Preparing for winter III

oldtractor

Confession time, today I emptied the bedding box where I keep blankets,sheets etc and hot waterbottles. I have SEVEN hot waterbottles! How did that happen?

LavenderBees

toottifrootti wrote: »

managed to book the sweep at long last - 22nd december:eek: I know I cant use the fire continually but at least if its swept I will be able to use it on occassions if needed. Its £26 - is that reasonable - not much I can do about it as sweeps seem to be in short supply.
.

I think so - I was charged £60 last time. He did a great job, but am starting to think it was a tad expensive :eek:. Mind he did have a 50 odd mile round trip as was the only sweep I could get hold of who would commit to doing the job for me.

L x

Pooky

I paid £35 for our local registered sweep last month. He was very tidy and when I went to wash down the hearth when he left there was virtually nothing there.

Well worth the money.

Very dark and dismal here all day so another fire lit is evening and popped the oil filled radiator on in the family room for DDs to do their coursework in relative comfort. Dd1 then snuck in front of the fire, wrapped in a blanket and fell asleep, she's got a stinking cold bless her. She's now tucked up in bed with a wheat bag, a selection of cough sweets, a plug in vaporiser (reduced to 69p last year for the plug and 5 refills - I brought 10 packs!) and a purry, furry bed fellow to keep her company. Glad I'd stocked up on the cough and cold remedies!

karren

toottifrootti wrote: »

you dont even need to sew one - get the cheap fleece blnket from asda and make a roll of fleece the right length and tie ribbons arond it it stop it unrolling. easy to throw in the washing machine and will stop any drafts. hope that helps

that is genius!!!! as i need 2 and i was daft enough to pay £5 a few years ago for one! so now ill hunt for an old fleece and make one!!!!
thank you xxxx

[Deleted User]

biobulbs are hanging in both places now. Dh didn`t like the white light at first but I persuaded him to wait a while to get used to it and he is. It is down to the colours in the room, the dining, lounge and kitchen (open plan) is all white walls and ceiling, which looks great in the day but harsher with the full spectrum light. The snug is a mushroomy beige and the same light looks much more mellow. Compromise is that we use the pendant when we are in the dining area alone but the mellow (yellow/warmer) wall lights when we have visitors.

Now for a good nights sleep, which should follow after sitting under the white light all evening. These lights don`t flicker, not like the other ones

I`ve been reading about a couple who died lately from CO poisoning through fumes from their coal fire. Don`t block up your vents and get a CO detector
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24007126-fumes-poison-couple-as-they-cuddle-on-sofa.do

MarilynMonroe_2

Rainy-Days wrote: »

I do not think that daylight has broken at all today - dark, miserable, damp and drizzly

Same here! My dd asked where the clouds were today ... the whole sky was one big grey cloud of rain.

MarilynMonroe_2

oldtractor wrote: »

Confession time, today I emptied the bedding box where I keep blankets,sheets etc and hot waterbottles. I have SEVEN hot waterbottles! How did that happen?

:rotfl:you have a bit of a collection going on lol!

[Deleted User]

Has anyone else started to eat from their winter food stores? We are, ie food preserved from the allotment, vacuum packed oats and so on. I haven`t had to do any serious food shopping for weeks now. The way I look at it is that there are only 17 weeks or so until the good weather starts and I have enough tinned tomatoes to use at least two tins a week.

I have started hibernating, I know I have and am content to sit and read and to make good warming meals. The hustle and bustle has gone. I was so busy preserving food in all sorts of ways, I didn`t waste any produce from our small allotment. It was manic at times but very worth it

The white light has had good results already ie I slept through and I can read without eye strain. I left the central bulb in the snug on all evening and I noticed that dh didn`t turn his (yellow bulb) lamp on. lol, 2 screw in biobulbs should be arriving today for our lamps so all is going swingingly re bulb replacement

splodger_seedswapper

gawd i am so stupid ...... grrrr

over the last few weeks i have had a massive clear up (well i started one - not close to finishing yet - that'll take months :rotfl:)

anyway i cleared out the cupboard in my hallway (where i keep linen etc) cleared off the top shelves - and put wine racks in there - as it is bottling time for much of my homebrew - and space is in short supply in my place

last night i heard a big pop and a trickle coming from the hall (gulp) one of my bottles has popped the cork - and half a bottle of redcurrant wine has gone all over the linen below

i am so annoyed with myself - putting the wine in there - but i am so limited on space that i didn't have a choice really - now i have a mountain of wine stained linen (all the winter bedding etc that i have spent the last few months washing and drying in my prep for winter - grrr) i don't think i am going to get much chance to wash and dry it all again now - i don't have a tumble dryer and the storage heaters are not the greatest heat source for drying big / heavy stuff on an airer

on the plus side - i did get to try an immature redcurrant wine last night - which went down well enough for a young wine

i think i might have to box up a load of books and store my wine bottles on the bookshelves instead

[Deleted User]

omg sss :eek: , such a similar thing happened to me 30 years ago and it went all over the carpet. It made me give up wine making for a very long time and I am still wary. I have been using the wine boxes for short term wines and am storing them wrt a worst case scenario ie over floors that can be washed but I will be ever watchful for buldging boxes. Long term storage will have to be in demi johns with safety release bungs. I have 24 empty wine bottles here and a stack of corks but am too scared to use them