Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

Bluey spotted the horses, but I'm fairly sure that's a stone lion there on the right; the sort people put on top of gateway pillars, thinking it adds class to their property. It must be wondering what the hell it's doing there! Or do you mean the heavy metal horse at Rosemoor? I'm almost out of sculptural pieces now.

Well, I got the sliding doors sorted on one end of the polytunnel, so it's closed at long last, and there's no more wind tunnel effect.

Did I mention my pears? For some reason, seeing the donkeys jogged my memory.....

Anyway, they refused to ripen, so I picked a few, some fell off in the gales, and yesterday I was down to two; both somewhat worse for the attention of fieldfares and still tough. As they were damaged, I called to one of the black sheep that hangs around when the birds are active, hoping they'll dislodge some fruit. She came over, and I threw her the smallest one, which she devoured within a minute. I could see it wasn't easy for her to crunch the whole pear into manageable bits, but she'd developed quite a good technique for doing it. The larger pear proved too large to fit in her mouth, and she looked stumped, but as expected, when I walked by that spot today there was no sign of the big pear!

Some sheep never show any interest in fallen apples. Others hang around the orchard and clear the ground. It usually takes a few weeks before any of them get a taste for fruit, but those that adapt their diet have easy pickings for a few weeks.

wort

@greenbee those kittens are gorgeous, how are you getting anything done? I wouldn’t be able to leave them alone .
rain, rain and more rain, been in work and not seen most of it,though got wet posting cards the other day.  Another 11 hours to get in today before my day off tomorrow 😴 
Panto on Friday after work ,oh no it isn’t ! He’s behind you and all that. Gets the Christmas mood going. 

Still not caught up on your goings on. 

Hope everyone is well, hands and stuff, still attached.

YoungBlueEyes

Ah I see it's a lion now Farway. It looks a lot like a spaniel I used to have, Ben. Black and white English Springer and I kept his hair fairly long because it was silky and ringlet-y. Gawd he was my heart's beat. 

Ooh what a lovely pear Dusty  *snigger*  Bit of a beggar they didn't ripen but at least the sheep enjoyed them eh. How's the hens doing btw? Have the girls all taken to each other and settled down now? 

All well here thanks wort, hands attached and working and back to a proper size and colour. (I don't know how far back you've read - I scooped a paring knife into my fleshy under-thumb bit and it all went black, and then I got a chilblain. All fine now. You acclimatised to the cold now then? Booo to 11 hours but yay for day off tomorrow  

Did you say were were heading away as wort gets back pp? Not be long 'til you go now is it? 

Didn't get round to doing the decs yesterday. We're possibly not really doing xmas this year (MiL too recent) so we spent all day watching Shetland on iplayer and I can recommend it. Series 1+2 really good, series 3 quite good, series 4 a bit heavy. Rained all day on and off, and was pretty breezy too tbh.

Dry all day today, possibly. Barely a wind at all and high humidity, so that's washing struck off the list.

Oh and when I was talking to Cissie last night she said she'd all her christmas presents sorted and wrapped. Jeez you're early with that, what have you got everyone? Well I saw good vodka on offer so everyone's getting a litre of vodka and the same of Bushmills. But what about the people that don't drink...? Well that's a nonsense lifestyle choice, they can start drinking now for it keeps out the cold.   Words to live by  

Farway

Brightish but windy, today is our "No Rain" day, back to wet tomorrow

Dusty, those pears of yours sound like a relative of my pear, but mine are large & red

I wonder if the windfall apple eating sheep are getting slightly tipsy from them? I think wasps get tiddly from fermenting fruit and some birds.

Talking of apples, the disappearing / maybe stolen by squirrels, seems we get of lightly. I read on FaceB someone in a more tender climate once their apples are just about ready some exotic birds come along and scoff the lot, I suppose similar to the cherries I grow but never get to eat.

I spoke to soon about my castor oil plant survival, it has now trotted joined its colleagues in the fiords, it is deceased, no more, turned its leaves up etc. Next job is waiting for a nice sunny day for me to get out & clear the dead items, but hoping to move my posh dahlia into the conservatory, it’s in a small enough pot for me to manage.

There is also a branch I need to remove from an apple, never really noticed it until yesterday as I was going along the path and seemingly automatically ducking and swerving round this branch. Now the leaves have gone, it's obviously an obstruction and needs to go.

Dustyevsky

No idea about the identity of the pear, Farway, but it's possibly meant for cooking and larger than average. It starts off quite red-looking, but when mature, looks more normal. We aren't pear fans, so it tends to be ignored. There were others, but they were either too damaged when we shifted them, or they didn't survive transplanting with the digger, or thrive. That one did.

YoungBlueEyes said:

Ooh what a lovely pear Dusty  *snigger*  Bit of a beggar they didn't ripen but at least the sheep enjoyed them eh. How's the hens doing btw? Have the girls all taken to each other and settled down now?

Yes, the new girls are integrated now, but still at the bottom of the pecking order. The pure black one, Astrid, is laying, but the grey, cuckoo-feathered one, Adora, isn't yet. I must get a photo. It's dry and bright today, and not even windy, so I'll try, but concrete comes first!

My photo today is not remarkable, but it caught my eye when weeding a few weeks ago.

ArbitraryRandom

As someone who doesn't drink, (assuming no addiction issues) having booze in the house is never a bad idea - since I moved in, I've gotten through a couple of bottles of whisky with various guests having a nip in the evening  

I had a quiet weekend - bit too wet and cold to do anything exciting (cold feeling that is, I don't think the temp dropped below 4 and this week is supposed to be a positively balmy 9 or 10 at times). Made a batch of mince pies (will drop most of them off with the neighbours) and cooked a large gammon - with a big chunk plus a bag of bits going in the freezer for a 'Christmas' Roast plus a pea/ham soup in the New Year. 

Finally tracked down a source of sea beet (https://incrediblevegetables.co.uk/shop/), so I'm getting a couple of plants (plus common Brighteyes/Reichardia picroides, a perennial leek of some variety, and a Sorrel 'Abundance') - I had foraged sea beet when hiking with a friend a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I'm hoping the above plus a few herbs will give me a hardy and perennial salad bar once established  

twopenny

Bright, you could almost say sunny but in the usual way I'm indoors most of it

Seems to be perfectly timed for the days I have arranged.

Washing about to go out and fingers crossed.

Was a fierce wind last night, seldom heard it so scarey and by the damp pavers must have rained too.

My flourishing geraniums have got some bug that's destroying the leaves from underneath and turning them brittle and grey round the edges. Could see some little white flies but no idea. Seems bugs have adapeted to all sorts they didn't touch.

Pears not ripening - peal, core, slice and put in sealed jar covered in white wine and keep for emergency desert.

Beware of feeding pears to sheep. Remember what happened to this squirel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJyAHjLCmI4

Weird how things go on - Bluey I had a spaniel x collie called Ben, the love of my life. Always happy, always mischief.

He had ringlets too used to catch all the twigs and burrs and had to be dethatched often during walks.

Dusty, that path, you're spot on! Gee you're good at that

Its darn hard to walk because it's all shale so you cant get a wriggle on but have to say lovely area once you're there. Surprisingly sheltered so plenty of water a must.

Wort, your life sounds as exhausting as Abs.

Soon be longer evenings to unwind and more you time

YoungBlueEyes

Flying visit - beautiful sunset developing on CliffCam3 

YoungBlueEyes

Ditto muck and burs on my Ben 2p, he had to be into everything and he was so happy with the world. I don't think I've got any photos of him, or I have but they're on dead phones. Yours is a treasure of a pic    

I know what you mean about keeping drink in the house Arb, even if you don't drink it it soon goes ha haa! The angels must be taking very healthy shares   Good luck with your swish salad bar. It's one you don't hear much of any more, sorrel. Same as samphire. I'd pay good money for a steady supply of healthy sorrel and samphire  

So you're supposed to leave alliums then Dusty? That's another thing I've done wrong then - I snipped mine of at ground level and piled a wee bit of soil on them so no bugs or rain could get in. Ah well.  Yours look like a firework going off   Also - how do you name your girls? Astrid and Adora... do you go through the alphabet like they do with storms?

Sorry your castor plant has shuffled off this mortal c-oil Farway. Is there no chance it's just ...deeply resting...? 

The wind's dropped here and it's been raining for a few hours. 7' my phone says and it very well might be cos it's not at all cold out there. The rain's for stopping in a bit to give the fog a turn, then back to rain this evening. There's enough water in and on the ground out there as it is, there best not be too much more...

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

I spoke to soon about my castor oil plant survival, it has now trotted joined its colleagues in the fiords, it is deceased, no more, turned its leaves up etc.

Not to be confused with Fatsia japonica, sometimes called the False Castor Oil Plant.

https://www.bigplantnursery.co.uk/shop/plants/choice-shrubs/fatsia-japonica/

That's hardy enough here and not quite so deadly.

YoungBlueEyes said:

So you're supposed to leave alliums then Dusty? That's another thing I've done wrong then - I snipped mine of at ground level and piled a wee bit of soil on them so no bugs or rain could get in. Ah well.  Yours look like a firework going off   Also - how do you name your girls? Astrid and Adora... do you go through the alphabet like they do with storms?

If you leave alliums, they tend to seed around. We don't intentionally leave or not leave many things; they just stay until Mrs Dusty or I get around to them. We're always running to catch up somewhere or other, but that's life with a big garden and no staff!
The hens get names starting with the first letter of their breed name. Those two are Australorps, a breed from Australia.

Last time I looked, it was to be dry today, but now I see it's sunshine and showers. I will be doing whatever that allows, then. Down at the far end of our land, the new neighbour has cleared his parking space and left us rather exposed to the road , so I'll be adding some Rosa rugosa I've grown into the gap he's created. I'm hoping this batch will be pink or red, as the last lot down there were almost all white ones.