Saturday 26 September 2015

streaming colds.

Last Saturday we had our Winter flu jabs and four days later the farmer went down with an absolute streaming cold.  Probably there is no  connection between the two events but he has had a couple of days of heavy head cold although he has felt fine.   So far I haven't caught it but I am  taking Lemsip and having a hot toddy at bedtime to ward it off (well that's my excuse).   Today he is almost back to normal - most of his day has been taken up with sweeping up pine cones and needles on the drive.  This is a never ending job but if he doesn't keep doing it they fill the gutters round the house and they also paddle into the house, especially when the weather is damp.

Tomorrow is the last walk of the season for him and the group intend to climb Penn Hill, our local high point.   The leader last did it when he was sixty and wants to do it again tomorrow now that he is seventy.   As good a reason as any.

I shall be out to lunch (surprise, surprise) with three friends.   Tomorrow we are going to The Friar's Head at Akebar, which is not far away and does delicious meals.   If the menu is particularly good I will make your mouths water tomorrow.

There is no doubt about the season now is there?   Pleasant weather here and quite warm, but the mornings are chilly and tonight the forecast is for the temperature to drop to 1 degree.   We are having a good crop of runner beans but any frost will bring them to an abrupt end.   It has been a really good year in the garden though and my 'garden freezer ' is crammed to bursting with gooseberries, raspberries, peas, broad beans and runner beans.

On the hen front the new pullets are beginning to lay with two of them laying - and laying in the nest box.   Interestingly, they stay out in the run until the farmer goes down to shut them in at night and when he goes to let them out in the morning they are clustered round the entrance waiting for him to open the door.   It will soon be time to let them become free range, so that they can peck about in the fields, but the last lot were very difficult to get in at night, preferring to fly up onto the top of the straw bale stack and spend the night up there.    We shall see.

11 comments:

jinxxxygirl said...

Hi Pat,

Hubs and i never get flu shots and we have had very good luck with that.
Knock on wood! But boy do they ever try to push the flu shot on you!
It is very difficult for them to narrow down the exact strain of flu that
will be going around any particular year and even our doctor admits they
usually don't get it right. I'am always wary of anything they try to push
off on the masses... They could put anything in those flu shots and we would
just take them like lambs.....Ofcourse thats my paranoid self talking... Most
years we might get a slight touch of the flu... maybe feel off for a day or two
but for the most part we have not been laid low by the flu.... Hugs! deb

Heather said...

We had our jabs yesterday. I am glad the farmer is almost better and hope you have managed to escape his cold. I can empathise with the walk leader and would like to think I might climb Glastonbury Tor once more, but maybe that's wishful thinking as I'll be 80 next year. We've had a glorious day today but it was very nippy to start with. Hope the 'girls' will be good and come in at night.

Dawn said...

the nights are getting chilly soon be time to light the log burner, at the moment the Rayburn does a good job of keeping the house warm.
Our runners are starting to slow down, less flowers coming now on them, We are not old enough for the flu shots, I dont know how I feel about them yet, I have only had flu once it was 6 weeks before I was over it, then a month later went down with shingles, then I got over that then I was rushed into hospital to have my gall bladder out, talk about things coming in threes :-)

angryparsnip said...

It is almost Fall here but not quite.
After the super hot summer Fall is the best season in Tucson.
Your Fall sounds so lovely.
Love hearing about your new chickens.

cheers, parsnip

Joanne Noragon said...

No place like a doctor's office (or clinic or the hospital) to pick up a nasty bug. My oldest daughter contracted mumps exactly within the incubation period from her visit to the doctor for mumps vaccine. Some little person in that office was contagious!

Tom Stephenson said...

Try the Saracen's Head at Allah Akebar - the food's better I am told. Keep warm, Weave.

Wilma said...

I'm a big believer in getting flu shots, especially if you live in a city or work in a healthcare setting. Like Joanne suggested, perhaps the Farmer was exposed to a cold virus from someone else waiting to get a flu shot? Hope he is better and you avoid it.

Cro Magnon said...

Lady Magnon's recently been shopping in London, and after returning home developed her usual (guaranteed) post-flight cold. Every time she travels by air, she returns with a wretched cold; luckily this time I seem to have avoided it.

Rachel Phillips said...

Enjoy your lunch with your friends. I am envious of your lunches with friends, I seem to lunch alone a lot.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Like Tom's wit!

thelma said...

We never have flu shots, have not even enrolled with a doctor yet here, that is yet to be. Glad your new pullets are starting to lay and starting to settle in. Quite envious of all your lunches out, we found a pub/restaurant near us (Wombleton) which looked good in the week....