Weather

[splinx]

11:32pm, clear, 23°C / 73°F, 80% humidity.

Sunrise: 06:11am; Sunset: 07:01pm; Duration: 12 hours, 50 minutes. We are in summer time, +1 hour.

Less than 2 months until summer.

 

[Logan]

Morning all,cold clear sky.8-12c

 

[alp]

Couldn't load the weather page, but it's mild as I put my hand out of the bathroom to gauge the chill factor. Very mild and supposed to be a sunny day. Clock goes forward on Sunday .. Here comes darkness and frost is predicted here in the SE!

 

[alp]

9 to 14c - sounds cold, but the sun will be out most of the time, but not now. It's jetblack outside.

 

[Logan]

Yes it's still dark here,at 7.18am. Sunrise at 7.54. The shortest day on the 21st December.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

6 o'clock this morning I got up to a warm bungalow thinking summer must have arrived but it quickly turned to disappointment when I found the central heating had kicked in during the night; frost protected and comes on when the temperature drops to 5C. I've just returned from the supermarkets (3) in brilliant sunshine with the car reading 3.5C BRRRR it's starting to feel chilly.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

Morning all.5.36am. Had a frost last night, wasn't supposed to.

 

[Logan]

Hi,

6 o'clock this morning I got up to a warm bungalow thinking summer must have arrived but it quickly turned to disappointment when I found the central heating had kicked in during the night; frost protected and comes on when the temperature drops to 5C. I've just returned from the supermarkets (3) in brilliant sunshine with the car reading 3.5C BRRRR it's starting to feel chilly.

Kind regards, Colin.

@Colin Hubby always have to go to 3 or 4 suppermarkets to get what we want. My brother said, the bigger they get, the less variety they have.

 

[alp]

It's much brighter today, but much colder 7c to 15c. I usually do my shopping up the road and go for my black tea in S down town.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

I know what you mean Logan. I do the supermarket shopping twice weekly; Morrison's; Aldi and Home Bargains with M&S for special occasions. Bron remains home and I'm at Morrison's first around 7:20; next is Aldi then Home Bargains and I'm back home by 8:15; all three supermarkets are only a good mile or so distant from us and all three are near each other.

Morrison's charge £1.09 per litre of fresh Soya drink; Aldi charge 59p per litre. we use lots of this and by just visiting Aldi we can easily save £300 per year on this alone; I've not checked the prices lately but the difference is amazing and I can't understand why Morrison's are so much more expensive. Home Bargains is the place for Wild Bird Peanuts and cat food; we no longer have a cat but we spend a fortune every week feeding all our local cats and birds; the Blackbirds love cat biscuits such as Go Cat and Whiskas. Bron also ensures a pile of peanuts are left out every night because we have badgers visiting us and these trigger our security lights; foxes too are on the prowl for food; we love to watch the squirrels at the peanuts then they dig holes all over our gardens which is decent of them.

I know the layout of each store so take along a shopping list in store order and I can be in and out of each store in little time; no impulse buying; no fuss; no parking problem and more importantly by shopping at this time of the day I'm not carried around or being run over by shopping trolleys.

Bron doesn't drive but I enjoy treating Bron taking her to stores she wishes to visit for a spot of well deserved retail therapy and to stock up with her crafting materials; being retired we avoid visiting anywhere at weekends and during the week when we do visit we like to arrive early when we can shop in peace and quiet. One thing we avoid is loud music being played in stores; this drives us out.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

Hi @Colin I don't drive either. So i do a list and hubby gets it. We joke about me forgetting to put something down,or i put something late on the list. A week last Friday, i put Lettuce down and he didn't bring it. He said he picked it up and put it back down again, thought about something else,then forgot it. He goes to Sainsburys, Morrisons and tesco. There's a Asda now aswell, their alltogether. Aldi is further in town, but they don't have the brands that we like.
I don't know if you know this but, don't put whole peanuts out during the breeding season.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

We have a good choice of supermarkets Logan but Morrison's; Aldi and Home bargains are nearest. I dislike Aldi in general; the store is badly laid out and the non food items running down the middle of the store look like they are in a jumble sale. I used to buy fruit and veg at Aldi but increasingly upon inspecting them back home we were throwing a lot away; mouldy strawberries; potatoes that were rotten when cut into etc; in-store on casual inspection they always appeared fine. The checkouts in Aldi are a joke many times I have to ask which till is going to be opened; I only buy three products now from Aldi; fresh Soya drink; Moser Roth Dark 85% cocoa chocolate and toilet rolls then I'm out of there.

Thanks for the peanut tip Logan; the peanuts I buy are marked up for wild bird food and are split but to be safe I will check; I don't want to harm any of our feathered friends or indeed anyone or anything.

I don't like Asda and I've never been keen on Tesco either. Asda; Tesco; Sainsbury's and Lidl are too near Huddersfield town being just on the outskirts so I avoid these like the plague because car owners in Huddersfield are treated worse than criminals. Our local food M&S is a nice store but expensive; out of the lot I prefer Morrison's; I relented and obtained a Morrison's "More" card but no longer bother using it; I did a bit of checking and find with my twice weekly shop at Morrison's I would be awarded an whole fiver in about six months at around 160 points per visit? I've never liked loyalty cards anyway.

Gale has been with us every bit of the day today and she's now trying to remove our bungalow roof.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[Logan]

@Colin It's the other way round for us. All the supermarkets are close bybecause we're out of town also. Hubby gets nectar points from sainsburys, he's got about £700.0. He put £35.00 towards a shaver last week. But he didn't want to spend them. He wanted to get to £800.0.If you want to give peanuts, have you got a wire bird feeder? Also you can get squirrel feeders,if you want to feed them during March to September.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Thanks Logan. I have a Nectar card but gather few points on it.

Yes not only do we have a wire bird feeder I made two heavy duty feeders; one for us and one for our best friends as a gift; I used oak and stainless steel wire mesh. It fills from the top opening and both the birds and squirrels make full use of it; I also made a wooden tray which sits atop a large chimney pot placed in the garden; we place a pile of cat biscuits on this tray and birds enjoy the biscuits as much as the cats do; food is put out all year round for all our wildlife so they never go hungry and also dishes of clean water are supplied. The ice gets removed in winter so there is always water available.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

I'm green with envy--a choice of grocery stores? We have HEB, and if we want to drive 20 miles to a small city, we can go to an Aldi's. Walmart, which I do not like, has a grocery department in the small city and we get my bread flour there (the only store that carries the brand I like). We have learned to stock up on staples and arrange our weekly dinners around what is available. Thank heavens for the vegetable garden, the canner and the freezer! Our bird seed comes from the local hardware store when they have a "buy three get one free" sale. I hit them hard! The chicken feed comes from our local feed store, and they also have potato starts in January, and vegetable starts like broccoli in February. Gee, maybe we aren't as deprived as I thought . . . .
Cold this morning with temps at 35, but clear and sunny, and it's 55 now. It will be cold tonight, but warming in the coming week. There is so much clean up and trimming to do in the flower beds. I'll have to take advantage of the weather to get out there and work, work, work!