Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Thank you ladies!

Just remembered our Wickes order was due Thursday and didn't arrive - I assumed because of the snow but it's still not here. Clicked the tracker in the email. and it says it's been delivered! Clicked the tracker in the text, and it says 'your delivery has been booked for your chosen redelivery date' but doesn't say what that is I've filled in the contact form... Considering I paid £8 for delivery I do expect, you know, a delivery! 

Cheery_Daff

(Actually it was only £3 delivery in the but, even so...)

Karmacat

What a lot has happened/ you've done today!  Challenging the Wickes non-delivery is the icing on the cake - a relaxed morning, the premium bond work, other admin and then all the kitchen ceiling stuff!  Thanks for posting the pic!  Does it really need separate pieces of plasterboard for each oblong bit?  Nightmare ... but you're coping magnificently!

Greying_Pilgrim

Oh Cheery - I hope your W1ckes delivery does turn up.  I remember ordering a ladder from them 2 or 3 years ago.  I had to stay in all day with LG (who was BG at the time) as the delivery slot wasn't timed.   All I'll say is that we - to this day - don't own a ladder, from W1ckes nor anywhere else, and apparently the delivery driver was sacked for doctoring delivery details,,,,,,, (the third party delivery firm told me that - W1ckes were very quiet on the whole affair.....). 🤨

Greying X

Viking_mfw

Well done on the kitchen ceiling. That looks like a difficult job. 

Cheery_Daff

Well we could just put giant plasterboard over the joists themselves KC for a completely flat (and normal ) ceiling, but we wanted a bit of a cottagey feel with the beams visible. Can't have MUCH of the beams visible mind you, because of building regs etc, but I'm hoping it will be worth all the faff! 

Thanks Viking   it is difficult, but mostly of our own making...

Gosh Greying, what a fiasco with your ladders!! I'm hoping ours will be a simple fix (who'd bother stealing a staple gun??) but who knows?? 

Well today is cheerful a leisurely morning of pancakes for breakfast, knitting, and watching homesteading videos - fast becoming my favourite weekend morning activities. I finally made my home made calendula oil into salve - sadly some had gone off and had to be thrown away, but the second batch was fine - I've literally just mixed it with some beeswax I had lying around. I suspect it could have done with less beeswax as it's a bit hard... but it's all nicely in little pots now so I might post a few out to people - I'll probably use up one pot but not seven! 

Sat with the chickens for a while, then I've been planning what's going where in the garden this year. I had a vague plan, then ordered a load of seeds, so needed to be specific about which varieties so I don't get confused later. Really want to put a big effort into growing a good veg garden this year.

Me and Mr Cheery are off for a walk in a minute, and then I want to get some more insulation done. Oh, and I really must hang the washing up that I did yesterday! 

Oh, and I'll check the post office website again and close my account to transfer everything into the current account, ready for premium bonds once the address is sorted out. 

Once this insulation is finished I'll order some more, and get on with the plasterboard. Next DIY job is replacing one of the kitchen windows which is so blown you can barely see out of it, and is also much smaller than the actual hole, with a kind of rubble infill. We want it opening to original size - and we may as well replace the final window in there which is also on it's way out - otherwise we'll have three new ones and one ancient one... More expense and faff, but worth it to be able to look out into the garden properly!

Karmacat

Gotcha on the plasterboarding of the ceiling, Cheery - it's an effect you want, so 'nuff said.  
Can I ask which homesteaders you watch online?  I confess, the only time I go to youtube is to watch Simon the Cat, and there's more out there!

Cheery_Daff

I've been watching Homesteading Family - they're in Idaho and have nine kids (!) so a life quite unlike mine But I love all their garden tours, and little videos about how to do various things, and once I got to know them a bit more I've enjoyed watching their 'pantry chats' too, where they basically sit and talk to each other for half an hour about their next plans for the garden etc It's gentle and cheerful and makes me want to pop round for a cuppa

There are a couple more I've been dabbling with which were recommended in the same blog post but I can't remember names... will come back with the blog post which has links in...

Cheery_Daff

Here you are - if you scroll right to the end of this epic blog post there are a list of youtube channels

https://www.northridgefarm.org/2020/05/even-though-it-is-a-good-idea-to-prioritize-growing-food-this-year-it-does-not-mean-were-all-going-to-have-the-best-garde.html

(Can't embed links on the phone!) I've watched a couple of little Mountain Ranch and Living Traditions, but not got into them as much as the first ones yet.

Happy diving!!

Cheery_Daff

So. Final tally of the day. We walked for an hour as the light faded, which was nice but freezing, then put the chickens to bed and sprinkled ground sanitiser in the run - not something I'd usually do, but there's a risk of parasite build up with them being stuck on the same patch of ground for so long without a break, and this is recommended by various places and is a DEFRA approved one for use in bird flu situations. Can't be too careful

Forgot to check post office website, can't be bothered finding login now.

Filled another three gaps with insulation, and remembered there are a couple more panels in the shed, so I should be able to finish a decent bit of the kitchen area over the next couple of days. 

We attached elastic to the safety glasses as they were too big for me so I stopped wearing them, then got lots of bits of insulation falling into my face resorted to swimming goggles but they just kept steaming up and were so fuzzy I had to keep taking on and off and it was getting ridiculous

Also had a surprise bath, as Mr Cheery ran one for himself then decided I was a more worthy recipient (being covered in insulation and filth )

Now it seems there's a mouse having a right old adventure somewhere in the temporary kitchen blithering things. Can't complain, not had one for a few weeks! Not fancying a trip up to the mouse layby tonight now I'm in my dressing gown

Things to remember tomorrow...

* Dad's birthday!! Order cakes, and also give him a ring
* blood test in afternoon
* Wickes parcel should be arriving- they replied to my email today
* want to measure the kitchen windows to see if I can get a quote without anyone coming out
* also going to measure windows in offshot - it was the last bit of the house built and for some baffling reason only has single glazing. There are three windows, only one opens (and we never open it), and I was thinking we'd need to replace but there are all kinds of secondary glazing to investigate...