Not mentioning the T word at all

splodger_seedswapper

suki - if you have the space - put some over-wintering onions in and some garlic - they can go in now (so not too late) - if you get a big bag of onion sets - plant them close together then in the spring when they start to really get going you can pull every other one (thinning out the rows) and use them as uber fresh and early spring onions

if you still have carrots in the ground i would be tempted to dig them up and store them over winter - i put all of my root veggies in troughs of sand and keep them in the shed - and they stay as fresh and as crisp as the day you pulled them out of the ground - if you leave them where they are they are likely to spoil (creatures and / or weather)

splodger_seedswapper

rising

i think the vinyl floor tiles in my place are the originals (when house was built in the 60's) and they are absolutely horrid so you are not alone

lizzyb1812

Mrs Chip - for a number of years before he died my grandad lived in a mobile home in my mum's back garden - it gave him his own space and he didn't feel he was a burden. It had to be lifted by crane over their chalet bungalow - not only did it stop the traffic, it made the local paper! Your oil tank people should have had plenty of experience of shoehorning tanks into awkward places - after all your last one got in didn't it?

Nice autumn walk this afternoon with the sun shining through the semi bare trees and lots of leaves to kick. Pottered about instead of doing any real gardening - but over-wintering onions are sprouting and the over-wintering broad beans seem to have mostly overcome the unwanted attention they got from pup before I made their bed the new Fort Knox!

I have the textured tile issue too - mine are in the bathroom and I chose them! What was I thinking? Luckily the room is small so I'm on the lookout for a suitable offcut of smooth vinyl to go in there instead.

rising_from_the_ashes

Phew .... I've finished. Bath had and now in my pj's hopefully they won't be too obvious when I take the dog round the block later:D. Think the old muscles may be a bit on the sore side tomorrow & my knees are bright pink!

(((hugs))) to anyone who has similar tiles (I do feel better knowing I'm not the only one who has trouble with them ) as they're just awful.

TBH I don't think anyone else notices as once the ridges are full it probably does just look like a coloured pattern but I hate the thought of the muck being in them.

It will be interesting to see if DM notices a difference when she comes tomorrow. (If not - I'm never doing them again!:))

I do like Suki's yard broom / separate mop solution (I used buckets and buckets of hot water as it was filty after about 3 dips in with the brush). There's a hardware store in the town where I work so will have a look when I go back next week.

Not doing anything for the rest of the evening - I recorded a film earlier so will huddle up on the sofa with the dog (for warmth of course;)) and watch that shortly. Totally knackered:o so think it will be the pizza for dinner.

maryb

I find a rubber bristled broom is good for a textured floor. Before we did the kitchen it had vinyl tiles so old they were almost retro. Porridge coloured (so never looked clean) AND ridges. I mean to say!! You can use the rubber broom like a deck scrubber and because the bristles are flexible it gets into all the little ridges, but what I do is then use a microfibre cloth and just use the rubber broom to push the cloth. It grips it very well and gets up most of the moisture so your floor comes up quite clean

CCP

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Pottered about instead of doing any real gardening - but over-wintering onions are sprouting and the over-wintering broad beans seem to have mostly overcome the unwanted attention they got from pup before I made their bed the new Fort Knox!

That reminds me of a friend who let her house rabbit out for an unsupervised run in the garden, which turned out to be an unsupervised eat of a dozen runner bean plants: she couldn't work out why the rabbit didn't want any dinner until she went outside to water the plants! :eek:

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Tea tonight is whoopsied undyed smoked haddock with poached eggs (donated by our friend who is house-sitting where they have hens, yum) with HM bread.

Now there's a thought. I've just made a batch of leeky mash* and, as usual, I made way too much (I don't often eat potatoes so I'm useless at judging quantities ). I was struggling to think of what to do with the rest but I think you've just inspired me: I wonder if I can get some whoopsied smoked haddock too? :think:

* That's "contains leeks" not "has holes in", just for the avoidance of any doubt!

JIL

CCP wrote: »

Now there's a thought. I've just made a batch of leeky mash* and, as usual, I made way too much (I don't often eat potatoes so I'm useless at judging quantities ). I was struggling to think of what to do with the rest but I think you've just inspired me: I wonder if I can get some whoopsied smoked haddock too? :think:

Glad its just not me who cannot judge quantities. My MIL had 8 children so I suppose she has had a lot of practice, but she always buys the correct amount of potatoes and veg to last her a week. In the old days when she used to cook roast potatoes for the children she actually counted them out as she peeled and quartered them. They all had three each. Never any leftovers.
She is the same now, she cooks for her and FIL and one medium potato and one carrot often gets peeled for tea with a quarter of a cabbage. I cook for 2 or 3 of us and could invite the street in I do so much.

katieowl_2

JIL wrote: »

Glad its just not me who cannot judge quantities. My MIL had 8 children so I suppose she has had a lot of practice, but she always buys the correct amount of potatoes and veg to last her a week. In the old days when she used to cook roast potatoes for the children she actually counted them out as she peeled and quartered them. They all had three each. Never any leftovers.
She is the same now, she cooks for her and FIL and one medium potato and one carrot often gets peeled for tea with a quarter of a cabbage. I cook for 2 or 3 of us and could invite the street in I do so much.

I get complaints if there are no leftovers....

I was just talking to my DD on skype she's having 40 fits over whether she can afford to do a PGCE on top of her Degree which she thinks will be as much use as a chocolate teapot for getting a job. Rather worrying. I'm afraid I wasn't much help - I said if Europe goes down the pan, she may as well come home and we'll make cake (shades of Marie Antoinette?)

She also told me that she'd read this story in one of the local papers...this link is in the Daily Mail. http://http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2059238/Army-veteran-Mark-Mullins-wife-Helen-driven-suicide-poverty.html It's made me very very angry, poor people I really hope that somewhere someone gets a proper reprimand over this total failure of support for vunerable people, and now of course they also have a kid in care with no parents...:mad:



Kate

lizzyb1812

CCP wrote: »

That reminds me of a friend who let her house rabbit out for an unsupervised run in the garden, which turned out to be an unsupervised eat of a dozen runner bean plants: she couldn't work out why the rabbit didn't want any dinner until she went outside to water the plants! :eek:

I rooted quite a lot of strawberry runners this year. Good job as the pots outside are being reduced by about a plant a day - I can't fence off everything so it's lucky the runners are in the greenhouse! And I'm fairly certain that the blueberry will not survive having a few inches chewed off most days - haven't attempted to rescue that as it has stopped producing much anyway. Still, it's better than project "Digging to Australia" which seems to have been suspended :rotfl:Still love him to bits though

Maryb - I've got a rubber brush and microfibre cloths - thanks for the tip

Justamum

JIL wrote: »

In the old days when she used to cook roast potatoes for the children she actually counted them out as she peeled and quartered them. They all had three each. Never any leftovers.

I do that - everybody gets 4 now, it used to be 6, but there's no need to be greedy :rotfl: