Looming

 Yes the start of the gardening season is upon us ..lol , even if its bleedin freezing out there and its a wee bit waterlogged. Sat and ordered the last of the seeds for this year  More squash , beans and beetroot , last years massive failures havent put me off , crap weather is a feature of the job and if the gloom continues it might not be much of a season this year but you will still get some decent titbits if nothing else . Lots of King Edwards waiting to go in and my usual orkney blues and pink fir apples all sat waiting and ive not bought any of them theyre all savings from last year .  i will start a few tomatoes this week just half a dozen seeds and pop a cucumber or two in , the broad beans and the leeks can go in a propagator outside theres no need to rush them . Subject to the weather i plan on chopping the big raspberry patch to the ground and drowning it in a huge garden builders bag of leaves and kitchen scraps then topping with grass cuttings in a few weeks . Ive plenty of raspberries in the freezer and in jars so a year off wont hurt .

 Not sure what is happening at the bottom of the garden due to the builders deciding to flail all my bushes off !! also caught them discusing sawing my willow tree down , i did point out its actually 3ft inside my garden . They slopped off at that point but i wont be suprised if they start building fires at the base theyve done that on other peoples bounderies , there was much muttering about scummy council house tenants . Thats State Housing to those of you abroad . Theres a lot of predjudice on that front , even the bleedin estate agent was saying they will struggle to sell the two houses facing us because we are council tenants . 

Highlights Lowlights

Another pretty boring week , looking out the window at the rain , at least it isnt snow . We have come to the end of  himselfs current hospital cycle and we have a whole month off , im awaiting appointments which may take weeks months or years , who knows . 

I was deeply impressed that i managed to get a whole 3kg of brown rice for the grand sum of £1.50  it was just in date , so ive kilner jarred it with oxygen absorbers and it will last me a year . You cant keep brown rice for much longer as it can go rancid . The dreaded crisp lady had a big box of wholefoods bags hidden amid the 100% unhealthy usual stock . On the prepping front do remember to rotate your stock , dried anything can be practically immortal , spices etc lose  there strength once unsealed but they are still usable if you add a wee bit more , the sniff test works best if it has no smell it has no taste , tinned goods last years past the date , anything with tomatoes not so long. it depends on the quality of the tin and lining , certain tinned fruit lasts longer than others . You cant tell by the brand the only way to tell is by opening one and having a look . Dried fruit is another near immortal if its looking a bit shrivelled soak it in a cup of tea and its as good as new . I'm on a mission for a wet day and will do a stock check , anything coming up to its usable lifespan goes on the worktop in a box and its added to the next couple of weeks menus. 

Chicken stew is starting to smell good , made with a couple of garlic chicken thighs and the juice and skin  from yesterdays chicken and veg , wilted celery a couple of sad carrots and a big tin of 5 bean salad that ive been trying to find a use for, it was years out of  date but when opened were perfect . So its stew and dumplings for tea ...it looks that sort of day

OOPS

 Well ive tried for weeks to avoid this but im afraid its got to be done  . Im going to comment on US politics even though its none of my business and you lot voted for this muppet . As a comparison , nobody here voted for Liz Truss we just got lumbered with her lunacy because the Tories never listen to anyone who wasnt a donor   What the hell is going on, the return of the orange one seems to be going well doesnt it?  Meanwhile Musk is runnng riot in his normal mr wonderful mode as he starts the asset stripping of every government department he can get through the doors of . Theres so much bullshit being pumped out by the usual suspects online its hard to tell what the actual truth is .  Musk is the real danger , he knows best and is only happy when destroying anything he gets his hands on . Bezos and Zuckerberg looked like a pair of hostages at the inaugerration and its made the news a giggle every morning when we get up . No matter how bad things are here in the UK this shambles makes us look good and at the moment we still have cheap eggs . For a country with so many guns is nobody a good shot?

Blip

 Well its the weird things running through my mind at 3am post , last night it was TB im old enough to remember a friends mum dying of it when we were at junior school . But these days its becoming a monster of our own creation ,once upon a time you would be sent to an isolation hospital till you were cured , these days they just hand out antibiotics and you take them if you can be bothered or when it gets noticibly worse . In a lot of cases its mutated into antibiotic resistance . They stopped vacinating teenagers back in 2005 doubtless on cost grounds and now its only given to babies from at risk groups well thats what it says on the government website , i think thats code for incomers from exotic places . im curious are all the incomers automatically tested for TB these days, i cant find an answer to that one anywhere. I dont need a crystal ball to see where this going , its transmittable by people living in close confines and just one person can spread it a very long way . Back in the 90s we had outbreaks in Hull and Scunthorpe and they were quickly testing folks and treating them . So this thought has been triggered by the large outbreak in Kansas USA . You can no longer isolate people due to their human rights so is it chuck a packet of antibiotics at folks and hope they take them? 

On and On

 Life is pretty uninteresting at the moment , the only highlight has been my wander to Sleaford to shop for the first time since before xmas , Community larder was its usual joy , tons of bread products so its doughnut bread pudding today, ive missed fresh fruit and veg so much , i know i have tons of dehydrated and frozen and a huge immortal cabbage but a pineapple was the highlight of the day . Chicken factory for a whole £10 worth of weird into the freezer, different huge bags of sweet chilli and garlic and herb, another tray of drumsticks for stew and a large chicken crown . They even had cooked chicken portions that ive shared with the cat . . All i needed was Lidl for some milk and iced tea for himself . I gather there is a couple of jumbles for next month and i admit ive left a host of tiny bids on the local auctions which would be a problem if i won them all, but if i put 10 bids on i sometimes win 1  and its no big deal as i havent cleared the backlog from the last load mainly because its stuff that needs to be washed and spend time hanging out or project things . On the project front im just trying to find the stuff i need to make cats eyeballs for drawer handles ..lol. sod the housework 

Bleedin hell the suns breaking through the pea soup fog , maybe i could find my way to the apple trees and do a bit of pruning ....wish me luck 

Blue

This endless grey or endless icy is doing my head in literally . im strugling with motivation and trivial health woes and just cant seem to give myself a big enough kick up the arse to get moving. I know the winter always gets me down so my usual coping stratergies are in place. Set myself small targets every day and try to achieve them.  Ive got every SAD light bulb in the universe on, plus grow lights for the current houseplant jungle.  So its watch dpressing TV or read, thats as far out of the fog as ive got , bring on Spring im sat tapping my foot waiting .

Why does the family think im mad its only a small bowl of potting compost in the microwave ? answers on a postcard or in the comments 

More Scandal

Well im trying not to laugh , they have now put in planning permision for loads more of these god awful  Mc mansions across the road from all the posh barn conversions on the opposite side of the village , they are all screaming online about how it will spoil their views and devalue their homes , im going to have to dig out my tiny violin for this one . im stuck here staring straight into the front windows of a couple of them ..lol  and soon they will be at the side and behind us as well !!!  it would seem because they got away with building something completely different from the original plan pre covid  it sets a precedent and every spare inch can have a few more chucked on it . ha ha ha .  Im sure the family trust of none tax paying farmers are laughing all the way to the bank .

But in the real world i think im becoming more bitter and twisted by the day with our two tier society , the weird world of adverts where not a single thing is anything that you can afford .  3 for 2 offers where you can only afford one . yellow sticker bargains  that still arent affordable . The constant moaning mouthpieces saying why is  nobody shopping.  Im good at surviving but i know plenty who arent and this year is really going to sort the wood from the chaff . Also has anyone else noted a huge rise in suicides ? that they dont seem to be mentioning along with adult death statistics ?  

New Year

The weather having taken a turn to the cold , i still havent been further than the bin since the 22nd of December last year , motivation is a problem but im getting through loads of books and ive another bag to go to charity waiting . I gather i am being forced to go out Saturday himself has spotted a table top sale he thinks i should go to , first one of the year , i would imagine it will be heaving although the weather does look a bit grim so i may get out of it 

We have had a planning notice for the land at the side of us , more millionaire properties , will we never be rid of soddin builders we will soon be surrounded by new build monstrosities . Big controversy in a small village is the latest incomer idiot who decided to launch huge display fireworks on xmas day opposite a field of horses , the whole village shook and because nobody was expecting it ,every dog and horse in the village was a bit horrified . Somebody went round and said please could you put it on the village web page if youre going to do this again and was met with a torrent of abuse which they filmed and reported , shouldnt think anything will come of it , the police and council wouldnt want to upset a wealthy incomer . Its sad they move here and try too turn this little place into a duplicate of the god awful shitholes they moved here to get away from 

Heres a little something You Tube found for me made only a few days before Xmas a look at the beautiful City of Lincoln  our nearest town 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dat7l70xdQ8&list=TLPQMDEwMTIwMjXouKXYBW1yOA&index=13

Plus

 Well fancy meeting you lot here . Not a single thing has gone wrong this year !!! I hope everybody liked their daft presents , the look of horror on our latest trainee daughter in laws face makes it all worth while ..lol 

 Mommy Dearest  spent Xmas Day stood in the toilet of her elder care prison , apparently if your feet are in the water the spiders cant get you , the staff never seem to bat an eyelid , she has however upset my daughter on her pre xmas visit by mistaking my daughter for me and going off on a whole ghastly rant about how fat and useless my twiggy daughter is.

Im sat here surrounded by the plants i won , wondering where the hell to put them all in a house without window sills , son has ordered me another grow light so they can go in a dark corner..lol  now i just need somebody to put me up some hooks for the ceiling ones .

Old Cat has had a good xmas , an autistic child guest discovered the cat likes Babybels cheeses and fed her a whole net full , the cat has been in a two day cheese coma , i was starting to get a bit worried as she slept for two days straight apart from the occasional fetid fart , but shes stood at the fridge howling this morning ready for her next feast 

ive spent the morning recycling buffet items into the freezer , chopped celery , big bag of coleslaw , wraps , the birds got the last sausage rolls , grapes and a wedge of pork pie . So theres no waste when you live in the countryside , just half a veggie quiche and a few mozzarela  sticks to finish up in the fridge , ive a huge plum loaf all the cheese and biscuits i forgot to put out and that will last ages .ive somehow gained another xmas pud for the collection..lol 

Tomorrow i need to crank up the dehydrator for all the cheap veg in the porch , its just all go this year , i will be glad when i can get back to my normal routine  

Holidays

 So thats me done, a Merry Xmas to all , may it be what you choose see you on the other side

Nearly Time

 Maybe i should panic?  ive got a full house this year , im cooking xmas day and ive got a buffet to do for Boxing Day ..lol  havent been this busy for years , ive decided the buffet will be a meatfest its just easy that way lots of wraps and make your own mixed salads and pickles along with various nibbles from Heron that were cheap and cheerful and just require chucking in the oven , ive been buying bits since September so its proved not as expensive as ive feared on the current strict budget .i will do a mountain of my infamous Bhajis for the boys . I did venture to the chicken factory last week and they had huge family sized chickens for £5 but i have no freezer space so bought a load of cheap M&S products of a chicken nature that are keeping us busy this week. All the veg is prepared and in the freezer ive just mash and roasties to do on the day and xmas eve i will churn out loads of yorkshire puddings . We are auditioning a new trainee daughter in law with attached teenager this year , dread to think what they will make of our joke bad taste prezzies and lack of festive bullshit and himself shouting all the time  but ho hum at least theres no weird diet requirements this time . Son does say he plans to marry her , we shall see

ive had my third win on the competition front and for a change its one just for me ive won a huge selection of House plants, pots and plant paraphenalia . got the mailing invoice today and im horrified at the cost .

Scary

 Went to Asda today , himself had a dentist appointment and it was the nearest supermarket , it was crowded but bearable , packed with pensioner couples arguing like hell ..lol.. one old bloke was about to die for saying he didnt like the  colour of the wrapping paper the missus was buying , guess he should have waited in the car like he does all the rest of the year , There was dozens of bewildered blokes wandering round with shopping lists obviously told to pick stuff up on the way home then you tripped over them shouting down their phones at their other half because they couldnt find stuff or it wasnt in stock and they darent make any descision for themselves . I did laugh one builder with a white van full of his stuff literally tipped his whole trolley in on top of everything then just launched his empty trolley across the carpark . I do think the shops are making a bit of a heroic effort this year this is the first time ive seen the shelves packed in there all year and they even had all the checkouts manned , mind you for the prices they are charging they need to be . Ended up having to pop into Lidl for the last 2 items on my xmas shopping list , streaky  bacon and cranberry sauce . who knew they would be hard to find ?

Anyway please remember its now pensioners driving on busy roads time of year , so please take granny shopping before she leaves a trail of devastation in her wake . Also the foodbank reminder, no chocolate oranges or selection boxes they are over run with them this time of year , dried milk is always a good one and i did see a lady loading a donation bin up with small boxed xmas cakes but you can eat those anytime .

Non Retail Therapy

 The problem with me having a small pile of money pre xmas is i will spend it not so much on xmas , but on the last jumble sale of the year a whopping £2 worth of pleasure , A ring bound Grand Canyon cookbook , another big kilner cliptop, a gorgeous turquoise Pyrex divided dish and a little rexard doll from the 70s . But then you have to realise its the pre xmas auction season and box lots are going for next to nothing..lol ..we had a trip out to Grantham to pick up the other day only to find my 2 boxes of weird and wonderful had mutated into five boxes and an Antler wicker picnic basket ..lol ..i did ask and the man said its all got to be cleared and you always buy crap?  it was free so what the hell . I managed to fill my wheely bin with a whole box of fake Tupperwear  himself filched a few for his fishing and i kept a huge cake carrier and the worlds biggest Pizza plate for the xmas buffet , the picnic hamper was filled with table lamp bases , they will be stripped for the wire and cable for updating lamps i like . I really did actually buy a box of dolls and cuddly toys , the dolls are worth a bit and can go to ebay after xmas, the teddies can go in the free box over xmas . There were tons of brand new RAF ties and black ties and tea towels, towels and tablecloths , so useful things and finally a big box of craft stuff with lots of part finished tapestries and my reason for buying it a huge file of vintage knitting patterns from the 30s , im still rooting my way through it all . Ive another auction to pick up from tomorrow and the last sale of the year is on Thursday .  I still have change from my £10 pocket money to spend ..lol 

Online auctions can be a cheap and cheerful bit of fun its not all antiques and spending hundreds of pounds .  4 china dolls have already left the building for £20  to a lady who goths them 

Wanders In

 Its the funny season yet again , tapping my foot waiting for xmas to be over ..lol but in the real world we have had to find nearly 5k for the van repairs so we are having a very skint winter and im trying to sell the contents of the dining room online, such is life . 

So in a fit of misery i bought a raffle ticket for a whole £1 and won a huge grocery hamper , not a xmas hamper but real everyday food and it was huge , far bigger than shown and it was from Tesco delivered the day after my skint monthly shop , so we cant move for food , im frantically dehydrating loads of veg because ive no freezer room , theres a stack of ready meals in there , just hundreds of pounds of real food , you open any cupboard and it all falls on you , himself has discovered he doesnt like blueberries and theres a limit to how many kiwi fruit he can demolish , guess im going to be dehydrating fruit mix next , plus theres several bags of frozen fruit , theres rice, pasta and so much more packs of heinz soup , tomatoes , spagetti beans etc etc , theres not a single thing that we wont use  . This will keep me going well into next year , so we celebrated by spending every penny we had on heating oil , the luxury of heating might even cheer me up a bit 

Shop Shop

 Well i got up this morning to 240 Black Friday emails it wasnt to hard to delete the whole lot , which of course means im a huge failure for not buying bugger all today . Not so much lack of funds more lack of interest . Turkey has entered the freezer all the veg is in there , plus loads of crap for the boxing day buffet , just need to source a huge bag of decent chicken nuggets for the plebs and big kids . Cheese can wait till the last minute , everything else i can bake and make . So  im not worried about the farmers stating a blockade , cyber attacks over xmas , power outages, you can barbecue a turkey if you have to !!  identity theft , well theyd be in for a nasty shock you aint got nothing what are they going to steal ?  pension theft ha ha ha .

ive a project for today , compressing a huge auction lot of craft stuff i bought for the price of a decent ball of wool , the huge box of wool i will add to my hoard and it gets used eventually , theres a load of full vintage sewing baskets to go through , yet more knitting patterns , tons of embroidery silks a couple of half done embroiderys  a jacobean cushion front and a tablecloth . Mountains of tatting thread and books , so many bags of knitting needles , embroidery transfers and i dont think i will ever need to buy sewing needles ever again , it should keep me busy for ages as i sit here like an episode of hoarders 

Tad Warm

 Well its officially winter , everything looked very Christmas clean this morning when i opened the curtains . Picked the last of the outside tomatoes in the snow the other day , towels are frozen on the line , just off to put on my wellies and hang a few more out . This year ive been lucky the huge sycamore has dropped its leaves on my side of the fence it depends on the wind direction , so ive been clearing up four or five barrow loads every morning so it doesnt kill the grass this means ive popped four foot piles in the veg garden and covered them with ground cover sheets ...if that along with copius amounts of well rotted chicken manure doesnt help the washed out garden come spring who knows ?

The farmers chose the best time to stage a demonstration , when theres nothing much doing on the farms at the moment other than cabbage and leek harvesting , which hoards of Eastern Europeans do in all weathers , then the supermarkets will up the prices and their profits and the actual farmers will be held up as the villains . We live in Dyson land he owns most of the land around here , well his family trust does , he doesnt pay taxes here only in Singapore , nor will he be affected by the death duties regs . He grows huge amounts of government sponsored bio fuel, a contract from his buddies the Torys. The sad truth is that farming is pretty much finished on a small scale here they need to cover the whole country over with solar panels and wind farms just to try and keep the lights on and the EVs running . The most disgusting thing is that King Charlie got that extra 45 billion in his greasy pocket from leasing his property aka the sea bed for wind farms . 

Meanwhile all the crap thats going on is keeping everybodys mind off World War 3 , nothing to worry about there is there? 

Well Hard

Well he thinks he is...lol  Himself demanded a decent pot noodle the other day he knew i would have some hidden somewhere, ive been leaving an assortment of vile and out of date ones on the worktop knowing he cant bend and get into the bottom cupboards , we were down to the last 3 scabby rejects  so i made them and offered them to the birds who are turning their noses up as well ..lol... himself  pottered off with his decent pot noodle chuntering about how ive changed since we got married so hes now rationed to 1 a week .

Are we already for the starvation that the farmers blockades are going to cause ?  thought so , indifferent would be the full scope of my emotions on that one . Then the Labour Numpty appeared on national TV saying we dont need farmers and the government will smash the farmers like Maggie Thatcher did the miners , I think it was a bit obvious that he never lived through that bit of history and had learnt it in his public schools economics class. Bet they didnt teach him that hungry people are angry people and a government can fall with a very loud bang if they annoy everyone enough . 

Then there was the dispatches documentary on the Windsors , cant say there were any suprises there bunch of theiving parasites was always my view . They merely scratched the surface and the Royals have just ignored it . They could make a whole series on other stuff they profit from but ho hum 

Royal Wedding

 What a week lol we got married last Monday , yes i know i should run for the hills , find my inner self etc etc but at my age and after 20 years of his shoutiness and general daftness im used to him .  No frills no fuss he got married in his camo shorts and a Lego tshirt and i raked a 70s burgandy velvet frock out of the back of the wardrobe and my DMs , we took a grown up kid each, one of who knew nothing about it till we got there. Due to his dire walking abilities he was on his crutches and stumbling allover, so we ended up getting married in the Coroners office which was the nearest available room ..lol it appealed to my inner goth . 

What occasioned this event , well i think he finally agreed when he found they were going to charge him £400 more for his car insurance because we wernt married , or it could have been the threats from our ever loving landlords the Local Council , recently theyve been reminding me that i and son are homeless in 6 weeks if he goes into care or dies at every turn . Or the not being able to deal with his medical matters because im not his next of kin AARRRGGHHHH .

So its a marriage of convenience with added Chinese food . And we now have the magic bit of paper that will shut them all up 

Jumblie

 So ive been to at one of the posh villages this morning to a jumble sale and spent my whole budget for the month lol... these sort of jumbles are few and far between and when they opened the doors i was nearly barged to the ground in the rush by a gaggle of resellers determined to get what they wanted , i could have come home with so much more  if i had shot a few of them. But im happy with my haul and i noticed the couple of  loud resellers were getting really mouthy about some of the prices. Three trips to their laden car later, they were shooting off to another sale . so obviously the prices cant have been that bad . At that point as they drove away the old bloke running it shouted everythings now half price and we will take offers too now theyve gone. Had to laugh , but i have come away with a big bag of books lots of winter reading to be going on with , a 1970s Mrs Beaton and a few 50s kids books . a cardigan and a scarf  by some posh make and i have managed to buy two big lush red vintage rugs you know the kind they dont sell on Wayfair but they do sell in antique auctions . Struggled to get them to the car and can now barely move , but i was determined , ive wanted some for years and could never afford them they will spend a week wrapped in plastic with tons of Permethrin powder ,apparently they came from the manor house !! 

Blessed

 So another fun packed skint week on the horizon ..lol  the van has entered the garage and we await the verdict on how much damage it has done . Himself is still on his extreme economy drive , you know the one where we cant go out and hes no money for the groceries but the delivery vans keep arriving for him . Not that we needed anything im well stocked up, in the slow cooker i have a really weird version of chicken stew , son donated some vile extra spicy chicken portions and i defrosted them peeled most of the god awful orange coating off chopped them and added to a bag of stock from a garlic chicken , three years out of date white tinned kidney beans and all the dregs of last years dried veg , plus three aged sticks of celery from the fridge it smells gorgeous ..time will tell 

The slow cooker died last week i spotted a big crack in it , son had some amazon vouchers saved up, so i now have a blue one because they were £10 cheaper . I still had the huge slow cooker but thats for big chickens and joints , not that ive used it lately . the everyday sized one does us for 2 nights of stew of some description . As kids we both grew up on mystery meat stew and big wedges of bread and butter or dumplings . I sometimes think that its yet another out of fashion food kids miss out on .Sometimes you just have to feel blessed by what you have , with good memories and bad times in the background