Preparing for winter II

NualaBuala

Haven't had a chance to catch up on this thread but wanted to warn you folks about burst pipes.

I had drained my outside tap and pipe but it wasn't lagged and it burst. Luckily I can get a plumber out tomorrow but and he told me that he was repairing pipes that had been lagged - apparently it's so cold that the lagging wasn't enough to protect them. :eek:

sb44

My husband was told today that you can get a £60 fine and 3 points on your license if you are driving and fail to clear the snow from the roof of your car.

It is part of rule 229 of the Highway Code.

I'm sure it is something a lot of people wouldn't have thought to do so double check before you drive anywhere, even on your way home from work.



http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%C2%A360+fine+for+snow+on+car+roof&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Confuzzled

Primrose wrote: »

Many small birds such as sparrows and chaffinches are really ground feeders and don't feel comfortable trying to eat from hanging feeders.
Also the position of the food is sometimes important. We try and put our ground feeding tray which contains mixed seeds and oats at the base of a shrub as some birds like the protection of somewhere safe to flee to in case of attack from bigger birds. We also sprinkle fatty oats around the base of shubs and once the birds know where to find it, they come back pretty regularly. If you're newly feeding, it does take a while before they realise they've found a regular reliable feeding station, but once they do, they'll be back time and time again, especially in bad weather.

thank you that's very helpful!

i'd already planned that if they still hadn't eaten out of the feeder by tomorrow i was going to sprinkle it around so i'll def do that now. sadly i don't have any bushes to sprinkle food near but i reckon eventually they'll come down, i'll be sure to sprinkle some on the snow as well as mixing things in with the food for the frisbee, i can't see the terns and gulls picking up tiny seeds out of the snow but i bet the robins will if they see me. i love robins, clever little birds (and golf balls on legs this time of year they're all floofy as my daughter says )

they're getting quite a haul tomorrow, i have leftover cooked rice, several apples to cut up, oats and the seed from the feeder

NualaBuala

Saw my neighbour clearing snow today with a very MSE snow shovel - he had a plank of wood somehow attached to a rectangle of plywood or something similar. Looked like a placard but it did the job fine.

So might be worth going on protest marches to get free "show shovels"

catznine

(((hugs))) Nuala and many thanks for the warning!

marmiterulesok

Justamum wrote: »

I love that whole series of books. What a difficult life they had. It wasn't always as happy as she makes out in her books though - the really harsh bits were left out. Apparently her husband ended up with diptheria and was never really well again afterwards. I'd love to go to America and visit all the places she lived in!

I've just read this article about Laura Ingalls Wilder that you and Nuala-Buala might find interesting:

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/nov/26/little-house-on-the-prairie-ingalls-wilder

katholicos

Don't know what the rules are with regard to posting links to youtube, but i thought you all might like a giggle at the video i uploaded to my youtube channel this evening...found a frugal way to keep my wee doggie warm! Won't post the link here in case i'm not allowed, but you can access it either through my homepage or by typing my username into the youtube seach bar.

sb44

katholicos wrote: »

Don't know what the rules are with regard to posting links to youtube, but i thought you all might like a giggle at the video i uploaded to my youtube channel this evening...found a frugal way to keep my wee doggie warm! Won't post the link here in case i'm not allowed, but you can access it either through my homepage or by typing my username into the youtube seach bar.

That's a great idea!

I suppose it depends on what breed of dog you have though. We have a Lhasa Apso and I am not sure if one of my cardi sleeves would fit her. Saying that, I don't even know if I have an old cardi anywhere as it isn't something I tend to wear.

She could do with one just to go into the back garden in as her fur gets full of snow balls and the snow is then a pain in the 'harris' to get off her.

Eenymeeny

sb44 wrote: »

My husband was told today that you can get a £60 fine and 3 points on your license if you are driving and fail to clear the snow from the roof of your car.

It is part of rule 229 of the Highway Code.

I'm sure it is something a lot of people wouldn't have thought to do so double check before you drive anywhere, even on your way home from work.



http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%C2%A360+fine+for+snow+on+car+roof&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a

Thanks for the warning. We watched someone stop all of the traffic a few days ago when all of the snow on the roof came forward blocking her view. There could have been a nasty accident and I'm sure that she must have felt really silly trying to clear the car while everyone waited:o
I don't want to encourage panic buying and I suppose most of it will have gone by now anyway, but is there something that you wish you'd stocked up on and didn't? or just that you wish you'd bought more of? Might be helpful for those who haven't had snow yet or for the future....
I wish that I'd bought more dishwasher salt, it's been really handy for the front path. Going to venture out today on the look out.

Eenymeeny

Confuzzled wrote: »

thank you that's very helpful!

i'd already planned that if they still hadn't eaten out of the feeder by tomorrow i was going to sprinkle it around so i'll def do that now. sadly i don't have any bushes to sprinkle food near but i reckon eventually they'll come down, i'll be sure to sprinkle some on the snow as well as mixing things in with the food for the frisbee, i can't see the terns and gulls picking up tiny seeds out of the snow but i bet the robins will if they see me. i love robins, clever little birds (and golf balls on legs this time of year they're all floofy as my daughter says )

they're getting quite a haul tomorrow, i have leftover cooked rice, several apples to cut up, oats and the seed from the feeder

Thanks for the bird feeding advice and I was just thinking that they are a fussy lot around here! A neighbour has so many feeders and tables here that we call it Birder King!