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Daydream fund challenge part 4

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  • Poppycat1
    Poppycat1 Posts: 376 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thanks for welcoming me back. I have been doing some more research and although I love the Shepherd's hut I may go a little bit bigger.


    Spent three hours at the allotment digging up potatoes yesterday. I love the idea of producing my own food. I am paying it with the aches today though. Roast potatoes yesterday, jacket potatoes today and some in a curry tomorrow. We will be sick of potatoes by the end of the week.
    Without overpayments: 15 years, 1 monthsBecause of overpayments: 10 years, 10 months left until paid off
  • alfie_1
    alfie_1 Posts: 5,837 Forumite
    1,000 Posts
    poppycat..... many years ago in my "yoof" I lived for 4/5 months in an open lot [gypsy wagon].. cooked on little queenie stove or open fire. water from well, hair washes in a water butt, wagon was really just for sleeping in .. I learnt to make pegs and wood carnations !! also to SURVIVE :rotfl:


    stood me in good stead for later living 10 years in a very old house with no mains leccy... just a temperamental generator .. again I learnt to strip and fix the bl**dy thing too...


    ive learnt various survival techniques over the years and always watch those survival type programs thinking ..."geese I could walk that " ;)
  • DaftyDuck
    DaftyDuck Posts: 4,609 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    We have moles on the water meadows, and voles in the riverbanks and, sadly, the moles don't seem to swim well when it floods, leaving little upside down bodies covering the fields... to be rapidly hoovered up by the other more carnivorous wildlife, so the circle of life goes on. The voles are quite happy charging across the flooded fields, and make quite a bow wave as they go. They are so chubby, cheery, and surprisingly brave. The moles do learn after each flood, and build their new tunnels in the dryer ground... but become directionally-challenged underground, so the mounds start heading off into the wetlands. I'm known for being a soft-touch, but even I am not going grubbing around underground to rescue moles!

    Mind you, pheasants are another matter. We are steadily getting a reputation amongst the feathered ones as being a safe zone within the Armageddon that is Norfolk during the winter shoots. The surrounding woodlands explode like Helmand, and the refugee flocks descend, some running, some flapping in. Problem is, although our own are quite tame now (they come running to the barns for food when I go out), the immigrants aren't so confident. While there's shooting nearby, I'm restricted in what I can do so's not to scare them off, back over the front line, to be shot! Good excuse to laze away a day or two ;)

    Figured out some of the problems with the old heating system, caused by a radiator being taken out 20(ish) years ago, and the flow altered. One end of the house can now reach the dizzy heights of 18°C on a good day. Still struggling to find someone able to install the new heating system all in one go, the way I want it done. I'd really rather not use three different firms for the differing parts of the install, as then they can all blame the non-functioning on me or each other! :D I think I'm going to use the nice, keen local bloke to do most, get it running, and then add bits in myself when I have the confidence to tinker.

    I watch Dave's shenanigans with the wood burner and the conservatory and think I'll face the same next year! I think I've got a good conservatory fitter... famous last words... will regret writing that! :o

    Had the UK Power Network blokes around to clear some of the wood from the area where the cables run. Got a humongous heap of wood chippings dropped off from several of their jobs, with more to come. Pathways will be smart for a year or two. Got the mini tractor out at the same time to haul a massive tree out of the way. It had fallen some years ago, and was almost weightless from rot. I did NOT point out to them this was why I could bodily lift an eight foot long by two foot wide log and bung it on the tractor... they thought it was some kind of super-strength. Oh, if only! :rotfl: Must have looked pretty impressive, I guess!

    Tractor slides around in the mud rather, churning up the fields, so I better limit its use in the winter wet. The things you slowly learn (not) to do! But, water meadow drains the right way at the moment, so progress there. Now to slowly get rid of all the docks and willow herb, and get the flora back to what it should be!

    Sheep getting really bulgy now, and placing bets on who has twins, who has a single. Hopefully they'll have nice weather for lambing... makes it nicer for us too!

    Give me ten more years, and I might see the wood for the (fallen) trees. I might even have worked out how to actually do half the jobs properly as well! Even doing some properly would be an improvement...

    Stay safe all, cold weather coming!
  • greenbee
    greenbee Posts: 17,799 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Not sure whereabouts in Norfolk you are Dafty, but my mother has had masses of geese flying over recently.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    DaftyDuck wrote: »

    I watch Dave's shenanigans with the wood burner and the conservatory and think I'll face the same next year! I think I've got a good conservatory fitter... famous last words... will regret writing that! :o
    There's a good guy in the village, but as a general builder he won't give estimates, and he's pricey, so I have avoided him. :(

    All we really wanted was a run-of-the-mill system-built job, which is what we got, but to a design that couldn't deliver the roof angle. Hence maybe we should have gone with a different design, or had a special box gutter made, or.....I dunno. The last was what we thought was happening. :o

    Anyway, the ordure will hit the whirly thing when the MD gets his bit of paperwork this morning, but we'll probably hear nothing for a while. The guys tested the gutter yesterday and it's fine; there's just water tracking back from each end where it isn't complete, because the parts were missing.

    So we're stuck with drips, although I might be able to do a temporary fix.....when it stops raining! :mad:

    And on that cheerful note, here's another piece of uplifting news, where I can only say, "Well, what did you expect?"

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38561877
  • Fay
    Fay Posts: 1,034 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Is your conservatory up Dave and it's problems with the gutter? Or is the conservatory still not finished either. Sounds like a real ordeal for you :(

    So snow is predicted but I think it will miss us, hopefully, but may be where I work which is a bit of a nightmare. I do a 28mile commute and will have no idea how bad it is before I arrive. In a rear wheel drive car and working in a valley that is an ice pocket it could get interesting :rofl:
  • greenbee
    greenbee Posts: 17,799 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Find something heavy to stick in the boot Fay - sandbags, gravel, compost etc.

    I usually put winter tyres on, but haven't got round to it yet this year.
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Fay wrote: »
    Is your conservatory up Dave and it's problems with the gutter? Or is the conservatory still not finished either. Sounds like a real ordeal for you :(
    The conservatory is up, but it's connected to the house wrongly and the pitch of the roof is only half what was shown on the plans, so water lies permanently on the bottom of the roof vents and the roof glass clears slowly.

    Those are the main problems, but water dripping from the unfinished gutter inside, means the interior is as damp as the day it was put up and we can't work on building the floor. :(

    I wouldn't describe it as an ordeal. The worst part was when we realised it wasn't working out. However, once we'd collected all the evidence together, showing a catalogue of incompetence by the people involved, we began to relax, knowing we could safely refuse to pay. :p

    The ball's in their court now. We've had poor service throughout, delivered with astonishing arrogance, so if I'm honest, this is giving us some satisfaction, albeit at the price of stalling our progress. :undecided
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 11 January 2017 at 9:57AM
    Our greatest 'ordeal' remains the difficulty Mrs Dave has been having getting about, as her tendinopathy has steadily worsened. She has been exercising for months, and it's made no difference. Reluctantly, she's had another cortisone injection, which means she must rest now, rather than get stuck-into stuff because the pain has eased.

    So we're in limbo. At least we have a bungalow, which is good, because stairs would be out, but stuff like refurbing the roof, as we did last year, would be unthinkable now for her.

    We have always done things as a team, so we'll just have to see how it goes, but my efficiency is affected by hers, however we look at it.

    Talking health... Horse Woman is back in her home with carers coming in 4 times a day and her sons (so far!) visiting at weekends. We have stepped back, partly because DW has had the bug our DD's family brought here at Christmas, but also because we don't want to muddy the waters. ;)
  • choille
    choille Posts: 9,710 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Hope the trip up North goes well Lucielle - If you've time please come by, that's if you're not blown away. It's been raging all night & the temp is definately dropping. Back on-line, hope it lasts. Loads of folks off because of BT muck up.

    Fay shepherds' huts are lovely, but very over priced I think.
    Snow chains can be bought for about £20 - we got ours in LIDLs. They don't really sand the back roads here often, so can get tricky. Still we got loads in feed wise - us & animals- but should have to go to Ullapool on Friday, but if we can't we can't.

    Dave sounds bad the conservatory. Did it get Planning? As it shouldn't have passed Building Control, but you may have a different system - not required maybe coz of size?

    Must feed sheep.
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