Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Certaibly is 😊😊 There was a Robin singing very joyfully when I was outside today, most cheering 😊 The snowdrops are out, and today was the first day I'd noticed the daffs, although bo flowers yet, just leaves 😊😊 Definitely felt a bit spring like today. I even sat on the swing seat for a while 😊😊

beanielou

Talking of auld mates, how is Pippa or was it Pippi? 

Cheery_Daff

beanielou said:

Talking of auld mates, how is Pippa or was it Pippi? 

Pippi, and she's doing well 😊 Not seen her utterly forever but still in touch 😊 x

redofromstart

Rustic seats?  Half a log etc rather than formal benches.  Based around vistas - best views if you sit here, etc.  Thats our aim anyway.  When we find our forever place I have happy visions of planting lots of tree packs from the woodland trust, but it needs to be sooner rather than later or they'll be knee high when I shuffle off.

Lots of snow drops and crocus out here.  Amazing orange witch hazel and two white scented honeysuckles planted by paths,  randomly home to more bees than you would expect.

My very free range chickens used to like watching TV in the living room, having travelled the full length of the house to get there.  Madness I tell you!

beanielou

Cheery_Daff said:

beanielou said:

Talking of auld mates, how is Pippa or was it Pippi? 

Pippi, and she's doing well 😊 Not seen her utterly forever but still in touch 😊 x

Yes, she seems to have had a tough old time x

Suffolk_lass

Re chairs, especially wooden ones; we (that should be I!) bought six fold-up hardwood chairs at an auction (you know, the sort that does house clearances - err, lots of people die in winter and their houses get cleared in Spring so they are worth a look). I did not buy the table, but I continue to look at beer festival tables and benches as an option as they fold flat and are quite easy to put away for winter if you have somewhere. I also picked up a pair of wooden trestles (on faceache MP) and an oak door that serve as a workbench outside (under cover) at the moment but were bought for when we are the lunch place for Village Open Gardens as we can get eight seats round them

EssexHebridean

I still live in hope of getting the Stripey one back here to join us all one day!   

I'd love a garden with a view, but for "right now" I'll just have to be content with having any Sort of garden I think! 

It really is positively springlike outside here today - although I didn't think it was going to be that way as I sat in the passenger seat this morning watching MrEH scraping the windscreen! 

Cheery_Daff

Yes, it has been rather spring-like today, hasn't it? Sadly I have been in the city, not in the garden, which is a shame, but still. Been to stand on the picket line, and then met a friend for lunch, and popped to see another friend for a cuppa. Mr Cheery came too and met up with a couple of (different) friends, so it's been a pretty sociable day all round! 

Most vexed to see the engine light come on in the car again - the same car that we spent £900+ on a few weeks ago They said it was the service light, and it did go off for a while after they'd seen to it, but now it's back on again... For now I'm hoping it will go away - I realise that's not realistic. Certainly won't be taking it back to the same garage though! Anyway, an issue for another day... (although right this second I'm wishing I'd taken up their offer of paying in installments as I would at least had something to withhold if it turned out they'd done something wrong!)

MB is improving somewhat - made £140 yesterday and £27 today. Both memberships have gone out this month - they're annual so a combined total of £285 But the actual figure is down £235, so if the memberships hadn't gone out we'd be up by £50. Which is an improvement on last month! Hoping to get the overall total into positive numbers for Feb, so I'm going to have a concerted effort at doing some new welcome offers. Let's see how that goes. 

In the meantime, off to dive into the banking... Might need a stiff drink... 

Cheery_Daff

Right, banking all done. Not pretty - never is at this time of year with all the insurances etc going out at once, plus the LPG bill hasn't gone yet, and obviously that big garage bill recently. Enough to get the heart racing somewhat, especially as the first lot of strike pay is deducted from my wages on Friday

BUT I am going to take heart from taking control, and we all know how to do that round here

* I've updated my signature. You might notice I've reduced some of the budgets slightly, so we're aiming for £220 for food & household, £35 for my unnecessary spends, and £80 for the joint treats/cafe budget. Could come down further if necessary of course, but let's see how that goes first. 

* I've got £51.78 worth of Mr M vouchers from the covid study - just been through and checked balances and deleted the empty ones. We've got another set of tests to do so I'll make sure we get those in the post - that should be another £40 worth of vouchers before the end of Feb. Might use those to do a storecupboard stock up next week. Things are more expensive than @ldi in there, but obviously with the vouchers, it's free, so... Storecupboard is looking a little woeful, so I might do a proper audit and clean of everything tomorrow and make a list. 

* The £200 I put aside to add to longer term savings at the start of Feb is still sat there. Plenty of moving things between pots other than that, but that remains intact. Thank goodness. 

* Payday on Friday - will at least know what the damage is strike-wise (although the deducted days will be from November so not even part of this month's actions - aarrgghh!)

No plans for tomorrow, so I'm going to try and have a day at home. So, a list

FINANCES AND ADMIN

 * Find Mr Cheery's PIN number for the credit card, so he can start earning points on diesel and shopping as well as me (up to £25 ish this year, so it would be good to get nearer £50 by payout in July)

* Chase the new building society account - not had the internet password yet and it's been weeks, and I refuse to transfer anything else until I can check the balance to make sure my test transfer went through

* Sign up for a few new casinos

HOUSE STUFF

* bring the washing back in!! Actually pegged it on the line yesterday, and it's been out there since...

* Put up the bedroom blinds, and the remaining one in the kitchen

* Spend at least 30 mins in what will become the craft room, sorting clothes 

* Move table from outbuilding into new craft room

* Clean pantry and make a storecupboard stocking up list to use vouchers

* Batch cook one meal - one portion for tomorrow, one for work on Friday, two for the freezer.

GARDEN STUFF

* Finish digging the holes for the chicken run extension (if it's not raining too much)

* Measure height of the tree guards - I've found an organisation that might take a few, but I think they think they're taller than they actually are, so I want to check

* Cut and nail a smaller gauge mesh to the door between the two parts of the chicken run - the new ones keep sticking their heads through the big holes and it's not helping their feathers grow back, as it's exactly where they used to stick them through the bars of the factory cages. We've put a board in front of it, but I want them all to be able to see each other all the time, not just when they're in a particular place - I want them properly mixed by the end of the weekend!

ERRANDS AND OTHER STUFF

* Get friend's address on letter and get it in the darn post!

* Get foldy bike out of the garage - popped into a specialist Brompton fixing centre today who reckon it's an easy fix (based on my completely inadequate description of what's wrong with it), so I said I'd drop it in when I'm near there on Friday

Right, that'll do for now. Going to try shoving all the chickens in one chicken house tonight for the first time so best go and do that now before it gets too late. Means I'll have to get up early to separate them again!

greenbee

You might want to check the instruction book for your car. Or google it. Just to see what the light is telling you... 

Mine has the DPF light on. Again. Which means it really IS time to replace it (I've been saying this for 3 years now but do actually have a test drive booked for tomorrow).