The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

moneyistooshorttomention · 2 March 2016 at 7:53AM

mancbird wrote: »

Being OS is dangerous! Made a pineapple upside down cake and lasagne for tea. Managed to cut my right index finger on the pineapple tin and burn my left handed index finger taking it out of the oven! Tasted good though :j

...and hopefully didn't ruin the OS bit by those accidents.

My recent hand accident (caused by a friend - not myself) was more severe than that and I am guessing the total cost of dealing with it will probably be around £50 (hospital refreshments, consolatory booze for upset, buying some dressings myself, calendula ointment to help healing, bio oil to prevent scarring). Rather more expensive - and unsafe - to have friends than I thought:cool:

Re the "cut that keeps re-opening" - one of the ones I got from that darn accident is like that. It couldn't be stitched shut and I understand (not from the NHS telling me - as they just leave you to it in ignorance I found) is that it will close over of itself eventually. It looks as if that sort of thing takes up to 8 weeks! Meanwhile - its very necessary to keep it clean (ie covered with suitable dressing) as risk of infection seems to be pretty high otherwise. As far as I can make out - its down to waiting for the skin layers to build up again from the inside? The NHS doesn't tell you - but it seems to be necessary to get it re-dressed pretty frequently (at least every 2-3 days). The calendula ointment it looks like I have to pay for is to put on (with clean hands!) on the wound to help it with healing. The bio oil will be for after its healed over - as I don't want a reminder of the incident in time to come from having a scar from it. Could have been worse - at least your accident was done by you iyswim...its not someone else's fault.

ivyleaf · 2 March 2016 at 9:59AM

Softstuff wrote: »

I almost forgot, a cautionary tale for you all.

We were getting a quote for some retaining walls out the back to level out the garden. The chap came out, we discussed what we wanted, he sent out a quote. The quote was higher than we'd hoped, but we were not at the stage of a complete no to the job. I noticed though a few things were on the drawing he'd sent, such as "lawn" and "garden beds", there was very little detail on the quote, so I queried further. Turns out the quote didn't include such things as "soil" or "turf", those would be another $6,500... and the tree we'd asked to be removed as oart of the job... oh no, that's not included, apparently he didn't know we wanted it gone, maybe it just needed a prune (also not included in the job).

We'd asked for a ballpark figure before he gave a detailed quote, and we were ok with it (not thrilled but it's a big job), the actual quote including everything is beyond double the ballpark estimate.

Buyer beware for sure.

My neighbour accepted a quote for a new kitchen, not realising that the "Materials" on the so-called quote didn't actually include the cabinets, and that the cabinets weren't mentioned at all, and was then charged £3000 more than he'd expected :eek: :mad:

mancbird I agree with pollyanna (I think it was pollyanna) that the tumble dryer probably needs a new thermostat, as we had the same problem with one of ours. I'm not sure why your OH thinks the cold weather would stop the dryer from working? I hope you're able to get it fixed - our DS put the new thermostat in ours. He's an electrician now, but he wasn't in those days.

silvasava · 2 March 2016 at 10:21AM

Re Drying Washing. When my boys were babies we had a solid fuel boiler for our heating & hot water. DH put a retractable line up in my kitchen (4 lines) & I used to put washing there overnight. It was a godsend as I could always get at least 4 nappies dry! I still use an airer that can be put upside down v shape over the bath for wet washing. I do have a TD but use it for airing off & fluffing towels. Never dried anything from the WM in it!
Fuddle - good on you for stating your piece. If the Head is like that it would seem not many parents ever challenge her (or her little empire?)

Softstuff · 2 March 2016 at 10:24AM

ivyleaf wrote: »

My neighbour accepted a quote for a new kitchen, not realising that the "Materials" on the so-called quote didn't actually include the cabinets, and that the cabinets weren't mentioned at all, and was then charged £3000 more he'd expected

Good grief :eek: I thought it was bad when "lawn" didn't include turf, but that really takes the biscuit.

Why is it people can't be up front and honest? Surely it's better for their business long term.

Floss · 2 March 2016 at 10:25AM

Mancbird what type of dryer is it? My old vented one lived in a garage & worked fine, it then moved into DH's outhouse and worked fine. I know condenser types can be more fussy about cold places though! I would agree about the thermostat bu also, have you considered the thermal cutout? Check t'internet for details for your model, you'll also be able to find instructions how to change the thermostat too.

mancbird · 2 March 2016 at 1:28PM

Crikey Money, that sounds painful

luckily this isn't as bad as it seems to be staying closed now

my hands are full of little scars as I'm quite clumsy and I sew a lot. I put my finger in the way of my embroidery machine needle the other week, that hurt quite a bit!! The cut hasn't put me off being OS, I've just had a bit of the pineapple cake with a brew and very tasty it was too

The dryer is a condenser one as this is a rented house and we can't put a vent in. It's done this before in cold weather and the candy helpline told us this can happen in cold weather if the dryer is in an unheated room (our kitchen has not got radiators in there!) They suggested hot water in a bowl in the drum to create some steam and in fairness that did work last time. Haven't tried that yet today as I only remembered about this last night

We had one of those retractable airers when I was a kid silvasava

Very useful, but we can't put one up here

wish we could though

I've just got home as my little boy's school have been to a local farm this morning and I went along to help. It was lovely, we saw lots of baby lambs and helped to feed them. One was born just before we arrived, so tiny!! We also visited the pigs, goat, donkeys, chickens, ducks and guinea fowl. The goat pinched the children's biscuits!

It was so cold though! I was glad I put my thermals on! My son also had lots of layers on and was toasty but some of the kids just had thin jackets on and no hats etc

It was blowing a gale and actually snowed and hailed! I'm in Devon and that is the first time I've seen snow here. It hasn't stuck though

Just about to make some soup as I have some parsnips that need using up. Hubby is getting up soon (he works nights) so I plan to nip to Trago and get the airer I saw

Keep safe and warm everyone!

fuddle · 2 March 2016 at 2:08PM

It breaks my heart to see kiddies walking to school in their ballet pumps in the snow mancbird. I know what you mean. Really life isnt tough at all when you know your little ones go to school warm with full warm tummies.

pollyanna_26 · 2 March 2016 at 2:20PM

Mancbird is the dryer yours or the landlords ? I suspect the former or you could leave it to the owner to sort . Shame you live so far away as it's blowing a hoolie here after an awful night and morning . The sun has popped out but the sky is threatening all manner of things ! Your morning sounds nice -- I used to love trips out when I worked in the primary but was always given the naughty ones to supervise . I remember running through chester zoo a la usain bolt in pursuit of an absolute tearaway who had been told we were going to watch the daily out of the enclosure penguin walk . He was going to grab one to take home on the coach !
polly

mardatha · 2 March 2016 at 2:28PM

Absolutely baltic up here...fed up of it! I hang washing on the airer in front of the stove in the livroom overnight. Our stove stays on 24/7 for most of the year, only let it go out in heatwaves. The cat is too busy sleeping on my head to care that she's shut out

pollyanna_26 · 2 March 2016 at 2:33PM

Fuddle I so agree about poorly clad children it drives me mad to see adults muffled up to the nines with their children literally blue with cold .I see so many babies ( and this is a wealthy area ) with bare hands sitting in pushchairs . My priority was always a roof over the head , a warm bed , decent shoes ,warm clothes , healthy food and lots of love . They didn't have luxaries in the accepted sense but they had the freedom to have adventures and to use their imagination -- and they had lots and lots of books .
polly

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