Preparing for winter III

Oliver14

D&DD wrote: »

Having a quick sit down during a baking marathon..
Oliver I'm a carer too Have you been in touch with your council re the grit/salt ours gave every household a free bag last year which we could collect from garden centres but if you had a disabled person in the household they delivered it free too might be worth everyone ringing their councils to see if they have any schemes like this??

Thanks for that i'll give it a go but i'll not hold my breath regarding our council.

That remids me as I need to ring highways we have a streey lamp outside our house I noticed the other day the actual lamp was directly over front Garden. The last night after a night of high winds it is now back over the footpath. Methinks its a bit loose and I'rd rather it didnt fall on my head.:eek:

I failed a bit yesterday with my Gardening Jobs due to my wife needing me more than normal. i'll have to save those till later in the week. I also at some point need to paint my fence. We had a new fence put up a few weeks back and I havent had time to paint it.

This morning we had a new undercounter fridge delivered (the courier rung at 7,00 am:eek:) we decided to get a new one as we are limited in firdge space as we only have enough space for an under counter one in the Kitchen and no room for a larder one anywhere else. So this one I have found a space in our larder (still leaving all the shelves free. i will just have to run power cable through the stud wall to get to a socket which could take a bit off faffing.

I need to do some serious cooking I have a chicken Carcass that will turn into some stew later today. Also I have some beets i'm going to make into some chutney.

Hopefully can have a more successful day than yesterday.

Hobsons_Choice

Husband has taken to coming with me to the supermarket, yesterday it went something like this:
"Why do you need yet more toilet rolls? We've got plenty"
"But they're on offer, and they don't go off"
"And where are you thinking of putting these?"
"In the garage maybe?"
"There's no more room in the garage and they might get damp"
"OK"...(making mental note to come back on my own).
"No more tinned tomatoes, we've enough to feed a cruise liner"
"But they're on offer and........"
Wasted breath, he's moved on to the next aisle and is perusing the bottled beer.

tugrin

Breezy and chilly in good ol Norfolk today - totally overcast and back too gloomy Octobertide weather methinks.
Oliver- my sympathies over having to paint a fence - they are gruelling and somehow not as gratifying as doing a shed or wall.
Scottish Ostrich - do you mean Red Doe? She is well I believe and posted a couple of pages back
Susie - good luck with the interview - have you done all your preps dor that/ I always hate the bit when they ask you if you have any questions of your own and I go totally blank and look like a dur brain.

D&DD

Hobsons_Choice wrote: »

Husband has taken to coming with me to the supermarket, yesterday it went something like this:
"Why do you need yet more toilet rolls? We've got plenty"
"But they're on offer, and they don't go off"
"And where are you thinking of putting these?"
"In the garage maybe?"
"There's no more room in the garage and they might get damp"
"OK"...(making mental note to come back on my own).
"No more tinned tomatoes, we've enough to feed a cruise liner"
"But they're on offer and........"
Wasted breath, he's moved on to the next aisle and is perusing the bottled beer.

lol I sooo know how you feel..I usually do ours online but top up at sainsburys and my OH WILL NOT let me get a big trolley...ever :rotfl:he says I always fill it up so we always end up with the little one overflowing instead!!

I've wrapped some apples for winter storage today as I need more jars to bottle them.

Just need to do one of the dogs beds now and thats all the 'thick and heavy' stuff freshened up.

Food storage..don't even go there :rotfl:just need to do a chemist direct order for a few med bits now.

Oliver hope your council helps out with the grit.

It may be an idea for people to lobby for all councils to do this as it helps us to help ourselves and they usually like that sort of thing
Rising sorry I kept meaning to say how lovely your throw was and your gorgeous doglet too!

notjustlaura

Am feeling very proud of myself. The larder has been decluttered and organised so I can see exactly what I have in. I've set aside a ten-day supply of food on the top shelf and labelled it '10 Day Emergency Food Supply' to take it out of the 'What's for tea tonight?' category. I've made a list of what I need before snow falls and have ordered what's necessary to feed me and the boys for a week plus backups of things like flour and rice from Mr S. I'd have gone and got it today if my car had an MOT. It doesn't and won't for a week or so yet. The groceries will be delivered tomorrow morning and then I'll then be a much more content Laura!

I got caught short last year. Very little food in the house as Mr S delivery was due the day the snow came. Mr S cancelled (but didn't tell me!!) and the vans for the local shops couldn't get through for days ... It was like living in a war-zone with rumours of 'There's milk at the butcher's ...' and people trekking from one shop to another to try and get what they needed. Don't want to go through something like that again unprepared.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Hello everyone, my first post on this thread. I discovered PfW II a couple of weeks ago but it was extremely long so I didn't get all the way through it and am very pleased to see this much more manageable new thread.

I was very glad to discover you all as I, too, have been preparing for winter!! We moved into a Victorian house in May having previously lived in nice, easy to heat modern flats. It has a semi-basement so I'm also worried about it getting damp. We absolutely love our house but I am dreading both being cold/damp and the fuel bills so am keen to do anything to reduce these.

PfW so far:
Painting external window frames & sills, front door, steps etc.
Ivy and built up soil removed from around house to prevent damp.
Drains cleared, blocked-up air brick unblocked
De-humidifier bought
2 x electric heaters bought - additional heating and back-up in case of boiler failure

PfW to do:
Chimney repairs - bit of water leakage in fireplace when it rains heavily
Repair 1 double glazed unit that won't completely close.
Salt purchase
Emergency kit- candles and matches
Thermal curtains - expensive so may prioritise the dining room patio doors in the semi basement.
Foil for radiators
Seasonal film on 1 x single-glazed door.

runnerbean17

Noticed quite a few people in Mr.A's buying the £8 snow shovels today.

As I was walking in, a woman was walking out carrying 2 snow shovels

Me: ( caught her eye and smiled)
Woman: "Don't know what your smiling for it might be ok today but
it's suppose to snow soon, you should think about getting
one"
Me: " Erm sorry ... I got mine 3 months ago"
Woman: (walked away muttering)

I just thought it was good seeing people preparing for the bad weather.
Last time I bothering smiling at anyone carrying a snow shovel - well unless they're digging my car out :rotfl::rotfl:

imogen-p

pumpkinlife wrote: »

Incidentally, with the exception of elderberries, the berry crop is scanty this year. We won't be making rosehip wine this year, I felt too guilty to pick them Perhaps we are due a mild winter in this part of the country.

Aurora

It seems like the opposite here in Bradford. There's not much in the way of elderberries, but I don't think I've seen so many rosehips and rowen berries. There are rowen trees all round the city centre and the branches on the ones in front of the library are drooping with the weight of them all. Unfortunately unless I take a ladder with me they are all sadly out of reach - which is a shame as I like rowen berry jelly.

I'm thinking it's going to be snowy here again this year. They last two winters I've ending up having to walk part of the way home from work because the bus couldn't get through the snow. I hoping we don't get quite that much again.

Rainy-Days

ScottishOstrich wrote: »

Has anyone heard how Red Deer is getting on ?
Cheers
Ostrich x

I think you might mean Red Doe and she got her fuel supply sorted out in the end, which was great news!!

Well this morning another load of washing was out on the line drying in the windy weather - this time a dark wash.

I cut all the roses in the front garden back, planted in the wall flowers - the ground was rock hard - I have watered them and all the other pots, my big holly tree and the standard bay trees either side of the front door.

DH cut back and shaped the conifers in the back garden, we have swept up and cooked lunch. Off to Lidl and Tesco this afternoon, then back home for a cup of tea!

Confuzzled

well yesterday i went ahead and made my daughters thermal curtains, the cheats way

i used a double duvet cover and used safety pins to pin the space blanket foil and the old woolen blanket liners togehter, then we slid those inside and used larger safety pins to pin the header tape through the blanket liner, you really can't tell at all though i'm going to rehang them, we used the bottom row for the hooks and the top bows over a bit showing the header tape, so we'll use the middle row which will be more balanced and that shouldn't happen

i'll make mine tomorrow, but i'll be using a flat sheet, still with safety pins, i can turn it inside out, pin, iron the seam and pin the header/insert the same way, no sewing! :T