Daydream thread continues.....

ferretkeeper

pink_poppy wrote: »

Loving the piggy street names ~ fab idea, CTC!! :rotfl:

ferret, thanks so much for the dogwood advice I might go with the West facing suggestion as I need something to deter Council workmen from peeing up/through my fence, as has happened in the past!! :eek: Really good to have you on the thread, btw.


Lowering the tone a little more but does anyone have any suggestions on getting rid of cat/fox wee smells in the garden & discouraging said cat/fox from doing it again?? It's awful as the smell seems to be right outside my front door but I don't know where exactly it is. I've seen a cat spraying & also a fox scent marking in various places so I'm not even sure if the smell is cat or fox wee??

:shocked: dirty bar stewards! And thanks lol

I know animals are put off by the scent of bigger animals - I 'encourage' people to pee anywhere they like when caught short up in the fields, the 'scent' of a bloke is off putting to a fox and I have huge problems with them. I also have dogs and the more I let them run out in the fields the less problem I have with mr F.

Perhaps the council men could do that for you, a perimeter pee session rather than just in one place :rotfl:

Alternatively I have heard of zoo poo, same principle, apparently not that hard to get hold of but as Rummer says, may not smell any better than what's there now

_pale_

Davesnave

Wow, you've all been busy here, and perhaps outside too in some cases. Not many pig names left to work with unless we go down breed name lines....like Tamworth Terrace, Duroc Drive, Landrace Lane, Old Spot Street and errr.....I think I have almost exhausted my knowledge of breeds now....err, 'Ampshire Avenue.:D

It hasn't been much of a day here, but as we were doing heavy duty stuff, we didn't notice too much. The chill wind dropped away late this afternoon, enabling us to do a bit of light tidying up to finish off. Anyway the barn end is totally clear for the builders tomorrow morning, so they won't be able to spend the first hour tidying up!

I've arranged for Pete to cut down the four willows behind Mr Dog's telegraph pole, so that it can be removed easily. (I live in hope!:p) We were going to fell them anyway, as they're growing from the middle of the failed pond we're filling-in. Being willows, I doubt if cutting them and burying the stems will bump them off, but once they're dead and the pond thing is gone, we should be able to replant with something nicer. We have to choose carefully though, because of other people's drains and sunshine.

Rummer

Piglet parade?

Well my grand plans came to very little today although I did spend a relaxing day around the house with my OH which was bliss

I have been thinking a lot this weekend and there are so many parts of our lives that I need to start getting in order especially as things are not going well.

CTC I think I will be joining you on maximising income and will be seeking advice from everyone on ebay selling, car booting etc.

Davesnave

Had a giggle this morning when I saw that the woman who was ranting about "not being able to reach" the local market town due to one road being washed away, is now advertising her B&B as: " A hidden gem, nestled among Exmoor's rolling hills, ideally situated for xxxx.....and the North Devon coast."

Obviously geography is not her strong suit, as by no stretch of the imagination is her village on Exmoor. It's at least 7 miles to the NP boundary and the proper coast is about 25 miles away. But hey, what does it matter if the local town, only 3 miles distant, is totally impossible to reach?

A hidden gem indeed, now rivalling Macchu Picchu, perhaps?

The builders have started. They were even ten minutes early!

rhiwfield

Rummer wrote: »

CTC I think I will be joining you on maximising income and will be seeking advice from everyone on ebay selling, car booting etc.

Being able to acquire the dream, how to shape it and then afford it is the theme of this thread (and how to exit as well!) and we all seem to be at different stages

Car booting can be good fun and is a handy way of one-off decluttering and getting in a bit of money. But those who buy at car boots look out for the unwary sellers, who dont know the real value of what they are selling. A lot of the traders at car boots seem to do it more for the social side, though getting up at 4.30am on a Sunday seemed more like antisocial to me :eek:

Having tried the craft fairs for selling, the same trend emerged, it isnt usually a money spinner and lots of sellers do it for the social buzz.

Ebay is different, there is no social buzz. You can make regular money but its hard work and service levels need to be high if you list regularly. You have to factor in 15%+ Ebay and paypal fees and you need to source saleable stock. BUT you dont have the fixed overheads of high street sellers and it's a good way of making money from home.

pink_poppy

Saw my first hedgehog of the year snuffling about last night

I need to get into [EMAIL="eb@ying"]eb@ying[/EMAIL] I think. I have a mortgage to pay off (hopefully will tie in with my DDs finishing their education) before we can really consider selling up & moving on to 'daydreamsville'. I'm not sure where we'll end up ~ exciting thinking about & planning for it though

ferretkeeper

Rummer wrote: »

I have been thinking a lot this weekend and there are so many parts of our lives that I need to start getting in order especially as things are not going well.

rhiwfield wrote: »

Being able to acquire the dream, how to shape it and then afford it is the theme of this thread (and how to exit as well!) and we all seem to be at different stages

Just thought I would share a little bit of info about something that has helped me immensely in recent months with the dream.

I started a permaculture course back in October, I know about gardening/horticulture and even a bit about farming but next to nothing about permaculture. Here's a link to a website for more info:

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/what-is-permaculture

It sounds like it is all to do with growing but in fact it is a set of principles that can be applied to businesses, your finances, your life, your house, pretty much anything really.

It encourages you to spend time observing a situation then using the observations to formulate your plan. It also helps you design a solution that requires 80% of your time/resources etc implementing the plan then 20% maintaining it, so it is more likely to be sustainable.

This is where it has helped me - I tend to rush into things, I'm very impatient, want things done yesterday and also loose interest and enthusiasm quite quickly too! We end up undo-ing things that weren't very well thought out. Although things evolve over time, and no-one could have predicted the weather, with a solid plan at the start of our adventure we could have avoided a lot of unnecessary work and expense.

There are numerous examples I could give but I had a Eureka moment yesterday - while digging in the back garden I realised I had a lot of earthy stuff to move and no dumper (lent it out last week) So I could either move it several times with the digger to get it to the huge pile I've already made in one corner, or I could leave it where it is and make a new pile which will become a raised bed.

So that's what I did. By sheer luck it is in almost exactly the perfect position, no shading from the house or fences, runs North South, and the plants in it will provide shelter from the wind when we are using the rest of the garden.

I then realised I could be sowing salad leaves and other nice things much sooner that I thought, in fact I didn't think I'd be doing much growing this season at all. That has given me another boost and a goal is to get the raised bed built asap now!

It was a good day yesterday and felt like a major milestone had been reached! :beer:

Davesnave

ferretkeeper wrote: »

It was a good day yesterday and felt like a major milestone had been reached! :beer:

Well done. We all need days like that. Just plodding along is OK, but a bit of measurable progress makes a world of difference.

We certainly can't be accused of rushing into our major work here, having ditched one set of plans after a complete re-think about costs. We also realised that the barn could play a big part in the refurb, so if improving it saved us money, then the upgrades would be cost-effective. :cool:

A friend who's more experienced than us says we might live in one end of the bungalow while the other bit is done, then we could swap over. We've looked at that, and it could work, so everything is falling into place. Realistically, I don't think we can start till next year, but by then we should know exactly who is doing what.

Unfortunately, sometimes the time taken in seeing all the possibilities is just too much. After looking at the lorry with its hydraulic grab arm this morning, DW hatched a plan to fill dumpy bags full of soil for the front hedge area this afternoon and have the lorry carry them up the lane for us. The builders have just left, having already laid the foundation for the barn wall......:D but now there's no lorry! :(:(

COOLTRIKERCHICK

a bit quiet on here tonight..

I have been reading up on the royal mail price increases that are due to kick in in April:eek::eek:

Letters are not going up, but they have re-structured the pricing for parcels, there are now diff size parcel prices.

So I have been looking at courier prices., typical when I will be up and running to start baying again the postage charges go up...

Might be worth peeps going over to the ebay board and reading the threads on the parcel sizes and costs.

rhiwfield

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

a bit quiet on here tonight..

I have been reading up on the royal mail price increases that are due to kick in in April:eek::eek:

Letters are not going up, but they have re-structured the pricing for parcels, there are now diff size parcel prices.

So I have been looking at courier prices., typical when I will be up and running to start baying again the postage charges go up...

Might be worth peeps going over to the ebay board and reading the threads on the parcel sizes and costs.

I was trying to get to grips with this yesterday but failed . Business sellers were saying the contract rates would be much lower but they need 1000 parcels a year, a bit too high for me. Must check all details this week.

If some of the increases being touted are correct, it will mean yet more business for the new couriers like Collect+ and MyHermes, shame as I'd rather use the Post Office in our town.

Today 4 parcels being sent, only 1 via Royal Mail

We're feeling a bit better, and did some gentle gardening yesterday and burned the rose and hydrangea prunings and the crimbo tree that had dried out.

Auction preview today, our last auction buy is turning out to be the worst in the last two years.

Bad venue + poor buying + carp sales = loss!