Preparing for Winter V

[Deleted User]

Time to review all my emergency lighting and cooking this morning. I am getting rid of old torches with normal old inefficient bulbs and I mean they are old.

I bought cree torches from amazon last year for under £2 each. The grandchildren got one each in their christmas present and they liked the torches most of all. I still have a few here but have only put a battery in one, it is a great size for putting into a handbag. I opened one this morning to find that the duracell battery had leaked but the torch is still great with a new battery, no more duracell for me in future as leakage isn`t uncommon with that make. The cree torches are extremely robust and bright

My wind up torches are going to the cs, too much effort for too little light for me, so is the roughneck heavy torch which I am going to replace with a maglite 2D led. I bought maglites in a sale once, fab torches and I have 2 slim ones hanging up in the hall, ready for instant use

I have a safe decorative candle lantern handy and ready, it has 3 pillar candles in it and stands near my fire, looks nice even unlit but the light is so good, I can actually do things by that light. I have loads of candles from http://www.ecclesiacandles.co.uk/ I only use the stearin candles nowadays because they don`t give off nasty fumes, have a nice steady light and last far far longer. I highly recommend ecclesia

I use makita kit in my workshop and have 3 seriously good makita batteries which slot onto tools, the radio and lights. I bought a couple of the lights last year and they are wonderful for actually reading and the radio with aux is fab, it kept us going in a powercut last year. The batteries are expensive but they also power my drill, strimmer etc and hold a lot of charge

So I am ready for an extended power cut, just have to make sure that re chargeables are kept charged

I have a big storage chest outside and it is full of outdoor cooking stuff, including cobb things and bags of charcoal for my ozpig. I also have a ghillie kettle in there, one that can stand on the cobb after cooking. It all works well, I can easily do a baked chicken and baked potatoes followed by hot water for tea

There is a small gaz burner and I have some cans of gaz. I am going to put them at the top and most easily accessible. My indoor lightweight hob kettle will do just as well on the camping stove so instant soup or a hot drink will be easy

Re extreme cold and keeping warm, have a plan ready just in case. In my home it will just be a candle or two in my tiny snug, candle heat will keep it warm as it is very insulated. If you have only a large open plan room, then think small inside the open plan something like a tent, no candles in there but it might be a life saver, just the body heat will help. My house depends on electricity, I have no gas and my stove will not work without electricity, gas ch will not work without electricity.

I couldn`t go out for 6 weeks in 2010, the roads here were that bad, I saw cars spinning on the lane so decided that this older body wasn`t going to risk an accident. So I am preparing for that sort of scenario but am including a prolonged power cut. I am not bothered about freezer stuff as it will be packed, so there will be only a little air. I will fill plastic containers and bottles and when frozen, they will keep the freezer cold for longer. If it all fails and I get ruined food then so be it, I am insured

Hobby stuff is high on the list as it can get very boring

dandy-candy

Excuse me for popping on ladies, but I thought this the place to ask - has anyone heard what weather is expected this winter? I'm not sure where to find (fairly) accurate long term forecasts?

Mojoworking

Going by the headlines for the last couple of years "worse winter in 100 years" still waiting for that! Although still waiting for the summer to come too!! ;-)

nicki_2

NaughtySpot wrote: »

I've had my border collie for 12+ years now and the only special thing he needs when it's really cold is to sleep on my bed all night to keep me warm! :rotfl:

Ours sleeps downstairs so we bought him this bed for his birthday to help reduce the draughts on him. We've put a fleece blanket over it so its cosier and he loves it. When he's not sleeping in that he sleeps on the sofa so I know he'll be okay overnight. His last owner used to let him sleep in her bedroom, but we tried that and he moves around so much it kept me and then my daughter awake (we tried both rooms for a week) we tried the hallway as well, but he kept sneaking up the stairs and into the bedrooms :rotfl:

I'm guessing walking him daily will have to change from 8am to maybe midday when its cold and on bad days we'll just have to stay home and play hunt the treats to wear him out if he doesn't want to sleep like he normally does :rotfl:

fuddle

We have two small torches in the drawer and that is it. A bit shameful actually. When I was caring seeing a torch by the bedside was a frequent occurance. I think I should do the same. Although I have pretty LED flickering candles up there I doubt they would be any use in concerns of nightly stopcock or fuse box visits.

Tealights are plentiful as are small candles. I have two ikea tealight holders that are enclosed and can be carried if needed. I would like pillar candles and didn't realise some candles give off unpleasantries so will educate myself about that.

I think my winter preps could be summed up as modest but I am happy with what we have. Youngest needs wellies and kiddies vests need replacing but winter coats are all still usable.

food is still high on lost and gather I continue to do.

[Deleted User]

The Ikea tea light lanterns need to be kept quite carefully upright if you are going to move them or the liquid wax overwhealms the flame and they go out!!! Ask me how I know???

Pooky

This gloomy, dark and dank bank holiday has made me seriously think about our winter preps.

I've got enough coal in for the winter (and them some) and there's enough wood in various forms to see us through although most of it needs chopping up - I did start but broke my saw blade....replacement has arrived so that's a job for the next few weeks.

I've started with food preps, tins are stacking up and a recent AF order has helped with some very good priced bits. I need to do some decent research into bulk buying the cats food - 6 of them get through a lot each week so trying to have a few weeks in hand needs some strategic placement planning. I've only just taken delivery of a sack of parrot food so that will last until spring.

We live 6 miles from the nearest supermarket and whilst we have a village shop (vastly over priced) if it snows, no ones gets in or out of the village and the shop empties pretty quickly. DH is disabled so his meds are the most vital thing to keep in stock.

DD1 has left home for University life so DD2 has moved into her bigger room leaving the smaller bedroom free - I've reorganised the furniture in order to make the room suitable for putting the clothes airers in during the autumn/winter months, next to a radiator and with the dehumidifier. Should help no end not to have them all standing in the kitchen (a naturally cold room thanks to a flat roof).

I need to have a mooch in the loft for the winter duvets/clothes, they can come down and be aired/washed/ironed etc as I don't feel it will be long before they're needed. Thermal curtain linings are up there too so will dig those out...oh and door curtains. We don't have a door between the kitchen and study or the kitchen and hallway but I use 2 heavy curtains on each pole to keep the chills out.

Sally_A

Sorry to butt in...I'm not a regular on here; however just a heads up that the brushed cotton/flannelette quilt sets are starting to appear on websites....if you wait until October, they are usually sold out.

Cannot recommend these highly enough, a joy to snuggle into on a winters night.

Last year, I just bought the one, it had reindeer/snowflakes on it (Matalan - grey), it was lovely, but I felt a bit silly having a snowflakes on my duvet until May. Have already bought this years addition, which is more of a random grey/red check.

smeeth

Do you have any links I could take a look at please Sally?

FairyPrincessk

Hopefully Sally can reccomend specific places, but just thought I'd mention that they appear in Aldi's advertisement--perhaps for the coming Thursday? Definitely info on their website. They had printed Duvet sets as well as solid sheets. HTH.x