Preparing for winter II

Enid

Thanks to rainy days too sorry I didn't see your post before mine arrived.

I do drive although a lot less now so you are right it is important to get the essentials in. I remember scraping the windscreen last year with a loyalty card not ideal.

I am on board and looking forward to my organised winter

mum26

Dare2be.com have a good sale on at the moment (ski type jackets etc), they are on quidco and you can often find discount codes too

Loads of berries coming on the holly nearby and blackberries ripe already!

Rainy-Days

mum26 wrote: »

Dare2be.com have a good sale on at the moment (ski type jackets etc), they are on quidco and you can often find discount codes too

Loads of berries coming on the holly nearby and blackberries ripe already!

Four years ago DH bought me for my birthday a beautiful holly tree it has a long trunk with a big ball of holly - almost topiary like. The last two winters it was laden with berries and I noticed tonight that the berries are green and there is allot of them again. I kept on saying that the berries on the trees and all the fruit is a portent of a bad winter and I have been proved right thus far. I also recall a lady in Northumberland last year who said that two weeks before the bad weather came in hundreds of cormorants came inland and I said I wonder if they know we are in for a bad spell. Nature can teach us so much. We need another Bill Foggitt who used nature to predict the weather and he was very good at it as well!

Justamum

Enid wrote: »

I do have some wacky thoughts myself though I do confess. I have a very very hairy dog for example who will fill a hoover at least twice a day with his hair. I have considered if this wonderful fluffy down could be used in anyway as I have an abundance. OK stupid I know but its just a thought.

I remember years ago seeing a woman with a huge white dog (Pyrennean Mountain Dog maybe?) and she used to take the hair which she brushed off him, spin it and knit it!

oldtractor

Rainy-Days wrote: »

It's that crystal gel like stuff that I can't find! Maybe I am not looking hard enough! Aldi have them in around September time I think.



Oh nearly forgot they have generators for sale this week if anybody is interested!

Is the crystal gel the same stuff as that water absorbing thing you can put in plant pots and hanging baskets to hold water?

Enid

Justamum wrote: »

I remember years ago seeing a woman with a huge white dog (Pyrennean Mountain Dog maybe?) and she used to take the hair which she brushed off him, spin it and knit it!

Oh I wish I was that talented I could keep the Edinburgh Wool Mill in black jumpers for years

I had thought I might fill a pair of tights with the hair to make some draught excluders. Not sure if this would work but it is worth a go I guess

bramble1

I need to sort out curtains for my kitchen and a long one to go over the door in an attempt to keep the heat in - also need to cover the bathroom sky light with something insulating as these 2 are the coldest in the house. - i don't know the first thing about curtains having never purchased/hung or anything with them before.... tips??

Have cleared out 2 drawers in the hallway chest for tins etc - this shop starts this month, have some pasta and rice already but need to step it up a gear.

Candles/throws are sorted.

New bedding is looking to be a must as well - our pillows and duvets are a old 'basics' from when we got our first house nearly 4 years ago - new pillows and a fluffy duvet will help keep the heat in i think!

Clearing out the freezer too of old foods that have been hanging around ready to start stocking with meat based whoopsies to see us through the really tough times.

Ugg boots are getting ordered next week and i need some decent shoes for walking the dog in the harsh weather too -i'd love a pair of shooting boots, but i've not got that budget so will need to find something else!

Butterfly_Brain

DH was saying today that he has spotted a few cracks around some of the windows so the next dry weekend we have he is going to fill them with caulk, so that should help with draughts.

auntymabel

Justamum wrote: »

You think you have it bad? Have you read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder? Now that was really harsh. I'm a big wuss and wouldn't have survived :rotfl:

I often think in the winter of the the townsfolk getting together to dig out the train that was bringing their supplies and the hole in the cabin wall where the family "found" some grain to keep them going when they had no food.
I also remember a radio interview with a Russian woman who lived in a part of Siberia which had lost all its industry after the break up of the Soviet Union and the people who were left behind were in dire starits. Her children had to do their homework in the bathroom as it was the least cold room and if washed her hair before gong to bed it froze to the wall! :eek:

I'm another wuss - nothing would induce me to part with my electric blanket.

mardatha

I'm in an American forum where they have really severe winters, some of the ladies are in Canada and some out on the prairies. Their ground freezes solid to 3ft down all winter & they get a lot of ice storms. They're all reading The Long Winter too, to get them in the mood for winter