Windy Anyone?

 Its been a tad windy the last few days , no casualties here just a single planter that blew over , it was coming from the right direction for a change, the huge farm buildings sheltered us and apart from not a lot of sleep because the sycamore was pebble dashing us with its keys its all been fine. Its done a fair bit of damage to trees but nothing much here at all . 

Highlight of the day a young rat on the doorstep , last week he was spotted on the birdtable , so i stopped feeding the birds and hedgehogs . Old cat is wandering round very smug , she has always been a good ratter and still managed to have this reckless youngster despite being doddering . Our other cat has no interest in rats she specialises in mice which she eats and leaves the tails and kidneys on the doorstep. Old cat seemed quite upset when i shovelled her big game into the bin and that triggered another thought . Which recycling bin should it go in ? Our food waste cannister? after all you put chicken and chop bones in that, or does he go in the general waste? Recycling these days is just to complicated 

 

Winter is Coming 26

 Im sick of the sight of apples and pears, so ive just picked another big bag full  for my amusement . I decided im not doing apple sauce and pie filling ive a cupboard full to use up , i may do a few crumbles for the freezer but its mainly going to dried apples and pears , weve just finished the last of last years jars and i really like them . I dont do apple rings , chippings with the skin on are cheaper to dry and seem to hold their taste better . Ive many jars of dried mixed veg that i made earlier in the year and im still making veg mixes from anything looking tired in the fridge . So my store cupboards are looking pretty healthy.  

On the house front ive saved tons of bubble wrap to pin inside the curtains if it gets really cold , our main problem is the outside doors that despite heavy door curtains run with condensation through the winter months , ho hum someday they may replace the rotten doors but im not holding out much hope.

Meanwhile im sat here smug at the keep three days of food and water advice from our Beloved Leaders , it seems to be mocked on most media as scaremongering  but one presenter had spotted an MP in Costco  laden with 3 trolleys of food and water . Live in the countryside for most of your life and you know how to build a pantry with little money . Im just gutted that the squash died this year , the tomatoes did little but that didnt matter much , we dont use many tomatoes and i have a big jar of dried ones just in case . The leeks are pathetic little fingerlings but theyve revived and they are growing still . I will keep going to the food pantry and getting whatever veg is going cheap and preserving it .

Dont forget Winter is Coming , the Daily Express says so...lol

Oops

 So I watched the auction last week and himself had said that he needed some duvet covers to put over stuff in the shed , now because I know him so well , you need to fulfil his requests quick or hes liable to just go in the airing cupboard and use the spare bedding and just not mention it till you go to change the bed and theres nothing there . Bless , nothing of a household nature is of any worth to him !!  So i was in a bit of a rush and i spotted a pile of textiles nobody was bidding on , it said two suitcases and various other tat , but the photo was so blurred it was hard to tell .  lol  Yep you guessed it went to pick it up and it was two modern huge suitcases rammed full with bedding, towels and curtains plus a stack of folding camping chairs .The towels were brand new John Lewis , they are in the wash and will be going in our airing cupboard there was a stack of bedding sets all new and decent makes which apparently sell well on vinted , loads of unopened xmas presents lots of socks and scarves , a bunch of very 90s duvet covers that himself can have , still got loads to go through , so for £5.60 ive started the pile to sell next year . The carboot season may be over unless you have the urge to freeze at Stickney or Torksey , but im probably still going to be measuring and washing stuff till Spring..lol

Wind Chill

 Well thats me inside today,  the wind is howling and biting, proper chapel hat peg weather . I may make an effort and start to play hunt the winter clothing . Himself has gone fishing with his brother , so i will be living with a nasty troll for the next few days , the wind chill will cripple him , it wont make him not wear shorts but thats just him , shorts all year round . Just like my father in law was  shirts open to the waist and dripping in gold chains even in the snow , their thermostat isnt on the same setting as the rest of the human race.

So today i can have a busy peaceful day , 3 lots of washing on the line loads of cabbage dehydrating , really nice to chuck in mashed potato or to make potato cakes , pineapples chopped and popped in the freezer and a pork loin chopped and bagged with braising sauce , £2 reduced in Lidl  and will help with my chinese cooking adventures this winter . I will have a couple of broccoli stems to grate and dry later, great in bubble and squeak or soup . Ive an auction to watch its got loads of craft stuff in that if its cheap enough i may get , not holding much hope up but its not stuff i need urgently , i did well out of a £1 box last week it had 15 large reels of corded thread brand new in the wrappers , ive kept a few colours  its good for jeans and motorbike clothing. plus a big bag of watercolour pens something ive never played with before , 

Life isnt exciting ,  ,but its winter is coming feeling in the air today , so what exciting winter prep are you lot getting up to?

  

Today

 Im catching up on my garden chores lots of industrial pruning , so now i can barely move ..lol ... So i thought now the bugs have come out id come in and talk to you lot. Whats to tell you ?  Did another car boot yesterday , sold tons of 50p items , so many that i really can see the dining room floor now . It has been decided by the management that my daughter is hosting xmas this year so i really dont need to see the dining room floor , I will of course will now take advantage of this and the jumble sale season .  Best sellers this year at the car boot have been plants , ive already started cuttings for next year . Ive sold tons of big size clothing , so i will invest at the jumbles , this week i sold lots of bodywarmers and fleeces, not for 50p but the dearest are a couple of quid , mens clothing sells better than womens mainly because i will never be a label whore , i just dont get it ? Then there is the book mountain , they were £3.40 for a whole bookcase full, i wanted a few books for myself the other few hundred have sold at 50p a book , then when im down to the dregs i give them away ..lol  Surprise good seller of the year has been the two huge buckets of dug up bottles that were given to me by the porters at the auction because another buyer told them to chuck them in the skip , i also gained a lot of plants they saved for me as well, because people buy large batches of planters and chuck the plants in the skip as well. All the free stuff appeals to my recycling urge , we have even done a car boot sale for a local cat charity , because they have to pay these days to have the rags taken away at the end of the sale . Ive already got a stack of projects to stitch and repair for the winter keeps me occupied if i cant play outside , its going to be a cold one , himself has announced we are not having heating oil this winter because hes not paying that amount , but i can hide in my bedroom with my electric fire and he can freeze ..........think he may change his mind its not like he cant afford it , he just needs to stop buying rusty crap!!

Puzzling

 Yesterday himself insisted we go shopping in to Lincoln , by now we know most of the shops he can get round , so he insisted on Farmfoods , i havent been for a few months. The one thing i did need was stew beef for the winter we used the last lot this week . Ye Gods , you used to get 3 bags for £12 and it lasted all through winter , now they have a single tiny bag for £5.99!! didnt get any needless to say . Cant afford it from the butchers and its fatless and horrible tasteless stuff anyway. Not quite shore what im going to do , theres not a chance in hell he will eat vegetable stew  so he will doubtless be going on at me , like i can perform miracles on my budget , ive been doing that for years theres no more give in my pockets im afraid . Meanwhile he spent £81 in there on a carrier bag of orange bread crumbed crap . I did manage to get a sack full of red onions out of him with much grumbling . Im very lucky when i get to go to Heron on my own he cant get round the aisles , they do get some strange offers, but theres useful stuff among it . Korean dried noodles 39p, lots of spready cheese offers £1 anyway i managed 3 huge bags for £31 then when i was unpacking at home he chimes up with you need to stop buying that crap !!  his target the two litre bottles of creame soda i treat myself to ....bleedin men , one day they may do a post-mortem on him and  find hes packed with orange breadcrumbs

Winter is Coming ...Again

 Well i did a car boot yesterday , sold lots of stuff i didnt think would sell and gave away rather a lot as well, i have a sore throat from shouting "everything is free" but we did get a few takers, still have a pile of stuff to pack away , but im cleaning the corner in the dining room before it all gets packed up for the winter , theres a bit more for the charity shops and a few bits for the free table when we get a nice weekend. All i bought was a bag of baking potatoes , bird food for the winter and a planter for a £1 , my daughter however spent most of the takings ..lol 

Theres 3 more weeks of carboots before it closes for the winter , but im not doing anymore , i will just go as a buyer for the few storecupboard bits i havent found this summer , i will never be one of those people wandering round with a torch trying to find a bargain ..lol  

I did do a jumble Saturday , i bought a bag full of bodywarmers for a £5 , sold most of them yesterday because not a single one fitted , but i did find Joules pjs more fleeces because they dry well , and a proper vintage Maumau for next summer , himselfs look of horror when i showed him means i will wear it loads !! good taste isnt in my repertoire. 

Im trying to reorganise the dining room so i can have my sewing machine out all the time , in a bid to quilt myself to death before spring , ive mountains of fabric i need to use before i die!!!  

The Point

 im becoming a more miserable git by the day , grocery prices being one of my pet peeves . I was in the butchers the other day and he said i havent seen you lately , so i told him what he probably didnt want to hear , I just cant afford what you sell very often only as a treat , I cant pay £8 each for a decent humanely reared pork chop , his meat is beautiful and tasty but not within my budget anymore . He still charged me £17 for two slices of chine and a small haslet once hed picked his jaw off the floor . Its bad when the local butchers is a tourist attraction and the serfs can afford little he sells

Weddin

 Yesterday we had a big family wedding , middle son tied the knot and it was a great occasion , not a punch up in sight . Blokes wearing ill fitting suits , tattoos and ankle tags ..lol..and the women much the same but in purple frocks. Loads of children running wild, slathered in chocolate cake , one small boy has the world record for eating mini pork pies. It really went well held in a local pub . Himself cant walk today but he insisted on doing it on his crutches . Biggest surprise Himselfs eldest daughter was there with her two girls she hasnt spoken to me in years and her dad with much kicking up the arse went and chatted to her , the basic problem is they are as bad as each other and can never admit they are wrong !!! baby steps i think , but at least they talked , hes two grandaughters that are teenagers that he hasnt seen since they were babies and they were lovely .  Another relative we dont see often was there her husband has always been a bit of a miserable old git dragged to any family occasion under protest , but she was always fine . Turns out hes now got dementia , shes only just retired from nursing now shes caring for him , makes you realise how lucky you are , i can still talk to Himself hes falling apart physically , but his marbles are mostly there most days.

Anyway thats this years planned events over with , now i can knuckle down to the apple and pear harvest preserving and ive just found a load of plums in the bottom of the freezer that can be jammed so its going to be a busy week ..lol 

The Return

 We Survived!!! now we need a week to get over it . It hammered it down the first hour of the journey but the sun shone all weekend , daughters posh new scooter kept breaking down all the way there and back its currently sat waiting to be collected by the shop she got it from , we had to come home get the bike trailer and go out and recover it fortunately only about 10 miles away from us. When youve got a couple of 100 years scooter fixing experience traveling with you and they announce they cant nurse it any further it was truly dead.

Himself had a great time , endlessly repeating himself and just talking man bollocks with the mates hes had forever . I just sat there nursing cups of tea and nodding my head , grandson and his girlfriend were pure entertainment , 17 young and in love . I did ask him how they got together . He said she was his mate at school and always put him in his place then told him he was her boyfriend now...lol

I do think his mates were shocked at how much help he needs with just daft things , the disabled facilities are excellent at Mersea Island  with just a couple of little gripes , some pillock locked the door at night , dropped the latch and didnt leave it on Radar key , revenge was getting them out of bed at 3am to unlock it . Then we found the showers dont have sloping floors, 3 inches of cold water standing , nothing that crocs dont cure . Himself didnt have a lot of feeling in his legs so hes now hugging the sofa zonked out of his head on industrial pain relief as the feeling comes back . hed also made himself some tie rap stirrups to keep his feet in position while riding and because its a trike he  just sits there, scary but effective.

His best friend did say that hes amazed that i just do whatever is needed and dont bat an eyelid ..lol. He also said that if he was disabled  his wife would run for the hills. 

So we made it there and back in one piece !!! Now im gradually getting stuff sorted ive all week to unpack and put stuff away . I was up all last night as he cried with the pain , im trying not to think about what could have happened , he had a great time and thats all that matters  

Bon Voyage

Tomorrow we are off on a pilgrimage to Essex , to a huge scooter rally , 10 of us . Oh be joyful , himself is riding because hes started riding for the first time in 3 years having had a good summer health wise , daughter is riding, grandson blew his scooter up over the Bank Holiday , we are taking the van and a car and enough food and drink to feed the 5000,  a couple of his mates are riding in theory . I dont have to drive , daughters mate and brother in law have the honours i just have to cook for the 5000 and put the kettle on a million times . We are taking a folding z bed so himself doesnt have to get down to floor level . Himself is driving me mad with packing charts and stupid questions and his head will likely explode because our lot are like herding cats . Just had the are you packed lecture , its a weekend not a soddin 2 week break ive half a carrier bag for me and two bags of stuff he needs, anybody forgets anything theyre all grownups and responsible for themselves.

Wish me luck , i may take to my bed when i get back ..lol 

Puzzled

 Its probably me , but whats this weird bragging online about To Good To Go Bags? Do the algorithms think this is something i need to see 10 times a day? Is it the replacement for rate my plate? It seems to consist of middle class folks saying how wonderful their haul is , well possibly if your buying the sort of stuff you get in these bags , but i just think their mostly a rip off , the foul over spicy sandwiches that nobody buys , slimy fruit and veg and weird tubs of spicy god knows what that theyre grinning manically at receiving. Plus they dont seem very cheap , there was a woman the other day bragging she had got £21 worth for £7.99 , i wouldnt give that for it . 

 Then theres Olio,I have  a friend whos an organiser for this , it does seem a bit more sensible. But there seems to be mountains of posh bread and lots of wilting veg  but theres uses for that , my friend seems to be out at all hours collecting a car full , then she puts it on her drive for collection as she says the veg goes into the compost bin and the bread ends it days in her chickens if its not taken .

Garden update the wind threshed the plums the other day , the apples are mostly on the ground and tiny , ive a solitary cucumber and thats about it apart from a tree dripping in cooking  pears..lol natures a funny old thing      

Free

 I think ive developed a bit of a bad name at the car boot ..lol  Im well known for just giving stuff to people when theyre dithering about stuff , so yesterday me and the daughter did a get rid of the crap car boot , by 10.00 am i was totally bored so i started the grand giveaway , id made a good few quid so i was happy with that , its like circling vultures , first they ran off with the free tub ..lol it was on her stall in 10 minutes , a lot went to the next stallholders daughter , whos just bought a house so lots of pots and household stuff , then i got a lecture off some old bloke about encouraging the foreigners and yes they did take a few bits> Then theres the 'You Should Be Selling  That  Online brigade'.  I DONT CARE , it is not going to landfill , it saves people money and its nothing i need or want . Tomorrow its a couple of bags to various charity shops that actually accept donations.  Did i buy anything ? A couple of West German Planters that were hiding under a table not 10 feet away , were they a need?  like hell , but everybody should have beautiful things in their life and it doesnt have to be expensive . 

I may decide to put out the free table over the bank holiday depending on the weather , spread the love of crap folks !!!!

Bargain Hunting

 Toddled off to the little posh jumble on my own , only managed one sack full for the grand total of £6 ,  managed to sort 3 bits for myself all new with tags , a good quality new leather satchel that im sure one of them will flog on vinted and a couple of t shirts for sarcastic son that he didnt like the feel of , so more car boot stock from the pile that didnt fit ..lol 

Sunday it was carboot visiting with the whole tribe in tow , good job really because himself is quite useful as a glorified shopping trolley , a couple of brand new curver bins , a new pair of Clarks ankle boots , shrink wrapped socks for the winter , some posh make ..lol, even a craft kit to do on the camping trip, the dearest item was £2 . 

Then i had to do my auction pick up , there was a pair of Dunelm curtains that i have lusted after for a while so i got that lot , came with other curtains and a giant damask table cloth and once again you may as well buy a £1 lot because youve got to pick up anyway..lol well i keep telling myself that !  I did okay with the 4 boxes that came as the £1 lot , theyre always badly photographed which is why nobody wants them , pair of unused Edinburgh crystals champagne flutes , plus a marked crystal fruit bowl and another posh vase from a Turkish company, loads of little dip bowls , a box of studio pottery , all manner of strange items , even a huge set of windchimes , stack of boiling bowls , mason cash pie dishes all it said on this lot was household goods . Dont laugh the Dunelm tartan curtains were immaculate but huge , Patio door sized in fact....guess who doesnt have a patio door ? 

Wild Life

 If your a wildlife noticer  like me , id like to point out that seed trays or cat litter sized trays filled with just a couple of inches of water will help all manner of wildlife in the drought . I have a bowl of pebbles with water so that the bees and other little things can stop for a drink as well.

I have hedgehog problems  , Mr BH woke up in the night to find he had a bed companion , our big male hedgehog Dave hes hard to miss having albino patches  , there was much squealing and shouting from himself , but he was rescued and put outside , not himself though i was tempted . Then last night i was woken up at 4am by rustling noises from downstairs , assumed it was our timid cat come in through the window . Errr no it was a baby hedgehog gorging himself in our huge sack of cat stars , just sat in the sack looking very pleased with himself , when theyre tiny they are scared of nothing , it took 3 goes to get him out as he kept running back between my feet. They must be sneaking in at dusk when the doors are still open because of the heat , guess im going to have to look under the furniture with a torch at bedtime crafty buggers arent they . Some one did ask why we have so many of the prickly buggers , its because we have hedges and trees and bushes for cover , all the new builds have fencing and concrete bases so nothing can just wander in and out .

I also have a lot of bird variety's in the garden and ive noticed this year they are taking all the immature berries from the bushes like the elderberries , cottoneaster  and fuschias it really doesnt bode well for the winter if they have already eaten everything so im stocking up on bird food as well 

Sold

Well i managed  two days of carbooting and now im a helpless cripple..lol.. im getting there, but last night was hellish,  i couldnt even turn over in bed without sound effects getting up fpr the loo was interesting to say the least . It took me about 10 goes up and down the garden path to unspasm this morning with a rickety elderly cat helping  . Why this happens is baffling , the girls turned up for both and they did all the lumping and humping and were really useful . We had a  right giggle yesterday , we had the same girl from the one on Saturday next to us on the Sunday , sold a mountain of books from the book mountain at 50p , lots of bad pictures various crap from under the stairs . Loads of plants, i did a big tray of 50p houseplants , then sold garden plants on the Sunday  , gave me a giggle that the same woman bought tons of houseplants , pretends shes not trade then puts them in pretty pots and flogs them for tons of money in her antique booth , she did it last year . I dont mind they cost me virtually nothing , the plants do all the work ..lol  Best laugh is i always have a free box , this week we had 3 boxes one of damaged china , one of books and one of odd crap , one bloke took a bag of 90s map books he was going to use for crafting , various other folks took bits and bobs , but i came back from the loo and the girls were falling about laughing , two pensioners ran off with all the free stuff including the boxes !!!  Bit odd i had to find a new free box..lol.

Im really hoping we dont have to do any more this month , but with the big camping trip looming I need the cash , everything seems to be going on vehicle repairs at the moment 

Baffling

 Here we are again my first bit of peace this week , everything family wise is still up in the air im, just wandering the universe being sympathetic and trying not to take sides or upset anyone ?  I am however not very good at this ..lol

 Himself has gone to disabled fishing and ive got a carboot weekend im planning on doing 2 just to shift the stuff in the dining room, ive bought nothing, but the pile seems never ending. Lots of household linens this week , yet more books and a pile of pictures ive dug my way to . Its going to be disgustingly cheap and i will give a lot away . Ive also a ton of house and garden plants that i need to shift , theyve come on really well only being watered with the washing up water.

Im reading loads and trying to avoid the news in any form , its just endless lies and bad news , what is the world coming to?   

Come Too

 im still here , not exactly doing much every thing seems to be up in the air . I have to do my turn at going fishing with himself , his disability vehicle being broken yet again !!!! he wants my car and it will stink of horrible bait for weeks a bit like bad chemical vapes im afraid  . Attended good old Methringham  car boot , came back laden with two big bags of Lakeland jam jar lids unused and a whole £1.50 , a single gory murder i dont think ive read , birdseed , potatoes and a small Parian Ware Fairy Lamp that i didnt need  for a whole £1 . It was a nice cool walk round in fact it was blowing a cold howling gale but hey ho .

In a fit of insanity , i decided to rake out the entire under the stairs and gained a whole mountain of crap that can also be car booted , arguing with himself about moterbike boots that he hasnt worn for twenty years , why would you keep them? he baffles me , they dont even fit him . Did how ever, find most of the camping gear that hasnt been used in years.  Yep it would seem that we are camping in September , physically this is a really bad idea , but since when has anybody listened to me..lol  Eldest son is having his stag night at a scooter rally in Essex what could possibly go wrong ?

Complicated

Lifes kind of complex at the moment , family matters are eating my thoughts and time . Dont panic nobody's  murdered Anne Widecombe she may have been a strange old bird but just why? no its just the upsets of life that you cant change and you cant help , even my aged cat is fading before my eyes  the heat having done for her I think and it seems we have another week of Scorchio to look forward to , Even endless tuna and cat milk isnt helping much , shes still catting but in a wobbly frail kind of way , a decision will have to be made soon i think .

The veg garden has pretty much died off but we look to have a very good apple harvest , so we may eat an awful lot over winter , im so glad ive already dried and frozen lots of stuff for the winter and im up to winter food storage levels in general . I will be giving the boot sales a miss till its much cooler and ive not got to bother with the auctions if i dont have the time . Catching up with my reading , lots of bad crime fiction and a few much older crime novels i found in an auction lot ages ago and just forgot about .  

So enjoy your summer in any way you see fit , its rarely this glorious , we will be back to the grey soul destroying time of year soon enough and dont forget you can achieve an awful lot at 4am when the sun comes up , but it dont half upset your neighbours!!!

Car Boot Challenge

 My daughter was away for the weekend and i finally got my car fixed!!  it has been parked at the garage awaiting treatment it was all packed with stuff from the auction and the mechanic took some books as a gift...lol.. rather than unpack it I decided to do a car boot half a mile from home , its a new one so it wasnt busy , didnt sell a lot but i managed and i wasnt very gimpy.  In my infinite wisdom i decided that because the car was full i would just top it up with a few bits and bobs and do the big car boot on the Sunday , it went quite well i managed to shift all but a couple of the big over the mantle pictures that my entire boot was full of , a few went to trade and by 10 i marked the last of them down to £1 each  and they were gone in no time , the girl on the next stall was horrified ...lol. I did explain that i wanted just one and had bought the entire boot full for £3.40  so i was well into profit , i think her head nearly exploded when i marked all the boxes of china glass and bits and bobs free at 10.30 . They have all been to various car boots 3 times with my daughter and i just didnt want them .  She snaffled up a couple of boxes full that she said shed sell on vinted , good luck to her , im not bothered i need to make space , i want my dining room back before winter !!!  The only down side was i got home fell asleep drinking my cup of tea , went for a shower and fell asleep again and then slept a whole 10 hours  and still feel knackered...lol..I also ache from head to toe and have a busy hospital and doctor visit week . I think i picked the best weekend weather wise possible,  cloudy and breezy perfect weather now its building up to another patch of Scorchio but i can leisurely unpack the last bags of books and now i can get out a bit because i have the car and my car boot money for fuel money