Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Woke to sunshine, but the showers moved in fairly quickly. OH kindly trimmed my hair for me this morning, but I need to work on my fringe, which I do myself. Too short and it stands on end, leave it a week, and I could give Winkelman a run for her money! Very hard to hit the happy medium.
How lovely to have a nice new hot water tank, @Allotment Boy. Sounds as if it isn’t a straightforward gravity fed system, so good you have a trusted plumber to get it sorted. Since we moved into our house, we changed the copper hot water tank, put in a new immersion heater for emergencies, and installed a special flange to stop people using the guest bathroom from getting drenched in cold water when we used the shower in the en-suite. Quite the learning curve at the time. We did manage to sell the old tank to a local recycling firm. We also replaced a cold water tank in the loft above our bedroom. These days, I don’t think we would actually fit through the loft hatch, let alone have the flexibility to manhandle the installation. Getting the new wooden base up was quite a challenge. Definitely not up to it now. Any money we might save by DIY these days would have to spent on private repairs to hernias and pelvic floors!
How lovely to have a mum to visit, @Songbird. Mine would have been that age. I might treat myself to a hyacinth!

 

After a very wet and windy night or broken sleep we've had a wet and windy day so far with Possum and me dodging heavy downpours to do a big shop - taking advantage of a special offer at the SM where they're giving 50€ worth of vouchers on a 150€ spend. Thence to the DIY shop for a new wheelbarrow which we managed to fit into the back of Possum's Duster.

Quick lunch then a shuffle of th efreezers and coat stand in the annex and she's off to study while I go and see the chooks now the rain has stopped and we even have a short burst of sunshine. I need to clean out the floor of their shed after all this sog but then clean myself up and do some quiet soweing or crafting as we have double dance class this evening.

We don't have a cold water tank here @Ergates and the Belgians don't have them either. Water comes straight in off the mains so pressure is better. I do remember having to go up our loft in Harrow to replace the ballcock whilst OH was away in Austin, Texas way back in '88. Our hot water tanks are both self-contained and fully insulated immersion and run off the PV panels plus one has its own wee heat exchange pump. No airing cupboards for seed trays!

I hope your new hot tank proves its worth and lasts a long time @Allotment Boy.

 

I've spent 2 hours gardening today, tidying the beds, but not yet finished. The garden bin is full, so are the big green bags, though the bin and one big bag are full of the buddleia that we cut up last week. The big compost bin is full and the smaller one is nearly full but I want some room for kitchen waste. The garden bin will be emptied on Friday and OH has an appointment at the tip.

It has been a lovely sunny day.

 

Yes our hot tank is what is known as an indirect cylinder. The circuit running off the main boiler is split into two controlled by motorised zone valves. One side feeds the heating, the other sends hot water through a coil inside the tank. If you are already running the boiler for CH then it's the most efficient way of getting hot water too. Given the fact that gas is still much cheaper than electric it's more economical as well. The tank is fully insulated too. There is a back up immersion element but our guy says to only use it if the boiler fails. The exception we make is really hot summer weather when running the boiler heats up other areas where the pipes run to get to the tank even though the pipes are all lagged. All our hot water and upstairs cold is pumped, because of low mains pressure here.
@Obelix-Vendée - I fully expect/ hope this is the last ever time we have to do something like this.

 

@Allotment Boy when we had the PVs installed we switched off the rather small water heater part of the CH and installed a big 250 litre tank. No town gas here so that means our "fioul' CH is only turned on in cold weather and only heats the house. It's not on at the mo as it's been quite warm out today. We have a wood burner as back up.

One of these days the CH will die and then we'll have to choose how to replace it.

 

Hello all. Forgot to post here this morning... but I'm excited to report that we had a hedgehog again, the first sighting since we had the aged female last year under the shed, with her underfed hoglets which had to be rescued. I'd put out the wildlife camera to see who was taking the bits of substandard cooking apple which had been disappearing overnight. Not just the hedgehog, but a lovely fox as well! I'd rather been expecting a rat, so it was a nice surprise. I've put out more apple, some proper hedgehog food (which will probably be eaten by a feral cat, but we live in hope) and the camera again.

Long life to your water tank, @Allotment Boy ! Good to get it done sooner rather than later.

104 is a great age, @Songbird - how lovely for you still to have her! Hope your mum enjoys her hyacinths.

Only 19 days until the shortest day...

 

Evening all, I see you've all been busy today. How exciting to have a hedgehog back @Liriodendron - I do wish we had some here.

That sounds a complicated system to me @Allotment Boy but no doubt it works well for you.
We had our water tank removed from the loft when we moved here because we knew we would some day want to convert the loft. We opted to have a combi boiler which works well for us except when we have people staying because only one person can shower at a time, the water runs cold in our ensuite if two try like Ergates set up. It's going to be hectic over the weekend as there's going to be eight of us. I think I'll be standing between the bathrooms shouting 'NEXT!!" and timing them all as the visitors have an event to go to. It's been a bit stressy already working out where everybody will sleep, have I got enough bedding and towels etc. Thankfully, apart from breakfast I don't have to feed them. I could do with @Busy-Lizzie's organisational skills!

I'm amazed I am already booked in for a lung CT scan next week, which was quite unexpected.
I was informed this morning by a friend that the hospital also has a walk-in blood test service in the Neurology department so I'm going to try that tomorrow (she'd had to go last week).

After my massage I drove to the small M&S food hall and bought my Xmas chicken - just got to remember to delete my turkey order now. A saving of about £12 which is good.

Good, it's wine o'clock time so I'll catch up later.

 

Yes, @Ergates and @Liriodendron ( good luck with the hedgehog, lucky you) , thanks.I’m very lucky to still have Mum around. I managed to get a hyacinth vase for a bulb I’d already bought ( in soil) at the last of many shops trailed around so it looks quite happy now, with lots of roots finding their way down. The jar isn’t clear glass, it’s a tinted colour which makes it look rather nice and different. Also managed to pick up a lovely bunch of flowers for her so hope they all survive the journey tomorrow.
An early night beckons as I’m not much of an early riser these days, so just hope the alarm clock still works.
Good luck @lizzie27 with your busy weekend coming and also with your various tests. I don’t think we’d have the room to sleep eight people! There would always be the floor though
Enjoy your evenings everyone.

 

Hello, busy people.
Rarely have I been so fulsome in my praise of a set Christmas meal, but this was delicious. The home made chicken terrine and chestnuts was perfectly seasoned and not overly 'herby' and the duck salad was a balanced blend of fresh ingredients. I didn't get that 'bloated feeling' I sometimes get over a roast midday meal.
OH also enjoyed his meal of brie wedges with cranberry, followed by turkey. It was a very big portion.
We were sitting across the table from a couple who own a butchers/deli in Bromborough on the Wirral, and the conversation ranged far and wide over food and home made liqueurs, travel in France and Canada, dogs and caravans.
Enjoy your visit with your mum @Songbird. How lucky you are.

 

Sounds yummy @Penny_Forthem, lucky you, I'm drooling. Our dinner of eggs and smoked salmon on toast doesn't even begin to compare.

Sorry @Songbird, I forgot to wish you well for your trip to see your Mum, the hyacinth in a glass jar is a lovely idea for a present, hope she likes it. Have a good journey.

 

Thanks @lizzie27 and @Penny_Forthem , I’m looking forward to seeing her.

 

Good evening all. I have just been out to check on some washing I did earlier when I was lulled into a false sense of security with lovely sunshine and true to form it had started raining. Luckily the washing was virtually dry and I got it rescued just in time. I was pleased to read that your plumbing job is all sorted now @Allotment Boy - a timely repair indeed. @lizzie27 it sounds as though you are going to have a lovely time - if a tad chaotic at times and it was good to read about you getting your scan sorted so quickly. @Penny_Forthem your meal sounded really delicious - it made me drool too! @Songbird I remember when your Mum got to her 100th birthday - she is marvellous I'm sure she will love her hyacinth and flowers. When I was in 'sco this morning I just couldn't resist a tiny tree (despite it being sprayed with that ghastly fake snow) its all of 4" tall in old money so not at risk from my tree climber, Cricket.
Magic news about your hedgehog @Liriodendron. I wonder if this weird weather is affecting their hibernation. Going to sign off for now so goodnight all and safe journey tomorrow @Songbird.

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@lizzie27 it's not as complicated as it sounds, it's a fairly standard way of heating and hot water. If we had better mains pressure we would have a combination boiler that gives "instant" hot water and heating, especially as there are only the two of us most of the time.

 

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Hello all. I am hoping for reasonable weather today as I am going out to lunch with my squash team. Looking forward to a happier meet up than our last one earlier this year when the OH of one member passed away and we gathered for his funeral. He was a squash player too and captained the men's first team.
I meant to say last night that when I had pegged out the washing yesterday I noticed that there were lots of the mini daffodils I had planted in a trough showing a couple of cm of growth. Not sure whether they will be flowering by Christmas but time will tell.

 

Good morning. A very misty start today and I can hear the soil oozing and the trees dripping but sunshine is on its way and we're expecting a fine day. Tomorrow, however, is set to be wet.

OH was out early to take Harry for his MOT so I was on chook duty. Everyone is fine tho the 3 in the hen shed with Floppy are still very skitty. The poorly one is now in fine fettle so I'll be moving her sleeping box to the hen shed soon so she has a safe space in there while they sort out the pecking order. Meanwhile we seem to have the other 4 snuggling up in just 2 of the nesting boxes. Cosy but messy.

No bulbs poking thru yet here @Ladybird but I do have 2"/5cm pea shoots in the big pot I sowed for salad shoots. I still have some bulbs to get in but they may end up in pots if the soil is too heavy.