Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Thanks for your kind words, and for your solar panel info edwink! :j it's something we'd definitely consider in the future but not right now (and also we're in a national park so there may be issues with permission)

We're considering a cockerel, but BHWT recommend not within the first month for new rescue chickens as they're just not strong enough. So we'll see. We're getting three new ladies at the weekend by the way, so will have five in total :j

Confused myself last night with all the bank accounts Checked main account - standing order to one of the savers had gone out, then come straight back in again... Main bank had all the right details, saver account doesn't prohibit standing orders going in... Most odd.

Until I realised - of course - (with the help of the nice lady on the phone) that there's a monthly limit, and I'd already transferred the amount for Feb, and should have set the standing order to start in March. Hadn't mattered with the other account as I hadn't added a starting balance, so the first SO was fine.

Hey ho, you live and learn!

Been living and learning a lot this week - went to a friend's house on Monday evening and had a flat tyre when I came out. I know how to change a tyre but never done it when I'm the only one who knows. Bloody car kept rolling backwards down her almost flat drive :eek:

Anyway, I WOULD have figured it out, but it was after 10pm and she reasoned that if we were going to summon help we should do it before it got too late. So a neighbour turned up - and rapidly informed me I didn't have the car in gear

Most annoyed with myself, but it got fixed and I got home safely. Need to go to the garage again now though to get a new tyre, but that's a job for Monday. Yawn.

Karmacat

edwink wrote: »

Cheery, I hope you don't mind that I have included some info on solar panels on here.

Karmacat

Solar panels are a little complicated to explain fully on here .....


There are quite a number of threads running on MSE on the Green and Ethical Board. Lots of mse'ers asking all sorts of questions which should be of help to you if you have a read of some of those, as quite a number of solar panel owners like us have had them installed for a while now. HTH

Sorry, Edwink! I'd need to do it privately, not on the tariff - I've tried 3 times to get installers to quote me, and they won't even come out - they see my house's orientation (east-west) and just refuse. I've explained my roof is triangular, with a socking great amount of southwards facing tiles, with no obstructions, and they don't care. But this lunchtime I'll definitely be exploring the Green and Ethical Board on here, I should've done that ages ago.

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Been living and learning a lot this week - went to a friend's house on Monday evening and had a flat tyre when I came out. I know how to change a tyre but never done it when I'm the only one who knows. Bloody car kept rolling backwards down her almost flat drive :eek:

Anyway, I WOULD have figured it out, but it was after 10pm and she reasoned that if we were going to summon help we should do it before it got too late. So a neighbour turned up - and rapidly informed me I didn't have the car in gear

Most annoyed with myself, but it got fixed and I got home safely. Need to go to the garage again now though to get a new tyre, but that's a job for Monday. Yawn.

Ouch! It's the kind of thing you can only learn by doing, I should think - but good for you for knowing how to change it, in any case, thats a *huge* step in the right direction.

Cheery_Daff

Well what a gloriously sunshiney day! :j :j :j

I have had the most spiffing day - lugged my little garden table and chair into the greenhouse and have declared it an Outdoor Office :rotfl: It's ace - toasty warm (I took BOTH cardigans off and put my hot water bottle down for the first time in months), much warmer than the house, a lovely view, I can see both chickens and Mr Cheery fixing the chicken run, and the breeze can't get at me and ruffle my paperwork

I'm also not sitting in the kitchen so it's reduced my impromptu unnecessary snacking :rotfl: :rotfl:

Definitely doing that again Wifi reaches out here too :j Not had any walkers come past today to laugh at me but it's only a matter of time I suspect :rotfl: :rotfl:

Only spending today was a quick trip to the cafe - £6.65 for a drink for both of us and a toasted teacake for Mr Cheery. Next time we'll get a free drink with our loyalty card :money:

I took my laptop today, normally I just take something to read but had a particular thing I didn't need wifi for today (although it turns out they have wifi anyway in that cafe). Mr Cheery wanted to nip to the supermarket, but that would have meant an extra half hour of faffing - so he left me finishing my tea and working in the cafe while he popped out then came back to collect me. A most satisfactory arrangement :T

Sun is going down behind the hill now so I'm going to get everything out of the greenhouse and back into the real house, and get the chickens back in with some snacks.

Mr Cheery is making good progress on the run - half of the roof is on now and most of the rest will likely be done in the next hour or so :j I'm going to carry on working for an extra couple of hours tonight (inside) and then give him a hand tomorrow to get the last of the mesh on, and then the ladies can FINALLY come back out here :j :j :j

They should have most of tomorrow to get used to pottering round (it's still the same run, just with much finer mesh and a roof - and Mr Cheery has also put a kind of sun lounge area at one end by attaching windows to stop the wind but so the sun can come in :rotfl: they do like to sunbathe and this will give them a wind-free area to do that when they're shut in the run when we're not here :j All good (although rather elaborate).

So it looks like I MIGHT just have my study back by the end of tomorrow :j Will have to spend all day Saturday removing bedding and spilled corn and scrubbing bits of dried up chicken poo off the floor mind you :eek: :eek: We were very fastidious for the first few days but when it became apparent that it might just be a full time job we've been scooping up the actual poo itself but ignoring where they've trodden it into the floor

Gosh we are SO disgusting :rotfl: :rotfl: No impromptu visitors until after the weekend please! :eek: :rotfl:

Right, best start carting stuff back to the house...

Cheery_Daff

Well yesterday was a bit more spendy - we were going to go out for tea but ended up just going to the supermarket instead and spent £50 :eek: but now we're well stocked up on fruit, veg, staples (including some for the storecupboard) and, er, booze :rotfl:

Also filled the big car up with diesel so that was another £50 :eek:

Didn't buy anything else though.

Today I haven't spent anything :j although Mr Cheery did spend £28 on more mesh for the chicken run :eel: I daren't add up what we've spent on those birds in total :eek: :eek: it probably works out that we've paid out about £18 an egg I reckon :eek:

Still, the run is now entirely enclosed in quarter inch mesh and I am delighted to say the ladies are sleeping in it tonight for the first time since the stoat attack on 4th Feb :eek: :j

Not started the process of reclaiming my study yet, far too exhausted tonight so bath and early night for me I think

Tomorrow I'm off to collect the new ladies in the afternoon :j so that's £15 donation for them (which I've already paid) plus diesel (round trip of 2.5 hours). Plus I've arranged to meet an old friend from my university days (20 years ago!! :eek: ) who lives close to there for a cuppa beforehand :j

But I made curry for tea tonight & have some leftover so I'll eat it before we meet in the cafe at 1pm :money:

Anyway, nowt much financial else to report. Up to about £7 I think on Prolific, trying to remember to log in each day. There have been a couple of longer surveys for half an hour or so paying about £3 and I've been tempted... But have to remind myself that its usually the middle of the working day when I log in and work are paying me considerably more than £6 an hour so I try to stick to ones that are under 10 mins. Still adds up :money:

Right - bath!

gallygirl

Happy New Chicken Day :dance:.

themadvix

Hope the new girls are settling in okay!

Cheery_Daff

Thanks gallygirl :j

New ladies are home safely :j missing a few feathers, and the volunteers had to clip all their nails as they were so long they were almost bent back on themselves :eek:

But they've had food and water and a little dust bath :j they've been in cages all their lives so it's amazing they even know to do it, but it's lovely to see, especially as they'd only been here five minutes :j

Mildred and Maud aren't quite so impressed... :eek: lots of vocal posturing, particularly from Maud who is clearly putting in a bid to be in charge. Those two have gone to bed now - I've got to put the other three in with them so just waiting til it goes pretty much properly dark so they'll all go into a stupor and not fight :eek: :eek:

Karmacat

Oh Cheery! How lovely that they had a dust bath straight away Hope it all goes really well.

gallygirl

Karmacat wrote: »

Oh Cheery! How lovely that they had a dust bath straight away Hope it all goes really well.

Seconded

Names please!

edwink

Well done Cheery, you are a natural with them :j

More often than not their nails are really long. First years of their lives in cages so they can't scratch about and keep of length of them down. Glad that they clipped them before you took them home as its not that easy to do until they learn to trust you and you can handle them safely.

You are so good with your hens you really are. As a hen keeper myself for many years your really do make me smile. I know of course the condition some of these poor ex-battery hens are in when they go to their new homes. Its just so rewarding watching them be proper hens and thrive as they should.

And dust bathing so soon, how wonderful is that?:j Bet that brought a tear to your eye because just reading what you wrote did that to me

Bless you Cheery you are doing great.

Edwink