Breaking Through, Travelling On

edinburgher

I read that KC, but a) it's the sort of thing that many MFWers already do without writing newspaper articles about it and b) it only works for one year (dependent upon N@tionwide accounts from memory?)

The T3legraph isn't that bad a read as long as you mentally discount the nastiness of some of the articles. That, or the FT is good for economics and finance in general.

It beats the Gu@rdian for me these days, which is unbelievably preachy and wrings its hands more than I care for (says a man who loves a good hand wring).

Karmacat

Slight detour :rotfl:

I was honestly sorting out my bookmarks on cat collars - how to make, already for sale, articles, wholesalers, and local shops are the subdivisions - but I was keeping a weather eye out for the trading. And at 2.30, I thought the Dow, the main American listing, was going to go down, because of signals from my system.

And it did go down :j I was late going in (15.00.39 is the timestamp :rotfl:) and I got out more or less a minute later :o:o the last 3 trades have now recouped all the money I lost from ignoring the system and just being wrong, so I feel like I'm starting out on an even keel again :j

And I finally think its going to work :j

Some celebratory bannocks coming up then a draft of an article on cat collars

Karmacat

Hello edinburgher! Missed you there, sorry - I know what you mean about the hand-wringing - but at one stage The Telegraph so over-burdened my computer, it kept freezing seems fine today.

I've just spent a happy 20 minutes on ebay and youtube - bought a "bowmaker" - a little wooden frame thingy you can use to make bows of varying sizes - this is for the cat collars, and the cards too, come to that. Youtube for the videos to check I could use them, and it seems pretty easy - certainly worth £2.50 of experimentation

Right, off now to pick up some more free woodchips.

DedicatedDFW

Hi KC,

Quick peak at the article - yep if i had the money i would do it - bah! to not having the pennies is all

Karmacat

Sorry its squeaky for you, Dedicated - its never easy, is it.

The woodchips I fetched are another of my priorities - taking care of the house and garden for as little as possible: they'll have to season, but next year they'll be great. I met a dogwalker (I thought his black labrador was going to bowl me over a la You've Been Framed :rotfl:) and he barged into the "garden" area of one of the half-built houses that now line the field we were both aiming for - so I followed and the "soil" was indeed as bad as he was telling me :eek:

And the area of bark chippings I found last week are now a bit inaccessible, only because of flimsy markers for where they're going to dig, but I wasn't going to get into it, so my dogwalker friend pointed me to some other fresh chippings, really gorgeous stuff. I'll go back today for more, they're obviously about to start building on the land, it'll all have been carted away to a tip before long. And I also found out that this was where the local deer had their home. Where do they go now? Its great that I have free chippings ... but the deer will have to find another home

Today ... two hours very concentrated paid work, more cleaning to make the place fit to be seen, trading time curtailed because of that, but I'll keep an eye on it. Then its onto the French vocab and legal sites, and off to get some wood chippings. And I'm quite tempted to have a bath instead of a shower - literally can't remember the last time I had a bath :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: but soaking the muscles sounds good about now

DedicatedDFW

Hey KC - very sad about the deer

When the trees were cut near me there was sawdust in the road but no woodchips - i will have things i need to pay for for my house and some of those are shown in my sig, but some of the things i can do for less / free i intend to make the most of

eg In our garden i was going to use the branches from the cut back conifers in a machine (borrowed) to make a sort of mulch for the garden - but the tree cutting person took the branches away when they weren't supposed to and didn't last time

A friend had said we could have a piece of stone too - instead of buying it but now i think they've thrown it out :eek: I hope not Must ask *again*

Enjoy your day

Karmacat

Hi Dedicated!

I think there are chippings because when they cut the trees down, they probably fed the trunks and branches through a chipper - what I'm picking up is just the leftover bits that spilled over, I reckon. Not a commercial quantity, so they don't care.

As for pine, my sister said something about bark mulch acidifying the soil, so I googled it, and it turns out that pine bark *does* acidify the soil (so do coffee grounds) - so unless you want solid blueberries or heather, you're better off without pine.

I've got a really solid long term tip, though, about doing things in the garden for free - when the leaves fall this autumn, bag them up in black plastic, stick your garden fork in them, make sure they're wet, and leave them for at least a year - the bags happen to act as great mulch in themselves :rotfl: but when they've had a year or 18 months of bacterial action, they make a lovely addition to your soil, improving it in all ways. I did a batch of 18 black bags the year after I moved here :eek: and I'm using it now. Setting up a bit of a production line this autumn :T

And another thing, to remineralise your soil: every time you're at the beach, hunt for shells, and whack them with a hammer, to help them decompose. Cooked egg shells too. I have dozens of oyster shells from a south coast beach, and they break down *really* easily, they're brill.

You can tell I also focus on doing it for as little as possible, can't you :rotfl:

Karmacat

I got two more bags of chippings yesterday - I won't be going back, the builders are really preparing to move in, I don't like the atmosphere. Plus, in the 5 days or so that I've been focussed on that, I've noticed things growing in the garden that I *really* don't want to grow :rotfl: grass that I haven't cleared from the borders, strawberry plants two inches apart from one another, stuff like that. And Japanese anemones lolling over the path outside the back door already, I don't like those either

So the garden is the focus for "the rest of the month" - doh! 5 days!

I'm quite peeved with myself this morning - the first analysis of the day for the trading takes longer than the ongoing half-hourly analysis (of course!!!) and I didn't give myself enough time today, I was on here *by* 8am, but not by much, and it wasn't enough. So I missed a nice trade on one of my forex pairs that would have given me half my target points for the day (10 ... ). Bah! and all that. Must get here in time for 8am, not *at* 8am. Thats the rule.

DedicatedDFW

Thanks for the tips KC

is this the time i confess to not having a compost bin in the garden and now possibly wanting one The garden is very small here though - i have a patio area with pots on - the pots are what i'm focusing on this weekend. Then on another level i have alot of gravelly / stones and around the edges the mud / plants part of the garden (i'm sure thats the technical term for it ) Then i have the area where the shed will go when we get it. The bags are a brilliant tip so i will do that couldn't bring myself to destroy seashells though

The garden is on the list for overhauling - i *need* new stone flags putting down in the patio area and where the shed is going - its so expensive though :eek: much dearer than we thought it would be And of course the shed - then all the outside stuff can go outside and inside will look / be even better

But the plants i am managing bit by bit - i pick some up at the carboot or from cuttings and this is where i can keep the costs down and manage with what i have :T I will let you know how i get on with the pots this weekend

Karmacat

Sounds great, Dedicated! If you don't want to destroy the shells, by all means keep them whole - just use the smaller ones, that don't provide homes for slugs or anything. Or oyster shells, that fall apart naturally.

I definitely know what you mean about the flags - I have old DIY crazy paving on my patio, and its sourced from all sorts of things, so I rather like it - I've just bought ready-mixed mortar for it, and I'll whack it on myself when the builders are here, bit by bit - I know I won't be able to concentrate on anything inside the house.

I'll be interested to hear what you manage from car boot sales - good luck!