the daydream fund challenge thread

choille

rhiwfield - take care & look after yourself.

I saw the first half of Grand Designs & liked what I saw. I always like the ones where they don't have mega bucks & do it theirselves. I usually find those ones & the people more agreeable too. It'll be repeated so I'll get the second half soon.

alfie_1

LIR... firstly I LOVE THOSE STOVES !!!


2ndly ,i wont mention the black antique french side feed woodstove i have stood in my bedroom that i got from a car boot sale for £30.....:D:D:D

but its not big enough for that size room anyway...:) tho i do know where a tall antique green one is sat doing nothing in storage but not sure if they would part with it...[at u know who's]

at a place in france where some friends live is an old barn where locals sell thier "bits" ...you would die and go to heaven if you saw all the old fires, baths,sinks,furniture that is SOOOOOOOOO cheap compared to here...
i know this doesnt help you but who knows i may set off and reappear with allsorts of goodies...watch this space:D

choille

Squirrel stoves are quite good & pretty.

Davesnave

We are at last dividing the hen orchard in two so that the ground and the housing can be rested. This means finding a second chicken shed. When the first one is out of action, it will become the feed and cleaning stuff store, and so on, alternating.

At present, we have a store shed by the house, which might just convert into this second chicken house, but I'll not bank on that. The loony who was here before put hardboard around the walls and insulated it with rockwool, so it's probably rotten around the base.

I've a friend who works in a stove emporium. He hasn't been there long, but he should be able to give us some inside gen on which one to buy when we get that far.

lostinrates

I got a half price katsura tree today.....£20 quid. The only thing is, it was unlabelled and I'm worried it will grow too big. NAy one know the root spread of these things? I want to put it and a couple of liquid ambers and then the plums near where the oak is going from...so re[placing with something else that will cause problems seems a bad idea!!

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Any one know the root spread of these things?

Doesn't look like the Cercidiphyllum will be a problem:

http://apps.kew.org/trees/?page_id=80

Not sure about Liquidambars, but they should look very pretty together in the autumn.

Edit: This chap knows about them and isn't too far from you:)

http://www.chris-pattison.co.uk/liq.html

Winged_one

I am ticked off with myself the past few months. Work has been way, way too hectic (we're haemoragging staff and getting extra work heaped on us at the same time). OH has spent 10 weeks abroad since the start of May (trying to keep his own job). And DD is showing signs of behavioural problems. So I have not done much with the allotment this year, very little crafting, and pay cuts mean that the savings funds have not grown much at all (luckily, I haven't had to dip into them much). Even after all the work I did at the start of the year on the plot, the results were very poor and I haven't been there in 2 months (I might get there on Sunday morning).

I think I am a bit burnt out, but I can't see us getting to the daydream for a good few years longer than I had originally hoped at this stage. And I am stuck in that I'm the one who is likely to keep their job - although I think more pay cuts are coming - but at the same time, I can make a difference at the moment there for others (I actually do seem to have ears of people who can DO things open to my ideas of what to do to help wider society), so I also sorta feel that I can't jsut step back from that. There's a lot of relatives with health and ageing problems, and I don't get to see enough of them all (there were 2 unexpected deaths during the year too) - not even the immediate ones.

It's great though, to see the forward movements that are happening when I do get a chance to read. MIL got chickens a couple of months ago and we got one of the first eggs when we visited last month. And I got 9 eggs from a colleague's back garden yesterday. And BIL just moved into his new house which they built themselves which is pretty highly specc'ed insulation and utilities-wise (solar panels, good boiler, lots of wood) - and there's a good garden in what they finally got.

I think I need some time out over the mid-term break to just unwind a bit and start to see wood from the trees again.

alfie_1

WINGED ONE...... wow !:eek: please please take a breather for yourself... i thought i went at 90mph but youve well overtaken .... you have to shut the door,do what YOU want for a day,regardless...turn phone off and read/watch tv/bath/pamper/go for a walk [no shopping!] and take in the view. you cant please everyone so just please yourself.....thus endeth the sermon !!:D

[i think that covers/repeats all the advice iv been given over the months !! ]

choille

Hi winged one - my garden is a disgrace - we have had such dreadful weather until this past few days & it's shoccking to see how overgrown things have become - but pah - it'll wait.

Things have to wait, sometimes we need to just chill & gather ourselves for a time - that's my excuse.

last few days have been glorious, but instead of veg garden untangle I've been down the wood with 12 Orpington teenager chicks & wee Scot's Grey Cockerel attempting to nip the bramble fronds. The sun slanting through the silver birches & the peaty smell of the earth is fabulous. The chicks watch heads cocked to one side & they scratch away & come & keep checking what I uncover all the while making little chiripy noises - absolutely gorgeous.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Doesn't look like the Cercidiphyllum will be a problem:

http://apps.kew.org/trees/?page_id=80

Not sure about Liquidambars, but they should look very pretty together in the autumn.

Edit: This chap knows about them and isn't too far from you:)

http://www.chris-pattison.co.uk/liq.html

You darling, thank you!

We're really thrilled, he is a good height already....not huge, but enough to be a bit of a screen from the tractors, and I can't wait for the scent....I had one before...one in a garden of mine, one in a garden of my parents....and I thought it would smell really good now, but doesn't seem to....but I'm sure it will.