Preparing for winter II

Rainy-Days

Well I came home from work DH had been to Tescos and picked up the Branston Baked Beans offer but forgot the milk - at least he taxed the Land Rover though ! Anyway, I walked the spaniel with me into the village shop to pick up some milk until I I do a bigger shop tomorrow and wow there is a really nasty noticeable nip in the air in fact it is like October weather wise. Never known it like this!

Need to do a few odds and bobs before we go on holiday but nothing major just washing and general tidying. It's when we get back that the final jobs begin although they are totally manageable.

My Japanese Acers have turned a vibrant red - I never ever get that until the start of October so yes this is significant and it also shows that this is at least five weeks early !!!!

Love and light to all of you with your preparing, stay safe and also in the knowledge that every little thing you do will benefit so much when winter does finally hit us. Big huge hugs to all of you xx

Justamum

Alisonpennypincher wrote: »

I often say that if Scotland had the climate of the Carribean you would not be able to move for tourists!

But then it wouldn't be as beautiful as it is - the beauty is caused by the climate there. A double-edged sword really.

Congratulations on your wedding MrsBunny - I hope everything goes perfectly for you on Friday.

wendall

Hi Could i join in this thread i have been lurking for a while and have plucked up the courage to join you all as it is indeed a friendly thread. We live in a farmhouse down a little lane it is about a mile to the nearest shop so not too bad but i struggle in winter cannot get the car up the lane due to the snow and they do not grit any of the surrounding roads. I have an 18 year old son staring uni at Liverpool in 2 weeks and a 21 year old with sight problems just waiting the outcome of the last opearion to see if she will be registered partially sighted or blind. The farmhouse has no gas so the only heat we had last year was electric heaters and a open fire in the living room (luckily oh works for the park department so has manged to aquire lots of logs for this winter so have plenty of these. Have just bought 2 calor gas heaters both £20 off ebay with the bottles so hope i can use these this winter and it will not cost as much as the electric. Have stocked up on surf liquid, flash and the fairy washing up liquid due to the glitches in tesco on the grabbit, also got the wholewheat pasta 22p and the branston beans and bread flour for the breadmaker. Also got candles, generator ready as we had a few power cuts last winter. I knit so have got some wool from kemps wool online to make scarves, mittens and some chunky jumpers. Need to get some more coal and cold and flu medicines and long life semi skimmed milk. No one i know is getting organised for this winter and they do not believe it is going to be a bad winter so the only help and advice i can attain is off the friendly paople on this thread.

Rainy-Days

Hello Wendall of course we are happy to have another convert to the winter preparation party.

I have this afternoon put the central heating on - the first time since April! It is very cold here, with a noticeable nip. I have just finished reading online where the birds have migrated one week earlier than usual. You might think that one week wouldn't make that much difference but birds are habitual creatures and so coupled with the trees and garden going into a slow shutdown and so early as it is - it ios hard to believe but it is only 30th August - I just feel that we could be in for a harsh winter.

Life can hard anyway, but it can be a darn sight harder when you don't have any preparation under way. We also live in a village as well and last year was a toad in that we relied upon the farmer to clear some of the roads for the villagers! The buses didn't run and the postie never turned up for nearly a week - I nearly collapsed when I saw the amount of post he shoved through our door on the Friday morning!

Normally, allot of stuff such as turning off the outside tap, putting the hose and garden furniture away we leave until the begining of October, not this year - we intend to do that by the third week of September. The grass has not grown much either despite the rain we have had.

Have a look at the winter preparation list which is on a link on the first page of this thread to give you some pointers and tips on what you can be looking at. There are some things on there that you might not have thought of and others that are routine. You can achieve quite allot in the space of four weeks so you still have a good foothold of things that can be done

prudencekitten

foMy preparations for winter so far:

bought another pair of Yaktrax, anticipating snow and ice like last year. I have a pair from last winter which were a godsend as I live up two hills. This time I got ones with a retaining band across the top as I (temporarily) lost mine last time in the snow. One pair will go on my walking-to-work boots and the other on my (new) wellies.

bought a PVC raincoat in shiny postbox red, ready for the rain. :-(

bought wellies, black with Hello Kitty on them which will do for the rain :-( and the snow :-(


bought leather ankle boots for when it's too cold for shoes and too wet for Uggs.

I have loads of warm coats and jackets and several pairs of faux Uggs.

That's me sorted, so next step candles, back door fleece, plastic covering for loft hatch and maybe silver foil for behind radiators.

Aiming to stock up on cat litter and Whiskas which I can't buy in the local shop. That was a problem last year.

Loving this thread!!

jamanda

I've done a lot of prep because I live in a village which is in a hole (or valley if we're being posh). Three roads out, all uphill. Two are country lanes which don't get gritted, and the third is the one where buses go and get stuck.

The local co-op is a bun fight at the first flake of snow, where the OAPs fight for the bread and milk. Can't blame them really if they can't get out of the village.

Spent the weekend bottling plums and apples, and have some tomatoes to do something with tonight. I'll be as ready as I can be.

While I was out with the dog this morning doing my habitual rummage through the hedge bottoms, I really noticed the leaves falling and the berries very ripe. I think the summer has gone now and the next step is to remove summer clothes and reinstate the winter ones in the wardrobes.

I tend to agree with Rainy-Days generally, in that the winter will come hard and soon, and I'm doing as much as I can to get things sorted.

Carry on prepping.....

Gettingtherequickly

Just had a thought! As we have all observed a bit of a nip and are mostly reluctant to put the heating on, could we get away with putting it on based on the fact that it is recommended to test it before the winter? And it would be MSE as it would be doing 2 things at once:o

tugrin

Now I do feel smug - I have an insulated loft!!! All except the little bit around the hatch which I need to stand on and put the ladder on. It was just right in terms of number of rolls and even got a bit to stuff up the chimney! It was in many ways just like shearing the old sheep but of course considerably less smelly. Also not as good for ones hands.
Whilst up there found an excellent fluffy fleece earflap cap that I'd forgotted my son gave to me AND an old leopard spot fleece that I used to use in mt class dressing up box for the children to play wild animals with - it's still useful so I will be using it!!

Craghoppers arrived too, so altoghether qquite a day - lt's not surprised I am completely cream crakered.

Feel a bit down too as DD has gone off and she always leaves a huge hole when she leaves as she is such a big personality. Think it will be oven chips, egg and beans tonight, followed by a long warm bath and an early night.

boultdj

Ladies wellie's in Lidl on Thursday £9.99
Ladies knee high sock's twin pk £2.99 same place. hth.

Rainy-Days

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

Just had a thought! As we have all observed a bit of a nip and are mostly reluctant to put the heating on, could we get away with putting it on based on the fact that it is recommended to test it before the winter? And it would be MSE as it would be doing 2 things at once:o

:rotfl::rotfl:testing it yes that would qualify as a very good excuse :rotfl:I am in the pricess of 'testing' mine tonight :rotfl: