I had to deliver some cakes and mince pies this morning, but I was waiting for the weather to warm up a bit and then Charlie rang up saying he is ill so I have to collect him from the railway station at 9:20. He's not had a good week has he. A chance for me to have an extra coffee though.
Hope your rats had a good fill of their supper @punkdoc.
Cake sounds like a lovely wicked treat @coccinella and he idea of wearing a bobble hat sounds like a good option, warm and cosy and no need to worry about bad hair.
Good day to all, stay warm.
“Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
Frosty here again ... the birdbath etc all frozen. OH left for work at 8 this morning and not due back until 6ish. Good job he has his flask of parsnip and ginger soup. I'll go to the farm shop etc in a bit when the roads have thawed a bit. I'll also take son's birthday card and a little gift to the PO for as near to Next Day Delivery as they can do in the circumstances. It's always a bit dodgy getting his card to him on time as his birthday is on the 22nd, but more so this year of course. His fault ... he was due on the 7th
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Good morning. We have another keen frost today, but no snow as predicted thank goodness, other than a brief sleety shower last night. I much prefer this chilly, blue skied weather to the awful grey, damp days we had so much of in November and earlier this month. Well, I hope those rats feasted on your treats @punkdoc, and that you will soon be rid of them. I’d be having nightmares if I had any getting into the house. It was bad enough when we had mice a few years ago. I hope your trip up to the Highlands won’t be too snowy for you, and that you enjoy your break. Well, breakfast calls. Have a good day everyone.
Another hard frost here too, unfortunately with grey sky as well so it feels much colder. We have been watching the frantic bird activity in the garden after we put the mealworms out and thawed the drinking water. With the grey sky's we will probably have to keep the heating on much more today, so we weren't being hardy yesterday, this is why I drone on about having bright sky's, when we have sun we hardly need heating on during the day no matter how cold it is outside. Hope your night time visitors will be gone when you return @punkdoc, is there any way of putting mesh or a grid in the drain to block them?
So - you've looked the enemy in the eyes @punkdoc! When we had rats my OH found one in the bin where we kept kitchen scraps. He took it outside - in a state of high anxiety - got the spade and bashed it to death. Another rat had similar treatment. We had poison down too but never found any dead rats and hoped that they died away from the drain. We have literally felt your pain and hope it gets resolved soon.
I went to that there London yesterday to meet my old university chums for lunch. So big! Great towering edifices of glass everywhere! The restaurant was just a short walk from the station but, by going along covered walkways below construction works above, I managed to get myself quite lost and walked much further than I should have. Ended up getting a taxi to take me back to the restaurant. I would never have found it otherwise. But a lovely lunch and so good to catch up with my friends. One was missing though - suffering from the same as @AuntyRach. Had to scrape ice off my car for the drive to the station from where I catch the train - and on the way back.
One thing I did notice - all of the station and train staff seemed very cheery and helpful; as if they were on our, the passengers' side, rather than carrying out the orders of their masters. I missed the train I had booked for the return journey as we spent so long in the restaurant, and went to the ticket office (how can they even think about getting rid of ticket offices????) to swap it for the later train. He simply stamped it and there was nothing more to pay. When this has happened in the past I have received a telling off.
Well, I'm back and the shopping has been unpacked and put away. Pork chops and apple sauce for Sunday 😋
Our Post Office is in our local pub ... it opens at 10 am so I thought I'd get there just before opening time ... there was a long queue snaking back around the car park, so I went to the farm shop and butcher and left the post office until my return journey ... at least this time the queue was snaking around the inside of the building. The post office lady was being very patient with a few folk who just didn't understand why she couldn't guarantee Next Day Delivery for tomorrow ... she explained there was no collection today or tomorrow ... loads of folk sending parcels ... loads of folk wanting Second Class stamps but she'd run out and there won't be another delivery until possibly tomorrow but more likely Monday. I sent son's birthday present Special Delivery ... it should get there some time next week ... at least it'll be in time for his birthday.
I'd better make a coffee and see what you lot have been up to while I've been gone ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I’d love to nip outside and take a picture of my pond, as it is mostly frozen over and the last of the orange leaves from the Acer are lying on the top like a beautiful carpet. I don’t want to bring on a coughing fit from the cold air though. The birds are enjoying searching for grubs in the windfall apples but I can see the fat balls are gone so perhaps I’ll pop out after all.
Afternoon all, another hard frost like many other of you but it was dry underfoot so not slippery. I waited till 10 ish until the temps were the right size of 0 but didn't enjoy the walk much, seemed quite an effort today.
Did enjoy a luxurious back massage with some gorgeously scented oil this afternoon but forgot to ask my beautician what it was. Took some stuff into the charity shop and picked up some paperbacks to read later, one of them by Richard Osman as I was curious to see how good it might be.
Hope Charlie's safely with you @D0rdogne_Damsel and that he's not too ill might just be stress do you think?
I'm surprised you haven't postponed your trip @punkdoc and hope you've got rid of your visitors. Could you tie your cupboard doors together so they can't get out?
The birch trees near the house suddenly dropped all their remaining leaves overnight, I've swept the courtyard clean but it was too cold for me to do any more.
I've not been to London for years @didyw, would find it very intimidating now. Glad you enjoyed the lunch.
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I had to deliver some cakes and mince pies this morning, but I was waiting for the weather to warm up a bit and then Charlie rang up saying he is ill so I have to collect him from the railway station at 9:20. He's not had a good week has he. A chance for me to have an extra coffee though.
Hope your rats had a good fill of their supper @punkdoc.
Cake sounds like a lovely wicked treat @coccinella and he idea of wearing a bobble hat sounds like a good option, warm and cosy and no need to worry about bad hair.
Good day to all, stay warm.
We have had a little snow overnight, looks quite pretty.
Not sure I am looking forward to our drive up to the Highlands, lots of snow predicted.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Frosty here again ... the birdbath etc all frozen. OH left for work at 8 this morning and not due back until 6ish. Good job he has his flask of parsnip and ginger soup.
I'll go to the farm shop etc in a bit when the roads have thawed a bit. I'll also take son's birthday card and a little gift to the PO for as near to Next Day Delivery as they can do in the circumstances. It's always a bit dodgy getting his card to him on time as his birthday is on the 22nd, but more so this year of course. His fault ... he was due on the 7th
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Well, I hope those rats feasted on your treats @punkdoc, and that you will soon be rid of them. I’d be having nightmares if I had any getting into the house. It was bad enough when we had mice a few years ago. I hope your trip up to the Highlands won’t be too snowy for you, and that you enjoy your break.
Well, breakfast calls. Have a good day everyone.
With the grey sky's we will probably have to keep the heating on much more today, so we weren't being hardy yesterday, this is why I drone on about having bright sky's, when we have sun we hardly need heating on during the day no matter how cold it is outside.
Hope your night time visitors will be gone when you return @punkdoc, is there any way of putting mesh or a grid in the drain to block them?
I went to that there London yesterday to meet my old university chums for lunch. So big! Great towering edifices of glass everywhere! The restaurant was just a short walk from the station but, by going along covered walkways below construction works above, I managed to get myself quite lost and walked much further than I should have. Ended up getting a taxi to take me back to the restaurant. I would never have found it otherwise. But a lovely lunch and so good to catch up with my friends. One was missing though - suffering from the same as @AuntyRach. Had to scrape ice off my car for the drive to the station from where I catch the train - and on the way back.
One thing I did notice - all of the station and train staff seemed very cheery and helpful; as if they were on our, the passengers' side, rather than carrying out the orders of their masters. I missed the train I had booked for the return journey as we spent so long in the restaurant, and went to the ticket office (how can they even think about getting rid of ticket offices????) to swap it for the later train. He simply stamped it and there was nothing more to pay. When this has happened in the past I have received a telling off.
Solidarity with the train and railway workers!
Our Post Office is in our local pub ... it opens at 10 am so I thought I'd get there just before opening time ... there was a long queue snaking back around the car park, so I went to the farm shop and butcher and left the post office until my return journey ... at least this time the queue was snaking around the inside of the building. The post office lady was being very patient with a few folk who just didn't understand why she couldn't guarantee Next Day Delivery for tomorrow ... she explained there was no collection today or tomorrow ... loads of folk sending parcels ... loads of folk wanting Second Class stamps but she'd run out and there won't be another delivery until possibly tomorrow but more likely Monday. I sent son's birthday present Special Delivery ... it should get there some time next week ... at least it'll be in time for his birthday.
I'd better make a coffee and see what you lot have been up to while I've been gone ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I’d love to nip outside and take a picture of my pond, as it is mostly frozen over and the last of the orange leaves from the Acer are lying on the top like a beautiful carpet. I don’t want to bring on a coughing fit from the cold air though. The birds are enjoying searching for grubs in the windfall apples but I can see the fat balls are gone so perhaps I’ll pop out after all.
Did enjoy a luxurious back massage with some gorgeously scented oil this afternoon but forgot to ask my beautician what it was. Took some stuff into the charity shop and picked up some paperbacks to read later, one of them by Richard Osman as I was curious to see how good it might be.
Hope Charlie's safely with you @D0rdogne_Damsel and that he's not too ill might just be stress do you think?
I'm surprised you haven't postponed your trip @punkdoc and hope you've got rid of your visitors. Could you tie your cupboard doors together so they can't get out?
The birch trees near the house suddenly dropped all their remaining leaves overnight, I've swept the courtyard clean but it was too cold for me to do any more.
I've not been to London for years @didyw, would find it very intimidating now. Glad you enjoyed the lunch.