make do and mend for tougher times

kezlou

well i survived part of the cleaning just having a break popped to the shop buy keema and salad, ended up buying veggie samosa, polenta and lemon.
My eldest son has been wanting to make lemon sorbet for ages.

Well i filled one massive huge black bag till it was bursting at the seams and another bag full of paper ready for the recycling next week. They going to love me, got another bag half paper of too and still haven't the other stacks in the middle room .

Staffies are the most friendliest dogs i've ever known, always friendly and ready to play.
My mums got a staffie and ever since he was baby his favourite thing to do was sit on your knee for a cuddle. He's two now so he's a heavy lump but still he demands a cuddle and cries till he gets one. He wraps his paws around your head and lays his head on your shoulder. so cute.


To me Yorkshire terriers are most viscous dogs they go straight for your ankles. I know we had four of them, three at the same time and they were a total nightmare. My uncle had Alsations, gorgeous animals, my other uncle British bulldog, absolutely gorgeous.

I grew up with dogs, sadly we don't one at the moment as i think its cruel to have in a yard. But if we move into a house with a garden i'll no doubt get one. I love the idea of a great dane, now they sweet too.

Its not the dogs its the owners that train them to bite etc. Dogs need a firm hand as they need to know who leader of the pack is. One of the reasons are on the list is purely because of they have a lock-jaw. If it wasn't for that i don't think they would be on it to be honest.

Well back to the hell hole of paperwork, i will get my room sorted with all the junk.


Oh just read though in case anyone's wondering keema is urdu for mince.

Hardup_Hester

Another Staffie fan here, though I will run in terror from a German Shep, unless it's on a lead. I have an excuse & the scars to prove it, when I was a teen in South London GS's were the dog of choice for the local thugs. We'd love a dog, but won't have one whilst working full time & when we retire we'll be too skint to afford one.
Our 6th form have been fundraising for their Ball today, I'm £5 worse off & eaten way too many HM cakes!
Hester

Possession

Just by the by, the last 12 months or so seem to have been THE time for parents at my children's school to get a dog. Mostly labradoodle type dogs (which I didn't believe could be a real name until I looked it up). I seem to be the only one without one but DH refuses to get a dog and also my mum is scared stiff of them so it would really cause problems. She was even scared of our rabbits!

GreyQueen

:eek::eek::eek:

Pls keep your fingers crossed for me. We are having the grand-daddy of all thunderstorms and the torrential rain has left water 3 inches deep out the front and coming across to my doorstep. Hope it lets up soon or I shall have to think about bailing.:eek::eek::eek:

This is the most ridiculous excuse for a summer it has ever been my displeasure to encounter in all my born days. It's like living somewhere with a monsoon season, just keeps on coming.

And I'm going out tonight to the flicks with a pal (this was the one we didn't make last week - Spiderman). And I have a leak in the pipework under/ behind my bath according to the guy who did the inspection this afternoon.

The worst case scenario is that they will have to dig up the concrete floor to get at it....................:( You have to laugh or sometimes you'd have to scream with sheer frustration.

Possession

**Fingers well and truly crossed for you**

[Deleted User]

I am totally jiggered now all the spuds are dug up and all had to be washed from big sticky clods. 8 trays of charlotte dehydrated yesterday and that is one steaming session per tray, I have a big magimix steamer (11 years old and still going strong). Packed in a 3 litre lock n lock and labelled as it reconstitutes into lovely waxy slices. Wasn`t going to kill myself today but decided to do another 9 tray load but kestrels this time. Never grown kestrels before and was well pleased at the size and good quality and not a mark on any of them

In the meantime I decided that dh should get the rest up, all of them, because there was a massive heavy bout of torrential rain at 4.30 this morning and I couldn`t stand the idea of them getting ruined. So all morning I have been washing and laying spuds to dry as it has been sunny and windy all day. I now have 3 big fridge drawers full and 4 big bowls and a bag of small ones ie 4 meals worth in that one bag

All kestrels are good but some unusual markings on some charlottes which could possibly be blight signs. All sub standard and doubtful spuds will be dehydrated tomorrow and I am getting to be a whizz with the mandolin, learnt a lesson once and skinned a finger tip so always use the guard now

I also did 5 beetroots yesterday. Cooked, peeled and sliced then dehydrated about 12 hours. Very nice too, never done them before and good as a snack

So, I now have enough fresh spuds until christmas and after that will go onto dehydrated. Will grow the same two next year and skip the lady christi because charlotte will crop early as well

Celery is next foir the full works, I have about 20 plants of green and 5 of red which is more hardy

Also made a sandwich cake and more strawberry jam first thing. Afternoon treat was sandwich cake with thick spread of new jam on top with cream on top of that with some sliced berries. Fit for a king and dh made divine coffee, we could have been abroad on holiday. Will now freeze the rest of the cake in portions

Dh was driving me bonkers this am. I asked him to get a bag of spuds from the allotment, enough for two trays as I was short and said`will you also get two big spuds for baking for lunch` doh, he came back with 2 potatoes. I had to bite my tongue. Its the women who get things done

edit: Arghhh, GQ , hope it stops quickly

Hobsons_Choice

Fingers crossed for you GQ (sorry, plays havoc with my typing). We had an enormous downpour at lunchtime and the road was like a river....then the sun came out.
I agree about this season, you can't really call it a summer, maybe come September it'll be 80 degrees and sunny. Maybe. Only maybe.
May your concrete remain intact and your potatoes be blightless!

GreyQueen

Hobsons_Choice wrote: »

Fingers crossed for you GQ (sorry, plays havoc with my typing). We had an enormous downpour at lunchtime and the road was like a river....then the sun came out.
I agree about this season, you can't really call it a summer, maybe come September it'll be 80 degrees and sunny. Maybe. Only maybe.
May your concrete remain intact and your potatoes be blightless!

Thank you, hun, but my poor wee Kestrels are certainly blighted and will be de-topped tomorrow after w*rk.

Some schools of thought say (once the tops are off and away) to leave the potatoes under ground for 2-3 weeks and hope that the blight spores on the surface won't travel underground to the tubers without the stalks to form a highway.

Other schools of thought say get the spuds up asap and as dry as possible. It looks like I may be doing the second, in which case they will repose on sheets of newspaper on the lottie shed floor, covered with other sheets of paper to prevent them greening in the light. Once they're thoroughly dry, the can be bagged.

Boy, that will be a fun gig. Och well, time for tea.

fuddle

GQ will keep my eye on how the potatoes fair... I'm rooting for them. Come on Tatties!

Possession, I'm a new doggy mammy (well 8 months in) and they're stinky, cheeky, bounding, bundles of fluff that lies on the carpet and cost you even more money... but I wouldn't be without mine. They're hard work and don't just sleep all day. Infact i think mine needs more entertaining than the kids!

Kittie thats one shift your householders have put in today. So pleased your crop look unscathed. Wish I was a fly on your wall and could pinch all your skills.

Well, just spent £14.99 on a yankee candle for my MIL's birthday present. Free delivery on Play and it was a large which can go up to £20ish so I did well. A bit jealous because I lurve yankee candles but have not dared buy one in years. Tealights, yes but not the lovely ones.

[Deleted User]

heck that was close GQ

yes I was going to leave the kestrels for a couple of weeks but kept getting mind pictures of slugs having a feast

we have an orchard right behind us and it crossed our minds what if it couldn`t cope with that sort of rain over a long time. It is 3m above our ground floor and slopes to us, very slightly. Dh said that we would take the two tarps and set them up against the back fence,to deflect any water to the sides plus we would have to drill some holes in the retaining wall at the sides to let it find a way out. Doesn`t bear thinking about

The 1968 floods caused water to rise 10 feet over a very big area, luckily we are above 10 feet but not that far really. Am just thinking that I am glad we did a very comprehensive house and contents cover the other week, we went through a room at a time and actually doubled what our contents was with the previous insurer. We had to add the solar panels(hot water) and the stove to contents. Now who tells you that unless you go searching for the info. We got a specialist insurer and all the eco gubbins are covered properly now

lol, trouble is fuddle that I am much older so swings and roundabouts

yee ha sold a book on amazon. £12 coming to me