Daydream thread continues.....

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

LIR sorry to hear you are still so cold we have spent a few winters without heating or hot water and it was grim. We spent all our time in the smallest room in our house with oil heaters and loads of layers on.

I would really like to know more about the flannel sheets as I am hoping to invest in some for next year.

We have found our fuel bills are scary high and the last few months we have been chewing through gas so I am dreading our next bill. Over the years we have done what we can to make the house energy efficientish but it is still not enough. Long term we need to drastically reduce our outgoings and utilities is the one that we can have the most impact on now. I regularly check our tariff but realistically we need to reduce our usage

My thoughts have turned again to the garden and the best thing to do with it bearing in mind the ongoing horrendous weather. So much to think about.

My sheets were from cologne and cotton, Not cheap, but thicker than many I have seen that are cheaper. They take ages to dry, so even though I get them in the machine as soon as out of bed in the morning they are never back on the bed that night (using the tumble dryer) but that heaviness must make a difference. They have been in pretty much contact use and are still nice and fluffy.

I have seen cheaper sets on amazon or eBay from us that look jolly (flannel sheets are the only linen plain white isn't my first choice....the cheaper white ones I have had in the past go flat and look dingy) and are much cheaper, so I hope to buy a set of them to deal with the changeover issue for next winter.....

choille

It's been incredibly windy here, but today was glorious & this evening we have a huge moon.

Spent the day hauling willow limbs across the croft. Cleared an old gateway of them. Although most of the wall is downish. I wanted the old gateway cleared so it's easier for sheep & me to get over fields. I like working near the sheep when their due to lamb.

We had the keeper down with some mink scent which we put in the trap.
I had a good sniff at the stuff & it is eye wateringly stinky. £10 @ OZ. Wouldn't want to collect that for a living......poking about a Mink's bum....

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I've heard of some wired jobs in my time Choille but not odour collecting from a mink's bum glands:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

glad to hear from you, and that you are ok, we were a bit worried because of the weather.

LIR I am sooooo worried about you, ok I moan and groan about how cold I am, but at least we can lite the fire...I was thinking, not ideal, but what about a caravan? now our caravan has a proper central heating system in it, that runs off the electric hook up, and when we took it down to Exeter in January:eek::eek: the caravan was REALLY nice and warm, too warm on times:rotfl:

When you really find it so cold you could hook up the electric in the caravan and spend some 'warm time' in there..

Might be a silly idea, but it is just a thought.

Frost on the ground this morning.....:o:o:o the sky is bright though

lostinrates

Ctc, don't worry. Choille has it worse I am certain. Looking at my themometre this morning it's 12.5 in the room I am in. I would have thought that almost toasty last winter.

rhiwfield

Sheets? We use some vintage heavy cotton sheets that were part of an auction lot of old fabrics and bedding. Superb quality and lovely to sleep on..

Dusting of snow last night and we must have been really low on oil when we stopped using the CH as we've had a few hiccoughs with the boiler when we restarted. Seems ok now.

12.5C :eek:

Lowest our kitchen got was 13C with the CH off. Mind, if its a bedroom thats a nice comfy sleeping temperature, if its an office/study thats way too cold

BTW, asked how the ASHP was doing at the upscale woodburner showroom. Answer, poorly, they are taking it out and putting in a woodchip boiler, though with all their display burners lit its the best place in the Vale to go for a warm up They've branched out into country kitchens/ranges, added a coffee shop, its a lovely place to spend an hour!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

lostinrates wrote: »

Ctc, don't worry. Choille has it worse I am certain. Looking at my themometre this morning it's 12.5 in the room I am in. I would have thought that almost toasty last winter.

But I do worry:o:o about our choille and others too... I might be this hard faced biker looking person, but I do have a softer side:A:rotfl: ( on times anyway)

Davesnave

:wave:Good to see you're still with us and basically OK, choille and rozee.

I don't know much about willows or eucalyptus RAS, though we had willows here, some of which I've cut down but not used yet, and I've grown E. dalrympleana which are growing away here as an experiment. I don't want it mixed with our native trees though!

My attitude is that any free wood helps lower the other bills. Here the system we have with one oil-burning Aga and a woodburner with back-boiler is certainly inefficient, but it works well enough that we're never freezing. I suppose the house is quite well insulated and we do have solar gain on mornings like this.

Sorry Maggie, we stayed in the pub till closing time:o, so I still haven't read your PM properly, but hope to do so when I have time to concentrate in the next day or so.

Itismehonest

Good to hear from you, choille. We were wondering how you were getting on.

The snow settled overnight but is now going from the hillsides where the sun (I use the term loosely ) is reaching.

The wildlife is back. That was really weird last night. I guess they all sensed the approaching bad weather & hunkered down. Never had it quite like that, though. Haven't seen any deer for a while. Maybe they're keeping snug in the woods below our land.

I've absolutely no idea what temperature it is.
One benefit of walls nearly a yard thick is that they keep the heat in when indoors is warmed up & are cool when it is baking hot (will we ever see that again I wonder?) outside.
Unfortunately, the lack of summers has meant the walls haven't built up warmth from the outside so it's all about heating inside.

lostinrates

Willow throws out very little heat I find. The leyland (I have used bits) does seem to 'burn hot'.

We have some more oak to chop and stack too (hurrah).

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Sheets? We use some vintage heavy cotton sheets that were part of an auction lot of old fabrics and bedding. Superb quality and lovely to sleep on..

Dusting of snow last night and we must have been really low on oil when we stopped using the CH as we've had a few hiccoughs with the boiler when we restarted. Seems ok now.

12.5C :eek:

Lowest our kitchen got was 13C with the CH off. Mind, if its a bedroom thats a nice comfy sleeping temperature, if its an office/study thats way too cold

BTW, asked how the ASHP was doing at the upscale woodburner showroom. Answer, poorly, they are taking it out and putting in a woodchip boiler, though with all their display burners lit its the best place in the Vale to go for a warm up They've branched out into country kitchens/ranges, added a coffee shop, its a lovely place to spend an hour!

I am sure I have shared this story before, but last winter when it was very cold for a week or so, I was scared out pipes would freeze so I set up electric heaters to run overnight in the kitchen, and stoked the wood burner high before bed. As I can down stairs in the morning I could feel the heat for
M the wood burner and smiled peeling one of my many Layers of clothing off, then rushed through to what was the kitchen, where it was so much warmer, it was delicious. I stood in the door way, peeling everything off down to my vest then rushed over to the other side of the room to check the thermometer, thinking, ' this is like a normal house, its so warm'. It was three degrees, Three wretched degrees. I had to sit down I was laughing so much at the ridiculousness of it.


(The dogs and cats had pig lamps all last winter, and were fine).

12.5 is a bout average here. It's probably a bit colder in the sitting room and dining room, unless the wood burner is on. I can get it up a bit with the wood burner, maybe 15 or sixteen, maybe even more. but not sure. I will be lighting it tomorrow probably, so I will tell you.