Charcoal, anybody??

Some time ago, my Mum asked me if I could find a use for these little bags for detergent tablets in the washing machine. I couldn't, but I don't like to see things thrown away, so I saved them. I gave it some thought, but until today I hadn't come up with a use for them. More of that in a mo.I was busy in the kitchen this morning, baking for our Coffee and Cake Craft Fair on Saturday - (I hate cooking) making biscuits and flapjacks. While I was in the kitchen, I saw the reason why the birds nuts are disappearing at an alarming rate - the pesky squirrel is back!

There's no point in chasing him off, he goes about five yards down the garden, turns around and sneers and then sits there until I close the door then comes back, so I just give up. Anyway, back to cooking ..... the biscuits turned out ok - they are called Keddie's cookies, because I got the recipe about 30 years ago from my friend's Mum, and she was called Mrs Keddie. Oh, and they are supposed to look like that, before any of you criticise the fact that they look a bit mis-shapen. I went off to sort out a couple of other things, and unfortunately, completely forgot about the flapjacks that were still in the oven.


Which is why they look slightly less successful ......

It didn't help that as I was scraping the burnt crumbs out of the tin, Delia bloody Smith was on Woman's hour, endlessly banging on about how to cook the perfect turkey, and the crispiest roast potatoes, and how delicious home made pork pies are, (I'd better not tell you what I suggested she do with her home made pork pies) and how much cheaper home baked mince pies are compared to shop ones. Of course they're cheaper you daft bat, you don't have to go through all that aggravation of weighing stuff, and making pastry and burning yourself and washing up. Incidentally, Delia, I've seen the price of football socks and we don't see you surrounding yourself with yellow and green wool to knock out countless pairs for the Canaries, do we? Have you thought about how much cheaper it would be?!?!?



So, to come back to the washing bags - I decided they'd be perfect for holding charcoaled lumps of flapjack, to hang up for the birds.

So that's what I did ......And, I have to say, since I've hung them out, I haven't seen hide nor hair of the squirrel or the massive fat pigeons that plague my bird feeder. And that gave me an idea....................

To Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones

c/o Dragons Den,

Dear Mr Bannatyne and Mr Jones,

I am looking for £500,000 of investment to produce and market my all-new failproof squirrel deterent.

To give you a breakdown of the costs, I need about £100 for basic ingredients, about £200 for the little bags, and the rest will go towards the cost of having a couple of fire tenders on standby for when the inevitable happens.

Yours hopefully

vintagerockchick x