When not attending to garden tasks what other things have filled your day?

Oh I love having the display meter.......it's such an eye opener and it makes you realise how best to use the power more wisely and not take it for granted and just flick on switches without giving the action a 2nd thought to establish if there really is a need to do so. We are in general a very wasteful nation I fear and any gadget to try and instil more thoughtful behaviour and rectify our bad embedded habits can only be good for our planet.

 

As they say, "each to their own."
I was trained as a child, to not waste electricity, as my parents never had much money.



A lot of electricity over the years is wasted by stuff we leave on "standby," like our TVs, my soundbar and our Virgin 360 boxes. I know it but can't be bothered to turn them off at the plug.
If the government could get the majority of people on smart meters, as well as giving you a discount on Sundays as some energy suppliers do now, we could all end up paying premium rates for peak period use.
I can see no other reason why it would be necessary to have a smart meter.
Surely people are aware of the stuff in their house and when it's on.
Reading a meter and posting the reads, isn't a problem. Back in the day there were meter readers. They died out. Energy suppliers trust you to take accurate readings and never bother to check.

 

Hubby has always read the meters and send them online and we're always careful on what we use, turn the lights off, i hardly use the tumble dryer and always careful with the washing machine, the only time i use the oven is for the mince pies and turkey. He's got one of those monitors that he has to use the app for so not sure what's happening. He's not worried about how much we use because we're always careful can't afford a big bill for both.

 

Totally agree DhR stand by's are so very very wasteful.

I have to say that it's not a question of money....we can afford it, it's down to just caring for our environment. We don't keep anything on stand by at all...never have. Our children where brought up on such mindful practices and have continued with them in their own homes now.

Hubs has always read our meters every Sunday evening. We have records going back 40+ years. That's how I knew ( for another recent post) that last year was very mild in November as we didn't need heating on...I then checked back on last years weather thread and found it was 15C. Keeping records are brilliant!!

 

Well, well. I still live back in the 1950's then. I have my meter read every month, around the 15 th by an actual human being !! He comes along on a golf cart, lifts the lid on the water meter in front of the house and reads that, then comes through the side gate and walks around to the back of the house, where the meter sits attached to the house snd writes down the numbers. A Very nice man, a bit shy and reserved but always very pleasant.

We had smart meters when I lived in Florida but Georgia, well, it's a little bit different here.

 

Cleaned up rider mower. It was a muddy mess. It’s in the shop for a tune up , the deck belt broke again so they are replacing it. Major tune up - spark plugs - changing oil - filters - greasing and they are fixing a wonkie front tire.
Also cleaned all my battery op pruners, hedgers , telescopic tree pruners and hand tools.
I still need to remove a lot of leaves along the driveway from the recent wind storm the past couple of days . The battery is recharging .
I broke the leaf rake and shovel handle. Purchased steel reinforced handles to replace the broken handles and and need to finish changing the gas 55 gal drums switch over the pump system to a full 55 gal drum , after emptied one.

As they say no rest for the wicked. …

 

I read the gas and electric meters, of which of the latter there are two, as we used to be on "Economy Seven" where we were charged less for usage between midnight and seven a.m. But British Gas don't do that now, so they add the two usages together.
The water meter is in the pavement outside our house. It's read twice a year by the "bin lorry." As bin lorries visit every property, it made sense to have the "reader" attached to one. It's all automatic.

 

Today I finished cleaning the pine needles and deciduous tree leaves from the patio see thru roof after the last wind storm , which is really a doggie playpen on soggy days , offers no escape fence on the wall. Let the light show thru… finally.

 

It's Sunday, so today I think I'm going to embark on starting a new project, related to metal working - Which is something that I always wanted to do, but be it for whatever reason, I never got around to it.

So inspired by these two gentlemen below, who were anything but gentle on screen during their youth, (see videos). I too am now going to make something frightening out of steel!

https://youtube.com/shorts/_8EVp57ipAw?si=KcoG8ErHwvKYcGoW

https://youtube.com/shorts/kL9NqeMTm7k?si=Y6f-3uN1vdDgzOIj

This is a piece of a truck's rear leaf spring. So just the perfect material for making something I always wanted. It's going to be big, heavy, and scary, But above all else, it's going to be crazy!

 

Saturday and I finally got to use the grill on my new deck. Still construction messy but it is now official. I had cured a pork shoulder overnite so it went out while college football rah rah was on in the background. Napa coleslaw and tomato salad and cornbread and here I am watching the last game of my day. I did some payroll and computer stuff at half speed. My painter accidently used the trim paint on an outside wall and I had to show the guy his mistake meant we had to repaint the back wall. Could have been worse, all of it I mean. He had not gotten past halfway.

 

Brilliant job Pac, all looks very spick and span indeed. So glad to see that you landed safely back on earth.

 

Sounds like a very interesting project @S-H ......a bit apprehensive about seeing the finished object......I have my cushion ready to hide behind!!

 

Actually, closest thing to the design of what I've got in my mind - Is what they call a "laid to rest" knife. Which is a cross between a saw tooth serrated Bowie, and a knuckle duster trench knife from World War One.



I however believe that I can make it even more dangerous, by adding a karambit tail. Plus small yet thick fishhook style spears at all the knuckles.



However nobody needs to worry about it. As this is only going come out into action - If 3I ATLAS interstellar astroid (currently passing through our solar system) actually turns out to be an Extraterrestrial Alien vessel. Which probably is full of hideous looking Aliens, who'll transform humans into zombies. To serve them and fulfill their evil agenda of total conquest of Earth.

So let history record, that humanity's resistance started here and now. And that too at GardenStew, (out of all the places)...

 

You'll never get close enough to use it as they know your thoughts even before you do and will vaporize your knife as they do all weapons. Might as well relax and enjoy life until they come get ya !!

 

You need to frame that and hang it on a wall. I suspect you will never get it back out of whatever alien butt you stab.