Good Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night!

Artnoon All.
Just returned from the end of the garden where I was doing a bit of clearing in the strawberry patch, accompanied by my flock (4 chooks and 3 dogs). One minute the sun was shining, the next we had hail. I found out that the shelter over the garden bench is just large enough for all of us to hide from the hailstones. It was a bit crowded though.

Danny, I've always filled the missing dog gap straight away. The house seemed so empty and going for walks seemed to have lost its appeal, without a dog by my side. There are so many dogs needing homes at the moment there must be one with your name on it.

I know what you mean Veggie but there are a few factors.

I'm hoping (!!) I can get to London for Christmas this year to see my mum and the boys plus Mrs B. The last two times I stayed at home with Stella as she was to old to put thru the journey and with that in mind a dog will have to wait I'm afraid.

Mrs B (Saint Alison) gets made redundant in December so we will have more time together to welcome a new friend

Also, although there is a gap we are enjoying the freedom, Stella was 16 and her previous sister Misty 13.

Hope that all make a little sense

It makes a lot of sense, Danny. I fitted a holiday in the gap once because it was an opportunity while I didn't have a dog to consider.
Hope you manage to get to London at Christmas. it all seems a bit uncertain this year. x

It makes a lot of sense, Danny. I fitted a holiday in the gap once because it was an opportunity while I didn't have a dog to consider.
Hope you manage to get to London at Christmas. it all seems a bit uncertain this year. x

Not that hopeful tbh but at least I'll be able to spend it somewhere with Alison for the first time in 3 years, on her birthday!

Yesterday evening the central heating boiler didn't seem to be working - the radiators were cold. I googled boiler settings, searched for the manual, tried all sorts of settings but Nothing.
This morning, still no heating so I rang the company that I have a service contract with, and put on an extra layer of clothing! I managed to get the hot water part of the boiler to heat, but not the radiators, so I emptied the airing cupboard and the boiler cupboard and waited for an engineer to arrive.
The engineer came this afternoon and I talked him through my theory of why it wasn't working - that the timer was playing up and the actuator valve on the heating side was broken. (My brother's a plumber so I should know what I'm talking about. 
The man listened very patiently, reset the timer, confirmed that the boiler wasn't firing up and asked "Where is the main thermostat?"
There are thermostats on all the radiators - says I.
He looked at me like I was about 10 and said, not those, the main one, on the wall.

Me:- there's something on the wall in the hall but I understood I didn't need to touch it but rely on radiator stats.
Him:- Show me where it is
So off we go and find the little box.
This time he looked at me as if I was about 6 and said its been turned down to below the temperature of the radiators so the boiler won't come on!

Then I remembered, for the first time for ?months/years I'd dusted the box yesterday and must have turned the thermostat down at the same time.
I was so embarrassed, I felt as if I really was 6.
He was so nice, told me he'd make something up in his report so that it would be an emergency call out - otherwise there would be a £60 charge.!!!

The moral of this story is................Dusting is not good for your image or your wallet.

Evening all. We had the oxygen nurse here today and we think we have managed to blag a portable oxygen generator for OH. Its got to be better than humping oxy bottles about.

Roadworks have meant I needed to take a six mile detour to pick up her medical prescription from the local pharmacist.

At 3.00pm and after seeing the weather forecast for tomorrow I decided to visit the plot and dig over the area to plant some more Japanese onion sets. This area was no-dig last year and I wanted to see what state the land was in. I just felt I wanted to do some digging (latent energy) and was surprised at the amount of worms and how good the soil was. I left it rough and will rake it down before planting.
I think from now on I will go no-dig on areas every second year. I have areas covered with cardboard now and these will be left to next autumn to dig after they have cropped.
The leeks I planted from my 'grass' are doing famously and I must make time to plant out the rest from the seed head which has its stem sitting in water at present.

Hello everyone, hope this finds you well! I’ve not been on for a bit, no idea why as I’ve plenty of spare time!
Hope you are all coping with the lockdown, don’t envy you.
Missing our daughter and son in law...amazing how when you are not allowed to do something that’s the very thing you are desperate to do! Hopefully by the end of lockdown travel restrictions will be eased and we can head down south to see them.
Keep safe everyone...we will get through this!!

Artnoon All from wet and windy Wales. I've lent the sunshine to somebody, if its you could you return it please?

My brother has been here this morning, changing a washer in the header tank in the attic. The overflow has been dripping outside the house for a week or so and that's not good when you're on a water meter. The attic isn't a very pleasant place at the moment - its full of flies, dead and alive! I opened the drop down hatch and was bombarded by flies, mostly dead fortunately.
By coincidence, I had a letter from the Water Company today, it said I owed them £0.05p and that they "know there's nothing worse than an unexpected bill, so they've spread the balance across monthly payments to make payment easier".
Now maths may not have been my best subject but I'm struggling to work out how owing them 5p needs my monthly payments to be increased by £3 for 6 months!!
I'm sure I could have found that 5p down the back of the sofa if they were desperate for it.

Hope you're all well!!

Afternoon. You definitely didn’t lend the sun to me today! It’s wet & windy. Apparently it’s going to be putting more effort into the wetness & windyness this afternoon.
The reason you’re bill is going up for 6 months is really quite simple. It cost them more to send you the letter than what you owe! So obviously they have to make it back somehow   . Big companies are run by some very “ special “ people!
( I don’t think you can put enough sarcasm in your voice when you say special!   )

My neighbours and I are "special" - we have our own reservoir!
We live opposite the main reservoir (roofed over to keep the dust and gulls out) - but we have low water pressure as result. Our "personal" reservoir is some way uphill and water is pumped up to keep it topped up and give us some water pressure.
Before the pump was automated, it used to be turned on manually by Denis, who lives in a reservoir house across the road. Denis is from Dublin and rather partial to a drop of "Liffey water" in the evenings Regularly, on Christmas morning, we'd have no water! Denis had drunk too much of the Liffey and forgotten to turn the pump on.

Arternoon all.Finally got the last of my leek grass planted in modules.They are on the kitchen windowsill until they establish a few roots and stand up straight (turning daily.)
I have now been given a gadget to check my blood pressure twice daily for a week,

Was down at the plot earlier and dug a 2 metre square over to get enough worms for a fishing trip tomorrow. We arranged the trip because the weather appeared decent.Guess what, the weather men have changed there mind and we are now going to get very wet.
Never mind, whats good for the fish aint necessarily good for the fisherman.Still looking forward to it as I am going stir crazy.