Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

It's tipping down here and blowing. All containers overflowing.

Dusty I used to buy cheese in big town when I was there, portion it and freeze it.
Mostly it's cheddar here.

It eventually tipped-down here, but mid-morning till around 2pm was tolerable, and it was never very windy. 

Mrs Dusty said I was too tired to go on a big shopping trip, so we took the van to the recycling centre instead and emptied the 6 dumpy bags of hedge trimmings that had accumulated!   We then popped over to see DD2, whose house is now looking much more comfortable after 5 months of solid DIY.  No more trips up to our house for showers! 

We intended to visit the GC for more compost on our return, but that was when it began raining hard, so we abandoned that idea and came straight home. 

I've never frozen cheese, but it's something I'll consider in the future. Right now, with more enforced 'rest,' due to the deteriorating weather, I think less reliance on cheese might be a better option. I've noticed my weight creeping up again! 

I hope you enjoyed your quiz last night, assuming enough people turned-up for it. Today, we have a village Market, and as the forecast looks quite benign, I may go on to town and do yesterday's shop. 

 

Mrs Dusty says she may be up for a trip to Rosemoor next week.  I'm keen to return, because last week's visit just missed most of the sculptural exhibits they host during the winter months. Here's one that was already in situ  

twopenny

Isn't that a beauty Dusty! 
Around here we have withy sculptures. There are so few people doing creative things now for their own sake.
I was hoping to start again before I got immersed in renewing tech.

It was torrential all day yesterday and the roads were badly flooded. The fields are saturated so running into the road.
On the plus side I don't need to clean the windows now. The force of the rain has done that for me 🙂

It's not actually raining now, bits of path trying to dry but outside is a quagmire and the garden gone from miserable from drought to miserable from the wet. Severely tempted to put up net curtains so I can't see it.

A general clearing up inside which much needs it and coffee with a friend halfway. Thereafter I should be able to get on the computer for photos as nothing on till Friday. Well except for trying to sell furniture, get a gas man, an electrician and a plumber. Oh and the window woman. Joy I don't think.

I could really do with some outside time but just looking at what will need doing if this lot ever dries up.
Hope the rest of you are warmer and drier 🙂

Farway

Bright and a hint of sunshine, would be good for a walk in stout waterproof footwear

twopenny said:

Farway, don't get an Apple phone unless you want to pay for everything 😬
I'll post full findings when I've got out of the pickle I've found myself in.
But the Honour is cheap and easy. Has everything it's just huge 😲

I was avoiding Apple for just that reason, some decent refurb Apples about but by the time I bought special chargers, cable etc and then compatibility with some Apps it was all too much bother

I'm in the £100ish bracket but nearly plunged into a Pixel 9a offer just over £200, the AI camera was is very tempting, as was is the over £200 price drop, but although affordable I put wise head on because I have boiler service due and who knows what may turn up there?

Still in the market, but at least my present one still lasts a day without dying, so no big rush.

OT, never frozen cheese, no such thing as left over cheese here, but I thought it was best grated before freezing, no idea why

No gardening today, it's so soggy, I do want to carry on cutting the pyracantha now the berried are mostly gone, but I need a few days of dry first

I'm a bit ummng & ahhing, this year I grew chillies for the first time, just for ornamental, not eating. 

Nothing ever came of them, no fruit, just stunted manky little plants that I glared at and sometimes watered now & then

The leaves fell off and I just left them waiting at the bus stop to Oslo

But now, more leaf buds have appeared, Zombie like. 

I think I'm going to treat them like my hyacinths, water them & see how it goes. I know they can be overwintered

That of course would be fitting, plants full of ripe red chilies that I don't eat

Along with chill growing I tried peppers, failed except for just this one. Not as large as Dusty's one, but fine for one meal

I do eat peppers

YoungBlueEyes

Afternoon all, on …I don’t know what official day it is cos I’m on my phone ha haa! 

Just having a quick go while himself is out. He’s running his work gear up to the tumblers to dry. 

So that was a storm was it ?! Pffft. I’m sorry I believed the forecasts and put socks on fgs, I shoulda known better. 

It’s stopped raining now. It’s rained lots and lots, and drizzled lots, and now the dial is set to ‘murk’. I did get a trot down the garden earlier for a look at the place and it’s all alright I spose. I’ve a tom plant in a bucket that’s flowering out and some new tiny wee hard green brambles 🤨 I’ll go out tomorrow and growl at them and shake my fist and admonish them for growing wrong in general. Shipbags. I’ll also take pics. 

I take it nobody got any actual storminess then? Or saw any of the aurora? What say you pp @pink_poppy? Or wort possibly? I’ll have a look back through BelovedCousin’s texts and find the links to those Shetland webcam sites, by all accounts there should be a bit of liveliness on them. 

Edit to correct pp’s name. 

YoungBlueEyes

Here they are. Cliff cam 3 looks north from Sumburgh Head - 

https://www.shetlandwebcams.com/cliff-cam-3/

Burradale wind farm also looks north. Quite a peaceful scene at the minute actually, the last of the sunset - 

https://www.shetlandwebcams.com/burradale-wind-farm/

Dustyevsky

That looks a decent sized-pepper, Farway. The one I pictured wasn't really mine, and I don't believe it spent all its life outdoors either!  When I grew sweet peppers, they were always too late in ripening. Half would also rot in the cool nights before I harvested them, too. I think it's somewhat easier to overwinter some chillies than sweet peppers. But I really prefer to start anew in February, completely bug-free.

YoungBlueEyes said:

So that was a storm was it ?! Pffft. I’m sorry I believed the forecasts and put socks on fgs, I shoulda known better. 

 I believe some in Wales and the Midlands had flooding, but the meja seemed hard-pressed to find any huge disasters. Correct me if I'm wrong.    

Here, we got a good flow on the stream, so I took my drain unblocker down to Mr Canute's dam, gave it a few pokes and there was a satisfying rush of water + debris through the hole.  

Otherwise, things didn't go as planned. A customer for the surgery car service wasn't making sense on the phone, so I decided to visit in person in case he was unwell. He was fine, but that delay meant I was late to the Market, where I talked too much and made myself even later.    So, it's shopping today, instead! 

One of the market stallholders had an intriguing fruit for sale, so I bought one in the hope of securing a few seeds if I liked it.    It was not as sweet as expected, but that makes it more of a candidate for salads. Here's the big nursery version: 

https://www.suttons.co.uk/vegetable-fruit-plants/new-fruit/solanum-muricatum-melon-pear-plant_mh13875

The price of one plant makes my 90p acquisition a bargain!  Much depends on whether it can be persuaded to go from seed to fruiting in a season, I think. 

In other news, we have just experienced another fail with the hedgehog feeding box. Self-explanatory picture follows! 

I'll have to further restrict the size of the entrance to keep that wee moggy out. However, we only have a couple of genuinely needy customers left now. 

OT: It's supposed to be dry and cooling-down today, with as little as 3c tonight. Perhaps the first proper frost on Monday night, but calmer through the week than of late, so more hedging on the agenda. 

EDIT: Lerwick looks lovely this morning, Bluey. Thank you! 

Farway

Morning all, thanks for links YBE, Shetland has a better morning than down here, grey & gloom so far

Which is good for some, 'cos today is Leonid meteor shower time. If you can see any stars of course. 

That fruit sounds a challenge Dusty. You may have a chance with poly tunnels, which could be an attractive item, with the added excitement of poisoning yourself if you misjudge the ripening times

But in that poisoning respect not much different from elderberries, or even green tomatoes by the sound of it 

Only gardening today is likely to be hunker down and watch last week's GW. 

If it brightens a bit I may pop out and sever one of the Boysenberries from the Mother Ship now roots are there, give it a go to fend on it's own while soil is still warm & it's not yet dormant

Dustyevsky said:

That looks a decent sized-pepper, Farway. The one I pictured wasn't really mine, and I don't believe it spent all its life outdoors either!  When I grew sweet peppers, they were always too late in ripening. Half would also rot in the cool nights before I harvested them, too. I think it's somewhat easier to overwinter some chillies than sweet peppers. But I really prefer to start anew in February, completely bug-free.

This one is the first I've ever ripened, it is the conservatory wall basket. I may try to repeat next year, if I can find the seed packet, it's a dwarf bush /pot one, not the tall type

If it has seeds I may try and use some, but no doubt it's a super hybrid so who knows.
Chillies, I have watered and will let them tick over in the unheated conservatory, and maybe they will spurt into growth early next year, or not.

twopenny

Cute picture Dusty 🙂
Lovely to see.

I've grown peppers in the past but never produced enough to make time and energy worthwhile.
Farway are you saying your basket ones a small peppers or plants? Small sweet peppers would be great for one person use. I have to buy these giants from the supermarket and use less than a quarter.

Anyone noticed how big the supermarket veg has become. It's huge! And definitely not tasty.

Cold and gloomy here too but although damp I may just try and do the dismal looking pots on the patio with self seeding stuff found in the garden. 

Bluey we got the storm alright 😲. Roads flooded with mud and water because the fields are saturated.
Of course in their wisdom they removed all drainage ditches at the roadside. 

It might have helped if after clearing the drains before leaf fall they then sent guys out with leafblowers blowing them off pavements and into the drains.
Where's the joined up thinking these days? 

My isolated geranium (because of rust) has burst into bloom with one lovely big flower 🙂

Farway

twopenny said:

I've grown peppers in the past but never produced enough to make time and energy worthwhile.
Farway are you saying your basket ones a small peppers or plants? Small sweet peppers would be great for one person use. I have to buy these giants from the supermarket and use less than a quarter.

Anyone noticed how big the supermarket veg has become. It's huge! And definitely not tasty.

Both,small bushy plant and small sweet peppers. Sold on the beguiling picture of pepper plant in pots on the window sill, dripping with brilliant peppers. 

Just looked, reduced to £1.69 but then P & P on top so not worth rushing just yet

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/sweet-pepper-liberty-belle-f1-seeds/wkf2507TM

The huge size of supermarket veg you see must help explain why any SM veg I get delivered is midget, I guess the pickers are unable to lift the large ones off the shelves with their tiny hands 

twopenny

Morning all 🙂
They've promised dry with sunny spells so I up early and got a wash on. Wonder how long that smile will last?

All this talk of proper gardening and exciting things to grow and it's still sodden out there. I still have tomatoes ripening and collecting the green ones that were knocked off by the force of rain.

On the plus side I don't have to wash the windows. They are spotless. It's cleaned them up a treat 😁 

I emptied all the over flowing buckets and ponds yesterday and used the water to flush out mud from the drive drains. Probably why my bits are aching.

I guess I'd better stay in and get the porch carpet cut. Car mats and door mats dry.
Shame because you want to be out if the weather is dry. Ah well, perhaps there'll be another one day.