Preparing for Winter V

Cheapskate

Sarahspangles said:

MrsCD said:

I booked our flu jabs this morning! Saturday 5th October. They do a production line set up at our surgery where you go in one door, in the queue, say who you are, have your arm ready, get jabbed, and out the door at the other end! It's worked well so far. Hubby suggested they could do blow pipe darts out the window, but they weren't having any of it! 😁

I’m in a role where I could actually propose that! I’ll save it for when a meeting is getting a bit dull….

So am I @Sarahspangles...!

Primrose

Husbans has just bought some out of date long bread rolls for pence in supermarket and made a big batch of garlic croutons to store to eat with our home msde winter soups. 

 He used garlic  powder instead of chopping fiddly garlic cloves whixh worked brilliantly  as the tiny bits of chopped garlic can tend  to Burn in a hot oven.

sammy_kaye18

YorksLass said:

Primrose said:

I suspect we,re wll starting to buckle down for winter thie year with an increased level of anxiety, especially those of us who  are pensioners, live alone or who are disabled. So all hints on anything that will help make life a little easier will hopefully be shared.  Sometimes very simple  things that we haven't thought of can make a useful difference, particularly now heating/energy saving is going to become increasingly important.

We'll not get the winter heating allowance this year as we're not eligible for Pension Credit - not poor but not rich either.  DH feels the cold very easily because of his cancer (he's on end of life care now) so we're thankful for the Attendance Allowance he gets as we can use that to pay for any extra heating he may need. 

I've already dug the sofa throws and winter clothes out of storage and will soon be swapping the curtains over to heavier, lined ones.  And I've had to give in earlier than I would have liked to wearing socks again.  Summer clothes haven't had much of an airing this year at all.

Other than that, I think we're as prepared as we can be for winter but I do need to look out for a camping stove in case of power cuts.  We have gas central heating but electric for cooking.  During last winter's power cuts my next door neighbour who has a gas cooker very kindly boiled water and filled flasks for us so we could at least have a cup of tea and cup soups.  And I need to check the hot water bottles aren't leaking.  I remember the stone pigs from my childhood but so far haven't seen any in the charity shops.

We have a little gas stove from Halfords with spare gas bottles in case of power cuts but I do need to stock up on some things that Id be able to cook easily on them to make a meal though. Its only a single hob so easy meals for 4 might be something I need to look into. 

Sorry to hear about your DH too. My FIL is on end of life care as well with cancer and I worry about how they will do this winter. They have just filled in the Attendance Allowance paperwork and I know Marie Curie have been helping them sort their finances etc. He is on oxygen as well so simple things like lighting candles etc wont help them although his bedroom is now their living room so if it came to it they can be in one room most of the winter.

sammy_kaye18

Sarahspangles said:

Wednesday2000 said:

I checked the heating last night and it does work. It wasn't that cold last night so we only blasted it for an hour to take the chill away. It looks lovely and sunny out today. I am going to look for a "new" winter coat in the charity shops at some point.

I called up my local pharmacy yesterday and the lady said she is expecting the flu vaccines in next week so to call back to book our jabs. I looked at our medicine drawer and the only thing we are slightly short on is ibuprofen so I will buy some in the next few weeks.

The NHS Covid and flu jabs start on Thursday 3rd October which is later than in previous years but designed to give good protection over the main period that we need it. 

Thank you both for the flu jab reminder. 
Our pharmacist got me last year - I had never had one - but we live in a small village where everyone knows everyone and so my pharmacist collared me when I went in to collect a prescription and said because I was T2 diabetic that I was entitled to a free flu jab so I will make sure to see about having one this year with them too. 

Floss

sammy_kaye18 said:

Sarahspangles said:

Wednesday2000 said:

I checked the heating last night and it does work. It wasn't that cold last night so we only blasted it for an hour to take the chill away. It looks lovely and sunny out today. I am going to look for a "new" winter coat in the charity shops at some point.

I called up my local pharmacy yesterday and the lady said she is expecting the flu vaccines in next week so to call back to book our jabs. I looked at our medicine drawer and the only thing we are slightly short on is ibuprofen so I will buy some in the next few weeks.

The NHS Covid and flu jabs start on Thursday 3rd October which is later than in previous years but designed to give good protection over the main period that we need it. 

Thank you both for the flu jab reminder. 
Our pharmacist got me last year - I had never had one - but we live in a small village where everyone knows everyone and so my pharmacist collared me when I went in to collect a prescription and said because I was T2 diabetic that I was entitled to a free flu jab so I will make sure to see about having one this year with them too. 

Sammy, check if your DH can get one too, I used to get them with having asthma (but now work in an NHS hospital so get them at work).

sammy_kaye18

SuzeQStan said:

Primrose said:

Yes weather so unpredictable.  We're having a daily debate about how long we dare risk leaving picking our remaining outdoor tomatoes. Keeping an eye on overnight forecasts for frost - my rolling annual diary reminds me it's Sept 20-22nd ( south East England)

Our tomatoes have been poor this year!  We have had some minor success  with the greenhouse tomatoes but the outdoor ones are green as anything. Pinched out all flowers and removed unnecessary leaves but if something doesn’t happen soon will just leave them on the vine as we usually get a couple that survive and come back in the spring.

Im down in South Wales and its the first time I have successfully grown tomatoes out of the greenhouse but be chuffed if I can get them to ripen. I have cut leaves back to let them get more sun but nothing, then yesterday I was out chopping any leaves, limbs, flowers etc to try and get the rest to ripen....had a few tomato causalities that I brought in and keep being told to put them with a banana (I dont have any!) so not sure how to ripen them up now! Just hoping that the blast of warm air and sunshine we are meant to get next week will bring them on now they have had a drastic cut! 
 

sammy_kaye18

Floss said:

Sammy, check if your DH can get one too, I used to get them with having asthma (but now work in an NHS hospital so get them at work).

Thanks @Floss Im sure he is too but being able and getting him to actually have it are two separate things although now with his dad being ill I think he will be more willing. I know my MIL gets them too as she has thyroid issues. Daughter gets it in school so its only my son who doesnt get it! 

sammy_kaye18

So sorry for all the posts! I didnt check for a few days so Im replying all at once now as I catch up! 

I have my first winter casualty. My DD14 has come down with some cold / flu lurgy thing and is currently sniffling and huffing and puffing her way round the house. Started with a sore throat and sniffles but I suspect its because she decided not to wear a jumper on the way home from ju jitsu practice the other night.
It has however made me think about the winter medicine cupboard and stocking things up for the colder coming months. 

I do think I will get on to stocking up a bit so we don't have to nip out if the weather is bad - things like UHT milk etc.

Also I think I need to start spending a few days next week winterizing a little. 
I know we are expecting 20+ degrees next week so getting any last minute bits washed and dried will be handy, giving the garden a final clean up, moving things into the greenhouse that needs to go in and using bungees to secure that. I usually removed the cover to keep it safe and intact but have chilli plants in there but I may try and move them indoors. 
I have some broken down pallets that I may store away too because we have a burner in the garden that if we get power cuts we can cook on too so the wood will come in handy. 
I really need to start finding out slipper socks etc for us all and get all our oodies washed and freshened up 


 

Matty246

sammy_kaye18 said:

SuzeQStan said:

Primrose said:

Yes weather so unpredictable.  We're having a daily debate about how long we dare risk leaving picking our remaining outdoor tomatoes. Keeping an eye on overnight forecasts for frost - my rolling annual diary reminds me it's Sept 20-22nd ( south East England)

Our tomatoes have been poor this year!  We have had some minor success  with the greenhouse tomatoes but the outdoor ones are green as anything. Pinched out all flowers and removed unnecessary leaves but if something doesn’t happen soon will just leave them on the vine as we usually get a couple that survive and come back in the spring.

Im down in South Wales and its the first time I have successfully grown tomatoes out of the greenhouse but be chuffed if I can get them to ripen. I have cut leaves back to let them get more sun but nothing, then yesterday I was out chopping any leaves, limbs, flowers etc to try and get the rest to ripen....had a few tomato causalities that I brought in and keep being told to put them with a banana (I dont have any!) so not sure how to ripen them up now! Just hoping that the blast of warm air and sunshine we are meant to get next week will bring them on now they have had a drastic cut! 
 

I'm a novice tomato grow but saw a top last year to pick the tomatoes off as soon as you see them starting to change colour. I can't remember if you had to start with a ripe one or with a banana. Anyway it worked, much to my surprise. I haven't grown any this year due to being lazy. 



. 

Sarahspangles

sammy_kaye18 said:

I have my first winter casualty. My DD14 has come down with some cold / flu lurgy thing and is currently sniffling and huffing and puffing her way round the house. Started with a sore throat and sniffles but I suspect its because she decided not to wear a jumper on the way home from ju jitsu practice the other night. 

It’s back to school - this is one reason school children are given flu vaccine, flu spreads really quickly among children in schools and they infect their families.

The banana thing works for tomatoes, we were given some by a neighbour on Monday and I put them in a bowl on top of a banana, by Thursday they were red ripe.