Tales from The Shire

rtandon27

Glad to hear you are feeling better Fortune!

Fortune_Smiles

Balance

It's been an intense few weeks.  We've had three sets of visitors in a fortnight!  One camped in our bottom field, one parked a camper van on our drive and one stayed in the house as, by that time, we were all as Covid immune as we could be.  It was lovely to see people but exhausting.  Expensive too as we took the opportunity to go places and eat out - money well spent though as it feels like we've had a series of little holidays.

It also helped to distract us from Mr F's health issues.  He's undergone some tests and the test for our biggest worries came back clear which has been a great relief.  We're still waiting for the results of the other.

I've started the monthly money shuffle and all is well so far.  I'd like to keep a tigher rein on the finances going forward though.  It was nice to splurge a little but, as you know, I strive for balance in all things and don't want to fall into bad habits.  We've had some extra bits and pieces to buy this week for the garden and work around the house.  Our biggest expense was buying new field gates.  However, on delivery, we discovered that two of the gates were made from different wood, were very poor quality and were significantly lower in height than required so they have been sent back.  Apparently the manufacturer couldn't get their usual wood so ordered an alternative and now they have to use up the poorer quality wood before ordering more of the better stuff.  We may have to wait a month or so to re-order.

Mr F (with help from Friendly Farmer and his shiny new post driver) has replaced the gate between the orchard and paddock with a metal one which will last much longer than the original wooden one.  It can't really be seen from the house or drive so practicality is more important than aesthetics for that one.  The second gate is a wooden one to replace the 'country-job', metal, held on with string gate giving access to the orchard.  Unfortunately, one of the missing gates was to replace the one to the veg patch.  The one that Mr F removed and destroyed in anticipation of a new one arriving 🙄  So we have no gate at all for the veg patch at the moment.  Fingers crossed we don't get any escaped sheep wandering up our way.  One of my goals for 2021 was to replace 3 of our rotten gates so at least we're a third of the way there 😆

Our recent indulgences have seen waistlines increase so we're focussing on healthy eating.  Some of the produce in the veg patch is fruiting (finally) so we are able to harvest spinach, lettuce, broad beans, strawberries and raspberries.  It looks as though the marrows and courgettes will be ready soon too.

My aim for the next few weeks is to achieve some balance and to start getting back out into the world (as far as restrictions allow).  We are as protected as we can be and will take every precaution but we can't hide in the house forever.

Hope everyone is safe and well.

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Sorry to hear about Mr F's health issues Fortune. What a worrying time for you all (we have been going through similar here lately so I do sympathise). I hope you get some resolution soon and that it's easily fixable. 

Sorry to hear about your gate woes too! What a palaver. GateGate round 2! Fortunately all ours are metal, and won't be replaced any time soon. We have a long term plan to do something about the metal field gates at the front of our front garden 😂 But that's about number 827 on the priority list right now. 

In the meantime, I hope no wandering sheep get in your veg patch! 😮 I have, rather rashly, left my propped up gates off my veg patch this year - gives the chickens free reign (we were being soppy because one was ill), but we are also hoping for no stray sheep!

savingholmes

Fortunegate.... you heard it hear first... Hope you manage to get them all fixed and that all the tests either come back clear or easily treatable...

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Sorry to hear about Mr F's health issues Fortune. What a worrying time for you all (we have been going through similar here lately so I do sympathise). I hope you get some resolution soon and that it's easily fixable. 

Sorry to hear about your gate woes too! What a palaver. GateGate round 2! Fortunately all ours are metal, and won't be replaced any time soon. We have a long term plan to do something about the metal field gates at the front of our front garden 😂 But that's about number 827 on the priority list right now. 

In the meantime, I hope no wandering sheep get in your veg patch! 😮 I have, rather rashly, left my propped up gates off my veg patch this year - gives the chickens free reign (we were being soppy because one was ill), but we are also hoping for no stray sheep!

Thank you Cheery 😘  And I hope the same for you guys.

GateGate 2 😂  Yes, gates do seem to cause us some trouble. I've come to the conclusion that no job will go to plan, cost what you've budgeted for or take the time you thought.  So I'm going to start with an outline in future then double the figures - that way I'm unlikely to be disappointed 😆

No wandering sheep so far - lots of wandering slugs though 😂

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Fortunegate.... you heard it hear first... Hope you manage to get them all fixed and that all the tests either come back clear or easily treatable...

😂😂😂

Thank you SH.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Fun in the Sun

We had a day out yesterday at Thurstaston Beach.  I drove (part of my 'getting back out in the world' plan) and Mr F slept whilst I was driving 😆  We had coffee and cake at the little cafe, walked the beach to the quay, walked back along the Wirral Circular Trail and had our packed lunch in the Country Park.  It was a lovely trip but very, very warm.  Total cost - £15.60 of the fun budget plus the cost of the fuel.

I cooked dinner for us and Uncle F later - Masala Roast Carrots with Coconut Red Lentils, Pea & New Potato Curry with naan bread.  We opened a bottle of red and I drank a little too much of it 😊 There were some lentils left over to have with naan for lunch today.

Today I'm being super lazy, just watching box sets and painting my nails.  The three of us are going out tonight for supper at a local pub with live music.  We're living it up this weekend! 😁  There hasn't been much room for fun in the Fortunate household recently so I'm making up for lost time.

In other money news - we won on the Premium Bonds!  5 x £25!  I'm going to use the money towards something on the house wants list - a new garage freezer (the old one we bought from a friend is icing up constantly and growing mould 😝) or a smart tv for the bedroom or a steam cleaner - I haven't decided yet.

Hope your weekend's going well

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, I know Thurstaston well, site of many a school raft-building trip (and apparently my nephew was conceived there! 😮😂)

Yay for a premium bonds win!

greent

Whoop to the PB win

Sorry to hear about Mr F's health issues x

savingholmes

Great news on the win. Lovely to get time out seeing places too