A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

prepareathome

Byatt it does sound as if the SW is not a pet lover. What is the reason they give for the poor dog to go into Kennels when you cat sit, its not as if you live with DD and so are going and leaving her when you do, sounds totally like an excuse to me to get rid of dog - first in kennels when you are cat sitting then, most likely well you get on well ( this to DD) without dog when its in kennels so why not be kind and have dog put down / give it away as its just extra expense........shame you cannot find out if this has been suggested to other cases SW has. Why is it basically acceptable if you live on your own to have a cat, but not a dog, I have come across this attitude a lot over the years.

KatieOwl your letter ( second one) is great although I to would have felt like sending first one.

I have been out in garden doing bits and bobs nearly every day and little by little work getting down, I usually manage about 30 mins, might not be much but makes me feel so good. Today I actually was asked to look after youngest granddaughter which was a shock, son admitted they normally just ask her mum but he said he knew I would love to if I was up to it, by golly I made sure I was and had a lovely time, she is 2 1/2.

I went last week for blood tests dr has been wanting me to get for months, well some for months and some for about 2 weeks and went and got results today - low in calcium, high white cell count ( hospital have asked her to monitor me) and anaemic ( quite low but she will not give me figures, never does), so now going for more blood tests and under promise to do so tomorrow. Vit D result not back yet but she expects it to be low, says usually if calcium is low so is Vit D. So hubby has to have an x-ray on spine and neck and I will have blood tests, right old pair of codgers we will be tomorrow at the hospital. Right better get some sleep..........

Hugs and love to everyone, do you know your posts really keep me going, I read what you are all up to with all the problems and think if you can manage so can I.......you really are a wonderful lot of people, very special............xxxxxxxxx

meme30

PAH:- I bet you had a lovely time with your Granddaughter, 21/2 is a great age. They never shut up and expect you to rush along in their confident 'Me! this is what life is all about' way! I'm pleased you are managing to potter about in the garden, the sun this week will have done you the world of good. Good luck at the hospital today.

Hardup_Hester

When my Mother was dying of cancer the Dr arranged for the district nurse to pop in for 3 mornings when I couldn't make the journey, I found out that they had sent a trainee, who wasn't English. She was so terrified of my mum's dog (who was very lazy & very friendly) that she posted a carton of drink through my mum's letterbox for 3 days instead of visiting her!
Hester

mardatha

PAH buy vitD on Amazon, take it every day forever. Being low in vitD is the cause of a lot of ills and feeling low. I've been taking 2400iu a day for 2 years and my levels are fine. It made me feel a bit better and I don't catch colds or flu any more.

SDG31000

*staggers in while trying not to spill my huge mug of tea*

Morning all *yawns*

DH's alarm went off at 5.30am after I'd been listening to him snore for an hour. So I'm feeling shattered this morning. Add in the fact that my agrophobia kicked in with no rhyme or reason yesterday and I'm feeling a little delicate today.

VJsmum I completely understand and sympathise. My two are 13 and 16 and getting them to agree on anything is almost impossible. I now get DH to take them clothes shopping separately to save the arguments. Here's hoping that they realise how upsetting they were and apologise (((((((((hugs))))))))
Byatt The best of luck with the SW. It's none of their business as long as you, your DD and the dog are happy.
GQ I forgot to say earlier, but I'll take Nurse on a time share for two weeks a year to give you a break. I can clear out the cupboard under the stairs. Also I'll teach you to bake if you teach me to garden. I can bake automatically and have done when my black dog is sitting on my feet. The gardening is a completely different story however. I used to be good at making mud pies as a toddler if that helps

This morning I'm off to Knit and Natter and have DS2's parents evening this afternoon to look forward to. I brought a litre of buttermilk on Sunday so plan on having a scone/buttermilk biscuit baking session at some point as long as I can find space in the freezer for them. I might have to ask a friend if they have some space as mine as stuffed at the moment.
(The buttermilk was £1 in the polish section of my local Tesco which was a bargain. It's in a yellow tetra pack if anyone is interested)
Now I need to venture into the attic to find the box for my mobile as the $&*(^ thing stopped working yesterday and I can't remember if it is still under warrenty.
Send Nurse after me if I'm not back in a few hours.
Take care xxxxxxxx

GreyQueen

jpscloud wrote: »

Great news on the bumblebees, GQ! This site should help to identify, but the tree bumblebee (listed as less common on the site) is much commoner all over the UK now - I had a nest nearby last summer.

The ones with red bums are likely to be the early bumblebee, they have a short life (nests die out shortly after midsummer) so I'm really glad you're making sure they have some food sources on your lottie!

Thanks for that, hun.

I've worked out some of "my" bees; red tailed (bombus lapidarius), common carder bee (bombus pascourum aka toffee-coloured), think I saw a queen buff-tailed (bombus terrestris) and a whopping great all-black bee coulda been a queen ruderal bumblebee (bombus ruderatus). Still don't know if the tiny fast-flying ones were all black or had some colour on the abdomens which I couldn't see. They were busy buzzy little bees...............Sit still, yer beggars, I'm botanising.

I love bees. They love my broad bean patch, too, so it's a mutually-benefical relationship. I have to explain to my Dad, who sometimes helps me with the gardening, that certain weeds are tolerated until they've finished their flowering cycle, especially common mallow, the nettles, and salvias, as the bees love them so much..........he thinks I'm bonkers.

Well, he's right of course!

I've been offline for 48 hours which must be a personal best; too tired after allotmenteering on Sunday and shell-shocked with fatigue yesterday; came home from work and went to bed. Loads of us were exhausted on Monday morning and not from weekends of high jinks either; the clocks changing seems to cause a jet-lag type affect. Gets me coming and going in Spring and Autumn.

Today I have a few hours in the salt mine getting in the way of my real life and then........ta da! I shall go to the reclamation yard.:p Oh, the deep joy which is a reclamation yard, full of potential............I'm after a fence post but shall of course have to have a wee wander around the cast iron fireplaces and imagine myself as a Woman of Property with a home which could recieve such an item...........((sigh)) It's a very good job I only have a pushbike or I'd be tempted by the railway sleepers and the paving slabs.............

((hugs)) to everyone and catch you laters GQ xx

grandma247

PAH I hope you had a good time with your grandaughter. Have you asked why the doc will not tell you the figure?
I have always asked and been told. Many times I have been asked if I am a nurse but I tell them no but I am interested in my own health so I try to find out as much as possible so I can help myself get better. I cannot think of any reason why such information is being withheld. I even asked a heart specialist what the figures meant when he read my cholesterol level out because it was fairly new to test for it then and he explained it to me.
Been quiet for a bit as had bad news when we got back from our break. Aussie friends nephew had been in a bad smash and nearly died. He is improving and is awaiting another op, this time to mend his jaw, when he is stable enough. That is three things now so hopefully that is the end for a bit.

I forgot to add this. It made me smile. I had been looking for info because ddil said she had seen on the news that our potatoes could rise to stupid prices.

GreyQueen

SDG31000 wrote: »

*GQ I forgot to say earlier, but I'll take Nurse on a time share for two weeks a year to give you a break. I can clear out the cupboard under the stairs. Also I'll teach you to bake if you teach me to garden. I can bake automatically and have done when my black dog is sitting on my feet. The gardening is a completely different story however. I used to be good at making mud pies as a toddler if that helps
Send Nurse after me if I'm not back in a few hours.
Take care xxxxxxxx

LMAO, the little girl who grew up next to me (we're the same age) was the Queen of the Mud Pies and became a world-travelling professional cook. Early signs and portents of the adult to come. I used to wander aorund the countryside with my Observer Book of Wild Plants and spent half my childhood up trees. Plus I learned my gardening from my Dad and my Grandad from toddlerdom.

It amuses me to think of myself as the latest installment of an unbroken line of peasants..............:rotfl:Have I told you about the beautiful muck pile I possess and the primal satisfaction I get from grubbing around in the soil..........?

Grandma247 ((hugs)) and good wishes to the friends' nephew for a full and speedy recovery.

Mini rant alert I started reading a book last night, written by a professor and published this year by Oxford University Press and what have I seen in the first few pages? "Reigning in" where they meant "reining in" and an apostrophe inserted into a word which was a simple plural. Ye gods and monsters, this should shame a high school student. My grammar school English teacher would be spinning in his grave if he could see it. I'm considering pitching myself as a copy-editor to OUP on the grounds that I can do better........

Book's good, apart from the wincing moments.........

meme30

GQ:- Don't... it's a disgrace the levels of spelling and punctuation in this country. I love keeping contact by texting people but I think it can take a lot of blame for the way people both speak and write English.

Grandma:- I hope you get better news from Australia soon.

:mad:RANT ALERT!:mad:

I read the article about the Greeks and their potatoes. I find it quite depressing and inspirational at the same time! It's great that they are managing to save money this way but I do think we as a country are not far from reaching this level.
Yesterday, in A*da I was asked to donate food to a food bank for struggling families. It's a sobering thought that here we are in this country with our flat-screen televisions, internet, and endless pressure to shop and 'have what everyone else has got' and people cannot feed themselves and their children.
Many are in this situation because of losing work. The government is spending money on a think-tank to work out how to get people back to work! :eek: They really do not know how people in this country live from week to week, the struggles to pay the bills and feed the kids.
I get so frustrated by the endless 'in real terms' you are better off. How as a nation do we produce so many elitist people who then go in to politics! Are they preprogrammed to ignore the vast majority of the workforce? Just because someone has a good education, speaks well and dresses nicely does not mean that they know what they are doing! A bit of common sense would be a great asset!

climbs down off soap-box!
Am going to do the ironing to cheer myself up! :rotfl:

stiltwalker

If ironing cheers you up meme I'll PM you my address and you can come and do mine! I'll provide cake Might be better to leave a week or so though as my mum did most of it on Sunday whilst she and my dad were looking after DS for us. DD had her MRI scan and we had to go all the way to Leeds for it. As she's only wee she had to have a GA :eek:, she's fine now and coped brilliantly - me, I have no nails left and arrived home in need of a very large gin! Was so proud of how well she coped actually as she'd been fasting since the night before and they were running late :mad: as some member of staff hadn't come in and they had to get a replacement! The ones that were there were all fab though.

Got the fabulous sunshine here, unfortunately I have a report to write for my OU course that is due in on Friday. It's doing my head in, really struggling to get to grips with it. Then this afternoon DD and I have a Docs appointment to request an OT referral to see if there is anything that can help with the all the lifting and carrying I'm doing.

Got trips to the park planned for the next couple of days with different friends so hope the weather lasts, then a music thing on Friday before we go off up to Cumbria to my parents for the weekend. I'm treating myself to a haircut with my mum's lovely hairdresser who also does DD's fringe. Must be about 2 years since I've even had it trimmed and it's almost to my waist but I've only got quite fine hair so it doesn't make one of those wonderful thick plaits. Going to let the hairdresser loose with the provisos that a) I need to be able to tie it up and b) it mustn't be too high maintainance and either require fiddling with every morning or regular trips back to the hairdresser. I'm looking forward to it (I think) it wil be nice to have a different hairdo to the one I've worn on and off (and more on) since I was 14! Bit scary though won't be the biggest chop I've ever done (once went from way past shoulders to boy short in my late teens now that was scary!)

Enjoy the sunshine.