Preparing for winter III

beanrua

mardatha wrote: »

Where are you beanrua? Its getting really windy here with big gusts and its not supposed to peak here until 3pm. Its very very dark still, need lights on to see to read or cook. Torrential rain and reminds me of all the hurricanes I used to watch on Fox News lol!
They are saying minimum windspeeds 80 with gusts to 100mph. SO dark its weird.

mardatha - in north of Ireland here - brightening up a bit now but very windy - would probably be a great drying day for the clothes, if they stayed on the line. Oh no - it's getting dark again while I write this. Strange sky and can't see my mountains from kitchen window - looks like something is headed this way.

mardatha

Husband said that too, sky is strange colour. Wind gusts at Malin Head of 90mph. You'll get it before I do but you'll get it over quicker. Starting to really hiss in the chimney now. Bet my lights go out soon.

beanrua

Going to make sure everything is charged up and candles, torches and oil lamps ready. got huge pot of soup made -. Ferocious gales and sleet.

beanrua

Looking at the sky thro' my one unbubble-wrapped window - it's beautiful!! and changes in an instant - wonderful to watch the colours and light.

mardatha

Police advising to avoid all travel in Central Scotland and Lothian and Borders areas between 14:00 and 21:00 due to winds of 90mph expected.

PolkaDotsAndLace

All the bridges seem to be closed now (Forth, Tay, Erskine) so be aware of that if travelling too.

Confuzzled

mardatha wrote: »

Where are you beanrua? Its getting really windy here with big gusts and its not supposed to peak here until 3pm. Its very very dark still, need lights on to see to read or cook. Torrential rain and reminds me of all the hurricanes I used to watch on Fox News lol!
They are saying minimum windspeeds 80 with gusts to 100mph. SO dark its weird.

it was like that here in fife earlier, now the sun is splitting the heavens (again!) however it should start driving rain in sheets before we know it if it follows earlier weather patterns today.

we had sheets of rain pummeling the windows on one side and could see blue skies on the other at one point, THAT was really weird. the wind is permanently shaking the building at this point, i would NOT want to be a postie or delivery driver today

so far we've only heard the ambulance sirens once so that's good at least. according to the news last night we are right on the edge of the deep red mega warning area for the worst of the winds and from what i can feel right now (the 'real storm' isn't expected to hit til around 3pm!) i can believe it.

i'm cooking up a storm right now so we'll have some good food if we lose power. i'm also going to break out the camp stove and finally figure out how to use the butane supply when it's still not necessary to have it to have something warm to eat

i've also moved my emergency box to an even easier location to reach, i'll have my daughter gather up some games and put them in my room and put the extra duvets in there too, i also opened my bedroom door to let some heat in there, i fully expect to lose power today.

i've also instructed my daughter about rushing around to unplug everything at the wall if the power goes, even though i have surge protectors on almost everything i don't want to risk everything blowing out when the power is restored if we do lose power.

i just checked the weather and the temp is 9C but it says the real feel is -1C :eek: we have a possibility of rain and snow tonight but tomorrow night it's saying proper snow! i'm actually all excited, almost as much as my daughter

stay safe and warm everyone!

prepareathome

I went out for first time since Monday as had to get some fresh air, and fresh it was, but so mild, not cold at all, its 12.3c out there at moment, but by golly not for the first time I was glad I use a crutch to help me balance and it made the difference between me being blown around and going down, but I actually enjoyed it, so fresh. I only popped to Newsagent how is a little general store as well and he tries to keep his prices as low as he can. He only buys things if they have a price on them, so we pay that and prices are usually less, far less on some things than SM. So just picked up a few things from him ( one being 4 bottles of Dettol spray, in SM never seen it cheaper than £1.99 but price on bottle £1.29 but he told me the 4 he had was all there was as he couldn't get any more with price on, and if no price cash and carry charge him more as well so that is me stocked up with that which is good, so if weather does suddenly go bad I have them in as they were one thing I had not stocked up on . I will only use Dettol spray on sides and floor as only cleaner that states its safe for children and pets, most usually say do not let them near for a bit after use and my knitting magazines, I know I should cancel them but I do enjoy reading them every month and usually the free gifts are worth the cover price alone. Its handy having this shop near as a SM is just over half a mile away but that half mile is a very, very steep hill so not exactly an easy walk. He told me today he will do his best to keep the shop open no matter what the weather, so hubby can always go over if I cannot, but its not something he does happily LOL. The present owner only took over the shop last March, before that the owners who owned it lived just across the road, they were the ones who turned it from just a newsagent to a general store, but couldn't make a profit, their prices were very high, but this guy and Iranian knows how to make a living, and I am happy to use him if it saves me money, just no good going over at certain times a day as he shuts the shop for prayers. If his sons are working there they don't bother but he is devout, but a lovely man.

I noticed that the wind had managed to lift some of my fleece tunnels that covered my vegetables so before going in with my shopping I went and took them off, so now I wonder if my plants will stay put or go walkies for as yet my hedges are just sticks, although amazingly 3 of the 100 hedges to be actually have grown some leaves in the three weeks since I put them in. As I was doing this it started to rain ( again) so came in and then put the fleece tunnels in the walk in greenhouse in the back, just hoping it stays put, has done for 6 years and it seems still firmly attached to its base, pallets filled in with stones and gravel.

I noticed the kale is ready to be picked, so going to look up how to cook it as never eaten it before, and also brought a couple of the remaining lettuces - going to make a vinegar salad to go with tonight's dinner.

My bins so far have stayed upright but across the road they have their bins collected today so they were all out and most had blown over with the result lots of rubbish and recycling bits all over the wide pavement ( my front fence is the border so we pay council tax to one place and they to another and theirs is so much cheaper than mine )

Well rambled on I guess I better go and start making the pie hubby fancies for dinner, just trying to decide what type of pastry to do.

I hope everyone is safe and warm and no loss of power.

Hugs everyone

Confuzzled

prepareathome wrote: »

I noticed the kale is ready to be picked, so going to look up how to cook it as never eaten it before
I hope everyone is safe and warm and no loss of power.

Hugs everyone

kale is so lovely when it's tossed in with bacon in a pan right before the bacon is done cooking, let it get covered in the bacon grease, it softens quickly

i also love lightly steamed kale with a touch of butter and some parmesan

if you're trying to cut back on the fat lightly steamed kale with lemon pepper is also delicious!


as for staying safe, we now have everything on the table ready to go, all the windup torches and radios are nicely charged, got the candles ready to go, cleaned up the emergency box a bit (was looking cluttered!) and my cottage pie is cooking away, hope i can get it finished before the worst of it hits

we just had another squall here but i think it's letting up. i still need to fill up our hotwater bottles and both thermoses with hot water, the wee one had the presence of mind to fill all our assorted water bottles and i filled the bathtub 3/4 full in case i need it for the loo, washing dishes etc (i honestly don't know if the water needs electricity to pump it here, we've never been without power long enough to find out but better safe than sorry!). it's now 19.3C in here and my layers are coming off but better to keep it really warm now in case we lose power

the wee one is kinda enjoying the prep, i figure it's a good lesson for her, if nothing comes of it well we only spent a few hours teaching her a good life lesson so nothing lost

Justamum

May I just say "thank you" for the inspiration to stockpile. It looks like my stockpile is going to to come in handy this year as yet again there are no boats. Mr T has been empty for days. Literally. Unfortunately the one thing I didn't stockpile was soya milk, so next year I'm going to stockpile with an even greater vengeance and make sure I have loads of soya milk. Shoprite does have loads of stuff as they have half a dozen warehouses here, but they are far too expensive.