Live Writer is Back

We woke this morning to more snow, this winter seems to be endless but what do we have to complain about after what is happening in Japan and the Pacific Basin my thoughts are very much with the people of that regions  and may their God be with them.

The continuing saga of my roof goes on we have been dried out for the second time and the painter arrived on Thursday morning to complete the decoration.  He then discovered the inside of our bedroom roof was wet again that is after all the repairs have been done so he did not start the job was ordered not to. Stuart and I are at a loss to know what to do now.  One positive thing that happened  is the plumber came back and reconnected the radiator which has been leaning against the wall disconnected for the last month.  It has been very cold in our room being the middle of winter, we were heating the room before we went up to bed but admit to forgetting some evenings and have regretted it. Last night was the first night with it working again and what a difference it made. Now awaiting another phone call to see what is going to happen now. I say we are waiting for a call that is because we cannot get them to answer their phone we always have to leave a message.  So you will see from my tale of woe we are not in the best of spirits I cannot complain too much to Stuart as he is not good when he gets upset as he does have a heart condition.

I am writing this on Live Writer what a difference it is so easy if you want to use it all you have to do Google ‘Live Writer’ then download it put the address of your blog in when asked and Bob’s your uncle as they say. Photographs go in where you want them straight from your pc and you just drag the corner to enlarge it’s all very simple. When you are finished you just press publish and it will bring up you blog automatically   and your done.  If you need a help just ask me I will only be to happy to help.

Just to prove it I will add a picture under here fingers crossed.

Goldfinches feeding in the garden on Niger seeds.

That’s about it for today hope to return with better news.

                                  Love,

                       Joan.

The Pictures for the last posting.

These are the pictures that go with the entry below so sorry to do it this way so just read down to the next entry and it will make sense. Love Joan.

The Saga of the roof.

Thought I should update you on the roof. We are still in the middle of things, this job seems to be taking forever. The outside work is finished thank goodness but they took so long and we had had so much rain we had to be dried off again with a dehumidifier. So now we are dry the room is half papered the radiator is still off the wall and we now are waiting on the painter to come. As you can well imagine we are both really fed up with it all there just does not seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Last Monday we decided as nobody was expected that day we would go on a wee run in the car. It was a wonderful day a cloudless blue sky and not too cold for this time of year. We too off for Creiff for coffee and scones then a run up to the bottom of the Sma Glen but the road we wanted to take was closed, been trying to find out why it is now six months which is a long time for a main road to be closed, maybe next time. We about turned and drove back out one thing about doing that in Scotland it all looks so different when you are going the other way there is so much to see. We stopped at a place known a the Buchanty Spout and we took some photographs. It is a very dangerous spot just now as the ground is still wet and very slippery so we were very careful not to fall or it would have been the end and you know what I'm like for falling down. Now as you know photos go in at the top and they won't drag for me so I will do another entry with the photographs. This is the one thing that annoys me the difficulty we have with pictures going in, have tried all ways it really ruins my enjoyment of putting pictures in altogether. To return to our day away it was lovely at the falls they are not huge but they are lovely and the light was great that day as you can see from the pictures. The sun shone all day and we really enjoyed our day away. Till next time when I hope to say the work is done at last. Love and take care. Joan.

roof Update

Just a little update about the roof. If you read my entry earlier this week you may remember that we have a leaking roof due to the dreadful weather we had earlier this year. Well the good news is the builder and the painters are arriving on Monday. A little prayer it is not blowing a gale or snowing on Monday morning. Take care Love Joan

It's Been A While.

It's been a long time since my last entry a lot has been happening up here. The dreadful winter weather we had during the last part of November all of December and part of January has left me with a leaking rook. According to the first inspection the ice that formed during our big freeze lifted the tiles on the roof and one of the gutterscame away making the water pour down from the corner of the house. A dehumidifier was delivered and a painter came in a scrapped all the paper off the bedroom walls. Another inspection declared the room dry so we now had to wait till a roofer was available. Then February came and you know what they say about February it brings the rain and it did torrents of it and yes you have guessed the roof leaked again so the inside roof and wall are wet again. Another inspection yesterday and at last someone went up onto the roof to take a look. He now says the pointing has been burst on the corner of the house moving the guttering. He will now send in another report. You may remember we just had our bedroom decorated in September and a new carpet etc so it is really annoying as now it is like living in a squat with no paper on the walls a leaking roof no furniture in the room with the exception of the beds. This has all happened since the start of the year. I just wish someone would come and get started. Stuart has been saying all along to the insurance company that we should fix the outside first before we dry off the inside and repaper the room. Enough of that now will keep you posted.
We were not been out and about very much in January our pavements were so bad we had to use the car as the road was better than where we were supposed to walk. Now the weather has eased a bit although as I write we have new snow on the ground, it fell on Monday and shows no signs of shifting from the countryside around.
We are now counting the days till the 1st of March that's when we like to say Spring has Sprung. Oh to get out in the garden which is in a dreadful state everything looks so dead. When I was out this morning tending the bird feeders there was a Blackbird singing so there is hope.
I was so sad last week to hear of the passing of Angie (Can You Hear Me at the Back) it was so sudden, I, like many will miss her a lot you always got a laugh at her entries she was always cheerful.
That's about it for today. Take care till next time.

Love Joan

Reminiscing.

First of all may I wish you all a Very Happy New Year. You will be wondering why I have decided to put my picture at the top instead of something witty or topical well the reason is I have lost everything on my PC and this is the only one I have left. I switched off as normal a couple of days and the next morning it said I was logged on as a temporary user and nothing get saved so I had to take a new identity out on the pc. Don't know what happened if anybody has any ideas I would love to hear them.

I was thinking this morning about New Year in Scotland when I was a young. It was such a big occasion full of traditions, all the cleaning of old years dirt, you don't dare empty you rubbish

bins on the 1st it's very bad luck, you never enter a house without a small gift, you never leave by a different door than the one you came in, you had to be dark haired to be a first foot and you sorted that out before the person answered the door. Even if you we going home you would always knock at the door (that is if somebody was home). It seems such a pity that all those traditions are going to be lost now with the advent of big street parties in Edinburgh etc firework displays and so on. We had such fun going from house to house this persons mum and dad someone's auntie and uncle, friends and neighbours the list was endless and took a few days to complete, and in to the bargain we walked most to the time with a planned route taking the bus to the furthest away one and working your way back home very exhausting but great fun.

When I was a child I used to listen to all the people coming from Dundee city square after bringing in the New Year there where they used to fire off ONE rocket to mark the time. I would hear everyone calling Happy New Year as they passed one another in the street. One great gift in Dundee for a first foot was a Kipper dressed up with a dress and hat on if you don't know what a Kipper is give it a google as it is to hard to explain. This year I have not seen a soul or had a phone call and its now tea time on the 2nd how times have changed.

Will have to get out with my camera and sort out the no pictures scenario, fortunately I do have some on a memory stick so all is not lost.

I think that's about it for today so till next time take care. Love Joan.