Daydream fund challenge part 4

choille · 14 October 2019 at 9:30PM

Reasonable day here today so some wood sawn up and stacked. Not enough but a reasonable amount to be going on with. Nice sun set walk in the woods but loads of deer on the road home. Seems to be so many about this year.

Congratulations on the car MOT Dave.

in_my_wellies · 18 October 2019 at 11:17PM

Almost my final trip back to Leicestershire this week. I brought back a full car load of logs, all now stacked to dry for next year.
Cut the final length of hedge and picked the remaining Bramley apples to donate to a sale tomorrow. I thinned them out properly this year using a new tool my son cobbled together for me and it worked, many more large apples and very few tiny ones to pick up.

Gave the hen houses a really good spring clean, the rain had been blowing in big time and they were in mud.

On a sad note I realised mum has completely forgotten how to feed the hens, a task she has done on and off for over 70 years. I cleaned all the feeders, etc and when they were dry asked her to fill the 'treats' one with corn. By the time she got to the outhouse she forgot and came back to ask me what I wanted. Next she came back with cat litter and then pellets. Then she wandered off and came back to say there wasn't any washing ready to put out. Eventually I had to show her the corn and how much to use. Then she put the container down by the car so the hens ended up in the road. Fortunately no traffic and the hens were too busy to wander far.
Another task she enjoyed but can no longer do. Added to knitting, cross stitch, painting, sewing machining, reading, cooking. Thinking positively she can still do personal care, dress, hair, ironing, hang out the washing and loves to potter in the garden and wash up

Davesnave · 19 October 2019 at 9:24AM

Dementia, of whatever variety, is a horrible thing, Wellies. Lost my Dad around 2002, but he died at the end of 2005. Hardest years of my life.

Nothing significant to report here. One can tell I've just spent seriously on a refurbished ride-on, as there hasn't been a day in the last week without heavy rain, so all it's done is sit in the barn alongside the others that don't work! :mad: This one definitely will do the business; British made and built like a tank.

choille · 20 October 2019 at 10:11AM

So sorry In My Wellies about mum. It's difficult and my own Mother had Alzheimer's for many years. The charity Alzheimer's is very helpful for advice when you feel you need some.

We had a run over to the Dornoch firth yesterday which was nice and a good day over there rather than the rain here. Not too bad today.

Davesnave · 21 October 2019 at 1:05AM

We had a fairly benign weekend weather-wise, though both days had rain at some point.:) According to the TV weather bloke, there's only been 1 day without rain in Devon this month.

DD2 was here, having come up from Cornwall by train where she'd been working on displays for a brand new store there. Her DH came down from Bristol, so we made use of their muscles....:o

We got the 12' x 7' chicken shed down and stashed-away in the barn in about 4 hours flat; a job that would have thwarted the two of us, due to the weight of the panels. Now all I have to do is build a new base and enclose the area of garden where it's going! :undecided I think we might have a year before the original chicken orchard fences give out completely. They're only 9 years old! :mad:

The ferrets came to stay too, much to the disgust of the cats, who were outraged, even though it was only the empty travel cage in the conservatory. The ferrets have a luxury pad down in the barn. Neither cat has slept in the conservatory since Friday. :rotfl:

choille · 21 October 2019 at 12:11PM

Since they banned the preservative for fence posts and such they just rot. I'm really shocked at how many are needing replaced here. They just go - mind you it is so wet.

Not bad day but much cooler. The leaves are all coming off now. I should sort out the geraniums & lift them.

Davesnave · 21 October 2019 at 7:39PM

First day without rain for ages, so I went hell for leather with the mattock and turned over 14m of ground I'd weed-killed along the side of the path. Then, this afternoon, we planted 28 Viburnum tinus and a yew to make a windbreak hedge. All the viburnums were cuttings I rooted in the poly a year ago, so @ £3 each for internet ones, that's £84 saved.

I know the post issue is down to a ban on certain preservatives, but I notice Jacksons still feel very confident about their 25 year guarantee, so they'll be getting my next order. None of their posts in the front garden has rotted.:)
https://www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/fencing/type/agricultural-fencing

in_my_wellies · 21 October 2019 at 11:42PM

I like the look of that hedge Dave. £3 seems a very good price, I think you saved a lot more than than £84.

Rotten fences can be an advantage

Along one side of my garden, the boundary is a Devon bank wall with barbed wire fence behind it. It was old and rotten so the farmer erected another 2m away, it rotted quickly and contractor erected another, this time stock fence 1.5m away. He said I could remove the old wire and posts as they ware a hazard as they quickly became overgrown with brambles. The 3.5m is now my orchard. To be wildlife friendly it's not too tidy but is home to 23 trees. The latest fence is good quality and so far shows no sign off rot.

Have the butterflies finished egg laying yet? Is it safe to remove the netting from the brassicas? I found 11 small caterpillars yesterday, no idea how, but the netting is such a faff.

I've two flocks of hens, all the same breed, one lot eat caterpillars, the other won't touch them. One lot eat tomatoes, the other won't. The same goes for raspberries and blackberries. I'd be interested to know if it's learned behaviour or instinct gone wrong??

alfie_1 · 28 October 2019 at 2:37PM

hi all
been off grid here for a while die to hard work / weather !
all of last week I was shipping friends granddaughter and pony to her lessons each day ...
after having problems boxing the pony previously I thought id "practice" with it prior to last week ... tried allsorts and spending hours with a rearing stubborn pony my joints didn't belong to me !!
BUT I called in "postie" who ive known for years and was born and bred horses ... after an hour he had him walking in and out like a pro ! sometimes the pony learns your weakness's and uses that to give you the run around ... except im getting too old to run around THAT much .... but job done and a succesfull week of lessoms was had .

Davesnave · 30 October 2019 at 9:15AM

Ah, last week was half term, wasn't it, alfie? No school buses to time my day with and no maniacal parents on the school run either. (Yes, most really do travel at least 10mph faster than average and I can hear the difference!

)

Managed, at last, to get the new ride-on out and performing at the end of last week; it's the business all right! I can cut the whole place in 90 minutes, but not into all the corners, and it doesn't pick up either. Still, that means no stopping.:D

The change in the weather made me examine the chicken fences, especially the ones separating them from the sheep. My conclusion was that they wouldn't survive another few months, so I've spent 2 days belting-in posts behind the others and fixing them together with a wonderful product called builders band, which I recommend to bodgers everywhere: https://www.screwfix.com/p/sabrefix-builders-band-galvanised-dx275-9-6m-x-20mm/38619 :cool:

In other news, I've had a shingles jab and our front wall wasn't painted at half term as we were promised. You may wonder why someone else wanted to paint our wall, but it was just part of the permanent misunderstanding our communal neighbours have over where their territory ends. They thought they were going to be painting their wall, so when it was suggested they should examine their title documents, they did that....then returned to say, "OK we'll paint your wall....and you can have white, 'cos we already have some old paint."

Hmm, not greatly enamoured with white, but it's free and easily painted-over, so we stopped what we were doing and got the wall prepared.....:undecided

My hens eat tomatoes, wellies, and they love mealworms, but caterpillars? Nope.

Lit the wood-burner last night for the first time. Don't think I can kid myself any longer that we're still in an Indian summer!

Daydream fund challenge part 4 - Page 992

MSE NEWSFLASH 03/08

Daydream fund challenge part 4

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