Soop's Kindly Kitcheners

I meant threads, not posts!

The rats will be asleep Pompa

pompa I love sheds. I'm afraid terrified of spiders. As a child, the gang used a pal's dad's shed as our "Secret Society" H.Q. I insisted on a spider search being carried out before I attended the meeting. One day, in another run-down shed, some lads opened an old trunk. The resident spider was massive. They hooked him and web out with a stick. I was chased through the village in a near-death panic. Not one of my finest moments.

Crafting I've missed you. Lovely to have you back with us.

Mishap One of the gang of four was a flight mechanic in the war. She tells me that she was terrified that she may make a mistake and so put a pilot's life in danger. She's now 94, and remains proud of her important contribution.

number I believe that a Willie MacSporran rallied the residents to purchase the island of Gigha sometime in the year 2000.

Stansgran I shall cut a slice of virtual lemon drizzle cake for you. It is calorie-free and the very thought of it makes my mouth water.

rosesarered Sinus pain is HORRIBLE. I feel for you. I cannot recall the painkiller that used to work wonders for me. If I do, I shall let you know. It was miraculous.

Charleygirl What election would that be... Rory will be glad of the company. Come on in and settle down with a freshly made .

Shed done, no mice. rats or big spiders, quite a few frogs and toads. I also hate spiders, Mrs. P has to deal with them in the house (won't kill them).

Election, how could you miss it, it was all over the internet/news and I started a thread on it :-
www.gransnet.com/forums/nature/1215867-Vote-before-midnight
Apparently the Robin is the bookies favourite.

I am someone who moves on, I don't understand all the dissection going on after the event. I am not one to bear a grudge, luckily for my blood pressure. I look at all those election posts and worry for the health of the OPs and those who post on them. 'That way madness lies'.

Fancy really being called McSporran.

I've just popped in for a quick coffee after finishing my Portuguese homework.

I don't mind spiders too much, but it depends on the size of them. Centipedes on the other hand...ugh! and if they are big, wiggly ones, I shriek For DH to get rid of them!

I was uncovering the pool with DH this morning, (we can't have a built in pool as we are in an ecological area, so we have an above the ground one, lovely in the heat and this year we bought an inexpensive cover for it so that it keeps the chill off overnight.) When we uncovered it I could see some thing that looked like a tortoise lying on the bottom. It turned out to be an enormous dead toad. It must have fallen in and not been able to climb out again. DH removed it and put in next door's orchard. Its alright they don't live there.
Now I'm trying to think how I could make a little ladder like you are supposed to have for hedgehogs in a garden pool.

Just lay a plank of wood from the bottom of the pool to the top when you're not in it - I'm surprised it could get in there in the first place, could a bird have dropped it in there? Mind you, we have toads and frogs in our above ground pond, so they'd have to climb a three foot wall with overhanging edging slabs to get in there

We had a cheap above ground pool years ago and did the same, you just need to anchor it somehow to the side.

Another arachnophobe here [shudder], DD's even worse; she can't even look at a photo of one whereas I can catch one in a glass and put it outside.

A few years ago we rented a villa in Spain for a holiday, all was lovely, and then one morning there was something dark and dead floating in the pool, a mouse perhaps? Mr Roses hooked it out and it was a big furry spider. OMG we got rid of it before DD1 saw it, she had fits if she even saw a house spider.At night, long centipedes appeared, very feathery, DS liked them we all didn't.

Apologies for this post LoopyLou!

I also catch the spiders and put them in the garden. My DH is scared witless by them, all our married life I've been the one to deal with them. When I say in the garden, I mean over the fence at the end of the garden, where hopefully the birds will catch them. I am currently having fun watching the sparrows collecting feathers and the like for nesting material. I must put the washing on before bedtime though as I'm fast running out of things to wear. It is my DH's day off tomorrow so we often have a day out, I had better have some clean clothes ready!

When my grandparents had an apartment in Spain we'd spend three weeks every summer driving down, two weeks there and my parents would take back roads coming back home. We stayed in B&Bs very cheaply (this was in the 60s); one had black beetles crawling out the walls so my sisters spent the night in the car!
The apartment had a resident gecko which would run around the ceiling, a great source of amusement for we three girls but my mother was in a perpetual state of horror!

By the way there's a warm Banana bread on the table and the kettle is on, enjoy!

Oh dear me, loopylou you have me chortling away to myself. MacSporran wants to know why...

rosesarered and pompa I'm okay with just about all manner of so-called creepy crawlies...with the exception of arachnids. My mother and Nana were the same. Although I am terrified, I always ask MacS to treat them gently and take them into the garden to start a new life.

janer I'm with you 100% The election has taken place. The electorate have chosen. So be it!

hildaJ The birds are having a fine time, aren't they. The rookery in the village, is a very noisy hive of activity. A lady for whom I used to help with housework, used to leave her door open in spring. The swallows built their nests in the high cornices of the entrance hall ceiling. She is no longer alive but I wouldn't mind betting that a few nests remain.

Okey dokey...I'm about to pedal the exercise bike. I'm really looking forward to my Sunday evening G&T with ice and lime.

Thank you for your company. I wish every one of you a very peaceful evening. Until tomorrow...

soop Tara took over a bedroom including her own bed years ago. She is not too happy when I wash the duvet cover etc. which I did today. I did not want her lying on the bare duvet so placed it on a spot where I thought she would not bother. Wrong! The sooner I get madam's bed sorted, the better. I have 2 perfectly serviceable cat beds downstairs but a bed + duvet with a quilt on top to snuggle under during the cold nights is far better. When I return after this life, I will be looking for a house like yours or mine!

As you are well aware, Tara is starved of water so this evening when I was outside watering the hanging baskets, she was underneath catching the drips!

Rosesarered, would I joke on here about something, or someone, as serious and important as McSporran? Not a word of jest was typed, it`s all true!

We didn`t get the quiet Sunday we planned on. Just after 12.30pm hubby started gasping for breath, said he couldn`t breathe, I dialled 111, after a few questions I was advised to ring 999, I did, and they rang me back to say a clinical technician was coming to see him. About 15 minutes later an ambulance arrived with 2 paramedics, they worked on him for half an hour before taking us to hospital. He was taken to resusc, x-rayed, found to have air in the space between lungs and ribs, causing his lung to partially collapse, they inserted a tube in his side to draw the air out, x-rayed again, then admitted onto the Acute Medical Unit, hopefully to be discharged tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we`ll have the Sunday dinner we didn`t get today!

Oh number, how frightening for you both.
I do hope he's home again soon ((hugs)) x

Oh number what a frightening experience.

Number, what a traumatic event, so pleased that the outcome was good.

number!!! That was a bit unexpected, wasn't it? How amazing that he would be able to come back home that soon, though. Incredible.

I hope your beans will be alright, pompa, we live in a real frosty area, so I can't risk anything much going outside until the end of the month. It's odd when I think we aren't that far north of you, yet we have boiling summers and freezing winters just because of our sand soil.

We have sandy soil, but are only 8 miles from the coast as the crow flies, so I guess that buffers us from the extremes. Our zonal pelagoniums have been out all winter, most have survived and growing away strongly.

Sorry to hear about your Sunday number and hope very much that OH will be feeling better soon.

Lucky you, pompa. Mine have to go in the greenhouse and even then, only the ones in the heated one usually survive. There isn't room for all of them because so much else has to go in it.

It's surprising as you are not that far from us, a bit more inland I guess. We have zonal pelagoniums in tubs in the front garden, this will be their 3 rd year, have only lost one of 10, and they are not in a sheltered spot.

pompa I live on the edge of the Breckalnd, the UK's only desert!

Read the second paragraph.

www.bradtguides.com/destinations/british-isles/england/norfolk/breckland.html

I really should have done my homework before we bought this house! But the wildlife and scenery in the area are stunning. I suppose it was so wild that it has stayed relatively uncultivated.

So sorry to appear to be neglecting you lot...stuff to be done before I can sit with my feet up and blether here in our kitchen.

However...number I was shocked to read about the awful scare that occurred over the weekend. I'm thankful that Mr number was well cared for by the experts. Dear me, I'm hoping that he'll return home very, very soon.

I shall return once I've cleared the ironing. (((hugs)))

Charleygirl Tara and Rory live like royals. Have you notice the cat sitting on the doorstep of 10 Downing Street? She seems to know when she'll be let in. Ah! Maybe she's a he, I had better check.