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Thanks Jim. I think even a family vacation locally if you have three farms between you would be pushing it Alicia, never mind the cost of going to the Caribbean.

The fact that the actor she's hoping to marry comes from a farm in Ireland, and what that means, escapes her: she thinks it's possible to get all these people together for a month in a resort! Three FARMS to be managed in their absence. Clearly, she's not thinking clearly - just that it inconveniences her.
Sorry - I get involved in their lives as if they actually had them.
Sounds like you're quite fond of the little creatures. Rats can be quite entertaining - son had some for a while.





The blooms stay for a very long time, so the plants are given as gifts, in bloom, quite often. Mine ended up outside (in bigger planters) because apparently their pollen and I are incompatible, and I couldn't breathe last year. They and the purple aloes I rooted from cuttings are doing very well - except that neither plant is a California native, which is what I was going to populate with.
Ah, well - good intentions... You never know what you'll get when they are given to you. Our third plant, this one indoors and still alive after we got it as a seedling over five years ago, is a COFFEE plant with bright corrugated leaves. No flowers on it - but it is a green spot in the living room.



Still forgot about the grapes! Took the dried fruit upstairs to snack on though!

I know what you mean about the smell of rain :-)
Also interesting about Amazon and the returns. Living out of town and having to drive in and do stuff is just such a pain, so I tend to mainly buy books from Amazon.

Don't like them, then don't use them. But millions of people can buy things who didn't used to be able to.
And, in twelve years, I have no complaint about them as my publisher (except that they haven't paid any attention to my brilliance as a writer and somehow done all the work of marketing, but I didn't really expect that :) ). Any problems are at my side - faster would be better.
I have lots of books from Amazon, but don't read very many of them - incapable of brain-sharing.

Yes, they can be a godsend, and do have a good returns policy.

We rarely use the returns, but they are always handled efficiently and without any argument when we need them - a real blessing.

Don't see them every week

cherry bakewell blondie dropped in too), was much nicer than Tue, I'm going to try the other shop again but use a takeaway cup and see if that makes a difference. Bumped into a neighbour on the way home who is pet sitting what I think is a cockapoo - definitely some kind of poodle in him, he was so excited to see me, put both of his paws round one my arms like he was hugging me, she was quite shocked at how much he seemed to love me! Did the shops after work, legs were really sore again, got home and picked up Lucy, she also put both paws round my right arm, then my phone went, so moved my left arm to read the message on my tracker, she put a paw over it to stop me seeing it, she wanted all the attention! Got round to opening my nail varnishes, the new popcorn scented top coat does smell like popcorn!
Yes, she certainly is Alicia. Oh, how lovely to have roe deer so close Jim.

Just to say that I don't think coffee tastes as good in a takeaway cup :-)
Yesterday stayed fine, it was actually quiet pleasant which was lucky as we had a vet here doing the pregnancy diagnosis of forty two heifers
This morning has been miserable. At 8am it wasn't raining so much as a wall of drizzle slowly moving across the landscape



With regard the grapes I think rats can eat pretty much what we can, whether they've evolved along side us?

When I was looking after them last year Alicia, I kept googling things to check if I needed to cook certain things or if they could have them raw, I think they can eat an awful lot of things, but most in moderation, so they will still eat their complete food. Hers do have a vegan diet too.




Went to the coffee shop at lunch, asked for dark hot choc, and mentioned that it seemed quite milky last week, she said she would have a word with the girl who made it, which made me feel bad. Someone else made it, she said that she put extra powder in, and if it was too bitter, she'd remake it, but it was much nicer than last week. Decided to pop in M & S on the way home, got a couple of reductions, one I had for tea, one I've put in the freezer. Also went to Lidl for a few bits too.
It is Alicia, especially with work being so busy and working a bit longer, feels I need more rest at the weekend. They aren't too bad Jim, they are cheap versions of sketchers that have memory foam soles, but they are the new ones I bought last year.


So i have been busy with various things.
In December my office was closed after the takeover and work transferred to their office. As I only work part time in the office and part time work from home one hour travel to the new office was not realistic. My colleague also has family responsibilities with a special needs son so we both said that to expect us to travel was not reasonable, and please would they consider redundancy. I asked if I could continue to WFH but was told to stop being recalcitrant and work in the new office or resign. We are still hoping that something can be sorted. Fortunately I started to get my state pension in December and the amount is fairly similar to my part time earnings.
At the beginning of March mum was taken into hospital after a fall, xrays showed nothing broken but her leg was very swollen.
However they did blood tests and found that her potassium was too high, so she was given insulin to bring it down. Then glucose to increase her blood sugar, blood for low iron, saline and antibiotics as they said she had a slight chest infection.Then she was given a drip with bicarb - no idea what that was for. After a day in a&e she was transferred onto a ward. The swollen leg developed into a huge haematoma, but the doctors were more concerned with sorting mum's kidney function. She wasn't eating much -mostly jelly and icecream but that wasn't surprising as a&e managed to lose her teeth.
After a couple of weeks the doctors decided that she was able to go home, so she was FastTracked - which took a week to sort.
She is now home and because of her lymphoma she has visits from the hospice, carers 4times a day and someone to sit all night. Plus district nurses to bandage her leg and also palliative care nurses come every so often.
The GP came to see her the day after she came home, and made a fuss of our cats. He has two cats, they have breakfast with him then go across to his mother's for second breakfast. Our cats have likelix and he hadn't heard of it, when he visited again he said that his cats said thank you.
Ive just read through the posts since my last visit -
Stuart glad you enjoyed your holiday, my friend also went to Cambodia recently.
Desley -'our chip shop does children's meals which can be a small fish and small portion of chips plus a side - that used to be £3 I think, you could also have sausage, beefburger, chickenburger or fish fingers which were cheaper. I'm not sure of the prices because our order was small chips and gravy, onion rings and cheese pie. It is a very popular chip shop and always has a long queue.
My brother was up near you last week Jim, at their caravan.

Nice to see you Janet, sorry that work expect you to travel, hope they accept redundancy without you having to resign. Sorry that your mum had such a bad hospital visit, and hope everything resolves, though bet she is happy to be home again.

So i have been busy with various things.
In December my office was closed after the takeover and work transferred to their office. As I only work part time in the office and part time work..."
Sounds like your mum has better care at home than at the hospital - if all those people show up to do their assigned jobs.

So i have been busy with various things.
In December my office was closed after the takeover and work transferred to their office. As I only work part time in the office and part time work..."
Your brother chose his time, the weather has been reasonable :-)
It's remarkably liberating when the government starts handing you money just for staying alive. Suddenly you can tell a silly employer to 'run up a shutter' and look elsewhere :-)


Sorry to hear about your mum R, glad that she is improving and you aren't being as stretched, hope she continues to improve.

Sorry to hear about your mum - hope she's improving steadily. It sounds as if your margin of safety has suddenly disappeared. Are there ways to get some help, even if temporary?
We've been up to our ears with medical appointments and scares, and the feeling is terrifying - the writing and everything are suffering. My assistant coming two hours twice a week has been a godsend. It's amazing what I can get done with her help.

Alicia, meant to say last night, while neighbours rats like grapes, they do tend to leave the raisins when you give them muesli!

It sounds as if the insurance company will do anything not to pay what they owe - the 'mistakes' and 'forgettings' are always in their favour. I'd let the court know what they pulled (if you have the energy for another go at it, by letter), so they can yell at the insurance company.





I'm keeping busy with various people coming or phoning about mum.
The palliative care nurse came and has suggested an increase in the pain medication so instead of me giving the liquid meds four or five times a day, we have slow release patches plus paracetemol and a top up of the original stuff for when her dressings are changed as that is very painful for her.
The physio came to assess at weekend and they recommend that we do easy exercises to strengthen her legs but at this moment they don't see that we will be able to get her out of bed to sit in a chair.
We had a thunderstorm on Sunday, it didn't bother the cats. There was so much rain that water was running down the hill like a river, the chap across the road filmed himself stood in the road with the water above his ankles.
The cats are so different. Barney is always in the middle of anything going on - he is an attention seeker. Bradley still hides some of the time but is becoming braver. I don't eat fish in any way, mum used to have chip shop fish but hasn't wanted it for a while. I have usually bought chicken or turkey biscuits for our cats, so i was veryg surprised at the way they tried to share my niece's tuna sandwich when she came last weekend.

Yes, and I paid extra for a special scan that picks up things early - ironically I am supposed to get those for free from the hospital due to my medication, but they keep forgetting me, and it's actually easier to pay and pick an appointment that suits me, so the opticians have put me on yearly checks. Hospital obviously say there test is better, but SpecSavers seem to care more to be honest, even though I don't always see the same person.

You might get one from the hospital - close to the time of the ones you pay for - and see how they compare. The husband is starting to do that - pay for tests arranged outside of our service because it's more convenient or more frequent than what Medicare provides. Not all the time, but he's following his own heart treatment carefully, and keeps track of all his numbers.
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It's laughable and clueless of her - I was pretty sure.