What are you all up to

Absolutely ttda - when I took Meg to the emergency vet's - albeit on a Bank Holiday, I was warned that it was £300 just to step through the door! Then add on X-rays, blood tests, antibiotics and a days rest on a drip in their 'hospital' to get her re-hydrated and you can imagine what the final bill was.

Would I have done anything else - no way - all we were bothered about was getting her back, fit and well. 

What absolutely amazed me though, was that they had the blood test results in 5 minutes and the Vet came into the waiting room and showed me the X-ray scans on her mobile phone, a few minutes after doing them. I will resist posing the obvious question!

Sorry some of you guys are not having such great weather, we have been blessed with plenty of sunshine and plenty of warmth and it is set to continue for at least another 5 days, off to Cornwall for 1 month on Sunday, caravan almost ready, we have decided to take minimum amounts of food and shop when we arrive, clothes, well that is another story, I am sure we will only wear half of what we are taking, hopefully, but i guess this is the UK and one has to be prepared.

Took this photo at approx 1700 hrs yesterday as i was getting out of the water, it is a cruise liner and she is in the deep water channel between Cowes and Lymington, the sun was just starting to set, we seem to see more cruise ships than cargo vessels these days, seldom see the very large container ships from the Far East whereas you always saw 1 or 2 off the IOW,

still a bit dull but we are set for another scorcher, got some gardening to do before we depart but have a gardener coming in whilst we are away to do the autumn cutback etc, cant do ladders since i had my knees replaced. Hope the sun shines for you whereever you are

Rufs

I am always amazed at the number cruise ships that seem to depart from Southampton on the same day. Must have a big impact on the roads into Southampton. The first cruise we did we stayed in Southampton the night before but the second we travelled down on the day of the cruise. I think any future cruises will be an overnight stay as its too stressful. Only trouble with staying the night before is that you have time to kill until you embarkation time. 

David

Good to read folks news and see lovely photos.

Weather here has been dry, apart from Saturday - WET it's been warm, 24 currently but we are lacking sun. Grey skies again.

Continued to feel under par so have done essentials only, caught up with emails but not much else. I think I'm beginning to feel better. 🤞I'm not good at not functioning properly.

David I'm glad Lizzie is OK. Hopefully she'll be alright now. Those vet fees sound brilliant. Yes it's amazing how fast xrays and bloods are received by vets. Or in A&E and the dentist, not such much blood at the latter! RichardandRos I'm not even going to think about your Boxing Day bill, but they are worth it. We don't pay pet insurance, pop the premiums to one side and hope they accumulate enough. By luck, well some research too, we joined a self owned vets, husband and wife and can't complain about the costs. We did have insurance for the first couple of years, but it doesn't cover routine things and the only time we may have claimed it would have been less than £50. Premiums go up annually regardless and as they age.

Rufus you text worried me greatly,  Took this photo at approx 1700 hrs yesterday as i was getting out of the water, it is a cruise liner and she is in the deep water channel between Cowes and Lymington, the sun was just starting to set,  

I know the evenings are getting shorter but please confirm this was a typo ...

Lovely scene though made me jealous, not seen the sea this year.

Milliehull I've not done Easton Walled Gardens since finding myself on a very short run onto the A1 🫣. But we did Barnsdale earlier this year and enjoyed it.

Yesterday, everything was in alignment 😂 and we agreed to go out, heading for Rutland Water for an explore and lunch. Dora came too. However although warm and windy no sun. I remembered we'd had details of a Garden Centre near Oakham, with a restaurant, so thought we'd explore there first. AMAZING! They'd created about a dozen parking spaces with shade.we were the only ones with a dog using them, others just using them. There was a sign saying enclosed dog field by the entry. So off Dora and I went to explore. Puts at lots of CMAC ones to shame!

On entering the car park I saw a big Lakeland sign 😀. Well.that was just the start. A Pavers, huge farm shop, lovely restaurant, gifts, books, toys none as stuck.in the corner but really nice big areas, soft furnishings oh and a huge garden centre that we didn't really explore. Owing to the fact we fell in love with 2 paintings....... which look fabulous indoors, not where we originally thought! We had a lovely lunch, saved cooking dinner 😉 and 3 plant pot holders. I also wanted to visit Lakeland. We did skim round the marvellous garden centre,being decorated for Halloween.  Cashier said Christmas Dec's are amazing DON'T go weekend or school holidays!

I feel we will have another visit before too long, so much more to explore.

Not sure why the font has changed since I copied and pasted Rufus' but it's much easier on the eyes!

OH has just called lunch, so I'm off.

Sorry should have included congratulations to all those who have heard children/grandchildren achieved well in their exams. 

Swift edit I see all text is the same now! I never cease to wonder at this sites IT....

Rufus you text worried me greatly,  Took this photo at approx 1700 hrs yesterday as i was getting out of the water, it is a cruise liner and she is in the deep water channel between Cowes and Lymington, the sun was just starting to set,  

I know the evenings are getting shorter but please confirm this was a typo ...

No def approx 1700 hrs, high tide was 1830 ish so i was able to get a good swim in reasonably deep water, i think the photo is perhaps a little mis-leading as i was on a south facing beach and the sun was starting to set really slowly into the west, leaving the ship as a silhouette with the sun shimmering on the surface of the solent.

"I am always amazed at the number cruise ships that seem to depart from Southampton on the same day"

yes David we have seen 8 or 10 on a saturday afternoon/evening, leaving Southamton, it is unusual to see them mid-week, we also have the new terminal at Portsmouth Harbour which is currently home to some of the Virgin Cruises, now those are the vessels to watch out for, these are for older people, no children i believe.If you want to avoid the hassle go for SAGA cruises, i believe they pick you up at your door, taxi of course, not the ship 

Always something going on on the Solent we have 3 sailing clubs within 5 miles of each other and then of course we get all the yachts etc from Cowes + lots of kite boarding and wind surfing, watched the local life boat crew rescue 1 man and his dog last week, silly billy had the dog on his paddle board, was out far too deap when the dog jumped off and headed for the IOW, he did leave his paddle board and swim for the dog which he caught due to the fact it had a long lead attached to collar, however he was never going to catch his paddle board, but the inshore crew came to the rescue so all good. Quite a strong pull 1 hour before high and low tides as the water surges in/out between the IOW and Lymington and at Southsea.

p.s. Lee on solent to IOW is approx 20 miles , not something i would do today 

The guys came to finish my section of decking today. Looks very nice and we now have to start looking for a suitable Gazebo to go on it.

David

well blow me down, no sooner said we did not see many container ships when in sails one of Hapag LLoyds container ships, these are the giants of the ocean, same position but she is sailing into port, this was taken at approx 1630 hrs. There is a speed limit of 10 knots in the deep water channel so it seems to take them forever to move down the IOW

get yourself an ensemble and you could hold your very own tea dances, lovely, when we moved here we had a very large patio but we built a conservatory on part of it, not sure that was such a good idea, it is like throwing pound notes out of the window during the winter months to heat it, looked at getting an insulated roof but at £12k it is a bridge too far, that is a lot of £ notes to throw out of the window

Bakers, Easton is a lovely visit, I think it was Millie who recommended it to us, and we have been a few times now. It has lots of parking, but be aware you cannot take a dog around the gardens. We are always ok, as we are in MH, and park in shade with lots of windows left open. The garden shop and plants are lovely, I spent a fortune last time we were there. Nice eateries as well.

Nice day here, mainly sunny, 24c. After a few chores and a pooch stroll, we braved the pool. It’s not getting as warm as it was now, but hoping we can keep going. Do have a secret weapon though…..shorty wetsuits🤣 Niece called in for a cuppa, now she is a real hardened wild swimmer, has done the Ice Championships up in Scotland. Heading to Leeds for a swim in a country park Ex quarry pool🥶

Very little sun here today but it ended up very humid and warm. According to the weather forecast this evening it reached 30 degrees in some parts of Cambs which I can well believe. I started to do some gardening first thing but had to give up after an hour or so as it was too hot. I managed to plant the plants we bought at our garden visits over the weekend though. I am trying to re-design one of our garden beds (again!). I have never been completely happy with this particular bed so I am having another go.

I hope those who have had tooth trouble over the weekend have managed to see a dentist.

Well we are now into the last few days of summer which is quite sad as it is my favourite season. Grand-daughter in N Ireland started back at school today. An induction into the 6th form day. I came across a photo taken of her the day she started at Primary School the other day and now our great grandson starts primary school next week. How time flies!