Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Thanks for sharing @Baileys_Babe I aspire to your levels of jiggery pokery! 

And thank you @Merlin's_Beard and @EssexHebridean for popping in! 

So. The snow has just arrived and we are hunkering down. Nothing dramatic as yet, but the council has closed the high roads as a precaution (wise, in my opinion - people ALWAYS get stuck, have accidents, need rescuing, and it often causes trouble even after the snow has gone with abandoned cars etc). 

We did a bit of preparatory shopping today - a snow shovel for starters Last time we had a proper dumping on the drive, we had to dig ourselves out with garden spades which were NOT very effective £10 well spent. Also got a new headtorch (mine doesn't have a strap any more, goodness knows what happened to that), did a general top up of batteries, and a power bank for the phones in case the electric goes off, which we should have had before but never got round to (I feel like I got a free one at a conference once, but I've never used it and have no idea where it is). This was £19 and will apparently provide 4 full phone charges. We'll see, I suppose. 

Oh, and we got a little fan heater too. Mr C Snr acquired one recently and it's been keeping him toasty warm. Our boiler has been dripping - it stopped for a couple of weeks but started again today - and having been without a boiler twice in extremely cold spells, it's no fun. We've got a couple of oil filled radiators which are great as background, but no use as a boiler replacement. Plumber finally replied to my pre-Christmas message today and is hopefully coming next week to check and do a service. 

So if the boiler breaks, we should at least be able to heat ourselves a bit. 

If the electric goes off, I've got kindling, logs, and some experimental 'eco coal' for the tiny open fire in the study as a last resort. I'm also embarking on a 'hot water bottle rotation system' I'm going to fill ALL of them and keep them cosy in my side of the bed and at the top of each hour I'll refill one of them, so they're all reasonably warm at all times We have a plentiful supply of candles, plus torches and a little battery powered storm lantern thing. And a storm kettle, and a camping stove. 

Not trying to be dramatic We tend to lose power for a couple of hours here and there over each winter, but we've only lost power for a substantial amount of time once here - 4 days, in 2021 Storm Arwen, which brought down a power line going only to two houses, which meant it took ages to get fixed. We drained the heating system to stop it freezing (although the plumber later told us we needn't have bothered, so we wouldn't do that again). That was unpleasant, but at least we could get out after the first couple of days and go in search of warmth elsewhere.

Anyway, hopefully it will be very undramatic, and we'll have nowt but a few inches of snow, which will melt away nicely by the end of tomorrow. We'll see. 

In the meantime, we made a lovely soup with some celeriac from the food waste place a couple of weeks ago, plus potato and carrot and red lentils. Simple, wholesome and tasty (and cheap, especially as I brought it to the boil and then shoved it in the hay box for several hours while we were out - it was nicely cooked and still warm enough to eat when we got back). 

Rat man has been - rat has eaten all the poison in one of the trays and we've not heard it since he was last here, so we've blocked up the holes on the outside of the house as best we can and will fill with mortar once the weather improves. I've also pinned up a load of insulation in the big loft that had come down - an utterly grim job as it was all full of cobwebs and mouse droppings

So now I'm having a cosy evening of hot chocolate and Beechgrove  

Baileys_Babe

Sounds like lots of good prepping there, fingers crossed none of it is needed 🤞

Tescodealqueen

Cheery said

Rat man has been - rat has eaten all the poison in one of the trays and we've not heard it since he was last here, so we've blocked up the holes on the outside of the house as best we can and will fill with mortar once the weather improves. I've also pinned up a load of insulation in the big loft that had come down - an utterly grim job as it was all full of cobwebs and mouse droppings 

We were advised to start with scrunched up chicken wire when filling holes after our rat run incident in the garden, you may have some lying around somewhere. Hope it’s the end of the incident for you. 

We were lucky here rain not snow, hope all ok with you

greenbee

We filled holes with wire wool (stops mice as well as rats), then expanding foam, then cement/filler depending on which side of the wall we were on.

I don't envy you the job. I'm very glad we did ours, as since it was done (and the cats moved in ) we haven't had a mouse problem!

KajiKita

I’m not sure Chloe quite understands her role … 🤔  She brought a 3/4 grown rat home again today! 😳Fortunately dead and fortunately it was more than she could cope with, so just left it in the hoomans’ eating room (Mr KK was able to scoop it up and dispose of it!).

KK

Elisheba

Cheery_Daff said:

Well the washing got done, but I put it on as we went out the door and I confess I forgot about it til I just came in here so that still needs hanging up 🙈

I did make soup though, just chopped one of the free celeriac, some carrots, and some of the spuds I started chopping on Christmas day before I realised Mr C had already done some in the microwave 😂 added some lentils and a couple of stock cubes, brought to the boil then shoved in the hay box for several hours. Perfectly done and still warm when we came in 😊 I blended mine and had it with a small sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and a small sprinkling of grated cheese 😊 I'm going to put the rest in the freezer.

One batch of shortbread is in the oven, another firming in the fridge - I have timers set and am NOT leaving the kitchen until both are safely out of the oven 😂 I am not to be trusted when it comes to baking 😂

Going to knock us up a paced lunch and packed tea for tomorrow- don't often do this for a trip to Mr C Snr, we often take him out for lunch. We still might, but it will depend on his health tomorrow, he's not at his best right now. And we're going straight from there to a new years eve party, where I imagine snacks will be the order of the day and I want to at least a bit of actual food first. Might just do some kind of cous cous salad for simplicity (ooh, I could roast some courgette & peppers while the oven is on). 

Been thinking about holidays. Our last trip to Orkney was 11 years ago, we went for a fortnight about every year for 10 years. Prices of self catering cottages are extortionate now though - even late spring the cheapest i could find on the mainland was £1300 for a shepherds hut with an outside kitchen and bathroom! 😱 

So we have been having lots of discussion about holidays and MAY attempt some house sitting/home swap type activity 😬 Wouldnt want to look after a dog, but we could do cat/chicken/rabbit etc, or could just swap our house (but would anyone want to stay here?? Lovely location but it's not exactly a pristine show home 🙈)

More investigating to do, I think. If anyone's done this type of thing do shout up!

In case you are considering beyond Orkney, the tiny cottage I stayed on in Skye is £550pw, every week of the year.  Its out of the way, on the far NW of the island.  Look up Kathy's Cottage on Skye the Independent Cottages website if you are interested.  Its two bedrooms - one with a weird 4 foot wide, 7 foot long bed downstairs, and then two singles upstairs (which are more like a ladder) in eaves room up there.  Bathroom with a small bath and a shower not worth mentioning, and kitchen/living room/diner with fridge/cooker/multifuel stove.  Washing machine available in owners garage 2 hours down.  Enclosed garden.  The cottage is quirky but it does the trick.

(Disclaimer in case this is too close to advertising - I don't own the cottage, I have nothing to do with it.  I just paid to stay there once))

Cheery_Daff

Thank you @Tescodealqueen and @greenbee - we've just stuffed with an assortment of stones for now (will likely keep out the rats, but not the mice) - we wanted to get something in before the snow! We'll go round again once it's cleared. 

@KajiKita This is one of the reasons I'm never entirely convinced a cat would be beneficial - people talk so much about how many things they bring IN!  

Fortunately I did not need any of my preparations last night - we were on the edge of the forecast and while there was some local chaos this morning, and some of the high routes closed until lunchtime, we ourselves didn't suffer, and the snow was already starting to melt when I got out of bed. So the emergency pot noodle can remain intact! 

I confess I was extremely cheerful to get into a bed that already had THREE hot water bottles in, as well as the fresh one I took up with me  

Yoga for me, and a leisurely breakfast, and then I togged up and got out into the garden - I wanted to plant out the tulip and ranunculus bulbs I bought the other day. Sadly the ranunculous were mouldy!  I'd got them for £1 from the reduced section of the cheap shop so I won't be complaining, but I'm a bit annoyed with myself that I didn't check properly through the packet. The tulips were already sprouting so should be fine. 

I also tidied up the greenhouse a bit, replaced two of the plexiglass panes that popped out weeks ago (I couldn't find the clips, and kept meaning to order new ones, but I found the remains of an old bag). Also replaced one of the glass panes with a spare piece of plexiglass, although I hadn't removed the blue covering and one side of it wouldn't come off at all! I scraped a bit round the edge, but it was just flaking in tiny pieces. I ended up just fitting it with the cover still on, blue side in It's low down so doesn't look too ridiculous. 

Also pruned the gooseberries and blackcurrants. 

Really trying to get a head start this year. I always say I love gardening, but I don't put the work in, and often have an attitude of 'plants can fend for themselves or just die' And often they just die, especially here, where we're 1300ft above sea level and very exposed. This year I'd like to be a bit more proactive, just to see what happens. 

Came back in for a warm and another episode of Beechgrove Don't think there's any more gardening on the cards for me today. Not sure what is though!

Back to work on Monday, and I confess it's going to feel quite objectionable after 24 days off  
 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Cheery_Daff said:

So. I often get a bit frustrated at pottering round the charity shops every weekend, going to cafes etc - things i love dearly, but sometimes I get a bit grumpy because I'd like to stay home more and Get Stuff Done. 

However, I had a bit of a revelation today. 

As you know, we have a bit of an age difference (18 years) which means that if I wait to retire til I'm 68, Mr C will be 86 😱 As such, we won't be getting the 'conventional' retirement together. (I do realise that's never guaranteed anyway, and any number of ailments and accidents may carry one or the other of us off at any point, but the balance of probabilities is definitely against us here).

So I only work 4 days a week, and plan to drop to 3 days at some point. I **KNOW** all this, and yet it hadn't really occurred to me to think of that extra time off as being technically our 'retirement' together. 

I can't really tell you what difference it's making, other than a bit of a shift in thinking today, away from wanting to cram all the jobs in, to just appreciating each other's company in a more gentle way. I don't know - at this point I've had nearly 3 weeks off work and I'm quite mellow and things might change when I go back 🙄😂

Anyway, it got us to thinking about plans. Mr C is eligible for the state pension in just over 3.5 years, and the current mortgage fix ends a couple of months after that, so that seems like a good time frame for planning. 

By that point, we'd like to have finished all the big house jobs. Not saying we'd look to move then, but if we did want to consider moving at that point, we don't want another 2 years of DIY before we go, like we had last time 😱 

At that point, I will also definitely drop down to 3 days a week. The plan really is to get promoted (or find a new job, I suppose), which will allow me to to 3 days earlier than that, but we can't do it until there's that extra influx of income. If I do get a substantial enough wage increase, I might do another year at 4 days to build a bit more of a cushion, as things do feel a little precarious in terms of savings at the minute, but as we do have that guaranteed increase in 3.5 years anyway, I'm not sure. Let's see if and when that happens. 

I'd like to plan to retire altogether with 10 years - I'll be 55 at that point, and Mr C will be 73. I won't be able to claim my works pension until 58 (I don't think) so it'll need a bit of planning. 

If & when we do move, it's VERY likely we'll go back to the city where we lived before, and we'll buy somewhere where we don't need a mortgage. We'd paid off the mortgage on the old house before we moved, so that's doable - we certainly don't need somewhere as rambling and ridiculous as this 😂 I want to be able to walk to places, and be within easy reach of a bus. We could ditch the second car (we only had one until we moved out here). Our expenses would be MUCH less in a smaller house, and we wouldn't be spending £300 a month on diesel for a start 😱 

So. Nothing really radical, but it's the first time I've really thought of this time, now, as being an early extension of my 'retirement', and the first time we've both together really thought of a proper plan for Mr C's official 'state retirement' (I've previously thought of chucking his state pension at the mortgage, but this feels more of a concrete decision point).

Anyway, not sure where I'm going here, except a bit of light rambling and possibly a new diary with some kind of plan for actually retiring myself at 55. Whether I'd actually want to do that remains a mystery - I think yes, Mr C thinks I'd choose to stay on 😂 - but it would be good to work out the actual numbers, and an estimate of how much we'd actually need to live on if we moved and I left work altogether... 🤔

Hey Cheery, 

Myself and OH are similar to you but our age gap is 22 years, OH is already retired (March this year due to ill health & had reached state pension age) and my job is normally part time 3 days a week. I totally got what you was saying about thinking about this time as 'part retired'. In my case I live in an area that has quite a retired population and sometimes it really bothers me as im no where near retirement age but can feel like i've retired. Due to our circumstances we don't have the buffer you described and a home with no mortgage and not a lot of upkeep makes a lot of sense. 

In our case our mortgage was 10 years due to OH age at the time but this will be a benefit to me as we will be mortgage free now in 8 years time, way before my official retirement age. I don't see me stopping work, I do like working of some sort so see 3 days a week is realistic. Maybe at a different company, not too sure yet. New diary sounds interesting! 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Baileys_Babe said:

I have 15+ regular savers with varying maximum deposits, some fixed some variable interest rates, some allow withdrawals, some limited withdrawals and others no withdrawals, some 12 months and some 6 months.

Impressive, love regular savers but most of my cash is now tied up in S&S ISA. I do have one I put money into each month to use as a money buffer for the following year. 

Tescodealqueen

I can’t believe it’s nearly 24 days since you said It’s your last day at work before your holiday😱😱😱😱😱