Saturday 27 August 2016

Whistling fridge

Our fridge is about 13 years old (older than any of our grandchildren) and it is struggled this summer. For the last two weeks on closing the door it has whistled at me!

I looked up advice on the internet,  It is so useful for this kind of thing.

What was the advice? - clean it basically.  It suggests fluff bending fan blades; blocked ducts; ice overload in the automatic de icer; etc. Apparently the fridge pulls the cold air up from the freezer to take them temperature back down when its been opened even for a few seconds.

So I emptied as much as possible, stopped picking any more garden stuff for a day and borrowed some freezer space in a neighbours and started the cleaning inside and promised to vacuum the outside

The whistle stopped!!

Phew - no way can we afford a replacement at the moment!


Friday 26 August 2016

Three Rs

Raspberries, radiators and recycling.

Been composing my blog fora couple of days and started thinking Three Rs to remember what I wanted to write about!

Autumn raspberries. A box every other day which we can mostly manage to eat. A bowl with yogurt at lunch time or some thing with ice cream for tea. Every so often half a pound are frozen for puddings later in the year. I like these autumn varieties - the fruit is bigger and firmer than the summer ones and I think we have got more per cane.


Radiator painting.  Hard up Hester was writing about doing up her house for sale and doing all those little jobs put off for years while living there.  I was inspired to get some of those jobs done and reap the benefit of living with the improvements. Downstairs the previous owners had painted the radiators blue. In fact they painted the walls, the door frames and the skirting with the same paint!  They looked awful against our lighter new emulsion. I have ignored them for a year now but no more!

We had a tin of one coat radiator paint in our stash of DIY stuff and an old brush. Nice breeze this week to blow out the smell. It took two coats to get this radiator in the lounge any where near nice and white.
Good use of that annoying long paper that comes as packing in Amazon boxes - it makes a carpet cover under the radiator.


Recycling - new programme on interiors for 'nought on Channel 4!  I think this is a remake of something Kirsty whatsit did some time ago.  Gok is not to my taste particularly but he had some good designers doing the recycling actual work and people using Freecycle a lot.  But when her says "next to nothing" and then spends £20 on some material, I have to laugh! His next to nothing and mine are universes apart!  Some good ideas seen.

 I got to find this programme when I wandered in from the baking garden one hot afternoon this week looking for a break from the heat.  I am not doing too well on the very hot days and am looking forward to autumn.






Thursday 25 August 2016

Beefsteak tomato success


We grew three varieties of tomatoes this year/  The beefsteak ones have been delicious to eat and cook really well. This is the largest one so far and it weighed 1 lb on its own.




Some more on the next plant.  These 3 weighed 1 lb together.

The gardeners' delight plants are doing well. I am not sure about the Italian plum cooking ones.  They are a bit dry.  I am going to leave them on the plants to get over ripe to see if they improve.

Hope your tomatoes are coming thick and fast.


Sunday 21 August 2016

Visitors and another use for guttering!

Been absent this week on Granny duties with the back to back visits of two lots of sons, partners and grand daughters. The youngest sweetie is 2 years and 2 months and cannot stop talking, running and jumping so we are enjoying the peace after the week long play school in the garden.

When all the plastic toys fail there is always - painting. Apparently only allowed at either Granny's house.
-

Visits to the seaside for digging!

Though she needed a bigger digger as the tide was coming in!

And what else can you do with bits of guttering and six golf balls (rescued from flower beds when we moved here)?  Well, you build a ball run and teach her about gravity. There was no persuading her for 3 days that it was quicker to collect all the balls at once, not one at a time.  Once she got the idea she taught herself to put them in her shorts pockets and waddle, twice as wide at the hips, back to do it all again, and again and again. As you will guess the engineering/teacher son could not resist making it longer and longer (with all sorts of guttering found around the place) and more complex by the end of the week and had  hard time persuading  the sweetie to share the balls!


When all that was exhausted there was the helping granny pick stuff.  Do you lot want runner beans for tea?

This was after a washing up bowl had been given to the neighbour!



Thursday 11 August 2016

Beetroot


I went to look for some beetroot today ready to cook a few more for ready for lunch time salads. I had only grown a short row as last year we had far too many. But the hares had got there first!  Four had been well and truly eaten. Honestly these animals are rare, lovely to look at but are a complete pain.



Look at those big teeth marks. 

Neighbour suggested it was because the beetroot were sweet and juicy and the hares were short of water as the dykes and ditches were dry.  Husband muttered he would give 'em a good bath if he caught them.

Rest of beetroot are boiled and in the fridge. Hopefully the hares can't open doors......



Wednesday 10 August 2016

Two frugal challenges

I have set myself a couple of challenges for the rest of the summer to occupy myself while husband watches all this sport.

First can I make a top for myself from this nice standard size pillowcase I paid 50p for?



Second I am renovating this Ercol style chair found when we demolished the old asbestos garage. It will go in my sewing cabin eventually.  I would really like to paint it sunshine yellow but am having trouble finding cheap paint - best buy so far is £4.95 for buttercup yellow gloss.

In case you are wondering on my sewing cabin progress. I am waiting on the electrician to put in the power supply so I can get going. He turned up to do the quote with his arm in a sling so I don't know if it will get done soon! Husband has made a path and the steps are complete.


 Meanwhile I have set up my watercolour paints and am grabbing the odd half an hour to relax.

Have you found things to do while hiding from the sport this summer?  

I can just about follow the Olympic cycling and sailing but a lot of the rest is not for me!  As soon as Joe Root and Ali are out in the cricket; I loose interest as it then goes so slowly....... . And thank goodness F1 and the motorcycling racing is on a summer break or I would never see the husband!









Monday 8 August 2016

Hysterical dentist and bus ride

I hate dental treatment. My early childhood of very bad dentists has left me scared for life. So having broken a back tooth and had a front crown come out over the weekend I was not looking forward to the emergency appointment. But  I have a very efficient new dentist who looked after me brilliantly, so no hysterics from me this time! Of course it might help that he is a young, Italian, with a lovely smile....

I wandered back to the bus station via a bit of window shopping and caught the midday bus. There is a section of road for buses only on the way out of town which is accessible via some bollards that go down when the buses approach. Only they didn't work and the bus reversed and went the long way round, This prompted a lot of moaning from an older man just behind me. He was mollified by his female companion. A few minutes later she tried a distraction  of a bag of cream horns. I was horrified. You can't eat them on the bus, I thought, the flaky bits will go everywhere. 

I must have tuned out for a bit, working on de-numbing my mouth from the injection, when the next bit of conversation caught my attention.
"So you don;t want me then?"
"I can't commit"
"You just have to say yes or no." She pressed.
Blimey I thought are they reading the script of a teenage soap?
"No"
"Can we be friends?!
"No."
Blimey, dumped on the bus on a Monday lunch time???

The bus had reached my stop, so I got up a bit early to sneak a look at this love crossed pair. They were not teenagers; both 60 if not more!

 If my tongue had not been numb I might have risked a comment.  "he's not worth it, darling, get a real bloke," !!!

 As it was I had to rush as the bus driver ignored the bell and sailed past my stop!!! I made him stop on the next bend, as the next stop is miles up the road and its a long enough walk.

Too much excitement for a Monday.

Sunday 7 August 2016

Annual electricity summary

All our accounts are on line so we were surprised to get a paper statement from our electricity supplier.  Usually that annoys me. (My attitude is: do it on line entirely, please, and just send an email.) But on this occasion it was actually interesting and almost informative.

Apparently over the last year we have used 5% less electricity, compared to previous year.

We decided we have saved that 5% by

  • Looking at the SMART meter regularly and questioning what it is reading.  If its high we go and find out why.
  • Developing good habits of turning off lights, devices, anything on standby, etc
  • Planning cooking - its either all on the hob or all in the oven.
  • Being careful about having our TV system on.  (8 years old, and good but expensive to run).  Not left to burble in the corner - watch something purposefully or turn it off!
I read somewhere that if we all used 6% less electricity per year the UK would not have to build Hinkley Nuke Power.  I am now determined to increase my score in the next year!

Apparently,  we could save £50 by committing to a 2 year deal. Unfortunately there was no information on the 2 year deal in the envelope!  So will have to go on line anyway! Grr...


Image result for swallow images
On a pleasant note around out house our swallow count seems to have increased from 3 or 4 pairs in the Spring to a little flock of 20 plus.  They have taken to sitting on the roof twittering away noisily when they are not swooping in great displays of aerobatics out the back over the grass areas.







Saturday 6 August 2016

Running repairs

Frugal in Derbyshire was recently talking about being prepared. I am not sure we are that organised but now we have more "shed" room we are certainly making more use of what we have in  the house.

For instance last week in clearing out a cupboard I was able to supply hubby with new bootlaces saved last year and lost in a box in the back part under the stairs.

This weekend in tidying the outhouse area,  I found a half empty pot of tile adhesive plus a small ice cream tub with some water proof grouting mix and I was able to replace the missing tile at the end of the bath. There was a tin of gloss paint, but rusty round the lid, but paint was fine and I repainted the skirting and that can be reattached. No cost. It also puts pay to ANY talk of our bathroom needing to be ripped out and replaced. I agree the dull the beige of the tiles is not my thing but there is very little to complain about now.

Now if only the two old packs of puncture repair kits are OK and now carefully collected up to be stored in this tub, I might be able to get my bike mended!

I am jealous of lots of bloggers who find good fabrics in charity shops because I never have. Buoyed by the Great British Sewing Bee using a duvet in the remake challenge the other week I stopped to have yet another look in a couple of charity shops with little hope.  This time I found this single duvet with two pillow cases  for £3.95. It is a bit worn on the inside (the dotty side) but I love the roses pattern top fabric.

I have ripped the duvet in two flat pieces and washed those ready for use in my sewing cabin when I have completed the painting and fitting out!


Friday 5 August 2016

Ladybird books

Nothing on the TV?  Try BBC4, yet again this channel has come up with a gem!  Last night I caught up with the history of the Ladybird books!

The classic 2/6 shillings, beautifully illustrated, little gems.

It was fascinating!

Not sure if you can get it on catch up - if you can do spend an hour in a lost world!!


I do like this channel - if you keep an eye on its programming you can find some really good things!


Failed swedes


Not the nation - the veg!!  Flea beetles got the seedlings and due to the cold/hot/dry/wet changeable conditions they never got going. We are just going to pull them out they are not doing anything.



And what is this flower?  It popped up in the flower bed from some odd bulbs uncovered under a hedge.  It had upright iris-like leaved in a fan shape and then a yellow upright flower emerged. Even my horticultural trained husband is puzzled.


Thursday 4 August 2016

First blackberries

Welcome to another new follower.

Picked the first autumn raspberries today- not sure why one cane is so much more advanced than the other 10.   In the box are some large luscious blackberries. Before you rush to Norfolk to find such lovely ones in the wild - these are cultivated ones.


I have just netted these to make sure I get the best ones before the birds!  We put this cultivated thornless blackberry about 18 months ago and is doing very well - sending out strong branches.



I was not sure I had enough blackberries to go with apple for crumble, so I decided to go blackberrying!  First of all I had to tread a path through the grass and weeds at the end of the garden and find "bridge" over the dyke.  Its a ridge of earth over a pipe, no protecting rails, not marked, just an informal earth path somewhere down in the undergrowth.


Then I had to wade through the shoulder high grass along the edge of the barley crop. This is actually a public footpath but no one has walked along it or maintained it in months.


Eventually I reached the length of old hedge row where the path was better used (nearer the other end of the village).  There were only a few blackberries ready despite their wonderful southern aspect.  I will go back in a few weeks.  One of my grand daughter's calls this our "secret path" it certainly felt like it today!


The apple and blackberry crumble was delicious!

Monday 1 August 2016

Stolen runner beans

We had a small glut of runner beans this morning and as my husband was going to sell some of his sunflowers at the gate I agreed to put out two cartons of runner beans (2 x 1 lb). After coffee I went to the gate to see if things were OK, the beans had gone but there was no money!

Grr...... I could have frozen them or given them to neighbours or to the charity village shop that likes to sell a little produce,,,,,,,

Would not have minded one box not being paid for but to take both!!!!