Keeping up appearances.......

smallholdingsister

HappyNow wrote: »

Sadly they were both put to sleep on 8th April. She was 29 and on painkillers for arthritis. He was 23 and on-off lame since 2012 after a linked abscess & laminitis episode. He had pedal rotation but the pain was controlled by front shoes with gel pads, plus daily painkillers. We knew it wouldn't work forever. A few months ago we doubled his painkillers and hoped he'd have another summer. Meanwhile, she started struggling to get up after rolling. On 4th April she got down and gave in. It took three of us to get her up and we knew it was time. With the vet, we decided it would be kinder to let them both go together - they were very bonded and he couldn't have coped without her. It was probably the worst day of my life, but they just went to sleep next to each other in the field, completely unaware, eating their favourite foods while we held them.


Now the place seems ridiculously big and empty

Dear God, I am so very very sorry. Xxx

chevalier

HappyNow wrote: »

He is clearing out the sheds and stables now ready for a big ebaying. Not sure how he would feel about doing surveys though - I will mention it to him. Maybe he would be happy to sit there answering the questions if I did the typing.

You just have to think of the tradesmens costs you are saving by having him do it. Good luck with the ebaying. I hope you catch a break with it
chev

Honey_Bear

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Now ladies, if we had all the tricks and the mastery of them then we probably wouldn't be on here, nor would we be human and nice people to know.

True, Oh Wise One.

First lot of exams are over - another week of revision til the next ones, and then there is a little light relief with half-term before the next and final tranche. I swear if I'd realised what a participation sport it all was I wouldn't have encouraged academia at all! To say nothing of the toll on electricity, tea, coffee, biscuits and anything-edible-that-is-not-nailed-down.

Oops, my mistake. I read that as you doing the studying, whereas after reading Happy's comment and then re-reading yours I now realise you are talking about your kidlets. When I was an (extremely) mature student third time around there was a mother and daughter combo doing the same degree, which I thought an excellent idea.

HappyNow wrote: »

Now I don't want to make a bad situation worse, but HAVE YOU TRIED MR KIPLING'S TRIFLE BAKEWELLS??? They are everything doctors warn us about and more. I heart them. They're half price at Tossco right now, which obviously means I have to buy and eat four times the human amount. I cba to read the packet, but I estimate they are 90% sugar and 10% E numbers and they make the world so RIGHT. Also they have yellow icing. And they don't contain chocolate so they're probably good for us.

Sound perfect. Sadly for moi, Mr Bear won't have stuff bought at T0sc0 in the house, so I'll have to cheer you guys on from the sidelines as you chomp your way through them. The reason for my re-introduction to chocolate oranges was that the c0-0p had two for two quid. Fatal. And as I know that chocolate is from a plant it's obvioulsy very, very good for me is one of my five a day, no?

Yes. Funnily enough, although I have no money, I do have £38.46 of M & S vouchers! My parents always give me (and Mr H, but he doesn't know) M & S vouchers for Christmas and I intended saving them for holiday knickers. However if you really think I should, I'm prepared to spend some of them on chocolate. That's tomorrow lunchtime's walk sorted......

Excellent, see about about chocolate being one our of five a day, plus you got some exercise. Win:Win.

And do I take the fact that you keep the information about M&S holiday knicker fund from him that he's one of those chaps who wears rather grey y-fronts with elastic that gave up years ago, set off by a few rather fetching holes in them to encourage ventilation? While yours are pristine, brightly coloured and very lacy?

Hoping for a bit more self-control today, which shouldn't be impossible knowing that I have chips to look forward to, tonight.

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

Now I don't want to make a bad situation worse, but HAVE YOU TRIED MR KIPLING'S TRIFLE BAKEWELLS??? They are everything doctors warn us about and more. I heart them. They're half price at Tossco right now, which obviously means I have to buy and eat four times the human amount. I cba to read the packet, but I estimate they are 90% sugar and 10% E numbers and they make the world so RIGHT. Also they have yellow icing. And they don't contain chocolate so they're probably good for us.

I'm afraid that I'll have to pass on these too because I suspect they aren't gluten free . Sound delicious though !

joeyjimbles

Not keen on frangipane or marzipan or trifle so I am safe from your temptation. I may just have accidentally made a gingerbread, sticky toffee pudding for the weekend, scones and coffee cake however.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Not keen on frangipane or marzipan or trifle so I am safe from your temptation. I may just have accidentally made a gingerbread, sticky toffee pudding for the weekend, scones and coffee cake however.

Oh my goodness, that all sounds lovely! :drool: I would love to make all of those things (gluten free versions of course) but then I would just scoff them in no time at all which wouldn't be good.

joeyjimbles

I make quite a few gf things for some friends as their child is coeliac. I find Dove's gf flour very good and personally never bother with the xanthan gum stuff. Things do have a tendency to dry out faster - typically not an issue - and the flour has less bulk so need to be more careful with liquids but otherwise most cakes come out really well with only minimal tinkering with recipes. Gf brownies are usually better than those with regular flour according to my testers.

Dolphin1

joeyjimbles wrote: »

I make quite a few gf things for some friends as their child is coeliac. I find Dove's gf flour very good and personally never bother with the xanthan gum stuff. Things do have a tendency to dry out faster - typically not an issue - and the flour has less bulk so need to be more careful with liquids but otherwise most cakes come out really well with only minimal tinkering with recipes. Gf brownies are usually better than those with regular flour according to my testers.

If it says to use xanthan gum then I usually do but if it's not necessary then maybe I should skip it in the future. I also have good results with the Doves flour. To be honest, cakes/pancakes/waffles etc. don't usually turn out too bad but homemade gf bread has been a disaster for me. Thankfully (thanks to a tip on here) I can get nice gf bread online, freeze it and then defrost it when I need it.

Honey_Bear

joeyjimbles wrote: »

Not keen on frangipane or marzipan or trifle so I am safe from your temptation. I may just have accidentally made a gingerbread, sticky toffee pudding for the weekend, scones and coffee cake however.

There is not a single thing on those two lists that I wouldn't scoff, but there are things that I absolutely love - frangipane, a boozy trifle (depsite being AF!) gingbread, sticky toffee pudding and Oh My! coffee cake. I love coffee cake.

joeyjimbles wrote: »

I make quite a few gf things for some friends as their child is coeliac. I find Dove's gf flour very good and personally never bother with the xanthan gum stuff. Things do have a tendency to dry out faster - typically not an issue - and the flour has less bulk so need to be more careful with liquids but otherwise most cakes come out really well with only minimal tinkering with recipes. Gf brownies are usually better than those with regular flour according to my testers.

So, Joey, are you saying that using Dove's flour, which I have, that adapting ordinary recipes would be just cutting down on the liquid and accepting that things dry out quickly? That would be fantasticlaly brilliant wonderous sensational marvellous news! I'm defo not coeliac and under no circumstances do I think it would be a good idea for me to cut out ordinary bread and pizza occasionally, but information on adapting recipes is really hard to come by because most people are 'all or nothing.'

Pastry. I'd like to be able to make pastry, for starters.

Honey_Bear

How's the Happy Pops doing, Happy?

Regarding sugar, yesterday would have been a total success, but for OH's generosity. He has a thing for liquorice allsorts and he's one of those deeply sus people who can stop after two or three. As a result, I'm not entirely sure I entirely trust him but that's another story. Anyhoo, yesterday I heard rustling from his office which meant he was digging into the bag looking for his favourites, all good, and silently wished him well. Then he turned up in my office and gave me two chocolate ones, three pink ones and three blue ones - the only flavours I like. You can keep coconut, basically. So, fail, obvs, because they were put right in front of me, and it would have been rude, not to.

And we're out for lunch today and the lodger is making pudding for tomorrow night, so basically I'm stuffed this weekend.