What I did today.

Happy Birthday glitabo. There seem to be a lot of us at the moment!

Sounds like a lovely way to spend a Monday morning, Mamie

I've made a batch of flapjack, got some soup stock on the go, and sent DD off to school in snow boots. The world is white this morning. Time for a rest and a read.

Happy birthday greetings to birthday people

Happy 70th Birthday Glitabo you have a lovely family.

Oh, I like the sound of Mamie's pizza and bread plans. I've just made sourdough which is proving nicely in the warm kitchen. It'll accompany home made celery soup at lunchtime.

I'm up and ready for a day with my favourite baby, who is poorly again, poor little thing. She has had one thing after another since she started nursery, and now it seems to be noro virus!
I'm thinking positive thoughts that I won't get it!

Poor little thing. There is a lot of it about, so I'm told. Do look after yourself too, Ella - it is highly contagious.

Belated happy birthday wishes glitabo. It sounds as if you had a fabulous time

Last year my house had an infestation of mice. This year I've found them in the garage and the garage is pretty awful [it's become the dumping ground for lots of family stuff as well]. But the traps I used last winter haven't worked so well this time round and last night was pretty horrific. I've got to keep setting them [I do have some poison but am loathe to use it..worries about the mice being eaten by birds or other animals or my dog somehow coming into contact with it etc]. I feel absolutely wretched setting them .

It's because it's got colder crimson.I've got them in the cellar where DD2 put some of her stuff when she moved( a year ago). I only realised when I found rubbery bits everywhere.They have nibbled and chewed her wetsuit!!

I'm putting off going out to clean up the carnage that is my garage but it's got to be done. I should have nipped this in the bud a few weeks ago, bt it was only when I heard noises in the wall between the house and garage that I decided to do something about it.

Glitabo what a lovely treat! but .

Crimson what about the old milk bottle trick then you can release them in the countryside whence they came. (Sounds as if you would need a few tho!)

Good luck with the garage sounds about the same as ours, altho ours is so stuffed full it would take a while to even spot a mouse. Spiders make their presence felt tho... a mad dash thro the cobwebs to get to the wine cellar (hmm) at the back. Actually it's only a couple of wine racks balanced on the freezer

I asked everyone in the family to help me clear the garage in the summer and, when they all ignored me I just started putting everything in there that wasn't being used so I could shut the door and forget about it. But it's completely overrun with them now. Droppings everywhere. I'm afraid I tried the humane thing last year for a week or so but eventually realised I was getting knowhere. Found one in one of the traps tonight and it seemed to have worked properly this time. But I feel like Vlad the Impaler at the moment .

Oh dear Crimson you're much too kind hearted. I'm like that until I remember that mice have a nasty habit of frequently releasing drops of urine. (Perhaps one of the Scientists on GN will tell me whether that is true or just an OW tale.)
P.S. Have you seen the Jockey Club countdown to Christmas. The video for 1st Dec is very good!

Whats the Jockey Club Countdown? Is it like an advent calendar?

Found it! Thanks OGM !

We have mice in the garage Crimson - fewer since I insisted on DH keeping bird food in sealed containers...
I found a mummified one once, in a bowl. Fell in, couldn't get out. Poor mouse.
I had a good day. U3A meeting completed in record time. Solved my hyperlink problem re book upload. Just consumed lovely lamb curry I made a few days ago from remains of shoulder of Welsh lamb, brought back from N Wales.
Why is it that any kind of stewy food tastes better if it hangs around (in a warm room!) for a couple of days? It works for casseroles, mince and curry. Oh and put all U3A meeting dates in 2013 diary - very efficient!

Oh they love bird food. Must remember to move the bird food out of the living room this year or they'll be in there again. Oh heck; I've got to get ready for bed. Early start tomorrow. Our new computer system is starting tomorrow morning and I've got to be up and ready to confront it. I'm terrified .

Blood test this morning and BP check which gave a much improved result this time. So I don't think the doc, when I see her next week, will be putting me on BP medication. She thinks the steroids were pushing it up.
Pub lunch with U3A writing group - cheerful and relaxed.

Belated birthday congratulations Glitabo your party sounds fabulous What a lovely family you have.

Am feeling very virtuous. I'm most of the way through sorting out a humungous pile of papers from way back! Just on a short lunch break now but I'm aiming to get some stuff in tonight's post as a result.

And Yes, I do feel better for making the effort!

Shovelling, shovelling, shovelling - and more shovellling.

A blizzard and tons of heavy wet snow !!! Not sure how i'm going to leave for my 8am meeting down in the valley ???

After a horrid morning at work [had been dreading today for ages] was supposed to have an annual meet up with some friends for lunch but, not being happy with the dog last night I was even more concerned when I got home, so instread of a meal it was a trip to the vets [can't find anything wrong so is on anti inflamatories and glucosamine for a week]. Was really looking forward to seeing everyone as well. In the grand scheme of things it's nothing, but I feel very sorry for myself tonight. Especially as I'd decided I would walk the dog roung the village each evening now that my knees seemed a lot better.As I said to the vet 'looks like both me and the dog are bu*****d [he didn't disagree]. Perhaps will go for a walk with the lead tonight; wasn't there a character in a Rupert book that did that, or was it just one story? Rupert books were well weird; I do think the writer was on something like waccy tobacco.

Crimson - I've heard from another couple of "doggie friends" that there seems to be a form of dog flu going round. One of them had given her dog half a 75mg dispersible aspirin in the morning and in the evening for a couple of days and said that it seemed to make her dog much more comfortable. Just remember that it must be aspirin NOT paracetamol which dogs can't tolerate.

And on the subject of mouse traps - emptying the tripped ones really does get easier. We have them in the boiler house, they come in as soon as the weather gets cold or damp. I wouldn't mind but they do insist on eating the insulation around the pipes so I have traps (4 of them) always set and generally there is at least one dead mouse every morning. Peanut butter seems to be the most effective bait so far

Getting good at emptying the traps as long as the mice are ex mice and not just trapped mice. Dog seems a lot happier now that she has cost me more money; I've never had a dog that's had to visit the vet as often as this one. Find it strange that vets are so keen on glucosamine whereas my doctors say it's a complete waste of time. Had an interesting dog walk without the dog tonight. Met a chap on his way to the pub and somehow got chatting about beekeeping [as you do when you have a conversation with a complete stranger]. I mentioned that I hadn't seen many bees or wasps or butterflies this year and he said food had been scarce for them so he had to feed them. 'How d'you feed bees' says I. Well you feed them on sugar and water [must be the right consistency]. 'Don't they drown in it' I asked. 'No, special feeders' he said. Which made me think of those plastic bottles you have for guinea pigs with water in. But they're not like that and, annoyingly he either didn't tell me or he did and I forgot because I can't recall what the feeders are like [although I did say something about humming birds]. Anyway, I fell asleep during my favourite programme, Waldemar Januszczak's 'The Dark Ages; An Age of Light' so I've got to set the alarm so I can watch it at 2. I think I got as far as Attilla the Hun and woke up at the Visigoths. Thankfully it's my day off tomorrow. It would be better walking the dog without the dog if said dog greeted me with a 'hope you had a good walk, crimson; I've made you a cup of tea' when I get back. One can but hope....