Feather your Nest Friday, 14th January, 2022.

What a week!  I was hoping to write a preparedness post and catch up on replies... but I ran out of hours in each day.   I am going to try and incorporate preparedness information here tonight.

I will start with the good things.   It was my Birthday and Chloe made afternoon tea for Mum and I. 

It was just beautiful.  Chloe made the cake also...

It tasted as good as it looked too.  

Our news here was all Covid.  Covid and shortages.  Also limits on things ie paracetamol, toilet paper etc. 

In the supermarket things were low.  I was able to get things but not the things on my list.  My planned out shopping list didn't match what the store actually had.   I think I have brain fade in the shops.   Because of this and how things are I know it is a mistake to think "I will just forget about it and look for it next time"  as the items I could buy instead may also be missing next time as well.  So I tried to buy alternatives and buy what WAS available. 

Lucy warned me that to do a click and collect shop I would need to do it four days ahead... as the web sites say "no spaces available" for several days... my usual make an order the night before to be picked up the next day is no longer an option.    So on Monday I did my order for Friday pick up.   Last night I reviewed the order as you can add items before the pick up day.   Lucky I did this, about one third of my order now was unavailable.  I went through it item by item and found alternatives... sometimes it took me two or three goes to find an alternative that was available... 

In the end I got everything from that order except lettuce and ham.  Lettuce is worth gold now.   

I can see this could get a lot worse as the covid numbers are going up dramatically day to day.  So we need to think and be smart!   

I did some mending... some leggings for the little girls,  I took up two dresses for myself.

In the garden I planted more pumpkins... maybe too late but I only have two vines that are going well.  

Each day I picked tomatoes.  They are just delicious.  

I was given 10 kilos of beautiful honey! That is 22 lbs! 

Wendy gave me lovely crochet cottons and I gave her eggs.

We spent a day outside Thursday working in the garden and I now have a nice little fence around my kitchen garden.  This will be so much better.  At this point I know what I can grow well and what I can't.   And also what parts of the garden I can grow veggies.  Dad warned me that gum trees will send roots into anything and pinch your water and nutrients.  So anywhere near the gum trees is no good for veggies.   My back courtyard is protected from the wind and container gardening does really well in there.   I am learning.

Andy gave me another stacky planter, I have it filled with soil ready to plant up. 

A shade canopy needed a repair.  I did that on my sewing machine and it is as good as new. 

We had some hot days.  Then we had a storm and lightening!  Oh great,  lightening is how all our fires have started.   And some did start, not on our place but near by.  Luckily they were all contained fairly quickly.   Each time a fire starts it is a drama and stressful.  You feel on high alert. 

I headed into town and I realised my air conditioner in the car wasn't working.   Then I realised my car had lost power.. I pulled over and that was it.  Dead car.  Very luckily I was only 15 minutes from home,  I had phone reception and so did Andy and he came to get me.  Much of the time there is not phone reception so it was a big relief when he answered!

It gets better.  The RAA (the motor fix it membership) were not answering due to the hot weather and an overwhelming number of calls for help.

When we finally got the car towed... the repair place said they are short staffed,  due to covid, and can't look at my car for around two weeks.   Then there are shortages of car parts... 

As it turns out someone did look at it and declared it toast.   I am not too upset because I have been driving and older car that is pretty dinged up for the last few years.   At the end of last year I knew there were new car shortages.  Some cars are on order for two years!   So I knew I really should try and buy a good reliable car while I could.   I ordered a car which is meant to be here in February.  We will see!

Cars are so hard to get that in the UK it can cost more for an old car than a new one... because the new one is so hard to get an old one that you can get it worth more!  A bird in the hand... 

At this point every aspect of life is getting to be affected by shortages.   Think hard about what your family needs... if a need is coming up try and attend to that now.  Mum and I combined and bought new winter coats and clothes for the Grandkids even though we are mid summer.  The things we know are important we are trying to be ahead on.  Be ahead on any prescriptions if you can.   A town near us the chemist closed... due to covid.  The local hospital closed for several days...  

Some things I found I kind of expected.  Others were a shake up.  The local hospital closing was one that shook me.

In between all of this I did some things as I could like washed some windows,  planted out some succulents I collected. 

I sewed a stack of soft flannelette hankies.

In the evenings I crocheted cotton shower puffs.  These are really fun to do.

Since we lived here there have been two huge cement rain water tanks down the bottom of the yard that are not connected to the house.  In winter they over flow with beautiful fresh rainwater that is wasted!   Finally they are plumbed into our other rain water tanks and they double our house rain water supply.

So that was my week!  It was bumpy!  But we made it!

How did you build up your home, pantry, garden...   How are supplies in your area?   We love to hear and very often you are helping or encouraging someone else when you share your week also.xxx