went for a light lunch, no shopping  though.

here are a few pics of to-day’s walk,

This is the pub we went to yesterday for lunch ‘The Wheatsheaf’  at Old Milton.This is Old Milton Green opposite, the cottage is thatched, very old and is now an estate agents, but is reputed to be haunted by a farmer/shepherd type man sitting on a seat with a dog at his feet, I haven’t had the courage to go and see if it’s true

This is the old church alongside the Wheatsheaf, when I took the picture this morning, the bells were ringing calling worshippers to prayer.

This is the old part of the graveyard in the church. this was about the oldest I could decipher 1819

This is so sad, there were more but this was the clearest to read. many were completely in ruins

On a lighter not Could this be His n Hers? sorry!

That’s it for now folks, nothing interesting has happened as you can gather, I hope to go blog visiting asap, till then God bless and keep smiling.

Catching up

Hi All, just a few short typos to let you all know I’m still in the land of the living, I hope to add a few more words to-morrow, and give an explanation, thanks a million for my friends who sent sympathy I do appreciate it, however here’s something for you to while away the time, Hope to catch you tomorrow.

Pass your mouse over the guy’s head after dowloading.

http://www.selfcontrolfreak.com/slaan.html

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