Preparing for Winter V

mardatha

Was warm and sunny up here today, I was too hot!

Elona_2

It has been really wet here today and I am enjoying having feet up and watching old tv series. Mission impossible (before the poison dwarf).

I had the boiler serviced a couple of days ago and it needed a new motherboard so got that done and also upgraded my service contract so it covered some repairs as well. Glad I don't have a condenser boiler as when there is a very cold snap they seem to stop working.

Middle dd is looking at houses in the same small town and I was a bit disconcerted when she said if they got a four bed one all her sisters etc could stay for Christmas etc. I got this house so I could offer to host Christmas etc and have them all stay over.On the bright side it lets us all have choices and even if family stays overnight with a dd instead of me I will still be seeing them and in an emergency or future in laws etc I will have space to offer.

carrielovesfanta

We're definitely turning our eyes towards autumn chez Fanta.

We've been foraging and have various jams, jellies, butters and pickles now, along with mincemeat and fruit in the freezer. I've also started some soups.

I've finished my socks and it's been cool enough to wear them about the house. OH has been wearing his too. I've been working on a blanket for our bed and I will finish that this week.

We were a bit cold at night, but not enough for the winter duvet, so we have put the brushed cotton duvet cover on and this has added a bit of snuggly warmth.

We've also started lighting candles again in the evening and using the door curtain and draught excluders. The other thing to do is change the couch blanket, but that happens on equinox, as is my custom

[Deleted User]

I put my wool duvet on a couple of nights ago and have had a couple of good night's sleep since I did. It's betwixt and between up here in terms of temperature, cool in the mornings, enough to need long sleeves and more than a cotton T shirt baking at the middle of the day so peeling off a layer is a pleasant experience and now cooling rapidly again and needing long sleeves and hot drinks. I'm beginning to want stews and casseroles for our main meals instead of the cold meat and salads or soup and meat that we've been having all summer long. Got 8 giant jackets baking in the oven at the moment which will be reheated over the next few days with different fillings...winter draws on and we saw skeins of geese flying overhead this afternoon when we were at a country show, beautiful sight BUT definitely autumnal occurrence!

candlelight_2013

Actually it is a relief to not eat another lettuce leaf!!


Younger GDD texted me today to ask if she and BF could visit around lunchtime on Tuesday. This must mean they either have a day off or working a late shift.


I texted back and asked if they fancied chilli and rice and the response was OOOH LOVELY, so they are up for something warming as well.


I haven't changed our duvet yet, but I think it is definitely on the cards soon

Primrose

We have yet to switch from our 4 tog summer duvet to our 7 tog winter duvet. That probably seems very light for some people but our house is well insulated and my OH overheats in bed very quickly, even in winter! As a halfway stage we have an old fashioned rectangular shape sleeping bag which fully unzips and converts into a double bed cover which we can quickly throw onto the bed for extra warmth in an emergency.

I think we've all had our fill of salads in the recent hot summer so good old fashioned stew type meals will be a nice change as the weather cools.

I don,t like the rapidly darkening nights though. Feels like bedtime as soon as it gets dark and the curtains are drawn ! A small tv in the bedroom which I can watch whilst snuggled under the duvet is my winter luxury. Better than falling asleep watching it downstairs, waking with a cricked neck and then having to go sleepily through the bedtime locking up and undressing routine!

Primrose

All this talk about changing to winter duvets reminded me of a discussion I was having with an older gentleman the other day about how we survived in winter when the condensation froze on the inside of the window panes when houses had no central heating and he said "when I was a kid we just threw our heavy winter overcoats onto the beds when it got cold"

I can remember those days! It did the trick I suppose but didn,t make for the more elegant looking bedrooms some of us have got used to these days. (Not in this house though where a variety of spare clothes always seem to be strewn over every free surface as wardrobes always seem to be over full ! )

candlelight_2013

I can remember I had my Dad's old army coat on my bed, and a brick as a hot water bottle.


When we lived with my grandma she had an old type range in the back room which she used to black lead every Sunday morning Anyway the brick would be placed in a side oven in the morning and by night time this was hot and we had it wrapped in a towel or something similar and it would be warm for most of the night. It certainly wasn't cuddly like a hot water bottle might be.

Olliebeak1951

Primrose wrote: »

All this talk about changing to winter duvets reminded me of a discussion I was having with an older gentleman the other day about how we survived in winter when the condensation froze on the inside of the window panes when houses had no central heating and he said "when I was a kid we just threw our heavy winter overcoats onto the beds when it got cold".

Oh yes - I remember those days very well indeed. The best 'eiderdown' in the house was Grandad's 'Great Coat' from WWI

Grandad also made a 'bedwarmer' for my nan. It was one of those old-fashioned biscuit tins - with a round hole in the lid - that 'loose biscuits' were served out of. He 'soldered' the lid closed - cut a small round hole into the base - and then fitted a 'lamp fitting' into the hole, wired up to an electric plug :eek:. That would be put into nan's side of their double bed to warm it up before she went to bed with her hot water bottle. Obviously, it got turned off and moved out of the bed to cool down once she was getting into bed. Not sure how H&S would view his invention these days :shocked: :undecided !

[Deleted User]

I remember the army coat on top of the covers on particularly cold nights too and we had what parents called 'army blankets' which were cotton covered quilted padded blankets, not eiderdowns but khaki coloured almost like a duvet, they were stuffed with kapok!