Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Gorsebush

twopenny I put some stout metal rods in, banged them in real good with "lumpy" my faithful old lump hammer, which was my dad's. Unfortunately the plants are too small to reach the rods, yet. I'm used to things getting blown about here and most things have support of some kind. Sounds like you have a nice variety of fruit there. Eventually you may have a thicket of plum trees. Which variety is it? Our local plum is the Blaisdon. 
I have two raspberry plants somewhere in the post. Autumn Blush I think. Now I don't know where I'm going to put them, just couldn't resist the "special offer" 

Hope your sunflower reaches for the stars (maybe the sweet pea could twirl around it?)

Shocking to admit, but I've lit my stove. Fed up of feeling chilly and it being dark because it's so overcast all the time. Never felt the need in July before. 

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

I never see the home page, I have one window for mse and a tab for each board I like. I expect that’s not how you’re meant to do it but I find everything else too clunky. 

That's kind of how I do it. I have a link in my 'favourites' to the home page of the two boards I tend to look at (housing and here) because I get lost/annoyed trying to find them in the page/sub-page list. I thought the idea of the 'update' before this one was you could set your home page to display what you were interested in, but it always seemed to default to 'everything', and this version is even more 'you will look at what we say you should look at'. Still... 

The most annoying thing so far is that every time I thank/like a post my screen jumps up a few posts. 

Gorsebush said:

My cucumbers are almost ready to start picking (they've got the length but not the width 😉) looks like quite a few coming (sorry AR!) 

The salient point of the water debacle is that if the water is metered it matters not how much land you have. 

No worries. I wasn't expecting much as I planted very late, impulsively, and without really knowing what I was doing. If I get something from either of the remaining plants that will be great, but if not then at least now I have a better idea of what to expect when I try again next year. (And hopefully some kind soul on here will remind me at the right time of year to get them started)  

RE your water point. I disagree - I think someone who has a large amount of land has a very good argument for having their bill reduced! At least for wastewater. If they decided to concrete over/build on their land then the water company would have a much bigger problem than they currently do come flood season. Yet they only seem to take that into account if you have a swimming pool. 

-taff

ArbitraryRandom said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

I never see the home page, I have one window for mse and a tab for each board I like. I expect that’s not how you’re meant to do it but I find everything else too clunky. 

That's kind of how I do it. I have a link in my 'favourites' to the home page of the two boards I tend to look at (housing and here) because I get lost/annoyed trying to find them in the page/sub-page list.

ArbitraryRandom said:

YoungBlueEyes said:

I never see the home page, I have one window for mse and a tab for each board I like. I expect that’s not how you’re meant to do it but I find everything else too clunky. 

That's kind of how I do it. I have a link in my 'favourites' to the home page of the two boards I tend to look at (housing and here) because I get lost/annoyed trying to find them in the page/sub-page

Same. Three links edited to letters on the toolbar, I just go to those and ignore the rest for the most part. Occasionally I make forays into areas but it doesn't stick.

No gardening at all today, it rained.just.constantly.all.day....On the plus side the pumpkin is getting very big and the sage twigs I stuck in the ground willy nilly are all alive and rooting up. How come sage isn't a problem but rosemary does not play at all...answers on a postcard from a sunny place...As for water, I've gone from one butt to four large , one small, one bin and all buckets under the overhang. I've probably got more water than Thames water has.

Dusty, that's a very nice looking marquee, hope the bash goes well...

Murphybear

Dustyevsky said:

Murphybear said:

Dustyevsky said:

twopenny said:

Well we had a cold grey day with some light rain, enough to scupper anything enjoyable but not enough to get into the soil.

I haven't made as many trips to Greencombe this year Dusty. I guess there's more going on generally. And they are on a 5 day week and afternoons only so it takes planning.

We're about 32 miles apart as the crow flies, but we could be in different parts of the country! The rain was incessant here and the ground had a good soaking. It wasn't enough to get the stream going, though.

I planned to go to Greencombe and combine it with one of the well-known local walks back in spring, but the weather and other things conspired against that. Mrs Dusty could manage Greencombe now, but not the walk, so I think we'll leave it till next year. As we move into summer holiday territory, I expect to go inland more for walking, but perhaps even the touristy coastal bits aren't too crowded on the Exmoor fringes, so long as one stays out of places like Dunster, Lynmouth and, of course, Bossington! Looks like there's an easy circular route there, at the right time.

A little rain on the cards today, but not too windy, by the look of it.....we'll see.

Lots of my favourite places  . We used to go Dunster a lot when we lived in Devon, a drive up the Exe Valley then park in Dunster Castle car park as were NT members and walk down into the village.  We’d then go to Lynmouth and end up driving over Exmoor.  

When I'm walking, it's with an old friend who likes me to find places she's never been, so we've tended to visit less tourist-centred locations, but there are some good walks close to where the crowds are too. In Dunster, there's a circular walk that begins in the town, goes across the Deer Park, up to Bat's Castle, along to Gallox (gallows!) Hill and back down into the town. It's about 3 miles, which is a bit short, but I see we could extend it easily now I've looked properly.

However, things can go wrong when you start messing with well-waymarked routes, but that's part of the fun. When I walk with my daughter & her husband, they use GPS, which would kill it for us old-fashioned map readers!

OT: It has hardly rained at all here, but you wouldn't have wanted to be in the 2 'showers' we had! Virtually all the grass is cut now for our family day at the weekend, and we've erected a 30' marquee tent in the garden. There's faith for you!

Thanks for this, it’s great.  Neither of us can walk long distances at the moment with “my knee” and “his hip” but we’re getting better and he’s on the list for a new hip.  

Have a lovely time at your family day, I hope it doesn’t rain as much as it has here in sunny Dorset.  

Dustyevsky

Gorsebush said:

You must have a very big spread, Dusty to sport big marquees and such like. Fingers crossed for better weather for you tomorrow, but I suspect you'll get it wet and rough like I have today.

Big is a relative term! It's a smallholding formed from land which was too awkwardly placed to include in the large fields nearby, farmed on a large scale. We're on a finger of lighter earth, much of which is arable and used for mechanised production. Steeper, less productive soil north of us is still farmed traditionally. We're traditional too, but being small, we need to work alongside a partner farmer with more acreage and similar values. Luckily, he materialised soon after we came here in 2009. Word probably got around that a couple of newbies needed help to rescue this neglected holding. We weren't quite as green as he first thought, but we benefit from each other's completely different knowledge.

The marquee thing isn't ours. It belongs to people in the village who don't want to store it. Others can use it too for family events, but it may have to move on soon, because when I sell my van I won't be able to transport it.

We expect the weather to be rough today, but we'll go ahead, because rearranging everything would probably result in a worse turnout with holidays etc coming up. Others in the wider family have suitable property, so it would be nice if a few like the idea and carry it on in future years! 

Quiet and fairly sunny here at present. I'm late for letting the chickens out, so that's where I'm heading now!

Dustyevsky

Murphybear said:

Dustyevsky said:

Murphybear said:

Dustyevsky said:

twopenny said:

Well we had a cold grey day with some light rain, enough to scupper anything enjoyable but not enough to get into the soil.

I haven't made as many trips to Greencombe this year Dusty. I guess there's more going on generally. And they are on a 5 day week and afternoons only so it takes planning.

We're about 32 miles apart as the crow flies, but we could be in different parts of the country! The rain was incessant here and the ground had a good soaking. It wasn't enough to get the stream going, though.

I planned to go to Greencombe and combine it with one of the well-known local walks back in spring, but the weather and other things conspired against that. Mrs Dusty could manage Greencombe now, but not the walk, so I think we'll leave it till next year. As we move into summer holiday territory, I expect to go inland more for walking, but perhaps even the touristy coastal bits aren't too crowded on the Exmoor fringes, so long as one stays out of places like Dunster, Lynmouth and, of course, Bossington! Looks like there's an easy circular route there, at the right time.

A little rain on the cards today, but not too windy, by the look of it.....we'll see.

Lots of my favourite places  . We used to go Dunster a lot when we lived in Devon, a drive up the Exe Valley then park in Dunster Castle car park as were NT members and walk down into the village.  We’d then go to Lynmouth and end up driving over Exmoor.  

When I'm walking, it's with an old friend who likes me to find places she's never been, so we've tended to visit less tourist-centred locations, but there are some good walks close to where the crowds are too. In Dunster, there's a circular walk that begins in the town, goes across the Deer Park, up to Bat's Castle, along to Gallox (gallows!) Hill and back down into the town. It's about 3 miles, which is a bit short, but I see we could extend it easily now I've looked properly.

However, things can go wrong when you start messing with well-waymarked routes, but that's part of the fun. When I walk with my daughter & her husband, they use GPS, which would kill it for us old-fashioned map readers!

OT: It has hardly rained at all here, but you wouldn't have wanted to be in the 2 'showers' we had! Virtually all the grass is cut now for our family day at the weekend, and we've erected a 30' marquee tent in the garden. There's faith for you!

Thanks for this, it’s great.  Neither of us can walk long distances at the moment with “my knee” and “his hip” but we’re getting better and he’s on the list for a new hip.  

Have a lovely time at your family day, I hope it doesn’t rain as much as it has here in sunny Dorset.  

Mrs Dusty used to walk many miles with me, but various mobility problems intervened. She's on a replacement knee now, so we have hopes of getting a few miles in soon, even if the tougher stuff is too much.

We have family travelling here today from Dorset, and I love visiting certain parts of that county. Unfortunately, childhood memories of the Broadwindsor area aren't happy ones, so I'd not return there....and having passed through recently, I think we couldn't afford to, either!

Chickens are foraging in the sunshine and still no one else is up! 

Cuteness Alert! I promised you a look at a new addition to our menagerie yesterday, so here he is. No fixed name yet and the biting's ever so gentle. Possibly the soppiest little ferret west of Bristol!

YoungBlueEyes

Good morning from Shawshank Patch Paradise Regained

The rain and clouds made it dark early here too Gorse, curtains closed and lights on before Gogglebox started The drunkards were right, it did rain 'til gone bedtime. They've given rain again today but I don't think they're good enough to get it right 2 days running so himself's work clothes are in the wash  

I'm sans rasps and strawbs here too. A combo of birds and mice possibly, but sure everyone needs to eat so I don't mind really. I'll be disappointed if I don't get a taste of my wineberries though. I'll have to create some sort of a cage I think. I did get a few flowers on my apple tree but nothing on the pear, I don't see even one wee fruit coming though Too early to tell maybe. And it only went in this year so next year will be different.  And will you share pics of your sunflower please 2p, I love sunflowers but didn't get any in this year in case we were for replacing the fence. I love the idea of sweet peas up a sunflower  

Good luck with the weather today Dusty. Hope you get your gazebo up, and did your marquee survive the winds?  

I'm often surprised by how big this forum is, cos even though it looks like I use more than some people I don't think it's much in the grand scheme. I like this board (for this thread), food (for the Aldi thread), Old School (for the charity shop thread), the housing one (always waiting for a good RTB tale of woe and/or heathen neighbours), In My Home (never know when you'll pick up tips) and the Death + Probate one (cos sometimes I can actually help). I used to like the Energy one but they can be so harsh. 

YoungBlueEyes

Aww he is a cutey! Will hens and a ferret mix happily...? Or is he a house ferret? 

pink_poppy

Ooh, I never thought about hens and ferret, I was wondering about the pussycats and ferret mixing 😮

Very cute, Dusty. I knew your new addition was going to be a ferret 😉 is he teething??

YBE, it was definitely a woohoo moment when I saw the ripening tomato 😁 I’ve got another two starting to change colour this morning.

Someone on MSE obviously likes this thread 👋🏻 Dusty’s marshmallow has now replaced Farway’s lily.

Beautiful rainbow 🌈  this morning. Forecast today is more thundery showers... 

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh so it has pp. It's another good pic imo  

I don't know a while lot about ferrets except that they eat almost constantly and they're a beggar for eating eggs. Oh and they're very friendly, unless they turn against you then they're vicious. That's all I've got. 

Can't believe it - himself's stuff is on the line and it looks like it's about to rain!