Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Hello everyone.

Eek some disasters and annoyances in the group this weekend. I hope everyone is chilling out this afternoon.

I’ve just ripped up a load of cardboard for the compost as the ‘browns’ were deplete. I then mixed and watered it. Having a cuppa and Welsh Cake in the muted but warm sun now. It’s quite muggy but the breeze is picking up.

 

It does sound like some of you have been in the wars over the last few days. I hope everyone has had a calm and uneventful Sunday and enjoys a relaxing evening before the new week begins.

I do hope @Obelix and her visitor are ok

I spent yesterday painting the skirting boards in the dining room and (very small) hallway. They have now gone from black to the same colour as the walls so yellow for the dining room and cream for the hallway. Am really pleased with the difference it makes, the walls seem taller somehow. I’ve just got the skirting boards to do in the study/spare bedroom now.

Today we drove out to Hodnet Gardens which is our current favourite place. The weather there was much brighter than at home and we had a refreshing walk around the pools and lunch sat outside. Very enjoyable. Am wondering if pools is the right word? I’m not sure they are big enough to be lakes and are too big for ponds - isn’t it wonderful how many word options we have for the same or similar things

 

Good afternoon from breezy Lismore. It's dry at present, with sunny intervals, but as some of you have mentioned we're due for a bit of a blow tomorrow - gusts to 80kph, perhaps. Hatches have been battened in preparation. But this afternoon has been sufficiently fine for me to clear brambles from the path to the sea, which is useful.
Thank you for your good wishes for our anniversary - much appreciated! We were touched to find a lovely bouquet in our room at the hostel in Callander, a gift from the staff.

It's now scenting our living room!

 

Sorry I am a bit slow in sending you all good wishes @Liriodendron:

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I have spent all day, almost, trying to sort out a blocked toilet - apologies for such an indelicate subject. I noticed someone hinted at how much plumbers could cost and I fear that may be my last resort if I cannot get this sorted.
Moving on I was pleased to hear that the fish have found a new forever home and what lovely neighbours both you and your ex had @Goldenlily26
When I went down to water in the GH I noticed both my water butts are now filled to overflowing so that is a measure of how much rain fell in my area over the last couple of days.

 

Signing out for today so I hope everyone has a better evening than I'm going to have! Only joking, things will always get better.

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Sounds like the loo is not unblocked yet, @Ladybird4? Have you tried pouring some hair conditioner into the toilet? Apparently the silicon or similar ingredient can lubricate the, er, ‘contents’ and encourage them to slide down the drain. I’m not sure if fabric conditioner would work, probably not as it doesn’t have that slippy texture. However, WD40 might be worth a go?
I had an exciting afternoon while OH was watching the F1. I wear a head torch when I take the badgers supper out after dark, and as I came back into the house last night, I noticed a cobweb near the ceiling. So today, I thought I’d grab the duster, put on the head torch and clean it away. Well, that was an eye opener! Obviously I’ll need to include the torch for future cobweb removal. I ended up going round the whole house, luckily all on one level, and removed yards of cobweb. Amazing what you don’t see if you don’t look! Thankfully not too many in the guest bedroom, so I’d obviously given it a decent clean before our last visitors. Hopefully I won’t feel the urge to repeat the exercise for another year!

 

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Good morning everyone. You are correct in your assumption @Ergates and I will try your suggestions. Speaking of our arachnid friends, don't you just hate it when you walk down a path and your face breaks through a particularly tough web? Its on a par with me to hearing the crunch when you step on a snail in the dark. I had to clean my car rear camera the other day as when I went into reverse, there in all its glory was the tiniest of spider webs. It did actually look quite pretty on the screen in the car. Still thinking about @Obelix-Vendée and her little Visitor.

 

Good morning all.

@Ladybird4 I do feel for you about the blocked loo. I had nightmares with mine shortly after moving here. I have 2 loos and they both blocked. Nightmare. Eventually I found someone who dug a trench and changed the broken pipe. The plumbers had been useless, just unblocking it without getting to the root of the problem. The septic tank had sunk so the pipe broke away because of the clay soil and the weather, heavy rain then drought. I am having some problems with the upstairs loo, downstairs is OK. Waiting for a builder.

I hope yours is easier to fix.

I hope @Obelix-Vendée and the visitor are OK too.

 

Happy Anniversary @Liriodendron and fingers crossed the storm doesn’t cause too much havoc for you, stay safe

Oh dear @Ladybird4 another tribulation for our little group! I hope you get it sorted soon.

A great idea @Ergates and one we should probably adopt. It’s shocking how many cobwebs we get amongst our ceiling beams and as you say once you spot one….

A quiet day today as I’m working, not that we have noisy days otherwise The forecast shows the possibility of showers for most of the morning so I have everything crossed that that actually happens.

Am hoping that you all have an incident free Monday and a successful start to the week

 

Just seen the weather forecast, 34C this afternoon

 

Good morning all!

Thanks again for good wishes - we are having a lovely time here, doing a bit of housekeeping but not a lot... plenty of reading (and knitting, for me), and listening to music. No telly here. Hopefully we'll do more walking later in the week, once today's storm has blown itself out.

Re blocked loos: if the blockage is near the toilet bowl, a half-filled bucket of water poured quickly into the loo from waist height (to give it extra force) tends to work.

Thinking of you, @Obelix-Vendée.

 

Pride comes before a fall! I thought I’d got all the cobwebs, but I came back in from putting the badger food out, and my torch light caught the two ceiling lights in the living room. Somehow forgot them, and they were covered in webs, complete with a spider. Managed to corral him, or her, and escort them outside. OH very surprised to find me wielding the duster at 10.15pm (or any time for that matter!)
Forgot to wish you a Happy Anniversary, @Liriodendron, sounds like an idyllic place to celebrate and reminisce.
Hope some result on the loo blockage, @Ladybird4. Is it just the one toilet misbehaving, do you have others in the house operating as usual? We had a blocked sewer pipe some years ago, and all the toilets were a bit sluggish on emptying. Next thing we knew, a manhole cover on the drive erupted, very unpleasantly, or as the nice man who came to investigate, described it, ‘an unexpected water feature’! Just not much water!
We were covered by our home insurance, who sent the guy to do the initial visit, and tried to unblock it, then the subsequent team who had to dig up some shrubs and a tree root, and install a new section of pipe lining - a flexible tube which they coated in resin. We only had to pay the excess on our policy. It was a great relief too, not to have to start ringing round to find a contractor.

 

Good morning all.
I thought for once Cornwall was going to miss out on the storm up North but yesterday was mizzly all day with passing showers and overcast. It looks like we are on the same page today so no outdoor drying of towels. Still a basket of hand towels to finish off. The wind is getting up now.
It sounds as if we are all being given trials and tribulations to deal with.
Blocked loos.
Lovely! I have in the past used a stout stick to "mash" the contents of the bowl which helped to disperse the problem but if it is a broken pipe that is a whole new ball game.
Cobwebs and spiders.
My cottage has beams everywhere with accompanying occupants. I go around with a fluffy brush occasionally and am always horrified at the drapes I find halfway down walls!
Pussy cat pressies.
This morning I found the remains of a very dead baby bird on my mat by the front door. No idea who left it, I doubt very much it was Poppy who rarely goes outside these days. I hope Star, the new resident cat living in No 1 hasn't adopted me.

I hope everyones day is a good one and all of the problems become small ones.

Yesterday evening my daughter and SIL picked me up and we went to the Village Green where Rob's plaque was finally put on the Dog Memorial Post. I was very relieved there were none of the regular dog walkers around with Rob's buddies. I would have been in a heap.
My son took a picture of his old home before leaving. It looks a very sad and empty house, hopefully a young family will move in and bring it back to life. My daughter told me they had seen a bungalow we could all buy, with an annexe, overlooking one of the little ports. Only 3 and half million! I told her she was scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Is my neigbour being paranoid? She seems to think the new security system installed on the outside of No 1 cottage can pick up conversation and relay it to the phone of the owner of the house? We are in the middle of nowhere but he discovered someone was using his delapidated caravan as accommodation, vodka, chocolate, biscuits and a crowbar being left inside it. I didn't know these new security systems were sound sensitive as well as movement sensitive.

 

It's a case of, 'do I believe the BBC weather app, or the Met Office?' Former has the wind easing earlier.
My tale of woe today? Tesco has cancelled my order, as there's a problem with the van. Hurrumph.
Now I'll have to go shopping. We are having a V.I.P. visitor for lunch at the caravan on Wednesday, weather permitting, so food is required!
And I have a malicious pop up on my laptop, despite being very careful about clicking on things. Got to get shut of that today, too.
Hope @Obelix-Vendée swings by to update us.
I hope you'll be flushed with success very soon @Ladybird4
And on that note, I'll go shopping...

 

@Ladybird4, you can improvise a plunger for the loo by tying a carrier bag over the head of a mop.