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"What have you eaten" Parallel Chat

Yes, the exceptionally wet weather has produced a bumper crop of slugs! @shelley262. Some gardeners persisted in putting slug pellets round their plants only to poison our hedgehogs, toads and song thrushes, so now we have fewer slug eaters to keep their numbers down.

I love garden tomatoes too. Which varieties do you grow?
agree 're slug pellets dreadful things. I tend not to use anything but green fingered friend whose beans survived used nematodes - she used them in early planting season and they allowed her beans to get clear of slug munching before the slugs came back! as a biological solution think it's better? Am considering doing same next Spring.
're my tomatoes I have 9 different varieties both from friends with greenhouses and our local plant nursery. Varieties include a few popular ones like moneymaker, gardeners delight but also plum tomatoes and black russian plus orange and yellow cherry tomatoes.
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Went for a swim 'first thing' in the morning, just in time for it not to be afternoon.
A second swim in the evening with neighbour Astrid, who's having a hard time finally having decided to end her abusive relationship a week ago.
She came inebriated, we swam shortly after when I was still fine to drive, and then we both drank more with a lot of talking.
Swimming early evening is very complicated with my diabetes, and more so with beer thrown into the mix, but I won this diabetes game!

I had planned a nice meal, but hours of talking with Astrid threw those plans out of the window, I'll have to improvise very soon or revert to chicory with hummus and pork scratchings with aioli in bed.
No chance on a toasty, my LC bread has gone mouldy and I forgot too buy new bread.
 
I had planned a nice meal, but hours of talking with Astrid threw those plans out of the window, I'll have to improvise very soon or revert to chicory with hummus and pork scratchings with aioli in bed.
I surprised myself, went to the kitchen to eat whatever straight from the fridge but came back with a decent meal!

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My beans are slug free (so far!) but are right next to my courgettes which are being decimated by slugs... !
My hostas were all being eaten so I moved them from under shadow and other plants ( as per Monty Don) mulched with sharp gravel and egg shells and are still being eaten :banghead:

I don't understand nature :arghh:
 
Looks like it to me, it was underweight at a little over 500 grams, being a young one, according to the professionals. But while I'm pretty good at reading, I'm not good at interpreting visual information at all, so many birds look the same to me unless someone points out their differences to me.
They had two adult birds of the same species in te sanctuary, and their heads looked much wider to me if that helps.
Afraid I have zero experience of goshawks @Antje77. Currently, there are only 400 to 500 breeding pairs in the UK. Relentless persecution and habitat loss plus the insidious effects of DDT in the 1950s and 1960s snuffed out any prospect of recovery.

Thankfully, the population has managed to bounce back following stringent pesticide regulation after the UK joined the EU in 1973, but their elusive nature and hunting methods means they are extremely difficult to observe in the wild.

What a treat to have seen this magnificent creature at such close range!
 
agree 're slug pellets dreadful things. I tend not to use anything but green fingered friend whose beans survived used nematodes - she used them in early planting season and they allowed her beans to get clear of slug munching before the slugs came back! as a biological solution think it's better? Am considering doing same next Spring.
're my tomatoes I have 9 different varieties both from friends with greenhouses and our local plant nursery. Varieties include a few popular ones like moneymaker, gardeners delight but also plum tomatoes and black russian plus orange and yellow cherry tomatoes.
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View attachment 68980
Yes, the slug pellets containing metaldehyde are now banned form sale in the UK @shelley262 (and about time too) but even the so-called organic pellets are harmful to wildlife. I'm all in favour of biological control, but have yet to try the nematodes.

What a great range of tomato varieties! We like harbinger and outdoor girl.
 
My beans are slug free (so far!) but are right next to my courgettes which are being decimated by slugs... !
My hostas were all being eaten so I moved them from under shadow and other plants ( as per Monty Don) mulched with sharp gravel and egg shells and are still being eaten :banghead:

I don't understand nature :arghh:
Egg shells have their uses in the garden @MrsA2, but I've found spent coffee grounds more effective in discouraging slugs.
Now that our trusty hedgehogs and toads have returned, I'm hoping they'll help keep slug numbers in check.
 
BGs still a bit on the high side this morning, but only in the 8's rather than the 10-15 range of yesterday. Took my normal 48 units of Tresibo this morning. Libre is still being a bit odd and I wonder if it is breaking down. The reading it gives seems to be OK, agreeing with the finger prick, but it keeps sounding an alarm that it has lost the signal.

Breakfast today will be the last little bit of the cassoulet - one sausage, one bit of chicken some onions and a few beans.
2nd meal will be a spiced fish stew made with a pack of mixed fish chunks - salmon, smoked haddock and a white fish I haven't identified.

I've been trying to find an odd-job man to employ to do the work in the loft that Neil has finally admitted he can't do due to the particles that come off of the glass fibre insulation that the workmen put down. He has been wearing an eye shield and a serious mask to work up there but it still gets to his (very vulnerable) chest and eyes. So far, I haven't been able to find anyone to do the work. There used to be loads of people around who advertised in the local shop, but now there are none and the one that I found online didn't answer my enquiry.
 
2 scrambled eggs and a bit of brie as fuel before a walk with the local ramblers group
We were walking 3 hours and it was glorious .
Iced coffee after
Later some ham wrapped around brie
D: 2 burgers with salad. A small tiarmisu
Visited relative in hospital
Finally a much enjoyed glass of wine
 
BGs still a bit on the high side this morning, but only in the 8's rather than the 10-15 range of yesterday. Took my normal 48 units of Tresibo this morning. Libre is still being a bit odd and I wonder if it is breaking down. The reading it gives seems to be OK, agreeing with the finger prick, but it keeps sounding an alarm that it has lost the signal.

Breakfast today will be the last little bit of the cassoulet - one sausage, one bit of chicken some onions and a few beans.
2nd meal will be a spiced fish stew made with a pack of mixed fish chunks - salmon, smoked haddock and a white fish I haven't identified.
It's good to know your Libre and finger-prick readings are comparable @Annb and your blood glucose levels improving. That must be reassuring.
 
I just received an email with a cooler picture so here it is! :happy:

View attachment 68953
Late reply.
Have had a few days off.
@Antje77 , I think this is a kestrel. The bands on the tail feathers, the colour of the chest, and the markings make me think that.
A beautiful, silent stealth killer. I reach that conclusion because we used to have one visit our garden. It wasn’t at all concerned that I was standing out there as it swept past me and caught a blackbird before I was even aware of it being there.
 
B: a good chunk of Brie
An hours walk with a friend
Gardening
L: 3 rashers bacon with 1 boiled egg on salad
Mid afternoon a boiled egg and a sq 90% chocolate
D: 2 chicken thighs wrapped in bacon and air fried. Half a carrot and green beans. A glass white wine. 2 strawberries with cream
Another walk, about 40 minutes
 
And how's the BG behaving today @Annb?
Back to fairly normal today, but not the stable 5's that I did manage a week or so back. Usual amount of basal insulin and small amounts of bolus to deal with food has kept it in the 7's most of the day. My diabetes nurse will be more comfortable with that.
 
Back to fairly normal today, but not the stable 5's that I did manage a week or so back. Usual amount of basal insulin and small amounts of bolus to deal with food has kept it in the 7's most of the day. My diabetes nurse will be more comfortable with that.
Makes perfect sense with that one half dose of Tresiba missing from a couple of days ago, you're still having a little less basal than you're used to with the long action time of Tresiba.

My life has been perfectly hecting still, ever since my neighbour Astrid split up with her husband some two weeks (?) ago, life has revolved around her, Tale (neighbour in the garden) and I doing things together, and a lot of listening to her working out what went wrong in her relationship and getting to terms with this, plus the occasional stern talking to from our side.
Hectic and emotional or not, a lot of good times have been had, and I think the three of us are all working very hard to protect a 3 way friendship with complications.

I expect my sleepovers with Tale have ended, he's very much in love with Astrid. I'll miss those a lot, but I already found out that serious 5 minutes long hugs are still in.
Astrid feels bad for me for taking this away from me, but it's not her doing. Tales feelings and enthousiasm for her are stronger than the other way around, at least at the moment, no matter what she says, he's not likely to want to share a bed with me at the moment even if she'd like us to.
In the longer run, I do expect them to get together, and I wish them all the happiness they can find.

For now, she's the one making sure I'm included, possibly partially to give herself some room from Tale who seems to be going a little too fast with all his feelings.

Have I mentioned not having a television before? I'm sure you'll understand we need to create our own soap series around here! :hilarious:

Anyway, today was pretty much a typical day during the weekend:
Fed animals, brewed coffee, went for a quick swim before Astrid came to pick us up at 10 am.
We went to visit a friend who is drowning in her household chores, and the 3 of us spent 3.5 hours cleaning at her place so she can have people sleeping over at her birthday party next weekend. We brought 5 washing machines worth of laundry back, lots of room for drying here so we can get through it in a day.

After that it was a saltwater swim, absolutely amazing newly discovered swimming spot!

Over to Astrid's place, she has a leaking roof. Tale will have 3 weeks of holiday in a week, we bought wood for repairing earlier and went to measure and saw today, so Astrid and I can sand and paint this week before Tale has time to fix the roof.
I hung the first load of laundry while Tale and Astrid prepared dinner, chilli sin carne, difficult but not dramatic on the diabetes.

It looks like the next weeks will be full of work done together: First the fixing of Astrid's roof, which will be a lot of work but at least Tale knows what he's doing and we can simply follow orders. Then Tale wants to pave the area in front of his trailer with tiles because of the mud, which means shoveling sand and carrying tiles, we'll see how my arm like that. And then they have decided it's time for a serious spring clean in my house.

Oh, and there's also a party next weekend, where we'll sleep in the house of Tale's ex wife afterwards, and a small festival where we'll be sleeping in a tent for two nights the weekend afterwards. How many tents for the 3 of us, and who will sleep in which tent is still to be decided. Astrid has already said she'll use a separate tent and Tale and I can snore together, apparently we're both pretty bad, not sure Tale is up to this arrangement though. :hilarious:
I'll need to learn to dose for caipirinhas, the signature drink of this festival...

So don't worry if you don't hear much from me, it's just that I'm very busy!

edit: I did manage a quick swim every morning this week, rather proud of myself!
With the occasionally added later swim, I went swimming 9 times in the past 7 days. :joyful:
 
Late reply.
Have had a few days off.
@Antje77 , I think this is a kestrel. The bands on the tail feathers, the colour of the chest, and the markings make me think that.
A beautiful, silent stealth killer. I reach that conclusion because we used to have one visit our garden. It wasn’t at all concerned that I was standing out there as it swept past me and caught a blackbird before I was even aware of it being there.
Funnily enough, I thought so too @Pipp. That was my initial reaction, but on closer inspection I believe it was a trick of the light. The plumage markings suggest this is a young goshawk, juveniles having browner chests than mature adults.
 
Makes perfect sense with that one half dose of Tresiba missing from a couple of days ago, you're still having a little less basal than you're used to with the long action time of Tresiba.

My life has been perfectly hecting still, ever since my neighbour Astrid split up with her husband some two weeks (?) ago, life has revolved around her, Tale (neighbour in the garden) and I doing things together, and a lot of listening to her working out what went wrong in her relationship and getting to terms with this, plus the occasional stern talking to from our side.
Hectic and emotional or not, a lot of good times have been had, and I think the three of us are all working very hard to protect a 3 way friendship with complications.

I expect my sleepovers with Tale have ended, he's very much in love with Astrid. I'll miss those a lot, but I already found out that serious 5 minutes long hugs are still in.
Astrid feels bad for me for taking this away from me, but it's not her doing. Tales feelings and enthousiasm for her are stronger than the other way around, at least at the moment, no matter what she says, he's not likely to want to share a bed with me at the moment even if she'd like us to.
In the longer run, I do expect them to get together, and I wish them all the happiness they can find.

For now, she's the one making sure I'm included, possibly partially to give herself some room from Tale who seems to be going a little too fast with all his feelings.

Have I mentioned not having a television before? I'm sure you'll understand we need to create our own soap series around here! :hilarious:
:joyful:
Absolutely @Antje77. There's enough material there for a TV series!
 
Morning all. @ANTJE, you can never say that your life is boring!! I envy you. Although I have had a hectic weekend. My Irish granddaughter came up from London and we went to the 156th Heckington Show. Unfortunately, my other granddaughter was ill and couldn't make it. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time. There were so many different things to watch. Show-jumping, digger-dancing (yes, you read that right!), cycle-racing, running, motor-cycle dare-devilry. Stalls galore . We had a go at the Japanese art of flower bashing. By covering the flowers with a material and bashing them. you transfer the colour in the petals onto the material. It does have a Japanese name but I can't remember it. They said that they used this method years ago to decorate kimonos. I packed us up some diabetic-friendly foods and I only had one small ice cream! There was also a concert in the evening with a Madness Tribute Band taking centre stage. During the afternoon, there was a show with The Wrinkly Rockers playing Rock and Roll (my kind of music! I do also like some Opera and Classical) One of the musicians sits next to me at Lunch Club on Mondays. I was stunned how good he was on the lead guitar. All in all, I had a wonderful weekend and hope that you all did too. :joyful::joyful::joyful:
 
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