What Preps are you doing this week? Part 4

[Le Mouse]

Take care with the hypermobility.My wife suffers with it.She has had both ankles operated on,and her hands may be next.She has( as the surgeon said) the full house.Ankles,knees,elbows,hands...its a crap condition.I understand totally your situation.

Regarding having a clear out,we have done the same.We are fortunate to have a proper walk-in pantry complete with stone thrall.Anyhow,we emptied it,slung a load of out of date gear and rearranged it.Much better.

We have got rid of a load of equipment too.Rather liberating.

Poor Mrs Jansman! Ow!

Officially I have a Beighton score of 4 (so my elbows and knees both bend back too much), although now my knee will likely drop that to 3 now. However, my hips have always clicked out of place (painlessly if a bit surprising). I am a serial ankle sprainer. Luckily I don't have extra bendy hands (but my wrists are very weak) and I can't touch the floor at all when bending over. The hospital and the physios haven't really gone into detail about anything. I've had to ask Mr Google all of what I've found out. I think I need to go to my GP and ask for a proper referral to have it all looked at. As much as I'm still cross about knackering my knee (all my own fault), it's taught me something about myself that I think I should have known before I was nearly 40! And it's forced me to look in detail about my fitness. I have decided to take Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman as my role model

I'd love a walk-in pantry. My nan's old council house had one, built in the post-WWII building boom when they built council houses with enough space! However, there is only me (and maybe my mum in the future), so I don't really need all that space no matter how much I may hanker after it. I do only really need a couple of well-organised cupboards. That's quite a liberating thought as well.

[jansman]

Mrs.J is having hip trouble too,just like you.Chuck in Osteoporosis too its a real fun deal! You just have to remember your limits.

Just like you,we are basically just the two of us,so don't need the amount of stored food.We work on the basis of plenty of staples,and what are grow fresh,plus the freezers.

[Arzosah]

I'm in a sort of similar boat with the retirement and the chronic doodabs. Chronic fatigue has gone, but leaves me with not huge amounts of energy, and I have to limit going out to twice a week. Better than nothing.

I'm *still* clearing the kitchen - I'm on the very last drawer now, and everything I unearth, I've tried to ask myself *why* I'm keeping it. I don't mind keeping too many wooden spoons and spatulas, they'll get used eventually. But even though the colander (for instance) is stainless steel and lovely quality, I'm getting rid of it, I don't use it because it doesn't stand upright on its own, and its a bit too small to go over the sink. Thats an age-adjustment, sorry to say.

The space I've created is going to be kept free! Some of the troubles on my ground floor are due to not getting enough air flow in the cupboards/ slight dampness/ overstocking/ lack of yearly cleaning.

And I still have some rats in the loft heard their scratching this morning - its in the area where the bait was laid down, so thats something not a lot, but something.

[Brambles]

I'm in a sort of similar boat with the retirement and the chronic doodabs. Chronic fatigue has gone, but leaves me with not huge amounts of energy, and I have to limit going out to twice a week. Better than nothing.

I'm *still* clearing the kitchen - I'm on the very last drawer now, and everything I unearth, I've tried to ask myself *why* I'm keeping it. I don't mind keeping too many wooden spoons and spatulas, they'll get used eventually. But even though the colander (for instance) is stainless steel and lovely quality, I'm getting rid of it, I don't use it because it doesn't stand upright on its own, and its a bit too small to go over the sink. Thats an age-adjustment, sorry to say.

The space I've created is going to be kept free! Some of the troubles on my ground floor are due to not getting enough air flow in the cupboards/ slight dampness/ overstocking/ lack of yearly cleaning.

And I still have some rats in the loft heard their scratching this morning - its in the area where the bait was laid down, so thats something not a lot, but something.

I sympathise with the Rats. My sister had the same problem and had the loft baited. trouble was, it was about this time of year and unfortunately not all of the victims were kind enough to leave the premisis to shuffle off their mortal coil. The first thing we noticed was the smell in one of the rooms, then we couldn't work out where all the damn flies were coming from! Sooooo, from then on, the loft had loads of traps but no bait.

[jansman]

I'm in a sort of similar boat with the retirement and the chronic doodabs. Chronic fatigue has gone, but leaves me with not huge amounts of energy, and I have to limit going out to twice a week. Better than nothing.

I'm *still* clearing the kitchen - I'm on the very last drawer now, and everything I unearth, I've tried to ask myself *why* I'm keeping it. I don't mind keeping too many wooden spoons and spatulas, they'll get used eventually. But even though the colander (for instance) is stainless steel and lovely quality, I'm getting rid of it, I don't use it because it doesn't stand upright on its own, and its a bit too small to go over the sink. Thats an age-adjustment, sorry to say.

The space I've created is going to be kept free! Some of the troubles on my ground floor are due to not getting enough air flow in the cupboards/ slight dampness/ overstocking/ lack of yearly cleaning.

And I still have some rats in the loft heard their scratching this morning - its in the area where the bait was laid down, so thats something not a lot, but something.

Interesting what you say about age- adjustment.We are finding that we are changing or adapting our domestic area.I have been on a mission to get rid of rammel.Take the pantry.Everything labelled properly,facing outwards. Buckets and containers on floor,labelled big and bold.Nothing stacked one on top of another,so its easy to access.Simple improvement easily done.My sheds and workshop are next.Again,I need to access stuff easily without hoofing piles of crap.I'm getting too old to waste time!

[Deeps]

I've come to the realisation that I have a LOT of walking/camping gear and I'm going to have to shift some. My inner hoarder is going to have to get a ruthless streak. I have stuff that I've had for years with a broken strap and the like, a sad day in Casa Deeps but long overdue. Ironically, I got a new set of camping pots arrive today, I might need help.

I'm still working on the garage.....gonna need a bigger garage.

[Arzosah]

I'm sensing a theme

And there's a *lot* of weeding that needs to be done in the garden, but it's too hot to do it. Deffo slipping behind on that.

One high spot: the rec. ground nearest me has 3 full-grown cherry trees, and I now have a little sandwich box full of early cherries - some of them are *very* small, but it will gradually become a nice little crop.

Not using the dehydrator for my greens till tomorrow, I can't bear to add even that heat to the kitchen.

[peejay]

I just got a notification of delivery of a set of BigDug shelving (discovered here, wish I found it years ago!) so this evening shall be building it (5 mins) then standing there imagining what I shall be filling it with

If it's as good as it looks I'll be getting some more for the garage & loft too, both of which are a mess anyway!

[Deeps]

Further tidying of the garage has cast up an 18 month out of date UHT milk. Well I say milk....it was well on the way to yoghurt. Still got a lot to do unfortunately and I think I can cut back on my tinned stuff. Its nigh on impossible to keep it discreet now and it needs organised.

[shocker]

If it's as good as it looks I'll be getting some more

Its not. As good as it looks, that is. At least mine wasnt. The shelves/benchtops were chipboard that sagged and bent and the metal uprights collapsed if they got a bump. I hope yours is better. I just had some shelves from Lidl that were better and cheaper...I hope mine are better!