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stumbling self sufficiency in a small space
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8:22 pm
Expert
Sat 10-Oct-09
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I can't find the post with my pot plants in as they are slowley comming on but as it's still cold and more SNOW on the way. 
i let the frogs go back to the pond and now using the Fish tank for a seed incubator, i may well turn it into a her'b garden inside later.
11:58 am
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Sounds good, let us know what progress you make?
I'll try that again!
12:28 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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Fiona saw a display cabinet left outside a house for disposal and snapped it up. It is now lying on its back on the gravel in our driveway acting as a cold frame for her seedlings! 
Never knowingly underfed
1:00 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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What luck! You'll be unable to move for seedlings soon.
I'll try that again!
6:37 pm
Expert
Sat 10-Oct-09
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10:09 am
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Amazing what you can find if you keep your eyes open ......... when we lived in Holland, we lived near a place called Duindigt (KateUK will know this well, I think) - it is a racetrack for horses, just on the edge of The Hague.
A point here - it is fair game in Holland that if you see something at the side of the road, and you want it - pick it up. We arranged for the council to pick up some goods that we didn't want, but by the time the lorry arrived everything had been taken 
.
One day, while driving past the car park of the Duindigt, there was a skip with some furniture on top. At the time we had a Ford Taurus estate car (like a Ford Scorpio in size). We stopped to have a look and decided that this could go in the car. We lived just a few hundred yards down this road.
We loaded the settee - it was covered in Dralon and was a curved 3-seater - a little thin on the arms of the chair, but I decided to have a go and recovering. We then went back and picked up the winged armchair.
We did think at the time that we ought to put a note on the skip and ask for the other armchair, but decided against it. 
We brought the 'suite' home to the UK, and together with three other bits of furniture, had the whole lot recovered professionally (I'd chickened out of the job by then
).
Last year, we decided we didn't want them anymore - so took the two pieces to auction.
It transpired that the suite was Italian - and probably made about 1947, and it fetched £600 at auction.
All in all - a worthwhile 'skip-raid'.
10:30 am
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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As this thread is about a fish tank ........... another tale ........... from Holland.
When we had to return to the UK, we wondered what to do with our fish tank and its residents, nobody seemed keen to take them on - even for free.
Don't know why we even considered this ..... but we placed the fish tank in a bin liner, and into the boot of the Citroen BX for the journey back to Berkshire. If anyone has been in a Citroen BX, they will know that it's a comfortable car, but quite 'bouncy' on the road.
We arrived at the Hook of Holland for the ferry, but with a couple of hours to spare, we thought we'd have a bite to eat beforehand.
We went into a cafe/restaurant, and at that time, our son and daughter were with us on the journey. Blonde daughter was 20 then, and quite chatty (still is!), and she noticed that this little eatery had some fish tanks around the room. Well, she chatted up the waiter, who called the owner, and then she persuaded the owner that he would really love to have some more fish in his fishtanks.
Problem solved - well done daughter! Saved the Citroen from having a soggy boot!
12:04 pm
Expert
Sat 10-Oct-09
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Perhaps we should do 101 things you can use a fish tank for and then move on to something else.
10:37 pm
Sat 12-Aug-06
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Great stories, BS and an even better one-liner, Mutley
BS - I did not quite "get" your fish tank story: were there live fish in the tank that you loaded into the Citroen?
Never knowingly underfed
10:52 pm
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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Yes, Danny, live fish in the tank - which is why the tank was in a bin liner - a not-very-clever notion to stop the water sploshing about everywhere 
.
When I mentioned the bumpy ride in the Citroen - I imagine all the water was going everywhere ....
The owner of the little restaurant had a tank full of fish emptied into his own much larger fish tank.
I must work harder on telling stories ........
5:05 am
Supreme Being
Mon 21-Sep-09
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4:40 pm
Moderators
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Moi aussi!
I'll try that again!
7:03 pm
Councillor
Tue 22-Sep-09
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Oh yes, anything left on the pavement outside in Holland is fair game. When we were moving back we had a really good sort out, found homes for lots of stuff, but there was still a big pile of broken things including the sofa that had lost all its spring, you might as well sit on the floor, it was that soggy. We had a very entertaining evening watching the pile slowly disappear. Someone came with a van and took the sofa. Some very threadbare towels were picked up one by one by people walking their dogs. By the morning when the council came to take away our rubbish the big pile- about an eight foot cube of stuff- was reduced to a broken lamp ( VERY broken ) and a small cardboard box of what can only be described as complete rubbish. They must have wondered why we bothered calling them.
We had a Hamster problem when we came back. Hamsters can go to Holland, but can't come back- they might have rabies. So when our last elderly Hamsters died a month or so before we moved, we didn't replace them. But we had Six cages and all the trimmings - our little spare room had been the Hamster room- no-one seemed to want Hamster cages. In desperation I asked the Pet Shop if they wanted them. "No", said the girl behind the counter, " but the Hamster Rescue lady would love them.". Yes, Hamster Rescue. I phoned her. She was delighted " I've just had 15 Hamsters dropped off and I have no spare cages." Brilliant.
The plastic Fish Tank the Gerbils-oh yes, we had them too- used as their base camp is now used as a plant propagator lid.
Kateuk makes things at http://www.etsy.com/shop/finkstuff and sometimes she does this too http://www54paintings.blogspot.com/ and also this http://finkstuff.weebly.com/
9:46 pm
Supreme Being
Thu 24-Sep-09
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My sons used to keep their terrapins in a fish tank - one was friendly and the other one, the bigger of course, would always try to bite you. 
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
3:02 pm
Supreme Being
Wed 30-Dec-09
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danast said:My sons used to keep their terrapins in a fish tank - one was friendly and the other one, the bigger of course, would always try to bite you.
They're like that, terrapins.
A friend of mine, M, had some fish in her fish tank, and thought she would introduce some variety into her tank and bought two terrapins. She came home one day to find each of them with one end of a fish in their mouths - poor fish didn't stand a chance.
However - M wasn't on particularly good terms with her neighbour, so one day, after dark, she poured the contents of her fish tank into the neighbour's pond.
I often wonder if the terrapins became turtles in the end.............
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