Door rotted

 I was surprised the other day when I noticed that my door, incidentally which I never use had rotted.
As my mate called today I showed him the problem and he agreed with me that cladding was the most effective way to solve the problem.

I talked about my chrysanthemum that my Brother-in Law managed to take a cutting from his main plant. It looked great until very recently when I noticed that it was dying. Not that this is the only plant that has succumbed I think I have lost all of my dicentra plants with a lot of pinks and lavender to name but a few.
 My mate hadn't been here long when the phone rang. I told him it would be nothing much but was surprised to hear his partner. She was loud and clear and wished to talk to him.
 A few minutes after he finished the conversation the phone rang again. This time it was for me, my old employee just rung to see if I was O.K. During the conversation I asked how his golf was going. He told me that he had a team of 4 and entered an Hospice Competition and they had won. They have been given complimentary tickets to where the last Ryder Cup was played here. A nice prize indeed. He sent me a photo with the trophy which of course is only held for a year. Looked impressive. More soon.

Fencing

Last October the next door's fencing, well a few panels anyway blew down. It was a horrible evening and the noise was terrific. So much so that at first light I went outside to look at my roof because I honestly thought some severe damage had been done. Not so, I wondered where the noise had come from. Going indoors I noticed from my kitchen door something was not right. I opened the door to find a panel leaning against my door.
 Well that was October, all the young man did was to secures, well not really secure, the panels and left them.
 My mate came over here about 3 weeks ago and there was a very strong wind and the banging got on his nerves. He wedged a brick and stopped the noise. I then tackled them about it without much success to be honest.
 I was now fed up as it had been 9 months since the damage so on Saturday morning I called the young man over and asked if I could have a serious talk. I explained what I would do if the panels were not replaced in 2 weeks. Needless to say he was angry.
 This morning I saw the older man and we came to some agreement that he, himself would do the panels. I told him that I was willing to help him but was sad I had to threaten the young man before anything has happened.
 I will now wait and see what happens next.
 I have had a surprise, we have had very strong winds and I don't know why but I went to check my rear exterior door which makes my property private. To my horror I saw that there was a chunk of wood lying on the ground. I went to check what was wrong. I noticed that the door had gone rotten. I suggested to my mate when I rung him that we could clad it with some white PVC. Of course he had a better suggestion similar to what I suggested so now I will wait for him to do it. I sincerely hope it will not be too long as the door has really rotted badly. I am sure a good push would see it collapse. It will be done though sometime. More soon.

Electric

 That cucumber measured 11" when I took it off today. They are very pleasant tasting too.

 I took this photo to show just how large the leaves are, they are huge.

Plenty of plum tomatoes but to be honest in general the plants don't look as healthy as I would like.
 

The grapes as you can see are ripening nicely, very early this year though.

This morning was the first day in ages that we had the sun shining early. I thought at least I would be doing well with my solar. Wrong! I was listening to the radio and just before 9.00am. it went silent. I checked to see that we had a power cut. Not the first one, we certainly seem to get more than our fair share of power cuts. Anyway it was not good for solar production as when there is no electricity, nothing at all is produced. The first time it happened I presumed that what I had been generating would be stored and when the electricity was restored it would be credited. That is not how it works. You lose the lot and only when the power returns will you start producing solar electricity once more. Anyway it was not off too long less than an hour. The guy next door was doing some DIY and it stopped him completely. I shouted him to let hi know that once more we were back in civilisation. We just have to accept it. More soon                                     

Notifications

I was surprised that I received the results of my retinopathy test. All was satisfactory. The same day I received the copy of the notes forwarded to my G.P. That's a laugh as I was given a G.P who has since retired  and was then given his Wife who is also a Doctor. Incidentally I really do like her as I think she is one of the old type Doctors.
 The start of the letter began " I met this lovely gentleman." I guess I was polite and courteous, to be honest I try to treat everyone the same way I would like to be treated.
 Anyway both results were satisfactory so as the Nurse who gave me the follow up with my annual Diabetes results stated. I have had my MOT  and passed for another year.
I looked at my chrysanthemum plant that my Brother-in-Law gave me. I and told him that it was doing fine and I was pleased. I should have kept my mouth shut. It looked very poor and to be honest I have doubts it will survive. Not that it is the only plant in my garden that has suffered. I set about 2 dozen geranium plants(pelargonium)and well over half of them have just died. Several lavender plants have also succumbed to the dreadful weather we have had. Most plants look stressed. We have been a little unfortunate with the weather this year. definitely the worst year I have ever known. My garden has been waterlogged several times and with the torrential rain the ground has become compacted. To compound things more we have had hot baking sun so that the top has a crust on it. Not that we have had baking sun today. The forecasters said that it would be cloudy for a start but gradually get brighter  and we may see some sun later. The opposite has happened. It is very dull but not cold.
 My peas have come and gone so quickly due to the weather. I am still waiting for a marrow plant to produce it's first fruit. To be honest I set 4 and 2 died off and the other 2 looked as if they would succumb but 1 is now beginning to grow so I am hopeful that I may get a marrow. The dwarf French beans still look poor but I must admit I have had a few boiling's off them. The lady next door remarked that my runner beans hadn't bulked up as they normally do. I told her that this was due to the weather but I have had several meals off them but they are not producing in the quantity I would expect.
 In the greenhouse my tomatoes are producing plenty of fruit, my cucumber is looking fine and the grapes are ripening well. In fact the young man from next door came to help me cover some of my apple trees to stop the blackbirds from pecking them. I took him in the greenhouse and let him pick some tomatoes, I asked him if he would like another bunch of grapes, he said he would so I cut a bunch and gave them to him, letting him taste one first to see if they were sweet enough. They were.
 We will see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully a little sunnier. More soon.

Medical matters

Yesterday morning I went to Hospital for a review of my illness and how I was coping. I was surprised for as soon as I walked in just before 9.00am a Nurse came out and asked if I was and my name was uttered. I answered I was the one and she asked me to go to her little office. I hadn't met this Nurse before but she was very nice. She told me the regular Nurse under my Consultant was on leave after having a baby. She then told me that she was due to have a baby herself in November. I then suggested that she not have it in Lincolnshire, she readily agreed with me as she confirmed that the situation in Lincolnshire was not good as there were limited Maternity units in the County. She then told me she hoped to have the baby in Cyprus.
 We then went to me and my situation, she was good and whatever I asked she had the answers. I specifically asked about my Ferritin and she told me this was fine. I questioned this and she admitted that it was within the tolerance range but on the low side but a lot higher than it had been.
 When she finished she then told me that she would arrange my next appointment. This was great because where the Consulting rooms are is away from the main building. She then said to me that I must have other things to do and it was no problem. I shook her hand, thanked her for being so informative and nice and left. I guess the time was about 9.20am.
 Off I went to see my Italian friend who lives in Manby.  I arrived there about 9.40am. He was waiting for me  and I immediately asked how his Wife was. He told me that she was not so good but she was up and about. When I saw her I could see she was not well. It is a shame as she suffers from a Mental illness. When she is fine she is very good.
I had a coffee and looked at their garden. I couldn't believe the state of his greenhouse. His grapevine has taken over the area. I told him I have had a bunch of grapes off mine. He didn't believe me saying that they were not ready until September but I told him that my greenhouse was open to a lot of sun and I didn't have anywhere near as many bunches of grapes as he had. His cucumber was growing wild, it certainly wouldn't do for me. The cucumber plant he gave me is good and I have had 3 cucumbers off it and they are lovely tasting cucumbers.  Hopefully plenty more to come.
 Not long after that his Wife went to lie down stating that she had terrible stomach ache. I decided to leave soon after.
 I called at Lidl and got a few things then went home to prepare for my next appointment at 1.35pm.
 The Retinopathy Unit is a mobile van with seating for about 4 persons maximum. It is run efficiently though and we are warned before hand not to arrive early or late. I arrived about 30 seconds before my allotted time and immediately the man doing the screening came out and asked my name also asking my Christian name. He then asked me in to do some eye test and then put drops in the eyes to make the pupils enlarged, I was then asked to sit outside and wait. There were 3 others in there but no sooner had I came out when one went in. A few minutes later another man came in. When the man left the photo of the retina, it takes  about 30 seconds he then asked the man who had just come in his name. Now I knew why he had asked my Christian name as this man's surname was the same as mine.
 It was not too long after when I had my eyes photographed and I shook his hand and drove back home.
 Although my sight was not great, I managed it easily even to parking my car in the garage.
 It seemed to get worse soon after I went indoors, I certainly couldn't focus on anything much and certainly could not go on the Internet.
 By about 6.00pm. my sight began to improve once more and today is back to normal.
 With racing about I forgot to put my repeat prescription order in so this morning I had to go to the Surgery for that purpose. I also decided to top up my mobile phone as it was low. I don't use it much and £10 will probably last me for several months.
 I went outside this early evening and when I got back inside I thought I had a noise at my front door. To my surprise the delivery man from the Chemist who delivers my medication was just leaving. I shouted to him and told him that I had only this morning put my repeat prescription in at the Surgery. Anyway I was thrilled to catch him in so I hopefully will have a few weeks free of Hospitals. Doctors and Nurses. More soon.

Eye Test

After the recent heavy rain I managed to contact the young guy next door who I think owns the property. Well part of it anyway. I asked him if he was going to replace the panels which blew down in the October gales last year. He told me there was no problem but had just been to have his eyes tested and was told he was going blind and that an appointment had been made to go to the Hospital the next day for a scan. He told me he had been having blurred vision and headaches. It didn't sound good to me but I tried to reassure him and told him to let me know how he got on.
 I saw him much later the next day and asked how he had got on  expecting to be told that nothing would be told there and then. To my surprise he told me that everything was fine, all that was wrong was that he had a faulty contact lens. I was surprised that the optician who examined him didn't notice such a basic error. After a day of worry though all seems to be fine with him.
 After the dreadful day on Thursday and a dull Saturday, yesterday it was raining when I got up. It was steady rain for some time then it cleared up. Although it was never sunny it was fine. However soon after Noon we had heavy showers one after another. Once more my garden was waterlogged. It really was a poor day and I wondered just how the folks on Caravan parks would cope. It did clear up though in the evening.
 I saw today on the Local News that Skegness was hit by downpours and local flash flooding had occurred. I guess they got what I had only mine was in the afternoon theirs seemed as if it was in the early evening. Unfortunately one or two Businesses were badly affected.
 Tomorrow I have an appointment at the Hospital, only for a review but tomorrow afternoon I have my eyes tested for Glaucoma, so tomorrow is fully booked.
 Finally for now, I saw the young man  from next door. The one I set seeds for him and gave him 3 shallots. I told him that the shallots would now be ready to be lifted so I went with him next door. To my surprise he had several beetroot ready. We picked 4 then dug the shallots up,. They were fantastic, much larger than mine. I then told his carer that the carrots were ready to be picked. I guess it is due to the pigeon manure that was spred so copiously on the garden. More soon.

Short straw weatherwise

My mate called yesterday, as usual it was nice to see him, the weather was sunny intervals but gale force winds from the North. Around 2.30pm. the clouds rolled in and that was the end of the sunshine.
I gave him the cucumber and he was pleased with it. I too was pleased and as I told my mate it was my Italian friend who gave me the plant. I would never bother to grow cucumbers myself. I also gave him a few of the yellow cherry sized tomatoes. I also asked him if his Partner liked cherries, he told me she did so I picked a few for her.
 As you can see in the first picture I have not done so well this year with cherries but I will have enough for me.
I don't know if I mentioned it before but I bought some self pollinating Runner Beans and most of them did well last year. So much so that I decided to set a couple of seeds in my polytunnel. One is called Stardust and the other is Firestorm. Red flowers for that and white for the other. So far I have had a few meals off them so I will do something similar next year. The photos show a few beans on the plants with plenty more to ripen.
 The gales have played havoc with the runner beans though but the rain is more of a worry. I got up around 5.30am. this morning to heavy rain. It has rained all day and to be honest most of it has been very heavy rain. Unfortunately for us living near the Coast it is only the area next to the sea that is being affected. So much so that it was mentioned in the weather forecast that the light rain would get heavy late teatime and flooding could not be ruled out. My garden is once more waterlogged and areas in my property are under a few inches of water. Tomorrow is not going to be much better, mainly dull but much less rain. More soon.

Gardening matters

 My mate is coming to see me tomorrow, the first time in about a month because of all the Surgery appointments. This week I have a week off. Next week I have 2 appointments the same day.
The first photo shows if one looks carefully a couple of cucumbers. My Italian mate gave me this quite some time ago. It looks as if they are a little different this time, not so thick but more slender and longer.
 What I will do is give my mate the first one which is almost ready. Mind you he would NEVER give his first fruit or vegetable away. In fact he would only give anything away if he had loads spare. Anyway I will be pleased to give him the first one. No doubt he will ask me what sort it is which I will tell him I have no idea as it was given to me.

 The yellow cherry size tomatoes were given to me by my Brother-in-Law in late March. They are quite nice not as sweet as Gardeners delight but they were the first to ripen.

 These are my grapes beginning to ripen although they look good they are on the small side and of course are seeded. They are about the same size as seedless grapes. They will sweeten up the longer I leave them on.

Here are my plum tomatoes, they look untidy as they are indeterminate so are more bushy, not like Gardeners Delight.
 I have had lots of peas, typical though they all seem to be ready at the same time. I have also done quite well with my 2nd. crop of broad beans but I have had to keep a keen eye on them because of the dreaded black fly.
 I have taken more photos of my produce which I will post tomorrow.
 Finally I am looking forward to my mate's comments on the cucumber. I am certainly pleased with how they look. Unfortunately for my mate all of his cucumber seeds failed. I know how he feels as I had loads of carrots and beetroot fail.
 Finally for today, the forecasters told us that June was a drier month than normal. Heaven alone knows where they were looking. Here we have had lots of torrential downpours interspaced with baking hot sun making a crust on top of the soil. More soon.

No specs

The first photo is of the young man living next door. He came to show me his new glasses which are reactolight. He is very pleased with them, also with the photo I took and he wished me to post the said photo.
 The second is of my garden peas picked this morning. Just 4.5 lbs. Mind you I was very pleased when I had finished picking them.
 Yesterday as I said I went to Grantham to have my eyes tested with the regular guy who checks my eyes each year. He once again informed me that I would last another year and remarked that my spectacles were 3 years old so at least it saved me over £100 on a new pair. Anyway this should last me until around the same time next year.
 We get on well and he told me that he works 4 days a week now and wished to make it 3 but his Son was going to University so he felt he couldn't work a 3 day week just yet. He told me his Son wished to study languages. French, German and Russian. Well I think that is what he said.
 I left home just before 7.15am and planned it that I could go to Morrison's before my appointment which was at 9.10am. I arrived at Morrison's car park around 8.45am. Managed to get all what I wanted and luckily enough there was a free checkout so I walked straight there. For the first time she put all of my groceries in bags for me.  I paid then went to my car, put the goods in my boot and took the trolley back then walked to Spec-Savers. I arrived just after 9.05am. This worked out perfectly.
 After my eye test I went to fill up with fuel, then went to see my Sisters. Went and looked at their garden had a couple of mugs of coffee the set off home around 11.00am.
 I arrived back home around 12.45pm. having stopped in Alford to call at a fruit and veg shop. Noticed that they had some nice looking Apricots so bought some.
 I  put all the groceries away then proceeded to get my dinner which was a herring. No sooner had I eaten it when I felt absolutely worn out. It really had taken it's toll. I guess my age is catching up on me.
 After a short nap I poached a few Apricots and made a jar of jam with the rest. The jam tastes very nice.
 Today I made a little Strawberry jam, promising the lad next door to give him a little to have for himself. Tomorrow I plan to have an easy day.
Don't know if I mentioned it but I set a few runner beans in my polytunnel and on Tuesday I had my first taste of them. Very nice indeed.
 More soon.