HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Stanley]

We know which side our bread is buttered!

[Marilyn]

I like to think that we all enrich our partner's lives...be they there for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
I'm sure I sent my first husband off with "skills". (I certainly tried to tell him where it all went wrong! )
We always greet each other warmly if our paths cross, some 30 years since we went different ways...and it is a genuine warmth as we were once very happy...( But I wouldn't want to spend an entire afternoon with him...and likewise...he would say the same)
My son recently joked that he would one day put us in the same nursing home, to save him driving time to visit us both. I replied that so long as he wasn't in the room next door, where he might wander in and annoy me, that would be fine!

[Stanley]

One of my old workshop tricks for you. If you ever have to use a wire brush on something and have access to a grinder, sharpen the brush on the grinder, you will be amazed by the difference it makes!

[Stanley]

Jack did his phantom piddler act in the hall again the night before last. I can't get angry with him, it's a symptom of his early days when he was not house-trained. I am trying a different tack, when he's had his tea at 03:30pm I am emptying his water bowl and putting only half a pint in it. I'll report when I have seen if it makes a difference.

[Marilyn]

How old is Jack now?
Doggy Dementia setting in? Or perhaps he asks to go out and you don't hear him request?
I'm afraid I would be showing my disapproval...otherwise he will think it is acceptable. Is it too late for a doggy door?
I don't think you should cut his fluids in Summer.
I visited a friend once who had a desexed male cat who was piddling on bookcases and furniture. She had plastic draped everywhere. Cat just kept finding new places to pee. Couldn't live with that...the cat needs TELLING!

[Stanley]

Maz, once early training is neglected it is incredibly difficult to break habits. It doesn't happen very often and don't worry, I keep a close eye on him. Even with only half a pint in the bowl there is always a drop left and when I refill it for the day he never goes to it so he isn't suffering. Remember that dogs are quite at home in deserts in the wild.
We have a similar problem in the back street.... Somebody's cat likes to crap near my back gate. I started dosing the area with dilute Jeyes Fluid and that seemed to stop it but of late it has started using a patch of looser tarmac in the middle of the road, I have been clearing up and dosing with Jeyes but it persisted so I used neat bleach. That didn't work either! I noticed yesterday that someone else has cleared it up and dosed the patch with something. Funny thing but the lady next door told me she had taken her old cat to the vet's to be put down yesterday, old age.... It will be interesting to see whether the crapping stops. (We do lead an interesting life here in East Hill Street!

[Tizer]

Well it makes a change from worrying about Brexit and Trump and you stand a slightly better chance of making a useful intervention!

[Stanley]

That's true Tiz.... No recurrence as yet. I wonder whether it was the old cat next door....
It's amazing how clean the back street is otherwise. Lots to be said for slipping the street sweeoer a quid every now and again towards a drink! Do you remember the accounts of crossing sweepers in London getting tips in days gone by? You always get a smile when you tell them you appreciate what they do......

[Tizer]

If we see council workers doing a job we often thank them even though it's not directly affecting us; and if they are doing more than necessary or an outstanding job we'll say so. They're usually pleased because they get so little thanks most of the time.

[Stanley]

Good. Too many people take such things for granted but are swift to complain!
Bleeding obvious but keep hydrated! We are told there are going to be a couple of hot days......

[Stanley]

If you want to stop a drought, put your own borehole in and start a big wash. It will start raining immediately! (Or at least, that's my prediction....)

[Wendyf]

It's a costly rain dance....

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

Water Street in Earby in August 2004. If we get heavy rain this is what we must be aware might happen. The 1932 Barlick flood was in July after a spell of hot weather...... Check your drains!

[Stanley]

If you are afraid of lightning here are a few old fashioned tips for you. My mother said that windows should be opened in any room with a fireplace so that if a thunderbolt came down the chimney it could get out of the house via the window. This wasn't as daft as it sounded. A flue lined with carbon (soot) is a good conductor and if the window was open it made it easier for pressures to equalise if there was a strike on a chimney.
A very old tradition was to plant holly trees near the house as it was believed they attracted lightning. Some research has been done to investigate this and there is an element of truth in it as due to a little known physics theory about 'The Action of Points' suggests that the spiked leaves of holly can in fact have an influence......

[Stanley]

Fairy detergent sachets for the washing machine are more expensive than the Co-op Own Brand but do a better job!

[Tizer]

That's interesting because we find that Fairy washing up liquid is stronger than the supermarket own brand equivalents and you need so little that it's more economical even though costing more. That brings back memories - my mum always overdid the washing up liquid and wasn't happy unless there were suds everywhere. The downside was that the crockery sometimes tasted of washing up liquid. She also spread margarine or butter very thickly on bread so that it could seem like a margarine sandwich with a bit of garnish in it. Mrs Tiz's grandfather in New Zealand loved the NZ butter. If he went to a restaurant and was given bread and those little foil-wrapped packs of butter he'd open the butter and eat it without the bread!

[Marilyn]

I adore New Zealand butter from the North Island. Best butter on Earth.

[Stanley]

I use whey butter because it has a better flavour, nutty. But I agree about NZ butter, it's good.
I use a commercial detergent I get in 5ltr containers, it's cheap and works well. My test is soaking something that you've used under the grill and has burned on fat. But I use very little for 'washing up'. By the time Jack has licked out the bowls I use for meals all they need is washing with cold water, he's a good degreaser!

[Marilyn]

I would never let any animal lick plates. No. Not good. (Consider what else they spend time licking!)

[Stanley]

Ah, but consider this. In terms of cleanliness a dog's mouth is far cleaner than a human's and contains a lot of antibodies. Consider the parable of the good Samaritan where it was said of the injured man 'The dogs licked his wounds'. There is an old forgotten truth in that, it can heal wounds faster. I know this can be hard to accept but think of things like the use of maggots to aid healing of persistent ulcers. We recoil from that but it's an accepted medical procedure. It's all a matter of choice and I prefer the minimal risk of infection from a dog's saliva (Although I do scrub the bowls with Scotch Pad) to residual contamination by aggressive chemicals like strong detergent. We are exposed to germs all day and so far I haven't noticed any ill effects!

[Marilyn]

When I wash the dog's own dish, I wash it with paper towel, then dry it with more paper towel, and all the paper towel goes in the bin. I would never put my tea towel or kitchen sponge near the dog's dish. Same with her water bowls (one inside and one outside)

[Julie in Norfolk]

I too use the dogs as a pre-wash on heavily soiled items, especially the carving board and similar. Mind-you, they get a good clean afterwards.

[Wendyf]

Me too, the dogs do a pre-wash on plates and dishes before they go in the dishwasher.

[Marilyn]

Yuck! ( Gross)