the daydream fund challenge thread

COOLTRIKERCHICK

You are right Davesnave, concentrate on one thing, I think maybe becuase you have both been under th weather, and you both just feel sooooooooooo frustrated as you know there is still a long way to go with plants and the shop part fully open etc, but dont forget you have done a mass of work, you have been putting the back bone/structure into place... which in the time you have been there is a HUGE acheivement.... flip i should imagine hubby and I would still be mulling over what to do, while on our umpteenth cuppa:D:rotfl:

Davesanve you have given such good grounded advice since we have met on this thread....I just wish i could give you the magic words that would make everything instantly up and running for you......

the only magic words i can say is......Put the kettle on, have a cuppa.....and sit back take time out.... ( not to long mind ) to give yourself time to re-focus.... and make a list ( or mental list) of priorites.... it shounds like getting stock ready to sell, so forward plan for the autumn/next spring...

That was prob telling granny to suck eggs......:rotfl:
((((HUGE HUGS))))) to you both.....and dont forget to have a nice chocolate biscwit with that cuppa;):D

COOLTRIKERCHICK

LIR... i am sooooooooooo jealous now you have been to Alfie's place... and seen all her wonderfull guests:D Mabel sounds a right personality....lol...

Lovely pics Maggie.......:beer:

Hubby's brewing kit came...

we bought it from this place, but via ebay

http://home-brew-online.com/


hubby was rather 'tickled' by this page:D ( you need to read it all...lol..)

http://home-brew-online.com/

I wonder what this one tastes like:D

http://home-brew-online.com/


We are going to buy another set of 40 bottles, so there will be a batch 'done' and another 'brewing' and then after that it should work out really cheap. I think i read it about 25 - 30p a pint...

Dont get me wrong hubby is not a big drinker, but does like a can or 2 in the night while watching tv...so a few pennies here, and there all add up...


edit... its only going to the home page... but if you go to spirits, and distilling, and read about hte water purifyer, that can distile water to 65% proof in 3 hours....lol...

choille

Wonderful wonderful photies again maggie - everything looks so organised. I still look like a tinker's encampment. CTC - homebrewing is a great thing to do. I make wine occasionally but from surplus fruit & stuff not kits.
LIR - Alfie's place sounds wonderful - I wish I lived nearer.

Waiting on chicks under hen under tree to hatch - still not had much rain but looks really threatening now, black sky & very windy.

Managed to get some stuff listed on ebay free list will do more this evening.
Decided to plant up my blackcurrant cuttings that I tried to sell at the gate lst year - no takers really, so planted across the burn in a bluebell patch - well sort of. Got sick of barowing pots up the track & back inby at dusk to no avail.
Getting a guy coming later on to see what we need to do to get wind & water tight - & what he'll charge us for a hand - a joiner all his days & a really nice bloke - OH did his plans - he lives in a caravan too & is waiting on his approvals.
Really do need a big plowt of wet stuff as fed up carting water about & none coming out of the cold tap either - but want chicks hatched first & in the dry.
What a scalding spell of weather & quite a load of wild fires happened.
Have a good Sunday folks!

Rummer

Been pouring here for days and the garden is now covered in a blanket of very healthy looking weeds! I was hoping to get out and plant some things today but it really is far too wet for me (I am a wimp). ate my first salad leaves from the garden today, yum!

rhiwfield

Davesnave, been thinking about workloads. Nowadays we're all conditioned to do a job, maybe two, to earn money to buy all that we need, food included, provided by other people, increasingly they are cogs in the system dominated by players like supermarkets.

Was reminded of something Seymour wrote about us turning our hands to all jobs, cutting out the middlemen where possible and learning new skills as we go along. It takes more time than employing other people but the satisfaction is so much greater.

But then the time element kicks in and if you need it done quickly you have to spend the money on others. And if you're running from pillar to post without completing tasks that gets demoralising, everyone needs "wins" to keep up enthusiasm.

I believe you're achieving a great deal, with a lot of "wins", perhaps not just as many or as quickly as you'd hoped. And as we get longer in the tooth, seems to me that its a waste of time to do things you really dont want to do AND not have the time to do the things you like.

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Was reminded of something Seymour wrote about us turning our hands to all jobs, cutting out the middlemen where possible and learning new skills as we go along. It takes more time than employing other people but the satisfaction is so much greater. .

I've been reaching this conclusion myself overnight. Thinking about our pleached trees. Commercially they are so expensive, and I can't quite get my head around the fact that they are hard and there for an expert should do them, someone who knows what they are doing. Then trying to remember that I should be learning to do what needs doing...rubbing out buds etc.

Yesterday I started pruning lilac for the first time. This isn't something I ever remember my mother/gardeners doing. I want ours tall but some of them are not good shapes. Its hard telling from a distance, what is lilac, whats plum and whats elder...you're cutting a bt out loo back and you've just cut out an arm of elder (saves a job later I guess) . These lilacs will have to move eventually but felt trying to get the into a better shape, perhaps more compact theoretically should make the move easier.


My garden hedges need cutting but I'm just thinking about the yew to replace them with. We've already cut so much back and made ourselves feel exposed. I want to get yews in, but the idea of being low/no hedged for a few years is too much. I can't make the decision to do it.


Just as well today, as my back has ''gone'' and I have house work to do, so busy enough without thinking abou the hedge/:o

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

the only magic words i can say is......Put the kettle on, have a cuppa.....and sit back take time out.... ( not to long mind ) to give yourself time to re-focus.... and make a list ( or mental list) of priorites.... it shounds like getting stock ready to sell, so forward plan for the autumn/next spring...

That was prob telling granny to suck eggs......:rotfl:
((((HUGE HUGS))))) to you both.....and dont forget to have a nice chocolate biscwit with that cuppa;):D

Yes, you're right, we need to re-focus. Part of what we need to do next is off-site, getting our old garden sorted for sale. We have about 7 months to do that before Capital Gains Tax kicks-in! :eek:

Yesterday, we cleared-up all the old pots, tidied the polytunnel and generally sorted ourselves out. It was too windy to do anything else!

Being ill made me feel a bit low about this place, which is most ungrateful. When both of us are poorly, it can get scary. There are times when I think, "I wonder if this is how the previous owner felt, before it all overwhelmed him?" so I try to make sensible decisions. He was a dreamer and a flibbertijibbet, who went from one thing to another, doing nothing properly.

choille

Another wonderfully bright day & nice to get up to a clean caravan - had a shovel out yesterday when it rained!

Managed to list 50 things on Ebay all together so that was a marathon. I used neighbours house whose on holiday to take some photos - so I look normal!

Still no sign of under tree, under hen chicks.

Dave after the cold, cough bug thing I had I went into a decline & felt quite overwhelmed until relatively recently, still do a bit - I think it's part of the inforced rethink time etc & a part of the virus thing. Never a bad thing to have a ruminate.

Rhiwfield - I love Seymore - thats why we came seeking a croft 10 years back.

Quite a stiff wind. Still no water even though it's rained - water very low as it's been record breakingly dry for ages.
Joiiner couldn't manage after all yesterday but will come sometime this week - West Highland timescales!
Off to peg out washing
I did at neighbours - wish they'd go away more often;-)

lostinrates

Its natural to look on downsides when health etc lets you down. Perhaps your DW likes to feel her health isn't stopping her achieve. and you really HAVE achieved.

FwIW my low moments ar always peppered with ''How do Dave and his wife do this so easily?'' as I tug on weeds/attempt pruning/ grimace at my fencing/hedging an think of how found great people so quickly and how much you just DO. You guys are amazing.

Lotus-eater

Davesnave wrote: »

Yes, you're right, we need to re-focus. Part of what we need to do next is off-site, getting our old garden sorted for sale. We have about 7 months to do that before Capital Gains Tax kicks-in! :eek:

Yesterday, we cleared-up all the old pots, tidied the polytunnel and generally sorted ourselves out. It was too windy to do anything else!

Being ill made me feel a bit low about this place, which is most ungrateful. When both of us are poorly, it can get scary. There are times when I think, "I wonder if this is how the previous owner felt, before it all overwhelmed him?" so I try to make sensible decisions. He was a dreamer and a flibbertijibbet, who went from one thing to another, doing nothing properly.

I think, with the greatest respect, this could be a decent time to sit back, discuss what you really want out of this place and the rest of your lives. When you decide what it is, maybe you already have and are just getting a little overwhelmed, you can decide how you want to get there. Often we can't see the trees for the wood! And the conclusion can often be alot closer than we think, it just requires some lateral thinking. That's what I have my OH for, she's great at turning a problem into a simple solution. I just get all overwhelmed and can't possibly see how it can be done. Often it's done by bringing in someone else to do what would be a simple job for them and a horrible job for me.

Just to big you up a little. What you've done so far is amazing, you both have lots of enthusiasm and energy more than most people. You have the skills and the ideas, you have the people skills and local help, you can basically do anything you want, just maybe one thing at a time, instead of everything at once

Nice word btw