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I had to wait years for my chainsaw; my husband wouldn't let me have one until I stopped having PMT, as it made me accident prone!

I'm much happier using it around the garden since having proper training, though it should never be used above shoulder height (even if you climb with one- which I don't).
Thus I can still justify my Silky polesaw (last year's birthday prezzie) :-)17

I completely agree; a Silky pole saw is a beautiful thing, which lets me safely cut dead branches off trees while safely standing on the ground. The chainsaw makes quick work of things lower down, plus logs for the wood burner (until the government stop country folk from burning wood because the cities have poor air quality :-)19 )
 
What a change in our weather today!! Lovely Spring-like day - mild and gorgeous sunshine! Long may it continue!! I've had a busy day though, so not been out in it! Had to run in early so I could take mum's "sample" down to her gp before going to work, then after work, mum had a hospital clinic appointment at 1.15 (she said). We got there in good time. Nobody there! So we waited, and more patients arrived, but no staff. Finally, at 1.30 the staff arrived. And it turns out that everybody had an appointment for 1.30! Thankfully though, she was seen quickly and I got on with my knitting in the waiting room. Then dropped her home, and came home. But now, I have to take the tom cat to the vet this evening. He's had a bout of cystitis, and although he has pee'd a couple of times today, so obviously isn't blocked, she'd rather see him to see if she can find any underlying problems. I'd rather she saw him too. He's a bit "special", and that may be causing some problems. Let's hope not!
 
7C today but grey with relentless drizzle. Much rather have a cold frosty sunny morning.
We had a cat that used to get cystitis, 1st week in October for about 3 years running (i kid you not). The vet was most impressed that OH managed to get a urine sample from her. She managed by it by slipping a small foil pie dish under her as she pee'd then folded it and tipped it into the sample bottle
 
I used to do the same thing BYM, but with ours it was a legacy from her injuries having been hit by a motorbike a the age of two. I used to recognise the signs and in the end had some ABs at home so could does her straight away - usually about 3.30 am! Giving her 50 mg of Vitamin C every day tended to ward it off and giving her the pill became a party trick which always amazed visitors.

Been sunny and mild here today which is just as well as the kitchen door was open for about an hour and a half this morning. Oscar wanted to go outside but he hasn't learnt to use the cat-flap and it was the first time he'd been more than 6 feet from the door. The only one not exploring was Misty but she had come downstairs and taken a few steps outside. Pickle is throwing his weight around which is annoying as Smokey is scared of him now and Oscar doesn't like it much. Just hope they settle a bit by the weekend as I have a houseful of visitors!
 
Margaid said:
Just hope they settle a bit by the weekend as I have a houseful of visitors!
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Do you have somewhere quiet that they can retreat to? Mine hate visitors. I suppose because I live alone and don't have many visitors to the house! Usually, if I want to see people, I go out. The tom cat is extremely timid and nervous around other people so he will hide anyway. The female is a horror! She's in everyone's face, but if she wants attention (for a treat!) she will just give a little nip! And because she has a chronic sneezing thing going on, I keep her well away from visitors - nobody appreciates a cute little one-eyed cat coming to say hello, that then covers them in ropes of kitty-snot! :-)03 So I just let them into the spare bedroom with their litter tray and they love the treat of snoozing on the bed!

Atticus is on antibiotics for five days and loxicom for a few days too. He isn't blocked, and did, thankfully, pee yesterday. Not as much as usual, but he went again last night. So, the vet suggested switching him onto wet food too, although he is good to drink, usually. He's never been a fan of wet food. But I'll do it gradually. She also weighed him, and unfortunately, he's put back on the weight he'd lost before Christmas! Not quite all of it, but enough. I had got him down from 7.5kg to 6.8, so he had been heading in the right direction - for his size, she says around 6.2 would be good. Now yesterday, he weighed in at 7.2 again!

This morning I'm babysitting my grandson, and had planned to take him to the playground. Sadly, it's a windy, wet, miserable morning! So we'll probably just come here.
 
In contrast to yesterday morning, which was a frosty (-4C) and clear, today is wet, misty and 9C.

Drove 5 minutes to town and parked outside the Post Office. No queue, paid for and posted a letter and walked 50 metres to the Chemist. Again no queue- updated both our Carte Vital (electronic Health Card necessary for any treatment and very complicated to get) and walked back to the car. Drove 1 minute to the Blood Test Clinic (again no queue) and made an appointment for tomorrow (they speak English but got French in response) as it's a fasting test and I'd had breakfast. So 30 minutes and I'm back home again for some proper coffee! Not always that smooth, but more often than not.
 
Went to Salisbury this morning. Park and rides are now all free, there are notices up at the city entrances saying ’Salisbury - a Safe City’, which are not actually that reassuring, and there are protest groups flashing petitions outside the very lovely large public library, which has exhibition spaces as well as books etc, and is apparently threatened with closure. In the few shops remaining open, everything seems to be heavily reduced to shift stock - I bought a good pair of Goretex shoes for £40, originally £99. As we walked back to the car, a procession of 4 police cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring raced through the streets in the general direction of Porton Down. Many hopeless-looking homeless people begging, sitting in damp heaps in the streets. We grew up in Salisbury and it was never like this.

The chemist here in Whitchurch is having problems, it seems only to have the pharmacist plus one assistant, with endless queues of people out to the door, trying to stock up on prescriptions. I got most of mine except for Ramipril, which is out of stock and she didn’t know when more would be available. The shelves are nearly empty, not sure if this is because of lack of stock or just that there isn’t the staff with time to fill them up. A lot of the new housing here hasn't helped, as the medical practice is becoming overwhelmed and there simply isn't room for facilities to expand. And it’s not even March yet!
 
Apparently, there's a petition online, started by some staunch British nationalists (I'm told, I haven't actually investigated it!) to invite the Rep. of Ireland to rejoin the UK in order to "solve" the border issue! :-)07 :-)07 :-)07
 
Very mild but misty today after overnight rain. Forecast is 15C and sunny this afternoon before more rain tomorrow.

I find England a very depressing place Marigold and it has become even more so in the 6 years since we left. Having said that not everyone would take to France either because everything is alien, the biggest problem was the language which, up until a few months ago, I was really struggling with. But a lot of the problem is confidence. Fortunately people down here are so polite and happy to help that they make allowances, talk slowly and simply and I've only had one problem with a woman at the garden centre who just couldn't understand anything- perhaps she was foreign? The girl at the Blood test place apologised this morning for talking too quickly.

I was joking last night about the blood test this morning. Yesterday I went in and there were four girls there-'Brides of Dracula' I called them. But you could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw who was doing the tests- Dracula himself!!! Appointment was 9.25 and I was out at 9.30. Test results are posted to me and emailed to the doctor today. Once you get into the systems here it's a very efficient place. And they've been running out of medicines here as well Marigold, the reason given was shortage of supply of key ingredients from America.

I was in a supermarket last week and overheard two ladies talking. "But I don't speak any English" said one, who then came over and asked if I would kindly help her (speaking French). I got the Bio Lait (Organic milk) from the top shelf for her and put it in their trolly. Then puzzled over how they knew I was English- might be my height perhaps? I'm still puzzling because the 'Vampire' this morning didn't realise?
 
It was really foggy here this morning. Rosie, our neighbour, said that it was 'radiation mist' which sounded pretty alarming but I think she meant that the sun was evaporating all the rain last night. I've finally got the liner stuck down in the green roof box and fitted the down spout flange. I'm covered in black contact adhesive but its done and can rain cats and dogs now if it likes.
Over the moon that Bonnie seems to be safely back in the egg laying business. Id forgotten how dinky her eggs are for such a big mama! I don't think the antibiotics did anything for her and were even necessary - she was just in poor condition and lost weight during her moult. Live and learn!
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What pretty blue eggs. Whose are they? are they Bonnies? My blue egger, Nigella, has been laying nonstop and her eggs are getting very pale, obviously running out of ink. would like to see pics of the roof, Rick. It must have been a tricky time of year to do it.
Springlike afternoon today, sunny and warm, up to 10C. Totally different from 6 days ago when it was really cold and snowing.
 
I took a picture of the roof but it was practically dark and its a black rubber liner! Have to finish the cladding around the sides and the caps so plenty of time before the filling goes in. The blue eggs are from my CLBs - the long thin one is Mo's and I think one other has added to the pile (probably Pom.) Bonnie's (Black Orp) is the pinky brown one. She has already got messy around the rear (your recent comments about Orps, Chris - couldn't agree more!) When the weather starts to warm up again will trim off the messy bits which usually leads to her losing those undercarriage feathers in time but at least that's cooler for the summer.
Its been a bad time to work on the roof but then it was knacked and leaking anyway.
 
Rubber roofs are brilliant - we had one on our small extension to replace old felt, when the process was quite new, and it's lasted many years. We had the summerhouse done two years ago, in scorching hot weather, which made the rubber go down nicely but it was difficult for the men to handle it because it was so hot to touch.
 
We had torrential rain last night, but this morning looks bright. I had a day yesterday! Solicitor's appointment in the morning, and then ran out to the hospital to collect mum - I thought! She had had a clinic appointment at 11.15. When I got there, the waiting room was jammed, and mum hadn't been seen yet. We waited for another 1 1/2 hours before she was seen. The doctor didn't have her full notes because of the nurses industrial action going on here - they are striking on certain days. Yesterday wasn't one of them, or the clinic would have been cancelled, but it meant the cancelled clinics were all brought in yesterday, as well as the ones that were scheduled for yesterday. So anyway, it was as well that I had got there in time, because the doctor was asking loads of questions and mum couldn't really answer them. She doesn't have dementia, but is getting a bit forgetful. Anyway, after the clinic, the doc sent her off for a chest xray and blood tests. The queue in the blood test waiting area was so long that I took a queue ticket and brought her down to x-ray, she had her x-ray, and we went back. Only 4 people had been seen in bloods! :roll: There were over 30 ahead of her, so we just sat and waited. It was 4.30 when I got home, and because sometimes the queue would take a jump forward, we didn't dare leave the waiting room to go and get something to eat. By the time I got mum home and got home myself, I was feeling decidedly "hangry". It was good to see though that in spite of the queues and waiting times, the public have nothing but support for the nurses strike. Nobody was complaining about the wait. I think our Government has seriously underestimated the mood of the people in this. People are fed up of seeing grossly overpaid politicians awarding themselves large pay rises, and then telling under paid frontline staff that there is no money for either more staff or pay rises for them! If the strike continues, inevitably someone is going to die because of it. But the public will not be blaming the nurses - the blame will be firmly laid at the Government's door, and I think our politicians are so out of touch with the mood of the people and the realities of life for ordinary people, that they haven't realised that yet!
 
The government will always be somewhat out of touch LadyA (well this is what I think) because they never listen to the silent majority! Silly them! They listen to the drum bangers and popularists who have an idea that they shape opinion because of the number of follows and likes and papers sold. That's assuming that they want to listen and not listening just enough to get a handle on swaying the argument to their own political objective (like the utopia of free market forces and ... absolutely nothing else.) Or saying anything to get in power because being in power is the objective - obviously - duh!
I know we need Politics to be a society but I cant stand the stuff!
Anyway. Sorry, that was a bit of a rant and only as right as it was wrong!
Here is a picture of the liner on the roof :)
IMG_20190207_080432.jpg
 
Is this the roof you're intending to set up as a growing area, Rick? How does it drain?
Can I see the beautiful tiles on your chicken run in the background of the picture?
 
You can just about make out the circle of the down spout flange in the right hand corner in the picture. Yes, it will hold 2 inches of rounded gravel/shingle for drainage, then a root barrier and then 4 inches of growing medium on top. That leaves another 2 inches of gap above the soil and 2 inches of 2x2 top frame under the caps. The squares of lead will be the water proofing over the joins at the corners of the cap and are just sitting there at the moment to cover and hold the folds in the liner before the top fame pins them in place. I thought it was better to fold the liner at the corners rather than cut it and join with sealant. Its 2mm EDPM from Flat Roofing UK who are excellent by the way (well they have to be - they are pretty much the only supplier in the land!). Butyl is easier to get (standard pond liner) but as someone pointed out to me, it would be out of spec for a roof as it would be like piling old tyres up there so far as being a fire hazard!
The slate tiles in the background are the roof of the run. They cane from a derelict shoe factory in Worcester that turned up at the local reclamation yard.
 
Looked at the weather report this am just after getting into work and it said strong winds for Essex, looked out of the window at 8 30, not a branch moving. By 9am the tree was almost touching the ground. 50mph plus the winds. Usual chaos Dartford Crossing closed but still everyone has to try to get to Lakeside and go shopping. A tree has come down and blocked our lane so getting home should be fun
 
Been awfully cold here the last several days. Bitter winds. Actually, I think it's been colder than it has all Winter! I hate the cold winds. I'm supposed to be getting the garden ready - in fact, peas etc. should be in by now! But nothing is done. I'm very much a fair weather gardener!
 
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