Help calm me. House buying and selling stress *Part 9*

oh I used to do that re snails, 1980s when I was growing lots of veg, I used to walk around with a bucket of salt water and put the snails in. Tremendous number of slugs and snails this year.

Trees have such a lovely ambience and have their own micro climate. I will have a shady corner soon, it is already getting there, rowans, crabapple mainly. I saw the blackbirds eating berries from a neighbouring rowan today, I am hoping that those berries fill them up as they are taking berries in the green state from my blueberry bushes. I really love rowan trees, I planted 2 sheerwater rowans, staked them well and have slightly cleared the lower stem so that they develop a canopy

All this talk about a car being a luxury and it is wrt the cost of fuel, no more impulsive days going hither and thither. Buses, very important to most of us. I expect wsm is well geared for the older population and prams

Yogi sounds like you are slowly settling in your new home. The garden sounds lovely.

Shandy I also love those documentaries by Lucy Worsley, record any she makes.

Blinking seagulls. Yesterday popped into a small shop with my friend for something she wanted for journey home, and whilst I was there, purchased a packet of five apple tart kinda things. (Thought they would be n ice for me and daughter at Car Boot). Went back out to my scooter and put that into the basket in the front. Then I realised I had left my walking stick at the till, went back into the shop to get it and when I returned I found that in that couple of minutes a seagull had actually taken that out of the basket and was pecking away at the packaging in the road. I did get it back from him!!!

I used to have a constant war with slugs and snails in one part of my garden at my last house. They always won each battle!!! It was in this area I tried so hard to grow lupins, which I love, I tried everything,- egg shells, coffee grounds, copper wire (would not use anything chemical). Every time I planted those lupins, some sort of email message went out to every slug and snail in at least a fifty mile radius to come and enjoy. Same thing happened when I tried to grow Rhubarb there.

Morning all, hot again here today, I've found my flip flops at last but too flat for dog walking

I've just had a text saying I'm overdrawn and checked - Octopus have taken my DD twice, gah! I'd changed the date from the 1st to the 7th, obviously too slow to implement. At least I know they are quick to respond and I will be refunded the £140.

I'm suffering with bad pruning of the trees here. I think the vendor hacked them back for the sale, they are now shooting branches out everywhere. I've got a sad cherry right up against the neighbour's fence, the plum, and two apple trees. I'm frustrated I can't find my bow saw, I can see it in my mind's eye at the station, but no idea where it is here! Too hot for sawing anyway.

Take care in this heat, I felt a bit wobbly yesterday, must get a hat

I've never had to do this before. Octopus have replied and told me to contact my bank to action a direct debit indemnity claim, which I've done on the phone, I don't like the Chat function. Direct debit has been recalled and money credited to my account. I hope my kids appreciate how much I've had to learn quickly!

be so so careful about anything to do with banks. Even my ds was almost caught out the other day and he works in banking IT

Re the trees shandy. I would prune right down the stems to leave a nice clear lower trunk, not now, in winter. Too much of a shock to the trees right now

I am cool today, gliding around slowly in my long kaftan. Rushing is no good in this weather

Ooh Karmalady I love a kaftan, I have several, much to the disgust of my daughter! ?

Well done Shandy it must be a relief to worry about a beautiful tree as opposed to all the other worries you have had. and yes as Karmalady has said, prune the lower brunches off. My big conifer in my last house, I did just that and it really did look good and gave a lot more space on my patio.

Fran those cheeky seagulls! I've seen some funny video clips of their antics!

That's the tree I planned to get when I moved here Karmalady a Crabapple. because they attracted the birds, but got side lined when I looked online and bought different apple tree. I was brought up in Crabtree Ave

It is such a nice tree yogi,mine is called jelly king. I think the rowans attract more birds and look equally pretty

Not a breath of wind here this evening, the wind vane is still, must be hard going for those with chest problems.

Car boot done yesterday. I kept an umbrella up over me most of the time, and I have a small battery operated fan. Obviously, the very hot weather kept a lot of buyers away, but my daughter did pretty well getting rid of a whole of of camping items,etc. (My SiL) is now disabled with psioratic athritus so they can no longer go camping. Also a lot of GCSE text and workbooks. I did enough to make it worth my while (mainly items from my 'old' kitchen), and do enjoy these lazy mornings being able to sit in that field, and chatting to daughter.

Fortunately, my flat is as easy to keep cool in summer as it is to heat in winter. Lots of windows kept open. Did put bedside fan on for a very short time last night. Did not need the one in the Living Room, only closing the patio door when I left the room to go to bed.

So pleased I do not have a garden to worry about. I water the pots with real flowers each evening, quite late - and that is the extent of my 'gardening' work. Two sun canopies up on that balcony now - I do not sit out thee in this very hot weather, but they help to protect the windows alongside the patio door from the sun.

I am still waiting to hear from the solicitors of the would-be purchasers of one of the flats here. Sellers accepted an offer five weeks back, I did tell them over a week ago to chase this up. No wonder selling takes such a long time if solicitors as so very slow even to get started!!!!! The form and details they require from a Management company is usually the VERY first thing that requires doing.

Took my little dog walkies early today, too hot after 9am. I'm always up early, about 6am, but have my first cuppa in the garden, breakfast after clearing the dishwasher and after shower we go walkies, can't do that in this heat! Need to go as early as possible whilst we have this heat wave, predicted to be 33` later today. It was lovely in the park earlier, lovely and fresh.

karmalady

It is such a nice tree yogi,mine is called jelly king. I think the rowans attract more birds and look equally pretty

Not a breath of wind here this evening, the wind vane is still, must be hard going for those with chest problems.

Well I hope mine turns out as nice as yours Karmalady, it's looking a lot happier now I've moved it, it's reflecting in my garden mirror, I'm going to get some solar lights to put up the top where my new rock garden is, it should look lovely at night then. My lights in the main garden are really magical, I sat in the garden at about 10pm last night, looking at my lovely lights and the moon shinning through the gap in the trees, really magical.

I bought a lovely Aloe Vera plant when I first moved in, put it in my bedroom and it really did well, more than twice as big, so I thought I'd rehome it into my rockery, looked really good where I put it, but then last night my dog, seeing a cat up the top, ran like a bat out of hell and broke all the long steams off the Aloe Vera that's why I did some lights up there.

Well done on your car boot sales Fran Sorry to hear about your s.i.l with his arthritis, he sounds so nice, always helping you out.

Morning all, I'm melting here at 70F. Woke up late and didn't walk my dog until 9 am, big mistake! Luckily his buggy opens up at the back as well so he gets a through draught.

Glad your car boot went well Franbern, I absolutely love car boot sales. Sorry your SIL has psoriatic arthritis, it's agony, my friend had it. Good luck to your seller, I don't envy them the anxiety!

Just had blueberries on my breakfast, lucky you karmalady and Whiff picking your own! £3 a box now.

Shandy, I stopped buying fresh blueberries (to go onto brekkie) sometime ago. Found it much cheaper, (and really nicer) to buy the packets of frozen fruits - I get one called summer berries which contains blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and red currants. That costs £2.20. I have an empty ice cream container and I keep that in my fridge, emptying half one of those packets into it (£1 10 per week), - that lasts me a week - so full packet gives me a fortnight. Much cheaper, more fresh and nice having the assortment.

yogi you sitting in your magical garden until late, lovely. Reminds me so much of going on evening summer strolls with a sweetheart.

I made life easy for myself re the garden and now have very good self-watering planters. I fill with water and the indicator rises. They last about two weeks before needing to be refilled as they only use what they need.

At the moment the only watering I am doing is blueberries as I am wanting plump berries and my tomato plants in gro bags. Plus my veg trug herb garden, the other flowers need very little water, agapanthus, french lavender and begonias. The garden soil is now benefitting from all that humus I gave it over 3 years. It is retaining moisture below the roots, also the ground cover has come into its own and the trees are established enough not to need extra water

I looked down at it from a bedroom yesterday and I would be so attracted to it if I was an insect or a bird. It looks lush green, flowers dotted here and there. A lot in a small space

dgs has just finished his first DoE expedition, bronze. Picked up a couple of hours ago, my dd says that he is showing typical symptoms of heat exhaustion, she knows what to do and is dealing with it but I would not be surprised if some are taken to AnE with it. Wonderful leaders to give up their weekends for teenagers but risk assessments should have been done with contingency plans as these youngsters are not fit nor acclimatised to extreme heat

re blueberries, mine are all in large pots, like 1/2 barrels but rigid plastic the 3 oldest are 6-7. Anyone want any growing info, just ask. They are happy plants, and easy to grow. Very worthwhile. The berries are getting large and ripening very quickly now. I have had two pickings already today and another this evening

Covid has a lot to answer for. We've just lost the local bus service that takes a lot of my neighbours who no longer drive to the supermarket. 'Losses' during Covid making it commercially unviable. We do have another bus a ten minute walk away, not fun with heavy shopping.

oh no, this is most definitely not levelling up. Look out for a shopping trolley, I have one, very useful at times

I opened my loft hatch, hot air rises and will continue to rise all night, it goes out through the loft vents esp through the vents in the ridge tiles. It has already made a difference

I have done a bit of sewing, I was starting to nod off at 6 and that is definitely not good for my sleep. Nice neat skirt in a printed medium weight canvas with some drape. I am liking it so have ordered some more lengths as I got the email for 50% off today. A good skirt for roughly £19. I have some colourful rust tights to match this one, from snag tights

In Weston, the 'commercial' bus company just cancelled two routes. Fortunately, the town council then started a bus service that covered most of the route these two covered. Only runs once an hour, but I am hoping it might give the idea for the council tot ake over more of the local bus services.

To me it is totally daft that public transport should be owned by anyone other than 'the public'.... If any government is serious about encouraging people to stop using private cars then the first thing they need to address is ensuring an excellent and cheap public transport system.

I am very fortunate with the bus service which stops outside of my flats. This has a circuatous route, which does cover most of WsM. Extremely useful and, to date, have not used any other bus route in the town.

I had a £50 voucher to spend on Sainsbury's shopping, and was so excited with this and concerned about entering it carefully on my on-line shopping order that I forgot to check all the other details. Normally get this delivered Monday mornings, but when I did not arrive yesterday, checked, and discovered I had somehow ordered it to be delivered Tuesday morning!!!!!

WsM is the second biggest town in somerset, after bath and above taunton. My town is way down the list. Bus services should have priority throught all the rural counties. I know some counties have smaller buses and some areas have community minbuses. The last village had 3 buses a day, only 8 miles either way, it was so confining and was a driving force in my reason to move

Loft hatch opening worked very well last night, it is not a sudden whoosh of hot air leaving but it was most definitely cooler and I slept well. Did not need the fan.

We have this week to get ready for next weekend, which is going to be even hotter. There has been a cobra meeting. Too much heat is very debilitating

Well done to your GS Karmalady Hope he recovers from his heat exhaustion. You sound like you've done a good job with your flowers and veg. perhaps when I've finished with my flowers, I'll put a little veg in; toms, carrots, pots.

I did a similar thing Fran I somehow got my shopping for 'click & collect' at the wrong shop, right out of my way! I still haven't got a bus pass!

I had a situation with my little dog, thought it was the heat, got him one of those cool bandanas, one of the best things I've bought for a doggie, really did the trick. But he kept nibbling he's hind regions, I'm trying to do the natural dog, so nothing from vets, but thought he must have worms, got him some worming tabs, gave as proscribed, but next 2 days got worse. Thought I'd have to take him to the vets, but then found what the problem was this morning, a hair ball between his groin and back leg! He would not let me or my son touch it, I gave him a bath which must have softened & loosened it enough for me to cut it off whilst he stood in the bath with his front paws on the side panel. It was quite frightening cutting it off, as had to do it by feel, anyway did it!! When I first found it I didn't know if it was a nasty growth!
So much for grooming him myself!!! He's having a good sleep now, luv him.

Forgot to add it's his birthday today, 5yrs, although it's actually his adoption day, as exact date not known by dogs trust. Also my little GD's 4th birthday today too

Hi
Im.hoping to move house shortly and need some packing boxes.
I can remember seeing a link to some on a gransnet thread, but havent been able to find it again.
Any help and advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Sally got mine off eBay remember they can from Scotland. Very strong reasonably priced and quick delivery.