Cheery's country living adventure

bubblycrazy

I love how you just give anything a go   
Fingers crossed the plumber is reliable and can do the job.

Karmacat

Good luck with the plumber.  The sheep already sounds like a complete win, even if it isn't the perfect shape, if a door has stopped rattling in a draught, thats a big deal!  The plastic balloon thing I have let's draughts happen at the corners, of course, whereas if I got a sheep there'd be slow seepage, I guess.

Another issue on draughts - I have modern keyholes on my upvc doors, so they're less than 2mm wide, and the draught that comes through is **ridiculous**!   I'm seriously considering finding a way to make a cover.  Since my doorbell is literally stuck on with blu tak, I guess I have the answer there 

rtandon27

Karmacat said:

...Another issue on draughts - I have modern keyholes on my upvc doors, so they're less than 2mm wide, and the draught that comes through is **ridiculous**!   I'm seriously considering finding a way to make a cover.  Since my doorbell is literally stuck on with blu tak, I guess I have the answer there 

Have you seen these KC - they go on the inside keyhole & have a sticky back - they are amazing for stopping the whistle through the keyhole, so I'm guessing the cold as well?

Viking_mfw

Just found Chimney Sheep through looking for something else completely and they have such wonderful things! I clicked through the link thinking "why does this sound familiar...." I will say I am disappointed in the actual form of a chimney sheep. In my head they looked very much more like a sheep!!

Cheery_Daff

Yes I think I expected something more sheep like! Although I might have felt mean shoving it up the chimney if it looked like a sheep, so... 😂

Trying to work up to getting out of bed... at least the sun is shining! Still snow on the ground though, and still freezing. A day of DIY and loafing I think . Gosh I love a three day weekend 😍

Karmacat

Just lost a post - my back and forth buttons are a bit fragile.  

RT, that looks great - even though the keyhole I'm moaning about is a tiny modern barrel lock, it's fierce in terms of draught.

Cheery - yeah, shoving a sheepalike up a chimney could feel a bit bad    Enjoy your weekend, though, and stay nice and warm  

greent

Whoop! I've finally done it! - I've caught up on Cheery's diary!!! (need that jumping emoji!) - have spent much of the past few days week and a bit reading from the start - I had read the first half dozen pages before (commented on maybe page 3 or 4) and then clearly didn't subscribe - and I don't go looking for threads now, just read those I subscribe too, so missed it - and it's taken ages to catch up, because (let's face it!) you lot chat loads in here!   Anyway, I've caught up and am subscribed - so I can now follow along in 'real time'  

Cheery_Daff

Good grief greent, that's a lot of waffle you've read! 😮😂😂 Any insights having read the whole thing in fairly quick succession??

Gosh it's been quite a day here 😮 The heating conked out earlier and was flashing all kinds of error codes - turns out there was an icicle hanging from the condensate (?) pipe 🙄 Defrosted that, but it still didn't work. Spoke to a heating geezer, who said it was probably still frozen somewhere (even though a load of water had gushed out when I unblocked it) - ended up sitting with a hairdryer on the pipe for about 20 minutes and finally it seems to be ok (I've asked him to come and quote for our other heating jobs too so a bit of multi tasking there).

Meanwhile the power has been flickering on and off all day, and finally disappeared altogether about half 2 🙄 Didn't help with the boiler, which has a temperamental relationship with the thermostat at the best of times 🙄 Still, the power company were on the case and even rang me to check my power was back on and explain what had happened so all good. 

Meanwhile the wind is howling, and the rain has started, and I've been trying to get more plasterboard up in between bouts of darkness and freezingness and phone calls 🙄 So not quite as much done as I'd like but getting there! Got four pieces left before I've done one half of the room (which used to be two rooms, so there's an obvious split). Leaving a few spaces to add extra wall screws (which we may not get round to - it's certainly not my idea...) but getting there. I've mostly been filling the gaps round the edges of the boards as I go along, so after I've done today's, that side of the room should be ready to paint! (The ceiling, not the walls 😂 )

Gosh, what a palaver this all is! But it does certainly feel like it's moving faster now... We'll see.

We MAY  attempt a takeaway tonight, although I'm not convinced they'll deliver out here in the wilds.  There are only 2 places on JustEat, one of which mostly does burgers, and the other has DREADFUL reviews. Someone suggested Deliveroo but apparently they're not in our area yet (aren't they all bikes?? I couldn't in all conscience make someone cycle out here right now just to bring our dinner, and it would likely be freezing by the time it got here anyway!) Our favourite restaurant shut down last year, and we've not found another one, although there's a fairly new one we've not tried yet. Can't order online though, so I'd have to ring up, and I suspect they to would think we were too far. Will see, but not til I've finished the rest of this plasterboard!

greent

Insights... hmm.... chickens cost more than you'd first think, you have great views and you possibly drink more tea than I do (which is a lot!)

Cheery_Daff

Ha, that about sums it up greent! 😂😂

We did end up with a takeaway last night! Although we went to collect it - it was actually nice to get out of the house for a bit. Spent £9.80 - we just shared one meal between us and there's still a tiny bit for lunch. What a novelty! 

Got up this morning to water dripping through the kitchen ceiling 🙄 For goodness sake. I swear my next house will be a feckin new build 🙄😂 Fortunately it's only the upstairs radiator dripping - not ideal, but could have been a lot harder to fix, and at least it was coming through a bit of the ceiling that I haven't yet put plasterboard on! 

So. Today. Money Monday, so I'll do banks and shuffling later. Need to download and print the house insurance docs, and I've had a letter from the old pension company confirming they now know I left my old job (which I left 5 years ago) and giving me a new account number, so I need to try to log in online.

They sent a statement - I only paid into it for 5 years, some of that not full time, so current estimation is that I'll get £2k lump sum and just over £2k a year. Not massive, but will keep me in tea and scones at least!

Delighted that the sun has come out, the mist has lifted, the central heating is working, and I don't have any more work meetings for the rest of the day 😊 got some jolly music on in the background and a nice cup of tea. Grateful for small things today 😊