Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Humdinger1

@foxgloves I was crying with laughter over bun meditations! Reminded me of the time my grandfather cycled to the vets with the cat in a grip (not sure if it's a Midlands term but it's a long handled zippy bag) over the handlebars.   The cat managed to work the zip loose from the inside, and streaked back home.  As the vet said,    how ill could the cat possibly be?!

Humdinger1

And by the way   you are never, ever boring!

Blackcats

Love the rabbit story.  I'm not sure how easy it would be to catch a rabbit and transfer it to a backpack, but if anyone could, foxgloves could!!!   

I was stopped on my walk yesterday by a lady on a very lovely horse, asking for directions.  Well as I have no sense of direction this is usually a problem, but the place she was looking for was about 100 yards away round the next corner.  She said she had been riding around in a circle for an hour and was never further than 100 yards from where she needed to be 🤣.  

foxgloves

Humdinger - Very kind of you to say so, & I loved the cat story. Our cat (now sadly no longer with us) was also pretty good at escapology. We picked him up & had progressed precisely 1.7 miles from the Cat Rescue Shelter when he decided to destroy the front of the cat carrier basket. He managed to bend the metal bars, squeeze out, then jump onto Mr F (who was driving) & we had to pull over & get him back into the basket before we could go any further. I had to hold the carrier basket door shut for 21 miles while angry paws kept shooting out. I think this would have served as useful experience had I found that missing rabbit.
F

foxgloves

Evening Sweet Peas, An oddly oppressive day here. It wasn't particularly hot - unlike tomorrow's forecast - but the air has felt heavy all day, as though it is pressing on my head. I think we need a blimming good thunderstorm. A bit of a disturbed night as we were both woken in the small hours by someone on our road shouting. I sleepily asked Mr F what it was & his answer was 'Some tw*ts'. I concurred with this & luckily was able to go back to sleep but not so the Beloved, who is now feeling zonked after hardly any sleep, a full day's work, followed by doing the grocery shopping on the way home. As for me, I got off to a cracking start, but after that, I honestly don't know where the day has gone. Before 9 am, I'd made dough for rolls & pizza and also a malted grain loaf & left it to prove and set out on my walk. I was confident of getting my 9000 steps today, but Mr F had also challenged me to a re-match following his defeat in our steps challenge earlier this week, so I needed a proper walk to help me turn in a decent total. I went out to pick the beans after that, but had only picked about 5 when my phone rang & I had to sort out our Grimsby fish box order. After that, it was time to skype my sister, & we yakked so long that it was lunchtime when we hung up. Then the humidity had really worked its magic on both lots of bread dough, so I had to get one lot into its tin & the other shaped & pizza'd, Finally got back into the garden again to do the rest of today's pickings. In total today, I picked 1kg french beans, 1.5 kg courgettes, 1 squash, 3.6 kg tomatoes & a bunch of basil. I sat outside top & tailing the beans before blanching & freezing them. The freezers are chocker. It is now going to be major freezer tetris every time we need to put anything else in. I had hoped to make some chutney tomorrow afternoon but I think I'm probably being unrealistic with everything else I need to do. 
Finished a good book today - a scandi-crime by a Swedish author & starting in Sweden but also set in the UK, around Exmoor. It was something a bit different & I am going to see if the author has written any others. 
I'm hoping that tomorrow doesn't disappear quite so quickly as today seems to have done!
Cheers all,
F x

foxgloves

Hello Sunbeams, 
Tonight's post is coming to you from my favourite pondside bench. I'm fresh out of a cold bath (yes, I AM clothed.... don't want to frighten the frogs!) & intending to read a couple of chapters of my book while Mr F cooks dinner.
I make no secret of the fact that I wilt in temperatures over 25 degrees, but I did enjoy being out in the garden at 7.45 this morning, watering the veg. I've also cleaned the whole house...apart from the stairs, which I just didn't fancy doing.... written a list for town tomorrow (intend wearing my mask outdoors too as covid cases here have tripled in a week), wrapped my sister's birthday gifts & cut down a big box for posting them. I've also prepped 2kg tomatoes, peppers, garlic, chillies & spices and raided my jam jar stash ready to make chutney tomorrow. 
NOT money saving - Filled up our bird feeders which were promptly visited by our current squirrel. He's cute really, & I do love to see the wildlife in our garden, but it's the sheer cheek of him. He has bent some of the metal mesh with his teeth so is able to remove some peanuts whole. When he gets one, I swear he looks straight at the kitchen window & waves it at me before slowly & deliberately eating it. It feels as though he is giving me the finger, which he probably is!
Well, being on here isn't buttering any parsnips, is it, so I shall crack on with my book & not think about the list of pre-builder jobs I need to write.
Hope everyone keeping well, 
F x

carrielovesfanta

foxgloves said:

NOT money saving - Filled up our bird feeders which were promptly visited by our current squirrel. He's cute really, & I do love to see the wildlife in our garden, but it's the sheer cheek of him. He has bent some of the metal mesh with his teeth so is able to remove some peanuts whole. When he gets one, I swear he looks straight at the kitchen window & waves it at me before slowly & deliberately eating it. It feels as though he is giving me the finger, which he probably is!

We have 2 squirrels who have DECIMATED our bird feeders. The completely chewed through the wires, including the ones on the "squirrel-proof" feeder. Apparently the little one can get his head through the cage. I bought some "hot nuts" spray which is essentially chilli oil. Apparently the birds can't taste it but the squirrels don't like it. It seems to work fairly well. 

Toni'sfriend

Oh, foxgloves, I had such a boost today. The lad who lives a few doors up and very kindly has taken charge of cutting the communal grass came up to today and was admiring my feeble attempts at gardening. He seems to know what he's talking about. Apparently his Grandparents had a lovely garden. He was telling about what I should plant etc but he said it looked really good and what an asset it was to the area and he hoped other people would follow suit. I am feeling insufferably pleased with myself and spurred on to do something next year with the common ground whether anybody else likes it or not. May be calling on your expertise if you don't mind.

foxgloves

That must have been wonderfully motivating, Toni'sFriend. My Mum used to look after a little communal area in her cul-di-sac. It was locally known as 'the dog grass' because it was disgusting, due to irresponsible owners. Mum thought that if it was smartened up, the grass mowed & a flowerbed created & planted, it might make selfish dog owners think twice about it. It did seem to improve matters, & it did always look pretty. She under-planted the border with Spring bulbs & divided up perennial plants from her own garden to make it look attractive. Dad's job was cutting the lawn. Once some of the neighbours saw what she was doing, they contributed plants too. No cost involved & much nicer to look at than scrappy dog-poo grass & a bare fence.
I'm sure you will enjoy brightening up your communal space. Plenty of good gardening books at the library.
F x

foxgloves

Greetings Money Savers,
I didn't get around to posting yesterday. It was my intention to post, but then I had half a bottle of wine, nearly toppled into a dahlia & frankly didn't think I'd be contributing anything of value!
Busy day in the garden today. I intended to clear a little bed by the bird feeders & to replant it with some of the pink primroses which are such a staple of our garden in Spring & a few other bits & bobs. Well, I didn't get that done. I was walking through the veggie plot on my way to the shed to fetch my kneeler & tools when I noticed that the beans required urgent picking again. About-turned & trotted back for the colander. Did some picking. Had to trot back for another one. Filled that also. Weighed out a container full to go with tomorrow night's meal, then prepped, blanched & froze the rest. Thought I'd better see if anything else needed picking. Yep! Courgettes & tomatoes. Working my way through the greenhouse felt akin to hacking my way through a jungle. Fetched a trug & cut back tomato plants, peppers & chillies. The important thing as August progresses is to get the tropical fruiting veggies swelling, ripe & picked. I don't really want heaps of miniscule little peppers starting now, as they are unlikely all to get to a decent size/ripe before the cooler nights return, so I have taken the opportunity to thin them out. One of the cucumber plants had worked its way along the grapevine & needed showing who's boss, so I did that too. Plenty of baby fruits still setting on that. Paused for lunch - cheese on toast with a sun-ripened tomato!
Then a bit of clearing & weeding in the small bed underneath the pear tree and as it looked so improved, I extended out for another couple of metres in each direction. I'm not intending to do much else today - am heading for my pondside bench with my book in a minute (latest Kathy Reichs novel). Only need to make some jacket wedges for tonight as we saved lots of leftover BBQ from yesterday - was ridiculously excited that the BBQ made some space in the freezer, but I have already filled it with beans. Ah well....... I don't want to moan, as I am grateful to have food with so many people reliant on food banks in the UK, even before the Covid emergency & wish our system could be fairer & more equal for everybody.
Money saving:
Today's harvest - 1.7 kg french beans, 1.4 kg courgettes, 1.8 kg tomatoes & 1 cucumber. 
Eating yummy leftovers.
Not money saving:
Coffee machine packing up yesterday. It defied Mr F's best efforts to google the issue & mend it, & naturally it is out of warranty. We run on caffeine in our house, so have ordered a new one to be collected tomorrow. We will be boxing up useful parts of the old one in case we need spares, especially as it has a glass jug, which can easily be broken.
Hope everyone has had a decent weekend. Our town is unfortunately in the news for the wrong reasons - a Covid spike - so we are very much hoping that the mobile testing unit which is rolling up tomorrow will manage to put a lid on it & that we can all avoid a local lockdown.
Busy week planned here, as we are getting scarily close to the builders arriving. I need to be a Woman of Achievement next week for sure!
F xx