Awful weather - typical Brits talk

twopenny

I waited to post late yesterday hoping I had heating news but again, he didn't turn up. Still it was lovely and cosy with the heating on all day! As long as I don't think about the bill.

Think I may have an idea on how to do something about it but not starting on a weekend in case I stuff it up.

While waiting I got to and mowed the front lawn, cut back the raspberry canes but it's mucky in this weather.

I found there - the other fruit bag   stuffed at the bottom of the fence with a hole nibbled in so I think that says 'rats' and not squirrels. Now I have to work on giving up my lovely sitoorie to stow the compost bin there so they can't easily get at the apples. Not happy about that.

Poppy, that's a beggar getting the dizzyness back. Feel for you. It will go. Maybe this wasn't the job for you and there's something better in the future.

Bluey, a job eh    What I did with horrid office job was print a photo of what I was working for (stay in a tree house in the rainforest in Oz) over my desk and when I was feeling exasperated I'd have a meditation moment. This is why I must put up with this.......

https://kondalilla.com/rooms/treehouses

I see it's an 'eco' resort now - raises eyebrows and eyes heavenwards!

Wow I love those flower lights. I so so want some.

I also envy the sunrises, sunsets and stars. I've seen none for months.

Not at all happy watching the GW winter special on pruning with people saying 'all our apples' and wonderful varieties. That was grinding teeth stuff Farway.

Anyhoo, need to get on with some stuff as everything closes soon being Saturday.

Temps struggled up from 3c - 9c and grey and drizzle. But still sodden out there, bulbs seeds and such burried under stuff in garage where I've moved things for the gas man that didn't come again and some free loft insulation I need so no gardening.

I may just read a lovely book on the making of a garden that I've had for ages if the storm comes in.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135289978796?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&ff=11&customid=EAIaIQobChMI5YmdkabyiQMVXKRQBh2E3go5EAQYAyABEgLoFPD_BwE

greenbee

Thanks YBE - I've got a spike in the garden and several lengths of cable tether, so I'm all set up for that. What I want to do is train him on recall to a whistle. Just in case there's ever a Fenton incident... I don't want to be identifiable

Septic tank lid sorted (I think). Is seems to be properly closed now so hopefully will stop being so stinky. I think it's just soil and general dirt that built up round the edges, but will keep a close eye on it in case the pump isn't working and/or it's slow draining into the second chamber. Rural life is so much fun.

Puppy has been helping in the back garden (must message the neighbours at the back, who I have now met, and explain my plans for the back fence - they have a 3ft wire mesh fence which isn't anything-proof, so I plan to put 6ft posts on my side right up against it, midway between the 3ft posts, and then attach mesh deer fencing. Which I'm pretty sure even a lab won't climb!). I've cleared the beans and taken down most of the frame, and he's eaten an apple, some cardboard, and some bits of bark. And probably other unspeakable things I have no idea about. But he's had some nice off-lead time running about which hopefully will mean he sleeps inside rather than getting bored. 

twopenny

14c here still

Today was warm and sometimes wet, just a bit of rain here and there. Went for a nice walk and christmas trees already up in some houses.

Saw some apples still at the roadside boxes so may nab those tomorrow as I  couldn't carry them today.

Very quiet everywhere with people hearing about the terrible storm but not looking out the window and seeing that so far it hasn't arrived. Aparantly overnight but right now heating off, the kitchen door and a window is open and I'm barefoot.......love it.

Hope I've battoned everything down enough!

How are you all doing?

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

What a cracking dawn pic YBE, I was still in my warm pit so no idea if there was similar here, could've been because it was a braw bricht moonlit nicht as Lord Rockingham & his XI used to sing.

Maybe only me & Dusty can recall those heady days?

Not quite before my time. I remember it on the wireless, but around then I was only vaguely aware of popular music. I recall spending fruitless hours writing requests to Uncle Mac on 'Children's Favourites, and then listening intently to see if my requests made it. They never did!    Judging by the sort of thing normally considered suitable, I can see now Spike Jones didn't have a hope in hell!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGX6dkVmDoI      

(Very grainy. Must be US TV. I only had the 78s! )

Love the expression on Rodney's face!  There's a young couple near us with a sausage dog. He's mottled and very handsome too. Immaculately behaved....until he meets another dog. 

twopenny said:

I waited to post late yesterday hoping I had heating news but again, he didn't turn up.

I hope he gets to you soon. It sounds as if you still have heating, though at 14c it's been quite balmy today! So far so good with the wind, but we won't be out of the woods until about 06.00 tomorrow, and then they say it will still keep raining.

Taff, I always walk on the same side of that tree en route to the hens. Having done it so long, I'm wary of changing anything, that's all. Silly, I know!

So sorry you're still having dizziness pp.  I hope it's just a temporary relapse. You were doing so well. 

I'd guess your septic tank is different from ours greenbee. We have no pump, but even when the lid is well sealed, a vent pipe remains to allow it to 'breathe.' It can be a little pongy, but no worse than what's spread on the fields nearby. Rural life.

I'm very late arriving here today. No panics, fortunately,  just keeping an eye on things and catching-up with indoor nonsense. Being confined to barracks much of the time, Mrs Dusty has found it easy to keep me on task. I hope all you folk battened down the hatches successfully, so Bert passes by, leaving you unscathed.  

Today I'm giving you Rosemoor's Winter Garden, the top half of which has been under reconstruction for many months now. The official reason for the change: 'It was tired.'

greenbee

I think mine has a pump because the drainage field is failing Dusty... It's all in need of work but will be massive upheaval, so I'm just trying to keep it going with as little smell as possible (it's right outside the front door, so smell is obvious). The cabbagey smell of sewer gas has at least gone since the limescale removal, but I think the person taking up and putting back the lid on various occasions hasn't bothered to clear round the lid so that it can seal properly. I'm hoping this will reduce the smells. Like most people, he's very quick to criticise how other people have done things, but doesn't always do a better job himself I know I'm lucky to have the help, but there are times when I get fed up with people making more work for me... or saying they can do stuff and ending up paying them AND someone else to sort the problem.

Wind is getting up here - puppy and I have managed to almost fill one garden waste bin with dead annuals and stuff from the veg plot, but it's too dark for me to do much on his loo breaks now other than stand there waiting and hoping he'll decide to hurry up so we can go back inside... 

Cats are NOT happy about the wind. One has had the sense to. hide upstairs, the other is rampaging around complaining about it. Puppy is chewing a dog toy. 

YoungBlueEyes

Aww Rodney! Look at him! What a little darling Funny you should say about being a paid dog walker Farway cos that's my plan B, if Office Dolly fails. Either that or being one of those car detailers cleaners that come to you and do a proper job. That'd suit me rightly RIP oak tree  

Bluddy'ell 2p, talk about something to aim for I'm pinching that idea cos I like that. If I'm there long enough to get promoted I'll upgrade the pic to a Morgan :nodding: Boooo to the rats... Have you got a new place in mind for your sitooterie? That's a bu99er about the boiler man not cometh'ing but being barefoot makes up for it eh  

"Puppy has been helping" - just about the 4 best words in the English language gb Mesh deer fencing oughta do it! 

That's a very wintery looking Winter Garden Dusty. "Tired" is it. Good all rounder is that, I'm having that Did you get your carefully supervised indoor nonsense finished? Did it include finding a Rottery Acres with space enough for lots of those light up buzzing flowers..? 

Did we all come through the storm ok then? I can't remember now who was getting the worst of it.... desperate winds all over the place iirr. Not so bad here, windy and rainy but what d'ya want in November :rolleyes: It's 14' out there now - fourteen degrees! Feels wrong does that. 

Dustyevsky

Well, I've done a quick tour of the estate, and Bert's not done any serious damage so far. He's thrown a wheelie-bin and a dustbin about 25m and broken both, but they're not ours. The only damage we're aware of here, came in the night, when it sounded like tiles were lifting. I nipped out with a torch, finding it was just a snapped gutter bracket. It left the gutter end waving about, whacking the house and chucking water everywhere. What a relief!

Our stream is going like a train and Mr Canute's barrier isn't working, but no surprise there. From discussions with others, it seems he resents us, and others, 'draining' onto his land, which is an odd stance, given the tendency of water to move downhill. Where on earth does he think all this water should go? 

Looking at the river cams, the Dartmoor river is out in the fields, but the one which joins it from Exmoor, isn't. Our local river, the most fickle and from neither moor, is just out and still rising. There's no sign of a let-up in the rain for hours yet.

No gardening planned today, and goodness knows when it will be dry enough to shift all that hedging brash, now the bottom of the wee valley is a quagmire. I'm so glad we have the septic tank drainage done and the hedges cut. There's no way a tractor could get in here now without leaving massive ruts.

Yesterday, I nipped into the polytunnel and picked the last of the Datlo tomatoes. Despite being close to freezing a few days ago, they were still OK. A good plum-shaped all-rounder, I'll be growing them again.

greenbee

Puppy's help today included finding one of the locations the cats use as a loo YBE, so he's not popular right now! Not much to be done about it though unless I put a muzzle on him permanently, it's just the way things work - cats don't digest their food well, so their poo is high in protein!

I did, however, fill another bucket with dead cosmos and shove that in the garden waste bin while he was doing that and his own ablutions... It's VERY windy out there, but as it isn't raining, 10 minutes or so of hacking things back is manageable each time. 

twopenny

Still 14c here, it's been raining and a bit of wind but nothing outstanding.

Pots still upright.

Bluey I'd already stayed there and it was brilliant so doable again. So not as desperate as a Morgan 

The double jacuzzi overlooking the rainforest and parrots was amazing.

The fruit trees are all cornered by fences so what seemed like a good idea - wasn't. Might help if I could get my neighbour to clear her badger run so the darn things handn't got shelter

Greenbee good about no rain at the mo when there's puppies needing exercise. Well done for getting a bit of gardening done in this weather

Dusty, interesting tomatoes. I was going to see if there was a way of extending the season in my little plot as it's relatively sheltered. I resent the astronomical prices for supermarket ones that are tasteless and no goodness.

Do you reckon the long fruiting time is due to the variety or just your amazing polytunnel?

Farway

Dull & very windy, looking at V'sky Dusty's ex rain is due here about Noon, quite mild though so a few pennies saved on heating this morning

YoungBlueEyes said:

Aww Rodney! Look at him! What a little darling Funny you should say about being a paid dog walker Farway cos that's my plan B, if Office Dolly fails. Either that or being one of those car detailers cleaners that come to you and do a proper job. That'd suit me rightly RIP oak tree  

Did we all come through the storm ok then? I can't remember now who was getting the worst of it.... desperate winds all over the place iirr. Not so bad here, windy and rainy but what d'ya want in November :rolleyes: It's 14' out there now - fourteen degrees! Feels wrong does that. 

I don't think Bert did any damage to my bit, too soggy & windy for me to wobble out there and check in detail, but looks OK from my bedroom window

DD found the dog walking just expanded, presumably because she is good at it, keeps owners informed, sends them pics, and posts of Faceb, of the dogs having a good time etc. She also includes pet visits, you know, pop in a feed / clean up, the rabbit / cat / hamster / ducks sort f stuff

twopenny said:

Not at all happy watching the GW winter special on pruning with people saying 'all our apples' and wonderful varieties. That was grinding teeth stuff Farway.

Yes, I had apple envy afterwards, apples dripping off the branches. Gives us a bit of hope though, rats & squirrels allowing of course. I expect I'll find my stolen pear one day, in it's gnawed net bag.

At least you seem to have free roadside apples to make up any hungry gaps.

Spike Jones & his City Slickers, and Uncle Mac, real memory lane stuff Dusty, Sparky & Tweetie Pie? We were easily amused back then.

I like those Datlo toms, looked them up & supposed to be tasty as well. One for me to try & remember.

greenbee said:

Puppy's help today included finding one of the locations the cats use as a loo YBE, so he's not popular right now! Not much to be done about it though unless I put a muzzle on him permanently, it's just the way things work - cats don't digest their food well, so their poo is high in protein!

Oh, that took less time than I thought, lab pup eats cat poo, luckily not yet reached the rolling in it stage

Mine was also a digger, just for the fun of it, nothing there to dig for, except in their imagination. We came home once to see just her head poking out of a huge pit she'd dug, she was very pleased with herself.

No clearing annuals or any gardening today, mild enough now but just too yucky for me

twopenny said:

Dusty, interesting tomatoes. I was going to see if there was a way of extending the season in my little plot as it's relatively sheltered. I resent the astronomical prices for supermarket ones that are tasteless and no goodness.

Do you reckon the long fruiting time is due to the variety or just your amazing polytunnel?

Can't speak for Dusty, but I'd put money on the Polytunnel. 

My unheated conservatory provided a couple of late toms only a week or so back,  but no doubt variety helps, like my Divinity never caught blight so continued cropping when others died.

Would a cheap £10 blow away help? Suitably tethered & sheltered, of course.