So sudden

 

 

Everything seems to be ready and finished so quickly this year.
The cherries were picked less than a fortnight ago, I had in excess of 14lbs. They are not easy to pick as you have to get each one individually. With this in mind I have pruned back my cherry trees so that next year I will not have so many.
The first picture of my runner beans was taken less than a fortnight ago, the second was taken today. I am picking well over a lb. of beans twice a day, I am having 3 meals of runner beans as they have plenty of feritin in them(iron). As I am low in that particular vitamin due to my medication I am happy to have them.
Today I have also covered some of my apple trees. This is because the blackbirds just peck holes in the apples. To be honest yesterday I did cover my Bramley cooker and was surprised to see a wood pigeon caught up in the netting. Needless to say, the wood pigeon is no more. I gave it an almighty swipe with my lopper and dispatched it swiftly.
It is still like a builders yard with the bungalow next door having the extension. The main noise is from the joiner, he is putting the flat roof on but told me that he will not be putting the tar or whatever they put on as he no longer does it. The reason was that insurance was too high. He told me that the Insurance Companies do not like a naked flame where wood is concerned so another guy will come to do that. They are progressing quite well though. The main rear garage has been completed and the front porch is now waiting for the door and windows. I will be pleased when it is done as the noise makes me have my side door closed and it has been warm. The joiner commented on the heat today saying it was too hot for him to work. By the way, he is self employed so gets on with the job.
 There was a wagon outside the front when I went to get my weelie bin in. I asked what was wrong. The guy told me that next doors water meter couldn't be read and they had come to dig it up but found that there was some electric cables running close to the water meter so they have left it for now. More soon.

To continue

I had my old fridge/freezer from 2000 so it didn't owe me anything really although apart from it losing it's gas it looked good. It did though need defrosting regular.
 After having notification of my slot for delivery and pick up of my old appliance. I then worked it out that I would probably have to defrost my old
fridge/freezer about 7.00am.
 As I get up early it was no problem so just before 7.00am on Friday morning I started to take everything out of my freezer compartment putting them in bin bags and then covering them up with a sort of tarpaulin. Typical though it was terribly hot but one can't do anything about the weather.
 I then emptied my fridge and left the fresh milk in the fridge. I then started to defrost the freezer compartment. I saved most of the ice the washing up bowl. This I had collected from the freezer. I then stood the milk in the bowl and this kept the milk nice and cool.
 I finished defrosting by around 8.30am. Cleaning and drying all as I had been instructed to do. It looked nice and clean, if it hadn't been for a couple of freezer door lids with slight cracks it looked almost new.
 So now I was ready and had my breakfast.
 Just after 9.00am. I looked out of my front door and noticed a large van pull up. I opened the door and the man waved to me and shouted that he had a delivery for me also he was to pick up my old appliance.
 I was astounded as it was just about time that the slot should begin. (.05am. to 10.05am. I asked him where he had come from and he told me Barnsley and that this was a good job as he had plenty of work and he was working on a sort of circle with the last drop being at Scunthorpe.
 He asked me where the appliance was to be situated. I told him and asked if he could take away the packaging. He told me that there was no problem. He had a young assistant and they soon bought the new fridge/freezer in. I had moved the old one and I asked them if they could put it in the place where the old one had been. He did this readily also taking the package that protected the fridge during transit. He then made sure all was O.K. then plugged the appliance in but told me not to switch it on for an hour. It would then be fine.
 He remarked on my old appliance but also said the cookers were the worst appliances to remove. He then took my old one away, came back and asked me to sign and then was gone. In all, it took less than 20 minutes. I was very pleased with the service.
 I did remark to him that the service was fantastic. He told me that the Co-op was the best organised Company that he knew. I certainly couldn't fault the service received.
 It took about an hour for the freezer compartment to get cold enough to put my contents in. I just managed to fit all in, it did take the fridge compartment longer to cool down, nearly 2 hours but it is working fine, the temperature is lower than my old fridge compartment.
 I did try to freeze some vegetables and was delighted first how quickly they froze and secondly there was very little ice on them at all. More soon.

Expense

I have not been here for a few days because I have had some kitchen appliance problems.
 First I had a little trouble with my microwave so I went online and my mate was good enough to order it online and then pick it up at his local supermarket.
 He called to see me on Wednesday and I had told him about my fridge/freezer working overtime and he told me that it was probably getting low on gas. I immediately concurred and to be honest hadn't given it a thought. With the motor running most of the time I thought it was high time I looked for another one.
 As I wished to have a frost free fridge and freezer combined  the size was limited for me. I had, yeas had a fridge/freezer with a freezer capacity of 145 litres but there were none in the domestic department that reached this. The only ones were the double door sort which would not fit i9nto my kitchen even if I wished to have one.
 Well, after searching the web for well over an hour. I eventually found one that was 111 litres and it also had the frost free fridge/freezer. It was A+ rated so I decided to go ahead with it. This, by the way was early evening on Wednesday.
It was the cheapest by Co-op so I went to their web site and ordered it.
 To be honest all seemed to be straight forward. I was given a delivery day of Friday August 2nd. Yes, today so I paid by credit card, I also paid £9.99 to have my old fridge/freezer removed. It also stated that if I wished they would take away the packaging that the new one would have.
 I received an e-mail on Thursday instructing me to make sure the appliance was completely frost free, clean and had no water in it at all. It also stated that I would receive later in the day another e-mail giving me a time slot for when it would be delivered.
 Around 5.15pm. I went online and sure enough there was an e-mail. I was shocked to read that the delivery slot would be Friday morning between 9.05am. and 10.05am. Can this be true? I thought. Most Companies give an all day time, if one is lucky then perhaps an AM. or PM delivery slot is given. More soon.

All or nothing

It is either all or nothing. A couple of months ago I was buying vegetables, now I have plenty of different vegetables to choose from although I must admit that with the very hot weather my peas have come and more or less gone very quickly.
 I was fortunate with my cherries, on Sunday my Best Pal rung me up to let me know he was coming to see me on Monday with the news also that he was going back home the next day. He will of course be returning soon.
 As I had a blackbird in one of my fruit cages, I decide on Sunday to pick the fruit off the tree and save them for my Pal to take home to his family.
 I decide to put them in the fridge overnight and luckily checked them first thing on Monday. To my surprise quite a lot had begun to rot so I  sorted  them out made some  jam and also slice the best ones in  half, take the stones out and freeze them. This I can make a sort of ice cream with frozen bananas and other fruits such as peaches and nectarines.
 I then went out after my mid day meal and picked about 6lb of cherries. I also picked some carrots and a few beetroot. I just managed to get everything ready when he called.
 No sooner had we sat down to put the world right when we had a terrific thunderstorm. It lasted for almost 90 minutes. Still I had managed to get my fruit picked.
 The weather brightened up briefly around 4.15pm. My Pal left at 4.30pm. and about 15 minutes later it started to rain again. We had very little sun after 2.45pm.
This morning I went out to pick a few more cherries to give to people, to my surprise, the heavy rain had caused much damage to the cherries, however I managed to get enough but to be honest I guess 25% were ruined.
 I saw the workmen who s building an extension next door. I told him he had an early day yesterday. He told me he did and he also said he waited in his car for ages but did no more work at all yesterday. He looked up and suggested that we may get a repeat performance today. Although it turned very dull this afternoon the amount of rain was not also great as to stop them from working.
 As for my vegetables, I now have a choice of peas, broad beans, runner beans french beans, cauliflower carrots and marrow, so for now I am spoilt for choice, soon I will not have such a wide choice of vegetables. More soon.

Lively weather

 

 

 

Just a couple of photos of blackcurrants and cherries. Everything seems to get ripe at the same time. The cherries are called Stella. I have a later variety called Summer Sun. these will be ready within a week or so.
As for cherries, I have lots and lots of them, blackcurrants I made jam with those.
yesterday I got up before 6.30am. I was surprised to see that it had just started raining, not hard but a gentle rain. It finally stopped around 10.30am.
At 7.30am. I heard a noise and looked out to see that a local builders merchant was delivering some building materials. With the crane unloading it was quite noisy, I just had to laugh because I never would have thought that a delivery would be done that early.
Last night around 10.00pm. we had a terrific thunderstorm with torrential rain. One thing was certain was that all my water butts were once again full to overflowing and the garden now has had a good soak. I checked to see if the water had gone well into the ground, it indeed had.
 It will help my runner beans they are coming on well, I had again today another taste, soon I will have plenty to give away. That is typical, it is either all or nothing,  that's the way it goes. More soon.

Poor week end

The first peas are called Little Marvel, I picked around 7lb of them on one of the hotter days. My back ached after picking them. It was not easy as I have to cover them up with netting to stop the pigeons ruining the crops.
Shelling them too was not an easy job but I managed it alright.
 The lower peas are what a lot of people grow for showing. I am not interested in showing them though. They are Hurst Greenshaft. Commonly known as Greenshaft. These are the main crop where as Little Marvel are the first early variety. Unfortunately this year although I did sow the first early in March and the main crop in mid April, they were more or less ready at the same time this means that I will have lots of peas that will go to seed so that I can use them next year.
 I have picked, today several more fruits which I will post soon.
 Today has been a much better day although the forecast for the coming week is not good at all. Heavy rain and thunderstorms at times.
 The week end was a huge disappointment for anyone who came to the sea side. Saturday was rather dull and yesterday was a dreadful day. Dull all day with no sign of the sun at all, it was rather cool too. I was wearing shorts and going shirtless those days when the sun shone but yesterday I wore my trousers and shirt, I also put a jumper on as it was rather cool. Today started much as it was these last 2 days but around 11.00am. the skies began to brighten somewhat and it turned a lot warmer.
 Although much of the Country has had unbroken sunshine we on the East Coast have had several days where the sun has failed to shine at all so we have not had the blistering heat.
 We will see if we get the thunderstorms that are promised. More soon.

All O.K.

 

These pictures of my cottage garden were taken just before the hot weather arrived, just as well because the flowers are being affected by the sudden heat. Still I was very happy with the sight, plenty of colour and variety too.
Went to Hospital yesterday and to be honest this is the best I have known for efficiency.
 Normally when trying to park it is a nightmare but when I approached I noticed that the outlay was totally different. Much easier  to find a parking space and there were several spaces available. Still only £1 for an hour or £2 all day. On entering the building I spoke to one of the ancillary workers and I remarked on the car park> She then told me that everyone had to pay  for parking their car. Not good as most of those would be on the minimum wage.
 Anyway I booked in and immediately a Norse called me over. I knew her well as she has dealt with me before. She wanted me to be weighed. I begin to wonder if it is me or it is normal. What I had to do was take my jacket and shoes off then sit on this chair. This is the new way of checking your weight. I then sat down for a couple of minutes and at the appointed time my Consultant called me in. We both said it was nice to see each other and we had a social chat. Amongst other things he told me that he had been on social events lately including going to his Daughter's party. She had just become a Doctor, not here but in London. This is where he came from and his Wife still lives there and he told me he has 2 homes now. I told him that his base was really London, he agreed but I told him I didn't wish him to go back there to work as he had been a life saver to me.
 Anyway we passed a few more pleasantries and he told me that he was not worried about ma and another appointment would be made in 12 months time.
 After making my next appointment I left and noticed that it was less than 30 minutes that I had been there. This must be some sort of record.
 Called to see my Italian friend and his Wife, who incidentally is much better. He was complaining about the garden and how things were not growing much at all. I put my foot in it by telling him that I had my first cucumber on my plant.He took me to see his, they certainly looked far better than mine but he didn't have a fruit on his at all. It was more galling as it was him that gave me the cucumber plant. I did soften the blow by telling him that I gave my mate one and his also had nothing on yet.
 I saw his grape vine was full of smallish grapes with lots of seeds. It is my intention to have mine removed if possible as they are not good enough for me. I didn't tell him though because it was him that gave me a couple of cuttings, one of which I gave to my mate. He thinks the same as me about them.  We shall see what happens.  More soon.