Today I shall be Mainly...

[Marilyn]

Well while I was deep in the Christmas Spirit, I decorated the whole house too. Exhausted now

[Sue]

Morning

Love the decorations Wendy and Maz. Hope Col is feeling a little more human Wendy.

Yesterday we bought the paint and Bob hung wallpaper on the one wall in the study to be painted. I made my jacket , as far as I could. I am now stuck until the lining material arrives.
Today is yoga this morning, I have no other plans so may start my Introduction to the Celts course. I think it is due to rain most of the day so, no walking.

Hope you all have a good day

[Stanley]

Cathy you put them wherever you want! Why not revive Xmas lights in the sky?
Yes Sue, they promise rain by 9AM, I shall dash out now....

Later, I dodged the showers but got my walk in. Then breakfast and some posting.



Here's where I finished up. The con rod is almost done, just some cosmetic finishing needed.

[Stanley]

I shall be finishing the con rod and knocking off early to do my weekly Co-op shop before it gets busy. Apart from that its reading and perhaps some cooking. The main focus of my life these days is the shed, what a blessing it is!

[Sue]

Morning

It was a day of sewing for me yesterday and a day of decorating for Bob. The lining material arrived for my jacket with a late post around 5.00 pm , just in time as that is the next stage. Today Bob is having his hair cut by our retired friend who used to be a hairdresser. She has been very poorly with high blood pressure spikes and as she is also diabetic keeps very much to herself. I think this will be her first outing in a few weeks.

This afternoon we take delivery of our new leather settee. We were told delivery would be before Christmas but this is a bit near to get rid of the old one. It will have to sit in the garage till British Heart Foundation collect it or we manage to sell it. Its too good to take to the tip. This means my car will now have to stay on the drive. Luckily it is insured for that.

So today will be hair cut, moving furniture, collecting a duck for Boxing Day and possibly decorating and sewing. Have a good day everyone

[Stanley]

Morning Sue. I see you're busy as usual! How nice of you to act as carer for a duck on Boxing Day....



Basically this is what I have made this morning. Four spacers that will be needed eventually for the Parallel motion and the valve gear. A bit more to it than that of course but good progress.
I've been to the Co-op and even at early doors there were more people in than normal. I have got my bits for Xmas. Apart from the butcher delivering on Thursday, that's my shopping done!

[Sue]

Similar comment about the duck from my daughter Stanley .

[Stanley]

It's the way you tell 'em Sue....

[Stanley]

From the look of the weather forecast, staying indoors, we have a falling glass and rain all day. Good job I decided to do my shopping yesterday. A full two hours will be devoted to Margaret's engine and I won't be going to Colne in the rain for a jab. I am content.
I hope the rest of you can keep out of the weather and have a good day.
It doesn't feel a lot like Xmas to me I'm afraid.

[Sue]

Morning

A dark dreary wet day in store. We are off to Bacup market early to buy a few bits and pieces, but then will be staying in . Our new settee arrived yesterday at 4.30 pm. It seems huge compared to the last one but with recliner seats at either end it certainly gains on comfort. Bob and I managed to get the old one into the garage and British Heart Foundation will collect it next week. We kept the chairs from the old suite as they are in near perfect condition , but they appear small next to the new settee. I am sure we will get used to it.

I managed quite a bit of my jacket and will continue to day, and the study decorating is progressing well, but we are at the stage of having to move the filing cabinet and hobbies wardrobe to get to the last two walls. The contents of the filing cabinet will have to go in the spare bedroom whilst this next stage is completed.

Some friends , Joan and Eddie, are popping up from Manchester today for a socially distanced exchange of presents on the drive. We usually spend New Years Eve with them, it will be the first time we have not for over 30 years . Strange times.

I had two messages yesterday from friends, a distant cousin Sheila in the States and our neighbour Laetitia in France. Both had responded to an NHS poster on facebook about the vaccine. Sheila thought it was a spoof. I told her to read the link. She says people in the States don’t want to take the vaccine because they are scared. She read the link and now says she will. Laetitia asked if we were having it, my reply being certainly. I can’t understand why people are scared of it. False news has a lot to answer for. Its a life changer and I can’t wait to have it.

So thats my news. Today is a bit of shopping, bit more sewing and possibly some more decorating for Bob . I have found some curtains on Dunelms web site but there is no rush.
Have a good day all

[Wendyf]

Sue, beware buying online from Dunelm! I ordered some bedding items a few weeks ago which have never arrived and the Customer Service is appalling! Not their mistake, DHL put my parcel out for delivery for 2 days running but it never arrived, and according to their tracking it is at the DHL depot. I get messages from Dunelm to say they are looking into it and I will hear back from them within 72 hours but that doesnt happen. Im now trying Resolva, and again after an initial positive response all has gone quiet. Next step credit card company but I could do without the hassle.

[Stanley]

Isn't OG wonderful, good advice from a a credible source. I hope your delivery finally arrives Wendy.



I've had two hours in the shed and ended up with a finished con-rod complete with clevis pin for the beam and the crank pin. Nice morning and good progress.
Once again I'm calling 2 hours in the shed exercise within the meaning of the Act and so I'm not going for a walk in the damp and the gloom.

[Wendyf]

I want to get a refund now Stanley, I've had to buy the stuff elsewhere!

[Stanley]

That makes sense Wendy. Can you do it via your credit card provider?

[Wendyf]

That makes sense Wendy. Can you do it via your credit card provider?

Yes, that's my next step.

[Marilyn]

A good walk for us today, uphill, to Aldi.
We went for the walk really, but a few items came home with us all the same. The walk home was all downhill, so that was easier going. Took us over an hour though...
A neighbour pulled up in his car at the shopping centre and asked if our car had broken down. No...we walked for the exercise!
( he thought we were nuts)

[Stanley]

Just a normal day, work in the shed, exercise and reading..... Perhaps enjoying watching the world doing last minute shopping.

[Sue]

Morning


Thanks for the warning Wendy, but I would buy from the shop, its only a mile away, though with carrying we would drive down. Its an opportunity to browse as well as colours online are not always the same in real life. Living near I can time it for a quiet time

Sorry I am late this morning, I didn’t wake till 8.00 am, a full 9 hours sleep. What a lovely morning, the first real frost last night, our pond is frozen . I was doing some family research last night for a friend of my sister and got really involved. I think it gave my brain a good mental work out so I was good and tired when I came to bed. Another fascinating family story.

Yesterday otherwise was another day of sewing for me, painting and workshop for Bob. Today hopefully we will get a walk in , as it is due to be nice but cold. We have just a few Christmassy things to sort before tomorrow but nothing else planned. I would say that my spare bedroom may reappear, but it won’t as we will now have to start moving things out of the study into it for the next phase of decorating.

I don’t think I mentioned that I passed my archaeology course, with a distinction, despite the problems I had with the badly written multiple choice questions. It was not as good a course as i had hoped but did give me an insight into the subject. I was praised for my thorough research on the open response questions. I did my course review, commenting on the Multiple choice questions , not on their in accuracy but that they were a poor learning assessment for that sort of course. Anyway, I have had positive comments about my review. Time to move on to Introduction to the Celts.

Have a good day everyone

[Sue]

A good walk for us today, uphill, to Aldi.
We went for the walk really, but a few items came home with us all the same. The walk home was all downhill, so that was easier going. Took us over an hour though...
A neighbour pulled up in his car at the shopping centre and asked if our car had broken down. No...we walked for the exercise!
( he thought we were nuts)

We had that once Maz, we had walked into Rochdale to do so e shopping in a bracing gale. A neighbour saw us walking back and offered a lift we gave a similar answer. We were walking into the wind on the way back , now that was a good physical work out 1.5 miles uphill against the wind. We got To Rochdale a lot faster that we got home again i think our neighbour thought we we were mad !

[Stanley]

Morning Sue, I have had two hours in the shed but can't give you a pic as whatever Ian did with the picture gallery appears to have stopped me uploading pics. I made the body of the eccentric.
I heard a lady on World service this morning talking about the benefits of posting diary entries like you and Wendy do. She said that it is essential and encourages us to do it.

[Big Kev]

I don’t think I mentioned that I passed my archaeology course, with a distinction, .

Nice one

[Marilyn]

I can’t imagine not going for a walk every day...I have walked every day as far as I can remember. ( a slight hiatus after popping a spinal disc, when just getting to the bathroom was blessing enough). I think walking daily is one of the keys to a good life. We love our walks...

[Wendyf]

Col fancies a walk today so we might go down to Salterforth and try a walk by the canal. It might be a bit warmer than it is up here!
Yesterday I took our recycling down to Sainsbury's and got rid of everything but cardboard and paper, then filled up my car with diesel. Stupid really but it's ages since I did that myself as Col normally does that job. After mucking out the stables I took a trip to Carr Billingtons at Skipton Auction Mart to buy hen feed, another task I have had taken out of my hands since Col retired! Horse feed comes in 20kg bags which are ok for females to lift, but hen feed is in more manly 25kg bags which border on being too heavy for a small 70 year old, but they were no problem for the nice lady in the store to lift into the car, and I coped ok at this end. A pile of ironing done after lunch despite feline interference, then it was time to retrieve cold and wet ponies from the field, bring logs in and light the fire. Col made the tea and in the evening I baked some low carb, melt in the mouth, almond flour biscuits. Got to find tempting things to fatten the old man up!
I'm actually enjoying getting back many of the responsibilities Col has taken over since he retired, except for cooking of course.

[Big Kev]

I made some 90% cocoa solids chocolate/granola/whisky truffles last year. The chocolate and double cream gave them a good fat content and the granola gave them a bit of texture without too much of a carb hit. I have a vague recollection of a couple of egg yolks in there too.

I might have to make some now

[Sue]

I made some 90% cocoa solids chocolate/granola/whisky truffles last year. The chocolate and double cream gave them a good fat content and the granola gave them a bit of texture without too much of a carb hit. I have a vague recollection of a couple of egg yolks in there too.

I might have to make some now

Yum