Vandals, Steamers and Farmyards

Hello everyone,

I hope you`ve all had a really nice weekend.  I have lots to tell you today.  I didn`t do an entry yesterday because I was out for most of the day.  We had our lunch at the garden centre and then went and visited a friend who has just been admitted to hospital.  We spent several hours there and had a good laugh with him and his wife and even though hospital isn`t meant to a be a fun place we had a great time!  When we went back to the car however, it was all change.  Some miserable individual had sprayed black paint over my front number plate...I was livid and drove home in a dark mood.  It took me over and hour it get it off completely, using white spirit and loads of elbow grease that resulted in a very painful shoulder. I am still not at all happy!

On Saturday morning Jim and I spent the morning varnishing the doors in the hall.  Thankfully the varnish is odour-free so wasn`t at all unpleasant to use. We only have three more doors to do and some varnishing of the skirting boards and then we are on to the wallpapering. Now we will have to decide on a design.  So far we are agreed that it will have a white background and will be washable, apart from that we are undecided.  Then of course it will be the carpet, that will probably be what I think is best, the same for the laminate flooring in the downstairs hall.  I know one thing, it`s going to look smashing when it`s finished!  The one other thing is that our central heating boiler is leaking, it`s only a small leak but it still needs a plumber to fix it.  We haven`t been able to contact our nephew who does all our plumbing work for us so we are looking round for a heating engineer that won`t try to rip us off.  We found one in the local paper that meets all the official criteria and guarantee their work, plus they don`t have a call-out charge..very important that.

Yesterday evening I used the new steamer for the first time.  Jim bought it just after Christmas and up till now I`ve not been bothered with it.  I am so impressed with it too.  The vegetables I cooked, baby carrots and cauliflower were delicious and I`ll use it all the time in future.  We had rib-eye steak for our dinner last night, accompianied by the above veggies and roast potatoes.  I`ll say it again, the steamer made all the difference.

Now to the trip to Odds Farm Park.  We went this afternoon and had a really good time there.  Despite being a lovely sunny day it was accompanied by a chilly wind and only me and Roman were really dressed for it.  I had a really thick scarf and gloves, and I even popped a woolly hat in my handbag just in case.  Odds Farm has a rare breeds programme and we saw all sorts of sheep, goats, pigs and cows.  A few of them from endangered species.  It was a nice afternoon out though a bit overpriced for the couple of hours that we were there.  I would think it would be worth the £6 entrance fee in Summer when there are more activities for children and you can sit outside and have a picnic while the kiddies are in the play park.  Also there are `maternity` pens where ewes and their new-born lambs stay for a while.  In one of the pens was a mother and her baby who was born this morning.  The baby lamb was fast asleep and no bigger than a small cat, it was so cute though.

On the way home Roman fell asleep in the car, with him being so young he wasn`t too interested in the Farm but all the country air had made him very sleepy, bless him.  Jim thought it was a good idea to go for a drive before going home.  We drove through to Marlow and it`s surrounding villages before reaching Henley-on-Thames where the regatta is held every summer.  I had forgotten just how pretty the Buckinghamshire countryside is with it`s hills and valleys.  Jim and I have decided to go out at least once a week on his days off once the weather is warmer.  We can take Jake with us and just leave the car somewhere and walk along the Thames.

On the way home I was delighted to see a couple of Red Kites, one of which was flying directly overhead and I got a great view of it. If only I`d have been able to get a photo, they are beautiful birds.  I forgot to say, Jim is helping out our friend who is in hospital by walking there dog Marshall with Jake.  They are great mates so they run around playing until they are exhausted.  When Jim came home poor Jake was shattered, he`s a couple of years older than Marshall and even though he`s only 3 Marshall is still not much more than an overgrown puppy at 16 mths.  He`s also a much lighter built dog being a German Shepherd.  Jim took them both out early this morning and we`ll both be taking them tomorrow afternoon. I could do with the exercise myself, but I don`t think I`ll be rolling in the muddy puddles like they do...lol!

I`ve been having major problems with my email since Friday night.  I opened my `read email` and all I got were a line of envelopes with nothing at all in the subject line, so I`ve been reading them all `blind` which doesn`t give me any protection in case of a dodgy email.  Also I can`t reply to any `forwards` that I get sent either.  Oddly, Jim settings are fine, it`s just mine that are affected.  I think I might dis-install AOL and start all over again, it`s worth a try.  Until I get it right it`s taking me forever to find my alerts etc.  The sooner it`s sorted out the better.  Anyway, I`m off to try to find any alerts that I`ve received today.  Have a lovely evening and I hope AOL is treating you better than me...lol!