5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

DundeeDoll

belated birthday greetings BOP sorry mariners didn't give you the present you wanted :-(
1) morning started with letter from sheriff's court 'Dear Sirs' (to me singular female lol) saying that they're going to send the divorce papers to (then used her male name oh good grief!) recorded delivery. so phoned xoh to warn her. up side was had a lovely chat with xoh - in many ways still my soul mate sigh
2) dundee was enveloped in fog but was well wrapped up so rather atmospheric for the inspiration of Frankenstein - jarvis rolled in fox poo bleuh - gave him a shower when we got home, lots of dog shampoo and tomato ketchup
3) then dd2, mum and I went to B&Q. She wanted to get some bulbs but garden centres outside our zone so B&Q it was. Bought some gorgeous potted up winter pots and a christmas tree and outside lights for the porch as well as bird feeding stuff and bulbs
4) then we went to dunelm and i bought some lovely fake poppies to decorate my porch for remembrance  and a christmas wreath in case we go into tier 4 (lockdown) - decorating our porch has become a thing since covid
5) then tea at mums watching the results of a certain election. and now in bed with a cup of tea. night all xxx

balabooberlies

Up at 5 am again..............sigh.........but it was worth it.

Cooked some sausages last night night that I wanted to use.  Whilst I was in the kitchen just now making a tea saw the garden light was on and yes there was a fox.  Scarpered as soon as it saw me.  Quickly cut up 2 sausages and put them on the table, went back into the kitchen, turned the light off and stood waiting in the dark.  I know they watch me, within 30 seconds it was back and it was Grace, my one eyed lady.  I was hoping it would be her.  She is so timid.

I watched in fascination as she jumped on the table, took one piece, jumped off, ate it, and then repeated the process.  Couldn't work out why she didn't just stay on the table like other foxes.  It soon became apparent when another smaller (younger ?) fox appeared.  Grace was being discreet and smart.  She immediately went into a submissive pose and started almost mewing as it stood over her.  It jumped on the table, ate the last piece, jumped off and had a real go at her.  She sensibly ran off, living to fight another day.

It's probably because I had just woken up but I wanted to cry.  And I wasn't going to put anymore food out for the aggressor.  But I did.  No surprise there ..................

Have a lovely day

bala

X

House_Elf_2

Good Morning Lovelies,

Friday
1. Too Good To Go Odessey........rescued some beer from Green King pub, and some pastries and soup from the shop at the local college of food.
2. Soup and bread for lunch.
3. Cleared the last of the potatoes and veg from the veg garden. OH raked leaves and DS2 bagged them up.
4. OH made chilli for tea.
5. Made some bird feeders from odd cups and saucers. They look really cute, but only attracting squirrels! (Bala, any ideas?).

Yesterday
1. Enjoying the US Election saga......
2. Trip to the skate park. Very busy with kids enjoying a dry autumn day. Lovely views over the park and city.
3. Christmas pud made in a spherical  mould........Tastes promising.
4. Takeaway Chinese to celebrate DS2 passing out. Champagne was popped. 

5. Chatting with DS2 over the remains of the takeaway, while I finished all the champagne in the half drunk glasses. The young ones preferred the rescued beer! (I shall miss DS2 when his leave is over).🙁
6. My copy of the Christmas Chronicals has arrived.

Have a lovely day 🙂

LaineyT

For yesterday,

Unusually for me checking the news on and off during the day with the slow realisation that the manic pumpkin may finally be on his way out.

The sun shining and time spent with my girlie.

Enjoyed another episode of Between the Covers, talking all things bookish, perfect.

We all bundled up and went out for long walk, small dog sent up some pheasants and was delighted with herself.

Watched the Festival of Remembrance.

balabooberlies

Good morning House Elf
where do I begin ?

First, where are you placing the cups and saucers ?  I use an old rickety garden table that was due for skipping but is perfect for all the wildlife.  No precarious hanging on.  It really suits the bigger heavier birds.  My little birds (that seem to be hibernating now) prefer everything scattered on the ground.

I don't know if you are vegetarian/vegan but if not scraps of meat (ham,  chicken etc is gobbled).  I have been really surprised by this, not from the crows but from the wood pigeons and magpies.  I put these food stuffs out for the foxes but the birds sometimes get there first.  They also love Tiggy's kibble.  I first discovered this when quite a few times in the summer I walked into the kitchen to find a crow or wood pigeon eating from her bowl.  This is how Flo and I became known to each other.

I don't think I have mentioned this because I didn't think I would be believed.  A few months ago I put out some raw chicken skins for the foxes.  2 crows got there first and were on the fence trying to work out how to create smaller bite size pieces.  I came back 10 minutes later to find that they had put them back on the table !

The next time I put out chicken skins they were cooked.  They were eaten by all the large birds.  My poor foxes but it is the 'early bird'........ as they say.......

As we are nearing on winter I find that anything fatty and easy to eat goes quickly.  When I cannot get any fat balls I lightly butter some bread and create again small bite size pieces for all the birds.  Kelloggs crunchy nut (fruit and nut) has proved popular with all the animals.  I used it in desperation one day.  I now buy them Muesli.  Much healthier although not as popular.

House Elf........

I BET YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER ASKED !

tee-hee..........  

X

P.S.  I too have watched the election in fascination.  And still the plot thickens............

CRANKY40

Good morning all, 

MrsSD the pattern is king cole 3461 and the needles are 4mm and 5mm. It's supposed to be an aran pattern but it knits ok in DK too. The cabled hat knits fine if you don't cable as well, just use plain stitches (I've done both). 

Pleasures for yesterday...

A work day, so a walk in the sunshine with the person that I look after

Chat by message with my sister

Some more knitting done while looked after person watched TV for a bit

Dinner was prawn fried rice (made by me)

Watched some flicks of Net with the HT 

Take care all of you

VJsmum

Morning all

DD - hugs to you re the divorce.  Must be so difficult.
Frith - hope you are OK.

Pleasures for yesterday
1. A lovely walk with OH.  Across the fields but a walk we hadn't done before and the sun came out.
2. Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for lunch
3. US election result
4. A takeaway curry for tea
5. Had a copy of my father's birth certificate through - trying to trace my ancestry.  Good to have it but it's raised more questions than it answered!

Have a great day all.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Inching Closer!

IBCC, Canwick Hill Lincoln.

Skid!

Seems that every year, Steve Marks' brother inches closer and closer to where Simon Weston was! I cannot remember now whether it was after a 541t!, scran or what the ever! Steve Marks came to me and said his brother had been lain on Sir Galahad. 'Don't call me Skid!' I didn't!
GRDSMN Marks. Welsh Guards. June 1982

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Sometimes I do not like the profanity filter!

DigForVictory

What happened? Somehow this has been a lasagna month, many layers, new interesting challenging work, what now with  America, why aren't we feeding the children at half term, the probably inevitable yet managing to catch you by surprise further tears (All Souls) and somehow when I see daylight it's raining & through a window. Next pandemic I shall set up my nest on a different floor to where I sleep. Being away from the kitchen hasn't stopped me eating unwise combinations at bizarre times!

Purple kitten - a butchers box?! I'm in no position to point fingers! Your freezer had a strudel?

House Elf 2 - rustic fish finger sandwiches sound wonderful! Where is the clock reset on a dog?! (Sister being woken at 4am even at weekends.) Discount dolmio And prosecco - it seems discourteous not to? Smitten by "Karcher Window Cleaner toy" A pension plan to avoid having to go back to work sounds Wonderful. Love your Connery choices. Spherical Pud? Won't it try to escape?

villagelife - the fraternity of dog owners! Glad sons getting in healthy exercise, hope they've both avoided a cold etc from their soaking? The first brew of the day is a near religious experience. A relief to find errant van actually away rightly. Departmental drift is very frustrating. Hurrah DS2 almost able to touch toes. Me, locking down again, wonder if I'll ever get palms down. Well done on flu jab! You have a quince? Ah, marmelo...

Happycas - happy belated birthday! Yikes 12 year olds & birthdays - why have they not cracked the online book token? I do adore a cyclamen, the garden centre array reminds me of a make-up counter, with all the colours lined up! Absolutely right to stockpile a little with favourite butcher. Well done feeling motivated by lockdown. 

LaineyT - "seeing people before things change" - very wise! Love the idea of small witch perfecting risng trot. "looking like Stan Laurel" sounds a very good thing even if temporary. A russet is a lovely apple. Like the idea of keeping the pampering in the family! Thanks to you, I'm learning Only Connect (Himself still not yet convinced) Gridwork is wonderful & can be a revelation. Ah, mad spaniel ball fetch & gosh, sparrow hawk. Aw, small dog & pheasants!

BoP - Met opera? Must try that - and seriously, love those curtains! Amused at "doomers bog roll gathering" largely as have a sufficiency (and resupplied on tea). Man Lab is splendid - have you seen him cook yet? "fish and chips for lunch" - us too one day. "flesh paint"? (Ah, Mossie & Hawker Typhoon, 1:?) There is a 'right way up' for a jaffa cake?! Happy birthday! Larry too blue? Could be, but Book of Mormon was absolutely full of joyful mischief. All best with spacial snap.

Suffolksue - absolutely right to let our inner younger selves enjoy Tom & Jerry. It just isn't being an easy month & the lockdown is no help. Can you at least have a long hot bath on your respite afternoon?

VJsmum - you hit the nail on the head with The Joker - "One of the most brilliant but disturbing films". Will not covet "nice hot bath with my book" but instead Make Plans! "nice to talk to someone about my research without having a grilling" - the doctorate wil sit easier given time... Aye, newspaper cuttings all add meat to the family tree bones. (One of my family documented the tree as best she knew along with anecdotes - then privately printed & circulated & now I have 3 copies with Different handwritten addenda!) Your dad's birth certificate raising more questions? Gosh.

mhagster - egging is an unspeakable Americanism to come over, and while children do enjoy the sweets, I'm glad Halloween is over. (My lads have always preferred fireworks, but I don't have other pets!) Hurrah, a dry walk & after a worketty day a lovely doggy welcome. Happy belated birthday the mother & well done walk after oochy back massage. An "almost touchable" rainbow - wow! Glad Haggis not too spooked by fireworks - friend has her Lab's head in a snood to close the ears - briefly. Fingers crossed for lad's interview! "had to eat ice cream lollies" - aww! <adds small note to shopping list> Hurrah roast chicken (where is Haggis?)

DundeeDoll - an impressive porch - generous and encouraging to all who are out walking!  Personally think Dr No has a point about Alexa but we all interact with technology as we choose (other than &. who does only when the invisible magic pixies permit, rat them) Wow Mr.Piano! "xoh's aunt phoned" - how wonderful to have these opportunities to chat bubble up. Oh blasted paperwork, but not having heard of "red hot chilli pipers" - now YouTube pouring talent & glee & pipes through headset! More for the porch? Wonderful!

PaulieHerts - tree colours utterly stunning, hurrah, & share your frustration at cloud cover & moon. "Being warm and cosy indoors when weather horrible." Yes absolutely! The downside of a lark bodyclock is I don't get to stay happily under the covers as someone else gets up & goes, but when I remember being ill & subtract feeling gruesome, I think it similar. Proper sausages are a special pleasure.

Caroby - welcome & right with you on the pleasure of homemade apple crumble and custard! The gaps dogs leave. Coach DH in making cakes so you get to eat a last one sometime?!

msmatch - yoga on youtube?! Must hunt that & try it!

bala - so sorry that you must meet the people of the lovely house after a forced intro by OH. Clearly the chap knows both first aid & basic medic services for his delight - I'd never heard of medication for a bumped bumper! It's very hard to have remote family sick, but it's wonderful to have an appreciative brother. Love how you support the foxes & crows & gentle brother towards his own autonomy. Awed at your relationship with Grace. Touched by menu of delights for wildlife.

Jazee - ooh pumpkin trail, AND "Christmas shopping is complete"  - Awed!

ampersand - fingers crossed for your surgery. Triffids harvested?! (please, label one jar "triffid chutney", just to chuckle at in another few months time'?) hoping hefty crystal tumblers still to hand for when occasion suggests.

Nargleblast - four days off - that's wonderful!

CRANKY40 - belated happy birthday to House Troll - happy pizza fest & hurrah having a tall one to ask to reach things down for you! A carrier bag of Playmobil bits is a very special gift. Hats for the local mission, and photos of great nephew, hurrah! Glad you get "a walk in the sunshine with the person that I look after".
Frith midear, hoping all is survivable.

OS Pleasures recently

The colours! Even against an about to rain sky, the cherry tree, the chestnuts, the hazels all doing their bit to make the day colourful. [Our lad’s tree is now bare & I can contemplate each slender branch in its beauty.]

Yippee! My goddaughter has given birth safely to a second daughter! Who gets the John Lewis baby slippers is now more complicated but what a delightful conundrum!

There are days when the Possibilities of Scouting Online scare me rigid: “Has anyone tried to do fire building over zoom with beavers?” Consensus was chocolate fingers for structure, parents cooperation for roasting a marshmallow over a candle & anyway wood burns with less fuss & paperwork than beaver scouts...

Absolutely belting not-quite-TED talk on bras “you’ll never look at a bra in the same way again” - very true & both factual & witty.

Struggling, still, to get lad’s PC working. Mind, getting father to appreciate the nuanced powers of the webcam similarly challenging. [A problem awaiting me too!] Lovely colleague sent me detailed help file.

My birthday blades are coming! Real Sheffield steel & my colleagues laughed at my glee “it’s not a girly gift” - no, not at all. The three knives I have are Faith Hope & Charity - I think Protect Trust & Persevere may well “suit” (from NIV, Bear, Believe & Endure in New King James - really, picking the right translation for the purpose can be challenging!) Another colleague is heard silently wondering if I’m Completely Bonkers or just pulling his leg. [Bonkers all the way!]

Sone days you just want a specific thing. So my shopping list now reads macaroni cheese. (We don’t even have the pasta!) Lockdown screwup...

Middleson asking where’s the kini tape - not a clue but if he finds Any including the 4 colourful rolls I bought at Aldi um ago he’s welcome to the lot. Now vigorous scruffling noises... 

As I’m delighting in my presents, Himself is checking over the wounds & cuts first aid kit. (Such faith.) I’m pondering turmeric, honey, cinnamon and other such domestic wound management tweaks. The essential oil collection (tea tree & mint) should perhaps be checked too. I’ll smell Wonderful as some paramedic tries to knit me back together.

There are days when you think this self sufficiency gig is not as rewarding as I hoped. Before I could harvest my “strings of pearls” (son’s tentative ID of white currants) the birds got them. One tomato plant was slugged in hours, the other went wildly leafy & hasn’t flowered. The little yellow hanging basket of little tomatoes fell, cracked, & returned two meagre handfuls which I fermented for seed (apparently it Stinks as a process, literally) and today I cleared it - 6 each about the size of a marble. The courgette yielded one heroic article & two little yellow fingers that look distinctly appropriate for Halloween. However, I sprawl (gardeners backache) proudly beside a clean hanky into which I podded the last remaining peas. Some of which have started to root but I will dry in hope of Better Luck Next Year.

As a gesture to which, I placed the pebble from the beach by my lad’s tree. In the cold & wet & worrying about health & the general well-being of my family: yes, this has been going on for thousands of years. I am another grain of sand on the shore recognising life is not fair & going on with everything else that needs doing. With a cup of tea planned for once something else is off the to do list.

It’s really disconcerting when you stagger into a loo & find it artificially blue. Middleson took unilateral action on toilet cleanser...

I prepared to exhume the crypt contents in search of frozen veg & the first bag I looked in - boom! (Why didn’t I stash some bacon in there as well?) Pie mash & beans is wondrous as family adhesive!

I wash my hands “to hide the evidence“ - could it be my family have seen those ads a little too often?

Ooh I want to go to Edinburgh to see the Harryhausen exhibition! We love the stop go animation of his & form a pup pile at every screening of Jason & the Argonauts, mostly for the skeletons....

Oh gods, husband investigating some kind of bite-y metal doughnut for smoothing wood... [It’s arrived, he’s happy & already wants a second, “fatter doughnut”...]

Husband happily engrossed in Monster Trucks,  a PG rated movie. He knows it’s childs play but is enjoying it anyway.

Family tree climbing utterly riveting yet remote from the David Walliams experience as two centuries & a continent away - I’m currently tracing Americans born in France & Kent! Eyes crossing at mothers having over ten recorded surviving children plus, inferring from date gaps, additional miscarriages. At least a couple of these heroines have still got their maiden names in the surviving records, but (intriguingly/ strangely) in a sort of brood-mare-status way.

My father has phoned me specially to thank me for sorting him some very particular small post it notes, now successfully sourced from ebay to his exact & very persnickety specifications. He’s hugely delighted at my ability to find an exact thing through the Internet, bless him.

Himself wants “a tall fridge”. I’ve loaded the Which Best Buys for him to look at, having gulped hard at the prices. Still, a happy cook is worth it. [I need to lie down- the fridge was Only The Start, he added a replacement freezer & is now eyeing cookers - the credit card & I have beaten a strategic retreat.]

Trying to find suitable ID for knife & angel bag, thinking “trained by Ostrovsky” (blind Russian author...) Husband, startled at the lack of overt formal rules, has chucked me a military field dressing for the bag & is muttering about there bring a spare tourniquet about. (I loathe them - well beyond my first aid remit & ferocious painful/risky but a mis-placed blade & it could be a lifesaver.) [Have bought both tourniquet & Israeli bandage as insurance. And learned their correct usage, oh Cripes.]

“You can get bits for angle blinders for carving stone” - some days the lack of quern stones get to Himself...

A wonderful heavy box of cocoa solid chunks has arrived (think chocolate Without Any sugar). Himself has already researched real navy cocoa made with it & Carnation milk! (Apparently this was sweet of me & a pleasant surprise!) Sons intrigued, chocolate without sugar? [An acquired taste, so cans of carnation sourced.] 

Family are those special people who can make you explode in pain & fury & still think they’re right. Yet cutting them out of your life somehow isn’t an option.

Scrubbing out the orifice in which the old fridge mouldered, a Welsh guardsman’s button has emerged. Intrigued speculation about how this came to be...

Man out for a walk on unnamed military base in UK finds monster spider. That was the news: given the MOD’s scrupulous care of its wildlife, I look forward to sundry jokes about the undoubted new regs for the wellbeing of the greater fox-spider, and inevitable practical jokes.

Husband knocking “socially distanced Zumba” from his YouTube feed. I have to say just the Idea of him doing Zumba makes me laugh... (Fair play, him too.)

The first virtual scout group is wonderful - I’m getting a vicarious rush off all the ingenious young people & their devoted leaders. I miss my lot, but virtual scouts help fill the gap!

Oh gods the soundtrack of clearing up - “but where does the gas go, argh corroded too, aw a tiny toaster, no interesting bits...” makes my lugging, shoving & grunting much less intriguing.

One of the joys of the family bone structure is that carefully lit I can look somewhere under 30. Downside is that not carefully lit I look easily twice that.

Currys are not satisfactory - and since John Lewis matches on price, I have gone for the significantly better customer service, where I am left feeling like a pleased millionairess. Still without a range cooker but the incumbent is staggering on.

Ah, "things we did not know" at Scouts. Led to an inadvertent bonus start to remembrance, as I had both framed medals & a bazooka within zoom range. Sort of hurrah, sort of ooops....

Dear gods, a Spanish YouTube video on a portable cook set clashes strangely on the ears when competing with the last 10 minutes of despicable me 3... mind all the “pass-tee-yass” mean I suddenly want a Cornish pasty.

The Americans have finally been counted (You would have thought Las Vegas could count quicker?) and I for one am hugely relieved that it's all over bar the shouting (of which there will still be plenty)

Right, health strength love & courage to all as have need, sufficient loo roll, creative things, food, running water & so forth throughout the lockdown & Christmas and of course special strength to all facing up to loss of all sorts.