What are you all up to
Comments
-
Do they still use dogs and pigs to find the truffles Red Kite?
Our Lab would be good at it, he loves snuffling around. Bit of a canine garbage disposal unit🫣 We are heading to Wales shortly, I have done the vet research already. Last time we were in Wales, we had the “rancid crab” incident😱 Definitely not to be repeated. Cost us a small fortune.
0 -
We don't think we will be using the van before the service early next March, unless there is a hint of a mini winter heatwave at some point in January/February
So we removed all the bedding and towels from the van today plus the TV. Last year I had a different water pump fitted which I have never drained down so spent some time this morning getting rid of any pockets of water by disconnecting the pipes. Hopefully I have done enough. Usually you are OK with the odd frost here and there but when settles in for a period is probably when the damage is done!David
0 -
Richard
According to the NHS website it often only shows up when you have an incident like breaking a bone. This might be worth a look https://theros.org.uk/ if you have not already done so. I noticed one of the things that are good for it is vitamin D which is probably a supplement we should all be taking anyway, unless you spend all your waking hours outdoors!
David
0 -
Look up Alendronic Acid on NHS website. Local hospital doctor said older ladies should take just one tablet per week to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis. Ask your GP for advice.
0 -
Regarding Osteoporosis my Mother-in-Law took bone density tablet once a day for 5 years having been proscribed them by consultant at a Specialist unit in Oswestry. She was then taken off them after 5 years as they were deemed to have been as effective as they could and would do more harm than good if continued. She takes Paracetamol to offset any pain nowadays.
Boy, you should never consider moving Nellie, not with the service you get from doctors and dentists etc.
Looks like Mrs.M might not be able to do any washing up or drying or dog walking or driving or cooking or..... Hoovering might be the least of your problems M.
Hope for both of your sakes she heals quickly.Waiting on a call from British Gas who are supposed to visit this afternoon. Put a casserole in the oven on low as it's forgiving if he/she calls at the wrong time.
1 -
Hi TDA yes they do use dogs and pigs especially in this area and on a roundabout in Lalbenque our small local town there is a metal sculpture of a lady and a pig looking for truffles and you can at this time of year have a demonstration of how they do it. Our second Springer would have been good at it more of a snuffler than the first one.
OH has moved a smaller electric radiator from our hall as we never use it there and now in the lounge area having taken a bigger one out as we now have a slightly bigger tv and tv unit the radiator would have been a bit close hence the change, I have been painting over the wall where the radiator was and some more tomorrow in the hall.
Had a call today to say that the compost bin we ordered a month ago now available at our local dechetterie so will collect tomorrow morning it is our local waste company who issue them and we already have 2 and they are very well made and cheaper than ones in the local shops and all recycled plastic as well and come with a small green bin with handle to use in the house.
1 -
What a surprise. No Gas person turned up, or bothered with a call.
Had to make an automated appointment for tomorrow as nobody could be bothered answering a phone. Thought I'd try a "live chat" usually with a bot but the live chat link that was advertised as being in the bottom right hand corner wasn't. Might have to resort to Trust pilot if I get a re-run tomorrow.
0 -
David - that's exactly what I was saying
Ros is now taking a calcium tablet every day plus an Alendronic Acid tab once per week. That's a bit of a pain for her because you have to down a pint of water with it and then stand up for at least an hour afterwards (don't ask me why!) and you can't eat anything until that's done. It is possible to have a once-a-year injection instead but I suspect that's a much more expensive option. Anyway - she's going for a bone density scan next week - so we'll find out whether or not she needs to continue - but I suspect she will.0 -
Very interesting about the truffle season. I was in Tescos yesterday and they are now selling products which contain truffle and I did wonder what it was like and would you actually be able to tast the truffle that is in it. I am afraid that I am a cynic and suspect that the amount of truffle which the products contain, is so little, that you would not even know that it is an actual ingredient. Sadly, in many ways, Christmas has now become a way for many supermarkets to sell what is very often, expensive rubbish!
1 -
"We don't think we will be using the van before the service early next March, unless there is a hint of a mini winter heatwave at some point in January/February"
Almost ditto but we have family arriving next week and we will use the caravan as a 3rd bedroom, gone soft in our old age and the thought of wakening up to a caravan covered in frost/snow is no longer appealing.
So still this morning, white over with frost and some fog around, no bike riding until the sun comes up, at least the grass has stopped growing, hope all those that are entitled had a pleasant surprise in their bank accounts this morning, but why they send out a £10 xmas bonus is beyond me, the admin effort that must go into this must be considerable and what is £10 in the real world, a person in the newsagents yesterday bought a newspaper and 20 ciggies, £16.75, i nearly fell over, glad i packed it in.
0 -
Snow here overnight, one lane on main roads has been cleared, very cold.
Should get our extra £10 each on Monday, OH got her winter fuel payment yesterday, mine came last week. Both in savings account till we need them for topping up our fuel DD. Will not be long if it stays this cold!
0 -
Re the pensioner £10 bonus. It was introduced in 1972, interestingly by Ted Heath, and continued ever since. According to the Bank of England inflation tracker had it kept pace with inflation it would be worth just over £100 now. Whilst I agree that logically it seems hardly worth continuing with, you can just see the storm of protest from certain segments of the media if it were discontinued?
David
0 -
Yo……premium bond day here, and it’s been a good one for us all🥳 Get that central heating fired up….. -4c here at the moment. Car locks frozen, gate locks frozen, plants whimpering in the greenhouse, hound refusing to get out of his basket, OH has that many layers on, his usually athletic frame is swaddled up like an over woolly sheep. Beautiful sunny day though. I am awaiting a gas engineer/ plumber to call at Mum’s. Taking an old gas fire out, replacing with a radiator in same space. Only a quote today.
1 -
Up to a tropical -2 here in MK at 11.00am! We have our heating set in various segments over a 24 hour period. Overnight it's set at 17 degrees moving at to 18 at 8.00am. Noticed that the last few nights it has kicked in between 6 and 8.00 in the morning. Warmer temperatures forecast for next week but wet!
David
0 -
Oh!!! wow, we have ours set to 17.5c overnight and it has cut in at approx 0330 hrs for 2 nights now, but 22c during the day just now, fortunately we are on a fixed tariff of 2 years ago until Nov 2024.
-2c here with fog, no sunshine, solar panels only generating 378w. When we moved south to the bungalow some 12 years ago we added a conservatory to the rear and in those days we used it all year round, now to keep it warm it is like throwing pound notes out of the windows, seriously considering putting a solid roof on, but they do not come cheap.
0 -
Correction, that should have been 18.5 at 8.00am so the heating usually has to work overtime to get up to temperature in the morning depending on outside temps. It then bumps up to 19 at 3.00pm and again to 19.5 at 5.00pm for the evening until 10.00pm when its back to 17. When its cold outside that seem to work OK but if the outside temperature is higher, say low single figures, we sometimes have to use the boost facility to warm us up a bit.
We also have a conservatory but I am not sure how effective a solid roof would be because the roof panels are double glazed glass and it has floor to ceiling glass double glazed panels? We tend not to use it a lot over winter although its handy for storing all the motorhome bits when it goes in for service and I have my exercise bike in there as well. The most its been used was during covid when we parked visitors in there (when it was allowed) and we would talk to them from the house french windows!
David
0 -
Thanks for all the messages re Mrs M's injury! Amazingly, she has got an appointment at the fracture clinic at RUH on Tuesday so will ask about all your suggestions then.
Thought it was about time to bake some of the Savoury Christmas Shortbread from Goldie's recipe last year this morning. Feeling rather pleased with myself when I got everything rolled out and into the oven ...... until, when clearing up I discovered the unopened packet of parmesan!
So have now got to explain why they don't taste quite as cheesey as last year's batches.
Still, a good reason to cracking on with another batch! 1 -
David - I can tell you from our experience that putting a proper roof on a conservatory makes a massive difference. When we bought this house, 11 years ago - and literally ripped it apart and almost started again, one of first things our builders recommended was putting a proper insulated roof on the conservatory. It has a vaulted style ceiling and the side bits are insulated with a 'space blanket' material and the top bit is stuffed with rockwool or similar. The tiles are of a composite material, so very light. The kitchen and conservatory are open plan - thanks to the previous owners - so something had to be done! The work was being carried out in November - there was no heating because that was in the process of being completely ripped out and replaced - and the Building Inspector turned up and the minute he entered the front door said "I can tell you've got that roof insulated before I even see it - the difference in temperature is so noticeable"!
I dread to think what our heating bills would have been like if we hadn't done it.
0 -
My breakfast view this morning.
Regretfully the sun has disappeared and we have a few spots of rain. Nothing much happening today as we await to see if British Gas can be bothered with keeping it's latest appointment.
Trying to decide on replacing our really old cantankerous printer with a smaller one. Any suggestions? Don't need to print loads of photos but must be fairly compact size, roughly 12" in width and not more than 16" in depth.
0 -
we have a Cannon MG3600 ok for your depth but it is about 17 inches wide very cheap from i think PC world/Currys, but it is more than adequate for our needs
"David - I can tell you from our experience that putting a proper roof on a conservatory makes a massive difference"
yes we believe this to be true, our conservatory sits on 2ft high wall and is approx 12ft wide x 6ft deep fully doubled glazed, i worked it out roughly and it would cost approx £12k to provide a roof, we can provide a lot of heat for £12k
0 -
Our conservatory is only coming up to four years old. We don't really use it as an "extra room" except perhaps in the summer so I can't see that being £12000 well spent for us. If we were using it as a regular extension of the house it might be worth considering.
On the question of printers I have always used HP printers, had several over the years. Size might be governed by what you want to use it for. Our current Envoy model has a built in scanner which I find very useful. However I wouldn't class it as being compact! I also subscribe to HP Instant Ink, I pay £2.99 a month for up to 50 pages of print and HP send me new cartridges as and when required. It has to be linked to the internet for this service. JL have an Envoy printer for £45.99 here
David
0 -
Rufs - that seems an awful lot. I know it was 11 years ago and the builders were 'friends' - and it was a small part of a £50k refurbishment of the house - but when I asked him what he had allowed - he said about £2k - give or take.
The conservatory is about 5m x 4m and had a pitched roof 'glazed' with polycarbonate sheeting. All they did was remove the polycarbonate - reinforced the existing aluminium frame with lengths of 3x2 timber bolted through the frame - then felted it - put lats on and tiled it in the traditional way but using Marley composite tiles that look like slate.
It was waterproof in a day and fully tiled the next day. The plasterers came in later and did the inside and that's when the insulation went in.
I am aware, though, that it is now very much 'in vogue' and there are some firms out there quoting silly prices for such work. A doggy walking friend had hers done last year and the conservatory is half the size of ours. They used tiles that looked more like bits of lino and it still cost her nearly £5k.
0 -
Well a mini adventure today, we left Keswick with a very slight covering of snow but the main roads clear and headed for Grasmere. We met heavy snow going over Dumail Raise and it got worse. Traffic was at a stand still past Grasmere where we turned around. Quite a few cars stopped but once again our KIA's AWD proved its worth. Once past Dumail Raise the snow stopped and clear roads and nothing at all in Keswick.
We're reading the local news and there is emergency overnight accommodation in the parish room at Ambleside for stranded travelers.
Hope no one here is affected.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/cumbriahttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/cumbria
0 -
-
Heavy snow here overnight. Got the caravan back today after I it’s repair so heating and hot water now working as they should. Bit of a performance getting it back in the drive though our street was covered in snow normally it takes me 5 mins to spin round at the top of our cul de sac and reverse the van in the drive but today due to the snow the Volvos front wheels were spinning when trying to reverse so unhitched and. Put the mover on but there is a slight lip in the kerb up to our drive and due tot the heavy snow the mover couldn’t get traction either so we were stuck ended up with shovels moving the snow to clear a path in to the drive took about 20 mins with the van stuck on the street luckily we live on a very quiet street so no problem. Anyway once we cleared the snow the mover done it’s work and van now safely on drive but filthy will need to wait until the temp rises a bit before it can be washed
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend
0 -
We were just supposed to get a bit of sleet, but we woke to a light dusting of snow. By the time Flyte and I got back from our pre-breakfast walk it was showing properly. We did get a break mid morning with a sight of the sun, so off again and 2/3 rds of the way round it started to show again. This has continued on and off up till now, and we now have about 2" of it on the top of the car! We've had everything today apart from wind!! When I was out about 5:15 I saw the first flash of lightning and then a very loud roll of thunder, and that continued for about 45 mins. It appears to have stopped showing how but I won't be surprised if it's not now freezing out there, which will prove very treacherous as, although part of our road is a bus route it never gets salted!!😵 We need a rapid increase in temperature and some rain too to shift it all.
Everybody take care out there.
0 -
David - my advice would be to find a local builder you can trust, rather than one of those companies that have popped up recently, supposedly specialising in such conversion. They seem to quote ridiculous prices, in my opinion. As I replied to Rufs - it isn't complicated and the only expensive bits are the roof tiles (if you use the Marley composites). Don't be fobbed off with those tiles that look like strips of lino - they ain't going to last five minutes!
Richard
0 -
CCTV about 8 am.
2 farmers. 1 cat. 8 cows. 1 milk taxi (takes milk to calves)
3 -
Following my cancer treatment I have to take an Ibandronic tablet daily first thing in a morning with lots of water and stay standing for at least an hour too.
0
