Great Rural MoneySaving Hunt

Frugaldom

mardatha wrote: »

All roads in the Scottish Borders are closed today and no buses are running.

I take it you're talking about the smaller roads, as the main road that leads here is open?

I haven't been off the farm since 20th December and today we had a council snowplough and gritter along the track to make sure the hay wagon could get through. I'm guessing there are going to be a few welfare cases shortly, as the delivery lorries are just not risking the farm lanes despite farmers snowploughing them. Ours is like an ice rink. Local dairy farmers having problems as the pipes are freezing as the tankers are trying to pump in the milk! Hasn't gone above -7 here today but, surprisingly, we're still getting eggs every day from the ducks and a couple of the hens. If the gritter has helped the road at all, we should be able to get a log & coal delivery soon. Other than that, we have been really luck, so far, with the snow. Very little here, perhaps 6 inches in total. It's just the persistent freezing temperatures causing the problems - £50 a week in electricity problems, until the logs & coal deliveries can get here. For next year - more logs and more salt to be stored in advance! :rotfl:

Davesnave

Our conditions are similar to Mambury's, as we're not far apart, but I think we have slightly more snow - around 8" or so. On Tuesday I went down to Exeter to fetch DD2 home from work early, but with no snow there at that time, they clearly thought I was bonkers. If I hadn't done that, she'd have been stranded at the station that evening, and there's been no chance of her going to work since.

We have enough oil to see this out, but logs are looking dodgy. so we might have to eat into the pile I was making for next year. Food is fine, thanks to a Bernard Manning-sized freezer and a quick stock-up en route to pick up daughter.

As there was nothing we could do on the land today, we all went for a 4 mile circular walk, but we did it the wrong way, with the easiest bit first and a couple of punishing miles through deep snow and up steep slopes to finish. It was beautiful though, so I have lots of photo-tweaking to do now. Inspired by this, DD2 is now threatening to walk to the station tomorrow morning. (2 miles if you walk across fields) Fine, but guess who'll have to walk down (and back) to meet her in the evening if she does!:rolleyes:

mambury

Davesnave wrote: »

Our conditions are similar to Mambury's, as we're not far apart, but I think we have slightly more snow - around 8" or so. On Tuesday I went down to Exeter to fetch DD2 home from work early, but with no snow there at that time, they clearly thought I was bonkers. If I hadn't done that, she'd have been stranded at the station that evening, and there's been no chance of her going to work since.

We have enough oil to see this out, but logs are looking dodgy. so we might have to eat into the pile I was making for next year. Food is fine, thanks to a Bernard Manning-sized freezer and a quick stock-up en route to pick up daughter.

As there was nothing we could do on the land today, we all went for a 4 mile circular walk, but we did it the wrong way, with the easiest bit first and a couple of punishing miles through deep snow and up steep slopes to finish. It was beautiful though, so I have lots of photo-tweaking to do now. Inspired by this, DD2 is now threatening to walk to the station tomorrow morning. (2 miles if you walk across fields) Fine, but guess who'll have to walk down (and back) to meet her in the evening if she does!:rolleyes:

You;d think that the world was coming to an end.... My neighbour got to BIdeford shopping today to pick up some supplies and even though there was no snow left in Bideford the shelves in morrisons were empty. People panic buying! I shall be going in myself on sat morning and stock up in time for the onslaught of the Sunday weather......lots more snow I;m afraid Davesnave!

I am dreading the leccy bill... its a good job that feb and march are 'free' council tax months.....

Keep warm everyone

mambury

mardatha

It was this morning Nyk, the neighbour got told by the council in Gala that all roads were officially closed and all buses off ... think things got moving more in the afternoon. . I haven't seen much moving on the A7 today just some lorries this afternoon, not seen any buses - the neighbour called and got told they were suspended. It was awesome to walk in the sun, everything sparkly in blue & white.
EDITED- Is there more to come????

Frugaldom

Yeah to photos! I've taken hundreds and the digital camera and rechargeable batteries must be some of the biggest savings over the long term when I think of how many spools and how much developing I'd have had to pay for without them. I take photographs almost every day in the hope of getting that perfect rural shot worthy of publishing on a Christmas card or calendar. Better still, it costs nothing to walk out your back door and then spend many hours pottering about locally taking photos without fear of reprisal or being seen to act like a tourist.

My other major saving that's been brilliant, is my stash of pine cones that I collected throughout summer and dried out for winter kindling. It's like money(saving) growing on trees It also looks quite shabby chic when the cones & kindling sticks are piled up in a basket by the fire.

Hope everyone is managing to keep warm despite the temperatures outside. I've just been out to put some scraps out for our 'creatures of the night' and the thermometer is reading -8, with a very clear sky promising a further drop. I'll check again later. Does anyone else like watching for the night creatures or am I just a bit of a saddo? :rotfl:

Mardatha - we're well west of the M74, about 70 miles along the A75, which is open our side. DS needs to use it to get to work and hasn't had a snowed-in day yet (although he did end up being the only person there at one point and the road was shut owing to ice one day last week! That was first time I had ever heard of the A75 closing completely, so it would have interfered with the Stranraer/Belfast ferry traffic too. DS had to head out to Stranraer last night, but said it doesn't look as if it's had the second heavy snowfall that we got. Weather reported more snow due early hours of tomorrow morning but the sky certainly looks clear from where we are. On the whole, most of us here are well stocked up and the house nearest the main road has been receiving post & deliveries.

Did you see the Galloway Forest Park had been designated UK's first Dark Sky Park? Who needs to spend cash on holidays when we live next door to that? It's rural moneysaving at its best, being free to visit.

mardatha

Ahh, maybe you come under Dumfries & Galloway then ? I'm west of the A7, in the middle of nowhere Yes nice dark area down there eh -all those miles of dark forests....:rolleyes:
as long as...
you dont.....
worry about....
WEREWOLVES ! Muhahaha :eek:
I always got told I had too much imagination LOL !:D

ixwood

To all those people that "leave a fire in" overnight, be warned that's it's not good for your chimney/liner. Burners are supposed to burn hot, to burn all the gases and tar off.

A long slow burn will deposit tar if you're not careful.

harryhound

ixwood wrote: »

To all those people that "leave a fire in" overnight, be warned that's it's not good for your chimney/liner. Burners are supposed to burn hot, to burn all the gases and tar off.

A long slow burn will deposit tar if you're not careful.

Wood that has not been "seasoned" until it is cracking nicely is the worst for creating "creosote" on the sides of your flue (and gumming up your stove)

Houses with a chimney in the middle are less likely to have a problem (and you get an extra 5% of the heat out of the flue gas and into the house.)

We are talking about fires with a closed room heater/boiler:

Problematic chimneys are those with a big void in them somewhere (often where a range has been replaced by a modern fire but with only a "register plate" to seal the bottom of the double width chimney). The void can fill up with various half burnt gasses (such as carbon monoxide) and then explode when a spark is carried up into it, as the fire gets going again.

The other problem is chimneys built round the edge of the building - a style that came in in the 1920's.
The chimney is that much colder but also exposed to the sunlight. The products of combustion, especially sulphur oxides, soak into the chimney and swell the structure, especially the mortar joints. Then the sun comes out and dries one side of the chimney.
Result the chimney starts to curve. Something similar happens to chimneys exposed to driven rain.
Once you know what you are looking for, you will see curving chimneys all over the place.

Modern chimneys should be built with acid resisting liners, such as insulated ceramics or stainless steel, but they do tend to be narrower, so needing regular cleaning.

choille

`The polythene "jugs" that supermarkets milk comes in, make pretty good fire lighters.
Smells like candle wax - burns like candle wax.

You shouldn't really burn this stuff as it's a carcinogenic.

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

`The polythene "jugs" that supermarkets milk comes in, make pretty good fire lighters.
Smells like candle wax - burns like candle wax.

You shouldn't really burn this stuff as it's a carcinogenic.

And they recycle them round our way, not that we've seen a dustcart since before Christmas...;)

ETA: Maybe he means the cardboard Tetrapak variety, with the wax coating. Havent seen one of those for a while!