Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Thank you for that info @Obelix-Vendée . I had a sneaking suspicion last year that I’d got it wrong , so did a bit of research, which you’ve confirmed to be correct.

 

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Good morning all. First job today is to get all my buddleja prunings chopped up and put in the green bin. I only got as far as stacking them at the top of the drive late yesterday afternoon before my body said 'enough'. Shouldn't take long and then later I'm off to Canasta. I wish you all happy days and a safe journey to @Busy-Lizzie and her OH.

 

Good morning all.
Thank you, @Ladybird4.

 

You are very lucky to have a garden big enough to grow a magnolia Blue Arbor. They grow into huge trees down here in Cornwall. They hate being pruned which is proabably why you didn't have as many flowers as usual this year. When in full flower they are stunning.

I have just chased Damart up again as I have heard nothing from them. It sounds as if my complaint has to be reported to the management and then reprocessed so I will not get the items in under 7 days. My call 3 days ago was recorded but nothing was done about it! Evri have told me to contact the seller as it is more than 5 days since the supposed delivery so they are washing their hands of it.

The physio. called me re.the results of my MRI scan. Nothing shows the sciatic nerve is trapped so it must be a random nerve problem. I could go to Truro for some nerve response tests but the treatment would be the same as now, use a walking stick or crutch, remember to bend my knee more when walking and exercise my foot when sitting down. In time, it might recover but could take years, if ever. Very disheartening. I am beginning to think I am going mad and imagining my various problems as the results of the ECG and wearing a heart monitor, as well as the ultrasound scan and now the MRI scan have all come back with negative results, unless there is something I am not being told, except I am getting older. They have all said I have minimal age related wear and tear. I have just managed to get a face to face ap. with a GP later this morning to discuss my loss of voice. Very fed up.

I put my ripe chillies under vinegar and did a small amount of quilting on my pot holder. I also took the recycling bags up to the collection point. I am hoping today I will be able to go shopping as most of my aches and pains seem to have diminished enough to move more easily after my tumble.

It is another glorious day, chilly, dry and sunny. More of the same next week so I hope to catch up with some gardening and housework as I have a niece and her husband visiting in a few weeks time. Thankfully they are not staying with me.

Keep up the good work everyone with your gardening and walks etc., enjoy the mild break in the weather.

 

Another lovely day. Waiting for the window cleaner!
My chiropodist appt has been cancelled (again) so we are going out for lunch, then up to the van to prep for our few days away.
The summer house probably isn't worth recycling and we have nowhere else for it to go. We already have 3 sheds (full of OH's very important junk) and a greenhouse. We will, however, reuse the solar panel and battery and the furniture.
Enjoy your break with your family, @Busy-Lizzie. It should be perfect without the summer hoards.

 

Good Morning all.

Easy to feel fed up when you have annoying, painful or worrying ailments @Goldenlily26. I hope your GP is helpful today.

Think I’ve caught up on the chat. You’ve all been busy with jobs, trips and outings! Hello to @Peaceful Gardener too.

I have a long weekend off now so will catch up on jobs and have some down-time. Rain tomorrow so that can be apple crumble/cake making day.

 

Oh dear @Goldenlily26 I feel so sorry having read your tale of woe. I would definitely persist with chasing Damart and tell them that you will report them to Trading Standards if they still shilly shally. That sort of thing on top of your poor health only aggravates everything. Chin up Chuck, thinking about you here and keeping everything crossed you get positive news soon.

 

So sorry for your woes, @Goldenlily26, I suppose it’s good that the tests are not finding anything dreadful, but the down side is that no one has found anything to fix, which must be so frustrating. I think you’ll have to keep badgering them, it’s too easy to get things written off as box ticked, no further action needed. They certainly don’t chase things up without reminding. I accept that they are busy but not a good enough excuse.
OH had some problems with side effects from a BP medicine, GP decided that he should just discontinue the implicated tablets, and have a blood test in a month. The blood test showed some improvement but no one has checked up on whether his BP has risen as a result. He can’t get readings on our home machine, as he has such a low heart rate, but if he goes to the surgery, his white coat syndrome means that readings there are ridiculous. He of course is feeling fine, and happy to continue as he is. No point me ‘nagging’, but a reminder from the surgery that they haven’t had a BP reading would be very welcome, to me at any rate! Oh well.
I did look at the Damart website, and saw a couple of things I liked. However, no mention anywhere of where their clothing is manufactured ( Im avoiding China, and now the USA as well) so I’ve dropped them an email enquiry. For good measure, I also asked if they were still using Evri, and whether they offer a choice of a more reliable alternative!
The sun is out, albeit still a little chilly, but we will head out to cut some grass soon.
We have two magnolias in the garden, both higher than a two storey house! Would love to reduce them in height, as all the flowers are at the top of the tree ( white, against the sky, doesn’t show up well) and the petals quickly get blown away in the first decent spring winds. However, we were advised by the tree surgeon that they might not survive a major prune, so we’ve left them to it.
I did plant a new one in another part of the garden, but it didn’t do well, plus it was attacked by rabbits and deer, and eventually died.

 

Would your OH be happy to have his BP checked at a pharmacy @Ergates ? Might be a slightly calmer atmosphere there.

 

There's a new rule for GPs isn't there. If after 3 visits they haven't diagnosed a petient's problem they have to go back and start again with new questions and approach. Not having your voice for so long is just ludicrous @Goldenlily26 and they should be ashamed of themselves. Having constant nagging unidentified pains, ditto, and not just due to aging. You might just need some massage or stretching exercises to relax muscles and nerves or it may be something that needs more radical treatment or even just a bit of cognitive therapy but constant pain is not normal.

Nor is waiting for 3 days with no response from any service or commercial company like Damart.

Coffee with neighbours a bit of a bust - A, the ex farmer's wife, arrived 30 minutes early and the other 10 mins late even tho she's just next door and they both had to be gone by 11:20. Neither drinks coffee but we have tea and tisanes. Still, we managed a bit of chat and have made contact which pleased F and we can do it again. We have a whole coffee walnut cake to eat up this weekend and some banana gingerbread too. Not going to be a thin weekend!

Dull and grey here now but OH and I have been and done the weekly shop and I'm feeling dozy so not gardening.

Hope your day is going well everyone.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, @Bluejayway, but I wouldn’t be able to drag him there either! He would prefer to be an ostrich! I’m working on my alternative to nagging, takes a while but I may be able to sow enough seeds that he thinks something was his own idea! I’ll have to keep mentioning holidays and ability to get travel insurance! Might work. He has a real phobia about anything medical.

 

Afternoon all, I'm feeling shattered after spending a couple of hours on hands and knees trying to blitz our overgrown rockery (inherited). I'd taken my eye off the ball this year and it's now got ivy and teucrium firmly embedded under the rocks. I've had to use secateurs to chop it all up as it's impossible to pull/dig it out.

My sister's partner was phobic like that @Ergates until he got ill and had to have numerous blood tests, short stays in hospital etc and self injected stomach jabs every 2 weeks. He soon got over his fears!

Hope your GP's visit results in some positive action @Goldenlily26.

My sister is really fed up as her (minor) heart op has just been postponed for the third time. She has AF and the medics want try to shock/restart her heart. However for her it has to be done under a general anaesthetic and they keep saying there's not enough staff. Next appointment is early Dec so that will be nearly a year she's been waiting. It's crazy.

I did a silly thing this morning. We'd popped into a Macmillans Coffe morning do at our local church and I left my phone in its crossbody pouch on the back of the chair. Didn't notice I hadn't got it until nearly 3 hours later but fortunately was able to whizz back down and get it. Some kind soul had handed it in to the organisers. Phew! Getting worried though, as last week I'd forgotten my handbag in a cafe but again managed to get it back. Too many things on my mind I expect.

Glad the coffee/tea morning went well @Obelix-Vendée.

Enjoy your long weekend off @AuntyRach. I was planning some baking for a change as it was supposed to be raining but the forecast has changed so more gardening in store.

 

Afternoon all.

I've had a very happy morning at Irish Seed Savers, helpfully situated just a mile or so from here, at their "Taste the Orchard" event. They grow heritage apples, mostly of Irish origin, and we were taken round the orchards to taste around 30 varieties including a few from the local area. I have a list of the ones I liked best, but only really room for one more in the garden... though they've started extending their orchards to include heritage plums and pears, so in a few years I may be able to purchase a locally bred pear tree or two. We also had a demonstration of bud grafting, which I'd love to try. Then we were able to compare apple varieties made into pies, and drink freshly made juice. It was a surprise to me that the nicest flavoured dried apple rings were from cooking apples or crab apples; they developed sweetness in the drying process.

Now I need to mow the back grass

Agreed, @Goldenlily26 - time to get firm with your doctor. Constant pain is no joke...

My husband also has a very low heart rate, @Ergates , which causes monitors to go haywire and say he may be having a heart attack. It must be genetic, because our daughter is the same, but they are both fit and well.

 

@Liriodendron I have a young Bramley Seedling which has produced its first good crop this year and, with the heatwaves, the fruits are rosy red and quite sweet but they still have that collapsible texture when cooked. OH has recently cleared a corner of our veg plot and I think it needs a plum with some attitude as opposed to the bland Mirabelles a previous owner planted. We have a Beurre Hardy pear and a Williams Bon Chrétien so don't need a pear.

@lizzie27 one of my patch ladies was due to have her heart shocked last week but there's an outbreak of Covid at Les Sables and her husband shared it so it's been postponed. Not clever.

 

Good evening all I had a very pleasant day at Canasta - my partner and I won both of our games and oddly enough my partner was telling me about her OH who has a very low heart rate - 33 - and he is due to have this heart shock treatment next week. It sounds draconian but if it works that is all that matters. I will bid you all good night now and I'll see you in the morning - got some cake baking to do.

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