Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

YoungBlueEyes said:

We've 2 read only boards now have we Isn't that against the ethos of the place?  I like that Toad Lily Dusty but you shoulda done your nails before you took that pic  

Contentious issues, I'm afraid. Say no more.   And I won't!   

As for the nails, that's gardening for you. Down at the nail bar every other week, fighting off the effects of grovelling among earth, stones, and random detritus. 

Some superb photography in that link, 2p, but I like Less's view into the mist-filled valley. I wouldn't say wild holly with that many berries is common. Ours aren't doing that well, so far as I know.

YoungBlueEyes said:

: How did your neighbourly meeting go (dare I ask)?

 It was a Committee meeting for our garden club, and interestingly, concerns were raised about the age of active members. With one exception, those running the club are all over 70, with several in their 80s. It's similar with the hospital and surgery car service, so long term prospects for both don't look good.  We concluded reasons for younger persons; non-involvement are hard to pin down, but the 'pace of life' is one. Translated, that means wage earners are struggling to keep up with inflation, particularly housing costs. The average house price to wages ratio is vastly different from what it was when we bought our early homes, so people are working longer hours or doing more than one job. Also, there's the social pressure to give children more than we had, so after school, folks are beetling about, getting their sprogs here there and everywhere. By the evening, younger and middle-aged people, most likely to be useful, are totally knackered! 

But we can't discuss this here. :'(

(Committee meetings for the neighbouring complex are somewhat difficult now, following a resignation. There's only one person left.  Now they've lost the focus of opposing our terrible plans, it seems they're falling out.) 

In other news, the fox returned on Tuesday/Wednesday night and tried to access the hedgehog feeding box. It wasn't successful, but the box was moved a fair way!  Last night, we fixed it in place with steel fencing pins, and it's still in place this morning. We've not retrieved the camera card yet....that's Mrs Dusty's job. I just do the downloading. Yesterday, Mrs D had somehow made her USB drive 'read only' (like the 2 boards here!  ) so I spent an hour trying unsuccessfully to reverse that.  In the end, I gave her a new USB drive. 

I've sown my new grass area and watered it, so I'm now free to repair a door and fix a bog. No gardening planned, but here's a photo of our volunteer tomatoes, completely self grown, though beneath a tap:

-taff

Less, why aren't you doing photography exhibitions and stuff? Or selling your pics to a wildlife magazine or a country magazine? They're really really good...Another vote for stale weather, it's good at the allotment, not hot, not cold and dry enough...cheeky bum....

ybe, I love that, the name of the company will be BooB+ I misread and added words to your special day and thought it was World Bad Breath Day.....

Shame about your volunteer group Farway, it's a sign of the times and ybes right, they will realise what they're missing when it starts looking sere wilderness...

Those dahlias are lovely Dusty...I forgot to mention of the ten blobs of dahlia from TM, only that one is a really big one, two of the others are acceptable palm of hand size in burgundy and yellow, and the rest were the ones that look like they reverted to egg cup size blooms. It maybe also that you have to be of an age to be able to slow down and smell the coffee to join a gardening club...I must admit, I joined one last year, but I didn't want to go out on a Monday night to the talks, for some reason, the idea of going out on Monday night, even though I don't work, just didn't wash. So I didn't bother joining again. And a lot of the time, it just seems like too much trouble to join in...and deal with the politics of it all. 

2p, I see what you did there with your LIAM...That volcano cloud was awesome. If not for that photo I would hnever have seen anything like that in my life, that's absolutely amazing really, think of all the things we will never see unless someone takes a photo...AI can't do that...

I am definitely going to the allotment today in stale weather, and a plus, I discovered that mowing up the leaves on the pavements is eminently possible with an electric mower so I should get a healthy bit of leaf mulch next year...

twopenny

I always use the mower to clean up by sucking or blowing as long as people don't look too closely. It's like sweeping the dust under the carpet...,....but recently I realised the cheapie leaf blower also mulches on the suck🙂
Bonus to tidying up.

I joined the gardening club ages ago but mostly the talks were not about what I wanted and they had a vague view of gardening 
Now another village does have some good ones so I pop over there and pay up for the ones I want and if I'm not in the mood noone knows There's one on rare plants in the area. 

Dustyevsky

-taff said:

Those dahlias are lovely Dusty...I forgot to mention of the ten blobs of dahlia from TM, only that one is a really big one, two of the others are acceptable palm of hand size in burgundy and yellow, and the rest were the ones that look like they reverted to egg cup size blooms. 

I like the huge ones in other people's gardens. They're a bit too grand for us in this wild country place.  :'(  All our dahlias were from T&M seed this year. I'll only keep two: the very tall red one, and an orange with unusual petals. The rest will have to make way for the fun of spinning the gene roulette wheel.

twopenny said:

I joined the gardening club ages ago but mostly the talks were not about what I wanted and they had a vague view of gardening 

Must admit, I skived off last Monday.  It was a photographer, but his subject was 'Mammals.' As we're already taking dozens of photos of those every night, I thought that a good enough excuse!  Here's Foxy again on Tuesday night, moving the food box, but not getting in. 

 A mixed day today, with a chilly morning when I mostly stayed in fixing a toilet. As usual, it wasn't quite the same as the model used by the guy on YouTube, and I bet he freed everything up before turning the camera on! It took him 5 minutes, while I was lucky to get away with an hour and a bit.  I also undercoated repair work on a door, but in the afternoon we actually had some sunshine, so it was down to the mini wood with the chainsaw.    Every year Mr Canute chops the top growth off our hedge and hurls the bits over the fence, so this time I've beaten him to it!   I'd cheerfully leave it till November or December, but taff's given me the idea to use the stems as a dead hedge, or simply a big pile for hogs to hibernate in.   

pink_poppy

Gorgeous photos, Less, especially the beach ones. We've visited some stunning beaches up here on our hols (last full day today), but I just can't seem to capture them as well as you have. Are the wooden structures groynes?? I've got a cloud photo from yesterday that I'm hoping you can identify that's if I can get the photo to load...

Poor foxy, Dusty, I do feel a bit sorry for him/her as they're obviously hungry. It's like the child with their nose pressed up against the sweetshop. Are your chooks safe??

pink_poppy

My over sensitive laptop strikes again... I'm sure I didn't press post comment...

Lovely Dahlias, very impressive from taff and Dusty.

I'll look out for the wild swimming programme when I'm home, twopenny. DH was being a bit vague about going in for a swim the other day so I didn't bother putting my swimsuit on. Of course when we got to the beach he decided to go for it... I made up for it by falling on my erse when I was paddling   The sand was so soft, it went over my ankles and I stood still for a bit too long   

OT - it's been a bit grey and we had some spitty (or fretty) rain yesterday, with some sunny spells. We did get some nice rainbows though.

Right, I'll attempt to post a couple of photos, but it's definitely more tricky to do these days...

pink_poppy

Photos from the last couple of days…

pink_poppy

This is Eriskay, where the horses wander around the village and in people’s back gardens - there were loads of them, nearly all white…

pink_poppy

Forgot this one… this is where I fell on my erse 😂 you can see my footprints heading towards the water, then the squishy bit where I fell in and then walking back out again, hoping nobody saw me… 😂

pink_poppy

Me again...

I thought this article might interest our AI guru, Farway...

Scottish data centres powering AI already using enough water to fill 27 million bottles a year - BBC News