Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Morning MSE chums. 

Not much to report today, bit of a nondescript day so far. Checked banks and YNAB though, all in reasonable order. Mr Cheery's pension comes in tomorrow, so there will be a bit of shuffling to be done. 

I'd thought I was going to have to pilfer from another fund for the vets this afternoon, but I see I've already put £200 in the vets pot at some point. It'll probably be a bit more than that, so I'll top up tomorrow from the pension money before I start allocating to next month. 

Prolific sitting at £2.97 - there's another £3 odd waiting to clear though, so I'll claim that when it does. QMee is annoyingly STILL sitting at £4.77 - just don't seem to be able to edge it over £5 to withdraw it. Will keep trying! 

Then of course Agent Million will be ringing early next week, so that will involve an awful lot of pot-filling

Minus £5 ish on the Happy Wheel this morning, now standing at £265 for July. There's still time, but my hopes for getting over £300 for the month are receding into the distance!

Right, off to see if I can tick a couple of things off the list.. 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, QMee success! 3 failed surveys and finally an accepted one, and I've cashed out £5.27 which has gone straight to the car replacement fund. Woo hoo! 

Fingers crossed for Prolific - I did a study which involved having to make investment decisions ever Monday for 10 weeks - we've all been put into a draw and apparently 100 of us will win whatever our investment made in those 10 weeks (in my case £17 odd). We started with a notional £50 and I just let the robot investor choose the lowest risk option 🙄 Hoping i at least get that, can't even remember if there was a standard payout just for taking part.

Cheery_Daff

OK, progress! 

* washing done and hung on the line
* dishes washed
* fruit sorted and put in the freezer
* chickens give a treat and chicken house cleaned out
* Little thing ordered for Mr Cheery's dad
* ordered foot pump for us for the second car

Mr Cheery's just sorting the travelling cage while I have some lunch, then we'll attempt to catch Bonny 🙄 which given how wary she was of us when we just went in will NOT be fun for anyone... 🙄

Vet is going to have to give us liquid antibiotics that we can put on a bit of cake as there is NO WAY we'll be catching her twice a day to give tablets 🙄

Cheery_Daff

Well, we survived the vets trip, although the vet did describe Bonny as having 'a lot of attitude' 🙄😂 Bless her. Apparently it took 3 of them to give her the implant 🙄

Total bill £220, so not much over my vets pot. We also had a chat about future implants. There are two sizes, which used to be £100 and £200 ish, then the £100 ones stopped being available for a while 🙄 Now they're back, but £150 🙄 and the others are £280. 

Anyway, vet said she could write a prescription, and I could buy them online and store for any future use. Of course, there's a risk we might not need them, but we've got 2 chickens with them at the minute, and they do need replacing every few months, plus we have 3 younger ex battery ones that may well end up having egg issues at some point, so I think it's worth doing. 

Brings the cost per implant down from £150 to £75, even including the prescription fee.

Didn't get back til half six, and then did an online event thing, so just having tea and won't be a late night I don't think.

Pensions payday tomorrow so I can look forward to some shuffling!

themadvix

That’s a great saving on the implants- well done to your vet for suggesting that solution.

 Expect you’ll sleep well tonight!

Cheery_Daff

I expect I will, it's a three hour round trip and felt like quite a trek for someone who's only been in a car once in the last fortnight 😂

She recommended ringing for the prescription in a month or so, so I must remember - they can only issue it if they've seen one of ours in the last few weeks. Prescription lasts 6 months, but I don't want to wait to order it til we need it, and they'll keep for a couple of years in the fridge, so might as well have them in stock.

Cheery_Daff

Afternoon chums

Tired today. Had a bit of a lie in, and a nice celebratory breakfast in the cafe, and a little charity shop trip, and now loafing around with a nice cup of tea. 

Payday for Mr Cheery's pension, so done a bit of shuffling and added a bit to the car replacement pot too. Pots in general are looking ok - there's £462 in the pot for the big car's MOT in September. I'm hoping it'll cost nowhere near that much, so some of that can then be redistributed - there's just over £200 in the general car maintenance pot so can top that up a bit, and then might split the rest between the vets and car replacement pots. 

Diesel looks to be coming down a bit - local garage is 191.9 now, and I saw one yesterday that was 180.9, but that was miles away on the way to the vets, and we have almost a full tank at the minute anyway. Still, nice to know it's getting a little more reasonable!  

So, tasks for today: 

* happy wheel
* contact family member about visiting
* clean out chicken house
* harvest rest of blackcurrants and gooseberries
* move fig back into the greenhouse 

Might also try to tick another couple of mini tasks off the big list, and possibly even do a token bit of ceiling stuff, although only if I liven up a bit. Got a monthly goals meeting with my sister later today - some of my goals for this month got slightly derailed by covid but I did at least get *some* things done. 

Right - loafing (oh, Happy Wheel first, and I might start investigating LadyWithAPlan's football acca suggestion (which I think was on her diary rather than mine). 

Right - will report back on the Happy Wheel!

LadyWithAPlan

Yes start checking those football accas out its all about Ev just like the casino.

May I ask about the chicken implants? Why are the chickens having them? Hormones? Does that stop them being free range?
I am a novice on chickens. My sister had 4 battery rescue ones for about 6 months til one of her rescue dogs managed to dig really deep into the ground to get in the run and kill them. Happened last month so the kids were in a bit of a shock.

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, I imagine that was indeed a shock, how awful 😢

The implants are similar to a hormonal contraceptive implant for humans - stops the reproductive system, so for hens, it stops them laying. They can be useful for ex battery hens, because their systems are so overworked, and they often get egg yolk peritonitis, where shells don't form properly and they get a build up of yolk in their system, which can become infected. This can kill them really quickly, and is a really common thing for ex batts to die from. 

If you can catch it quick though, and give them antibiotics and an implant, you can often save them. We've had several now who survived it, and went on to live for another year, or in Bessie's case, another almost 3. 

Obviously it's expensive, and many people choose not to - any time free of cages is great for these little feathery ones, and not everyone can or wants to risk the implant, but we've had great success with it.

Happy wheel a nuisance today, down £36! 😮 Most vexing. Got 2 days to get back up before the month ends, but at the rate I'm going I'll be under £200 rather than over £300! I did do a bit of investigating accas, but my brain is still not fully functioning and I am SO tired today, I'm going to leave it til I'm firing on all cylinders...

Right, might have to go to bed!

Cheery_Daff

Well, I've finally made it to bed 🙄 Need a bit of a list for tomorrow though... a gentle one - I overdid it a bit today without actually achieving anything other than mooching round the charity shops 🙄

So...

* Happy wheel
* washing on and hung out
* tent and bedding sorted
* clear out and repack car
* put clothes away off dining table
* flylady routines
* do two things off list of next actions - trying to make progress on some projects that have been knocking around forever
* clean out chicken house
* download podcasts for in the car

That'll do i think - we're planning to leave after lunch so don't have the hole day.