Not only is he handsome SANDY Hobbes is the biggest domestic cat I've ever seen with a huge, long, fluffy tail. He's more than double the size of Jilly but she loves him.

Hes a Siberian something or other.
Anne.

Alfred Tennyson indeed, JACKIE and PATSY

Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Cannon in front of them.
Volley'd and thunder'd:
Storm'd at with shot and shell.
Boldly they rode and well.
Into the jaws of Death.
Into the mouth of Hell.
Rode the six hundred.

[Theirs was not to make reply,
Theirs was not to reason why,
Theirs was but to do and die]

Anne.

All is good here. No ailing family members. Mild enough weather for walking even for Bessie who has less tolerance for wind and rain. We discovered a great show on Amazon---"Grantchester" about a vicar who teamed up with the police to solve murders and has a few romances along the way. It is a Masterpiece Mystery set in small town England in 1953.

Barbie

Sandy: I have never smoked nor has John, except John playfully used to try to smoke a cigar. However, most of my family smoked especially those on the ranch. Tobacco , nicotine, is more addictive than most drugs.. A terrible addiction, I guess. It killed my parents and my brother, not to mention. Babe is going to have a hard time finding assisted living that will accept a smoker. He is in a terrible situation. All my best wishes and hopes for a solution.

Anne: I have been in your shoes, my love. I went from fear, anger, depression, to hope and back again when I was dealing with that neuralgia. I think the worst was the constant exhaustion from so little rest. I can’t remember how long I suffered but it was way too long! And I had medication!!!!

Barbie: I love PBS. I love almost all their programs.

Lin: busy lady. Love the elegant tea pot. Kind of like my gran used to have.

Exercise and dusting and making spinach crustless quiche. John is vacuuming and maybe sweeping the front deck. Maybe….he would rather do something else. Anything else!
Patsy☘️❣️

Hello friends.

I have my new bank accounts open. Procedures have changed A LOT! I had to write down pieces of my personal information on a pad of paper and the representative typed it in. He had me electronically sign and when he was finished, he printed the documents and out them in a folder and pushed them over to me. I said excuse me, I would like to look these over before I leave. I read over every field of information he entered and found he had messed up my email address. He said he changed it in the records. I could not see it and he would not reprint. He wrote down the email address on a piece of paper and pushed it across the range asking if this was right. I did not want my middle name to appear on the account but he refused to remove it. I asked about the ability to electronically transfer money from these accounts to another bank or credit union. He said I could do that. The documents I received and started to read when I got home (and I will never finish reading them as there are so many pages of small print) said nothing about external transfers, just internal transfers. I asked about setting up online access and he didn’t have anything to offer except to write down the name of the app on a piece of paper. I said I preferred web access and he didn’t know if that was possible. Just the app.

So glad that is over but I do believe there will be hiccups as I settle in.

I went to the store after lunch and picked up some things, quite a few bare shelves again.

Other than that, a group of us had an online conversation this morning about the state of the world, mostly Putin.

This afternoon, a friend called and we had a nice long talk. She was in a great mood as she had just found out she was getting a healthy income tax refund. And no property taxes to pay now or homeowners insurance. The financial pressure in her life is removed. She is renting a small house from family members and it is working out very well. Her life is so happy now.

Patsy, it sounds as if you and John are well again. Yippee! I am happy for you. Enjoy your crustless quiche if you decide to make some. Is Katie in a better and more relaxed mood now that you and John are busy with chores?

Jackie, best wishes for your trip tomorrow to get your tooth fixed. Hope the traffic is not bad and the repair goes smoothly. (And doesn’t hurt.). Oooh, how marvelous that you live so close to that church. Your country is so gorgeous.

Sandy, I hope your busy week doesn’t exhaust you before you go on your vacation. I am wishing you the bestest ever vacation. You have been looking forward to this for so long. ❤️ Hope you got Babe back home safely.

Barbie, I too have been a Grantchester watcher, especially the early episodes with Sidney the dishy Vicar. Enjoy! I too am a PBS fan.

Anne, my friend has “Atopic dermatitis” also known as eczema. She has flare ups with each Covid shot but also with many other prescription drugs, as well as laundry products, and more. And with other vaccinations. Her outbreaks can last for a very long time. It is an unpredictable condition. I am not much for poetry in my older days but lots of songs are coming to mind and I sing some each day now. 🙃

Be safe everyone.

Lin🙋🏼‍♀️
❤️❤️

Golly, I hope I haven't got that LIN. Anne.

Oh boo boo! Lost my huge long post!
Patsy☘️

An eventful day for me that began when I was pulling boots on ready to walk George and Betty and my phone rang. It was Chrissie’s Katie asking if we could talk about a dog walking schedule. After 5 minutes and my agreement to walk Sunday and Monday, I explained I had to walk before driving to Plymouth then off we went round the block. Drizzle but mild so not unpleasant. Chatted to neighbour Debs when we got home about there being no diesel available locally so she couldn’t work but my car uses petrol so off I went to Plymouth and my dental appointment. It took a while but my tooth is repaired so my mouth feels normal again. Advice from my charming young dentist Stephen… stop eating liquorice allsorts!,
A short grocery shop on the way home then, as I eat some lunch Sue, who used to help me with the garden, appeared in my garden with 3 potted plants. She is here to view another property and as she left she tried to hug me but I quickly stepped back telling her no way as she is not vaccinated. She’s anti vaccine! She did apologise for pushing into my personal space in a later email so that’s ok!
My day didn’t finish there because I then got a call from Katie to say Chrissie had been taken to hospital and could I help her take Bella to a foster home she had arranged. When I got there Bella was a bit sad but calm so once we had her bed, toys, food etc we walked her to my car and she got straight in. Just goes to show Chrissie has been worrying about nothing on that score. The great thing about living in a small community is the connections we have because Katie had put out a request for a temporary foster home on Facebook which a friend responded to saying her gran would be happy to look after her. We get to her house to discover it’s someone I’ve known for years as we often see each other dog walking then when we mention the name Chrissie she says she knows her from years ago when she helped walking a previous dog when she was unwell. Not only that, she knows my neighbour Debs so we will all keep in touch and I’ve said I’ll walk Bella any time she can’t. I came very close to bringing Bella home with me and Katie had wanted to do the same so that sad little creature has wormed her way into our hearts!

Lin, I think those cookies are real all butter biscuits. The butter gives them that golden glow!
A lovely photo of Volodymyr with his dogs in happier times. I’m following daily you tube videos posted by an Englishman who is living in the basement of his place of work somewhere in Kyiv with his Ukrainian wife, daughter and cat called Pumpkin. A group of us from around the world leave daily comments on his video page which is apparently making life more bearable for them. His name is Dan Baker if you’d like to look him up and say Hi.



Patsy, oh drat! I feel for you losing that post. I’ve done it so many times myself! I hope it was full of news that you, John and crazy Katie are fine!f

Anne, you are sounding positive about improvements which is great.

Sandy, counting the days!! I’m afraid Babe doesn’t know what side his bread is buttered on.

I’m feeling shattered and it’s gone midnight so must get to bed.
Jackie 😴💤

I AM in a more positive frame of mind Jackie, it helps Mike now is in the same boat! I couldn't go out because my right ankle was so swollen I couldn't get shoes or boots on. Our Sandy keeps sending me socks! I've a drawerful of colourful socks some with Union Jacks on them!
I could only get the doc on the phone and he just thought, like me, long term shingles. Now I've clued in to eczema such a relief. Its fading on my feet but slowly climbing up to the Anne posterior. Charming. I soon won't have any skin left that hasn't seen an outbreak which is good news because it will have nowhere else to go. There is no cure, just moisturizer and short lukewarm showers.
Mike took two photos at the worst, one of the facial shingles and one of the ankle. I'm mad that he hasn't destroyed them! He wants me to post them on the Sneakers. If I did you would all have nightmares for weeks and I'd be banned for life.
So roll on spring!!!!!! Better days are coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anne

Oh a weird rain-hail-sleet-sunny kind of day. It simply can’t make up its mind! All in all, I’d call it disturbingly confused weather. I will stay inside. Katie will be going in and out to test the weather and try to eat the little bits of hail before they melt. It is doggie thing….our sons doggie does the same thing apparently.

As I said yesterday on my crazy disappearing post, Ash Wednesday always brings a flood of childhood memories for me. My gran brought with her a strange collection Irish religious beliefs that are loosely connected to the Catholic Church. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday she had us read or draw in our notebooks or say the rosary. We were to be quiet and respectful all day. Not easy for me as I remember. But the most interesting thing was my gran regaling us with ominous tales of the devil walking the earth on Ash Wednesday. And Good Friday. She told us scary tales of the milk souring in the bucket before we could get from the barn to the milk room. Horses baying like wolves, chickens flying up over the henhouse. On and on, the strange occurrences only happened on these days often in broad daylight! My cousins and I were terrified as she warned us about being disrespectful or naughty. I don’t think it left a lasting effect however, on any of us.

Have a good day, all.
Patsy☘️

Today was warmer than normal so I pulled weeds for 20 minutes just to remind myself of how much I'll enjoy spring when it gets here.
Barbie

Pretty tea set LIN and a big thank you again for clueing me in. I gather prices here are going up again on just about everything and today there is a rise of another 7 cents at the gas pumps.
I too wondered what had happened to everyone yesterday, but it seems everyone is now posting near the end of the day. By the way we are getting your balmy weather on Sunday. Can't wait and a chance to wear the light linen shirt I ordered a week ago.
I'll start posting later as well.. Might have some news then with Michaels appearance, the grocery man, and Mark who's been staying home since Derek and all his friends where over at the M's house moving him out, and thus one of them could have had Corvid according to my slightly paranoid son and DIL. They tested yesterday - nil.
Anne.

Just been looking at BBC News and its so horrendous decided I'd stick with JACKIE and the burnt eggs who I can relate to big time. Jilly warns me of visitors but she hasn't clued in yet to burnt pans and brown shelled eggs. We are waiting for the groceries to arrive and the excitement of what's OUT OF STOCK this week and what the packer has sent me as a substitute. Actually I've found one or two things this way that I would never have dreamed of ordering normally. Last week, a bigger than normal Savoy cabbage duly cut into three and shared with Mike and Mary Jo. Will let you know what comes this week instead of, but I already know chicken breast is in short supply and ordered thighs instead.
I'm digging Atlantic salmon out of the freezer for me and Mike today and a small chunk for the Bean.
Yours in anticipation of grocery order,
Anne. [scratching less, yeah!}