Get a grip woman!

SusieT

I hope pup (and you) are ok, and that the remainder of your holiday was enjoyed without any more emergency spends 

Suffolk_lass

Back from hols and back in the swing of things. My word the house was disgustingly dirty and sticky and the just yuk after DS had been cat sitting for a fortnight. I continue to find pockets of yeurghk (🤮) around the house. Still, it was better than sending our girl to a cattery and I know they enjoyed lots of cuddles together and I need to remember that it is not all about my not very high standards for cleanliness. Stealth Cat is back to normal and purry and contented (and still stealing my water from my glass whenever she can)

I returned from hols to find that one of the Bee books that I had been refunded for that Evri (ex Hermes) had lost, had been found and delivered while we were away. The corner of the package was ripped out and the dust cover and spine of the book were damaged. I rang the sellers (Blackwell's) yesterday and asked if they would be willing to give a discount so my study group friend could buy it at a (damaged goods) discount. It took a while to get across what I was trying to set out but in the end, the call centre lady went off to seek a view and came back to confirm I could keep it and dispose of it as I wish with no cost or inconvenience. So yesterday, while I was in Norfolk, I met up with my study group friend and she now has the book and I have £10 for it. So both of us have paid £10 for a £20 book, but mine is pristine and hers is a little damaged. She can now return the library copy she is going to be fined for over keeping (she cannot renew as someone else has booked it). I would say win, win, win really!

We have an offer from the solar together winning bidder for Suffolk and I think we will accept. We need to talk to them because the interface refused to believe we use the KWH we do and there was no way to overwrite the figure.

Oh yes, and another £3k gone from DH's pension pot we are gradually drawing down

Karmacat

You really are in the thick of it, aren't you!  Well done on the horsetrading for the book, that's gone well.  

trix-a-belle

Well thats a success on the book, i've got a list of things i'm waiting on and ticking them off as they arrive thanks to the postal strikes & couriers who turn up when they fancy rather that the delivery slots, I've still got fabric samples missing from before the sept strike dates.

Yuck to the boy mess left from DS.

I need to mull over my solar offer, I need to work out how much roof area I actually have to be more realistic as I have an intersecting roof coming out from the south side of my main roof so takes out quite a bit of usable space & I totally guessed the pitch.

Watty1

Interesting reading up on solar ...its on my mind for the long term project

trix-a-belle

SL, re the solar together offer, apparently it is cheaper to go direct to suppliers rather than the bidding offer so don't feel pressed into accepting now if you're not certain, by all means take notes of the outline offer & make separate enquiries yourself.
I don't feel like I can fit enough panels (I recon 6-8 absolute max, offer was for 13 which I don't know where they think they would go) on the south facing part of my roof to make it worthwhile, due to the intersecting piece, maybe when the solar tiles are more mainstream it would be more viable on mine.

Suffolk_lass

Gosh I have been quiet! The good news is that despite some barking (dog) and hiding (cat) over the weekend’s flashing and banging, both our animals have settled down. Stealth cat continues to have Cystease in her food for the time-being, and Pup’s Dog’s (His first birthday was yesterday!) cut paw has healed. Just the reluctance to go outside when it is colder or wetter to resolve with him now. He actually went quietly through the night for more than four hours last night too. Did not bark until 05.30 when my radio came on so clearly I needed to be up anyway!

Quite a bit of other stuff:

Re Energy

• Solar, thanks @trix-a-belle, we need to call the winning bidder really but also check how our neighbours got on with their installation from a local company. We have a second roof I could not specify (the double cart-lodge) and also the amount of electricity we use is far in excess of their modelling tool’s maximum limit, so the proposal is limited in its usefulness, cost profile or accuracy.
• We have to cut down a tree which blocks light from the roof and also has started to undermine the kitchen with several cracks we are attributing to root heave. The previous owner put the tree in and it is huge. And very close. Less than 6m from the house and diameter of trunks (2!) is well over a foot.
• Generator - paid for but they are out of stock with no meaningful reference to lead time whether on the website or by phone. I need to check out with PayPal’s Ts&Cs re paying and not receiving and whether there is a dispute deadline. The payment is leaving the building from my CC this week.
• Energy usage was £68.01 last month. Of course the Aga (electric) is off still, after mild October but I really want it on this weekend and I think it will help with the dog sleeping as his bed is up against it. The amount was higher than Sep or August but we did have DS housesitting and he is not one for turning things off. Speaking of which, the bee freezer should be ready to power off after freezing all the frames not in use to kill any damaging wax moth larvae or eggs.

Mentioning the CC - I have moved with many JL CC holders to their new one. It plainly states the DD they have requested is the minimum payment in two places - account summary and in the statement, but I know I requested them to clear the balance in full. It took me around ten minutes to find where this is confirmed. Not impressed.

The decorator is coming this week to price up a number of small, irritating jobs that never reach the top of our list. 

• We are considering a washed out lime wash on some of the beams to lift light and plan to test this in the hallway upstairs, where it is less prominent if we don’t like it. 
• The hallway itself still features some naff stencils that the previous owner used (showing that in 18 years we have not decorated that part of the house!)
• We have pine windowsills which are incongruous and suck light out. The windows themselves are white paint effect plastic frames and the beams and frame are all oak. They need to be white. 
• As do the internal (pine) doors and their frames
• The bathroom needs painting

That leaves us with the downstairs toilet, my kitchen and utility passage, and all the bedrooms. The lounge is OK except for the windows and door… and the floor.

Outside the pig shed is still to do (cost of busy builders and materials...), three felted shed roofs need attention and the new fruit cage needs erecting. I feel almost demotivated by how much there is to do!!

Have a good day everyone. We will be treasuring that we are both healthy and so is our dog (one died in the Village after complications from surgery, and the one we walk has acute dermatitis after a tick went unnoticed and he is in a body-suit so we are not walking him today).

Karmacat

Wow, Suffolk Lass, no wonder you've been quiet, you've been really busy!  Sounds like part of that is catching up on all the decorating you didn't do while you were working - which is what I'm doing too, in my way  

Fascinated by the "bee freezer" - it's all so much more complicated than it looks when rural tv type programmes show bee keeping.  Good luck with it all.

badmemory

Re the tree.  Have you not had a problem with your house insurance.  I was on the phone getting a quote once when they asked if there was a tree within 7 metres, sorry I have to go there is someone at the door, there wasn't.  My various neighbours have had it chopped down twice but neither would pay to have the root taken out.  Of course the bigger the roots the more the surroundings sink as the dead roots rot.  Sometimes you just can't win.

Watty1

I am exhausted reading that list, but equally I love progress when it all gets ticked off.