Preparing for Winter V

tboo

Laura_Elsewhere said:

and I eat them core and all, nice apples, only leaving the stalk!  

You eat more of the apple than me lol and I'm sure I've read you would be found pretty quickly if hiding in the woods, due to discarding the stalk (or it's from a film)

Fiona236

All that making the stray cat a warm box and I've brought him in... to keep! Hes getting neutered Monday paid for fully by cats protection.
That's 5 cats now .... looking at being extra extra frugal now. 

pollyanna_26

tboo said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

and I eat them core and all, nice apples, only leaving the stalk!  

You eat more of the apple than me lol and I'm sure I've read you would be found pretty quickly if hiding in the woods, due to discarding the stalk (or it's from a film)

I remember at school in the early sixties some know all telling a group of us we should never swallow a pip because a tree would grow inside us . It haunted me but i didn't discuss it until one of my younger sisters came home upset after hearing a similar tale. Looking back now I was at grammar school both parents and grandparents were growers and I spent a lot of time in gardens and on the allotments. Seems so silly now.

Lovely post Fiona my dd and her partner rescued a young brother and sister after seeing a strange guy on FB saying anyone want these off abroad to find a wife and will leave these outside if no one wants them . He was a long way away but they told him bring them and we'll have them.

They arrived just before that Christmas  skinny, neglected, starved and frightened of their own shadow. They hid under things for a year although there was food brother foraged for his sister and himself and both needed lots of treatment from the vet. Years on they're in charge and have finally forgotten being shut out by the owner while he headed abroad for a few weeks.

Wishing you and the Mogs many happy times together.

pollyx

Fiona236

I've had to let the cat out, but he managed 9 hours in captivity which was good for a stray. Fingers crossed I can catch him Sunday evening ready for Monday. He's left with a full tummy and flea treated anyway. It's also a pretty warm night. 
I'm not used to cats wanting to leave as previously the problem was they all wanted to stay hence I had 11 once. 

And I'm knitting a pink cat blanket now. 

Fiona236

pollyanna_26 said:

tboo said:

Laura_Elsewhere said:

and I eat them core and all, nice apples, only leaving the stalk!  

You eat more of the apple than me lol and I'm sure I've read you would be found pretty quickly if hiding in the woods, due to discarding the stalk (or it's from a film)

I remember at school in the early sixties some know all telling a group of us we should never swallow a pip because a tree would grow inside us . It haunted me but i didn't discuss it until one of my younger sisters came home upset after hearing a similar tale. Looking back now I was at grammar school both parents and grandparents were growers and I spent a lot of time in gardens and on the allotments. Seems so silly now.

Lovely post Fiona my dd and her partner rescued a young brother and sister after seeing a strange guy on FB saying anyone want these off abroad to find a wife and will leave these outside if no one wants them . He was a long way away but they told him bring them and we'll have them.

They arrived just before that Christmas  skinny, neglected, starved and frightened of their own shadow. They hid under things for a year although there was food brother foraged for his sister and himself and both needed lots of treatment from the vet. Years on they're in charge and have finally forgotten being shut out by the owner while he headed abroad for a few weeks.

Wishing you and the Mogs many happy times together.

pollyx

I don't understand how people can just do that. At least go hand them into a vets and run away but dont threaten to just abandon them after neglecting them anyway. Makes me sad and mad in equal measure. 
One nice thing did happen tonight, my cat George was on the couch snoring his head off and pooshka went upto him all concerned and licked him. 
Hopefully once he's neutered he will decide being owned isn't too bad. My garden is meshed over so he would still get outdoors.

Primrose

"I remember at school in the early sixties some know all telling a group of us we should never swallow a pip because a tree would grow inside us . It haunted me but i didn't discuss it until one of my younger sisters came home upset after hearing a similar tale. Looking back now I was at grammar school both parents and grandparents were growers and I spent a lot of time in gardens and on the allotments. Seems so silly now."

I think this theory has been ariund for a while.  I recall at junior school in the late forties a young lad in my class, interested in science, tried to get us all conducting an experiment, saying we should "plant our poo stools with apple or tomato pips in them in a hole in the garden" so that . In due course we would learn whether they would grow.  Needless to say I think he was the only  person who participated.              My grandmother used to chide me for eating apple pips for this reason.  Many people finished their schooling at age 10 or 12 in her era so biology was not widely understood. 

I,m sure apple trees appearing in odd places though are the result of people throwing away their apple cores on country walks whixh demonstrates that one type of littering has a positive pay off!, 

Elisheba

All this talk of apples has given me a notion for one - thankfully I have some in. Plain old Gala from L1dl I'm afraid.

Two houses ago I had 2 lovely apple trees in my back garden, one an eater the other a cooker. Very much miss the convenience. Saying that I'm surrounded by orchards where I live, and one I know of has at least one old tree they don't harvest (probably for stewardship reasons) so I can normally pick some eating apples there when I'm out with the dog. Me and the dog both tend to have a good munch 😂. Checking photos though the harvest is much less than it was last year for some reason.

So many good ideas on this thread. I'm going to be much more alert to picking up free wood for the fire. 

All the discussion around wood and coal made me think of a book I read called The Domestic Revolution by Ruth Goodman. It might even be on a Kindle deal at the moment. Anyway, although a bit dry in parts it was also fascinating. It discussed the change from burning wood to coal in England (mainly England - not much about the rest of the UK), and how it changed literally everything about the way we lived. The layout of our houses, how we decorated, how we dressed, how we washed, how we ate. Absolutely amazing and I had no idea about it all until I read the book.

Reading about how little some people can manage to live on made me take another look at my figures. Certain bills I can't do anything about, or have already got the best deal I could, but I'm going to challenge myself to see how much I can reduce my energy use. I would like to get it down to £30/35 a month on average, and it's about £40/45 at the moment.

I really like the idea of using sleeping bags indoors. After all they are just sitting there doing nothing most of the time. Downstairs my dog might chew them, but they would be a great idea for my spare room/office. Full cover around the legs and ankles sounds just the thing.

And I will probably give Nestle Nido milk powder a chance. I'm not fussy when it comes to milk for tea, only when drinking it straight as it were, so might be fine for me. 

Primrose

Interesting comment about using sleeping bags around the house.
With the way energy bills are soaring I guess some enterprising fashion designer who markets  a modern  "puffer" Winston Churchill World War II padded casual siren suit for wearing indoors in winter wiould probably make a fortune.

keeping  all parts of your body warm in such an outfit when sitting around relaxing would probably help reduce heating bills!

skogar

Primrose - they already exist. I was thinking of getting my nephew the kids version of this for camping  but did think it might be an option for cutting down on the heating bills.

https://www.campingworld.co.uk/en/gb/Summit-Blue-Onesie-Sleeping-Bag/m-31796.aspx?PartnerID=1631&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyMrelsy98wIVIUWRBR2Q6AepEAQYBCABEgKKzPD_BwE

PipneyJane

@Primrose as @Skogar said, they already exist.  You can get them in any ski shop.

- Pip