Daydream fund challenge part 4

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Davesnave wrote: »

Final dress rehearsal last night. Still a bit rough at the edges, but it is what it is.....:o

Never been an animal before. (D_ck Whittington's wheeler-dealing cat :whistle:)

At least you'll have warm toes for the show


Finally got into the mudpatch to chop at things and tie a few in. A couple of things are flowering, but largely the National Collection of Dandelions (all good if any Bumbles have managed to survive coming out of hiberation). I can't imagine how awful it has been for lambing in this weather over the last few weeks.

choille

That's some waterlogged field Dave. The slopes here help for water run off thankfully and this little while of drier days has helped tremendously. Things will dry out quickly but it is terrible when it happens.

Lovely day here again with a little dusting of snow on the Pudding - everywhere looks picture postcard pretty again except for the sides of the roads that are getting rubbish chucked on them and of course the pot holes everywhere - got a new windscreen the other day so here's hoping it'll last.

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

That's some waterlogged field Dave....

It's Dafty's, not mine!

We had lots of rain, but it was spread very evenly through the month, so no floods here. To be honest, we folk in the middle, between the moors, don't get the amount of rain others get north and south of us. We can be slightly chillier, but our microclimate is otherwise quite favourable.

DaftyDuck

Yeah, mine, all mine! Well, it was for about six hours, before we shoved it on downwards to flood some new estate built on the floodplain .

Doesn't last long. Looks beautiful, but I'd prefer the water to stay in the river, and maybe the water meadow. Where it is meant to be! But, it does bring the wildlife closer in to home, which can be fun. As the lake shrinks, I shall have to rescue some of the remaining stranded fishies myself, or the herons and gulls will be too fat to fly :rotfl:

. I can't imagine how awful it has been for lambing in this weather over the last few weeks..

Indeed... With three Boreray to lamb this weekend, in a heated, well-lit barn, it will be fearsome

More seriously, just been over to a peripheral friend on the coast, who is the third largest wool producer in the country, and she is lambing nearly five thousand ewes this month alone. I was only there for half an hour, and she got sixteen texts updating her on various lambings, plus four calls to head to barn X, field 4, or yard #... She was ... even more batty than usual. Coffee came out of the machine quite dilute.... forgot to add grounds... so then shove in some instant and stirr quickly... hope Daffy doesn't notice the mistake.:rotfl: Luckily, her main month started only a week ago. One of those posh folk who just cope through utter chaos, look like tramps, and live in splendour - if you don't mind the drips and holes, and the falling apart furniture! Oh, and the dog turning up with a sdtill-born to feed to the pups!

Even in the soft south, some of those lambing outdoors in the last month have had it pretty 5hitty. Losses are much higher than usual, costs are through the roof, and there's a serious hay shortage. I thought I was sleep deprived, but...

I'm glad this is just a hobby for us! Not committed enough to want more hassle than we get.

Off to play with the Baglets in the sun. I wonder where they will have escaped to this time, what havoc they will have caused. Oh, one of them has a new trick; jumping up onto the top of fence posts, and balancing... What, you put these here to keep us in? We thought they were for "king of the castle games!"

Oh, survived the first outbreak of children just fine. Next week, I head for a childrens' show, up to ten thousand of them. I will need my Bagot body guard

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I'd love to be able to help somebody with lambing - I know it's insanely hard work, cold, wet, sad, exhausting and involves next to no sleep (and I'd probably be of very little use or ornament in reality) - but I would love to learn from somebody who knows exactly what they're doing and the successes must be wonderful.

And I make great tea and coffee.


I had the dubious joy of escaping from the city casa del mud to some better smelling mud at a ramshackle Garden Centre this afternoon. I would have called it a Nursery in previous years, but it now has a cafe that takes up more floor space than the plants, sells truly atrocious bird baths made of glass and brightly coloured so that no self respecting birdie would ever approach and a deserted Regatta clothing concession larger than the seed section.

Walking towards the bus stop with my box of plants, a replacement broom head, twine and some packets of useful seeds (having had to carefully rummage to find ones that weren't endorsed by celebrities, certain organisations that rather like hunting or were labelled for children - carrying the elevated price tag to match), I was stopped and bundled by five separate dogs, all of whom greeted me like an old friend, much to the confusion of their respective owners.

I suppose the Animal Beacon has fired up again. Or the scraggy jeans, walking boots, knackered padded jacket with rips to the arm and underarm and windswept hair told them I might be friendly :cool:


Now sat with a cuppa 'encouraging' the Idiot Cat to leave the small Nepeta alone before it gets safely relocated outside, at a height of 4 foot and will not touch the ground until it's able to deal with his attentions. I don't think it's going to work.

DaftyDuck

Nepeta.... upturned metal mesh hanging basket to cover the planted stuff... grows out rapidly, so kitty can get their " fix", but even the neighbouring bobcat won't grub too low on the stems.

You may need tent pegs to hold the cage down for the first month, if kitty is addicted: after that, the growth itself holds it down.

I was the "dealer" for the local cat rescue at my last house, and kept many an inmate (in)sane with covered catmints!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Want to go out the front of the house to clear up all the litter that's been deposited over the wall, but somebody's decided to park a large minibus (illegally) right in front of the house and conduct what sounds like a social gathering from it whilst sitting on my wall.

Go away. And take your 'I want to have a word with your Manager' haircuts with you.

[looks up 'Native spiky British plants that grow in sand' online].

greenbee

How about some pyracantha JoJo? You may regret it in a few years' time, but it should prevent anyone parking their bum on your wall

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

greenbee wrote: »

How about some pyracantha JoJo? You may regret it in a few years' time, but it should prevent anyone parking their bum on your wall

Already got it out the back to make clambering over the rickety shed (already liberally covered with rambling rose) from the wall an unpleasant activity for any would-be miscreants, Greenbee. It definitely likes the conditions out there (we have a bourne running underneath us that occasionally pops up to say hello in times of extreme rainfall, despite efforts to fully culvert it), as it is permanently shady and the ground is sandy, silty and permanently damp. I don't think one would enjoy the full sun from dawn - dusk, five foot of pure sand and storage heater effect of the wall and paving the builders constructed to raise the house significantly higher than the natural ground level out the front quite as much. And I'd have to chisel out a course of block paving to allow for trunks (Blackthorn/hawthorn is probably only a malevolent dream on my part).


But I think Sea Holly might be workable. Wildlife like them, humans don't unless from more than two foot away, but they look nice, form long tap roots with which they could conceivably reach the original ground level/water - and it would only mean scraping out a bit of mortar where the path joins the wall to give them entry points.

And if I add some echinacea seeds, I'm sure they could be explained away as a planting/design decision, rather than complete frustration with the locals needing to be treated like unruly livestock.

What do you reckon?

greenbee

Definitely worth a try!

I'm trying to fill gaps in the hedge and plant shrubs in the garden to help screen it a bit from the road - most of my garden is at the front.