Get a grip woman!

Karmacat

Thanks SL!  I didn't have a camera with me that was good enough to get an identifying shot, it was up by the eaves, but I looked at your bumblebee link, thank you.  Very rabbit-holeish 🐝 (that's supposed to be a honeybee).  What I saw was all black, so I followed that link, it seems to have been Bombus ruderatus - they have all black ones more frequently, and they're described as the largest too.  This one was enormous.  And I'm in the right geographical area too.  The buzz was so loud I feel it would have been mentioned as an identifying characteristic, so I'm not quite sure, but I think that's as good as it's going to get.  I really hope it didn't make a nest in our eaves!

Hope your hives and swarms are all healthy.

Suffolk_lass

We have at least two bumblebee nests - one in the ground (under a sheet of ply in the cart lodge) and one in the roof of the pig-shed.

Suffolk_lass

Got a tray of (30) eggs instead of a dozen as they are diddy. Need to do some cooking

[Deleted User]

What are you cooking? 

Suffolk_lass

Made nothing yesterday - I'm going for a stirfry with egg fried rice today and an easy shakshuka from this recipe plus asparagus - and I might make Brownies (4 eggs) while DH will do his part by using four for scrambled eggs for breakfast. I may give half a dozen to DS too, if we see him - that will use the extra 18! Oh, and they really are diddy so maybe 5 in a four egg recipe. 

I shopped yesterday so room in the fridge is a bit of a challenge too!

Suffolk_lass

All a bit frustrating at the moment. Amazon claim to have delivered our subscription coffee last Tuesday "handed to resident" - but not here. Royal Mail claim to have delivered the yeast I was going to make Elderflower fizz with on Saturday (nope) - Beekeeping equipment was shipped on 12th June - so sign of it 8 days later, and two other orders are sitting with the company supplying, one from 16th was shipped yesterday, the other is not even pending yet. I guess they must be really busy. Oh yes, the part that pinged off DH's strimmer into the field is out of stock too. And that is a national thing with the parts held up in the mysterious supply chain muddle since Brexit. 

Karmacat

That's *extremely* frustrating - a lot of things to go awol at once   I hope some things turn up, or get re-sent.

Suffolk_lass

Well two of the things are being refunded and one resent. Of the two outstanding orders, one was delivered yesterday, by Parcelforce, and the other has yet to be processed. The missing part could take months. It was the spring loaded dispensing button on the bottom, and being spring loaded, it is somewhere in the field of onions.

Talking to the motorhome man who did our repair when we collected the van yesterday, he is really seeing a shortage of parts, and observed that he is getting about a quarter of the timber he was getting pre-Brexit for the same price as previously. I suspect this is because we used to get most of our softwood timber from Scandinavia and now we have left the EU they have all the paperwork and provenance certifications (plus disease and bugs) to ensure they don't send them here, and that costs more than simply shipping bulk timber as part of the same community. Why would you bother if you can export to other markets more easily and cheaply? (which explains the shortages). Not just timber. My moho forum friends driving homes on the Ford transit chassis are having to wait for supplies to replace a known fault engine component that is failing and ruining holidays.

This week we are eking out what we have in the house as I don't want to shop again in June. Like @shangaijimmy, it feels as though we are spending much too much.

On the gratitudes side though:
First and most importantly, my Mum got the all clear from the maxillofacial clinic after the pathology (on her surgery to remove skin cancers). They were very concerned that one was more serious type but it is not - so apart from removing the others as they occur, she is all clear.
The motorhome repair took 4 hours but was completed with a replacement connector and some new pipe, and the habitation check is more positive than when we bought it (thanks to the work we have done) - so no more leaks

rtandon27

Good to hear your Mom is on the mend SL - skin cancers are always so worrying!

Karmacat

Great news about your mum, SL, and even about your motorhome.