Preparing for winter III

Thriftkitten

kittie wrote: »

heavy snow 2+ dec esp east and midlands, 7th widespread, 11th e/se, 16th east anglia/kent, 20th -20 deg, 22+ snow in east, 25th+ snow showers, 29+ sudden thaw floods sw diagonal band to ne. 75-80% accurate over the month, mostly 80%

Oh how exciting thankyou..... Now, only problem is I'm in Cornwall, hmmm thinking move to east Mids for December.

Gettingtherequickly

Was talking to my brother last night and he was quite proud of himself. He rents a flat with ginormous single glazed windows, building listed. Was given curtains which he had to have altered but for the life of him could not get the metal curtain hooks thye required so hung them with regular hooks but they looked ridiculous. Then had a brainwave and made his own with coat hangers, chuffed to bits as they were free and do the job perfectly.

Now I know waht he is like, so cannot see him putting bubble on the windows, but would cling flim work? I can imagine the colourful language as we all know what cling film does, but if it is worth his wihile, he will do it. He is selfemployed and while he is not on the rocks, he would obviously prefer his income to be more regular. It also means he is working long hours so is very tired. Bless, fed him last night and he was shocked at how hungry he was.

jamanda

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

Was talking to my brother last night and he was quite proud of himself. He rents a flat with ginormous single glazed windows, building listed. Was given curtains which he had to have altered but for the life of him could not get the metal curtain hooks thye required so hung them with regular hooks but they looked ridiculous. Then had a brainwave and made his own with coat hangers, chuffed to bits as they were free and do the job perfectly.

Now I know waht he is like, so cannot see him putting bubble on the windows, but would cling flim work? I can imagine the colourful language as we all know what cling film does, but if it is worth his wihile, he will do it. He is selfemployed and while he is not on the rocks, he would obviously prefer his income to be more regular. It also means he is working long hours so is very tired. Bless, fed him last night and he was shocked at how hungry he was.

That "proper" window film you get from Wilkos doesn't turn round and bite you like ordinary cling film. It isn't too expensive and is reasonably easy to apply. (Double sided sticky tape on frames). The sticky tape is a bit of bother to get the sticky off when you want to remove it, unless you know how to do it.

I used it in previous years and it makes a LOT of difference.

Katkin_2

Frugal wrote: »

My local garden centre has an animal feed section and although they don't stock wheat anymore, they will order it when asked. Do you have somewhere like that? Try googling animal feed suppliers and your local area... or chicken feed suppliers - I have had a quick look and there are some but you will know which one is closest to you :-) Lots of people keep urban chickens now so I am sure you will be able to source some quite easily

Hope that helps

Thanks Frugal, I will have a look tonight.

Thanks also to 23rdspiral and Confuzzled. Not sure about the rice as it does have a tendancy to burn and deteriorate over time which wheat doesnt.

Looking forward to have a hot wheat bag under my toes.

Snow in the Midlands :eek: will have to make sure the snow shovel has arrived then! Or persuade the neighbour that his leg is better now and he should get some exercise by gritting the road for us every night / morning. Got the salt for the drive and we're wrapped up warm and toasty in the house. Just got to get some coal delivered now that I've had the payment come through for the excess on my car that some berk drove into in the Summer.

Got kids snow boots to get too as they seem to have grown this year somewhat. However they cant wait until it snows. We have sledges and a local park with a small hill

[Deleted User]

I am getting the christmas food in this month, provided I can empty a freezer drawer. Only the 2 of us this time, first time in 41 years and boy am I looking forward to it, no mass catering, no shopping worries, no turkey I am going to get beef wellingtons and a few nice extras and that is IT. I already have the bits and pieces I`ll be taking afterwards, when we do the visiting. Our lovely children always conspire to make sure that we have people here but we always get so busy and bone tired but they don`t know. This year was accidental

Where I live, I am expecting very cold -8 to -10 but no real snow until 25ish but I`ll be staying in at those temperatures

Horrible today, dank and dark.

Lucy5781

prepareathome wrote: »

Sending you lots and lots of cyber hugs, just keep telling yourself how much money you can save on your own, and for something to snuggle and keep you warm treat yourself to a hot water bottle and a furry bear cover, cheaper, doesn't answer back or spend money.:A

I prepped years ago... I actually don't use my central heating at all... I'm on the second floor so I get some heat from neighbours downstairs. I have a little electric fan heater and an electric blanket for my bedroom and a massive purple furry throw to go on top of the duvet just in case, there's already an old flannalette sheet under my normal fitted one and I have fleece throws for when I'm sat in the living room.

No OH to complain that for him it's too hot :shock:

Fruball

23rdspiral wrote: »

Can u use rice? Or more correctly, can I use rice? I've a large container of it that somehow went musty. I cannot eat it so thought it could be made useful , like in a doorstop. Or maybe a heat bag?



You're welcome . When I was little I entered a competition to make up a game with a bordgame made on a piece of MDF... I then did my homework on it, uni work on it... Then lap top... Now dinner!

Now that is MSE :T Brilliant recycling!!! And a nice bit of history attached - perfect for handing down eventually

tugrin wrote: »

D'you know you can really go off people...... specially the smuggy ones with their bloomin' new stoves!!!!!!! One day I tell you, one day I'll be up there with the rest of you - as long as the postal order miraculously comes in the post one day............

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Awwwwwww bless ya, you are welcome to come and have a warm up in front of my fire - sadly not a stove (way too expensive for me ) but it is beautiful and I am definately smug about the free wood

Thanks for the weather update Kittie - My boss was teasing me yesterday as I had told him we would be expecting snow and freezing temps early this year So I would like to see plenty of the white stuff and minus's before too long...

We are a house full of coughs and sneezes today DD's cough is alarming altho GP says there is no infection etc so she hasn't been given anything for it :cool: Managed to get decent cough meds by ageing the girls by a few months as you can't get decent stuff until they are 6 and she really needed something that works.

My cough is developing into a throat searing, chest biting horror too so I wish I had picked up some for myself. I'm not going out today as feeling poorly myself so won't be able to get any until tomorrow.

I have a well stocked (embarrassingly so) meds collection but cough medicine is the one thing I haven't learned to store... Definately going to remedy that tomorrow and no doubt the pharmacist will frown and question me on why I am buying different types etc :rotfl:

What IS the best cough medicine out there atm? Any tried and tested favourites?

I used to love Galloways... Can you still get that? or buttercup syrup and Potters Vegetable Cough Remover - now that, I seem to remember, is powerful stuff. Although I am not sure what a vegetable cough is :rotfl:...... sorry

Candychris

SADIE wrote: »

I'm really pleased prepareathome you had such a good outcome from Coopers, I'll be watching them as a Hermes courier in case they ever blame me, I have a customer who's waiting for an overdue order from them, it hasn't been sent or at least not been on my HHT for delivery so not missing.
I'll advice her to contact them if it's really overdue and she hasn't had any delay email(luckily she knows it's not me)been delivering to her for years.


I wonder if the driver(courier)is doing too much and he possibly mislaid your item, can't beleive a Hermes courier could be delivering for many companies:eek: it's a full time job here for all couriers at the moment.

It's doubtful any courier working for Hermes would get a call to go back to the depot and definitely wouldn't be told to get them delivered, I know what my answer would be. Your couriers story doesn't add up.

Just want to say again to anyone experiencing problems with their deliveries you would be wasting your time and be on hold if you contact Hermes, they will not deal with your problem, contact the company you ordered from they have to chase the order with Hermes.
You didn't say if Hermes responded to your email prepareathome but if they did I'd be surprised.

I'm going to keep an eye on Coopers and will post if they try to blame me for my customers delayed item.

I have no confidence in MyHermes at all. Both times the courier who delivers for them to my specific house (which is numbered like anyone elses house is) has delivered them to a house somewhere else where he thinks mine is, without looking at the number of the house he is delivering to. He is very obviously lazy and just trying to finish his round regardless. I have complained no end of times about this to MyHermes but they are not interested. I am a business owner and would NEVER risk my business using MyHermes. I also ask anyone who I buy from (on Ebay) to NEVER use MyHermes. Just go to GOOGLE & look at the Blogs on MyHermes that people have written about their experiences.

sixmum

Just a point to make. Pipes do not burst when the ice thaws. They burst when the water freezes, as ice occupies a greater volume. They then leak when the ice thaws.:eek:

prepareathome

SADIE wrote: »

I'm really pleased prepareathome you had such a good outcome from Coopers, I'll be watching them as a Hermes courier in case they ever blame me, .
You didn't say if Hermes responded to your email prepareathome but if they did I'd be surprised.

I'm going to keep an eye on Coopers and will post if they try to blame me for my customers delayed item.

No Hermes never got back to me, except the automatic email saying they have received my enquiry.

I know the driver for my area delivers for HomeBargain, as he delivered the toys I ordered from them ( thanks to someone on the forum giving us a heads up about a doll at a great price, so have a 2 year old granddaughter who is going to get plenty of presents yet I will not have gone over budget, and all good make toys). He has delivered to me in past few months other items but cannot remember who from now, will check CC to see whom apart from Amazon I have bought from. He doesn't have a van just a large estate car and its always packed full, so no name. I presume he doesn't work separately for each company rather he works for a firm that has contracts with each one and so he just delivers but doesn't know whom he is doing for. I meant to ask him when he delivered the next lot, but this morning when he brought the sledge I told him how Hermes seem to have lost the 4 in 1 car starter and he just laughed and said he was not surpised and forgot to ask about whom he actually works for. No doubt will see him again. He seems a nice hard working guy and is very patient waiting for me to get downstairs, pop the dogs in living room then answer the door- so many just ring the bell and if door not opened within a couple of mins just pop a card through and go.

The way Coopers have acted I would not be surprised if the car charger was never sent out, they no longer sell it, and I think they accepted the order, took the money and never bothered checking if they had any left, and just held on to my money to see if i complained about its non appearance, I might be wrong but their customer service is so bad I would not be at all surprised. So just have hubby's thermal socks to come and my money back and once that is done I will not be using them again, that stress I can do without.

Here its another dull driech ( I had forgotten it, remember people using it when growing up) day, but although dry everything looks damp. The only snag about this mild weather is my vegtables are not growing well, just picked a lettuce, they have been in the ground since September, and even now its not that big, nor are the raddishes and doesn't look as if the cauliflower is going to give me anything except leaves, leeks are only a bit thicker than a pencil. I had them all under fleece tunnels for two reasons, one thinking it would get really cold it would protect them, and the other to stop people seeing what I am growing until hedges are in and growing, but think they have kept the plants to warm. Was hoping not to have to buy fresh veg over winter but think will stock up on some more frozen and tinned just to make sure if weather gets really bad and cannot buy fresh..


The biobulb certainly helps on days like this, room is as bright as a sunny day but no glare.

Even though its not cold the dullness makes me want soups, so have lentil soup ( should do 3 days) in one SC and cod and potatoes in the other ( I have two, very handy when going through bad phase can just throw everything in and forget it) as main course, also bread being made in bread machine to go with the meal and will just throw some vegetables in steamer later. I prepare for living without power/gas etc but I love having all the modern appliances makes life so easy.

Hubby came home from work not feeling the best so gave him some Echinachea and he has gone to bed, so glad I made the soup as hopefully even if he doesn't feel like eating much I should be able to get him to take some.

Hope everyone is snug and dry and staying cheerful and those with the wonderful wood stoves are enjoying them, as I know well they are :rotfl: