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The "normal things going on" thread.

Big Sandy

Big Sandy

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Uncertain times, for sure. A lot of lunacy going on out there in sheeple land...

However, to inject a little bit of the commonplace, what have you done/seen today that is normal?

Today I have moved 10cwt of coal out of my stockpile, out of bags and into the bunker. All year I buy the same amount of coal week on week, regular order with the coalman. Sometimes if its a really cold winter we do use most of it, but generally there's a bit left over. Been a mild one this year, so I have about a ton in stock.

It also means that I pay the same every time, and don't get suddenly faced with a bill for a ton of coal... One company won't come here unless I buy 2 tons off them in one go...

Need to get some firewood sorted again for the summer evenings, heat the water etc. For all the hand washing... (damn, there's the normality gone out from this post!)

I'm hearing grouse in the Heather out the back of the house, the snipe have started their weird noises... If you've never heard a snipe, listen to this...


They do it in the dark... Sounds a bit freaky!
 
Apart from 'work' patterns being affected life here is pretty much as normal. I'm bimbling around in my normal haphazard way, there are parts to fettle for the Landie in the hope of some summer expeditions, the summer flowers to plant, birds to feed, housework and diy... Freestyling from one thing to the next. I also need to get wood, I usually collect so I guess I'll have to check if they're open :rolleyes: But today, the sun is shining and it's definitely time to service the lawnmowers. Yes, I have two !! The extravagance of it all but if you want a job done properly have the tools ready :cool:
 
Getting out in the garden was my 'normal', yesterday and today. Even mowed the grass which brought to me the realization that I am shit at laying out a new lawn. It looked level to me when I'd finished raking and rolling the area but it's got more lumps than school custard.

Fuel: I won't need to be buying any coal or getting any more wood... We have one open fire and the chimney doesn't draw very well, if it's windy, there's more smoke in the house than goes up the chimney. Galling thing is that the estate are dragging their heels about lining the chimney and fitting a multi-fuel stove, despite the fact that the fire is dangerous and has come close to choking us in our bed on two occasions. We have very good central heating and super insulation so have been warm this winter but what if we have a cold one next year, and what about if we have a power cut? No electricity = no central heating. Being in the country, power outages aren't uncommon.

Snipe: not very common here but you can see the odd one if you walk along a stream with grassy banks.
 
Keeping the plants watered as I now have 3 shelves of lights and two windows with shelves on. All at seedling stage but the sweet peas are about ready to go out and he tmarrigolds are not far off. Have 3 trays of hydroponic lettuce and one in soil plugs that will be outside an another 2 weeks. Should be potting up tomatoes and spinach later today.
I've put an ad on Ebay for sunflower seeds with half profits to bumblebee trust and last week I sold 2 packets, but just today I've sold 10 :eek:. I think todays Google homepage has something to do with it.
 
Extreedoc said:
Getting out in the garden was my 'normal', yesterday and today. Even mowed the grass which brought to me the realization that I am shit at laying out a new lawn. It looked level to me when I'd finished raking and rolling the area but it's got more lumps than school custard.

Fuel: I won't need to be buying any coal or getting any more wood... We have one open fire and the chimney doesn't draw very well, if it's windy, there's more smoke in the house than goes up the chimney. Galling thing is that the estate are dragging their heels about lining the chimney and fitting a multi-fuel stove, despite the fact that the fire is dangerous and has come close to choking us in our bed on two occasions. We have very good central heating and super insulation so have been warm this winter but what if we have a cold one next year, and what about if we have a power cut? No electricity = no central heating. Being in the country, power outages aren't uncommon.

Snipe: not very common here but you can see the odd one if you walk along a stream with grassy banks.
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Getting the opening to flue area right is really critical. I had a fire that kept filling the room, it was about 11:1. Put in a course of bricks and a larget pot on the top to reduce the ration to 9:1 (which I believe is the minimum) and it transformed it. We have a woodburning stove in the other same sized flue and for that its the door opening area which is much smaller so it draws really well.
 
Saw the brown squirrel in the tree outside the kitchen window again. Several misses later from the CO2 pistol out the window and it disappeared down a hole.

Went out to investigate. The bit out the back of the cottage is maybe 8 feet wide at most, with leylandii and giant fuscias and such. I never go out there, it's overgrown and pretty much invisible unless you do some Indiana Jones stuff.

There's loads of holes. Definitely at least two separate brown squirrels, big one and a little one, presumably a mating pair. Tried filling in all but one of the holes and flooding the remaining one with the hose but there was another hole I didn't know about and the little bastardos ran out and up the tree.

Now that they know they've been found out they're being brazen now. Seemed to be out every time I looked out the kitchen window. Must have just never noticed them before. I've ordered some pet safe traps that I'll put out the back. They're heavy duty Face Mashers but in a box with a wee tunnel going through, with the face masher in the middle. I'm planning on baiting them for a week or so but not setting the face masher. Then every few nights setting them both until they hopefully get the message and foxtrot oscar.

The millions of bonnie wee birdies that eat from the feeder that's clearly attracted the rodents in the first place will have to do without. We would appear to have been feeding a pair of dirty great rats all winter!
 
robwlondon said:
Getting the opening to flue area right is really critical. I had a fire that kept filling the room, it was about 11:1. Put in a course of bricks and a larget pot on the top to reduce the ration to 9:1 (which I believe is the minimum) and it transformed it. We have a woodburning stove in the other same sized flue and for that its the door opening area which is much smaller so it draws really well.
Click to expand...
Thanks Rob but I can't do anything that drastic as this is an estate owned house my hands are tied.
 
Its Mothers Day so I was treated with 2 boxes of chocolates and some lovely cards when I woke up (even managed a lie in) after that it went back to a normal Sunday ..... Lots of housework a d a washing machine that doesn't seem to have stopped .... Watched a guy how a caravan the wrong way up the 1 way street I live on (I live in a coastal town so tourists ignoring road signs is very normal) and just put 3 or the 4 kids to bed ....

Business as usual in our house .... Ow and my husband offered the street to use MY Beast to block off 1 end of pc the road so no more idiots can drive/park on it!! So now he is currently doing the washing up after tea as punishment!
 
Mowed, weeded, and had a couple of Landy hours too, fitted a timing belt and bolted up the front cover after cleaning the garage and sorting the pile of tools off the bench so I could see it again! Finished up grabbing a Morrisons online shopping collection slot for a week on Tuesday morning so all in all a good nearly normal day. :)
 
Pressure cleaned the drive, washed garage door and cleaned house window jambs / opening areas and lubricated opening mechanism thingies (upvc windows). Then wiped down soffits and fascias. Basically the sort of jobs you know probably should be done but in reality get put off for months or years.

I also ordered some Millers semi synthetic 20w/50 engine oil and Mahl filter from Opie Oils. Usually drop the oil June-July ish but I can see isolation / restrictions on movement increasing so will probably waive more spanners about than normal this Spring.
 
Made a beef casserole in the slow cooker this morning, complete with red wine :) Ate some of that for dinner. Put my LRUK sticker on the Freebie & posted pic online. Cleaned the headlights with the 'Headlight Restoration / Cleaning Kit' from Muddymods' Ebay site. Changed the wheels around so the greatest tread depths are to the rear. (Actually, did that yesterday....) Checked the tyre pressures - they were all too high. Did some clothes washing of the necessary kind :) Posted pics of my visit to Eastnor LR Experience last week. Did a greenlane (up Greenway Lane near Cheltenham in fact). Found that Michelin Synchrones are NOT the best tyres on slippery stony ground. Thanked the driving gods for Traction Control! lol
 
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