General Chat

Sallie, Euonymous is a varagated shrub that will grow in a tub. You will need to clip it back occasionally to tops it getting leggy but that will apply to most shrubs. Choisia will probably grow in a tub too. I am talking quite large tubs with these though. Otherwise if you just want them planted in the season geraniums are easy to look after, but then you wouldn't have anything in the winter.

Well I just don't believe this Joyce, I opened a message from Marie just a moment ago, asking me if we had heard anything from you, and I come on here, and as if by magic, there you are.
Thank goodness for that, you have now put our minds at ease, and we don't have to worry so much.
I have been watching the darts, and following a local lad, who has just got knocked out in the second rounds. His name is Steve Douglas, and he was knocked out by another unknown.
Nerves take over a great deal at these events, as he is normally a very steady player.
There are a few good Dutch players still in the contest arn't there.
Wish Jan a very happy birthday from me, and give him a big hug to go with it.

Guess what girls, the sun is shining, even though it's still very chilly willy outside.
As I told Marie, I must get out into the garden soon, and do a bit of tidying up.

Sallie, could you get an English Lavender plant, ( I say English as they are hardier in our climate.We had some that didn't last more than the one year but the English one has been going for nearly five years now.) Hydrangia,(sp) Rose bushes....Oh I dare say that all our friends will have more suggestions for you, but they are what we have in some of our pots, and I cut them back each year to keep them in shape, and to stop overgrowth.

Ann, your daughter is in my thoughts and prayers <3 <3 <3

Must go girls, darts is about to start. Love to you all. Mo xxx

Ann thank you, I will have to write the names them down, so that I won't forget. I want them for the whole year round so will go to the garden centre to look at them. For years I would always have geraniums in pots on the patio, I think that they look so bright and cheerful, but it's a good many years since I had them, and have forgotten when they have to be planted,etc.

I think I might even put some geraniums in tubs in the back garden this year.

Thinking about your daughter and sending her lots of positive thoughts and good luck.<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

,
Mo, thank you also for some suggestions. I love roses too, so will also look at those at the garden centre.

One thing I forgot to mention and that is, that we have the afternoon sun on the front of the house so gets very hot in summer, so don't know if any of the shrubs or plants mentioned like full sunshine. I know there are plants and shrubs that won't thrive in a lot of sun, but not sure which ones.


Our new boiler is in and working, lovely hot water, but not all the radiators are working as they should.....they think that it is something to do the old pipework so they are going to try something in the morning and hope that it will solve the problem, if not it will mean that we will have to have all new pipes which they will do over the next two or three days. So we shall have to wait and see.lol!!


We took Jennie and Michael out for a meal earlier this evening and didn't have a cup of tea at all. So I'm going to put the kettle on to make one now.


Take care everyone.


Love, Sallie.xxx

WHAT!!!!!!!!!! no tea Sallie, you must have had real bad withdrawal symptoms. I have to have my caffeine intake
several times a day, be it by tea or coffee, but I much prefer a nice cup of tea.

Sallie did they power flush your pipes and radiators through to clear all the muck out of the whole system, before they fitted the new boiler, if not it may need to be done, and then Fernox (sp?) added to keep the water flowing through the pipes easier.
If the pipes were working fine before the new boiler was fitted, then they should not really need replacing. This comes from the boss ( Roly )

Speak to you later girls, company just arrived. Love Mo xxx

Sallie, you put geranium plants into tubs in May or June and they like full sun. If you look at the labels on the other plants in the garden centre it will tell you where they will do best. Lavender should be fine in full sun and roses too but don't forget tubs need watering as they dry out quickly.

Hello Girls,

The heating engineers have just left all done anf finished.

Mo, yes they flushed the whole system out before starting on Monday. Pete, the main engineer came on Saturday morning and put some chemical into the system and we had to leave the heating on for most of the day so that it went through the system.

Dave the second one that did a big chunk of the work, arrived this morning and started to sort out part of the old pipework that they thought was causing the problem and thank goodness that's what the problem was. We are only glad that the problem was solved without us having to fork out an extra £800.

So they flushed out the whole system again today and also tested the water making sure that there was no chemicals or whatever left in.
It's lovely to have a nice warm house again after so long and even nicer to have hot water again. Yipeeee!

Tell Roly that since we had the last boiler put in in a different place in the house, from downstairs to upstairs our central heating never worked as it should have. The old piping should have been capped when the job was done but wasn't, so the water was running into the old pipes that had nothing to do with the then new system and of course now this new one. I hope you can understand that, I've tried to explain as they told me



Have you got a darts match tonight Mo? Good luck if you have.


Ann, sending positive thoughts to your daughter and all of you.
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3


I'll speak to you all later on.


Love, Sallie.xxx

Sallie you probably missed my post just before yours.

Ann sorry I missed your post, I had a couple of phone calls as I was trying to type it, so took me a lot longer.

Thanks, I will check the plant names when I go to the garden centre. I think that in the past maybe I haven't given them enough water and some I know that I have over watered.

I just need to learn to judge on how much water to give the poor plants. I don't have any house plants because I always end up killing them.

Love, Sallie.xxx

Ann I'm still thinking about your daughter.
Sallie I used to have minature conifers in big tubs either side of our front door at the house, they needed very little looking after apart from watering and the occasional clip of an unruly shoot.

Caz x

Thank you Caz, she is going on OK, the soreness where the lymph nodes were removed is easing a bit. She has 3 weeks to relax now before she starts the RT. We hope to go to see her next week. She had her blood sugar checked and she is keeping it down which is good.

Hi Caz, I'd forgotten about miniature conifers.....now I remember. we had some in tubs years ago. Thanks for that idea, the more suggestions the merrier.

Hope you are having a better day today, thinking of you.

Love, Sallie.xxx

Hi all
xxx


It's getting colder here ......... and the "s" word is in the forecast for the weekend, and possibly early next week.


OH left this afternoon ... his plane should have taken off about 1¾ hours ago (at about 6:15 pm, our time). It arrives in London just before noon Friday morning (that's about 10 hours flying time), then he has about 4 hours to kill, before getting the plane to Manchester.

Ann .............. unfortunately, it will take some time for that pain to go away. But gentle massaging can help, and will also help with getting mobility back.


Sallie ......... my quick and dirty test for whether a plant needs watering ............ push your forefinger into the soil. If it is dry below the first knuckle of the finger, then it needs water. This quickie works for house plants and plants in tubs

The other quick and dirty is to water tubs in full sun at least once a day .......... preferably early in the day. Do it morning and evening if it is very hot and sunny.

Do make sure that you don't get water drops on the leaves, especially if they won't have time to dry before the full heat of the sun is on them. A drop of water on a leaf acts almost like a small magnifying glass, and the leaf can get burnt.


You should also ask the staff at the Garden Centre for advice ........... they should know what is best for your area.



take care everyone



sylvia
xxx

Sylvia, I hope your OH had a safe flight, he won't have arrived yet but it is a lovely sunny frosty morning here so if it is the same in London he will have a bright arrival.

Daughter is not so sore now it seems to be easing a lot.

Hi Ann
sorry just notice about your daughter sending my good wishes and hope she is ok ,don,t know were i am these days its the new medication sleep most of the time but have been doing some cards
Wishing everyone agood weeksnd
Love Dutchxx
PSMo you still watching darts quite shock all the top players going out the young Dutch lad is quite good is,nt he

thank you Joyce.

Hi all.
Joyce, I have just watched the young Dutchman knock Ted Hanky out of the tournament.
He played brilliantly, and Hanky acted up as he normally does, like a big spoilt child. Stoopid old git that he is.

Sylvia have you heard from your OH yet.I hope he had a good trip over, and is now getting over the jet lag.

I hope that everyone is well, and enjoying their weekend.

Just about to start dinner, so I must go. Bye for now. Love Mo xxx

Hi Mo
xx


and everyone


I got an email from OH yesterday ...... sent at about 9:15 pm UK time. This is part of it:-


"I arrivedon time an d had a good trip
Bxxxxxx met me, fed me soup and then we went for a drink as the pub.
hopde the snow has not started. Weather here much link Van when I left"



This from an editor!!


I wish I knew how many drinks they'd had!!



It took a long time:-

The plane left Vancouver at ca 2:15 am London time, arrived in London just before noon, then he had about 4 hours to wait, before catching the flight to Manchester. That plane arrived in Manchester at about 5:45 pm, and then they had to drive to their destination.

He had to be at Vancouver Airport 3 hours before departure, and so he left home at about 10:45 pm London time.

so, it took about 19 hours from our house to Manchester, and then however long it took to drive to Macclesfield.


We had snow overnight ............... it started at about 11 pm, and had stopped by the time I looked out at 7 am this morning. We only got about 1-2 cm here at the house, other areas in Vancouver got more.

It has now almost all gone ....... we had rain around 8 am, and the temperature has risen to around 2C


So far, we have had snow, rain, sun, dark clouds, and now sun again!


Take care everyone



sylvia
xxx

Ho Mo
i thought it was just bad showmanship the way Hankey acted,are you going to watch the final tonight with Tony O,Shay and Kist it should be good match
Sallie will talk to you later
Betty says hello to everyone was talking to her last night
Sending me good wish to everyone and take care were ever you all are
Love Dutchxx
ps Ann was going to put cards on your blog then relize the names were on them who i have yet to sent them to so will send them to you to have alook at if thats ok

Hi Joyce, I have got the darts programmed to start here at 5-45, it should be a good game shouldn't it.Kist should win it, but O'Shay is the old hand and knows the ropes, and nerves should not worry him to much.
I also want to watch a new programme that starts at 8.00p.m on BBC1 called " Call the Midwife". it's about a newly qualified midwife, who arrives in the East End, to start a challenging career. It looks quite promising.

Oh Sylvia I had a good chuckle at your OH's email, there was I thinking it was only me that typed in goboldygook, expecting others to understand me. lol.
What a long journey he had, bless him no wonder his email was a bit
muddled, he was probably shattered.
Thank goodness the snow didn't lay to deeply, or you could have been stranded alone in the house.

Sorry but I have no new news to impart to you today,it's a boring old life I am leading at the moment.

Take care my friends, love to all. Mo xxx

Hi all
xxx


another 1-2 cm overnight ........ but the sun has been shining so most of the snow has melted. Except, of course, on areas facing north.

I went to make my lunch about an hour ago ....... peeped out the front, which does face north, and some kind neighbour has shovelled my garden path and the front sidewalk. Wasn't that nice? :-D


We do have a law here that all business owners or renters, including house owners, have to clear the snow by 10 am. Penalty ..... a hefty fine

I haven't been too worried about 1-2 cm as it soon goes ............... but we do have snow forecast every day from today until Wednesday, with the probability of at least one dump.


I know I can't shovel the sidewalks or garden path ......... we have one sidewalk along the front that is 33' long and one 120' long down the side, plus the path to the front door is about 12-15' long. So I was a bit worried about what would happen.


We do all help each other in this area.


I then went out and sprinkled some salt mix on the steps and garden path.


Then I finally made my lunch!

I don't have to go out until Tuesday, when I have a special breast health physio session ....... so I just look out at it ..... it does look lovely!


Take care everyone


sylvia
xxx