"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

redofromstart

Good girl Fatty, I hope she got extra treats.

greenbee

redofromstart said:

Good girl Fatty, I hope she got extra treats.

She does NOT need extra treats. She got cuddles instead. 

greenbee

Plumber has finished (and been paid, so end of month is a bit tight!). Side won't be back on the bath until September, but cats have cleared the cobwebs out already.

Courgette curry has been made and half of it frozen (along with a lot of other stuff), and some things taken out of the freezer to cook with courgettes and then go back.

Pictures finally went to the framers today - won't be back for a month, but they're closer to being done than they were! 

Garlic and more onions and various other bits acquired.

Gardener is here today and has removed the dead bits of next door's rambling rector from the viburnum, weeded the drive, and is connecting the water butts. Hopefully he'll have time to weed some flowerbeds too before he goes. 

TV licence paid for, and tax bill scheduled for early Sept as the plumber's bill means there isn't enough to pay it this month. Just the car insurance to decide on and pay for. 

Also managed to get the bedding washed and it's on the line. I may shove some more in later too, but need to get my head into some financial analysis for work. I hate numbers... 

greenbee

Flowerbeds didn't get weeded, and I need to order more bits for both the water butts (to link them all together) and the irrigation pump system (order placed, hopefully that's everything). The irrigation system needs some queries raised with the company as the pump itself needs to go under cover and I need to check whether the control unit does too (they're clearly designed for polytunnels/greenhouses, not outside even though they talk about gardens/allotments in the design info).

Car insurance is done, and I found my NCB evidence so of course they didn't need it.

My laundry is done and mostly dry (will put it on the airer as rain is forecast). Dog bedding is washed an on the line (an extra rinse is only a good thing with this!). Dog has had a bath, so there are lots of dog towels to wash over the next week.

Lots of veg has been bunged in the SC with a lump of beef and will hopefully turn into something edible. 

Missed a day of harvesting courgettes and now have marrows...

My mum is due to come and stay next week to recover from an op, so came over yesterday and stayed last night to get all her stuff over here and unpacked and her bedroom/bathroom organised. She took some veg away to last her three days and some courgettes for her neighbours who weirdly aren't inundated with them from other people. At least I know I have an outlet... 

Stinky and I are out this afternoon at a party - the weather isn't looking great, and dogs aren't a great idea at indoor parties, so we may not be there for long.

Hoping to get a bit more gardening done over the weekend. And while my mum is here next week, get the pictures up in two of the bedrooms!

greenbee

Shoved the rusty broad bean plants in the garden waste this morning - mostly so it was full. There seems to be disagreement as to whether they can be composted - I hope I won't regret the loss of the material when I'm desperate for mulch! Roots are still in the beds, one of which needs to be prepped for leeks - not sure about the other, maybe fennel?

Lots of perennial weeds shoved in the weed composting barrel (I'm going to rot them down in water), and lots more borage in the borage barrel (using like comfrey). I need to get back into the habit of doing a bucket/wheelbarrow full daily as my minimum.

Stinky is lovely and shiny and fluffy after his bath. And less stinky than usual. No less bored though, despite lots of walks and playing with other dogs. 

I've managed Pilates for 8 days in a row now - minimum of 15 minutes daily. 

Bath is emptying much better now the overflow is attached... I'm guessing the air being displaced by the water can get out more easily! No more burping shower anyway. 

Haven't done this week's oxygen treatment for the septic tank as I need to do it when I don't plan on any water going down the drains for 4 hours and I've been doing laundry. Last lot is in now, and I've had my shower, so if I can get it done before work meetings start, that might work. 

Also haven't fed toms/cucs/peppers. Or picked any veg since Saturday morning. I still have some giant courgettes that need dealing but need to pick the small ones to avoid a repeat!

Emailed the tree surgeons to cancel hedge cutting and ask them to quote for removing a tree instead. There's a HUGE poplar that's twice the size of any other trees nearby and can probably be seen from space right on the corner of the drive. If it goes it'll take out the phone, electricity (not a problem for me ) and my neighbour's house opposite. And there's a whitebeam and a cut leaf beech growing up underneath it which are both MUCH nicer, and need a chance to grow properly (eventually one of those will have to come out too as they are way too close together). It'll mean a LOT of logs to process, and a huge amount of woodchip, but I intend to keep it all - I'm regretting how much has been taken away previously - as I can share with neighbours and it'll rot down nicely to use as mulch after about 3 months (or by spring if it's done in september) as well as being mixed into compost. 

greenbee

Tree removal is booked. 

My mum had minor surgery on Tuesday and has been here since - she's very uncomfortable (TBH I think she's in a lot of pain, but can't take much in the way of pain relief - we've been back to the hospital once, and while it took her mind of things for a bit they didn't do anything useful). Thankfully we're back to see the consultant tomorrow. It's been very stressful as I can't actually do anything to help and have been working most of the time. Thankfully one of my cousins came over yesterday and the distraction helped. The cats have tried to help, but obviously they're not wildly hygienic, so she doesn't want them on her bed! 

So during the week all I've really done is vaguely keep up with work and feeding/exercising the animals. We did pick up Stinky's venison on the way to the hospital so yesterday I cooked 1.5 BNS in the IP and filled his lick mats with BNS, banana, and yogurt, and froze them. Kongs were filled with chicken/chicken liver mix and plugged with PNB one end and a lump of banana the other and also frozen. I have some stuff in left in the fridge so will keep filling and freezing the washed ones until it's all gone. Lots of kiwis waiting to ripen for lick mats too (petrol station reduced shelf). I also cut up all the venison and put it into containers to freeze. After that I mowed the grass... the garden looks MUCH better as a result. 

Today I've been having a go at the veg plot which turned into a bit of a jungle. I now have one very full compost bin (squash and courgette leaves), a barrel full of borage, and another barrel of weeds/calendula that I want to rot down in water before composting. 

The asparagus bed is looking pretty good, so obviously having all the forget-me-not and calendula in there are ground cover helped. I think I'll add some of the strawberry runners along the edges later this year. 

Blackcurrant and gooseberry cages have been put away, and several VAST courgettes have been picked. It's rained this afternoon, so Stinky has been bored, but hopefully it'll dry out a bit before we have to go for another walk. 

I've also finally got round to cleaning my leather boots, only to discover the soles are coming away. So those need to go off and be resoled. Hopefully it'll solve the leak issue. Walks might be shorter until they are back, as my normal wellies aren't nearly as comfortable!

Soup is in the SC with the contents of the fridge drawer (mostly courgette TBH), and I'll add some chard towards the end. Actually, I should shove some pulses in there before I forget. 

greenbee

Negative electricity pricing last night. Ran the DW and TD, and had a bath, set the hot water to heat up, but failed to set the battery to charge until I woke up (had discharged it, and was going to discharge again), and seem to have failed to set the WM off. So DW is reloaded, WM is ready to go at 9.30 with stinky dog bedding (shorter wash, as I have cushions and cover to do so will take several loads and I want to do a cleaning cycle too). As it's sunny, I may struggle to go over the solar generation, but at least I don't have to think about it.

If I have the energy, I might grate courgette in the food processor and get it frozen. But I need to collect Stinky's worm/flea stuff, take him for a nice long walk, and do some work. Just waiting for my mum to wake up so I can make her some coffee and then go for a walk. 

It's the anniversary of my first solar panel installation - I'm not quite sure how much it's saved me (CBA to set up analytics and import all the data), but they and the new ones have paid me nearly £1k over 12 months in addition to reducing my bills (this year's bill YTD is under £200). Obviously I had to pay for the panels, installation (scaffolding!), battery etc, but I'm happy with the investment - and in particular the ability to start reducing my dependence on my very, very small oil tank. 

rtandon27

@greenbee - Would you mind sharing what the inital outlay was for the installation of the panels?  We have a lovely south faceing roof on the house, the 60's extension, the summer house & the shed - everything faces away from the street so no chance of planning being denied, and are wondering if it worth the investment - wondering how many years we'd need to stay to make it break even iyswim!

badmemory

I had mine at almost the same time as greenbee.  I have a much smaller house & quite high usage - think 30 power showers every day & some lights 24/7.  My house is east/west facing so not the best & is half way up a hill surrounded by other shading houses.  OK in summer but in winter the sun struggles to get high enough in the sky to help.  Having said all that I am well on track to repay within the 8 to 10 years they suggested.  Next winter I am going to find out how to fill my batteries on cheap nighttime power!

I believe greenbee is doing much better.

greenbee

I'll have to check RT, but prices are definitely going down! If you look on the Green & Ethical board you can see that one of the regular posters updates almost every thread with what you should pay for Eurener panels (European rather than Chinese made, so more ethical - not everyone does them) and a Tesla PW3 which seems to be the battery/inverter combo of choice right now (Elon is on my unethical list though!). I have a MyEnergi Libbi system - not the cheapest, but very easy to use. And chinese panels... 

I'm not in a conservation area or listed, so no planning required. But if you have room for lots of panels get them to give you a design and price for the maximum and put the application in to the DNO before you go ahead. I have a 10kW export limit, which not everyone gets successfully... but I live almost next door to an interconnector! 

My payback won't be as good as @badmemory's as I'm a very low user, so I'm exporting up to 60kWh/day in summer... making the most of the export now and I'll add a heated pool/hot tub/sauna if they stop paying (Actually probably a heat pump next - I already have a diverter for the immersion).