Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

Watty1

loving the garden tales.  I have one bed I did not clear in the massive clear up this year. It is on my radar to do when I have time and I do keep thinking it might make a veg patch.  

trix-a-belle

Poor Auntie I hope she continues on the mend.
I have not heard the greatest about the battery life on the sons of Dye sticks but you can obtain converters so that you can use power tool batteries on them (search the bay of E for son of Dye to your appropriate power tool system) which last far longer

Suffolk_lass

Mr Sl is delighted with the Vacuum cleaner and has used it repeatedly. I could smell burning when I got home on Friday but it turned out to be him drilling 400 year old oak to mount it on the wall in the airing cupboard. Given the battery feedback I have put a spare battery in the basket to ponder over.

He's out at his bike club jumble this morning. I have been studying and have made bread and eaten toast. He's taken the cartlodge door keys with him so the lamb we planned is still in the freezer, locked away . I have got some lambs hearts out of the kitchen freezer, and need to finish preparing them and stuff them, ready to pop in the slow cooker for this evening. Oh well, same meat, different gravy, or something like that. I've also written my slides for my Thursday presentation, and shared them with my co-presenter.

I am going out in the garden in a bit, but I need to prepare a couple of apples (not storing as well as I hoped) and prep a bag of now ripened tomatoes for the freezer, to await the next batch of passata-making. Have a good Sunday all

Baileys_Babe

How frustrating with the key.

How are you preparing and storing your apples, we seem to be in undated with them this year, but like you they are not storing as well as we would of hoped.

rtandon27

I often wander off with the keys to both the summer house and the back door - worse is I forget where I put them down - cue mad dash to find them in the evening as we are shutting up the house for the night!

Watty1

My apples are storing badly. I'm thinking the last ones will be stewed and frozen. Just trying to decide if I should peel before stewing.     

Am thinking over a Henry stick hoover now!

Suffolk_lass

I have a few cardboard fruit trays that I saved when I bought "perfectly ripe peaches/nectarines" and I have put a few "perfect" apples in these, on the floor in my larder. As soon as I see any bruising or brown speckles under the skin, I peel and prepare them, either cooking or composting them (several have rotted from the inside, suggesting gribbly infiltrators!).

Instead of freezing stewed fruit, I pop it in jars using my jam funnel that have all been in the oven, heated from cold to 115c (for ten minutes after reaching temperature). Then the similarly sterilised tops go on and everything back in the oven while they, and the fruit cools. If the tops pop in, I store them on cardboard trays in my pantry, if they don't pop, they go in the fridge and we use it with yogurt/porridge/custard/in a crumble. None of my non-storage options are a hardship, I might add!

Right, to today. 
In money matters, I have a minuscule positive balance in my bills account that fortunately, will be topped up by my state pension next week. The big CC cleared "in full". I don't remember ever having over £3k except when buying a car but a mix of two holiday bookings (balance on one, deposit on the other), a big servicing bill on the Moho that included changing the timing belt  , winter oil delivery, holiday spending (much more eating out as we know places have been struggling) and some additional bee syrup, thanks to draught and  size of colonies at that stage. It was a shock, I can tell you. We are eating mostly what we have in now, to try and recover a bit. £81.80 of grocery spend includes milk bill that I will be getting a refund on as we are away Saturday (last booked weekend this year in Moho). I shall Sorn it from our return so November on will be refunded.

My friend is due for coffee shortly and owes me for the garlic and sweetpea seeds I got for her, when I ordered mine, and I sold ten jars of honey to the rather demanding former host of some bees who is kind, but very much suffers from "Lady of the Manor" syndrome. £63 in the pot for that. Right, maybe more later. I must get on

KajiKita

I do love the way you use 'gribbly' I've never come across that word before but it is a perfect usage

Will you get any cashback or vouchers for the 'big spend' through the CC this month?

KK  

foxgloves

Gribbly is a great word & v useful. I use it for all the bits of a chicken carcass which are destined for the slow cooker for stock-making i.e "gribbly bits".

KajiKita

foxgloves said:

Gribbly is a great word & v useful. I use it for all the bits of a chicken carcass which are destined for the slow cooker for stock-making i.e "gribbly bits".

<nods sagely> yes, I can relate to that usage as well ...

KK