Early Risers.

[DaveF]

I had a good sleep only waking once for a short while.  I was aware that it was very windy.  This morning there is a stiff breeze but it is only going to be around Force 5 to 7 all day.  I won't go for a long walk.  One task is to try to get an address for an ex neighbour who put a card through my door while I was out yesterday.  They are only about 5 minutes walk away but I am not sure which bungalow it is.  In a few minutes I shall ask a neighbour.

 

Then I will go and buy a newspaper, that should be the last shopping until after the New Year - apart perhaps for milk though there is a carton of longlife just in case.

 

After that not much, I need to plan the cooking of Christmas Dinner as I can't start until I get back back from church so I'm not quite sure when I'll eat.  I would like to find time to run some trains today, I seem to have been too busy recently.

 

Parking in town wasn't a problem yesterday, if I go there to buy the paper I expect I'll be ble to park one road away from the shop.  If I just go to the nearby corner shop I'll park outside it.

 

David

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

5 hours sleep medium awake 2.5 hours asleep. Not bad.

 

Ben let me sleep in again so I'm running late, Ben the giving hints he wants out again Collie, has been out on patrol, very windy dull and grey out there.

 

I'm going to start making new doors for the gardening shed. The originals are single sheet steel that bend all the time, so much they don't shut properly any more. I saw a rat going in there this morning through the gap. It's going to be hinged wooden doors, double opener , built from the left over decking boards we have. Then I'll skin it with the tin door remains to stop the rats chewing their way through.

 

Later I'll return to making like a ganger with an electric glue stick.

 

But first.

Time for a muggacoffee.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Coffee time here too, after cleaning up the disaster area we left in the kitchen last night making Chinese grub - we couldn't be bothered to clean up afterwards we were so tired.  Mrs NHN is off getting Pilated, so peace reigns - for now, it is about to end.

 

Not decided where to go for our Non-denominational picnic lunch in the camper yet, depends upon the wind direction on the day.  We have some nice beef to make sandwiches with, and a severely non-diabetic friendly (one meal off! It'll be interesting to monitor my BG's afterwards) lemon cheesecake for pud. 

 

 

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Wet, drying up - supposedly. 8.4C.

 

*C* cake marzipanned. It will be treated to some icing this morning if I get my skates on - metaphorically speaking, you understand!  Another long process of whisking 6 egg whites, blending in 2lbs of icing sugar and spreading it artistically patiently on top and around the cake. I maybe some time!

 😜

Then it will be making room for the C&C groceries arriving this afternoon and storing it all.

 

But first, <<Yes you've guessed it!>> a mugadecaf.

Take care all. Be good. Be on top of it.

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It was blowing a hoodie again last night, but it seems a lot quieter, for now at least. I shall shortly be setting off to collect Ava, who will be spending the day with us. It’s been a couple of weeks since she last came, due to be being out at the Manchester exhibition on the 9th and last weekend Ava wasn’t very well. She’s now feeling much better and both Sheila and I are looking forward to seeing her again. Our first task will be to make a cheesecake, after that there are no firm plans, but I expect there will be a film watched this afternoon. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[Grizz]

Sounds like lots of ERers have been experiencing rather inclement weather. So much for the Met Office (other forecasters are available) predictions earlier in the year for a white crimbo. It is warm enough for a ‘one jumper day’ here in the Deep South of East Sussex, bit windy though.
 

Reading back through a few recent posts on ER it struck me how true the old saying of ‘every day is a school day’ is. In my fifty plus years on this planet it had never even once crossed my mind that the question “Do bears dump in the woods?”, could never apply to Poly Bear as his native land has no woods. Hopefully he has found an alternative by now. 😊
 

Today is the annual extra deep clean and clear up the Castle day, in preparation for the start of ‘Jul’ (tomorrow evening) …..not looking forward to doing all the things that we got to do to get ready for this day. But heyho. 
It is particularly annoying at the moment as due to a persistent lung infection, I’ve been on high doses of ‘The Roids’ for the last five days, as well as a load of other strong meds. The result is I’m now bouncing off the walls and this is despite having had less than 3 hours per night. Bit strung out…..and to top it all off I’m under strict instructions from my specialist that all ‘anaesthetic’ is prohibited until I’ve finished The Roids, which fortunately is tomorrow lunch time. So lunch time tomorrow I’ll be calling in to Harveys Brewery for 10 litres of Old Ale, should at least wash the dust out of a few mouths. 
 

This evening around 17:00 we will be sitting down to eat ’ Risengrød ‘, which for me always marks the start of Jul. A lovely Danish rice desert with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Sadly my usual accompaniment of Jul Øl will have to wait until tomorrow night. 
 

https://mummum.dk/risengroed/


 

Glædelig Jul to all.

 

Grizz

 

 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

Here, Sprouts are 15p a pound for the improvident who neglected to start boiling back in September...  Needless to say, I haven't bought any!

Some are allegedly arriving today. However a portion of sprouts purchased much earlier this year exist in a frozen state, just in case. I think I will be preparing and cooking the sprouts.  It doesn’t take long. 

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Do bears dump in the woods?”, could never apply to Poly Bear as his native land has no woods

Considering how detailed some of the nature documentaries are, I don’t recall any mention of it.  I can just imagine the Sir David Attenborough commentary though. 

[Gwiwer]

Good morning all - while it still is!

 

Neither of us slept well last night for varying reasons.  In my case it was the return, just in time for festivities, of the dreaded gout and in hers it was the arrival and departure of a feline who, behaving as they do, was quite active all night and required patting, somewhere warm to snuggle, then a leap off with a loud chirrup in order to chase some wumpus or other.  Several times.  

 

The Yule Log was ignited and its warmth enjoyed last night.  We have seldom needed the wood-burner thus far as the central heating keeps the Distant (Signal) West at a good temperature almost all the time.  That's with the radiators set to around 1½ or 2 from 5 and only actually radiating for four hours a day.  Burning logs is more for pretty effect than keeping us from freezing.  

 

Today has seen Dr. SWMBO rise at 05.00 (after being mostly awake for the several preceding hours), clean the kitchen - normally my job - and bake seasonally-suitable fruit cakes.  My tasks are to deploy the Shark and to re-stock the items she used for the baking.  

 

Foul wet and windy weather at dawn has eased to bright and calmer conditions which should permit the 4-minute round-trip to the shop to be completed sans coat never mind bah't 'at.   Today and the next several are forecast to offer temperatures of around 11C so the only white C*******s we shall see is guano on the offshore rocks!  

 

Muggercoffee being inserted as we speak.  Shop run next.  Afternoon tea in town with a friend this after-lunch.  

 

Stay well.  Or as well as you can.  

[Gwiwer]

2 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

18 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Do bears dump in the woods?”, could never apply to Poly Bear as his native land has no woods

Considering how detailed some of the nature documentaries are, I don’t recall any mention of it.  I can just imagine the Sir David Attenborough commentary though. 

Sir David is on record as assuring us that Poly Bears reverse carefully towards the edge of an ice-floe and relieve themselves into the waters.  When they can.  Otherwise it's making their presence very obvious in the snow with discolouration, odour and physical evidence.  

 

Which reminds me.  

 

Why did the Balrog have constipation?  Because Gandalf told him "You shall not pass"  

[grandadbob]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Some are allegedly arriving today. However a portion of sprouts purchased much earlier this year exist in a frozen state, just in case. I think I will be preparing and cooking the sprouts.  It doesn’t take long. 

 

Quite agree Tony, certainly don't get all this putting sprouts on in October business.  IMHO they only need steaming for a few minutes and should be savoured whilst still firm.  Lovely stuff, can't wait!!

Our sprouts and all other fresh veg arrived earlier with a couple of subs that were acceptable and one which wasn't but as it was only a backup it didn't matter.  Biggest problem was finding enough room in the fridges, freezers and cupboards.  I believe we now have enough supplies to withstand a siege.  Every year we intend to cut down but it never seems to happen.

[TheQ]

12 vertical deck boards cut to the rough size, 

 

Bottom ledge placed er.. in place.

First vertical placed, marked up,  trimmed to exact size,  screwed to ledge.

Second vertical plank , marked up to fit, fitted screwed to bottom ledge,

Top ledge fitted, screwed to verticals ,

Third vertical plank, marked for size, trimmed to fit screwed to top and bottom ledges.

Repeat for verticals 4, 5, 6.

That's one door basically assembled, it needs the middle ledge fitting, then the tin old door screwed to the front. It won't need braces due to the tin.

 

Once Ben has taken me for his long walk I'll review hinges required..

 

But first.. muggacoffee time.

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a bad night last night, the arthritis woke me up once and I slept through until nine. Will definitely have to get a move on, be back later.

[Tony_S]

48 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

I believe we now have enough supplies to withstand a siege.

Our sprouts have arrived. They are still attached to a big stalk but that can go in the compost! I think Aditi feels we should be prepared for unexpected visitors as has happened in the past, but I think her relatives are too old now to inform us shortly before Christmas as they used to that  they are coming to stay. Aditi’s uncle from California arrived once on Christmas Eve. Matthew was little and had told us we had to leave some whisky and a mince pie for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We heard a loud voice from the lounge as Matthew announced that Uncle Vinay had just eaten Santa’s mince pie and had his drink too. More had to be left out. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Tony_S
Too much punctuation

[Compound2632]

11 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Our sprouts have arrived. 

 

Ours were here by last weekend. They've reclaimed their bedrooms so my modelling has had to go into temporary storage...

Edited December 23, 2023 by Compound2632

[Grizz]

Mrs Grizz and I watched ‘1970s Super Market - Christmas Special’ on channel 5 on Wednesday evening. On the show they had a small section dedicated to sprout eating in the UK. They had a scientist doing an experiment demonstrating the well known unfortunate side effects of eating said sprouts. Very interesting, as it is apparently down to a particular sugar found in the sprouts called Raffinose….another thing that I didn’t know and have learnt since the start of the week. 
They also commented that the sprouts grown to be sold and consumed in the UK nowadays are generally sweeter and smaller than those mind scarring, bitter cannon balls we were forced to scoff down in the 1970s. Such that it is not our taste buds changing with age. Which probably explains why now I don’t mind having a couple of them occasionally. 

[Grizz]

Just stopped for a short break from Castle cleaning. Time for a cuppa. Good job I stopped because there was a knock at the door and…..
 

Julemanden (The Christmas Man in DK) has brought me an early present……☺️….must have been a reasonably good Grizz this year. A DB G Gauge Class 204 diesel loco….my letter to him obviously got through then. 

 

 

 

Hummmph…..just been told that I’m not allow to play with it yet as it has to be boxed back up and wrapped for tomorrow evening……😱 😭

Edited December 23, 2023 by Grizz

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Some are allegedly arriving today. However a portion of sprouts purchased much earlier this year exist in a frozen state, just in case. I think I will be preparing and cooking the sprouts.  It doesn’t take long. 

I think sprouts used to be a lot more bitter- but it has been bred out of them in recent decades. Same thing had happened to aubergines apparently. No need to boil sprouts for ever and no need to salt aubergines or stir is you used to have to do,

 

old recipes a La Mrs Beaton called for carrots to be boiled for ages too; maybe they were once less sweet as well.

 

[Hroth]

14 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Just stopped for a short break from Castle cleaning. Time for a cuppa. Good job I stopped because there was a knock at the door and…..
 

Julemanden (The Christmas Man in DK) has brought me an early present……☺️….must have been a reasonably good Grizz this year. A DB G Gauge Class 204 diesel loco….my letter to him obviously got through then. 

 

 

 

Hummmph…..just been told that I’m not allow to play with it yet as it has to boxed back up and wrapped for tomorrow evening……😱 😭

 

And there I was, thinking that O gauge was unreasonably large!

 

[TheQ]

Most carrots back then were grown for a longer time, so they were quite tough and stringy. Needed much more boiling.

Brussels were also grown for longer. So the stalks were longer, there was quite a trade in walking sticks made from Brussel sprout stalks.

 

Ideally I'd like 1/12 scale track of Brunellian dimensions, the gardens big enough, unfortunately I'd need a time dimension of X 12 as I have too many other things to do..

 

Ben chose his medium length walk, and was very happy doing so. Unfortunately my right ankle is not so happy. So I'm off upstairs with a muggarealcoffee possibly fortified with an anaesthetic product of Scotland, to play with 1/87 scale.

[Hroth]

11 minutes ago, TheQ said:

So I'm off upstairs with a muggarealcoffee possibly fortified with an anaesthetic product of Scotland, to play with 1/87 scale.

 

Would that be HoHoHo scale?  🤔😉🤪🙃

 

 

[Gwiwer]

40 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

I think sprouts used to be a lot more bitter- but it has been bred out of them in recent decades. Same thing had happened to aubergines apparently. No need to boil sprouts for ever and no need to salt aubergines or stir is you used to have to do,

 

old recipes a La Mrs Beaton called for carrots to be boiled for ages too; maybe they were once less sweet as well.

 

My late and much-missed mother was no cook. Her mother was no cook either. 
 

Vegetables had to be peeled, cut (for carrots that was thinly sliced) and boiled. Once boiled the timer went on for 20 minutes because nothing was cooked before that time had elapsed. 
 

Everything was so soft when served that it was easier to use the fork as a scoop. 
 

I find flavour varies. Supermarket veg is often bland and sometimes tired. Farm-fresh produce has the crispness of taste one expects. It also takes just a little longer to cook but I normally serve veg “al dente”; with a slight crunch and just yielding enough to be forked.  
 

The tagliatelle of heirloom carrots I sometimes make requires the shredded lengths to be dunked in boiling water while I count to ten, removed, drained and served. With a knob of butter and a sprinkle of freshly-cracked black peppercorns. 
 

I can’t get away with roasting potatoes in duck or goose fat, nor lard, due to Dr. SWMBO’s weight-related health concerns. But if I do get a chance they turn out beautifully crisped outside and fluffy inside. 

[Gwiwer]

In other news the C*******s rush is well and truly on. 
 

Ten people were aboard the morning bus to Penzance. I had to queue behind another person in the Co-op

 

Yup. It’s a busy old day. 

[tigerburnie]

On alternate years we go to our daughters for dinner on the 25th, son in law cooks brussels stir fried with bacon lardons, superb way to produce a tasty accompaniment to out turkey ( I have a Guinea fowl for boxing day at home when the sprouts will more traditional)

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Would that be HoHoHo scale?  🤔😉🤪🙃

 

 

Ho pefully