our forever patch challenge

hugglemonster

So sorry to hear about all the painful and difficult times with you and your family, terrible to hear of the service from the undertakers.

I hope the new horsey is giving you some comfort.

H x

sammy70

thanks for your comments hugglemonster, chumpy and frayed knot, its good to know someone reads my ramblings

My FIL funeral went well last friday, but it was very stressfull building up to it, and im just starting to relax a bit after the various aspects involved, the wrong date of his death was actually printed in the paper Frayed knot, i didnt stop that in time im afraid, they originally even had spelled his name wrong which thankfully i did stop going to print.

Its really opened my eyes to how much is involved in organising a funeral/ sorting finances etc

My new horse is settling in gradually, the only think so far that he is frightened of is cows!!:rotfl:

sammy70

Last weekend we aquired two herdwick sheep, four month old sid and nancy

These came from our new local friends who breed them, these two were a little underweight as late born, and mum had no milk due to the grass shortage, so were in need of tlc and feeding up, which we are doing..

We let them loose after a week in a small sheep hurdle pen to accustom them to where bucket feed is, hopefully we will be able to use this as an area for capturing them again for checks/ shearing etc, though they are pretty wild at the moment :rotfl:

Little sid has been castrated to avoid him breeding with his sister in the future, so we have had to spray the former home of his crown jewels this week to prevent infection, not an easy task!!

Im awaiting my horses reaction to them appearing in his field , hopefully they will become friends and company for him too

With the predicted hay shortage this winter im starting to stock up on small bales of hay , though he is tucking into at least 3 bales a week already with the grass shortage too, in sensing an expensive winter ahead for us feeding the motley crew..

in chicken news, our our little girl may has gone broody, she wont move off the nest despite me removing the eggs, we dont have a cockerel so theres no chance of little ones, dont know how long she will persist to no avail to try to hatch her none existent chicks poor thing ..

pink_poppy

sammy, you should join the 'daydream' thread on the Greenfingered moneysaving board, I think you would love the chat as it's all smallholding/animal/garden/everything else under the sun related
Can you get 'pretend' eggs for your broody hen?? I think I've read something like that on the daydream thread and I'm sure someone on there would be able to advise.

sammy70

thanks poppy, i will have a look at that thread

The chicken is still broody, i have tried a few tactics, stopping access to the nest box/removing eggs each day/ shutting her out of the run in the afternoon, but she just sits waiting to go back in poor little thing

Sid and nancy the sheep are loving life here, they are eating loads of grass and sheep pellets, and have already picked their favourite spot for sleeping , its so funny watching them appear and tootling around together, my horse was stood watching them earlier today, and followed them round trying to work out what they are i think!

Fortune_Smiles

Hi Sammy

just popping in to share some thoughts on the broody hen - hope you don't mind.

They are usually broody for about three weeks as this is how long it takes to hatch eggs so you could just leave her. Although her health might deteriorate if she's not eating or drinking.

I used to put an ice pack wrapped in a tea towel in the nest box as a hen's temperature increases when she's broody and cooling her down can help to break the cycle. Some people use bags of frozen peas :rotfl:

Fortune x

sammy70

What a lovely day!

We are loving our week off work, getting lots done, another stone window repaired/filled in in out hay barn to be, just the new roof to do and pointing, but the roof may be a 2019 project depending on time/cash available this year.

Thanks for the tip fortune, she is still broody, it must be over 3 weeks now, so hopefully she will get over it soon. We keep bringing her out to eat and drink, and today she went for a dust bath with the others, so maybe she is getting to the end of the cycle fingers crossed!:)

I overpaid £250 on payday, the direct debit and interest wont update until monday, so i will update my neglected balances etc then , im hoping to have gone into the £218,000's

Sheep are coming to call/bucket rattle now, so we are able to pen them to check them over etc, so thats a bonus.

Tomorow we are spreading father in laws ashes in a lovely area under a beech tree in what we call our secret garden, its a quiet area and really peaceful too, so family have somewhere to sit and remember him.

Have a lovely weekend everyone x

sammy70

Right, direct debit has gone out, heres my update for september .

August interest= £399.33
Daily = £12.88

new balance= £220,149.33

Direct Debit = £1165.26

New balance = £218,984.07

soo..

overpaid £84.07, giving our new balance of £218,900 :T
A nice rounded off number!! :beer:

We have decided, with the uncertainty of boe rate rises, to go with a 5 year fix , 2.89% , a tad higher than the 2 year fix option, but we figured the security of knowing what we have to pay, and protection from rate rises for the next 5 years while we bring the balance down, is worth it to us..

Which brings me round to trying to work out, with diy etc still to do, how much is it possible to reduce the balance in 5 years.. a new challenge is on the horizon i think :rotfl::)

sammy70

Hi everyone

Its dull and raining here, so glad i squeezed an hours hack last night on my horse, it was a lovely evening, though the temperature has certainly dropped now..

Im having a lazy morning, i popped out to feed horse and chickens at just before 7am, but then back to bed with a cup of tea and my book for an hour..:T

Had a busy week, still sorting bits for mil after fil death, im starting to feel ready for a mental break, my head seems to have been full of tasks to be done for weeks now, im trying to mentally relax a bit, but its not easy..

Right, must get up, light range for hot water, breakfast with hubby, then housework day.. do i muck horse out first, or after..mmm

lloking forward to a chilled out evening together with hubby and a nice tea. We always break calorie count on saturdays and have whatever we fancy followed by a treat and a couple of drinks..

tonight is tescos finest meal deal= lasagne, chips, salad and fancy bread, followed by a couple of g&ts for me and a bar of dairymilk (not family size!), and a pear tart thingy for hubby, yum!

We are blessed to have this home, our animals and each other, i need to shake myself up and re-charge my mental batteries to complete the tasks relating to fils death, mil is still having problems following an operation which she needs help with, and what with working full time and running a mini farm, i suppose im entitled to feel overwhemed a little at times, thats life..

sammy70

Tasks completed-

horse mucked out- haynets filled
coal buckets for week filled
chickens cleaned out
house tidying/cleaning- just bathroom and our bedroom to finish
E.mailed complaint to co-op funeral care- despite numerous requests still not recieeved either paperwork/account showing what weve paid etc, or the promised refund for the c**k up they made with the newspaper advert that led to great distress for MIL. im extremely unhappy with their service, and the worst thing is we also have a pre-paid 'gold' funeral plan with them for MIL, an absolute disgrace of service in nearly every aspect of the whole funeral- AVOID!! theres nothing 'gold about their service at all and everyone ive spoken to who have used them say the same..

Ive tried to book xmas day lunch with the pub we usually go to, but online saying cant book online, please call, ive called 3 times now and no-one will answer the phone- its must be catching from the co-op !!!