Awful weather - typical Brits talk

greenbee

Thanks YBE.

He's OK in a harness so far, but I'll look for a better collar. Previously I've trained without a collar and lead first and then once they're walking to heel/have decent recall (to a whistle ... I don't want people to know it's my dog that has run off and is being yelled at!), teach them to walk on a lead. He's just weaving around at the moment rather than next to my knee looking up at me. 

He's on 3 meals a day, and I need to check again as I think he's being underfed. The info from the breeder was confusing (possibly out of date given that others went at 10 weeks). Oddly he's not that fussed about treats for training. He's more interested in praise and attention. Possibly because most of his day is boring because I'm working.

No photos until I can find one that won't be identifiable   But he is lovely (and is currently wriggling around on an old duvet in his pen, upside down with his tummy in the air and playing with either the kong that he had the last of his lunch in (I keep a handful of kibble aside, seal it in a kong with PNB and it keeps him occupied for another 10-15 minutes) or one of the other toys he's been given.

We've just been out and he's had a wee, so I think I should be OK for the next couple of meetings. Cats get fed first, then the dog. I eat completely separately and NONE of them get my food. They just stare at me while I eat.

pink_poppy

Looks like you had a beautiful day for walking, YBE. I don't understand The Smiths reference?? Are you fed up about something?? Hopefully not the neighbours again.

I would love a puppy to keep me warm, twopenny, although the pussycat isn't bad for that either    The electric blanket on the bed (just new this week) didn't really work to keep me warm all over - my bum was warm, but the rest of me was freezing    

DH and I go round in circles with regards to heat pumps or updated storage heaters. The ASHPs are mega expensive compared to the SHs (I think there are 0% loans available here for the HPs, but I don't really want at least £10k of debt), but the SHs don't address all of the problems. I think we need to sit down and really talk it through before venturing into the energy board (thanks greenbee). I know a couple of neighbours have opted for new storage heaters rather than ASHP, so I'll maybe have a chat with them as well.

I've been for a 3.5 mile walk, chopped some heat logs, brought them and other logs and peat into the house, cleaned the cat's trays, emptied the bins and set the fire, all to keep moving and hopefully warm up. That didn't work, so I ended up lighting the fire at 3pm and I'm finally warm. The kitchen is like an icebox though (only a tiny panel heater and a towel rail in there, neither of which give out any heat), so DH has kindly offered to make dinner, even though he's been at work all day. I'm thinking of ordering a freestanding plug in oil heater as a temporary measure for in there, just to make it bearable until we decide what to do.

twopenny

For a start awwwww to the puppy info I would love to have a dog again but where I am it will have to be smallish. All my pets have just 'turned up' from being dumped so I'm waiting ..............

"Don't let him sleep in your bed. Never let him through a door before you. For jumping up - just raise your knee when you see he's about to do it, and when he's back on all fours praise him" I learned all this the hard way. But it worked. Well apart from my collie spaniel (ie full of hair) seeing me on the other side of a window I was painting and jumping through. Leaving hair in the paint and a dog cleaning job.

The second terrierxwho knows what I found that the going through the door first was a game changer. Ditto, even a nibble from me before feeding them also got the message across. Good to know that I did that right Bluey.

Coud have done with your when my colliexspaniel was doing training exams. He could do it all perfectly until he sat and stayed then saw the judge and jumped into her arms. Permenant entertainment that dog was

I hear the weather in Dustys area is a whole different environment to here. We are still snow free apart from the hills. Gone down to 2c now so a cold one. Still only a couple of stars, fingers crossed that the cloud will keep us frost free and not be ready to dump more cold.

No way am I going out there to garden. Temperatures starting to rise tomorrow so they say.

Once the gas man has been I intend to snuggle down and watch gardening programmes or read about it and just relax at last.

-taff

Well good morning from a frosty and blummin well nippy as a small angry ferret moring. Woke up last night actually cold in bed, so the flannelette is in the washing machine [ didn't find it till last night, it had been Put Away for the summer] The fire was lit at half five [ , OH taken to work at half six, Mcdonalds consumed [ I don't care, there are no greasy spoons open at this time in the morning] and about to have tea...Not bad so far...

ooo, a puppy! I know nothing about puppies, I only had a GSD [ rescue] who was a law unto herself so in case of future puppy happenings I am reading with interest instructions. Good god ybe, are you still in autumn! [green eyed smoji's incoming] I'd be miserable about Morrisey too...

See how I missed out all the pics and went straight to puppy....

Those chillies look almost fake they're so perfect. Damn them big places with lots of gardeners and the money for heating. I'm attempting to overwinter Aleppos this year for the first time. I see your path to your hickens and thought...is that tree just slightly in the wrong place of the path of desire or zero patience ?

Thanks for the pomander instructions, I may even give that a go, ,there's a small holly tree outside that needs cutting down [ it was in between us and the garage next door but ours is now gone and it's growing out of his foundations.

pp, definitel crab apples. I make jelly from them most years, spicy christmas jelly is nice, basically christmas spices with chilli beautiful fern!

Can't help with the heat pump stuff but PP, can you blow any of the air from your fire into the kitchen with a little fan on top?

Your snowy garden Farway, gives the  look of a place built fro workers with big houses and large gardens and envious posters [ like me!]

Fingers crossed for heating men turning up soon!

wort

I went to a light show last night, unusual flowers which you can stand under and hear the bees .

wort

The tree changed colours as you watched which made it look like the leaves were moving .

YoungBlueEyes

As you trained without a collar and lead first gb, my post is egg-sucking territory but I'll leave it up anyway. It's good info (that I used to charge plenty for) and you never know who's lurking that could make use of it. Anyway what makes you think he's underfed? I'd put another meal into his day but make all the meals a bit smaller so he gets more food overall itms? But if he's not fussed about treats he's probably not underfed... Wiggling about on his back made my heart smile  

It was a beautiful day yesterday pp, Handsome's pic looks mild and warm but the whole thing was frozen solid. We had the field to ourselves cos it was that cold, it was heaven. I've used an oil heater thing before and I'd recommend them. If your room is small/ish it'll heat the place up a treat. I got mine from Lidl years ago but you see them everywhere now.

Your painted dog and jumping dog stories made me actually laugh 2p Been there with the paint one but mine was a bum sat against the skirting boards I was painting, it took an absolute age to wear off! I love your dog pic, he looks so contented Did the gas man cometh btw?

Bluddy frosty and cold here too taff, feels like is -8 No judgment from me about the mcdonalds - they do quite good coffee Re being cold in bed, have you got a spare duvet that could go under your bottom sheet? Even a thin summer one makes a world of difference apparently.

The Smiths link was for the line "I was looking for a job and then I found a job, and heaven knows I'm miserable now." The boss woman rang me yesterday to talk about hours n procedure n stuff and I start next week But decent blue swifts don't buy themselves so needs must  

OT cold. Ever so. Thick frost and a bit icy out there but the dawn was a bit of something. Warming up overnight with the rain coming in - it'll be warmer at midnight here than it was been for days! Queer is that.

Dustyevsky

I won't comment much on dogs for personal reasons. Mrs Dusty came with a dog, so I had to have another. Everyone said “Oh, what a lovely obedient dog!” and she was, but all the time I was thinking, “Yeah, but....”

It strikes me I'd be miserable with a big sprig of eucalyptus stuck up my fundamentals, but I'm probably missing something there. Indeed, I only found out about 5 years ago that I missed the 80s and 90s altogether. Perhaps Morrisey was keeping it safe to make a pomander later? I hope so.

-taff said:

 I see your path to your chickens and thought...is that tree just slightly in the wrong place of the path of desire or zero patience ?

Nah, it's possible to go either side, but I'm somewhat superstitious. As the most expensive tree in the garden, that walnut needs a good spot in the sun....and close to an outside tap!

twopenny said:

"Don't let him sleep in your bed.

I hear the weather in Dustys area is a whole different environment to here.

We don't allow the cats to go beyond the living room, let alone into a bedroom. And if we can do it with cats.....

Yes, ours weather and yours is often dissimilar. I'm not sure which I'd have if there was a choice. I'd probably opt for yours, but I'm not going to get that at 500' and almost as far from the sea as it's possible to be in this county. We're not in a valley, though, and that's more of a blessing than I realised. Even our wee valley here, a few hundred feet above the proper big river valley, is colder than we are at the house. Also, when the SW winds come barrelling up that little valley, it's not as sheltered as one might think. Microclimate's a fascinating subject.

Crunchy this morning after -2 last night, but a thaw shifted much snow yesterday afternoon.

This was earlier. The nerines (pink splodges) have had it!

Tropical tomorrow at 15c and gale force winds. Never a dull moment! I shall be hunter-gatherer today. No chance I'll want to seek vittals over the weekend!

wort

The sky in the west had pink clouds this morning, didn’t get a pic though. Still desperately cold, I fathered the mitchellin man last night to go out. My living room aka the warmest room was 12 this morning. The kitchen much much less, so the heating on for a bit.

Dusty are those size 9 s that have plodded over the grass ? I had chillies that I overwintered in the house for a few years, they did really well always had tons of chili on them, dgson as a toddler used to pick them and eat them 😱 and they were hot 🥵 maybe that’s why he loves hot curries etc now.
YBE that walk with handsome is a cracker, still looking very autumnal. Didn’t know you used to do dog training, was that as a side line or your main job. I can feel it was a job you’d love.
2p lovely collie, had a couple of those in the family, 1 of those was as daft as a brush.

Bright morning very cold 🥶,need to pop out this morning shortly so time for another cuppa.

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

The Smiths link was for the line "I was looking for a job and then I found a job, and heaven knows I'm miserable now." The boss woman rang me yesterday to talk about hours n procedure n stuff and I start next week But decent blue swifts don't buy themselves so needs must

Refreshed, and found your news, Bluey!   You might be glad, come the New Year, and all the redundancies in the pipeline. Can't think why that's happening! We've been hit here already, but I'll say no more publicly. Obs not me though!

Wow! Nearly missed your light show, wort. I guess there's many of them nowadays, and it shows how much people value the brightness. Not sure how it sits with the RHS eco-agenda, mind. Not only the sheer wattage now being used, but also the disruption for the animals that have Rosemoor as their home.

They're not size 9s, wort. I'm only a tiddler! They're actually 5s, officially, but more like a big six in wellies. In shoes I'm a 7. Sizes are weird.

Son-in-law is trying to overwinter his chillies. He has ones like Dorset Naga, Carolina Reaper and Bhut Jolokia...i.e. very hot ones! I wish he'd grow something moderate, like Bishop's Hat.