Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

Yeah...we still have big grins on our faces...(thanks guys)

[Stanley]

Looking after myself and Jack and chasing my new all singing and dancing oven!

[Sue]

That was a cold couple of days, in fact it must have been the coldest I have been in June. Having only gone to Stratford for a night and a day site seeing with my cousin and family we had packed light. All my clothes were typical mid June wear as there was a forecast of sun and cloud and 20 degrees( it said 27 a week ago). It was actually about 13 degrees completely overcast with fine rain in the air!

However we had a good couple of days and a pleasant family meal with Julia and family who arrived at 6.30. We were back home to Rochdale by midnight. So glad to see the sun this morning. We did the usual open top tourist bus...and FROZE! We then went round again and stopped off at three places to see William Shakespeares birthplace, Ann Hathaways Cottage , and the Tudor farm at Mary Ardens cottage. All beautifully kept with lots of historical information and some original bits and pieces. The cottage gardens were magnificent and The Tudor farm very interesting and fun, although I think the boys aged 12 and 11 had a bit too much culture.

Today is art, lunch, writing, and yoga this evening.

[Stanley]

Never mind Sue, you survived and today and tomorrow should make up for it in Sunny Rochdale.
Shopping day today and happen a bit of a potter in a nice tidy shed.....
Must go to the chemist to collect my prescription, the months come round so fast! I put my pill bottle on the draining board with the keys to remind me.....

[Sue]

Lovely day yesterday with more today. I did feel very tired in the evening and slept like a log last night. I notice the garden is improved after yesterdays sun and more flowers have appeared, I now have 7 peony flowers, much better than the two last week. The garden pond is back to a low level and no matter what I do is full of green weed which I skim off every morning only for it to return by evening. I applied a bag of straw last week and am now waiting for its magical effect . I hate to think what it is going to be like when we get back from France in September. Only two weeks to go to the annual departure.

We arranged for someone from an agency we sometimes use to cut the lawn and the hedges this week and are hoping that growth will now slow down leaving a relatively tidy garden for when we go over. On the same day we got a text from one of our lovely neighbours to say he had popped round to mow the lawn but found it done, how nice of the neighbour. We thanked him profusely. I think they all felt sorry for us after our last visit of 6 days gardening and mowing. Yesterday and today they are at 38 degrees. Sometimes 12 degrees doesn’t seems so bad!

Today is art followed by our usual leisurely Friday lunch.

[Stanley]

You could possibly see close to 30C even in Rochdale today Sue.
The shed beckons but I know I have to clean the top of the cabinet containing the old oven as that is where the master switch is for the cooker circuit, I would shame if they saw it at the moment!
Oh, and some veggie cooking.....

[Sue]

28 forecast, and I am glad I live 680 feet up a hill , there is usually a bit of a breeze. I shall be trying to keep cool the last of my veggies for France. Yesterday one keeled over in the greenhouse but I watered it plenty and put it outside where it recovered. They should really have been planted out by now . Only two weeks to go, i think I will taketgem allout of the greenhouse whilst it is so hot.

Treated the garden pond yet again yesterday, i think it is a losing battle. By the end of August it may well be low enough to detect the leak but we shall bring the pump back from France to empty the remaining water to try and find it. It will also be rather smelly I think!

Dental hygienist this morning and a bit of shopping. Claire, Adam and Erin coming for a BBQ tea .

[Marilyn]

We didn't get our daily walk today, due to constant rain and wind. We did the supermarket shop this morning and you could have shot a cannon ball up each aisle without hitting anyone. Where is everybody? I know it was a miserable day here, but is everyone tucked up in bed with flu? Must be hard for retailers in this weather...

[Marilyn]

Did you buy a "self-cleaning" oven, Stanley?

[Stanley]

Morning Maz, I don't know to tell you the truth. I just ordered the modern equivalent of the one that has lasted 40 years! It's an AEG and regarded as top of the range so I would think it has the bells and whistles.
Sue, easier to hire a pump?
Clean the tops of my cupboards in the kitchen and cover them with newspaper al la Wendy.

[Sue]

We have a little pump in France Stanley which we put in the water butt to water the garden, small and very portable, probably it was cheaper than the cost of hiring one. We never bring much back home so the car will be quite empty. We are also a bit short of time now as once pumped out the leak will have to be found and repaired, its going to be long dirty job as there has been quite a build of sludge in the bottom of the pond which will have to be bucketed out too. More of an autumn job than a summer one. We just forgot to bring the pump home on our last visit over there and we were hopeful that the repairs we made later would be successful. They are not We filled the pond yesterday and switched the pump on to aerate it. We managed to skim off most of the algae once again , and again applied a chemical, this time liquid barley straw and an organic sludge digester. Hopefully the straw bag I put in will start to work soon too.

The garden has benefitted from the recent sun and we now have flowers. Today I shall be applying a garlic mix to the leaves of the hostas. Apparently slugs don’t like it, so I am hoping it is goodbye to lacy leaves. I hope it doesn’t smell like the nettle ‘stew’ i once made as an insecticide. A bucket full of rotting nettle tops can create quite a pong over a week. It was successful though.

A quiet day otherwise, Bob will be out at the Model engineers train. Claire and family came yesterday. I may do sone knitting, I bought some yarn yesterday for my annual summer knitting project in France.

[Wendyf]

I'm off to Cookridge near Leeds to meet up with a group of women who were in my year at school. It's not really a reunion as that happened a few years ago.

[plaques]

We have a little pump in France Stanley which we put in the water butt to water the garden,

I have an old reciprocating pump that would suck up a dead cat. A bit of a heavy lump with a ½ Hp motor lashed to it. It was working the last time I put it in the shed a few years ago. If you are at all interested I'll take a picture and make sure it works. I'm in Colne.

[Marilyn]

...suck up a dead cat?....do you have the data/paperwork to support such a claim?
I was going to suggest throwing Alum in there to make debri "clump" and easier to remove...but a pump sounds much easier...

[Stanley]

I wrote a reply and posted it but Maz obliterated it, good to tell who holds the power round here.
I was saying Sue that P's pump sounds like a plan. If you kept the water agitated with a long brush it would shift most of the sludge and it would make good fertilizer.
I hope Bob is successful with his next attempt, time you enjoyed your water feature instead of it being a pain in the bum.

[Marilyn]

I am SO SORRY, Stanley ( I didn't mean to "obliterate" you, my friend.)
Sometimes I want do dong you on the head....but not obliterate you...

[PanBiker]

Going to a meeting of the ILP Land Society as an officer of the same at Clarion House. Should get it in before it rains.

[Marilyn]

Hubby is sat watching his beloved Sci-fi tonight. Too early to shuffle off to bed. So I suffer a rather boring wait until I can depart the room without being questioned
I get sucked in every time. He pours a glass of wine and pops a movie on. In no time things on screen sprout a dozen arms, superhuman powers, vomit green stuff and sport weird shaped heads. They possess women, children, animals. They blow up, erupt and dissolve in acid pools.
By this time I am looking at him saying "does this not seem an ODD movie to you?"
Then I notice his eyes have glazed over, and I have lost him.
I pack up my phone, iPad, pillow, tissues, and glass of water. I am off to bed. I have better things to do!

[plaques]

...suck up a dead cat?....do you have the data/paperwork to support such a claim?

Metaphorically speaking it could very near to it with 1½" dia intakes but I couldn't bring myself to throw a cat into my septic tank to try it out. Reciprocating pumps are low volume per minute but will deliver a good pressure head. OK for pumping things over the edge into your neighbours garden.

[Sue]

Thanks for the offers of help everyone.

I will discuss the pump with Bob but as I explained emptying the pond is only half of tbe problem and we are a little short of time, but it is certainly worth thinking about. Yes to the sludge on the plants Stanley, that is what we normally do, usually near the pond so animals can return eg newts. Yes to the Alum Marilyn we have used that or something similar to clear the water which is one of the reasons the sludge is so deep at the bottom now. The organic matter is one of the causes of the algae, ie so many nutrients. Similarly as we kill the algae it sinks to the bottom and becomes organic matter. We normally scoop the algae out either with a net, rake , or twisting a spiky branch but the chemicals seem to have caused the long sticky filaments to break up so they are not coming out as easily. Today it all looks good but for how long. We will seriously consider the pump

[Sue]

Bob says thanks for the offer of the pump but he thinks he will leave till the autumn as its going to be a big job. The pump sounds great but we are a little concerned for the wild life in the pond...it is a wild life pond rather than a fish pond. All sorts of water beetles, snails, newts, tadpoles in the Spring etc. We are having a think on how to tackle the emptying and the animal retrieval. There will be less animals in the autumn.

[Stanley]

Maz, it wasn't your fault, the Gods of the Machine got confused....
Sue, most of the wild life would survive the transfer and thrive in the flower beds. I've seen contractor's diaphragm pumps deliver live trout at 30ft head.
Reading the instructions for Airedale tomorrow to refresh my memory and checking transport.
Accepting delivery of the new oven this afternoon. By the way, the isolation switch for the cooker circuit isn't on top of the unit, it's in the cupboard below so I cleaned the top of the fridge but bottled out of doing the cupboard!

[Sue]

Possibly Stanley but the main problem is that we still don’t have time to do the pumping and the repair before we leave in two weeks, the days are pretty much booked up for Bob with various things that he has to do. One of his model engineering friends is rather ill so apart from visiting he also has extra things he has to do, plus usual activities. The pond is still looking good this morning, no floating algae and clear as a bell, though I am sure the level has fallen again.

It should be french this afternoon but we have received no message so it must be cancelled again. Sometimes we aren't able to get in the room we use. Its ages since we have been, what with Bank Holidays, and our own holidays. Art club this evening, and dentist at 9.30 this morning. Other than the dentist therefore I have no plans for the day.

[Tizer]

It's a pity we don't live just a few miles apart Sue, otherwise we'd be over to you in a flash to collect frogs and newts to stock our new pond! It's got pond weeds growing and we managed to get it clear of algae and it's being visited by damsel flies and has pond skaters, insect larvae etc; but we were too late for frog spawn or tadpoles. This garden is more enclosed than the ones we've had in the past and we'll probably need to introduce the amphibians. At least the pond will be well established by the time they're spawning again!

[Stanley]

The wildlife programme on R4 on Sunday morning was devoted to the Pond Frog which I learn is a distinct and unusual species.....
Main event today is my maintenance BCG treatment at Airedale this morning. We should be in and out in short order and my friend Young Vicki is my minder.
Main event yesterday was my new AEG oven.



Nice and shiny and dead simple, no unwanted bells and whistles and no internet connection! Only thing that struck me was that the door on the grill on the old one folded up out of the way, this one folds down and sticks out while in use but I can live with that. Must read the instruction book and register for the extra year's free warranty!