What are you all up to
Comments
-
If you are going to Castleton later this week, or next week, forecast isn’t too bad, dry but very cold. We are keeping an eye on there as we might drop in for a couple of nights, it’s not far from home. It’s a dodgy one, as it can snow over there, hence our not booking in.
No photo Nellie, it shot down, looked at us through the window, then took off again, quick as a flash. It’s around all the time, and not frightened to get close to house.
Thanks for the necklace compliments, I enjoyed making it. I love pearls, still got some left for other projects.
1 -
Just completed my annual, feathering and gutting of free range, corn fed pheasants. Excellent food for free. Some Who hey henry has paid £50 per head to shoot them and off in his Range Rover leaving this food behind. Madness but OK with us who get them for free. If you have a shoot near you speak to the keepers and they will oblige. Bit of work cleaning them but superb food and much healthier and eco friendly than supermarket chickens.
0 -
Mind your teeth on the pellets Fish🤭
0 -
We have several shoots locally but the shooters do tend to "tidy up" afterwards although the organiser is an old friend of one of our elderly neighbours and they always receive a bird or two for their freezer. Can't get my head around shoots unless to keep numbers down where it affects local wildlife and fauna (like culling deer) but especially people who kill these birds and then don't have the decency to at least eat them. Anyway enough of that line.
Been exceptionally wet even for here. Haven't done much outdoors except visit the recycling centre and visit the doctors for an appointment yesterday. Just had a phone call from them saying a doctor wants a face-to-face meeting so am waiting for a call back as to when. I don't like turning these appointments down, who does, but did ask whether it was duplicating yesterdays visit or as a result of it. I'll await developments.
2 -
Margaret phoned the company she has used for years to arrange for them to come and clean our oven. A bit of a shock to be told they no longer travel as far as MK. In a way understandable as they are based in Norfolk and I had wondered for a long time whether it was economical to travel so far. We will have to find somebody new. Had a text from the window cleaners saying they would be here today. Usually they are quite early. I completely forgot about it. Fortuitously they were running late today so I managed to move the car and open the back gate so they could get in. Until about six months ago we had never had a window cleaner, we had always done it ourselves. However pirouetting on the upstairs inside window sills was getting a bit much so we gave in. Interesting the kit they have. Long hoses which reach both back and front. They use filtered water but leave the windows wet, which initially we were suspicious of but it seems to work!
David
0 -
Yes great picture. We had a lovely holiday near Waunfawr last month, enjoyed driving around Snowdon, lucky enough to see lots of low flying aircraft, including a very low Hercules. Fabulous sight.
0 -
We feed our pheasant, Phillip, we call all that come Phillip, to try to get him to stay this end of the woods away from the shooters by feeding him daily. They are stupid birds, not like wild birds, but only bred for the shoot. If they are going to shoot them they should at least eat them. One year a female laid a large clutch of eggs in our garden but didn’t stay to hatch them.
Today we received a message from our caravan Park, it has been flooded for days but now no vehicle access to the Park at all, one big lake, they told us the level has been reached where every caravans floats have been activated. There are 3 parts to the Park with about 700 or 800 caravans, all floating! We just hope that ours comes back down levelled and safely. We place things like deckchairs and the parasol up high in the shed, so hoping it’s not that high, but undoubtedly we will have a lot of silt and mud to clean off the lower items in there when we return next season. Our van and decking is about 4ft high off the ground so hoping the bbq and outside table & chairs on the decking are ok.
0 -
No snow forecast, just sunshine and cloud, but very cold, down to -3c overnight on my weather app, so looking like a nice week. We once drove home from Castleton in the snow, no choice as we were working, but thankfully we had a Land Rover with all the bells and whistles to tow our van and keep going. We knew if we could get up and back into Sheffield we would be fine. Don’t forget to try out The Bird Cafe for a nice lunch, it’s only 10 minutes from site, and has a nice deli and gift shop as well. On road going back towards Hathersage, past garden centre, on your right👍😁
0 -
Not a bad day here, a little sun and a little light rain.
DD had a 10%off voucher from Lidl, so offered OH to come along to take maximum advantage of it. The 10% applies up to a £200 spend.
OH stocked up on toilet rolls and cleaning stuff, plus socks, a new shaver for me, some tins, and bits and pieces, and DD had a lot of stuff, so they got a good discount.
DD and OH left me and Daddy to look after the little people, sometimes they play nicely together, but not always! In fact mostly they are arguing.
Once OH and DD had sorted out the spending, we had lunch then we came home and left Mummy and Daddy to sort out the arguing children!!
Appointment tomorrow for a kidney scan, then on Friday DD wants us all to go to Ikea for lunch and shopping.
Back to "normal" on Monday.
0 -
We've had no Internet since Monday, don't know why but we have it back on today.
We seem to have missed all the bad weather, we've had a little rain and we even got a bit of snow for a few hours but nothing as bad as was forecast.
Got a letter for my appointment, for the shingles jag the other day but it was for the day before we fly on holiday. Managed to get it changed to tomorrow afternoon, after a 48 min hold on the phone.
Would love to get in the garden but the ground is still far to wet to walk on, even the cats are avoiding the grass and tiptoeing around the edges.
We haven't booked our 'free' night, there's nowhere up here we fancy going to and going south of the border for just 1 night isn't cost affective.
Hope 2024 is a better year than 2023 was.
0 -
Yesterday it was rain, rain and yet more rain, so much so that the two roads around where we were staying, that we could use to get onto A49, were both flooded and probably impassable with the caravan. The site owner kindly said that if the rain continued through the night she would drive out to check if we could get through, but fortunately it stayed nearly rain free and most of the lying water had gone by breakfast time. We got packed up in the dry although it did start to rain again just as we left the site. We did have to drive through three shallowish floods on the way to our current site but thankfully we got here ok, but again a little more rain as we set up. We have never seen so much water on the fields, especially when we crossed the River Severn!!
Just hope that the forecast of drier days for a while materialise.0 -
Yippee, first day for 14 months that I've been able to get back on my bike 🚴🏻♂️
Felt great, even if it was just a short ride, mainly to check on balance etc. Roll on 2024.
Mrs WN managed to secure an urgent face-to-face appointment for her mother with a doctor. Filled the form in this morning and an appointment for 10.10.am. We don't think it's anything to panic about but we'll see after all of the usual tests.
Lovely day for a change, weak sunshine and little wind.
2 -
"Yippee, first day for 14 months that I've been able to get back on my bike"
well done, dont know what i would do without my bikes, i have 2, one is what is called a Compact Road (Giant), and the other is a folding off roader which i always take away in the caravan. Since having both knees replaced, walking is not great for me no more than 2 hours whereas i could cycle forever.
I cycle almost every day, maybe 10 miles per trip, we are very lucky as the area is fairly flat and we have super cycle lanes stretching from Stubbington to the Gosport ferry and you can either take your bike on the ferry across to Portsmouth harbour or leave it secured at the ferry terminal, but not today, it is gushing it down, all our surrounding roads are flooded, fortunately i got out before breakfast whilst that thing in the sky which we have seen precious little of lately was shining.
0 -
Well done on the bike ride, & hope MIL's test results are all okay.
0 -
We've had a couple of reasonable days, even a bit of sunshine, we've had quite a bit of flooding in town, including our Arts Centre, the flood defence hasn't been able to cope with the amount of rain, but hopefully the river levels have now peaked.
Caravan now emptied just needs a bit of a clean inside but I am back at work so it will have to wait until the weekend, it can then go back into storage until later in the month, when hopefully it's a stay in the Cotswold's.
Been surprisingly busy at work, its usually quiet after Christmas/ NY break.
Glad you made it to your next site safety Nellie.
0 -
That's great news WN, so pleased to hear. Hope MIL's tests are OK and she's back to her normal self soon.
Dry day and fairly mild. Had to go into town this pm for my shingles jab, 2nd one in 8 weeks time.
We are getting visitors this weekend for a few days. GKids are due back at school on Tuesday so their dad is bringing them up on Saturday then he's driving back down again on Sunday. Both our son and his wife are back to work on Monday, so the kids are staying with us for a few days, then we will take them back to school. Be nice to have them to ourselves awhile.
0 -
Good to read that you have managed a ride on your bike, WN, well done. Pleased that your MIL was able to get to see her doctor this morning, and hopefully her medication will cure her problem.
It will be nice for you having the grandchildren staying for a few days, TG. I only had a single injection for Shingles, so things must be different in Scotland compared to England.Hope you have no after effects.
Thanks Helen, I hope the next tow goes as well, on Monday. Hope the weather is fine for you at the weekend and you can complete the cleaning of your caravan.
At last we have had a fine, sunny day, but it was a bit cooler. Paid a visit to Cheshire Oaks and I came away with another pair of boots....well one can't miss a bargain can one!! Although it seemed quite quiet when we arrived the car parks were nearly fu!l when we left. One wouldn't think that we are supposed to be in a period of deep austerity, seeing the numbers out shopping.
0 -
It must depend on which vaccine they are using nellie, we only had one when we got ours.
Having more Touareg problems, this time with the battery. I was planning to order up a new one as this one is now 7 years old and becoming reluctant to start the car, went to get something from the car yesterday evening, but could not open the doors with the fob. Tried the emergency key, but that did not work either.
The tailgate did however unlock so I was able to climb in that way, the rear seats were down so managed to get into the driving seat. Doors would not open using internal handles, bonnet cannot be opened unless driver's door is open, so could not charge battery, which is actually under the driving seat.
However, there was enough left in the battery to turn on the ignition, and that then allowed me to open the doors, thankfully!!
Left the tailgate not fully closed and managed to lock the doors with the fob, tried to open them again, but that did not work...... very strange!
This morning I had to climb back in via the tailgate, press the ignition, and then open the doors from inside, open bonnet, and connect up battery charger. Later even managed to start engine and open the doors using the fob.
Left it charging while I went for my kidney scan, and on my way home fetched some sealant for DD, procured a new battery, and went to DD's house to leave her stuff and collect my boxes of turned items now that she has selected a few things to advertise on-line.
Will be Saturday before I will have enough time to fit the new battery......the driving seat has to be unbolted and tipped out of the way to access the battery position, so not a quick job! ☹️
0 -
Kj - That's got me thinking now! My Treg is coming up to eight years old and I've been thinking recently that the battery is going to need changing soon - although, touch wood, I've not had any problems yet. I've never had a car this long before but it's been so reliable and such a good tow car that I'm reluctant to part with it - especially as it's 'only' done 60k miles. Plus, it's the off-road Escape version which they stopped making years ago - so I would lose that aspect of it if I changed for another.
I think I will be talking to our garage when it goes in for service in March and get it changed. Thanks for sharing that.
0 -
" I only had a single injection for Shingles, so things must be different in Scotland compared to England.”
It does seem a bit strange having 2 Shingles jabs Tammygirl. We have only had one. My sister lives near Dunfermline and she has been invited for hers on the 28th January but only for one jab also.
So glad the rain seems to have stopped at last, the river here is almost as high as we’ve seen it. Very glad we live up a hill as I feel so sorry for the flooded people in other areas, it must be heartbreaking to see your home destroyed like that.
0 -
I had my Shingles jab just before Christmas. The nurse said that the NHS ( definitely England at least) have recently changed to a new 2 jab vaccine as it is much more effective than the old single jab. The 2nd jab has to be taken at least 6 months after the first one.
NHS Website:
There are 2 types of shingles vaccine given in the UK. You can check the ingredients in the patient leaflets:
Shingrix vaccine patient leaflet (Electronic Medicines Compendium website; PDF only, 136kb) – given as 2 doses
Zostavax vaccine patient leaflet (Electronic Medicines Compendium website) – given as 1 dose0 -
Unfortunately there is a large annual corporate shoot taking place near us this weekend. Many will be staggered to know the number of gamebirds released in the U.K. every year for this so call sport. An estimated 47 million common pheasants! These tame birds can have a devastating impact on truly native species in the areas they saturate. Then there is the spreading of poisonous lead shot across our countryside, it is still being used despite efforts to remove its use. I know we have mentioned it before, but it still happens. My mentioning hopefully serves as a gentle reminder but I also hope it provides an insight for those that do not know of this.
0 -
Had my Shingles jab in October and was also told that I needed a 'follow-up' jab in 6th months... 🙂
Hoping that everyone is not being effected too much by the floods we are hearing about. The middle of Polesworth was flooded a few days ago, when the river burst its banks. Fortunately, the River Anker seems to have settled down a bit now and the centre of the village is now passable, and pretty near back to normal....
David
0 -
That's interesting and explains why Margaret and I have only have one vaccination as we had ours several years ago as a single dose.
David
0 -
We had coffee with friends yesterday for a catch up and she showed us a photo on her phone of a friend in the village who has got shingles in her right eye and that side of the face and looks very painful and she is only in her late forties and there is no mention by medics over here to get vaccinated for shingles.
A dry day yesterday and now back to rain so inside chores.
Our local rivers the LOT and CELE are very high but not heard of any flooding from them, we are on higher ground here but a lot of rock underneath so most water drains away although the road to our rubbish skips the ground either side can flood and there is standing water in the fields but it is the lowest area this side of the village.
0 -
"So glad the rain seems to have stopped at last, the river here is almost as high as we’ve seen it. Very glad we live up a hill as I feel so sorry for the flooded people in other areas, it must be heartbreaking to see your home destroyed like that."
Glad to hear you're OK, heddlo - since your area got a mention on Look North last night and I was wondering if you were affected. Like you, we are also on the top of a hill and I keep saying that if we ever got flooded, the rest of the country would be in a sorry state! That said, the road out of Hornsea towards Beverley was badly affected, yesterday, and most cars were turning around when they saw it - but the trusty Touareg got me through without it getting anywhere near its maximum wading depth!
0 -
Still raining from overnight when we left home just before 10 this morning. Local roads awash with surface water and far more than normal lying on the fields adjacent to the River Dee. In fact there was water in fields that we don't normally see it in. I think the Dee can't be far from bursting its banks looking at its height as we drove over it.
Went to Delamere Forest and met up with the Nellies. It was still raining when we got there but stopped within 5 minutes so all 4 of us enjoyed some hazy sunshine and a dry walk where 2 hours later just as we got back to their caravan it started to rain. Able to have a good long natter with them both.
Chucking it down on the way home.
Hope DEBSC's static isn't in too bad of a way. Last thing you want as you seem to have your hands full as it is.
2
