Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Brrrrrrr! This morning 😐 8c winter weather and cold to get dressed.
Hope everyone wakes up with all their bits working 💗

No comment regarding my 'bits'   but there was a grass frost in our wee valley this morning!

YoungBlueEyes said:

I think cemeteries on crisp sunny days, with crows squawking in the trees are just right wort

I could go with the crows for a while, but in our village it's rooks, and the noise is awful!  It's also the place with the poshest houses. I wonder, which came first?  No way in these times to oust the rooks, though I remember a big rook shoot in the late 1950s.   

YoungBlueEyes said:

Bowes doesn't have a lake (that I saw) Dusty, is a lake on the shopping list now is it? 

It's always on the list for me, though I'd settle for a good-sized chunk of river instead. It's something we can't have here.   

wort said:

The cat would be no bother at all if I got a cat flap, only I don’t want presents bringing in 😳 

Face recognition technology could solve that. Cat on its own = open flap. Cat + mouse in mouth = locked flap.

Now watch someone patent that!   

 Spiffing orangey sunset, pp.  I was going to post the clouds I snapped last night, but they're pale in comparison. So, now we're onto cats, I'll give you folks a neighbour's, sitting patiently on our field fence, hoping to see a rodent passing by:
A dry and sunny week in prospect, if a few degrees cooler. Lots to do, but where to start? I feel like I should sow some hardy annuals, but the boss says, "No!"  Things could be worse, I suppose: 

https://iwobserver.co.uk/mottistone-manor-gardeners-sacked-without-warning/

Farway

A quick return, had to swap to my "new" W11 computer, old one has decided it does not want to connect to t'internet

If I vanish, you now know why

Good job I bought this spare, I may be setting it up as permanent

Now back to fining my pics and AI

greenbee

Dusty - the facial recognition cat flap is already available https://www.onlycat.com/ and you can also get a gadget to add to existing cat flaps too... https://petflapsuk.com/brands/zeromouse/

Dustyevsky

Ah, thanks, greenbee. I suspected the Only Cat would be a thing by now. I'm not sure whether I'd pay £500 to lose the 'fun' of having a bat flying around the kitchen, but the 2 weeks waiting for the smell of 'dead mouse behind the kitchen units' to go away, might just be worth it! 

 I see from following-up Farway's post, I'll soon be busy upgrading my 'puter to W11, as support for W10 stops next month. It might not cost anything, but I'll bet it doesn't go smoothly.  If I disappear, expect me back in January. 

The Vernal Equinox passed quietly on this thread.  It didn't occur to me, we'd reached it, but Mrs Dusty knew. She saw a few swallows in the morning and wondered if the better weather would make a difference. She keeps notes, and sightings of swallows beyond the equinox are uncommon. As it's not far off freezing just now,(Edit: ice on the car!) I'm inclined to think that, rather than the sunny day ahead, will spur any stragglers to make their journey south! Brr!  Two evenings ago was the last time I spotted any swallows. I was taking photos of fluffy clouds when one flew by. There was a second shot, but by then it was just a dot.

No real gardening took place here yesterday, just some weevil killer poured into pots With the van's MoT imminent, I was filling that with scrap iron and broken glass from the secondary glazing incident. At our recycling centre, we must carry all the scrap metal up a dozen steps, and I doubted my ability to do that with the rusted-out sheep hurdles. So, yesterday afternoon, the peace here was shattered by the sound of the angle grinder, cutting them in half! 

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all   Happy to report I have the correct number of bits, which are all attached and working

Is it my eyes or has the place got a royal hue to it? It's good of you to remember The Queen mods, but you're a couple of weeks too late.

I only quietly told one of them at work 2p, cos she does proper stuff like payroll and IT and I wouldn't know what would need changing. The rest of them found out yesterday when I took in flapjacks and shortbread and wee buns for everyone to share as celebration. Lots of hugs and congratulations etc, 'til I took some up to Big Boss Man who said "I thought you'd been married before? You don't learn then, no?"  
Could you hang some fairy lights on your apricot tree so you don't fall over it nightly? Or one of those solar jobbers on a stick? 

The more I read about cars Farway the more I miss my wee red Swift. It was a 2008 one and my grey one isn't as good as it, and it's newer *sigh* Apparently the girl who bought it (himself's bosses daughter) is absolutely loving it so I spose that's something. As for the weather - well there's what he calls cold and what I call cold and they don't match. Mind he'll be on a roof or summat so if the sun doesn't appear he'll be freezing...  I laughed at our new ID's not letting the car start if we've had too much sugar   I thought the 'rule' for planters was a big tall thing up the middle, some middley tall things for a bit of bulk, then some trailing things round the edge. Because I listen to rules and do that all the time  

That's actually a quite attractive cat there Dusty, it looks very silky and smooth. Thanks for making me sing "I'm sitting on a fence post at the corner of a field, in case a certain little rodent comes by-y-y" Right so, a lake is on the list, with a goodly river, and I'm after a proper shoreline. And a small airfield for my small plane/s. I can't believe we haven't found one yet.... 

I haven't clicked you links gb so I might be repeating, but my friend Shell had two cats, one of whom was a lazy fat get needed special food. She got these infrared (?) thing to go on their collars and lidded dinner bowls so that they could only eat their own food. That was a good few years ago and I remember thinking 'jeez that's a good idea'. How's quarantine going? Any chance yous'll get out into this lovely Autumnal weather?

According to my wee diary it was the equinox yesterday, so we are now officially in Autumn Does feel like it too - beautiful clear crisp sunny days are my favourite, and long may they last  

OT cold cool last night and this morning, bit of dampness out there too. Currently 6’c out there but Feels Like 4’ with a high of 16/FL14 to come, possibly. According to the weatherman last night it was really clear air yesterday, the visibility in some places was over 40 miles! He called it “sparkling”. Lovely. 

Edit - can't believe I forgot to tell yous this - Eco Worrier was sacked Apparently she was telling people that everything can be done by email now (it can't) and there's no need to actually sign and return paperwork (not true) because it's a waste of precious paper. They pulled her up on it but she persisted so BBM sacked her. And I missed it  

wort

There was ice on Dsis car when she took me to work yesterday, and it was the start of the freezing mornings in work, they only put the heating on when customers arrive!! The holiday window opened this morning so up at crack of dawn to submit the one I need for family holiday for nieces big birthday next year.
Dusty I recognize the look on the cats face 😁 I love to watch them stalking, though preferably from inside if he’s going to catch a mouse.

Today is supposed to be dry again so friend and I are going out, she’s looking for furniture, and we are going to a place that has old stuff, maybe a bit of walk after depends how long we are in there. Sun has just appeared , going to make some breakfast.

greenbee

YBE - my cats have feeders that work off their microchips (like the cat flap), otherwise Fatty will eat all the food. Although that’s not strictly true now she’s discovered that she prefers venison to cat food and the other one doesn’t. Muntjac is also cheaper than cat food, so I’m not complaining!

Stinky thinks he’s better. But I need to book a vet appointment before he goes back to his weekly daycare adventure - particularly important as it’s going to be dark in the evenings so post-work walks will be short. We are now going out for walks at times we know we won’t see other dogs and he’s SO happy. We had a lovely sunny walk yesterday morning. It’s not so nice today so I’m less motivated (he isn’t!). 

No frost here yet, although it was chilly last night. It looks like we have a couple of reasonably warm weeks coming up, so I’m going to risk leaving my blue banana and musqee de Provence squash a bit longer. And maybe book some of the leave I need to use up!

LessImpecunious

Definitely frost here yesterday - at least a ground frost - low spreading squashes had leaves shrivelled, while big bushy courgette/summer squash plants were only partly frazzled, climbing beans (and toms and cucs in greenhouse, thankfully) looked untouched. Fractionally warmer last night I think, though overall the temperatures diminish which each cold overnighter.... All squash harvested and brought inside yesterday, which would have been annoying this early in the autumn if it hadn't been such a rubbish (though early-ripening) squash year... Plus the three enormous marrows which I just hadn't picked so far as we already had too many queuing up waiting to be used 

Lovely sunny days too...

pink_poppy

YBE, did you have swallows on your wedding pashmina/shawl?? I went back to have a look and your post has gone now. I forgot to say in all the excitement of the wedding news that your dress was lovely too.
I think the forum has been tinkered with - I can barely see the darker shading on the last page number now, although that might be my Mrs Magoo eyesight...

Your neighbour's pussycat had definitely spotted something, Dusty, the steely stare on his/her face    
Good capture of the swallow.

twopenny, I moved an inherited Viburnum from a pot to the garden and I thought I'd killed it off, but yesterday I noticed it had flowers and some new leaves   I won't mention one of the peonies that I also moved around the same time - dead as a Dodo...

wort, hope you've warmed up now.

greenbee, do you think it was doggy day care that passed the kennel cough onto Stinky??

Farway, the old pic of you and your brother was really good. I love donkeys.

I thought we were going to have a frost when I looked outside, Less, but nothing to see. The Cairngorms had their first snow of the season yesterday.

There was a definite nip in the air this morning, so I've put the warm brushed cotton bedding on the bed now. It's supposed to be dry with sunny spells all week - we shall see...

greenbee

pp - Stinky hadn't seen another dog for about 10 days before he got the kennel cough, so unlikely to be daycare. I think you can pick it up from a stick that another dog has breathed on, so it's hard to tell.