Preparedness for when

mardatha · 15 January 2015 at 12:42PM

I'm not a legend lol HE is!

[Deleted User] · 15 January 2015 at 4:28PM

No rain or snow up here atm, but it's howling a gale.

thriftwizard · 15 January 2015 at 5:48PM

So windy last night that I couldn't sleep until it died down a bit, around 3-ish. Not helped by the fact that Him Indoors had been "improving" the chicken run whilst I was away, which somehow resulted in him stoving in one of the windows of their shed & somewhat destabilising the roof, as well as reducing their rain-free area by rather more than half. (I am actually tempted to take all the tools with me next time I go away...) I didn't have time to do anything about this, didn't discover it until after dark & the girls had gone to roost, so spent the night convinced the whole darn thing was going to blow clear off & go trundling off down the street. Or at the very least, a hungry fox would crawl through the 6" gap under the eaves or push the window back out. And lo & behold, this morning, a ridge tile has gone missing from the corrugated-bitumen roof... I'm not going to be able to mend this until spring as it's a full-height shed & I'm not exactly tall. But at least we still had the right number of intact chickens, who all appeared to be fairly dry.

So I've put a request on our local Freecycle for a dark-coloured tarp to throw over & nail around the edges to keep the rain & cold out for now; I'll have to buy something if that doesn't produce any results. I've hammered the edges of the roof back down again. I've mended the window with psychedelic duck tape and got it back into the frame, as well as tipping gallons of rain off the "new roof" of the run, which was sagging fit to bust. Must point out that some kind of an outward slope is an advantage in a roof.

Anyone got any clues how to stop someone who "means well" doing DiY tasks, tactfully? I sometimes think I'm living in an episode of Ever-Decreasing Circles...

[Deleted User] · 15 January 2015 at 6:49PM

Still blowing a gale, and now it's raining too.

Runcorn_Bridge · 15 January 2015 at 10:05PM

nuatha wrote: »

Presuming you're referring to Mardywotsit's posts or comments in that direction, its her husband, known as Ratty Virgo.
If its in relation to American prepping sites, it tends to be a recreational vehicle ie a campervan or similar.
Its easy to get them confused and I'm fairly sure there's times when Mardartha would be tempted to swap one for the other :rotfl:(Herself, my other half would jump at the chance to swap me for an American RV, some days a battered dinky toy version would suffice)

HTH

Ah ha. thanks Nuatha, I would never have guessed.

nuatha · 15 January 2015 at 10:55PM

thriftwizard wrote: »

So I've put a request on our local Freecycle for a dark-coloured tarp to throw over & nail around the edges to keep the rain & cold out for now; I'll have to buy something if that doesn't produce any results. I've hammered the edges of the roof back down again. I've mended the window with psychedelic duck tape and got it back into the frame, as well as tipping gallons of rain off the "new roof" of the run, which was sagging fit to bust. Must point out that some kind of an outward slope is an advantage in a roof.

Nah, inward slopes are more fun, says he who has to sort out a new inward slope on the garage roof.

Anyone got any clues how to stop someone who "means well" doing DiY tasks, tactfully? I sometimes think I'm living in an episode of Ever-Decreasing Circles...

A stout lockable cupboard to keep him away from the tools (and all other temptations) when you're not home?
More seriously leave him a jobs list, if he's like most males, that will put him off doing anything, but if he presses ahead hopefully by providing a focus you can direct his efforts where they'll do the least harm.

Runcorn_Bridge wrote: »

Ah ha. thanks Nuatha, I would never have guessed.

You're very welcome, someone was kind enough to explain it to me sometime ago.

mardatha · 16 January 2015 at 10:39AM

First calm quiet day in ages, even if its below zero. That was 5 storms in a row we had, and the wind was starting to give us cabin fever. The elect didn't go off once, which means it'll prob go off today to get even.
Hope everybody with chickens still has them - I miss mine more and more. Might get some again only this time I won't let the RV build the pen

Doing an asda online shop, I can't be a$$ed trekking out in the cold anymore - and getting in some more water, For some reason I feel the need to buy bottles of water so better listen to that wee voice.

[Deleted User] · 16 January 2015 at 11:15AM

It's bitterly cold here today and damp but not raining. Going outside to the bins is unpleasant and shivery. I think we're due to go down to -5 overnight so I'm glad of the stove to keep us toasty. It's quite amazing how quickly the room warms after it's been lit in the afternoons and I'm always surprised at how little wood we actually use to keep it burning for an evening. If we are in for some icy weather it would be a sensible idea to check stores and get anything in that you're short of just to be on the safe side. We've been running with only the downstairs loo all this week as the builders are doing jobs in many locations in the house and I've been using the Sunnan Lamp at the bottom of the stairs overnight to give us light to see by if we need to get up in the dark, it's been really good and the charge from daylight has meant it's still been lit and light enough to see by at 7 in the morning. It becomes increasingly clear to me just on an everyday basis how useful having the right equipment is and how much more comfortable life is if you do have light and heat and cooking facilities that are independent of the utilities. Having the store cupboard is peace of mind too, knowing that if we do get bad weather I can still feed us well and keep us going without having to go outside to shop. Good stuff this prepping lark!!!