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

short_bird

We've got the yellow ball as well:T

GreyQueen

fuddle wrote: »

Guess what was along the hedgerows where I walk the dog? Yip, elderflower. All this time, I had no clue. Will those flowers turn into berries? I picked a little bit to make elderflower cordial.

They'll turn into teeny green berries which will get a wee bit bigger then turn purplish-black. And birdies will eat them and carp on your laundry out on the line and you'll need to rewash and will end up saying Bad Words. This is why the self-sown elder is no longer in the parents' back garden.:rotfl:

jpscloud wrote: »

GQ I hope your ear infection is short-lived. I have a touch of vertigo today, hope it doesn't develp into a full blown attack as I will have to hie me off to the drs looking like a drunk bumping into walls etc.!

Thanks, hun, I'm hopeful it won't be too vile. It's an outer-ear infection not an inner-ear one so my balance hasn't gone off. Couldn't sleep lst night because it feels like someone has jammed a red-hot marble into my ear canal. Hope your vertigo was just a temporary blip and doesn't brew into something worse. I can recall having an inner-ear infection once and I was reeling like a drunk on a three-day bender.

:mad: OK, did anyone hear shrieks of fury circa 1.30 pm? Apologising as it was me, having discovered the Crime in the Cold Frame. Bu88ering slugs had got in and totalled more than half my runner beans. I was incandescent with rage. Those people who think gardening is part and parcel of a simple, low-key, restful life are clueless. It's nature red in tooth and claw. Or at least slime. :mad:

I rescued my babies as best I could then, with a sharp trowel in my hand and murder in my heart, I went after the barstewards. They died of cold steel poisoning; fast and organic.

The result of their dastardly diet means that I have been able to transplant beans sufficient for only one-and-a-bit wigwams and I have four to fill. Time is now of the essence and I can't afford another murder of the innocents. I have fetched all the remaining bean seed back to the flat and started to soak it. I'll give it 72 hours then pot them on IN THE FLAT. Yes, I'm determined not be thwarted by invertebrates; let them get them in the living room if they can, mwah ha ha !!!!!

I was so shaken by all this I had to go buy a FB pie for the storecupboard and a chocolate bar for immediate comfort. Went to a coupla c.s. too (because they were there) and bought a paperback for 25p which is my kinda price. Also found that this particular c.s. is calling out for your rags as well as usable stuff for resale, so will bear that in mind for the future.

Has anyone heard from the welsh contigent Mrs Chip and katieowl (and anyone else I've forgotten?) Looks extremely serious from what pix I've seen on the newspaper websites. Hope our girls are OK.

OK, time to prep some grub; carrots and broccoli from the Magic Greengrocer and half of yesterday's FB pie warmed thru in the bain marie above. For dessert, I shall have some slightly-overripe bananas and custard, nomnomnom.

Byatt

Well, came home after cat sitting to find the electric off...I popped next door and asked if theirs was off, but no, seems however, it has been off and on for days as the electric company have been doing works, no idea what. After panicking and calling power company, it appears my electric tripped probably due to the weather. Never happened before. Anyway, my freezer of food, in my nice big freezer from Freegle is all ruined. I am too tired to cry. I can't keep any of it because I don't know what's defrosted and frozen again. And defrosted. Sometimes, I wonder why I bother. Money down the drain.

Fuddle, fainting is a horrible feeling. I can faint over little things, and then the big things don't bother me. Poor DD she must have been so scared. Hope you are all recovering.

EstherH

BYATT: If it hasn't been off for long periods at a time your food should be okay. If the freezer door is left shut it will stay frozen for about eighteen hours.

Esther x

EstherH

Oh sorry, just re read your post and realised that you electric will have been off completely and not been on and off for short periods.

Esther x

fuddle

Oh GQ and Byatt I'm so very sorry. How bluudy gutting for both of you but we're battlers and will fix and curse and cry and throw our hands in the air and give up and go to bed but tomorrow we'll get on and sort out that bit of adversity.

Remember "The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work." I can't remember who said that but girls... 'tis true x

VJsmum

kidcat wrote: »

Off to google elderflower pics!!

Me too - I think we have some on the main road outside our house, but best be sure. Thanks for the recipe

So I have swept and mopped floors, done a little bit of laundry juggling, taken DD out for lunch and done shopping. THe big pile of ironing is turning into a monstrous life form, now leaning at a precarious angle.

<< sigh >> I really am going to have to do it.

Byatt

Esther, yes some stuff is soft, some part soft and others not so soft...but as the power was off some time due to power company, I suspect it was defrosting, and then started to freeze again, and then the bad weather tripped the electric. It's so frustrating, because if I'd been here I could have kept an eye on things, but no, I'm out trying to earn a crust which will now be used in trying to build up the freezer again.

But there are people worse off like those in Aberystwyth, so I need to pull myself up by my boot straps!!

oh well, onwards and upwards...

GreyQueen

Oh Byatt, what a b*mmer. Is anything at all salvagable?

My parents were at my Nans' for several hours today, as they are every Saturday and her 3/4 height fridge-freezer is croaking its last so they decided to run her into the nearby market town to look for another.

They went to a local family-firm and were arranging the delivery when the proprietor, who is about the same age as the parents (late sixties) said "Oh, I know that village!"

Only turns out that he is the cousin of Nan's son-in-law; their mothers are sisters.:rotfl:I often joke that you can't throw a brick in certain parts of the county without hitting some of my relations. And knowing some of my relations, they'd probably throw it right back atcha.............:p

fuddle, losing my runner bean seedlings is chicken feed compared to losing the contents of the freezer like Byatt did. You're the one who should be having (((big hugs)) after the day you and your family have had. Funnily enough, I arranged to get my prescription filled from the same Boots as I have my eyes tested in, so it's been opticians left, right and centre today. Nurses I know reckon that the fellers are the worst for fainting at the drop of a drop of the red stuff and it's the biggest, butchest ones who are the most prone to collapsing. I've spent a lot of time in hospitals so am pretty unfazable. SuperGran used to be a theatre sister and can recall having to deal with one newbie on her team (they were told to exit theatre if they started to feel queasy) but this lass struggled on, fainted and beaned herself on the autoclave. |That added to the complexity of the operation, that's for sure.

[Deleted User]

BYATT - How distressing for you - might it be worth asking if the electricity company has a compensation scheme to cover situations like this? It's easy to blame the weather, but it might be due to the work they have been doing. I work on the principle that if you ask and they say no you are no worse off then if you hadn't asked at all! Might be worth a go. Chin up petal, Cheers Lyn and the lurcher xxx.