General Chat

Hi Mo,

Wonderful news! I'm thrilled for you, lovely to think that you are going to be a great-nan for the first time.
Will it be your daughter's first grandchild? I'm sure like you, she's over the moon.

I'm glad Marie has been in touch with you, and to know that all is well with her and her family.

I'll speak to you tomorrow.

Love, Sallie.xxx

Hi all, feeling a bit low and then o.h. got poorly on Weds and I had to pick him up from work and take him to a walk in centre, he has a u.t.i. and is very miserable, he must feel rough as he won't normally take time off work. He says the antib's make him feel worse and aren't working but he has only had time to take 5 so will see how he is when he gets up and maybe get him to see his doc. He has to go in a week anyway to make sure the infection has gone and then have a check up on his prostate - I have been telling him for ages to get the check up as his dad has problems and it's better to be checked out, but of course, he's a man so doesn't do precautionary check ups, particularly not certain embarrassing ones lol
I can't stand him being home all the time but won't get respite till Monday pm if then! Am hoping to get out by myself later today but that will be difficult if I have to take him to the doc, don't think he is up to driving. He had to leave his bike at work so if he goes in next week will have to get the bus so he can ride home.
Consequently we haven't sorted out a holiday at all, if we go anywhere it will be local, so boring and miserable weather probably, early October could give us a late indian summer but the evenings would still be dark by 7ish!
Oh happy days lol

love to all, apologies for not being more communicative

Lizxxxx

Liz, your OH sounds just like mine, he must be feeling really poorly if he takes time off work. I hope that he'll start feeling better soon, it takes a couple of days for the antibiotic to start to work.

Did you manage to go out somewhere on your own today? I hope you did, as I'm sure it would have done you the world of good.


Well, I hope everyone else is okay, and that you'll all enjoy your weekend.

Speak to you all soon.


Love and best wishes. Sallie.xxx

Good morning to all my English friends (Sunday evening here).

Son came up from Rotorua yesterday morning. He spent the day cleaning up some of the mess in one of our sheds, then cleaned up a pile of stuff that was outside, dismantling a trolley thing that we used to use to haul firewood up from the bottom of our property (using an electric winch Phil designed and built). He also rearranged stuff in Phil's workshop so we can now see things and move around more easily. I had tried to help Phil to tidy it last year but he kept forgetting what we were doing and wandering around doing other things so I gave up. Son found one dead mouse and one extremely dead (liquified) mouse! I presume they were fatally injured when they set off the trap, but managed to fall out of it.

When son left this morning I had an early lunch and a snooze then went and visited Phil. He was dozing, but woke up, although not quite as alert as last time. I stayed an hour then did some shopping on the way home.

Huia.

Huia, lovely to hear from you. I'm sure that you enjoyed having your son's company over the weekend. He seemed to have been very busy----it's nice that he has done some of the jobs for you, that you can no longer do.

Glad to hear that Phil was alright, and to know that you spent an hour with him although he wasn't as alert as he was on your last visit.

Alun is on holiday from work this week, so we're hoping to have a couple of days out. We also have a few jobs around the house that need doing, so we'll see how things go.

I hope that Ann and Sylvia are enjoying their holidays, and that they are both having good weather in their different parts of the world.

It's so quiet on here, I'm wondering if things are okay with you all.

Well I'm going to make a few cards now, so I might look in again, later today.


Love and best wishes. Sallie. xxx

Good evening everyone.
Hello Huia. It's good to hear from you.
Oooh yuk, fancy finding the dead mice. Especially the liquidised one.
Thank goodness your son went out to clear the shed for you, as if it was you who discovered the mouse, if you are anything like me, I would have screamed and ran out of the shed and left it there for another day.
What a shame that Phil was still a bit unreceptive, after going all the way there to see him. But at least it puts your own mind to rest, knowing that he is o.k.
Are you doing your calendars again this year. They were so good last year, you are such a clever person, and raised money for such a good cause.

Hi Sallie.
It sounds like you are still very busy with your cards.
Have you had Richard and Christie round for their dinner today. How is Christie now by the way.
Have you seen your brother lately. I know you are doing some of the cards for his church.
My brother actually came to visit me yesterday. That is the first time I have
seen him since he had some family problems, and stayed with us for a while.
We also had a visit today from our daughter, and grandaughter. This is the grandaughter who started work at the childrens nursery last week.
She has felt quite tired this week, but it will take her a while to get into the rhythm of a working life, bless her.
All she can think about, is her first wage packet. But then I can relate to that, it was so exciting having my own money. Even though at that time I had to give my mum house keeping money, I still felt like a millionaire.

I hope that Liz is feeling more like her old self. Hurry back and see us Liz, we miss you.

HUGS((((((((((((((((MWAH))))))))))))))))) for our Jean.
I hope you are all fine Jean.

One week left before yor holiday Marie. Enjoy yourself my love. Watch out for those Italian men though, especially if they pinch your btm. If they do, give them a swift smack round the ear, but don't get arrested for assault. lol.

I hope Debbie and the family are all well. (((((((Hugs)))))))for them all.

Lets hope that Ann and Sylvia are still enjoying their holiday breaks.

Best wishes to you all. Love Mo xxx

Hello again,

Mo it's lovely to hear from you. It looks as though you have been busy entertaining over the last couple of days.
Still, it's nice to have the family visit now and then. Do your granddaughter like her new job? As you say, it takes a while to get into a work routine, so she'll feel a bit tired for a while.

Yes, Jennie and Michael have been for their Sunday dinner as usual. I don't mind though, it's lovely to see them.

Christie still hasn't heard anything, but she does seem to be better, so I'm not sure what's happening.
Richard had a job interview on Friday, they told him that they would let him know something tomorrow, so it's fingers and toes crossed.


Hope Roly is okay, and that your leg is better.

I'll be in touch tomorrow

Hello again,

Mo it's lovely to hear from you. It looks as though you have been busy entertaining over the last couple of days.
Still, it's nice to have the family visit now and then. Do your granddaughter like her new job? As you say, it takes a while to get into a work routine, so she'll feel a bit tired for a while.

Yes, Jennie and Michael have been for their Sunday dinner as usual. I don't mind though, it's lovely to see them.

Christie still hasn't heard anything, but she does seem to be better, so I'm not sure what's happening.
Richard had a job interview on Friday, they told him that they would let him know something tomorrow, so it's fingers and toes crossed.


Hope Roly is okay, and that your leg is better.

I'll be in touch tomorrow

Hello again,

Mo it's lovely to hear from you. It looks as though you have been busy entertaining over the last couple of days.
Still, it's nice to have the family visit now and then. Do your granddaughter like her new job? As you say, it takes a while to get into a work routine, so she'll feel a bit tired for a while.

Yes, Jennie and Michael have been for their Sunday dinner as usual. I don't mind though, it's lovely to see them.

Christie still hasn't heard anything, but she does seem to be better, so I'm not sure what's happening.
Richard had a job interview on Friday, they told him that they would let him know something tomorrow, so it's fingers and toes crossed.


Hope Roly is okay, and that your leg is better.

I'll be in touch tomorrow.

Love and best wishes. Sallie.xxx

Hi everyone

Mo .... glad to hear you "only" have a cyst! Congratulations on the great grand baby

Got back yesterday (Saturday) afternoon ................. it started to rain a couple of hours after we got in. Fortunately OH managed to unpack the trailer and the car before that happened!

It's raining hard today, and it is soooooo cold ...... we turned the central heating on first thing this morning.

The week went well ...... the weather wasn't too good, we lit the wood stove every day and kept it going all day, it rained most days, and it got cold at night! The fire kept the cabin lovely and cozy! But it was lovely and peaceful.

OH did have to do quite a few repair jobs to do that we hadn't expected, which means that he didn't manage to get done all that he had planned to do.

A pack rat (officially called a bushy tailed wood rat) had managed to find a spot where he could chew a hole in a wall, and had got into the store room where we keep tools and such like ...... made one heck of a mess as he chewed the lino on the floor, chewed all down the sides of a ball of string (means lots of little bits of string instead of one long long piece!), etc .................. and then left his bloody (literally) pee which resulted from him having gorged on the poison we had put down in there.

No sign of the body though.

That meant repairing the hole in the wall, cleaning up the mess, pulling everything off all the shelves and checking it all, washing everything down with disinfectant, re-laying some lino, etc etc. One good thing was that we did some sorting of the stuff ........ into the garbage, re-cycle (at the Share Shed in the village), take home again, etc.


The neighbourhood bear had decided to try to get into the screened-in sun porch (no glass windows, just mosquito netting over 4 large window openings). He'd taken a swipe at one corner of the netting in one window, ripped it down so there was a large squarish hole down at one corner (about 12 x 12"). Plus, one of his claws had torn down into one of the struts of wood underneath the window. Wonder what state his claw was in??????????

Then he'd turned his attention to the screen door and tried to break out one of the windows in that.

That meant taking out the whole damaged netting and replacing it with new screening, and forcing the metal frame back into place in the door. The screening in that was also damaged, but we just patched it with duct tape.


Finally, OH went to retrieve the large wheeled garbage can that we use to collect rainwater from the roof and which had been blown to the bottom of the grassy slope ............ or so we thought!

Nope ............... bear had used it as a plaything. You wouldn't believe the number of holes in that can from his claws!!

I did a lot of knitting, and we both also read a lot in the evenings.

Berry season was either late or sparse (according to all the locals), so we didn't collect any of the wild stuff.


We had a good drive back home ........... the sockeye salmon (my favourite salmon) run was huge this year, some reports say it could be the best in almost 100 years. The First Nations are allowed to catch all the salmon they need for their own food and ceremonies, and are also allowed to sell some of what they catch. So yesterday we stopped by one of the reserves where they had set up a Fish Shop, and bought ourselves a lovely 4 lb sockeye salmon caught on Friday. It was already dressed (head and tail off, and guts removed) ............... and cost $15 (or about £7).

OH cut some steaks off it, left a large piece whole, and it's all now in the freezer

We realised on our way home that this will be the first time that we have had river-caught salmon ...... we usually buy our wild salmon from the docks down here on the coast, salmon that has been caught out to sea or in the estuary. It'll be interesting to see whether there is any difference in taste.


Talked to daughter earlier today (Sunday) ago, and finally got to hear about their "hurricane" last weekend.

It was actually downgraded to a Tropical Storm by the time it hit Halifax and Dartmouth. J said they got a lot of high winds, but little rain. They had little damage to their house, although she said they hadn't yet really checked their roof. The power was out for about 22 hours, but they didn't lose any food. The freezers stayed cold. She did throw out a couple of items from the fridge part which were close to their time limit anyway (eg, yoghurt that was a day over time).

There were a lot of limbs broken off trees in the city limits, and a few trees blown over. She said one neighbour up the street was really lucky. They had a big old tree in their front yard, it was blown over but fell very neatly sideways ..... across their lawn and the neighbour's, and missed both houses!


ran out of space!!

I was worried when we heard about the earthquake ..... but had to wait until today (Sunday) to get more direct news.

I have a friend from another internet site who lives up behind Christchurch and its port Lyttleton ....................... fortunately, she is fine, and her house has survived almost undamaged, but she had a lot of broken glass and china on the floors when it finally got light enough for her to see what was what.

She has found the after shocks worrying, particularly as she recently had knee surgery, so finds herself a bit unsteady on her pins, even when the ground is not shaking!


take care everyone



sylvia
xxxx

Hi all

Sylvia, that bear and the rat sure made a mess for you to sort out, must have been annoying to find so much damage and especially the garbage/water can. Glad things were otherwise ok and you enjoyed some peace and quiet. Pleased your daughter didn't have too much hassle with the extreme weather and hope your friend in NZ will be ok and her knee heals well.

Huia, nice that your son was able to spend time with you and sort out a few jobs at th same time. Must have been good to have him around to help out and chat with. Glad Phil seems ok altho sleepy, as long as he doesn't tumble again and hurt himself, you must feel relieved he seems settled at the home. You take care of yourself.

Sallie, Mo and all, hopefully o.h. will go back to work today - it''s been so hard having him around full time, couldn't bear if he lost his job so was around 24/7 and hope it will be a while before he gets round to retiring, preferably after I have left lol, he is only 56 so a while to go yet. He still hasn't called his son in NY as he doesn't want to have to speak to the d.i.l. - it's her phone he has to call on so is delaying the call, the ny son told the other newlywed son to get his dad to call so they could talk about what happened, o.h. says What's the fuss? I just made a flippant remark and she got the hump so what? I can see this isn't going to be sorted any time soon at this rate. I am staying out of it all.

I don't know if it's because he realised I wasn't thrilled to have him around all the time or if my words about being bored and having to cook every evening have sunk in, but he is now saying it's best we don't go away for a break. He wants to finish the bathroom decorating and shower fitting, and do some other stuff round the house, and I think finances are a bit tight after all the outlay over the wedding etc. Of course he lost Saturday's overtime and knows that the new chap starting at work will be doing more to fill in and cover for others when on hols so after Christmas there won't be much overtime to be had. He wants to replenish his savings so thanks to the NY son and all the palaver over the wedding our holiday goes to pot and he is stressed. He has also had to order a pair of prescription specs because of the developing cataracts - that's the reason he says he hasn't been wearing sunspecs over the years, cos he can't see well enough through them! He has an eye screening test on Tuesday because of his diabetes and then has to see his doc on Thurs re the uti and getting his prostate checked. He has felt better over the weekend tho and mowed the lawn on Saturday and did a few jobs in the garden so he is definitely on the mend.
I will be glad to see the back of him, and all being well, he should be working till 10pm every evening up to and including Thursday evening so I will have some time to myself and to catch up with phone calls etc.

Just haven't felt like writing much lately and have so many emails and such to deal with as well as other things to sort out, hence my silence. I was thinking about you all tho and hope everyone has a good week.

I do appreciate all your kind thoughts and wishes. Thanks my friends.

love and hugs
Lizxxx

Hi Everyone,

Sylvia, lovely to see you back and pleased to hear that you had a nice peaceful time at the cabin, apart from having to deal with the damage made by the rat and bear.
It sounds as though they really made a mess between the two of them.

I'm also pleased that J and her family are all okay after the severe weather conditions there. I'm sure it must have been awful for you and OH not being able to have any news of what was happening there.
Sending lots of hugs and kisses to MJ!!! xxxxxx


Liz, it's lovely to hear from you too, I'm sorry that you aren't feeling very good at the moment. I hope that OH is feeling a lot better today.

It's a shame that you won't be able to go away for a break now, but at least if OH gets overtime he can save some money so that maybe you'll be able to go somewhere in the spring. I know it's a long way off, but at least it's something for you to look forward to.


Do you still go to the Counsellor on a Monday? Not sure if you told us or not---it's old age that's doing it.lol!!


I'm going to start on making cards now, so I'll look in later today.

Hope everyone else is okay.

Love, Sallie. xxx

Hello everyone. It's so good to hear from you all.

Welcome home Sylvia.
Ooooh you are so brave being so far out in the wilds, with bears and rats.
How the heck did you not turn around and run, when you saw all the damage to the cabin. I would have been petrified in case the bear was inside the house.
What a shame you was unable to relax for the whole of your time there. And what hard work for you both. Plus the added expense you could have done without.
Oh my god!! fancy not being unable to find the rat as well. Lets hope that it died quickly, somewhere in the woods well away from the cabin. Or the stink from it will be awful after a time.
Sorry to hear it's been so cold though. We have a mixture of weather at the moment, rain and sunshine, it just can't seem to make up it's mind what it wants to do.
The salmon sounds delicious, I love poached salmon it's really yummy.
It's nice to hear that J and MJ weathered the storm. It must have been very frightening, waiting to see what was going to happen with it.
Love and hugs for MJ xxx

Liz it's good to speak to you love.
Thank the lord Im Indoors has gone back to work. Keep smiling mate, you have got another nine years till he retires, and a lot can happen in that time.
I know you would have liked a holiday break, but, just think how nice it will be having the house decorated, and all the bits finished of, that he started
ages ago.
Hopefully it will be nicely done for you for the christmas period.
BUT, if he's anything like Roly, he talks a good job, that never gets done lol

What the hells wrong with the NY son, why the heck can't HE ring his dad, even if he was rather flippant with his wife. His father has done so much for him, and now he's kicking him in the teeth. I hope your OH realises how much his BOY has taken him for granted. Sometimes it's hard to have to bite your tongue isn't it.

Roly has got to have his eyes photographed again soon, all because of this flippin diabetes. His eyes have deteriated again, and he has got another cattaract. This will be the third time he has had to see the specialists at the eye hospital.
It's surprising what damage diabetes can do, and people who have it, should really take care of themsleves.
At the moment Roly's blood sugar levels, are up and down like a yo- yo, but the doctor has said he is still stage 2 and will not need insulin injections, thank god.

Right it's cuppa time again, see you all later. Love Mo xxx

Hello all this will be my last post for 3 weeks , off on Sunday 19 th Back 14th Oct. Mo sorry to hear you weren't well but that you are now ok and going to be a grand ma & a Greatgrandmother ~**~*~*~ congratulations`~**~*~*~*~*~~*
Liz I finally found your thread & caught up on the wedding.
I think you had a good time despite all the carrying on by the spoilt brat from NY, and his wife.
Hello Sallie I hope you are well also your daughter I get mixed up with your daughter and Jeans Dau .
Silvia despite the damage you had to repair and clean it sounds like you had a nice time at the Cabin.
Hi Huia, It was good to hear you had a visit from your son , visits are few and far between from my sons, not even a phone call .I always have to make the effort.
To Debbie Ann and Our lovely Jean and any one I may have missed
LOVE & HUGS XXXXXOOOOO Marie

Hi All,

Marie, lovely to hear from you----you sound really excited about your holiday now, as only days to go before you leave. I hope you have a great time and that the weather will be nice for you. We shall miss you while you're away for the three weeks.

Just enjoy yourself and take care! I shall be thinking about you.


I've heard from Yorkshire Caz, telling me that Joyce has had some different medicine off another doctor. The medicine is working a lot better for her, the pain in her tummy has gone and she's starting to feel quite a bit better. Thank goodness!

I'm off out now, so I'll look in again later on.


Take care everyone.

Love, Sallie.xxx

Just checking in briefly. Sylvia, glad you enjoyed the break but ugh to rats and bears!!
Marie have a great holiday.
Sallie, Mo, Debbie, Jean thinking about you. Sallie thanks for news re Joyce, hope this medicine works for her.
Gone really dark here, looks like we are in for a storm. Can't complain as we have had ten days of good weather.

Just reporting in! Have been a little down recently so have not posted on here. Now starting tp feel better, so will be able to chat again.

Will be back in the next couple of days,

Tess

Hi all

Had no internet all day yesterday (Monday), then it was back to normal this morning (Tuesday)

....... it is not the first time that this has happened on the day after we have had heavy rain. I think I shall have to keep a record if it happens again, then contact the provider to see if they can sort it out. Strange thing is that the service provider is our cable company, and tv reception is not affected!

I was out all day, at the physio this morning, then lunch out and finally met OH for coffee.


Thank you for the hugs and kisses for MJ ....... he'll be hugged to death when I see him in December!!



BTW ...... the "rat" at the cabin is very different from the rat one sees in towns. That is the Norwegian Rat, and that has spread all over the world.

The "rat" at the cabin is a native animal, the bushy tailed wood rat ......... actually rather cute, with a bushy tail and a pink nose ......................... if only he wouldn't try to make his nest INSIDE our houses and make such a mess in doing it! We don't see them as far south as Vancouver.



Marie ............ if you look in again, I hope that you have a great holiday.




sylvia
xxx

Tess


It's lovely to see you, and I hope that you soon feel very much better.


sylvia
xxx