Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Morning all   I've just discovered that if I hover over the little picture in the corner of the search box thing at the bottom of my screen it tells you what today is, so happy Migratory Bird Day everyone.

That's some HogB&B you've got there Dusty, they're sure to thrive in that Is there any way you can favour the underling to get it up to speed..? Love the curious hens - "well I don't think much of the new neighbours" ha haa! I like the house in your link, if it was detached it could be a contender... mind if it was detached we couldn't afford it :rolleyes: Good luck to your neighbour, I bet she's sorry to leave is she? I'll have to have a go on my phone in a minute to find the elephant...

Your doorbell setup sounds like a proper cacophony Farway Fingers crossed you get a big PB win so you can get them tuned in! How's the flu like symptoms, improved today hopefully? Your Ash tree is glorious, can you see it from where you sit?  

Welcome back wm you have been missed That's 3 cracking pics there, very atmospheric. Where are we up to on our calendar? I vote the first one is the October image, it's a belter Your cosmos sure looks happy, and what's the reddy/pinky thing on the right? I like that too. 

I'm glad to hear your bits are behaving 2p, and long may it last :fingerscrossed: Nice that it's something as easy as swimming that's done it, rather than a gobful of pills day and night. I think you have posted that tom pic before, cos I've just remembered I forgot to say what a fab colour your compost bin is I wonder what the toms will taste like, being all natural-grown... 

I don't think blackies head south pp, I know I've deffo had my ones all year round no matter where I've lived. Any chance you can catch him and get a lolly-stick-splint on his wee leg? There's time enough for them to change their mind, again, about your weather forecast. Like Cissie says - they've all that technology and they still don't get it right, so your guess as good as theirs I remember your aurora photos, jeez they're fantastic I can't believe that's another year gone though.

OT Cool and damp and cloudy out there, and when I opened the curtains earlier I saw I'd left my car windows open :'( 
I wanna go to the beach today for the forecast is lovely. If himself ever peels his erse outta bed, the lazy swine.

Oh and that house in Doncaster with all the garden doings despite having a plain garden is still for sale... But I did find a house I want, except it's in Ballymoney, and when I showed it to himself he confidently announced that he wouldn't be moving abroad cos once you get off the uk property ladder you'll never get back on it. <side-eye> silence, tumbleweed...

Dustyevsky

I remember the Aurora pics, pp... How could anyone forget those?  Your photos were truly remarkable. Let's hope the forecasts are wrong, and you've another equally memorable trip this year. 

twopenny said:

Dusty, I'm stumped. Don't tell me and I'll have another go in the morning.
Is it Appledore?

Well spotted.  It's Appledore on the left, and Instow on the right. The location is Tapeley Park, which autocorrect is trying, quite accurately, to call 'Tamely.'  It's a mansion, gardens, and parkland we'd never visited, mainly because the reviews are mixed. It also doesn't open on Fridays, when activities like filming and drama go on, though not at present, with the house being renovated, and under scaffolding.

There was a sense of déjà vu, as we paid, with the lady at the kiosk warning us about the steepness of the path to the lake. “If you go down there and get stuck, we can't get you out!” It was just over a year ago when another middle-aged lady warned us not to tackle a footpath for similar reasons. On both occasions, we felt more concern about our frail and decrepit appearance, than the 'risks' being described!  :'(

 Anyway, we trekked down to the lake which was choked with lilies, doing what water lilies do in October, and not a very pretty sight.   There were plenty of edible chestnuts, however, and those by the water were plump  , so we filled pockets, returned to the car with them, reported our survival to the lady at the kiosk, and proceeded with our visit.

From then on, it was 'Spot the usual features.' We ticked off formal gardens with statues and pool, dog kennels, ice house, folly, and walled kitchen garden, all of them intact but either under-maintained, or not interactive enough. For example, we weren't allowed entry to the glasshouses and other buildings, though I sneaked past a 'no entry' sign to get this shot of a display, now apparently off-limits:

Staff were still using the room next door for potting up etc, but we saw no staff. We felt the place was being run on a shoestring budget, probably from necessity, but it was still interesting. Only half the walled kitchen garden area was planted with crops. There is also a permaculture garden, which we didn't see. We chose to visit the Memorial viewpoint instead. 

More to follow, including the 'baby elephant' and some hedgehog news.

OT: Grey, chilly and windless. Drunks got 2 out of 3.They say sunny intervals.    

twopenny

I know Tapley Park, and the sunken garden you pictured. In fact I did a painting of it which is somewhere.
The owner was on Come Dine with Me which if you see it will explain a lot 😉

Glorious skies Poppy. You can see why people travel the globe to try and see it. You are very lucky 😊 
Tomatoes now seem to keep going till November but don't start till August. I think 3monts of drought means things are still trying to get their growth in. I'm still watering all but the middle parts.

WM forgot to say how lovely your garden looks in the evening light. Beautiful colours.

Have a lovely day at the beach Bluey. Reminds me I must take my camera on my rounds today. The large egrets are still there fishing.

More domnon today. So far we've lost doctors, pharmacy, hair dressers , major shops, banks and now the building society so it's a constant battle to find ways to live life and put it back on an even footing.
Yet they keep building hundreds more houses with no extra services. 

Grey morning, not too chilly.

Farway

Grey here as well, quite mild though, no idea of forecast, seems to depend on who I look at, saw one warning of snow, but I guess that was some climate troll.

Welcome back WM, with more windmills and a free moonshot. 

YoungBlueEyes said:

Morning all   I've just discovered that if I hover over the little picture in the corner of the search box thing at the bottom of my screen it tells you what today is, so happy Migratory Bird Day everyone.

Your doorbell setup sounds like a proper cacophony Farway Fingers crossed you get a big PB win so you can get them tuned in! How's the flu like symptoms, improved today hopefully? Your Ash tree is glorious, can you see it from where you sit?  

Oh and that house in Doncaster with all the garden doings despite having a plain garden is still for sale... But I did find a house I want, except it's in Ballymoney, and when I showed it to himself he confidently announced that he wouldn't be moving abroad cos once you get off the uk property ladder you'll never get back on it. <side-eye> silence, tumbleweed...

Must be different box to hover over here, mine said "Trump trade tanks" which I misread & clutched my pearls   

I'm still waiting for someone to call & ring the bell, delivery drivers just dump stuff on the steps these days

Flu like symptoms, still lingering, a bit shivery, with bit of a cough & lethargic but mainly OK. 

I was listening to Tony Blackburn 60s on the radio this morning, he had his shots same as me, and he is the same, never affected him before, maybe different chip implant this time    

The ash tree is eye level & right outside my upstairs window, which is where I sit tapping away. It overhangs the pavement, so only about six feet from the window

Needs cutting back TBH, but it's not a problem for me, maybe once it pulls down the phone wires it'll get a haircut

The Doncaster house with garden, maybe something comes up in Land searches or local knowledge which is why it is still unsold, or just too large a garden & work for a lot of folks?

twopenny said:

Tomatoes now seem to keep going till November but don't start till August. I think 3monts of drought means things are still trying to get their growth in. I'm still watering all but the middle parts.

Same here, mine are still hanging on outside, and I would be watering today if it were not for my Flu like aches.

Funny how things turn out, is there a hidden hand at work?

Yesterday morning I was daydream sorting out the garden, wondering where I could plant the "spare" Red Filbert that I have.

I bought if on offer from the local council, greening Eco initiatives, and was destined for Volunteer patch before differences arose.

Yesterday afternoon, DD rang me asking if I could recommend any hedging plant for near her shed, where laurels had been removed for the shed building. 

Job done, she is collecting towards the end of the month  . Not the ideal spot to see full impact of the red leaves & catkins, but it will do better there than stuck in the pot while I try to come up with a solution

Here's a pic of new leaf

OOPs, pics not uploading

I'll post PDQ in case it all vanishes

Farway

Just realised, too late, I could've had the No Bell prize 

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Funny how things turn out, is there a hidden hand at work?

Here's a pic of new leaf

OOPs, pics not uploading

I'll post PDQ in case it all vanishes

Hidden hand? Definitely.    Maybe not always the one most people think of, though!    Yours sounds benign enough. 

I had probs uploading earlier on, but I'll have another go now with what, at first sight, looks an alarming image from last night.....

Ah, still having difficulties.  The photo from our discreet wildlife camera shows the fox, arriving to share some social time with two young hogs at around 22.45. Nothing bad happened. The fox sniffed at one hog drinking, and it ignored the intrusion and carried on! The fox left, but returned around 02.00 to have another look at the feeding station. It knows there's food, but hasn't tried to get at it.... yet. 

Hogs came and went through the night. Meanwhile, the smallest hog was still safe in the chicken ark and he ate a LOT! 

So, all's well here, if not at MSE HQ.   

greenbee

We had a visitor last night - just passing through (there are hedgehog doors in the fences), and not in evidence this morning. I’m not sure why it looks as if it’s been sprinkled with icing sugar. It could be a released rescue. 

Dustyevsky

The photo from our trail camera won't load for some reason, :'(  so I'll press-on with the second half of our visit to Tapeley Park last week. The Highland Cattle were an unusual sight for us, but I expect pp sees them regularly  :

And as I mentioned earlier, there was an old ice house, with Erigeron karvinskianus   (censored) growing on it.

Again, I'm having problems with the pictures.   I'll continue in a new post.....

Dustyevsky

The formal pond in the sunken garden looked strange, because an odd choice of colour had been made to paint the bottom. (And speaking of bottoms, this alternative view of my friend is especially for taff!) 

(I had to resize the last photo to get it loaded, so it may look a bit fuzzy.  )

There were more photos, but I'm giving up now, except to add that, overall, we enjoyed our visit and it was a good afternoon out for the modest fee charged. Sadly, many attractions in the Westcountry are struggling right now. For example:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cder0j4n686o

We should also remember the many mansions with fine landscapes, the public never get to see. There's one on the coast, not very far from Tapeley Park. Aerial photos look splendid, but we can't even peep into the grounds from the South West Coast path, running nearby. 

And the baby elephant?  I think it's a tree stump, but it made me look twice! 

Farway

Another dull & grey morning

Life is so cruel, erig whatits growing in cracks! I'm sure if they ever got going here, they'd love my cracks 

Flu like symptoms are easing, I may lug some water out the front today because no rain forecast for ages. 

I have a trough of mixed annuals that I'm hoping will self-seed, so I need to keep them alive a bit longer

Had a visitor yesterday, adopting Charles Laughton hunch back mode, "The Bells, The Bells" 

At least I heard them at last

Try again for the Red Filbert photo

Naw, MSE is not having it