Daydream fund challenge part 4

Davesnave

Dare I say it after Dafty was waxing so lyrical last night, and then maggie watching the red dawn come up?
OK....

FOG!


But, it's calm. :A

Last night, there was plenty visibility and it was calm then too. Norra lot happened . The posh neighbour sent up one Roman candle thing..... One!

There were pops and bangs for a minute in the town, something resembling nuclear Armageddon for ten seconds about 20 miles away in the Hatherleigh direction....and silence.

I can't say I minded too much when the text from our builder in Oz came through. They're OK and don't think their area has enough trees to have a serious fire, but with all the smoke and temps at or around 40c, work on their house is out of the question for now.

alfie_1

a delayed HAPPY NEW YEAR peeps
we had the glitter bombs all around us ! the montagues , the rothchilds and the master builders hotel ... GINORMOUS and LOUD
good job dolly daydream [dog] is deaf so never moved , disty dog just went to bed and fish stood in the garden barking and leaping up at the rocket ones ??
horses did a bit of scattering but are used to the bonfire night ones BUT not the hotel ones which are just the otherside of the trees... no injuries tho


i went out with rose yesterday her on her pony bare back and me on the big old cob bare back ... bless him he hasn't been ridden for a few years but remembered it all [trained western perelli bit less] AND I survived !!
the forest here is awash ! some car parks are like lakes ...


well wishing you all a great 2020

Davesnave

alfie_1 wrote: »

the forest here is awash ! some car parks are like lakes ...
...well wishing you all a great 2020

So far we've had it easy. This was the big river two days ago:



Last summer, we were walking out 2/3 of the way across the area behind Sam, but as the 'beach' shows, levels have dropped back to normal for winter.


I did say this would be an 'interesting' year, but I wasn't expecting Trump to interfere with my heating decisions quite so soon! :mad: Another oil order to take us through to summer @46/47p/litre , followed rapidly, just in case, although I know supplies aren't so vulnerable nowadays. I can still junk the deal if it turns out I overreacted.

The weather may have been kind but the older folk in the family haven't all fared well this Christmas. Sam's other Grandad was taken into hospital on Christmas Day and died before New Year. Knowing his condition's prognosis and someone in the village who also had it, a quick exit was probably for the best, but not for those left behind, of course. One of DW's Uncles was also rushed into intensive care around the same time. He's now in a cottage hospital, so presumably out of immediate danger, but he may not be going home again.

This means a gun- trained cream Labrador might need a new home ....Alfie?... No, I don't mean you take her; you have enough on your plate already, but do you know anyone? She's currently in Ascot.

choille

Rain, rain go away & the wind too. It's blowy here & very very wet.

Sorry to hear your sad news Dave.

Alfie - no fireworks seen here thank fully. I used to see them in the past but maybe too wet a time this year.

Just trying to declutter on the bay this evening - as I have far too much clutter of stuff that seemed like a good idea at the time. I have a mission to get sorted out as it's a hazard all the piles everywhere.

I too hope this decade is calmer and more sense is seen Dafty. Doesn't bode well with the sort of folks running the world these days.

Just as well we are tuffies - eh?

pile-o-stone

I've just stumbled across this thread and thought I'd say Hi and introduce myself!

I'm currently beavering away to make our garden into a mini smallholding. The garden is naturally separated into three areas by pathways and outbuildings and so the idea is to have one area as a vegetable patch (this is furthest away from the house), one area as a mini orchard (this is at the side of the house) and one area set aside as a courtyard garden for us to eat/lounge around in the sun but it will have pots for growing herbs, and attractive edibles.

The mini-orchard area already had a large, established plum tree when we moved in and we added an apple tree next to it which was a house warming gift from pals. Fast forward a few years and I've recently added another apple tree and two pears.

I'm currently working on the vegetable plot. A little brook runs at the rear of our garden and during periods of heavy rain it turns into a torrent. On one particularly bad week, we lost a chunk of the bank and it undermined our path, cracking the concrete. I therefore started installing gabion cages filled with stones as an erosion defense. It has a secondary advantage of giving us a bit more land as it 'squares off' the slope of the bank. The image below gives an idea of what I'm doing:



This closeup shows how much extra space we are we gaining - the grass border shows where the bank used to slope down to the stream.



The image in the background is a galvanised steel raised bed that has a sort of greenhouse attachment. I've ordered another one that I will place next to it. They will be used to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. I really like these raise beds as they are nice and high so it'll be easier for my back and knees!

The other side of the vegetable plot is heavily shaded, but the bit I've reclaimed gets the sun so it's another advantage of putting in the gabions.

in_my_wellies

pile-o-stone wrote: »

The image in the background is a galvanised steel raised bed that has a sort of greenhouse attachment. I've ordered another one that I will place next to it. They will be used to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. I really like these raise beds as they are nice and high so it'll be easier for my back and knees!

Welcome
My friend in Sydney has several of these, as you say, ideal for bad backs and hold moisture better than smaller containers or raised beds. I didn't realise I could buy them here in England (never thought to look) but I shall now, thanks

choille

Welcome pile-o-stones. Gabions are quite trendy and seem to be used more frequently in garden landscaping these days. But in your case it is necessary and will be a useful addition.

Yesterday I got blown over down the beach. And absolutely soaked through. It was completely wild and hard to walk back to the car. We have white on the tops today but it's just stopped raining. It's not inspiring out there.

pile-o-stone

in_my_wellies wrote: »

Welcome
My friend in Sydney has several of these, as you say, ideal for bad backs and hold moisture better than smaller containers or raised beds. I didn't realise I could buy them here in England (never thought to look) but I shall now, thanks

I saw them on an Australian youtube channel ("self sufficient me") and thought they were a great idea. We've had wooden raised beds but they rotted away quite quickly and I was always worried about what chemicals were in the treated wood. The raised beds look like this:



They're not cheap, but I think they should last a lifetime. You fill them about half full with logs, dead leaves and brushwood and the rest with topsoil and compost. The logs rot down and generate heat and nutrients for the plants above.

I got them from here: https://www.blumfeldt.co.uk/Garden-tools/Raised-beds/

pile-o-stone

choille wrote: »

Welcome pile-o-stones. Gabions are quite trendy and seem to be used more frequently in garden landscaping these days. But in your case it is necessary and will be a useful addition.

Yesterday I got blown over down the beach. And absolutely soaked through. It was completely wild and hard to walk back to the car. We have white on the tops today but it's just stopped raining. It's not inspiring out there.

It's certainly a wet n wild winter this time. The ground is getting all churned up while I do the gabions and that part of the garden resembles the Somme. I've one last gabion to fit and then I'm done, so the ground will have a bit of time to recover before spring.

DaftyDuck

pile-o-stone. Welcome! Given I have just come out of our river, wet and muddy, greetings. I do like your gabions. I might be tempted to tidy the vegetation on the other bank slightly... amazing how much protection a bit of foliage gives a bank, and how much it slows the current down. You might be able to flare the wire outwards slightly at the base of the next one: it will deter undermining. Mind you, they do look pretty strong and robust as they are.

I have a few fallen willow across our (slightly larger) river, and I need to cut them and pull them out with the tractor before the next rains. We do flood magnificently, but part of my land is designed to do so.... just maybe not so much next time!

So, do I put this morning's sodden, muddy, cold outfit back on, or just start again in my dry, warm clothes? Dry, I think, and hope not to fall in as much!