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HELLO FORKERS - March 2020 💨

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Posts

  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066
    Hi folks,  The weather here doesn't know what to do today, one minute it's sunny, then cloudy all mixed in with the occasional shower.  Hubby has been cleaning the conservatory windows inside and out while I potted on snapdragon and verbascum seeds.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to run out of space this year. 
    I might have mentioned that Hubby repaired the shed roof earlier in the week.  Here is a photo of the devastation he created.  It looks like he has been dropped from a passing plane.

    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
  • Pat EPat E Posts: 12,316
    Yvie, got to laugh at that photo. 😂😂

    Talk about mixed up weather, we were wandering around in shirt sleeves in 27 c today and Hubby said there is snow forecast for tomorrow Wot?  

    Night all. We are in bed with the electric blanket turned on!

    S. E. NSW
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    We braved the small local Tesco's again this morning, I had forgotten bananas and tomatoes and we needed a walk. The queue was all dutifully lined up on the pavement markers 2m apart, but when people came out, they didn't seem to realize it's 2 m in all directions and just walked past everybody queuing! I give up!
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • Afternoon all,  :)

    Unbelievably different weather today, snow even, huge great flakes for a while but fortunately it didn't settle. I've been cleaning cupboards and drawers out. Then did a big shop, mostly frozen vegetables and meat - and wine of course. There are no cases of the virus in our town yet, but I feel it will soon be upon us, so I decided to get what we might need for at least a fortnight so I don't have to go out again until absolutely necessary. I do have a whole pile of food from the tearoom menu, but we can't just live on cake. :o  The supermarket was very quiet and very well stocked, no queuing necessary. My nerves are shot now, trying desperately to wash everything that could possibly have been touched by others and then by me, car keys, carrier bags, fridge door, gosh it's nerve-wracking and my hands are so sore from all the washing, so stressful, I certainly won't be going again in a hurry. Luckily I had no post, so that was one less stressful task! My bronchitis is much improved but my voice is still very husky and chest slightly sore. Everyday I read the news waiting for a report that it's all over and they've found a cure - it's all so surreal. 

    Anyway, no point dwelling on it. It's good to read all your daily chatter, gardening is definitely the perfect hobby for times like this. My very best wishes to people dealing with sick relatives, so difficult. :)

    Charlie is fine, hes doing homework and self study, he loves maths and is searching the web for more challenging problems. He is helping around the house and in the garden - not today, a bit too extreme - and he is also playing video games with friends online so he is not feeling totally isolated. He has also found us a series to watch on Netflix, it has 11 episodes, we watched two last night, it's a sort of Arthurian legend thing and certainly passable for both him and me. 

    So, good luck out there everyone, stay safe. 
    • “Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    @Dordogne Damsel , sorry you're stressed, you are probably more so because you are still feeling poorly. Have you tried wearing rubber gloves whilst doing all the disinfecting and then just washing hands once when you've finished? We have found using proper soap instead of the liquid soap dispenser is much kinder on our hands, although we've also going through lots of handcream as well. 
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • WonkyWombleWonkyWomble Posts: 4,541
    edited March 2020
    Delivered shopping to elderly couple in Felixstowe. Took the pretty way back just for some scenery. Lovely views and very peaceful. Stuck in the greenhouse with rain pattering down with a beer.  Slow cooker has chicken casserole in.  In all honesty I'm hiding from the washing up!
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I've just had to get the hose out to water pots of bulbs. 
    Devon.
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Hi everyone, bit mixed here SIL's father has had stroke so in hospital, he can talk clearly but can't move one arm or leg properly fingers crossed for him.

    On a more cheery note we were looking at the space station going over last night, once you know what to look for its quite easy, but then we saw a whole line of other objects all moving in the same direction. We were beginning to think our eyes were going wonky from staring at the night sky, a quick google showed it's the new starlink satellite array, something to take out minds of the current problems.
    AB Still learning

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited March 2020
    Good to see you @Dordogne Damsel  glad you're still progressing  :)  Also glad that Charlie is coping well with the situation.  Have you shown him the newspaper article about the Australian astro-physicist several folk have posted on here?  I think he'd love it https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/30/astrophysicist-gets-magnets-stuck-up-nose-while-inventing-coronavirus-device

    We're back from collecting our order from the Farm Shop ... they phoned earlier today to let me know there were a few things they didn't have so that I could decide on substitutions.  Even they didn't have much in the way of flour ... no plain or SR, not even the expensive organic stone-ground bread flour ........ but they did have granary flour and spelt flour so we won't go without bread.  No dried haricot beans but we've got butter beans, a lovely chicken,  sausages, shin of beef, no bacon hocks but a lovely piece of gammon on special offer, smoked bacon, minced beef at 3 for 2, casseroling lamb, lots of veg, a sack of potatoes, milk, cream, eggs.   All top quality stuff, and for 25% less than supermarket prices.   

    The supermarkets are going to come out of this crisis just fine and dandy, they'll probably be better off than before when it's all over ... but the small specialist producers could be hit hard ... it could be the end of their businesses, and that could mean the end of some of the smaller family farms and the pedigree and rare breed herds of cattle etc.  Using the farm shops if we possibly can, is a way of helping them to sustain us ...  The one we go to delivers locally and also does online orders that you can collect and they'll carry it to the boot of your car.

    Now that's all either quarantined, put away in the freezer or stored in the cupboards ... time to put our feet up until supper has finished chuntering in the oven. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    Good evening all.
    The hospital is certainly becoming very busy. New challenges ahead for us all. My specialist team has been disbanded today as we are now needed to work on the Critical Care unit (s). 

    On a normal-life note, my stew making yesterday is paying off tonight, as tea just requires warming through. 
    Hope you are all ok. 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
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