Haven't seen that one before Frodo.

Hadn't heard of those family trees Hicky. Well...I've heard of Family trees, but not family trees, if you know what I mean.

Didn't know you were Scottish Fluffy? I may be a bit Scottish myself; when it suits me.

Me like the posh ones on Gogglebox.

Born and brought up in Clydebank, but live in Lanarkshire now.

I've spent most of my life in the Borders (but born in England though. ssssh)

My Brother lives in Lanarkshire.

Don't worry, your secret's safe with me.

Evening Everyone.

Won't use the multi-quote while it's the way it is.

Had a good day, put a coat of decking oil on the Cupola.

Made 2 'A' Frame Trestles, the ones you put planks between for standing on,

It too all day but the rain stayed off, i used the wood that was lying around.

I also made 2 planks using 3 x 2.4m lengths of decking for each, i screwed them together,

That gives me 2 planks 12cm wide each and at 3" (7.5cm).

Had a text saying there is more plant delivery tomorrow.

This is the Family fruit trees http://www.pomonafruits.co.uk/...ily-apple-pear-trees

Evening

I fell asleep missed my programme ,I hope you are all well.

I loved the story of your Skybox Mollie poor man ,see this Is the problem with small dogs they get everywhere.

I may watch Channel 5 at 9pm a bit gory and then Question Time

CBB starts on January 3rd and I havn't a clue who Is going In , I'm looking forward too It 

The dogs are getting a little unsettled time for their last run before bedtime, and touch wood I have not heard the dog barking ,I'm wondering If someone complained.

I watched the X Files again this morning,You know the truth Is out there

then looked for the little cat ..sheez Its so nervous something scared It and away It went,I worried all day  but It turned up at tea-time and had a big bowl of chicken ..so Its tummy will be full to-night and It can shelter In my back porch If It needs too

night all

Hicky we crossed pots

all

I have another daft predicament...Hicky or Emptybox you might be able to help with your gardening experience, or Fredo with your decorating experience...

our artificial Christmas tree finally packed in and fell over the top of it hitting the dog ...poor thing, she was not impressed.

Anyway me and daughter decided it would be a nice surprise for OH's return if we could get this lovely real tree set up all nicely in the lounge for when he got back. So after going round choosing a nice one, which of course we ended up struggling to carry and then to squeeze into the car....it never looked that big in the shop...  We also bought this tree stand recommended to us by the shop, easy to use the guy said, just fill it with water and turn the screws...we eventually managed to get tree and stand in lounge, but we just cannot get the tree to fit into this stupid stand, They charged us £25 for this stand (it was £35 but reduced £10 as we bought tree from there too...Hombase)...the stand is just not strong enough to hold the tree upright, it is a lovely tree, but very full of branches. So what can we stand it in? We managed to find a bucket and have it balanced in the hall inside this bucket of water.

Do we fill a bucket with soil, or does that mean the tree won't get enough water, or do we go down the  beach in the morning and borrow some stones? Would that be strong enough to balance the tree in? Any hints? It will be a miracle if we can get this flippen tree standing upright before OH gets home tommorrow lunch time.

Needless to say the stand is going back to the shop tomororow.

Oh Mollie (aka Calamity Jane)

sorry to laugh ...my tree Is so tiny so I'm not much use ,but I know a man who can ...Hicky or Emptybox will know ,It (the tree ) sounds wonderful 

another fine mess you've got yourself In LOL ...sorry I don't mean to laugh     

   night again 

Good evening all

Hicky

sounds like you had a busy day, lucky the weather kept dry for you. Hope you are pleased with your plants tomorrow, and your trees when they arrive.

Emptybox

working in your gardens today? I too like the posh couple of Gogglebox, they were so funny last night.  

Frido

Aaaww poor little cat, wonder what scared it, Sounds like she enjoyed your chicken, at least you know she has a safe shelter in your porch at night. Hope it stays nice and quiet dog wise for you. Gosh didn't know CBB starts as soon as 3rd Jan. How exciting, something nice to look forward to in the New Year.

Celeb Juice Christmas special on now and look Emptybox, they all have nice Christmas jumpers on.   Still plenty left in the shops for you.

When we got back with this Christmas tree, the dog had been up to mischief again and had chewed my Christmas silver tinsel headband.   Little mischief she is lately.

have a good evening all, and after all my escapades with our Christmas tree today, day 12 of our advent calendar has to be a tree. This is how mine is supposed to look tonight,

but instead it is leaning up against a wall, undecorated and in a plain bucket of water.   This is how all of my bright ideas turn out...something always go wrong, but we laugh about it after.

Have a good evening all xxx

Yes indeed Fredo, Calamity Jayne is a good name for me.  I am sure my family too would all agree with that.

Goodnight, sleep tight xxx

Bucket and rocks

  Does this help ...I've been looking around the web hope It does

Frodo

thanks so much for that info,  you are so clever finding that, I tried to look but couldn't find anything. So it looks like the rocks and bucket, along with gravel could be the answer.

Evening.

Another mild day here. Bit damp though.

That's good that you got some woodwork in Hicky.

Thanks for the CBB info Frodo.

The little cat sounds like a bundle of nerves. Good that it got a fill of chicken.

Hi Mollie. It's so long since we had a real tree that I can hardly remember how we mounted it?

I think my Dad used to nail a couple of cross pieces of wood to the bottom and stand it in a tub. Then put a few stones or bricks in to keep it stable and fill the rest of the tub with soil.

Not sure what we did about water, but trees weren't up for as long a period as nowadays. It was traditional to only put them up a few days before Christmas.

I guess you could water it though, if the tub was water proof.

Does it have a cut end or has it some roots left on?

Not sure if it would stay upright without the cross pieces? You'd need to make sure it was very firm.

Mind you, when we had real trees they tended to be big ones, as we lived in hotels (Dad was a hotelier).

Good afternoon all

Emptybox

thanks for the tree hints.  I really like hearing about your interesting past. Was it in Norfolk your dad was a hotelier?  How many different hotels did you live in? I do remember you saying your dad ran a pub when you moved up north and you used to help out. Were you a youngster when you relocated?

Glad it is still mild for you, gardening work today?

We finally got the tree in the stand but it was way after midnight by then. And my son and daughter ended up having a big row over it, as we all got sick of messing around with it. Maybe I shouldn't of bothered getting a tree at all?  It was too heavy and difficult for me and daughter to do on our own really though, but eventually son managed to get it in the base, as he is a bit stronger, and the tree is still in the stand today.  We didn't know you were supposed to put it in whilst it was still in the netting, so that made it a lot harder. Now we have realised we don't have anything to put on it , as our last tree had lights already on it. At this rate, we will be lucky to have this flippen tree sorted by Christmas.

Been very wet today, rain stopped now though.

All of my family are going out for tea at the little local pub tonight, nice to do, as OH been away all week.

Hope you are having a good day Hicky and Frodo.

Day 13 of our advent calendar, and it is time for the Christmas puppy to say Hi.

I have known you long enough to know that you are not a true scrooge, and that you enjoy the Christmas Season as much as any of us.

Oh and by the way I haven't seen your pic on twitter yet, with the many others proudly wearing their Christmas jumpers to celebrate Christmas jumper day.

Christmas jumpers? Bah Humbug!  

Mild again today, so I got some more work done. Some raking up of leaves and fallen apples.

Glad you managed to get your tree finally erected Mollie.

Bet you'll have fun buying all the decs from scratch. Enjoy your pub tea.

I was born in a hotel in Norfolk, then when I was 7 we moved up here to the Borders, to another hotel by the coast in Berwickshire, and we stayed there till I was 20, so I went to school and university from there.

Then my Dad had a period of ill health so semi-retired for 4 years before buying the pub/hotel around here that he and I ran until my parents retired in 1992.

There was talk of me and my Brother running the hotel after my parents retired, but it really wasn't making enough money for that and to support my parents in retirement as well, so it was sold.

That's when I started on the gardening lark.

Evening Everyone.

Bit of a miserable day here, my next 2 cherry cordons arrived so i planted them.

Have ordered the 2 family trees, 1 apple, 1 pear.

Thats 5 trees arrived, 9 left to come.

Have order 2 packs of the green round felt shingles, will need to order 3 more packs next week.

Each pack weighs 30kg.

Mollie, when i put the 7ft tree outside in the front i got a small piece of decking, just less than the diameter of the bottom of a bucket and screwed it to the base of the tree, after cutting off a half inch, as your supposed ot.

I then put the bucket into the bottom of a big 50 litre tub, this had a layer of bricks on the base to raise the bucket up, we cut the bottom branches off the tree as they were too low.

We filled the bucket and the tub with house bricks to stop it falling over and as it's out in the front we didn't want it easy to move.

If you have a B&Q by you they have black buckets and black.

These are £1, http://www.diy.com/nav/build/b...&noCookies=false

40 Litre Tubs £5.98

http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/...375445?skuId=9676150

Bricks £0.55p each

http://www.diy.com/nav/build/b...273696?skuId=9283396

Decorative stone £6.48

http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/...97507?skuId=11288213

Just to let you know, the Status of my post to the Support pages is 'Under consideration'. (It has also received 3 'Likes'.   )

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I've boxed you in a bit.

If it was the answer i would like to hear i would like that.

Maybe they agree with the question, people are funny aren't they?

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At least it means they are talking about the idea and have not thrown it aside.

And the fact that other Hoop.La users, not just GaGa users, have liked the idea gives it a better chance of eventually becoming a reality - although there's no guarantee that it ever will - at this stage.

---------------------------------------

It's only a bit of software, as an ex software writer myself it's not much of a job to change, if they can change the colour of quoted posts then it's easy to outline it.

It depends who writes the software.

Just right click on this page and select 'View Page Source' and the code comes up in front of you.

Evening Everyone.

Not a bad day really, cool but the rain stayed off.

Been working on the new seats for the gazebo, going to fit 4 in the 4 inside corners of the 6.

I want them to be removable without tools, have completed 1, got 3 more to do, going to need more of some of the timber though.

Took a picture of the Gazebo, only with the roof timbers on and the face board.

You can probably see the new wooden trestles i made with the planking to stand on.

 Click on picture to enlarge.

Good evening all

Emptybox

thanks for the summing up of your early days... very interesting..., I didn't realise you were so young when you moved up north. What made your parents decide to move so far from Norfolk? Was it area they went for, or just the right hotel coming up that they wanted to run?

Still mild here too today.

Hicky

hope your new trees do well. Thanks for the hints and links on tree planting. I love to see tall trees outside houses.  Thanks for posting the photo. Your gazebo is looking really great. That will be lovely to sit in when we get the warm weather.   The gazebo fits in just nicely in that spot in your garden.

Luckily the rain held off here till late afternoon too.

Me, OH, son, daughter, doggie went to a Victorian Country Fayre today. It was lovely, people dressed in Victorian costume including the band..me and daughter went in the hall of mirrors, I loved the one that made me look very skinny. It must of been a very deceptive mirror, that one.   And we saw 2 very funny Victorian magicians...they dragged son up to help with the turning over the metal cups trick.

have a good evening all. xxx

to Frodo

looking forward to final of X factor tonight.

Evening Mollie.

Enjoyed Strictly, wow, Abbey is my fave by miles.

What a beautiful dancer and girl.

Will watch X-F but not interested now, but nothing much on TV.

Got my Gina Calendar today, now have 3, Chanelle, Kelly Brook and Gina.

That was a nice day out Mollie, halls of mirrors are a bit off putting, so funny.

Good your son getting up to help, so many youngsters wouldn't want to get involved.

Been trying to get my camera to charge the battery.

I've had it plugged into the usb port, even in the mains usb adapter.

Couldn't get it to charge, thought maybe it was the battery.

Looked on Ebay, found a battery for £3.99, decided to buy.

Then looked for a charger, found one on ebay and realised that the charger isn't a usb one, the usb lead for for dater connection and the mains charger has a small round low voltage connection for charging, oh dear, had a look through my mountain of chargers and cables and found the Fujifilm one.

What a pudding.

Yeah....well....if the cap fits.

Great pic of your gazebo Hicky. Yes I can see the trestles.

Glad it stayed dry for you. Raining all day here.

No chance of you forgetting the date with 3 calendars?

Hi Mollie. glad you enjoyed the Victorian fayre.

My Dad was as Scottish as you get (born in the Glasgow area). I think he moved to Norfolk because his brother had settled down there, but he always wanted to come back to Scotland, so when a suitable hotel came up he jumped at it.

His Brother still lives in Norfolk, and has done for 55 odd years, but he's as Scottish as they come as well. Even plays the bagpipes.

Really pleased that Sam Bailey has got to the final two in the X-Factor.

And was great seeing Kitty Brucknell again.

Evening Everyone.

Evening Emptybox.

Bought the felt tile cutting tool with a 10 pack of the hooked blades.

It's been suggested that i board in the bottom section of the sides, up to the rain, on the inside though to leave the infill's to be seen from the outside.

The 6mm sheets of external plywood are 2440 x 1220 so will need 5 sheets in all, hope i can get the sheets cut to size at B&Q i need 1700 x 990.

I wonder who will leave Strictly tonight, hope Abbey stays.

Hope Mollie & Frodo had a good weekend.

Had to get more fuel for work again, also extended the insurance again.

Hope they can get things sorted this week.

I had a 9p a litre off fuel coupon which expired on the 13th, not good eh.

It was to fill the new car.

The garage have said they will put £50 of fuel in.

Went out for brekkie to the garden centre, lovely grub.

Just had some Lamb steaks with baked spuds stuffing and gravy.

Hi Hicky.

Not too bad here. A bit drizzly. Looks like the mild weather is to continue into Christmas week. But it might be wet and windy.

I can see from the pic what you mean about boarding in the inside up to the level. Might be a good idea?

Hope you get your car soon. Pity you missed out on the fuel voucher.

Really hope Sam wins X-Factor, but Nicholas has sung well tonight as well.

Evening Emptybox.

Thought Sam would win.

One from last year isn't too happy.

----------

The Voice UK's Bo Bruce Blasts Record Label: 'They Didn't Bother Doing Any Promo'

http://www.entertainmentwise.c...ther-Doing-Any-Promo

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I would like to put shutters on the top section but may be quite a job.

Good evening all

Hicky

hope B and Q can cut your sheets ok for you. Pity you missed out on the fuel coupons. Glad you got a nice brekkie out, we too went out for brekkie this morning. It is a good start to the day for a brekkie treat out.

Emptybox

mild here too, but we have had a lot of rain late this afternoon. Bet you are pleased that Sam won. She does have a great voice, and young Nicholas did well too.

Day 15 of our advent calendar is a snowy scene, (as it looks like we are not likely to get any snow here at all this Christmas.)

All of our family went to a pantomine this afternoon, and we looked around  the festive fun fair and outdoor ice skating they have at Christmas in the city too. Very pretty it was. Guess who starred in the panto? Give you a clue...this person has won CBB, and the panto started with the star entering the stage via a rocket to BB Marcu's voice announcing the winner of CBB. 

Watching Through the Keyhole now... very funny.

have a good evening all xxx

OH off early to work in the morning, thank goodness it is the last week before his Christmas break, it has been a long 3 months on this contract because he has had to work away.

Hicky

when you say put shutters in, do you mean like those roof window things? Yes I should imagine putting any sort of shutters in would be a complicated job. But so far you seem to have done real well with the gazebo, which in itself is no easy job.

Interesting article about The Voice. It makes that whole show seem pointless if they do nothing at all to promote the winners.

Goodnight all x

hope Frodo is ok.

Hi Mollie. Sounds like you had an enjoyable day.

My first guess would be Rylan. But he was on Xtra factor tonight, so must have dashed there if it was him?

Next guess would be Denise Welsh?

That Bo Bruce was always a funny one Hicky.

Very glad Sam won, and it's a good Winners Single as well.

Morning Everyone.

Popped in early to give the pictures of CBB which starts on the 3rd.

But first, Mollie, yes it will be a nice break for you all over Christmas instead of O/H dashing off.

Can't think who you mean is in that Panto.

Love watching through the keyhole, he's mad isn't he, Keith that is.

By shutters Mollie, i mean some type of shutter that can be closed in bad weather but either folds away or lifts off for good weather.

Not sure how i do that yet, but i love wood.

Emptybox.

I assumed Sam would win, only watched bits, saw them sing though, and saw Gary & Elton sing.

Here's the info.

The Royal CBB
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/tv/...lace-fit-for-a-queen

http://i.imgur.com/s7bkK7F.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YM63yAu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/hc6OqqA.jpg

Good afternoon all

Emptybox

yes Sam is a nice winner.  

Wet here today, so might mean a day away from your gardens for you today?

Hicky

shutters sounds like a good idea to make the most of the warmer weather.   It is great that you like wood, as wood can make so many nice useful things.

Hope you are not too busy at work today.

Thanks for the CBB links. I think it will come round very quickly as we have Christmas/New year in-between.

It was Julian Clary we saw in panto, he was very good, funny and quick witted, and as you know he won CBB last year.

OH has caught a cold from someone at work he thinks. He still left at 4am today, as he had to go in with it being the last week before his Christmas hols, but is only working in the morning and going to the B and B to catch up on sleep this afternoon, in the hope he can shake the cold off quickly.

Lots of jobs/paperwork for me to catch up with at home today, then drains man coming this afternoon, drains blocked again. Neighbours tell me it is a structural problem and LL tried to blame then, then he blamed last tenant, then he tried to blame us...  he is too tight to get the work done properly though, so the guy has to come to unblock our drains every few months.

Have a good day all xxx

Day 16 of our advent calendar....and I love this happy colourful looking piccie.

Good Afternoon Mollie.

I've been considering different options on the shutters, it might get to pieces of 9mm weatherproof ply in the end, i could make an internal ledge to drop the end onto and then secure it.

Oh, it was Julian, saw him the other day in something.

Hope your O/H's cold doesn't linger, a good rest may help as well.

As you say, if the problem with the drains isn't solved properly then the blockage just comes back after a time.

Had 1 delivery today, think it is the eaves protection for the gazebo.

Julian Clary.....he would have been my third guess Mollie.

Hope your OH throws his cold off quickly.

My kitchen drain is always blocking as well. The pipework is just too narrow. Luckily as it's a farm, they send one of the men down fairly quickly to help me unblock it. I usually dig the hole myself though.

Not bad day here, might go out later. But I notice more of my trellis thing needs repairing; so I'd better do that first, in case we get more gales this week.

Great pics of the CBB set Hicky. Very opulent and decadent.

Good Afternoon Emptybox.

I bought sink filter things to go in the kitchen sink, it stops 99% of stuff that would collect in the pipes.

I started using these but too hard to clean to get the water through.

Changed to:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sink-s...=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

These are great, you just flick them into the kitchen wast bin to empty.

Can't believe how cool the CBB house looks.

PS

It looks like Sam has signed up, Joey's Ex GF.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs...ity-Big-Brother.html

Hi Hicky.

I've got something like that in my kitchen sink to stop the bits of food going down. It's actually fat, that builds up in the pipes, that blocks them.

I try not to let any fat go down the drain, but some inevitably does.

Actually the last couple of times the pipes have been blocked it's been the fault of the neighbours, but of course that backs mine up as well.

I just had to dig it up a couple of weeks ago, as I think I mentioned, when the dishwasher conked out.

I misunderstood what you were saying there. I thought you were telling us that Sam Bailey had signed Joey's ex-girlfriend as her agent.

Obviously the link made it clear.

Not much on the telly tonight.