Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Well it sure ain't sock weather this morning, 17' now and climbing rapido. Gonna be a warm one - up to 26' - they all agree. It's going to be cloudy and still too, so that's nice I've every window and door open here to let the 'cool' in but the humidity is right up in the 90's.... I don't know which is better, open up in the morning to let the overnight heat out but then the humidity comes in, or leave it til it's drier air but that'll be when it's warmest *sigh* 

I taste tested the wineberries yesterday, and they're nothing to write home about. Sort of bland nectarine-y, there's a taste of something sweet there, maybe a little creamy, consistancy of a ripe squashy rasp. So if wants to live it can sit there, but if it dies I'm not for replacing it. 

Yeah the Oracle sounds like your Mr + Mrs Fussy Dusty. I think some people just like to be among other people's business, and if they get away with it for so long then no-one challenges them cos they say/do things with such ....confidence...? She's a tolerable at arm's length sort I've decided. I don't think there's any badness with it, she's just sharp and maybe 'forthright'. Mixed blessings is exactly it Farway. And a fiver a jar for lime curd?! I'd have left it too What sort of a cook are you? Might be worth having a go at making some cos isn't curd just 3 ingredients...? 

So is that Rosemoor growing style just for that particular breed of tom then? Cos I've not been doing mine like that at all, and those look a damn sight healthier than mine! I like the poppies in that pic too but I really like the path

2p would leaving some water to stand in buckets for a day make it more palatable for your plants? (If you aren't already doing that.) I'd sooner be out on the road too, you never know who you'll be sharing that road with eh ha haa! 

Aww hello newt!  gf did you all laugh like hell when that person fell in..?  

Dustyevsky

I couldn't definitely ID those fungi of yours PP, which is why people should be very wary. One edible mushroom can look so like another that isn't, Giant Puffballs excepted! Getting a clear newt picture like that isn't easy if they're timid. It's up to the surface, gulp of air and down again here. Not seen any for a while.  

A visit to the big hospital with Mrs Dusty was the main feature yesterday, but in the morning I set about tackling the thistles, which have waited until now to come out in force. It was a lovely still day for that.

The hospital trip incorporated lots of shopping, but the car developed a  fault at the first stop, boiling over, so I was variously employed with bottles of spring water, trying to diagnose the problem. By the time the X ray had been done, I'd ruled out head gasket, water pump  and a few other expensive things. Eventually, we rolled into Sainsbury's, where a stream of boiling water just missed me, but revealed the source; an invisible hole in the plastic reservoir. It only 'exploded' when the pressure had built up sufficiently. Looked dramatic, but not a big deal. Oddly enough, a lady with a different car had exactly the same issue outside our house on Monday.

Today is MoT! 

Rosemoor's peaches are my feature picture for today...

ArbitraryRandom

YoungBlueEyes said:

Well it sure ain't sock weather this morning, 17' now and climbing rapido. Gonna be a warm one - up to 26' - they all agree. It's going to be cloudy and still too, so that's nice I've every window and door open here to let the 'cool' in but the humidity is right up in the 90's.... I don't know which is better, open up in the morning to let the overnight heat out but then the humidity comes in, or leave it til it's drier air but that'll be when it's warmest *sigh* 

I think the max here has been forecast for 24 (according to that venti thing app) and I reckon it's high teens already. Gulps. 

Plan for today is stay downstairs, windows on both sides of the lounge already open and curtains drawn. And I can sleep downstairs if needed (sofa bed). But for now, plants given a douse of water and washing machine on to hopefully get the first lot out by 10. 

YoungBlueEyes

It'll be a grand drying day (as my granny used to say) if you've any breeze Arb No air here at all, there's not a breath out there :gasp: 

Is Mrs D alright Dusty? Did you get your car home? Doesn't sound like that'll be an expensive fix anyway, or rather it shouldn't be... 
Ooohh peaches. I like peaches but I like them old bricks more!  

ArbitraryRandom

The temps are forecast ~20 for the next week or two - allowing accuracy at that distance isn't their strong suit, and there's rain mixed in there - and I'm hoping that's perfect for my squash to decide to flower (fingers crossed)

twopenny

Just to say Poppy, our highland cows get shorn like sheep here in the hot weather being further south than they're supposed to be   

Farway

Humid day forecast here as well, cloudy now but warm. 

First thing I went into town on a Wilko vulture run, it's pre covid since I was last in there, and it's an empty shell now. Feel sorry for the staff, especially having survived Covid etc. No seeds except a few annual flowers 70% off, but nothing to be excited about

My knife did slip yesterday while dead heading the dahlia at the front , so I've a couple of shoots from neighbour's new salvia in water to see if they'll root, they look a bit scrawny to me, but YouTube and Monty assure me salvias root easily, we shall see

More Merton Thornless blackberries are ripening, weather permitting I'll pick some this afternoon

Blight has claimed two more of my toms :'( , caught in time I think, fruit picked and in window to ripen. 

The Oh Happy Days one, which is supposed to be blight resistant by three weeks seems to be OK so far, a good test for it because next to it was a blight affected yellow cherry plum

The Shirley seem OK so far, but this humid still weather is doing them no favours

Dusty, no more super fruit please, my peach has long become a dead leaf curled stick, my apricot followed a year or so later. I have given up with stone fruits, just waiting for my plum & cherry to die next

Good "bad" news on the car, at least the part should be readily available in any scrapyard should there be one near you, but I think these days you can get scrap bits in the post, no more mooching around piles of cars with bits falling off into your toolbox

Good luck with MOT

YoungBlueEyes said:

I taste tested the wineberries yesterday, and they're nothing to write home about. Sort of bland nectarine-y, there's a taste of something sweet there, maybe a little creamy, consistancy of a ripe squashy rasp. So if wants to live it can sit there, but if it dies I'm not for replacing it. 

Yeah the Oracle sounds like your Mr + Mrs Fussy Dusty. I think some people just like to be among other people's business, and if they get away with it for so long then no-one challenges them cos they say/do things with such ....confidence...? She's a tolerable at arm's length sort I've decided. I don't think there's any badness with it, she's just sharp and maybe 'forthright'. Mixed blessings is exactly it Farway. And a fiver a jar for lime curd?! I'd have left it too What sort of a cook are you? Might be worth having a go at making some cos isn't curd just 3 ingredients...? 

Shame about the wineberry taste, because you're indifferent it will obviously thrive and take over the garden

I may well "look into" having a bash, depends on price of limes I guess. I do make my own jam at glut times, even have a jam funnel

Today's pic, my figs are ready for plucking . Looks like a mollusc has sampled one

-taff

What beautiful figs, I'm jealous! Mine are still green, five of them I think but it's growing new ones which is a surprise. The ones from the car park, some of them are showing signs of roots but I think another trip is on the cards, I'm avoiding paying money for things at the moment.

And peach tree envy is on the cards too, that's impressive! The car problems sound exciting, I remember when mine caught fire once with a friend in the car, never seen her move so fast. Loving the free poo too and fancy them being shorn, I mean I've watched sheep and llamas being done but I think I'd enjoy watching a coo being done too..YBL, is it possible your oracle is lonely or has no one else to pass on knowledge to?

Windows are done now so I can crack on with rejigging the little bit under the windows, sig out the second olive [ I think the first one will live] and start putting in the lavender, geums and teasel [bit of a mixed bag but one side should be wetter than the other thanks to run off from the porch. I've saved some stachys seeds too for next year and some orangey colour portulacca, so my money saving is ongoing.

YoungBlueEyes

Doesn’t surprise me you’ve got a jam funnel Farway, you sound like a capable sort. Have you got a kettle to go with it? There’s limes galore in the shops at the minute, you gonna have a crack at it…? G’wan g’wan g’wan g’waaaan! 

Yep I’ve no doubt it’ll take over that whole corner and strangle everything else out and I’ll not be able to kill it or dig it up properly either. Such is my luck. I can send you (or anybody) some seeds if you fancy trying it? Might taste different in different locations… 

I feel sorry for the wilcos staff too. It’s in administration now it said on the news. So that’s another donkeys years old family run business gone. Such a shame is that. 

Those figs look so tempting, I’ve got a lovely cheese in the fridge that’s go with them. Yum. 

Taff I think the deal with the Oracle is more stamping her authority on the newbie. She has a raging social life, mostly through the church but personal bits too, she’s not bored or lonely in the slightest. She’s just …pointed… People like her amuse me so it’s not a bother. 

OT they were all right about the temp (high and uncomfortable) and all wrong about the clouds. The sun’s near splitting the trees, it’s bladdy scorchio! 

YoungBlueEyes

Oh and if you can film the coos being shorn 2p I’d love to watch that!