Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Rummer

:eek: Just had to take that spider off me again!!!! Clearly brought it back in with me :eek:Now I am growing tired of it all!

Been frantically cleaning and organising our party so much to do and so little time!

ferretkeeper

A pond filter would be just the job, but there really isn't anything visible in the water, as I said before. the goats particularly wouldn't drink it, they turn their noses up at anything that's not 100% fresh and clean.

I'm mostly talking pigs here, you know the ones that dig the ground up with their noses and eat what they find, which must mean they eat a lot of earth anyway. In fact piglets that don't go outdoors in their early weeks get a clod of turf for them to get the iron out of, not my idea, that's from the experts. So they must be a lot better at digesting the gritty bits than horses, they can eat anything.

I can't work out how do the sheep and ponies and cattle up on the commons/mountains round here survive, all they've got is the natural streams and occasional stagnant puddles.

Anyway, the near crisis is averted, just in the nick of time I heard back from Natural resources wales today and I'm allowed to take the water I need from the river.

Hope the party goes well Rummer, and everyone is keeping cool, don't envy you in the caravans choille and CTC maybe you could find a reason to go for a drive CTC, Get that air con going! Actually it's cooled down a bit already, better get back to work.

choille

Been meltingly hot again - plenty of cleggs too & the midgies are now out so have the fan going indoors. Really should pick the blackcurrants as it's a shame to waste them. Supposed to rain this eveining - I do hope so.

I_have_spoken

Had a look around one of the garden centres in Glasgow today, I think they must be getting worried seeing so many potted plants 'going over' so quickly in this heat. I certainly wouldn't buy anything already in full flower to put into the border.

Anyhow picked up a Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum' which was in bud - this fills a border gap after I pulled out both the lupins which had anthracnose fungal disease

50% off a large Helleborus x hybridus 'Walberton's Rosemary'. I not the biggest fan of pink flowers, but this has enough mauve to be OK and supposedly flowers very well.

Coreopsis 'Moonbeam', I've found the usual Coreopsis in B&Q etc. are not reliable perennials but this one may not be so intensively bred, just in bud so will get the starry, pale yellow flowers.

Euphorbia Welfenii - I already thinking about maintaining some interest in the garden over winter!

A Gentian to get a really good blue in the garden, although I reckon it's one for a tub as it won't like my clay, acid soil

Lastly a bizarre thing Calocephalus brownii or Cushion Bush, which I think will join the Gentian in a tub. I can't imagine Calocephalus is winter hardy in Glasgow, being a native plant of Australia!

alfie_1

alfie_1

a taster of the amazing firework display !! just got home...up at 5am for gatwick run..... amazing day.

Davesnave

I'm back from Brum! :wave: Not the easiest journey down the M5, but mostly OK. Maybe more people are understanding that in dense traffic, swapping lanes and doing quick manoeuvres just results in braking, which leads to 'phantom jams,' as people behind brake harder, and harder.....

I think it was probably pretty hot in Brum too, but we were so busy, I scarcely noticed. I suppose the heat goes naturally with a cosmopolitan environment where the smell of curry spices is never far away. I was just glad it wasn't raining for DD1's extended removal, especially when I saw how much had to be removed! :eek:

I won't go into many details. If you understand that among the items we carried were four half barrels full of tomato plants/apple trees, 3 fireplaces, two complete sets of weight lifting gear, a 6 burner range cooker, a massive church pew, a PA system with four huge speakers, plus the usual beds, wardrobes, sofa, fridge, freezer, etc you will have a flavour of it. Yes, they do eBay and generally 'come by' things.;)

Luckily, the man next door had about 8 or 9 pallets from them.:A but we have still returned with a van full of scrap wood and old carp to burn. Why am I always burning other folks rubbish?

One thing I discovered: living in a bungalow is no good for legs. On Day 1, whether going down or up, my muscles were tight and I just couldn't 'get' stairs at all. By today, I was nipping up and down them, no problem, so clearly there is something to be said for the exercise a 2 storey house provides. Never thought of that.

My sympathy for all those of you who have been bitten by insects. On our first night, eating out of doors resulted in most of our party having insect bites, though as usual, I wasn't much troubled. There were no swallows and martins to mop up the little blighters as there are here.

lostinrates

ferretkeeper wrote: »

A pond filter would be just the job, but there really isn't anything visible in the water, as I said before. the goats particularly wouldn't drink it, they turn their noses up at anything that's not 100% fresh and clean.

I'm mostly talking pigs here, you know the ones that dig the ground up with their noses and eat what they find, which must mean they eat a lot of earth anyway. In fact piglets that don't go outdoors in their early weeks get a clod of turf for them to get the iron out of, not my idea, that's from the experts. So they must be a lot better at digesting the gritty bits than horses, they can eat anything.

I can't work out how do the sheep and ponies and cattle up on the commons/mountains round here survive, all they've got is the natural streams and occasional stagnant puddles.

Anyway, the near crisis is averted, just in the nick of time I heard back from Natural resources wales today and I'm allowed to take the water I need from the river.

Hope the party goes well Rummer, and everyone is keeping cool, don't envy you in the caravans choille and CTC maybe you could find a reason to go for a drive CTC, Get that air con going! Actually it's cooled down a bit already, better get back to work.

Animals don't live as long in free living situations as in good husbandry 'farmed' or domestic ones. That was the first point I made.

Goats do drink water that isn't perfect for them, despite finicky nature. I'm sure you will know about Urolithiasis filtering can be significant ( not for silt, but potentially for silt, because the silt will have mineral make up). While its associated with castration its not confined to castrated goats/ cattle.

Ultimately, with things you are rearing for table, much of the longevity stuff isn't going to be an issue for people. But some might lose stock for 'unknown' reasons, some might suffer failure to thrive.

ferretkeeper

Dave that sounded epic, I hope you've got a chance to put your feet up and have a rest?! :A

IHS I'm totally envious, you've mentioned all my fave plants which I don't have yet. I thought about sowing seed but I'll probably hang on til next season for the small size perennials, can't believe they're £8-10 for a 3 litre pot these days.

Our nearest big chain garden centre is also ditching stuff left right and centre, I call in whenever I'm passing and have a nose in the sale area, I nearly always come out with something on my wish list. It's got a big under cover outdoor area which is great when it's raining but now is sweltering, so it's not a totally pleasant experience lately, no mooching just a quick bargain hunt!

I'm hoping it's a bit cooler today, got tons to do outdoors but like everyone else (except Dave maybe!) I'm seriously flagging. Got no appetite at all which won't be helping, I literally had a plate of salad yesterday....and two ice creams

Davesnave

ferretkeeper wrote: »

Dave that sounded epic, I hope you've got a chance to put your feet up and have a rest?! :A

I have, but as we all know, what isn't done today will need doing tomorrow! :rotfl:

I didn't mind the work, but I don't care for stressful situations, and we were on a pretty tight schedule to get everything moved in time. :eek:

The plumber was still trying to make the bathroom & kitchen piping happen at the new place, so we had limited space to put everything, and all the outdoor stuff had to go through a narrow ginnel between two houses, then througha narrow space where the plumbers/builders had parked all their trash & rubble......:mad: On top of that, there was parking the van on an unrestricted and fairly busy road.....

But it was OK. DD2's partner was there, and he's worth two of anyone else, physically, practically and intellectually. He also just smiles at adversity and stays wonderfully polite when everyone else is losing it. That's infectious.

Anyway, DD1 and DH have ended up with a rough, but structurally sound house, with new electrics and plumbing, in a fairly posh area, all for around £140k. If they can curb their hoarding tendencies, sort out the pretty bits and tame the 120' garden, they will do OK. Regardless, I shan't be moving them again.:p They've really gone beyond 'man with van!' :rotfl: