Daydream fund challenge part 4

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

greenbee wrote: »

Not a fan then Jojo?

Not really got the figure for it, Greenbee.





Mind you, neither do they 95% of the time....:cool:

Chesapeake

I have to admit I never skimp when it comes to walking boots... I spend £120-150 on each pair but they last for years, are mega comfy etc. I used to buy £20 pairs at good ole Trago but they would be trashed in 3 months. I weigh in at best part of 20 stone so I put a fair bit of stress on my feet! Being a size 12 really doesn't help as I struggle to find them in stock.

Davesnave

I have short, wide feet and intolerance for heels, so finding anything to go on them is a nightmare. Fortunately, DD2 works for that company which makes a wider fitting shoe....:D

For wellies, it's Dunlop safety ones which I can get in black and in my size for about £16. They last almost exactly a year, when my wide feet split them.

I don't buy anything posh to wear on the 'farm,' because I don't have to work in very inclement weather. I wear everything out, totally, till it frays and has holes in it. My wax jacket was bought in the 1990s and cost about £5. Like JoJo, I'd rather get wet than wear stuff like overtrousers. An ordinary M&S fleece about 10 years old is fine for most jobs outdoors and it dries very fast.

Our drought is over for now here, but we've still had far less rain than other parts of the South West. We continue to make slow progress now our builder is finished with work, cleaning-up all his tools, packing them and making ready for the one way trip to Oz.. We will miss him, but I'm much cheaper!

I've been digging out a drain run and finishing a partition between the conservatory and the porch; undercover and outdoor jobs on the go at the same time to cope with the showers.

Seasick Steve also much enjoyed, choille. He looks uncannily like one of my Panto co-conspirators, a smashing chap who always has a smile on his face and twinkle in his eye.

Hope Dad is rallying, alfie.

choille

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Yup. Primark - the [strike]trashiest[/strike] skimpiest, cheapest offerings. Think women in heels so high, they walk like Bambi on ice to the 'bar/lifestyle venue' made of out shipping containers so the boom boom boom doof loop track for whatever rapper/shouter with a fake accent can come out with the highest frequency of N words and 'shanking enemies comin' down my Endz' reverberates so much, you can feel it when on the bus 250 yards away. The stuff they wear is what turns up in the charity shops.

Well at least they donate it to charity.

Alfie hope your dad keeps gathering strength and is comfortable. Also hope that the hand eases. You feel it when it's something you use a lot.

Heavy down pours here but managed a beach walk with doggie who is getting bigger and browner by the day.

Midgies are really nipping & making it unpleasant to do anything other than move fast outdoors.

Rummer

Hello

I have been reading, if not posting. Glad you are all well and making the most of the variable weather this summer.

Lots to think about in relation to the garden here. The shaded bed is doing brilliantly and we have an array of foliage and flowers from spring to autumn. Unfortunately the sunny bed is not doing as well, the Hebes are lovely but the Buddleia, Hibiscus and Verbena are not thriving the way I had hoped. I think it will need a rethink for next year.

Elsewhere in the garden we are getting an abundance of fruit including currants, blueberries and strawberries. The plums will be ready soon and our first ever pear is progressing well. Now we are turning our thoughts to what else we can plant that will give us food with little effort. We are missing the raspberries so they will certainly be replaced.

Also thinking about what bulbs to order. I have tried snowdrops over the last few years but none have grown, so will need to see if I can get ones that will actually flourish. Rumlet is quite taken by tulips so thinking about getting a few of them as well to dot about the garden.

The next thing we need to do is dismantle our shed as it has seen better days and is not in an ideal location, we need to think of an alternative, I am tempted by a new potting shed but they are a bit out of our price range atm. The greenhouse may also have to go although I would be saddened by that loss.

The front garden has been ignored for the last couple of years as nothing has really thrived in it. However I am looking at some different ferns to plant there as I think they will do well.

Indoors it has been all about the succulents this year, I bought a whole batch from a specialist nursery and they are wonderful. Anyway I look forward to hearing more about all your adventures.

choille

Nice to hear that things are progressing with you Rummer.

alfie_1

hi all


well pops has battled through the worst [chest infection] but we know this has weakened him further. he is comfortable and well cared for which is the important thing
mum is STILL frustrated she cant do more after her stroke BUT considering how she was in the first 2 weeks [dodgy] she is doing so well. she wants to be gadding all over the place tho !!
took her to buy one of those all guns blazing electric chair the other day, so she can put her feet up and get out of it easier.. probably launch herself into the sofa before she gets the hang of it !! delivery in 2-3 weeks time.


jim jam the stallion went to his first in hand show yesterday and won 1st,3rd,5th rosettes.. he looked stunning ! and if my tilly IS in foal it will be his first prodigy .....


we have had intermittent rain and sun for days now.
I got out and trimmed the long hedge along my drive yesterday T time... bit silly as the cutters vibrations stuffed my hand ! but got half way and stubbornly refused to leave it half done ... thus back to square one today.. [my own fault] doc is befuddled so is sending me to a reumasomethingorother consultant..


sun is out today and im going to try and get some weeds shifted from a patio [where I feed the birds and allsorts is mountain high growing there !]


this has taken some time to type LEFT handed... hehe


ok peeps, keep well, hope weather is kind for you..

Davesnave

Good to hear Dad is through the worst, alfie. My FiL is having similar problems and he's through the worst too, but lost a holiday because of it.

Watch out for that hand. When things like that recur, then you should give the weakness a break to repair itself.....says he, who felt a twinge of the sciatica after grovelling in holes agaiin at the weekend.:o

Still not much to report. The river is now too high, so I only caught one weedy fish yesterday and got soaked by a further band of rain that swept through at tea time. Still, I was pleased not to have fallen victim to the total collapse of an oak tree I stood under last time I was down there. Pete has a large number of those, most at the end of their natural lives, and this one is so big it completely blocks the last 100m of fishing without doing a massive detour.:(

The conservatory co have until today to decide whether to go to arbitration, or they miss the GGF's deadline. I don't think that will bother them though! :undecided

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I've got another plant to add to the new list of hated species.

Cherry Laurel

Was working in a scrap of ancient woodland that's been pretty much destroyed by the blasted stuff today. Got absolutely soaked to boot.

I'm also feeling pretty peed off with the behaviour of some of the working party. I accept that some men only feel important when doing manly man tings like chopping down trees, but I was perfectly happy and safe dealing with the 2" diameter Laurel saplings in my own area, when first one, then, two, then five of them decided to come into that area and progressively try to outdo one another with the diameter of trunk they were cutting with handsaws.

If they wanted to exhaust themselves hand sawing through the trunks that were going to be dealt with by the qualified chainsaw guy in about 3 minutes flat, I suppose that in itself isn't my problem. What I did have a problem with is that they weren't cutting the side shoots and branches, so at one point were thumping trunks with offcuts to try to get them to fall, half were dressed in dark green, only kept their hard hats on when nagged and were then going to try to fell these trees whilst I was within range of the falling trunks. Despite me making a point of finding a secure area where I was within reach and earshot, but couldn't affect anybody else working or walking through.

I put my hard hat on as soon as I got there and was wearing highly visible clothing, so they had no excuse for not seeing me or continuing once it was clear that a person 6 foot away is likely to be affected by hacking down a tree that's about 15 foot tall, but once I realised they had zero awareness of the risk and were caught up in some sort of macho competition, I walked out and said I wasn't going to do anymore today.

Came home, went to bed for four hours and now about to go back to bed for starting it all again in the morning.

The sooner the experience tots up for getting a job not quite so physical (ie, I've done it, so I know what's involved, etc), the better. I'm guaranteed a 'senior volunteer leader position with proper, professionally recognised training' as soon as I want it - although I would have to also find money to pass my driving test, as I only ever rode motorbikes until I had my second spill/'I'm getting off at 30mph before I die' moment and decided I'd quit whilst I was ahead. I know it's going to be necessary, especially when we move, but it's a lot of money and I'd most likely go for an intensive course just to get the legal bit out of the way as quickly as possible (I also dislike the idea of taking a test that includes driving under Satnav direction, as that's what learning the route in advance with a map is for - it's going to be part of the driving test from this November).

What did surprise me is that the cost of these intensive courses isn't much more than it was over fifteen years ago when I looked at them and decided I couldn't justify the expense at the time - they're about a hundred pounds dearer, which isn't a lot more compared to things like the insurance for a newly qualified driver - I'd hope that if I passed, once I'd taken the specialist courses they insist upon to drive a minibus, landrover/4x4 offroad and suchlike (for free), that would be taken into account if I wanted to be a named driver on the OH's insurance.


If I ended up being one of these trainees, though, the first thing I'd do when running such an activity is insist upon HV vests and probably be considerably more forceful about proper safety procedures.

Davesnave

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I've got another plant to add to the new list of hated species.

Cherry Laurel.

It has a few uses. In our case, it forms an inexpensive barrier between us and a couple of neighbours we don't wish to see/hear. I appreciate that other evergreens might be used, but these cost at least a fiver apiece, whereas laurel is available here at the side of the road......

Also, after gentleman farmer next door decided to rely on our fences rather than maintain his own to contain the sheep on his rented-out field, we thought it politic to warn him that there were laurels about. This may have had a good result, as new fencing went in shortly after, although we'd already taken steps to ensure the sheep couldn't reach them.

I think everyone who drives a minibus ought to take a basic PSV test. DD2 only became a 'real' driver in early 2016, yet within a couple of weeks she was expected to pilot a minibus for her staff's visit to head office 100 miles away. Madness.

Mr Rod, our plasterer and drain man, rang last night. Appropriately, we were in the middle of a get-together for our builder and his wife to celebrate the end of his work here and their imminent departure to a new life in Oz.

He, (Mr Rod) will be here this morning to size-up all the interior work on the conservatory and the rest of the external rendering. This doesn't actually signal a start to the work, but at least we are now on his radar......:j

Meanwhile, with no word from the MD of the conservatory co, I shall probably be contacting the GGF today to see what we do next....if anything.

Currently wet & windy here, so the courgettes are turning into marrows, being allowed to do that to keep the plants weighted down!