Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Paddy Tobin on January 05, 2012, 10:31:52 AM
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The first moan of 2012: Three Pinus radiata down in last night's storm along with several smaller trees of hawthorn and hornbeam. These are about 25 years old and so of a good size. Fortunately, they did no damage when they fell - fell into my neighbour's garden, across lawn and drive. House insurance does not cover this situation - will cover damage by trees falling but not the cleaning up and removal of the trees themselves. A lot of work ahead.
Paddy
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A bad loss, Paddy. Will it cause more damage from reducing your wind break?
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This is very sad, Paddy. Hope you get help with this big job, removing all the trees.
Lina.
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Wind comes from the south west most frequently and these were on the eastern side of the garden - this is why they were blown into my neighbour's garden.
Clean up is in the process of being negotiated - two people are willing to cut up the trees and clean up for the sake of the timber. Nothing will be done before Sunday.
Paddy
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Wind comes from the south west most frequently and these were on the eastern side of the garden - this is why they were blown into my neighbour's garden.
Clean up is in the process of being negotiated - two people are willing to cut up the trees and clean up for the sake of the timber. Nothing will be done before Sunday.
Paddy
If it ends up not costing you, then at least that's something.
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Sympathies Paddy.
I've phoned five fencing firms today to try to get a quote for re-placing mine, and this time using concrete posts rather than timber, but none were interested in quoting. All much too busy to bother with new business.
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Not looking as bad as it did initially and the cost is not expected to be too high. There will be some cost in getting rid of the rubbish left after all is cut up but it shouldn't be huge.
Most important thing - the neighbours aren't too bothered about it; no damage done, just inconvenience and they are easy about it.
David, I'll come over and put up your fence - reasonable quotations.
Paddy
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Bless you Paddy for having nice neighbours. I wish..... :'( :'( :'(
My latest new neighbour said to me that they would have nothing further to do with me because I refused to take down my balcony, which he objects to. Said balcony has been in situ for 25 years, the neighbour for 18 months. He even tried to scare me by getting the local planning officer to visit and see if it was against building regulation etc., but there was nothing wrong with it. The law is on my side. I told him he shouldn't have bought the house if he didn't like the balcony on my property. Silly Billy.
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David
I don't know your current fencing but after years of broken fence panels and posts I installed double overlap ranch fencing fixed on 4"x4"x 8' posts set in concrete. The first fence was put up about 15 years ago and I then added to it about 6 years ago until the back garden was completely fenced. The beauty is that it is not as solid as a panel fence but breaks the force of the wind. It has withstood countless gales including the last three storms this winter. Several of my neighbours have had their panel fences destroyed and the posts pulled over and have now decided to copy my fence. It is dearer initially but has paid for itself over time
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Paddy, sorry to hear about the storm damage... We have big storms once or twice a year and since we are surrounded by many tall trees, they always make me nervous. I'm very sorry to hear that you lost your trees, but am relieved that no one was injured.
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How come the things that you don't want to grow fast do, like my waist line. Thats the one thing I hate about Christmas all the extra food.
Oh well at least I have some insulation for the winter ::) there is always a good side to everything.
Angie :)
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My moan,well we have a wild cat in the area,and it has decided that it prefers my garden to any other,having just turned the soil over again ,It has visited and deposited in five areas including the bark path,I have tried various gels and now a granular reppelent so will see how this works if not any one else have any ideas,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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2.2 rifle? ;D
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David did think that but did not like to post it ;D ;D
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You'll get us all shot...... :(
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:o ;D :P
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I have, or should say had a lovely patch of self sown Cyclamen coum in the grass close to the base of my shed. I've been following progress since the first flowers appeared in December and was most annoyed today to find the roe deer have devastated the lot. A nice patch of C. hederifolium leaves nearby has also gone. :'( :'( :'(
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I'd be preparing for venison on Sunday lunch time Roma :P How disappointing for you.
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Disappointing???? You're being very measured , David...... I'd say it's utterly infuriating and yes, I'd be checking venison recipes, too.
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I'd be preparing for venison on Sunday lunch time Roma :P How disappointing for you.
Got to catch it (or them) first, David. I did see one cross the garden one day about 10am when I was away on the other side of the road feeding the ponies. They do their munching at dusk or dawn when we are not around. They have eaten two bergenias and pruned callunas and ericas. There are still flower buds on the Erica carnea but most will be eaten before they open. Erica arborea 'Estrella Gold' which got hammered last winter has made good growth from the base. I noticed a while ago it was being nibbled so it is now protected by a wire netting cage.
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how the funk does Irish man Dara O'Briain - Stargazing Live and comedien- not know how to pronounce the name of the largest lake in Ireland. He called it Loch "ne-agh". It's Lough Neagh. Neagh is like N followed by a as in base
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how the funk does Irish man Dara O'Briain - Stargazing Live and comedien- not know how to pronounce the name of the largest lake in Ireland. He called it Loch "ne-agh". It's Lough Neagh. Neagh is like N followed by a as in base
Neigh as in horse , and nay as in not on your nelly? :D
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how the funk does Irish man Dara O'Briain - Stargazing Live and comedien- not know how to pronounce the name of the largest lake in Ireland. He called it Loch "ne-agh". It's Lough Neagh. Neagh is like N followed by a as in base
Neigh as in horse , and nay as in not on your nelly? :D
You are getting a Yorkshire accent Maggi!
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how the funk does Irish man Dara O'Briain - Stargazing Live and comedien- not know how to pronounce the name of the largest lake in Ireland. He called it Loch "ne-agh". It's Lough Neagh. Neagh is like N followed by a as in base
Well, I wouldn't know either ;)
But horses "vrinsker", they don't neighs ;D
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vrinsker? Ours definitely say nay-eh-eh-eh
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vrinsker? Ours definitely say nay-eh-eh-eh
Oh, they speak a kind of dialect then ;)
Here a horse vrinsker, a sheep breker, a dog bjeffer, a cow rauter, a cat mjauer, a cock galer and so forth . . . .
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vrinsker? Ours definitely say nay-eh-eh-eh
Oh, they speak a kind of dialect then ;)
Here a horse vrinsker, a sheep breker, a dog bjeffer, a cow rauter, a cat mjauer, a cock galer and so forth . . . .
Thank you Dr. Doolittle ;D
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Aother moan from me about the local wildlife. My daughter was helping me today to tidy up some dead plant leaves and stems. While she was cutting th Anemone hybrida which will have to be greatly curtailed this year a vole ran out and disappeared. I started on the irises. Remember the big clump of a yellow possible forrestii hybrid I showed here in June? Well it is completely devastated. When I started cutting and pulling away the old growth I found most of the shoots had been eaten right back into the rhizome. The mauve one was the same. I thought 'Broadleigh Carolyn' was OK because she still had green leaves but found many of the Rhizomes had been nibbled through just below a shoot. Some had little roots and could be saved but I don't really have the time and space to save them all.
I managed to catch 2 of the little furry creatures and they will not eat irises again
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Roma glad that voles has gone. I am trying to get rid of some of the mice here. I have a humane trap but I am seriously thinking of getting some poison, there just seems to be so much of them. I was watching from my living room window the other day and this mouse was sitting in the sun eating my Frit bulbs. When I had my four cats I never had a problem. At least the ground in a bit frozen so he might not be able to dig.
Angie :)
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I think I'm really entitled to a major moan this evening. I stayed with my son last night half way between Dunedin and Ashburton where I was to visit Betty Clark (occasional Forumist) as she had some precious bulbs for me. I wanted to be up at about 6.30am, but in the night my battery alarm clock stopped and the alarm didn't go off so it was nearly 7.30 when I woke. Quick brekky (no shower) and off, only to have a fuse blow on my car's indicators. No indicators. Went into first service station to have them fixed and the guy said he could do the left one but the right one had a wire chafed right through so be careful not to use the right one until it was fixed properly or it would fuse the other again. Charged me $20 for not fixing the problem properly. Topped up my petrol while there but because it was $38 worth instead of min of $40, missed out on the 8c a litre discount.
While gathering up my wallet, card and cell phone when office girl was doing the invoice, I dropped my phone on the concrete floor and smashed it.
Proceeded to Ashburton (another hour) keeping in left lane all the way so as not to have to right indicate and that worked OK until I was stuck behing a double log truck in the slow lane, doing about 70km an hour so instinctively switched on right indicator and changed lanes. Blew the new fuse so no indicators again. Had to go to firm where I buy my pots, bought a box of 500 100mm tubes and found price had almost doubled since last lot. Also pots no longer available on north side of Ashburton where the office is, so had to go back to south side of the town to goods depot. Office wouldn't accept EFTPOS or credit card so had to go back into the centre of town and draw cash and back to the office to pay before going back to the depot. Many dirty looks from other drivers as I went around roundabouts and turned many corners, all without indicating.
So far so good. Arrived at Betty's an hour after I'd arranged to be there and things improved, Betty and Murray their usual delightful selves, so many plants to see including several I'd lost (but now have replacements), and I've identified the tree I posted on the Forum after the Trillium weekend.
Drove back to Dunedin in very strong wind and heat for 5.30pm meeting of Otago Alpine Garden group committee, enough time to go home first, go to loo, have a quick drink and codeine (sore back etc) then back into towm in pelting rain and nearly swiped off the road by large car coming round corner without looking. He shoved his fist on the horn, I screamed but we didn't actually touch.
Home again hoping Roger would have got tea ready but no, feeling poorly having had impacted wisdom tooth removed this afternoon. I have yet to go to bed in a few minutes. I hope to get up the hall alive and into bed without further mishap.
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@Lesley...
(I think this is going to come in very handy in this thread)
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Good grief Lesley - if this had all happened on a Friday 13th... ::)
Hope today's day is a better one !! :-*
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Lesley hope you have a very pleasant day today. One thing you can say you don't live a boring life like me ;D
Angie :)
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Last night I watched the Nadal v Federa tennis semifinal, but think it's unfair that Nadal will now have a whole day longer to prepare for Sunday's final than the winner of today's semi! Can't the plonkers organise the semis on the same day, or is that too much like common sense? ::) Even the commentators commented on it!
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Thank you so much Martin. I definitely needed that. It wasn't the end, by midnight I was screaming out to the kitchen for salt having got bad cramp in one leg and this morning my camera wouldn't work. Kept saying "Write Error" every time I clicked the shutter but it's stopped that now and the pics I took seem OK.
No Angie, life is never boring here. Roger is going south to see a friend tomorrow and MAY come home with a little 6 year old dog whose family are moving to Australia. Not sure if I'm ready yet. We'll see. I wouldn't want to love him less than his due.
Anthony they're on different days so the paying punters don't get to see two for the price of one. They have to pay twice to see both games. Don't the silly things understand they just send more people to their TV sets?
BUT..... I'm pleased to see there are many more Happy pages so far this year than there are Moans.
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Will be interesting to see how the Djoker gets on tonight. I think it's a disgrace. Bet Mickey Mouse is wearing an Aussie Open watch? ;D
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Weedkilling the lawn edges is not confined to Falkirk, or council grass! 8) The last shot is of my front lawn, which ends at the end of the brick out of shot and black circular cover. I wonder how long it will take for the bare patch to double in width? ::) I'm responsible for the grass to the road edge on each side of the foot path in front of the house. The second last pic shows a view up the road, where one chap has also sprayed weed killer (yellow edge). I use a wheel edger, which does it just about as fast as spraying. Almost like using a child's scooter. While I was taking the first shots, a group of pukekos came to check if I had any bread.
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I see the NZ treasury are suggesting raising class sizes in NZ schools to save money! >:( Typical of government thinking world wide. What price education?! I never taught a class larger than 20 as in Scotland, unless you went to a private school, practical classes legally had to be 20 or fewer. The present Scottish government were supposed to reduce class sizes in primary schools, but seem to have failed? It has been proved time and time again that the teacher pupil ratio is vital for improving education standards. Raising class sizes is false economy! Let the treasury officials try to teach a class of 35 or more!
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What goes around comes around. I remember perhaps 20 years ago the then govt - can't remember which party - made huge efforts and spent many millions recruiting immigrant teachers, enlarging teacher training colleges etc all to bring down class sizes, the aim being from around 35 per class to not more than 20. I don't think that was ever fully achieved but good progress was made. Now in order to save money, we go back to square one.
My fondest hope in all this and so many other areas in recent weeks is that the current govt has alienated so many people, groups, races et al, that they won't last longer than until the next election.
Funny that since the banks/economies debacle of recent years, the word "millions" mean peanuts. Billions and trillions are the new millions.
Where does a country like the USA, with such astronomic debt get the money to "lend" to other countries and provide aid and so on? Where does the IMF get all its money from, with which to bail out Greece, Italy etc? Do they just print more or what? I really want to know. The other day the head of IMF said they would have to get more money. Where from since everyone seems to be getting it from them?
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"Quantitive easing" is the answer to that. They just print more money!
Kim
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Hi Kim, hope all is well with you.
Is that so? I though printing more and more was supposed to devalue what we already had so to be avoided at all costs (you can see I'm no economist!) Isn't that what Robert Mugabe did?
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Perhaps if they removed the private sector from the source of the problem, private hedge funds wouldn't be able to buy up the debts of countries like Greece at 40% and then instantly cash them in at 100%, because, unlike banks, they are honour bound to stick to banking ethics and so remove yet more of the tax payer's money from the public coffers?
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Is that so? I though printing more and more was supposed to devalue what we already had so to be avoided at all costs (you can see I'm no economist!) Isn't that what Robert Mugabe did?
I guess it depends on which country prints more money. If a country with a huge economy and with a currency that is used in a lot of countries as a reserve-currency prints more money, it will not devalue their money (in the short term)!!
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Weedkilling the lawn edges is not confined to Falkirk, or council grass! 8)
That's really ugly! It has been forbidden here since years to use weedkillers on public lawn edges!
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Lesley, I think I heard someone explain the other day that the only "real" money is debt, which seems to make sense - i.e. money has no purpose and is valueless until someone owes you for something (work done, goods purchased) then money means something, what is due in return for the service, goods etc. Which helps explain the recent and current problems - debt = money, so debt occurs when people or countries buy services or goods. The problem seems to be that financial institutions then buy and sell that debt, creating a poorly-balanced, sometimes pyramid-like or bubble-like market in debt which feeds on itself and eventually comes crashing down when the value of the debt turns out to be much lower than its "market" value because the people or countries who built it up can't actually afford to pay it off.
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Then of course, unless you do something about the financial institutions who caused the problems, you have to start the whole process all over again to fuel your "recovery".
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Why it all becomes unstable is because when the market in debt starts to boom it's tempting for the financial institutions to create as much debt as possible to feed that market by lending more and more to riskier and riskier borrowers (individuals and countries) who might have trouble repaying - unless you have regulation which prevents it getting out of control, but internationally that regulation was slackened-off by major financially controlling governments like the U.S. and the U.K., allowing the debt market to spiral out of control.
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Right! I wish I hadn't asked the question now. I'll leave you to it. ???
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Weedkilling the lawn edges is not confined to Falkirk, or council grass! 8)
That's really ugly! It has been forbidden here since years to use weedkillers on public lawn edges!
What a good decision. Weedkillers are still used here though the"operatives" do not tend to leave the edges to venture as far as manhole covers etc.
It used to be that strimmers were used but I think they probably did more damage... making a terrible mess of tree bark etc.
I see lots of street tress aroundhere which have had their little squares of soli planted up by householders to jazz them up..... so sad when the fellow spraying the edges of the pavements for weeds and the weedy bits at the foot of these trees sprays the little "gardens" as well. :'(
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Right! I wish I hadn't asked the question now. I'll leave you to it. ???
;D
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What a good decision. Weedkillers are still used here though the"operatives" do not tend to leave the edges to venture as far as manhole covers etc.
It used to be that strimmers were used but I think they probably did more damage... making a terrible mess of tree bark etc.
I see lots of street tress aroundhere which have had their little squares of soli planted up by householders to jazz them up..... so sad when the fellow spraying the edges of the pavements for weeds and the weedy bits at the foot of these trees sprays the little "gardens" as well. :'(
That's a real shame, I thought it was a European regulation forbidding the use of herbicides in public spaces? They don't even use it anymore for spraying the pavement in cities in Belgium. They use flame weeding now.
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If it is a European regulation then we should have it in force here. We've adopted all the others, especially the pointless ones. :-\
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If it is a European then we should have it in force here. We've adopted all the others, especially the pointless ones. :-\
Maybe just Belgian, than... ???
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There are one or two planted areas nearby and some people with fences joining public grassy areas have signs saying "no spraying". When my wife -then girl friend - lived in a semi in Dunblane I planted clumps of crocus in the gravel between her lawn and the neighbour's. The neighbour employed a gardener who operated on the 'slash and burn' method and sprayed the gravel areas and the crocus never appeared again! Thanks George!!! >:(
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Oh goody, my book distributors have gone into voluntary liquidation! >:( After going into administration four years ago. If I'm lucky they'll start up again under some other name having sold all the books they ordered from publishers like me but never paid for. How can they be allowed to keep doing that?! And where's this recovery the government keep saying they can conjure up at the same time as slashing spending?!
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Martin, I think it's called a "free" market ;D Nothing's free some other poor b*****d always pays at the end of the line.
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Dear me David! My old Etonian chums (we still go riding together) tell me that you must be a member of the SWP.
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Martin, I think it's called a "free" market ;D Nothing's free some other poor b*****d always pays at the end of the line.
Yes, it's always the less well off that keep paying. I believe the difference between a top executive's pay and that of the lowest paid in his/her workforce has increased 10 fold in the last 30 years, yet these people manage to dodge most of their tax burden, and they are suggesting reducing the top rate of income tax "to attract more entrepreneurs"! I suppose they will then create more jobs..................in China!
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On the radio this morning Mr John Redwood, Conservative MP, suggested that the top rate of tax should be set at a level the rich "were prepared to pay". That's free market 'choice' for you.
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Dear me David! My old Etonian chums (we still go riding together) tell me that you must be a member of the SWP.
;D ;D ;D I think I'm I'm just the bloke at the glue factory Gerry!
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Oh the recovery's happening all right. Ask any CEO, bank director or those heading financial institutions all of whom are getting extra bonus payments, higher fees and salaries and politicians who continue to travel the world on holidays, with spouses and partners at the tax payers expense. The only recovery though for the rest of us is when we finally succumb to being beaten into submission and maybe a paramedic gets there in time with a defibrillator.
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Oh goody, my book distributors have gone into voluntary liquidation! >:( After going into administration four years ago. If I'm lucky they'll start up again under some other name having sold all the books they ordered from publishers like me but never paid for. How can they be allowed to keep doing that?! And where's this recovery the government keep saying they can conjure up at the same time as slashing spending?!
This is called the phoenix syndrome. Rip off the company profits, run up debts especially to the tax man and go burst. Start up the company under a new name and shuffle the directors and then start the cycle again. Double glazing firms and Indian restaurants were notorious for this.
On the radio this morning Mr John Redwood, Conservative MP, suggested that the top rate of tax should be set at a level the rich "were prepared to pay". That's free market 'choice' for you.
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I spent my working life dealing with people like this. Dealing in cash,claiming tax back on their living expenses and manipulating their income to avoid paying tax.
The bigger the company, the more it goes on.. Roll on the red revolution !
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I suspect a phoenix company is what is planned. That's pretty much what happened last time. But this time it looks like they may be going to hide their new company behind another distributor who will do the ordering and paying since a lot of publishers are probably getting fed up with them.
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If it happens as I think it will, they'll be using another distributor's warehouse facilities just outside Leeds, which means I'll have to deliver to Yorkshire instead of just up the road to Daventry in Northamptonshire. M5, M40, M1 - that should be a pleasant trip :P
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Earlier today I came across this quote from Aesop which was new to me:
"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."
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M5, M40, M1 - that should be a pleasant trip :P
Mmm..... ::)
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.......M5, M40, M1 - that should be a pleasant trip :P
It will be but you'll have a job finding the M1 ;D M5, M42, A42 M1
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Yes, I meant M42. ;D I use both the M40 and M42 for different trips and I'm always getting their numbers the wrong way round.
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About 190 miles to Leeds as opposed to about 90 to Daventry. Just checked on Google maps. :-\
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If you go a little bit further, you can call for a cuppa with me.
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If you go a little bit further, you can call for a cuppa with me.
Excellent idea. :)
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My father's cousin lived in Leeds and worked in London, spending his weekends at home. He cycled to work!
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In what country ?? ??? ??? ???
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My father's uncle lived in Leeds and worked in London, spending his weekends at home. He cycled to work!
The Leeds near Maidstone I assume?
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There's only one Leeds and it's not near London! ::) Riding south from West Riding. Took him several hours.
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A suggestion to all.......
If you don't have a will (as in "Last Will and Testament"), please consider making one!! It would make things so much easier for those left behind if you were to suffer some sort of demise. <sigh> As I am unfortunately learning. ::)
It doesn't matter how young or old you are, seriously think about it.
And now, back to your usual services. ;)
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There's only one Leeds and it's not near London! ::)
It's quite close to Birmingham (Alabama).
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The brackets are a dead give away Gerry. You'll be talking about Leeds (Alabama)? ::)
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I always thought one was more than enough - I was raised there (Yorks). Evidently not.
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Quite right Gerry. I have even driven through a tiny hamlet in Yorkshire called New York. There's also a place in Auckland named "Scarbro". Goodness only knows how that is pronounced. I would hope that it is not an attempt to name it after the East Yorkshire town! New Zealand is full of places named after towns back home. Ellerslie Race Course is between Newmarket and Epsom! There's a Stirling in the South Island which as streets named after Stirling in Scotland, a bit like Dunedin (New Edinburgh). My Dad was once asked by a student if he could leave early to catch his bus. "Where do you live?" "California." "You can wait like the rest of the class". In the staff room the next day my Dad retold the story about the cheeky tyke. Then he found out there is a village just outside Falkirk called California! Oops! :-[
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A suggestion to all.......
If you don't have a will (as in "Last Will and Testament"), please consider making one!! It would make things so much easier for those left behind if you were to suffer some sort of demise. <sigh> As I am unfortunately learning. ::)
It doesn't matter how young or old you are, seriously think about it.
And now, back to your usual services. ;)
A sad lesson to have to learn, Paul. I've often wondered why some people find it morbid or "unlucky" to make a will.... after all, our death is the one thing that we can all be sure of... and I would prefer to organise my affairs rather than leave chaos and money to the government!
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Yep, Maggi death is one thing that we all can be sure of. We organise our lives daily so why wouldn't we have our ending. I have everything in place. Even down to my beloved plants. But saying all this I only did it when I turned 50. Why did I wait till then, not sure.
Angie :)
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Many apologies to everyone who has received a spam email via my address - I seem to have been hacked. I've changed my password, but don't know if that's enough. Any ideas will be welcome.
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Many apologies to everyone who has received a spam email via my address - I seem to have been hacked. I've changed my password, but don't know if that's enough. Any ideas will be welcome.
Anne - I was just about to email you about this. Damned pests - I don't know what you can do.
A question on the "Computer Problems" thread perhaps?
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I had a similar problem a few months ago; the only reason that I knew it was happening was that I would get a batch of about 4/5 emails which had bounced back to me. It happened two or three times about a week apart (and apparently I had 'sent' the emails in the middle of the night, UK time), but there hasn't been a similar episode for some time now (touch wood).
I contacted my internet services provider for advice, but there is apparently little that one can do about these things if someone has discovered your email address, other than changing email address, and I didn't want to do that. :-\
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Yep, Maggi death is one thing that we all can be sure of. We organise our lives daily so why wouldn't we have our ending. I have everything in place. Even down to my beloved plants. But saying all this I only did it when I turned 50. Why did I wait till then, not sure.
Angie :)
At the risk of being morbid another very important step is to set up a power of attorney. If your spouse is incapacitated and unable to speak/write then you have no legal means to access private bank accounts and make payments on their behalf. For people in Scotland the following site gives all the information necessary. It is much easier to take these actions before it may be forced upon you.
www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk
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Yep, there is also 'Enduring Power of Attorney" here in Aus, which continues after the person's death. They told me about this when Yvonne was going in for a brain operation a few weeks ago, but by then a viral inflamation of her brain had rendered her incapable of signing something like that legally. :-\
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Anthony when you eventually visit Dunedin and have a look around you will find streets named after just about everywhere in Scotland, including Dunblane Street, Oban St, Moray Place, Heriot Row, Leith St, Corstophine Rd, Scotland St and dozens more.
Back to Paul's comment, yes, it's surely common sense to make a will for the future comfort of those left to cope. My own parents did, so that Elizabeth and I knew exactly what would be our circumstances when they died. Apart from the financial things, my Mother in particular who had good porcelain, paintings and the like, listed everything so there was no scrapping later. Not that there would have been because we've always got on well and been good friends. Mother was careful to leave to each of us, anything of value that we ourselves had given her, so that I inherited a couple of pieces of jade and some beleek which I'd given to her, while Elizabeth had back a nice collection of Waterford chrystal and so on.
I feel that those who have good plant collections should do the same thing and make provision for the future. I remember a friend who introduced me to alpine gardening. When she died her place was sold and the visible plants were lifted and sold by the buyer, but with no knowledge of what he was selling (he'd potted chunks of that beastly and rampant field buttercup. Is it R. repens?) and bulbs in the ground were simply dug over and taken to the rubbish dump. A tragedy as she had many small ericaceae which haven't been seen in NZ since.
I keep in mind all the time, the question of who would be a good person or perhaps young couple who would be willing and able to take on my lot when the time comes. No arrangements made yet but the thought is always there and I hope a solution presents itself some time. Sadly, for me, neither of my children is even slightly interested in gardening.
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Vivienne and I made wills when the children were born, but I understand that it's not something people do as a matter of course. I wonder how many of my friends and relatives have them? When we first moved to Scotland in 1963, a lady moved into next door but one. She had bought the house with her brother, but he died a few weeks before they moved in. She became part of our family and even taught me music theory and played piano accompaniment when I sat violin exams. A few months before she died, of a heart attack, my Mum had cause to take her to hospital to check out a cut that hadn't healed. My Mum had to help fill in the forms and Miss Anderson insisted on putting her down as next of kin. When she died Christmas 1984 I was give her piano, but we later found out her will hadn't been changed since 1958 and everything went to her cousin's second wife who hardly kept in touch with her. I'm not suggesting that inheritances shouldn't be kept in the family, but the neighbour in between us and Miss A had had many conversations with her and changing her will was on the to do list for spring 1985. Fortunately my parents kept their wills up to date.
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Yep, Maggi death is one thing that we all can be sure of. We organise our lives daily so why wouldn't we have our ending. I have everything in place. Even down to my beloved plants. But saying all this I only did it when I turned 50. Why did I wait till then, not sure.
Angie :)
At the risk of being morbid another very important step is to set up a power of attorney. If your spouse is incapacitated and unable to speak/write then you have no legal means to access private bank accounts and make payments on their behalf. For people in Scotland the following site gives all the information necessary. It is much easier to take these actions before it may be forced upon you.
www.publicguardian-scotland.gov.uk
I had power of attorney for both of my parents and having this made things much simpler. Just not having to go through all the paperwork time after time made having this in place worthwhile.
When my mum died she had everything written down in her will. I remember the day we were at our solicitor and he read that I was left a grass tree, he looked at me rather strange. I always joked with my mum saying I don't want your diamonds mum I just want the Australian grass tree, bless her, she had written it in her will and left it to me. Now here is something between just you and me. I just love my grass tree and speak to it all the time.
Angie :)
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I'm really depressed now....both my car and house insurance are cheapest with Saga :'( :'( :'( :'(
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Don't fret, Martin.... you'll always be a cute young thing in your avatar, at least........ :)
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I'm surprised! I normally find they are the dearest of the ones I try. (Sex And Games for the Aged) ;D
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Don't fret, Martin.... you'll always be a cute young thing in your avatar, at least........ :)
Maggi I was thinking exactly that ;D ;D ;D
Angie :)
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Google is beginning to annoy me >:( No sooner have I started to type a search request into the box than I'm "whipped" into a page of results that I haven't asked for and I have to go back to the beginning and start again. Why has everything in this world got to be 'instant'. I CAN WAIT
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The good news is that I had a great time at the London Orchid Show and lots of friends and some forum members turned up, and the discussion was more about the incursions of unwanted wildlife into peoples' greenhouses than anything else.
The other good news is that on return from the show, another rat had found its way into my rat trap.
The bad news is that I fell off my horse on Sunday, broke a couple of ribs and slipped a disk, which has rendered me unable (temporarily) to lift things; fortunately my friend Ann was on hand to help me, so all the unsold pleiones were put back in the greenhouse, having spent a night in the car at -2 degrees C. No sign of damage, though, so there is more good news than bad news.
...and, it only hurts when I laugh. ;D ;D ;D
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Crikey, Maren.... you need to have warning lights around you! Sounds like a very nasty fall but you sound very positive so that's a comfort. Now you will have to take things easy to alow yourself to get properly fit again..... do you want a very out of condition Scotswoman to come and exercise your horse in the meantime?
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Hi, Maggi, yes, "accident prone" is what some people call it. Being such, I feel rather proud (and smug ;) ;)) about how I have survived for so long.
Thanks for the offer of exercising the horse. This I would love to see ;) ;) ;), but fortunately it belongs to a an equestrian establishment and therefore gets all the exercise it deserves. Or maybe not enough because it took a big jump over a pole lying on the ground, which was rather unexpected, made me loose my balance and fall off to the left, while it continued cantering off happily to the right. I thought I had given up jumping years ago but the horse was not informed. >:( >:( >:(
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I thought I had given up jumping years ago but the horse was not informed.
With some horses that sort of message can take a very long time to be assimilated :P
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Sounds serious, but you tell it so well, so can I do your laughing for you Maren? ;D ;D ;D You look after yourself and speak to that horse! I'm sure he'll nod in agreement that he shouldn't have tipped you!
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Oh Maren, you poor soul! I'm so sorry for your accident and I wish you a speedy recovery, so far as that is possible. It will be frustrating not being able to do what you want as easily as you normally would, but it can only get better. I especially send best wishes for a disk mend. They can be tricky sometimes. Stay cheerful but not too much laughing. Keep it to soft chuckles. :D
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Ouch, Maren. Not good at all.
Here's to a speedy recovery. Thank goodness Ann was there to help.
All the very best.
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Here here.
I see the UK government are probably going to scrap the 50p tax threshold? Interesting hearing the BBC World take on it: "the people to whom it's aimed at find ways of not paying it so why have it"?! :o Just been listening to a guy called Mitt Romney. Isn't he the biggest tax dodger of them all?
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Thanks for your kind wishes. Feeling better already. :) :) :)
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Good news. Problem shared, and all that, doesn't usually work for aches and pains, far less more serious injuries? No point in saying "take it easy" is there?
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Hi Anthony,
don't have a choice about taking it easy as the old body tells in no uncertain terms when to stop doing things.
But I am going to see Ian Butterfield later today, which will cheer me up no end. :) :) :)
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Maren
I hope you have a good Physio to advise you, too! ;D
A definite moan from me but maybe someone else on the Forum will be going to Skye this weekend?
I've just seen that my favourite singer, Raul Malo, will be performing at the Skye Celtic Connections Festival. Oh well, I'll have to be content with him on YouTube :-\
cheers
fermi
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Darn it, I'm not too happy with the Fritillaria I bought in the autumn.
I posted about one error in supply but it gets worse.
So far.
Purchased Supplied
F. graeca F. uva-vulpis
F. pallidiflora F. persica
F. minuta F. hermonis amana
F. pudica F. aurea
Please note ... so far and each mistake is a different supplier.
>:( >:( >:(
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OMG Fred >:(. This is an absolute travesty. I have experienced same over the years, its about time something was done. >:(. I'm taking tonight to calm down. This is disgusting!!
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Fred,
Have you contacted each of them to let them know and ask for the correct one, or a refund, this coming season? Their responses to that will be more telling. Mixups can happen, but it's what they do when they find out about a mixup which tells you whether they were deliberate or accidental. ::)
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Pity the ones supplied didn't include ones ordered from other sources. :-\
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Just been speaking to my brother and sister on Skype. I had sent two boxes of two and a quarter square family slides that had somehow ended up 12000 miles away from the projector. The b******s at the UK customs charged him import duty! How does that work? These slides were taken in the 1960s on and old Rolleicord!
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Darn it, I'm not too happy with the Fritillaria I bought in the autumn.
I posted about one error in supply but it gets worse.
So far.
Purchased Supplied
F. graeca F. uva-vulpis
F. pallidiflora F. persica
F. minuta F. hermonis amana
F. pudica F. aurea
Please note ... so far and each mistake is a different supplier.
>:( >:( >:(
Sorry to hear it Fred, but it sounds quite normal for this genus. The surprise would have been if they were true to name.
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Darn it, I'm not too happy with the Fritillaria I bought in the autumn.
I posted about one error in supply but it gets worse.
So far.
Purchased Supplied
F. graeca F. uva-vulpis
F. pallidiflora F. persica
F. minuta F. hermonis amana
F. pudica F. aurea
Please note ... so far and each mistake is a different supplier.
>:( >:( >:(
Sorry to hear it Fred, but it sounds quite normal for this genus. The surprise would have been if they were true to name.
Even specialists get it wrong. From frit group seed sown from one distribution a few years back five of the six species flowered so far here were wrongly named - and I'm not talking subtle distinctions; meleagris was supplied as bithynica for example.
The frit group does identify the donors so I must dig out the list.......
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A problem since the earliest days of the Frit Group; few growers seemed to check the identity of their plants. Perhaps excusable then since information was printed & difficult to obtain but this is no longer the case; online resources are easily available.
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Found a dead red squirrel on the road this afternoon :'(. It had been killed in the half hour I was across feeding the ponies. There is a 40 miles an hour limit on the road but hardly anybody obeys. Even some people who signed the petition for the limit drive faster. The road is just wide enough for two cars to pass in most places. There are passing places but lots of people drive past them and meet the oncoming car in a narrower stretch >:(.
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Talking of scents (which we weren't but scent was mentioned in the Primula thread a moment ago, or maybe this should go in Ashley's suggested thread about household demarcation lines), our little dog Marley, who has a very thick and long haired coat, very soft and furry, on his walk a few days ago found and rolled in something really obscene. When we got him home, he was put into a warm bath and really soaped and scrubbed with dog shampoo, then towelled down thoroughly. He still smelt awful!
We put up with it overnight but next morning when I went up to the end of the road to collect the mail, Roger snuck along and stole my bottle of Chanel No.5 and liberally squirted Marley. Marley loved his filthy smell but hates the Chanel and is rolling in the grass and mud at every opportunity. The filthy smell remains and coupled with the Chanel, he's unbearable to be near. Truly disgusting. I suppose it's just a matter of time and hopefully everything will fade away. I hope it's soon.
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OMG, Lesley, I didn't realize you had skunks in NZ.
Chanel no.5 is the only perfume I have ever liked, apart from 4711.
Hope Roger has a new bottle on order for you.
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Fat chance Helen. This was a duty free bottle last time I was in Australia. ::)
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Ah, I have memories of a choir tour to Cologne (and the Odenwald) in 1982. One of our members stocked up of 4711 wipes which she distributed to all so we could refresh ourselves on what was a very hot two weeks and my very first trip abroad.
Here's my moan of the week: yesterday I took my son James to the ASB Tennis Centre, home of Auckland Tennis and the New Zealand Open tennis tournament. We had to be there for 8.15 a.m. and there are teams of four, so two doubles matches and two singles matches. I knew I would be there for a while (until 11.45 as it turned out), so I asked at reception if where I could get a coffee should the need arise. "There's a service station down the road" was the reply! :o It turns out the cafe is for members only. I think that is a disgrace and I have written to tell them as much. All the other tennis clubs we have visited are so welcoming. This one is the pits! >:(
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They Anthony, along with the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron are so far up themselves that they think that only the braindead whom they permit to become members, are up to the honour. Disgraceful, I agree.
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This morning I discovered that my Sorbus vilmorinii - planted about 30 years ago - was dead. Widely recommended at the time as an ideal tree for small gardens, it was never a great success here, only producing a few berries every year. Much later I discovered it was very drought sensitive & so was not a good choice for my hot garden. However, the foliage was attractive & the light shade was useful. More important, the roots penetrated one of my sand plunges & kept it on the dry side during the summer - ideal for bulbs.
I have no idea of the cause of death. Two cold winters? Disease? Old age?
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Have you checked that its not the Asian Longhorn beetle Gerry. Its a tree killer and just arrived in your area possibly. ?
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Have you checked that its not the Asian Longhorn beetle Gerry. Its a tree killer and just arrived in your area possibly. ?
I've looked on the internet Ron & I've seen nothing like this beetle - they look very distinctive. However, I'll have a look for the exit holes tomorrow; this seems to be a good way of detecting their presence.
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Unless you are (un)lucky enough to find the actual insect which is really difficult, the exit holes are the best way, you're correct Gerry. I hope you don't find them. I think these things are probably notifiable!
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They Anthony, along with the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron are so far up themselves that they think that only the braindead whom they permit to become members, are up to the honour. Disgraceful, I agree.
NZ$2000 membership speaks for itself. During the NZ Open there in January one of the players had to stop and berate one of the members/corporate yuppies sitting at one of the court side tables for talking loudly on his mobile phone during games. Presumably this numpty will find his way to a prepaid expensive seat at the Olympics and do the same, meanwhile my sister and thousands of other locals can't get tickets to any event!
This morning I discovered that my Sorbus vilmorinii - planted about 30 years ago - was dead. Widely recommended at the time as an ideal tree for small gardens, it was never a great success here, only producing a few berries every year. Much later I discovered it was very drought sensitive & so was not a good choice for my hot garden. However, the foliage was attractive & the light shade was useful. More important, the roots penetrated one of my sand plunges & kept it on the dry side during the summer - ideal for bulbs.
I have no idea of the cause of death. Two cold winters? Disease? Old age?
My goodness. In New Zealand we have an ad (for the "TSB Bank") where a man lands in a heap from outer space. His new found friend tells him to put his money in the bank and proceeds to tell him some banks don't give value for money. The stranger then asks "why?", where upon his friend suggests he sticks to easy questions. His next question "do trees die of old age?". ;D Perhaps Gerry will be able to tell us in a day or two? BTW, if it's called the "TSB Bank" in New Zealand, what does the B in TSB stand for? ::)
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TSB and ASB respectively stand for Taranaki Savings Bank and Auckland Savings Bank so they are now Taranaki Savings Bank Bank and Auckland Savings Bank Bank. Very very silly silly. Years ago all the various provinces had community owned Trust banks named as TSB etc. Most were bought out by the bigger fish and merged into nothing in particular and ceased to exist. I think TSB is still owned within its community but may be wrong about that. ASB would like to think it has become a big bank, but hasn't. Otago Savings Bank became the Otago Community Trust and gives funds each year to assorted causes within Otago (including bringing Tony Hall here in 2000 to speak at Otago Alpine Garden Group's millenium celebration, an international symposium). ASB and most of the others became strictly for shareholders profit outfits I think. Communities losing out. I'll stick with Kiwibank which is NZ owned unlike all the rest, though I wish it didn't have such a Micky Mouse-type name. ::)
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Unless you are (un)lucky enough to find the actual insect which is really difficult, the exit holes are the best way, you're correct Gerry. I hope you don't find them. I think these things are probably notifiable!
No sign of any exit holes, so presumably not the beetle.
There are very large & wide longitudinal cracks in the bark. Frost damage? Surprisingly, some bits of the tree seem to be still alive; not for much longer I guess, judging by the base of the trunk.
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The cracks look a bit like I'd expect from canker type infections. Is there any black liquid in the cracks?
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No sign of any exit holes, so presumably not the beetle.
Aw!
I had visions of Gerry camped outside an exit hole with his 12 bore resting over his legs. ;D
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The cracks look a bit like I'd expect from canker type infections. Is there any black liquid in the cracks?
I wondered about canker, but no liquid as far as I can see.
Aw!
I had visions of Gerry camped outside an exit hole with his 12 bore resting over his legs. ;D
I keep this for the cats.
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Darn it, I'm not too happy with the Fritillaria I bought in the autumn.
I posted about one error in supply but it gets worse.
So far.
Purchased Supplied
F. graeca F. uva-vulpis
F. pallidiflora F. persica
F. minuta F. hermonis amana
F. pudica F. aurea
Please note ... so far and each mistake is a different supplier.
>:( >:( >:(
Fred,
Have you contacted each of them to let them know and ask for the correct one, or a refund, this coming season? Their responses to that will be more telling. Mixups can happen, but it's what they do when they find out about a mixup which tells you whether they were deliberate or accidental. ::)
Of the 3 suppliers contacted.
1. Sorry it's wrong but they are all correct at this end, we will however replace this autumn. The wrong bag must have been placed in your order. ( Strange how the wrong bag had the right species name on it ::))
2. OMG how did that happen, profuse apologies, full refund immediately.
3. Full explanation of the situation (cock-up) and full refund.
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Darn it, I'm not too happy with the Fritillaria I bought in the autumn.
I posted about one error in supply but it gets worse.
So far.
Purchased Supplied
F. graeca F. uva-vulpis
F. pallidiflora F. persica
F. minuta F. hermonis amana
F. pudica F. aurea
Please note ... so far and each mistake is a different supplier.
>:( >:( >:(
Fred,
Have you contacted each of them to let them know and ask for the correct one, or a refund, this coming season? Their responses to that will be more telling. Mixups can happen, but it's what they do when they find out about a mixup which tells you whether they were deliberate or accidental. ::)
Of the 3 suppliers contacted.
1. Sorry it's wrong but they are all correct at this end, we will however replace this autumn. The wrong bag must have been placed in your order. ( Strange how the wrong bag had the right species name on it ::))
2. OMG how did that happen, profuse apologies, full refund immediately.
3. Full explanation of the situation (cock-up) and full refund.
Fred - 2 out of 3 apologies + refunds is not bad. In my experience, the response - more than once - from one supplier is : " this species is very variable". When I enquired, if that is the case, why is it sold under the name of a very distinct & easily recognisable species I received no reply. Likewise, when I pointed out that, on the website, the same photo is used for two distinct plants.
I hope the offered replacement is what you want. In my case it was not - twice.
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I also think you did pretty well there Fred.
I only complained once this year and was told ( I paraphrase ), "Don't worry because we aren't selling them anymore". :o :o
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Oh well, maybe those replies were more likely than the one received from my (late) friend when he ordered 100 Narc. cyclamineus from an extremely well known and respected bulb firm in Holland. It was very rare here at the time, in the 70s. They duly arrived but when they flowered out of season, all were found to be what we already grew in quantity, as N. lobularis, a little lemon and pale yellow trumpet. When Bob wrote and asked for a refund or replacement, he was told no, because the bulbs must have changed as they crossed the equator into the southern hemisphere. The letter was signed by someone whose name has been mentioned occasionally, especially in the AGS Bulletin, with great reverence. I won't mention the name here. Bob wrote back and repeated his request for refund or replacement, but never heard any more from the firm.
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In at least one other thread, much has been said about the AGS website and the AGS in general and the frustrations many members feel with them. I thought I should have a look and see what was being said in the Online Discussion section as I haven't been there for a couple of years - doesn't that say it all?
I read a couple of threads and found that each seemed to die in a black hole after the initial contibution. Discussion? not really. Then I read from a member also one of us here, that nothing had been posted about the most recent AGS show and Cliff B quoted from the Simon and Garfunkel song "The Sound of Silence" very appropriately.
Then I realized that what was being said was actually from April 2009, so not a recent show after all, but I continued to read all the way down the contibutions and Jim McGregor seemed willing to have improvements to the area made, and was willing to listen to what the contibutors were saying. Great, I thought. Then there was a good deal about the time it took to do the typing and how the server might think one had gone away and log one out in the middle of a contribution. Posts should be made in various parts, not as a single entity. What? I didn't really understand all that, it seemed so bizarre.
Anyway, I decided to add my bit and how I thought the discussion area could be improved and how it compared with the SRGC Form and so on. Even, being a Kiwi, included a rugby analogy about how professionalism had spoiled the game compared to the days when the society was run by volunteers.
I then pressed "Contribute" and the whole thing vanished and hasn't been seen since. It took about 35 mins to write the whole thing and make a few corrections - no "modify" button there, so no doubt it was the server letting me know I had been too tardy.
I'm not going there again. The experience seems to exemplify the whole AGS experience in recent times.
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Agreed Lesley, I've given up on it and don't post anymore.
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Anyway, I decided to add my bit and how I thought the discussion area could be improved and how it compared with the SRGC Form and so on. Even, being a Kiwi, included a rugby analogy about how professionalism had spoiled the game compared to the days when the society was run by volunteers.
I don't really want to enter into this as I come to this forum for fun and enjoyment and not arguments ;D
However, I would like to just put one thing straight. The AGS is run by volunteers, Ray Drew is not paid, nor is Jim McGregor, nor am I, nor are any of the other officers and committee members - who are the people who decide the policies of the society.
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I think we are really spoiled on this forum and sometimes expect the same on other sites. I am a member of other forums ( Koi Forums ) and I find that they don't bother with me much. Maybe because I am a novice and to them and I probably ask the most daft questions. Oh well I am happy here and I remember my first post on the forum, it was answered in 2 minutes of me posting it. Just shows that you bunch are all functioning well and just a happy to help, Great bunch aren't you :-*
Angie :)
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I feel like a party pooper all round because I probably started a lot of this with the best of intentions. I still have those.
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Tim, I do not think that anyone can doubt the sincerity and good intentions of your attempts to promote discussion.
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Then there was a good deal about the time it took to do the typing and how the server might think one had gone away and log one out in the middle of a contribution. Posts should be made in various parts, not as a single entity. What? I didn't really understand all that, it seemed so bizarre.
Anyway, I decided to add my bit and how I thought the discussion area could be improved and how it compared with the SRGC Form and so on. Even, being a Kiwi, included a rugby analogy about how professionalism had spoiled the game compared to the days when the society was run by volunteers.
I then pressed "Contribute" and the whole thing vanished and hasn't been seen since. It took about 35 mins to write the whole thing and make a few corrections - no "modify" button there, so no doubt it was the server letting me know I had been too tardy.
I remember the old days on dial-up ( a dark and distant 12 years ago? ;D) when we used to type to notepad offline then copy/paste when we connected.
Ah! Memories :P
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Thank you Diane, your point is taken, and I did realize that people such as yourself and Ray were volunteers. I was getting a little carried away about Pershore staff but of course I should have realized that policy and such are set by committee/council and it's the paid staff - the few there are - who carry out those policies.
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Just back from walking the dog and this is what I discovered on the path. Some imbecile dumped a bag of domestic rubbish beside the litter bin which obviously contained potato skins some of which had spilled unto the road.
Look at what was printed on the bag. >:( :( >:( :(
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Michael that's so annoying. Love the bag.
Today I came home from a lovely day out. I was just thinking to myself how nice the countryside was looking and everything was so nice and green at this time of year. Then five minutes from my house someone has dumped a mattress and unit in the lay by . It makes me so mad, I just can't understand it, if they have went to the effort of putting it their vehicle why not just take it to the council dump. It's only five minutes from me.
Some people have no respect for others.
Angie :)
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The last of the automata didn't die when the dinosaurs became extinct Angie. :( There is a large section of society where thought processes that don't affect their way of life don't exist. >:( Some of these morons actually think that if you don't drop litter council employees won't have a job - it's what they're paid for! ::)
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if they have went to the effort of putting it their vehicle why not just take it to the council dump. It's only five minutes from me.
Angie :)
Probably because there may be a cost (fee) in taking rubbish to the dump? We have to pay big fees here to take stuff to the council dump and as a result much stuff is thrown off the back of trucks, on the roadside, usually down a bank where it's harder to retrieve. When bags are dumped illegally, council workers go through them now to find an envelope with an address, then prosecute when they can.
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No cost in Scotland. We used the dump regularly for everything from electrical and white goods to mattresses. Here in Auckland they have a week when you can put your inorganic rubbish outside your house and if someone in a white van doesn't take it away the council do. It's amazing. Huge mountains of stuff that usually looks like it's been in the garage for years. :o I got some plant pots one day. Next door put out some lovely ceramic ones, but before I'd thought about it they'd gone! :(
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Anthony and Lesley , we here in Melbourne have the same once a year free 'hard Rubbish' collection by our local council ., which includes white goods , fridges , mattresses etc. As I usually have little accumulated rubbish , neighbours and or strangers dump their lots during the night on my nature strip ,which I think is rather mean .
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Otto,
I'm trying to think where the heck you have a nature strip they could dump on? ;D We do have occasional waste things like that here in Canberra as well, but it is usually as quietly advertised as possible so that the government doesn't have to pick up as much. Usually I find out about it after the fact, unfortunately. ::)
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I think most councils around the country have something similar. We have two such days in Dunedin, one for the junk such as refrigerators, armchairs etc and another for electronic stuff, old computers etc. Unfortunately neither day is extended out into country areas even though we do now have council rubbish collection and recycling.
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Otto,
I'm trying to think where the heck you have a nature strip they could dump on? ;D We do have occasional waste things like that here in Canberra as well, but it is usually as quietly advertised as possible so that the government doesn't have to pick up as much. Usually I find out about it after the fact, unfortunately. ::)
Paul , I have renamed my nature strip just for you : Cyclamen hederifolium strip .
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Otto,
Do you mean down below your place?
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Glorious hot, sunny fantastic day. 5.35 p.m. had to drive number one son to hockey training. Then I find out I have left a ginkgo fruit in the car since Sunday! Boak! :P Well, that's what the car smelled like! ???
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;D ;D
How is it that the desirability of galanthus foliage to slugs is directly proportional to their value?
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Anne,
Just one of those great unknown truths that we may or may not know about. Oh dear, maybe I should enter politics. ;D
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You'd make as good a job of it as the current batch..
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if they have went to the effort of putting it their vehicle why not just take it to the council dump. It's only five minutes from me.
Angie :)
Probably because there may be a cost (fee) in taking rubbish to the dump? We have to pay big fees here to take stuff to the council dump and as a result much stuff is thrown off the back of trucks, on the roadside, usually down a bank where it's harder to retrieve. When bags are dumped illegally, council workers go through them now to find an envelope with an address, then prosecute when they can.
Lesley there is no cost at our council dump and its open late and all weekend. There is no excuse for the folks that just dump things. The landowner now has to organise the removal of this waste.
As for looking through the bins for letters this works. I have a story about this. We had two young lads worked for us and one lived two minutes from the local council dump. We had said could you leave half an hour earlier and drop of my black bags. I had missed the bin man. Later on that evening I had a visit from two police officers. Now that alone was shock I thought has Derek been in an accident. They had found the bags and opened them up and had got my address. They didn't even get in their car to drive to me they just walked across the field , thats how close he had dumped the bags. I said to the police I would go and pick up the bags but they said no leave it and get the boys to pick it up. I was horrified but they thought it was funny. They did comment that these boys didn't have much sense. Needless to say the one that threw the bags out of the van never finished his apprenticeship.
Angie :)
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It costs us $18 to take a small trailer load of rubbish to the local dump! $28 for a 1 tonne truckload! There's no EXCUSE for dumping on the side of the road, but this, surely is at least part of the REASON.
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You'd think it would make financial sense to have the facilities at the local tip free when compared to the cost of tidying up the countryside. Greece seems to be the worst place I've visited for fly-tipping. It's an absolute disgrace! A friend of mine is in Egypt at the moment. The litter at Giza was dreadful. He's enjoying it though, as there are hardly any tourists and a 180 mile journey by public bus to Abu Simbol cost him only £2.50. He's not managed to spend more than £2.00 on a meal yet! :o
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After having moaned, with some of the Southerners about the non quality of our TV on the "Happy" thread, I don't dare put this on the Edinburgh Show thread where it was going, as an add on to the facebook links. Maggi would shoot me, so here we go, but I'll keep it brief.
My one granddaughter now lives in Australia and will be 20 in a couple of days. She only communicates by Facebook so I thought I'd better get another password and try to contact her. Did that and had a long reply but in what seemed to be a totally new language. Most words were spelt in unrecognisable ways and I know has become ino. I despair of anyone speaking English within another generation. Have been reading in the Listener an article about teacher quality and how the system is failing many students who leave school without literacy and numeracy skills. Any they may have had have flown out the window in the face of texting and Facebook etc. Are being able to read, write and speak properly no longer necessary for finding employment?
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I totally agree Lesley, although I often get things totally wrong. A young person connected to my family work's in a solicitor's office. Here's an example of her Facebook speak: "Had a fabby nite last night- was a great laugh! Hows ur head today mrs? Me an julz r dying, half way home :( 8 hour drive with a hangover is not a fun time lol! Wait til u see the pics they r so funny, some really nice ones too! Catch up next time im down xxx" I suspect she doesn't type like this when sending out solicitors letters, after all, we have to pay way over the odds for that service?! ;D
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Anthony,
That is a lot more readable than a lot I've seen. ;D
Lesley,
No, literacy and numeracy are not required any longer it seems. Teachers in many cases are not allowed to be negative in any way to a child, so they are not allowed to correct spelling as it has a negative influence on their development. ::) :o That's what spellchecker and calculators are for. I tell you, if we ever get a decent solar flare that destroys our electrical systems there is no hope for this world, not just because of our reliance for systems on computers, but because no-one will be able to communicate any more, nor add or subtract anything other than very simple numbers. ;D
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At least "too" is spelled correctly, but the number of times I see "your lovely" etc. Your lovely what? ::)
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Some yoofs have no idea about spelling.
I hate the N. Irish plural of you - yous as in use. I'm using it more and more
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Well Anthony, if you keep on receiving messages that say that you're lovely, you obviously have a good fan base. ;D
Mark, not just N. Irish plural.... used lots in a lot of countries. Here it is probably a particular racial stereotype it is linked with, but I'm not going there.
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Paul,
Gasp! Not all bogans are 'New Australians' like me :-*
English really does need a second person plural.
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I thought that You was a singular or plural?
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singular or plural
And that's the point. It betrays English's origin as a pidgin, with a simplified grammar. Other languages retain the second person plural (vous for example). Being able to address youse guys without needing context to tell whether it's a singular or plural you would be useful.
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I think with you, the "you" to whom the speaker is referring would know who he, she, it or they was or were, and if it needed clarifying, "you lot" or "all of you" another collective noun could be used? When I was about 7, I spent an age trying to remember the plural of sheep! About 15 minutes away from our house we have the largest shopping precinct in New Zealand, Sylvia Park. It must be huge as it advertises 4000 car parks! Clearly something lost in translation there, as I can count fewer (not less) than twenty, but I could quite believe there would be 4000 spaces.
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And that's the point. It betrays English's origin as a pidgin, with a simplified grammar. Other languages retain the second person plural (vous for example). Being able to address youse guys without needing context to tell whether it's a singular or plural you would be useful.
The simplification has only come relatively recently. "You" was the plural second person when thou and thee were the singular second person form of address. Some parts of Britain still use thou and thee ;D
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Can I add I'm so bored and have been since yesterday afternoon.
I'm in Ireland where I gave a lecture last night. I arrived early 3pm, lecture starts at 8pm, so I could visit gardening group members gardens. After the first garden I decided no more. Black plastic with holes cut in for plants does appeal. The plastic was to cut down on weeds :P :P If s/he was going to put down plastic cover it with bark, gravel or ... Nothing of interest to see except the stunning view of a lake amd mountains. I turned down the chance to view others and went to my hotel room.
The high light was to be told this was "their best lecture, ever". Wow thanks. Makes me wonder what they normally get.
I brought a display of miniature Hostas. No interest except for two who came up for a look. I've got that one, I've got that one .... Have you really I asked. Yes but ours have huge leaves. "Will yours grow up to have huge leaves?" No, these are miniatures. "Well I've got the all". grrrrrrr gritting teeth and keeping quiet.
Supposed to be staying here all day but I'm going home.
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And that's the point. It betrays English's origin as a pidgin, with a simplified grammar. Other languages retain the second person plural (vous for example). Being able to address youse guys without needing context to tell whether it's a singular or plural you would be useful.
The simplification has only come relatively recently. "You" was the plural second person when thou and thee were the singular second person form of address. Some parts of Britain still use thou and thee ;D
'Thee' still used in Yorkshire (mainly by older populations and in dialect), "thou" seems to have been replaced by "tha"-'tha hasn't a chance' -'you haven't a chance'
I get really annoyed with the use of "what of" rather than "what if". It seems to be the norm down here on the edge of the world.
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Pearls before swine Mark. ::)
I'm rather annoyed that hymns are being revised, some beyond recognition, to take "thous" and "thees" etc. out, so "Thine be the Glory" becomes "Yours be/is the Glory". It's like rewriting poetry. If you don't like it, write something new, don't destroy old hymns! There are some lovely new hymns to old and new tunes. They'll be bringing guitars and tambourines into church next! :(
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Pearls before swine Mark. ::)
.....They'll be bringing guitars and tambourines into church next! :(
.... and why not. I'd be happy to contribute, but nothing with a C or G chord in it, fingers won't stretch! I can just about manage a G using my pinkie instead of third finger. Practice makes perfect so I'm told. ::)
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They'll be bringing guitars and tambourines into church next! :(
Well they have already of course.
Re the yous Mark, if you realize you are saying it instead of you, stop yourself. It's in your control. Yous as a plural is used here by the semi-literate, or maybe a few sheep farmers as they tot up what the lambing percentages are likely to be. :D
Being something of a curmudgeon these days there are hundreds of grammatical, spelling and other language mistakes which annoy me. Maybe I'll start a thread about them some day. ::)
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But a different moan altogether and one I think is justified. For reasons best known to itself, my computer frequently changes a letter I have typed. If I type alpina, it changes it to alpine. If I type incredibly, it changes to incredible. It means I have to go back and proof-read carefully. Who the heck does the computer think it is, to know better then I, what I want to write?
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But a different moan altogether and one I think is justified. For reasons best known to itself, my computer frequently changes a letter I have typed. If I type alpina, it changes it to alpine. If I type incredibly, it changes to incredible. It means I have to go back and proof-read carefully. Who the heck does the computer think it is, to know better then I, what I want to write?
Lesley, are you using a spell checker?
Not sure if they change words or just underline what they think is wrong.
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I'm with you on this one Lesley. I can cope with red underline, but actually changing words is annoying. I see it on Facebook when people are using their phones: e.g. I had a post from a friend "suffering from a terrible about of 'flu". ::) BTW Here's the 'flu test: "There's a £20 note on the front lawn, it's yours if you can get it". If you can you don't have 'flu!
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Can I add I'm so bored and have been since yesterday afternoon.
Mark, now you know why I keep very quiet here and don't bother with gardening groups. :-X I Gave a lecture once to the local gardening group,never again, and I never gave a lecture since nor would I even consider any such invitation. :( :( :(
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Lesley,
What package are you using to view/compose posts to this forum? You have a setting in that programme that is effectively "auto-correct". Micro$oft Word has that feature if you enable it as well I think..... I find the spellchecker underline very useful, but disabled the auto-correct. It sounds like yours is active. It auto-corrects unless you go back and redo it, which is when it realises you want to spell it that way and leaves it be. Somewhere in the programme's settings there must be an enabler/disabler for this, probably part of the spellchecker.
Anthony,
Facebook and some "smartphones" have predictive text, which causes some of these problems if you're not careful. I have only just bought myself a mobile phone for the first time (we did have an emergency one..... last seen a couple of years ago. it is somewhere in the house! ::)). I went high as I figured if I was going to do it, I might as well do it right. Having internet access at any time is brilliant, and texting can be useful without having to disturb someone with a phonecall... that way they can answer when they want. I guess most of this paragraph up until now should be in the "I'm So Happy" topic, as I just love it. Mobile Phone one week, new Ute the next (I still don't actually HAVE it yet, but that's another story entirely! :o) ... how things change. :-\
Michael,
I give occasional talks to gardening groups and they've always been well received. Sounds like your local area isn't receptive. It doesn't mean further afield should be ruled out...... not swine everywhere. ;D (to use Anthony's comment from earlier). I enjoy giving the talks. Talking about the plants I love is so much fun. Usually it is trying to shut me up that is the problem. Oh wait, you'd all know that here wouldn't you!!? ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Paul,they had no idea what I was talking about. ::) ::) ::)
What they really wanted was someone to tell how to grow summer bedding plants and root Geranium cuttings,they just picked the wrong person. :( :(
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Oh! :'( And they missed so much. Given some of the fantastic things you grow, I can only imagine how interesting your talk would have been. Maybe you need to convince some of the others here on the forum to invite you over to give talks. At least you know you'll have a receptive audience that way. 8)
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Hear, hear! I gave some talks in Ireland and had a really friendly reception. We would be sure of giving this in return.
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Yes Helen, I use the spellchecker especially in Word docs but it doesn't engage for the Forum. I use it not because I can't spell but to allow for typos. In any case it doesn't recognise context so to, two and too are all correct regardless of where they're used and any hort or plant name words are added to my spell check anyway so it should recognise alpina, for instance. There, I had to change it again. >:(
Paul, you're way beyond me there. I turn it on, go to the Forum or Word or Excel or wherever, and type. The rest is a mystery to me. ::)
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Up until about two years ago I gave a talk to just about all of the local small garden groups as well as church groups, young wives, seniors etc etc and enjoyed most of them. It was always the same talk, general, about alpines and small bulbs and everyone was always very nice. Never was paid a cent but always a choco cake or similar 9once a pot with bulbs of Lil. nepalense and a full, ripe pod as well) and all allowed me to take plants for sale so I came home with some cash in hand, occasionally as much as $100. Recently have given three talks to alpine groups and have been paid well, and given overnight accomodation as well so overall I've been happy with the experience. Can't be bothered now though.
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I get red underlines on my Forum posts as I compose them. Unfortunately words like "intrested" can be "added" to the dictionary if you think you know better! ::)
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The group I went to had no plant enthusiasts, didnt know of any plants people except Helen Dillon, none were aware of mail order companies that sell bulbs and perennials and weren't aware of forums like this. At the end there were no questions
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Mark,
And why exactly were they inviting in outside speakers? ::) :o
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I say intrested :o
We, N Irish, also say
bu-er = butter
par = power
flar = flour/flower
wa-er = water
filum = film - but not me
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To learn more, Paul. It wasnt a cheap lecture for them due to travel expenses and hotel room although I did say I was willing to sleep of a sofa in someones house.
My talk showed the evolution of my garden and a year of plants
The meeting was also strange because they wanted a coffee break half way through. Most groups have it at the end.
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Mark,
You say them, but do you spell them that way?
Sounds like your talk would have been interesting, so their loss if they didn't get it. ;D
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Have you noticed that spammers misspell key words in their emails to try and bypass the spam filters.
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Anthony - I have a nice set of spammers but since I stopped work I don't use them any more.
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So long as you don't start dropping them in the works Ian. :)
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Anthony - I have a nice set of spammers but since I stopped work I don't use them any more.
;D ;D ;D ;D
Are they ShIfTinG sPamMeRs Ian?
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I am absolutely gutted, after a quick look at troughs this morning, to find that one of the two good pods on Gentiana depressa has been eaten out over night. Ive been able to shake out 3 seeds from the shell. The other pod is untouched and very fat and full but still a little green. However I have picked it rather than risk its contents. It should brown off in a saucer inside. I should still be able to send some seed to the 3 promised, but not as much. As recently as yesterday I had told myself, "must pick that tomorrow." Should have done it right then. >:( :'( >:(
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What do we want? Procrastination! When do we want it? Tomorrow! I know the feeling Lesley. I tipped out my pot of Pancratium illyricum earlier this week to find both bulbs with a fat narcissus bulb fly grub in each! >:( Feeding them to the goldfish was too good for them! :-\ I had put them into a netting cage but only after I'd seen flies in the garden and not when the thought had first crossed my mind. :-[ I'll never learn!
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I am absolutely gutted, after a quick look at troughs this morning, to find that one of the two good pods on Gentiana depressa has been eaten out over night. Ive been able to shake out 3 seeds from the shell. The other pod is untouched and very fat and full but still a little green. However I have picked it rather than risk its contents. It should brown off in a saucer inside. I should still be able to send some seed to the 3 promised, but not as much. As recently as yesterday I had told myself, "must pick that tomorrow." Should have done it right then. >:( :'( >:(
How do grazers know which plants are the most precious??
This winter the only mouse damage was to an irreplaceable pot of Corybas diemenicus. Thankfully they didn't munch everything and it should bulk up again. I had great seed capsules developing on Gladiolus maculatus (which rarely sets good seed) and saw them slowly eaten over several nights until I caught the caterpillar responsible - I did still harvest some decent looking seed in the end.
This weekend I noticed first ever seed capsules on my Corydalis integra. It is a single clone so chances are it has crossed with something else, I'm curious to see what so am attempting to preserve the seed by wrapping the pods in fleece tied with thread - what a fiddly job!
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Have you noticed that spammers misspell key words in their emails to try and bypass the spam filters.
Here are two examples in my spam (lovely spam) filter today: "High-qulaity phrarameutics in our onine liecsed pharamay"; "OOrdr alll yourr prresrspitioon meddciatin onilne".
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I am absolutely gutted, after a quick look at troughs this morning, to find that one of the two good pods on Gentiana depressa has been eaten out over night. Ive been able to shake out 3 seeds from the shell. The other pod is untouched and very fat and full but still a little green. However I have picked it rather than risk its contents. It should brown off in a saucer inside. I should still be able to send some seed to the 3 promised, but not as much. As recently as yesterday I had told myself, "must pick that tomorrow." Should have done it right then. >:( :'( >:(
I am really getting fed up with the damage caused to my trees and shrubs. I have a forrest behind me, why do who or what decide to take chunks out of my plants. I have had to put tree protectors on my Acer trees, it isn't nice to look at but I am not sure what else I can do.
Angie :)
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What is chomping on those trunks Angie? Is it squirrels or maybe deer? Doesn't look nice, does it?
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Oh Angie,
that looks like deer damage to me. We've had similar chunks taken out and we saw the dreaded Muntjak having a go.
It's bad enough on the allotments where they habitually trash all the sweet corn. They trample on the stalks to knock them over and, when the cobs are lying on the ground, they eat just the bits that are showing. I am then left with the other half, full of mud. :( :(
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Oh Angie,
that looks like deer damage to me. We've had similar chunks taken out and we saw the dreaded Muntjak having a go.
It's bad enough on the allotments where they habitually trash all the sweet corn. They trample on the stalks to knock them over and, when the cobs are lying on the ground, they eat just the bits that are showing. I am then left with the other half, full of mud. :( :(
I have had this kind of damage for years now. My Acer's are really damaged. I first thought it was a squirrel, then deer but I think it is just done by the woodpeckers. There are no marks in the grass or droppings and I would expect that from deer. But saying this that is a large peace of bark that has been removed in one chunk. If I get damage on this tree again I think I will set up the little bird camera that I have. Get them caught in the act. It is so annoying seeing all the damage that they do. There is a huge forrest behind me, why can't they do their damage there.
Angie :)
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Angie,
:o :o That is getting very close to ring barking, isn't it. I'd get them protected somehow and hope that the bark recovers, or you may lose the tree. The stuff on the left looks intact, but I can see that there is more taken off the back as well by the look of it?
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It's almost as if a couple of mountain bikers have hit it on their way past?
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Well I'm blowed, I was just using my besom to clear up magnolia petals from the lawn and it broke in half, the handle had got woodworm :-X
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Well I never. :o
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Brian,
You're clearing up petals, and I'm dreading cleaning up the Magnolia leaves that are presently dropping. I use the leaf blower thingy to suck them up and mulch them as it goes, but you always end up reeking of fuel etc and I always put it off as long as possible. With a 40 foot high Magnolia dropping it's leaves in the back yard, there are a LOT of leaves. :o Not to mention the other dozen that I've planted in the garden over the last few years, which are only going to add more leaves in the future. ::) And it ALWAYS rains a little at least drop time, so that they get wet and the pots underneath them get no benefit from the rain. :-\ No woodworm in the leaf blower though, I hope. ;D
Can you get another handle for your Besom? I just had to go and look up what it was, because I'd never heard of it before.
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Besom is also used as a derogatory term for a women you are not happy with. ;D
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Ah, Anthony. I hadn't picked up that meaning. I stopped looking when I found out it was a rough sort of broom.
Now I understand your previous posting. ;)
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I shall certainly have to cobble together another handle as the magnolia hasn't finished shedding petals by far. They are lovely things, but like prunus at this time of year they can be a bit messy ;)
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Besom is also used as a derogatory term for a women you are not happy with. ;D
I thought that was what Brian meant. Wondered which part he was using as the handle. ;D
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:o
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Something ate all the buds off my Allium karataviensein the night - about 20 of them all neatly clipped 5cm off the ground. Probably the same pest that grazed the corydalis and pulsatilla in the same bed. Very disheartening as the patch has built up really well over the years.
Erle
Anglesey - a clear sunny morning!
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This evening I'm giving a lecture in County Westmeath in Ireland. Despite several emails I'm still waiting for directions for the venue or an address where I can meet someone. Right now I'm thinking about not going.
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My brother in Doune, Perthshire has been Googling walking directions. Firstly to visit my sister, who lives near Maldon in Essex. Then from the Shire to Mordor. N.B. One does not simply walk into Mordor.
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Maybe along a similar vein, when I was looking for F. purdyi sites North of San Francisco, all I could find was Weeds.!! ::) ::) ::)
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I hope you abstained. :o
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I went to B & Q on the 2 nd of March and bought some horticultural grit and few bags of superfine bark. When I returned today to replenish my supplies the cost of each had doubled. when I inquired at the checkout why the cost had doubled since my last visit I was told that it was because the gardening season had started, ::) but they were giving 20% of everything in the gardening dept for the Bank holiday weekend. ??? Big deal.
€11 -09 for 25 kls of Verve horticultural grit
€ 10-92 for 50 ltrs of Verve superfine bark, and the only bag they had left was torn at both ends and the contents spilling out. ??? ??? ???
I am not happy today.
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After a few weeks of a tummy bug and then a week of rain I finally got out to do she weeding, twenty minutes in I turned to pick up my bucket and my back went click. It took me all ages to get up and I felt sick. I am so annoyed as there is so much to do in the garden. We have had such horrible weather lately and now this I am so fed up.
I need a new body and a new brain, and some sunny weather. Still its good to have a moan here.
Angie :)
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After a few weeks of a tummy bug and then a week of rain I finally got out to do she weeding, twenty minutes in I turned to pick up my bucket and my back went click. It took me all ages to get up and I felt sick. I am so annoyed as there is so much to do in the garden. We have had such horrible weather lately and now this I am so fed up.
I need a new body and a new brain, and some sunny weather. Still its good to have a moan here.
Angie :)
Oh dear! I hope you recover soon Angie!
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Oh Angie, I know just what you are suffering. You need a good physiotherapist and some gentle exercises. I often find myself with this predicament and what helps me is this:
Lie flat on your back (in bed???)
Pull up your knees, feet on the ground(bed)
Swing your knees gently (legs together) to the left, then up, then to the right, then up.
Do this several times and your back will thank you.
Here are a few more exercises which I have found beneficial http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/lifestyle/health-a-wellness/29759-get-your-daily-15-minute-back-exercise (http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php/lifestyle/health-a-wellness/29759-get-your-daily-15-minute-back-exercise)
Good luck and get well soon. :) :) :)
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Oh crikey, Angela, this is not good..... try Maren's exercises..... I need you in good shape to make dozens of sandwiches on Saturday! The team is not big enough to lose a key member! :'(
I've got a cold... still... it will not shift. I'm trying to get the house cleared for the weekend and make room for the show "stuff" to get it sorted and my nose and my eyes are running so fast I've qualified three times for the Olympics :P
On the off -chance it is something I'm allergic to (surely I cannot have developed a reaction to the vast quantities of dust in my house this late in the game :o?)... I'm off to take an anti-histamine tablet..... :-\
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Thanks folks, I will try these exercises Maren, thanks for those. I think because it's such a long winter and I sit on my bum for to long. I need to do more exercise through the winter and not get so stiff.
Maggi I will be fine for Saturday. I have my list and ready to do my shopping. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone. I hope you will be better yourself. This weather doesn't help, its been so cold lately but today its nice outside. Even my plants aren't doing well. Last year I had 23 flowers on my Molly the Witch this year I think I have 6.
I wonder why when you have a moan you feel better. Its great this forum.
Angie :)
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Sun came out for an hour.... took advantage of this to get outside... pulled a few weeds, admired the three flowers on a Chinese paeony - from Italy!- cheered me up no end.... then I come in, read Angela's post and I'm moaning again... I don't think I have ANY flowers on molly the witch. :-\ :'( :'( :'(
Glad to hear you think you'll manage the Show.... that's the most important day in our year, isn't it... apart from Early Bulb Day!
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It was quite warm in the sun this morning. Pottered a bit in the greenhouse then went out to dead head Meconopsis x cookei and some hellebores then had to dash out in the middle of lunch to take in the washing when the rain came on. Maggi and Angela! hope you are both fighting fit by Saturday.
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I'm really looking forward to this Show .......and I won't even be there! ;D ;D
Hope you all can last until at least Saturday evening :o :o :)
Good luck to everyone ;)
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Is this for the Aberdeen Show? Will it be on at the same time next year? I'm very good at making sandwiches. ;D
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There will be no Aberdeen show next year, Lesley. :-X
Ian and I are retiring and there are , as yet, no successors.
The numbers of entries are falling, our fantastic team of helpers is getting smaller - and older- and we said a couple of years ago that this will be our last year.
Also, quite a few of us hope to be trotting around Europe next year, to the Czech event and Gothenburg etc, so the main cogs of the Aberdeen wheel will be away at this time. Wondering if we should hire a coach or a private plane to transport us all around on our travels! ;) Must look into the purchase of a Lottery ticket!
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That really disappoints me Maggi. I was so hoping to go to at least one Show, after the Czech Conference.
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[quote
Wondering if we should hire a coach or a private plane to transport us all around on our travels! ;) Must look into the purchase of a Lottery ticket!
[/quote]
Maybe a mini-bus? I'm seriously wondering if I can manage Sweden as well as the Czech Republic. ::)
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Not looking forward to an autumn with no apples from the trees in our garden! All the blossom got soaked and battered by heavy rain and hail, and it's looking like there'll be precious little fruit set, if any. We've got so used to harvesting a few boxes of our own apples and pears. Will realy miss them :-\
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Its the same here Martin. :(. All started well with good blossom development, but cold days, high winds, few pollinators seems to have put paid to it. We are still eating our late varieties from last year, and appreciating them more and more as this year goes on. :(
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Some of my son James's class mates were discussing the pronunciation of the word "albino", so James, quite correctly said "al - bee -no". He was shouted down - "the letter "i" isn't pronounced "ee", it's pronounced "eye", so it must be "al-beye-no"? He related this to me, so I asked him what nationality were the students. White New Zealand, he said. Kiwis then! (or should that be K"eye"w"eye"s?) ::) ;D
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Some of my son James's class mates were discussing the pronunciation of the word "albino", so James, quite correctly said "al - bee -no". He was shouted down - "the letter "i" isn't pronounced "ee", it's pronounced "eye", so it must be "al-beye-no"? He related this to me, so I asked him what nationality were the students. White New Zealand, he said. Kiwis then! (or should that be K"eye"w"eye"s?) ::) ;D
You're in for a lot of grief if you want to try to correct their pronounciation, Anthony!
;D ;D ;D
cheers
fermi
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Too true Fermi. ;D
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Well where are you Anthony with alp eenus and alp eyenus? (as in Dianthus). When young I used the former and was laughed off the map.
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For very obvious reasons I'm not a peenus person. I did have to rescue my eyeballs from the stratosphere this afternoon when I had to collect a parcel from the Post collection place nearby. The "the parcel was too big for your letterbox, you need to make sure your letter box is big enough" box had been ticked. Curiously, the note had probably been written at the depot because I watched the post girl drop the three items of mail into my remote letter box from her bike without slowing down! I commented to the lady behind the counter, and said this was the first time I'd come to the Botany centre, and this is where my eyeballs nearly went into orbit: "oh, you normally have to go to Ben Le Mond Crescent"!! That would be Ben Lomond Crescent!!!!!! ::)
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Just a couple of moans for me just now.
1. There were thousands of ladybirds ( ladybugs) around all winter and early spring, I cannot recolect seeing as many. Where have they gone?
The aphids are beginning to run amok and our spotted red allies have deserted.
2. The bidding on ebay ::). Why are people bidding up to five times more for plants than the nursery price? Particularly when the nursery plant would be bigger.
OK OK... good if you're a seller but surely this is just encouraging others to raise their prices.
There's supposed to be a recession on, no one has any money.
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Fred - on your point 2/; as someone who avoids ebay like the plague there must be an interesting psychology going on - a little like the art market. Both buyer and seller is keyed up by the increasing prices (as opposed to value). Interestingly though it also works in our little group because we raise considerable income from a Plant Auction because we all get so excited by each other's enthusiasm - but on the whole what we bid is reasonable. And in this case the funds go to the Society. It all seems to come down to what value you really put on things.
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Not sure what happens to all the overwintering ladybirds (ladybird beetles, certainly never ladybugs as they're not bugs, even though that is in common usage in the USA). A mild winter is not usually good for hibernating insects, so perhaps they just died? Possibly a food shortage in spring?
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Funnily enough I said yesterday that you would have thought with all the ladybirds in the garden we wouldn't have an aphid problem, but they seem to be torpid and sheltering (semi-hibernating?) in buds etc etc
Now as to eBay, Wim showed a beautiful Iris and I whizzed over to the Cayeux website, what stopped me from ordering? The carriage cost of £9.50, thankfully there was not also a minimum order cost, but still it has put me off. Earlier this year I was looking for a particular plant, cost from online nursery £3 carriage cost £9. Last week I received a plant which I would not order from a nursery as there was nothing else I wished to buy, the cost was similar to the nursery, carriage free (I'm a Yorkshireman so you know I bought it). The answer to the question Fred is that it doesn't pay nurseries to fulfil tiny orders, whereas a hobby plantsman is happy to send out one plant at cost. I must admit that I do normally curb my eBay ordering as I would much rather mooch round a nursery or two, when I can get to them. Next week we are in Somerset so I am hoping to get a Fern I would like from Long Acre, no doubt I will find one or two other things ;)
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Now as to eBay, Wim showed a beautiful Iris and I whizzed over to the Cayeux website, what stopped me from ordering? The carriage cost of £9.50, thankfully there was not also a minimum order cost, but still it has put me off. Earlier this year I was looking for a particular plant, cost from online nursery £3 carriage cost £9. Last week I received a plant which I would not order from a nursery as there was nothing else I wished to buy, the cost was similar to the nursery, carriage free (I'm a Yorkshireman so you know I bought it).....
I know the feeling, Brian....key-word is group-ordering...I've been ordering from Cayeux for a lot of years in a row now, but always together with a group of three to five friends...like that the carriage cost can be cut down very quickly
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I know the feeling, Brian....key-word is group-ordering...I've been ordering from Cayeux for a lot of years in a row now, but always together with a group of three to five friends...like that the carriage cost can be cut down very quickly
Yes, I did that last time Wim, but no-one wanted to order more this year :-\
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Did anyone get an order from ALITAGS lately?. I placed an order over a month ago and have herd nothing since, inquired on their message board if they had got my order, no reply. ??? I have had an order from them before so should be on their computer customer list. ::)
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Now as to eBay, Wim showed a beautiful Iris and I whizzed over to the Cayeux website, what stopped me from ordering? The carriage cost of £9.50, thankfully there was not also a minimum order cost, but still it has put me off. Earlier this year I was looking for a particular plant, cost from online nursery £3 carriage cost £9. Last week I received a plant which I would not order from a nursery as there was nothing else I wished to buy, the cost was similar to the nursery, carriage free (I'm a Yorkshireman so you know I bought it). The answer to the question Fred is that it doesn't pay nurseries to fulfil tiny orders, whereas a hobby plantsman is happy to send out one plant at cost. I must admit that I do normally curb my eBay ordering as I would much rather mooch round a nursery or two, when I can get to them. Next week we are in Somerset so I am hoping to get a Fern I would like from Long Acre, no doubt I will find one or two other things ;)
The kind of bids I was really refering to Brian were for over £100 for a plant that is £20 at the nursery.
even though that is in common usage in the USA
Precisely why I added it in brackets Anthony.
I suppose the Americans could argue that they're not birds ;D
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The kind of bids I was really refering to Brian were for over £100 for a plant that is £20 at the nursery.
My apologies Fred, I hadn't quite realised what you were saying.
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Lovely day yesterday, after a very frosty start. Warm enough to have lunch outside (notice I don't use lunch as a verb). Jack Russell in the garden behind had been barking all morning - don't remember when it started, as I only noticed when I went out back. It was still barking during lunch and all the time I was cutting the lawn in the afternoon. By 5.30, it became apparent there was actually no-one in the house and the dog was still barking. I suggested phoning the police or the SPCA, but Vivienne reminded me of the conversation she'd had with the next door neighbour. She had complained about a dog that was constantly barking and had been offered counselling to come to terms with her paranoia!!!! The house owners' lights weren't on until after 7.40 p.m. at which time the dog was presumably let into the house? I'm still tempted to put a note in their letter box: "leave the dog to bark outside again all day and I will phone the SPCA and the police!"
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Just a couple of moans for me just now.
2. The bidding on ebay ::). Why are people bidding up to five times more for plants than the nursery price? Particularly when the nursery plant would be bigger.
OK OK... good if you're a seller but surely this is just encouraging others to raise their prices.
There's supposed to be a recession on, no one has any money.
I don't mind when they do that ;D although I do get fed up when they complain about postage costs. I charge actual plus paypal charges.
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Took me a while, but eventually saw the mistake when I read on the Sky News ticket tape headlines that there was "dismay that the life ban for Danish leg spinner Kaneria". That would leg spinner Danish Kaneria! :-\
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That's journalism today, so well informed!
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A vandal has caused destruction in the garden. >:( Was it a squirrel, a blackbird, a magpie or a wood pigeon. it could have been any.
It perhaps doesnt look too bad in the photo but this was a really tight cushion of Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' and it wasn't the only patch along with some sempervivums.
On the plus side I'm grateful it wasn't the Raoulia australis.
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Oh, Graham that so annoying. I wonder what did it. I have so much damage in my garden caused by Wood peckers. I just noticed today that my birch with the white bark has only one small part of it growing now the damage to the trunk at the top is really bad. I can't believe that I have a forrest behind me and these woodpeckers have chosen my choice shrubs to peck away at. Think I need to have a word with them.
Angie :)
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I have so much damage in my garden caused by Wood peckers. I just noticed today that my birch with the white bark has only one small part of it growing now the damage to the trunk at the top is really bad. I can't believe that I have a forrest behind me and these woodpeckers have chosen my choice shrubs to peck away at. Think I need to have a word with them.
Angie :)
Hi Angie,
I seem to remember reading that woodpeckers are after wood-boring grubs such as beetle larvae so they might be helping the tree - unless it's so infested with grubs that they kill the tree in the process! :o
cheers
fermi
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Have I been blacklisted??? My last two orders have not been delivered, one for Labels and one for Alpine plants. Two months have passed and not a word from either firm from which I have had orders before. The Bank says my credit is ok and my Credit cards functioning normally. Strange ???
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Hi Angie,
I seem to remember reading that woodpeckers are after wood-boring grubs such as beetle larvae so they might be helping the tree - unless it's so infested with grubs that they kill the tree in the process! :o
cheers
fermi
Fermi you wouldn't believe the damage that they have caused in my garden. The woods behind me are full of trees with big holes in them. I presume this is where the grubs are and I have seen these horrible white things, oh they give me the creeps. They just seem to break the bark up and eventually the shrub or tree suffers. I have had to put tree protectors and wire on the acres as these are their favourites.
Since I am on the moan thread can I moan about the rain, forecast tomorrow is heavy rain with thunder. WILL WE GET A SUMMER THIS YEAR. I blame David N. for this. He did say it would rain once he put the shading on his greenhouse ;D
Angie :)
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It happens every year Angie, I think I'm a rain God!
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It happens every year Angie, I think I'm a rain God!
I think so ;D ;D ;D ;D has it not washed off ;)
Angie :)
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Would a grease band help ??? ??? ???
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It happens every year Angie, I think I'm a rain God!
Would a grease band help ??? ??? ???
Worn like a sweat band?
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;D ;D ;D
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I'm beginning to think a career change. I reckon I could make a fortune here selling double glazing or central heating boilers. We rent our house. It is 8 years old but it has no heating, no insulation and no double glazing. We've bought a gas heater that runs off the mains gas, but it heats one room. We have oil filled electric radiators in other rooms, but these probably make our electricity meter over heat! Reminds me of my parents house of 35 years ago. My mum sat in the living room and with a coal fire and my dad sat in the warm kitchen, where the water boiler was. To this day I don't like a warm bedroom, but with -18oC a central heating radiator takes off the chill. :( There, rant over. No it's not. Went into Whitcoull's to buy a birthday card today and Vivienne spotted an OK magazine which would be ideal reading (not for me) on a flight. A big £1 sign on the front. NZ price £12.90 (i.e. more than six times the UK price) and the date: 9th May. We could (we won't) have one posted out cheaper and a more recent one too...............why am I moaning about that? OK magazine best left where it is. ;D
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Anthony you speaking about your parents house I remember when our bathroom window had ice in the inside, you got out your bed quickly did what you had to do and got back under that covers quickly :o. No central heating then. I remember curling up to the hot water bottle for ages. I don't like a warm bedroom either but couldn't do without the central heating now and to think it was on the other week when it was so cold.
See your rant brought back some nice memories for me ;)
Angie :)
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Soft southerner ;D
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My parents' house was built at the time of the British expedition to Tibet and was originally called Lhasa (subsequently changed to "The Brae" as the then occupants thought Lhasa was a disease) and its twin next door called Ladysmith, as that was in the news too (~1900), so there was an excuse for draughts etc.
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Our house isn't centrally heated either. We have a woodburner which heats living- room/kitchen but that's it really. An electric heater goes on first thing (I usually get up around 7am to a temp of about 7C at this time of year in the living room) and Roger lights the burner about 5pm. I don't like a warm bedroom either and when I came out of hospital Roger had kindly put an electric heater in my room but before I went to bed I had to turn it off. Ice on the inside of my bedroom window is not unusual, my room being on the cold side of the house and with no sun through June and July.
In the 70s before oil prices went through the roof new houses were being built with oil-fired central heating but many people abandoned it after that. Most people just can't afford electric central heating now. We certainly can't. Put on another jersey! Be grateful you live in Auckland Anthony. I drove through Milton at about 11.30am today. Temperature on their temp sign said 0degC!
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I think we are getting to be a bunch of softies. This probably sounds a bit like a Monty Python sketch. "We lived in a cardboard box, worked 25 hours a day at t' mill, clothes made of newspapers and thought we were bloody lucky and living in luxury !"
My recollections of early childhood living in a Glasgow tenement, in Winter, were of beds with 3 wool blankets and a padded quilt. Scared to get out of bed to get dressed because of the cold and rushing through to the kitchen where your clothes were hanging over the fire to get warm. Dressed in a cotton vest, shirt, pullover, gaberdine trench coat, jaggy serge shorts, long wool socks and proper leather shoes. Then wool mitts and a balaclava. Although the school had priority for coal, often it did not arrive, so there was no heating..
There was no question of the school closing, we just kept on all our outdoor clothes and got on with it. At home, we sometimes had no coal delivery as it was still on ration, power cuts were normal and gas supplies were variable as they were produced locally from coal. I can still remember chilblains and chapped legs.
This was common until the end of the 1940's.
Looking back now, my mother's generation were heroines trying to bring up a family in those conditions. No modern household gadgets. Washing and cleaning were all done by hand. They worked from morning to night, 7 days a week. No woman's lib. in those days. At meal times there was an option - eat it or go hungry.
I watch my grandchildren at meal times," I don't like this ". My reply is, "that's OK , you don't have to like it, all you have to do is eat it !
Having lived through this time, I appreciate central heating all the more.
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Never us Scots are a hardy bunch. Do you here us complain about a little snow or things like that ::) Hey but like you say I wouldn't like to manage without my washing machine or things like that. Yes our parents had it hard, we certinally did, not much money when I was little but I think it did me good. I don't like wasting things but I couldn't do without my central heating I try and keep a bit of insulation around my body to keep warm in the winter, don't like wearing jumpers, well thats my excuse for my insulation ;D
Yes, we are lucky nowadays.
Angie :)
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In 1962-3, I lived in an old coachman's cottage above what had been the stables. The front half of the stables had been converted into offices which were heated, but the back half was still as the horses had left them, complete with door split in half for the horses to look out, except that the top half was missing. The wind used to whistle up through the floorboards. I had no running water, bathroom or loo and had to go across the yard to another building for same. I would bring drinking and cooking water back with me in a container. In the winter of '63 (a notoriously bad one) the water would freeze over night, and the only way to get a hot drink in the morning was to remember to fill the kettle the night before and then switch on. There was an open fire place in the living room, but it was 2 feet off the floor which meant no heat below this level. The place was riddled with woodworm, and when the beetles were emerging in May, I used to find little piles of sawdust on my pillow in the morning when I got up! Despite all the privations, it was a delightful place and overlooked a overgrown garden full of ancient diseased apple trees and a large walnut tree.
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Sorry but someone had to do it, ;D
Right........
Monty Python - Four Yorkshiremen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo#)
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Here is where I was born folks, with no running water, no electric,no toilet, no bathroom, one open fire, and one of the floors was earthen ( bare earth.)
I rest my case. :-[ :-[
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Here is where I was born folks, with no running water, no electric,no toilet, no bathroom, one open fire, and one of the floors was earthen ( bare earth.)
I rest my case. :-[ :-[
Hey it looks idyilic to me. Is it still their. The house that was on site here ( we had to knock it down as the walls had bulged out ) was a bothy ( two attic bedrooms ) and the lady that stayed here had eleven children, same with you no water, no electric and the floors were earth. Michael you must have had a good child hood living there. I would have loved it.
Maureen, funny how you remember the nice bits even though it must have been tuff living there.
Angie :) :)
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That was then Michael. This is now and houses
are should be built to withstand weather and with adequate (central) heating and insulation. My parents' house was built in 1901 and when they bought it it still had a fireplace in every room, including what had been the maid's room. In this modern bungalow there aren't even any boards under the tiles on the roof. Just battens to fix the tiles to. I can see through the roof!
And now for something completely different: The Allanwater News (delivered free in Bridge of Allan and Dunblane) has this report: 'A number of carnivorous trees have matured and are to be felled'. Presumably some of our local residents and animals have been consumed. Does no-one proof read these days? or is too much reliance placed on Spell checkers etc. Or does the reporter not know what carnivorous means? I despair!!! :( Perhaps that's why some fantastic mature pine trees (older than the houses across the park from them) have been felled near us in Auckland, though I was told it was because local residents are complaining about pine needles blocking the drains. >:(
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Is it still their
No Angie, My father demolished it and built a new house on the same site a few years after that picture was taken. The way house prices are going here the original would probably be worth more now if it had been left in place than the new one.
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Ah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be. I have so many memories. Just can't remember them.
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No Angie, My father demolished it and built a new house on the same site a few years after that picture was taken. The way house prices are going here the original would probably be worth more now if it had been left in place than the new one.
Thats a shame Michael, it looks so sweet. I like the character of old houses.
When we went to Ireland we booked a cottage and when we arrived we were in a building site and I though oh no Monday we are going to be woken up early, being in the building trade I know how noisy these tradesmen can be, anyway we were told that the developer had stopped building because of the downturn in the market, so no noise Monday morning.
Lovely place Ireland can't wait till I get back to visit.
Angie :)
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Thats a shame Michael, it looks so sweet
It might look sweet Angie, but that is not the experience I had when living in it especially in winter. It was rough and tuff, but the experience stood me well when things were not as they should have been in later years. :)
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And now for something completely different: The Allanwater News (delivered free in Bridge of Allan and Dunblane) has this report: 'A number of carnivorous trees have matured and are to be felled'. Presumably some of our local residents and animals have been consumed. Does no-one proof read these days? or is too much reliance placed on Spell checkers etc. Or does the reporter not know what carnivorous means? I despair!!! :( Perhaps that's why some fantastic mature pine trees (older than the houses across the park from them) have been felled near us in Auckland, though I was told it was because local residents are complaining about pine needles blocking the drains. >:(
Par for the course as far as freebie papers are concerned Anthony I find. I don't think they employ journalists (not that they can spell these days!) rather someone who can sell advertising space and unblock the drains when required too ;D
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After spending some time, trying to understand how Facebook works, I know now I do NOT understand it.
Am I the only one? ???
This forum is so much easier to work with. ;D
Lina.
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My moan,well we have a wild cat in the area,and it has decided that it prefers my garden to any other,having just turned the soil over again ,It has visited and deposited in five areas including the bark path,I have tried various gels and now a granular reppelent so will see how this works if not any one else have any ideas,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Throw a few hedgehogs at it....
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After spending some time, trying to understand how Facebook works, I know now I do NOT understand it.
Am I the only one? ???
This forum is so much easier to work with. ;D
Lina.
Keep to the forum, its easy to use and the folks are so nice :D
Angie :)
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After spending some time, trying to understand how Facebook works, I know now I do NOT understand it.
I use it all the time but I don't quite understand it, as it has a mind of its own. I just plod on regardless and usually get the message across.
http://www.facebook.com/michael.j.campbell.395 (http://www.facebook.com/michael.j.campbell.395)
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Facebook frustrates me endlessly especially when there's a message from my grandchildren and I can't find where to read it or reply to it. It should be simple. I know some really stupid people who use it all the time but it has me beat I'm afraid.
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Facebook frustrates me endlessly especially when there's a message from my grandchildren and I can't find where to read it or reply to it. It should be simple. I know some really stupid people who use it all the time but it has me beat I'm afraid.
Me and you are the same then Lesley. I went to Ian & Maggi this morning to help me get my accommodation right for the Czech Conference, flights booked now as well. I Knew If I did it I would make a mistake, I hate forms.
THANKS IAN AND MAGGI FOR YOUR HELP TODAY :-* :-* :-* at least I don't have to keep asking myself have I done this right.
After days of miserable weather we arrived at the young's house and the sun was shinning, see what that two can do. Ask and they will deliver, never let you down. Ok this should have been in the happy thread :)
Angie :)
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Ahhhhhhhh the pain :( Re-potting is progressing on one good leg at the moment and it ain't easy. Keep putting off going to see the Quack but after a quick consultation with a neighbour who has long standing (no pun intended!) dodgy knees it's possibly cartledge damage. I've had it since the night England played Italy which I watched with both legs up on the pouffe, legs crossed as is my norm, and at the end of the match found I couldn't get up without pain in my left knee. Sign of growing old I suppose?
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A young chap like you?
It starts in the knee, then moves to the hip, then to the elbow, then to the forefinger, then disappears (hopefully).
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A young chap like you?
I like this man ;D
I suppose we all disappear eventually Gerry! I've had the elbow out of sequence though, thought my Friday nights of elbow bending were gone for ever :)
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I like this man ;D
I suppose we all disappear eventually Gerry! I've had the elbow out of sequence though, thought my Friday nights of elbow bending were gone for ever :)
Bendy drinking straw?
[attachimg=1]
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No, just changed drinking arms but struggled with a left handed glass ;D
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I've had it since the night England played Italy which I watched with both legs up on the pouffe, legs crossed as is my norm, and at the end of the match found I couldn't get up without pain in my left knee. Sign of growing old I suppose?
I always said sport is bad for you.
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;D ;D ;D
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I always said sport is bad for you.
That's one answer, Anne . If his team had scored a few times though, he'd have been able to leap up in glee and wouldn't have sat still for so long that everything seized up ::) :-X
(I understand this phenomenom, I've watched Scotland matches! :'( )
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(I understand this phenomenom, I've watched Scotland matches! :'( )
Way to loose the will to live!
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I've had it since the night England played Italy which I watched with both legs up on the pouffe, legs crossed as is my norm, and at the end of the match found I couldn't get up without pain in my left knee. Sign of growing old I suppose?
One of the things I learned from having hip replacements is that you should never sit with crossed legs (at any age). Even lying on your side in bed, you should try not to let one leg settle in a position where it lies over the other. Long term it distorts alignment of the joints. Someone medically qualified would be able to express it better than I have.
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That sound's quite lucid to me Maureen. Someone medically qualified would probably be so scientific that the "ordinary" people (like thee and me David) wouldn't have a clue. :D I've noticed myself, that lying on my side can be painful to my hip area. Portents of things to come I suppose. ???
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That sound's quite lucid to me Maureen. Someone medically qualified would probably be so scientific that the "ordinary" people (like thee and me David) wouldn't have a clue.
I rather think I explain things quite clearly when I deal with clients after hip surgery! >:(
I'll arrange a "pre-op" consultation for you when we're in Prague, Lesley! ;D
Maureen, if you can't cross your legs ever again after total hip replacement (THR) your physio didn't finish your rehab completely - 12 weeks after THR you should've been started on exercises to allow you to return to normal movement.
David, you've possibly strained your lower back - go and see your physio!
cheers
fermi the grumpy fyzzio!
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David, you've possibly strained your lower back - go and see your physio!
According to my Doc, who made the classic quote "Oh, I suffer from it too" which did a lot to reassure me, I have Bursitis or housemaids knee. And don't anyone dare laugh, it's bloody painful :(
All he could suggest is take ibroprofen and use cold/hot compresses oh, and don't kneel down.
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I have Bursitis or housemaids knee. ....All he could suggest is take ibroprofen and use cold/hot compresses oh, and don't kneel down.
And don't even think of cleaning the windows!! ;D ;D
Mrs Doyle falling off the window sill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72UDyAUnit4#)
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I concur with Fermi's advice, a good physio could be more helpful than your GP.
I had severe pain in my right shoulder down to my finger tips for months at the end of 2009, and my fingers in both hands were going numb during the night. Repeated visits to the doctor resulted in ever-increasing doses of Ibuprofen and then stronger alternatives. His diagnosis was carpal-tunnel sydrome even though I myself could see the symptoms did not match. Eventually he sent me to the physio who took one look and told me that it all stemmed from posture damage to nerves in my neck, coupled with bursitis (from the same cause) in the right shoulder, due to being cold, stressed and doing too much computer work. With her advice I changed my workstation and other things, started regular massages and eventually joined a gym. Within a few weeks the neck problem had gone. The bursitis hung on until I stumbled and wrenched the shoulder one day the following summer. The pain in that shoulder was indescribable for the next 48 hours but when it went so did the bursitis. Now I'm fine so long as I don't spend too much time in front of the computer, especially in the winter.
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And don't even think of cleaning the windows!! ;D ;D
Mrs Doyle falling off the window sill (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72UDyAUnit4#)
Ah, the lovely Mrs Doyle. I have the memory of a Pachyderm Ron, I shall get you back for that ;D
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The way my bits are beginning to shrivel and fail, I'm sure it wont be long, ;D ;D
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I think I remember when my knee problem started. I'd spent most of a morning on my haunches on the drive painting some troughs (that haven't had their second coat yet) and it's gone from bad to worse since than. Today I managed to re-pot only twenty pots before the pain got too bad to continue.
I have bought a wheelbarrow though for mixing compost in. In previous years I've used buckets and usually squatted down mixing the "brew"with a trowel. Don't know why it didn't do this years ago. As for general garden use a wheelbarrow is not much good in my garden owing to the steep slope and terracing particularly in the back garden. I've realised how heavy the slope is on knee joints though and not helped by carting heavy buckets around.
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The way my bits are beginning to shrivel and fail, I'm sure it wont be long, ;D ;D
What, all of 'em? :P
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Only the bits that don't get very regular use! ;D ;D
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;D ;D ;D
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Not thinking about cleaning windows but have to do it all the same because of a further major (but non medical) complication to my life, apart, that is from last Saturday night's broken ribs. And no, I hadn't been drinking even though I was in town at the time, 10.30 and fell onto concrete. Fortunately, I don't have much to laugh at just now so that's a saving in pain.
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I know Lesley, you've decided to get full value from all your previous health service contributions. You look after yourself.
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That's it David, going for every penny's worth I can arrange. Actually we don't have health service contributions as such, our service is, largely, free to locals and those with whom we have reciprocal arrangements, such as the Aussies, and paid through general income taxes. So someone can be in hospital for weeks or months with every imaginable requirement for healing/rehab, drugs, best specialists etc, and not pay a penny, and if one has an emergency, nothing beats it. Otherwise however, there are waiting lists and these can be avoided by health insurance which I can't afford so I guess I'm lucky that when I've needed it, I've needed it in a hurry.
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Not good, Lesley. Broken ribs can be awful. I hope yours heals brilliantly in record time!! 8)
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Lesley you are having a tuff time. Hope things will be better with you soon.
Just put my gardening clothes on stepped out the front door and stepped right back in. Pouring down and thunder as well. Back in to have a coffee and choc, biscuit, no wonder my waistline and everything else is getting bigger. I wonder if I lived in a warm climate I might be thin ::) :-X
Angie :)
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Bloody snails just ate all my Genista aetnensis seedlings!! I've been putting seedlings higher and higher up, on top of the coal bin, on top of the lean-to glasshouse etc, to try to keep them away from the snails but with all this wet weather they're getting everywhere! Whole pot of Genista aetnensis seedlings gone in the course of an afternoon! :-[
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Martin,
Set up a tray of water, sit something in the middle of it and put your pots on top of that. Snails can't swim. Works for a lot of little critters that seem to climb anything else. Only needs to be about a 5cm "moat" around the inner object. Try it and see if it helps?
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That sounds a good idea. A local TV ad for securing one's car while doing the shopping, not only locks it but puts clamps on every wheel, an iron fence around then a moat with sharks swimming around it. That may be overkill for snails though. You could salt the water maybe.
Martin I should be able to send some more seed of the Genista soon. Mine always makes plenty. I'll have a look shortly.
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Yesterday while I was in Timaru helping to celebrate the 50th anniv of South Canterbury group of NZ Iris Society, Roger did something he's never done before, started to clean the insides if the sitting room windows. I think he has finally caught up with the fact that we are selling. Several times recently when he has bent over to do something, his glasses have fallen from his shirt pocket. Although he knew this, he still bent over the bucket of hot soapy water and it was his brand new cell phone which took a dive. Dismantled, dried out and reassembled, it's still not working, so he is moaning while I'm so happy he can't blame me!
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;D
So what's he going to do now?
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The other way I've also seen it done is to put a table on blocks that are sitting in water (just a small tub of water under each leg, the blocks are designed to keep the table legs dry). That way you get a whole table that is snail proofed (providing all your pots are checked thoroughly for snails before putting them onto the table. ;)
Assuming of course that snails never take up sky diving. ;D
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Thanks for the tips. Not much left to protect now, although maybe some of the seedlings will grow again - eaten down to the base but a couple still have a little basal stem left. Lesley, yes please to the seed. I collected and sowed some seed from my own tree but it never sets much and I had to go through a lot of hard little pods to find enough to be worth sowing. Will have to wait quite a while for more seed from my tree, which is just flowering now, so if you have seed now that might speed things up in getting more seedlings going.
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I get so sad when snails graze on a pot that had just germinated. Is it only the cotyledons, so it usually does not come back.
This year, I finally got hold of seeds on Hegemon lilacina, they sprouted very well. But they are a distant memory, snails grazed the entire pot, in one night. :'(
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Oh that IS sad Ulla, especially with such a precious treasure.
I've collected a little seed Martin and will get a bit more tomorrow. Most has fallen and the little pods seem to be on the highest branches - well they would be wouldn't they? But there should be enough for a small batch. I'll send them within a few days. Almost all pods have just a single seed in. Back at the market working today, first time for about 9 weeks so very tired tonight but happy to rewatch our guys rowing.
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Have you tried a ring of sea salt crystals around your trays. I find this works for me. When the slugs/snails touch the salt, they almost explode into a frothy mess.
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I see NASA has just landed 'Curiosity' on Mars - a barren planet. In view of the well-known connection between curiosity & cats I can only see this as a terrible waste. They should have sent it to Brighton.
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;D ;D ;D
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I see NASA has just landed 'Curiosity' on Mars - a barren planet. In view of the well-known connection between curiosity & cats I can only see this as a terrible waste. They should have sent it to Brighton.
...... or Devon!
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This should be in the I'm So Happy thread, but a few new seedlings have appeared in my pot of Genista aetnensis seedlings browsed by the snails, so not as much of a disaster as I first thought.
Wasn't expecting more seedlings as there was a very long gap (maybe three months) between the initial germination in the Spring and this second batch following the recent couple of very cool wet weeks which must have made the seeds think it was spring again.
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So no need to send seed, Lesley. But thanks for collecting it for me anyway.
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I think 'Curiosity' is looking for signs of life? ;D
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I think 'Curiosity' is looking for signs of life? ;D
If they don't find slugs and snails I can use it for my seedpots. You are welcome to join, Martin. Maybe I can make a rock garden too and live to see the plants live without slug damage!
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Nice that you have some new seedlings Martin but in the meantime, if anything nasty happens to them, just sent a line here. I have about 40 seeds now and if I don't hear from you again before sending off for the exchanges, I'll send them there. Will sow a few myself to take with me.
I think this should be in the happy thread but I'm not sure. Having put our place on the market just last week, we had an "open home" (do you have those in other countries?) on Sunday. Teaming with rain and the place swimming but 32!!! groups of people through in spite of that and with attendant children, the agent reckons about 100 people altogether. Now I'm worried we may sell too soon but I can be very stubborn and won't sign a contract (we both must as it's jointly owned) until I can be assured of getting what I want from the garden. Some viewers came back with our agent today - still pouring with rain - and two anyway have indicated they will make offers. We haven't put a definite price on it because as our agent says, "it's unique, I've not handled anything quite like it before" (good, desirable size and handy to the city but so much work to do for any buyer, very hard to price).
If only it would stop raining, I could get on with the start of lifting/potting which will be a huge job.
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I thought the existence of 5 fox cubs living under my garden shed was on the whole a bonus.
Now if I had a gun I would cheerfully shoot them.
Having finished laying 58 rolls of turf at 2110 on Saturday night, it took them less than 60 minutes to turn 2 turves over - apparently looking for worms ??? :o ???. By morning the area was a disaster with 10+ turves overturned chewed etc.
I am relying on SCOOT, a fox repellent that is the equivalent of lion's poo - to keep them away.
Last night I left the oscillating sprinkler on all night, but they still managed to turn 2 turves over.
The area was so much better before the Kent County Council made me reinstate the grass verge - that I will need to maintain.
Any suggestions to keep the foxes away would be most welcome.
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Had a nasty run in with a burdock yesterday. Can anyone help?
johnw - +24c and sunny
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Yikes! That is really scary!
Only got the one dandelion at the minute, John.... think you will need more to make a decent brew......
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Almost as bad as this I saw recently......
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Good grief Maggi, I have to sit down after that one. :'( :'( :'( :'( :'(
Mine was an innocent garden creation in the grass section of the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens a few weeks ago.
johnw.
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However did that little dog cope with that horror? Was he able to be rescued? Porcupine quills leave a poison behind don't they, or maybe they go septic. I can't imagine how this little chap could bear it. Or is this, somehow, a "contrived" picture? I have to hope so. ???
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He was rescued, Lesley, but sadly this sort of thing is not uncommon as dogs and porcupines really do not mix.
It's a long and painful business to get the quills out and sometimes not always possible to remove all completely. The barbed quills are the tricky part and they can be dirty and so infection can be a problem, even after the removal of the quills.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19124242 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19124242)
or if that doesn't work for you : http://lolways.com/default.aspx?tabid=55&ModuleId=422&EntryId=1753&Title=Dog-vs-Porcupine-Quills (http://lolways.com/default.aspx?tabid=55&ModuleId=422&EntryId=1753&Title=Dog-vs-Porcupine-Quills)
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I've lost Meconopsis in the past with winter wet but this poor Meconopsis superba could not cope with the summer wet this year.
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For the particular attention of those on the Eastern side of the country (or indeed anywhere else) who are alleged to be having record highs today.
Here the sky is black, the wind is roaring around, it's pouring down and 15C. One of the worst weeks of the Summer(????) so far and boy have there been some bad weeks.
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David it is the same here, no wind but pouring of rain, this summer has been a nightmare. Yesterday we got a dry sunny day and I had to cut the grass. I love cutting grass as I sing away to myself ( nobody hears me above the lawnmower ) but its been a challenge finding a day that this job could be done. The days that it hasn't been raining we have had the haar.
We built a little extension onto our house to let more sun and light in and this is what it looked like on Tuesday this week.
Angie :'(
Hubby has a golf day out today, he,he.
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House and gardens looking lovely though Angie, despite all of the challenges. 8) 8) ;D
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Well we have just had a shower David, and you can't get much more easterly than us! Mind you it is horribly humid :P
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In fact the sun is now out and it is raining at the same time. Was just going to cut the lawn too! Still humid though.
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It's that time. James is trying to plan his year 12 courses. To do two sciences, but which two? He's no idea what he wants to do. Chemistry and Physics or Chemistry and Biology. If he plans to go to university, will one open more doors? Argggghhhh! He enjoys computer programming, so there's one subject, and having had 12 lessons, he's mastered the guitar, but music's out. ::) He like's geography, so wants to continue with that. Maths and English are compulsory, so that just leaves two of the sciences! ???
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Chemistry+physics vs chemistry+biology probably makes no difference unless he's likely to study physics or related subjects at university. I'd suggest going with his preference, or else physics over biology if he likes maths & computer science.
Are modern languages other than English not part of the core curriculum :o
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By & large I would agree with Ashley, not much difference though its more than 10 years since I did the job & I don't know what admissions tutors look for these days. When I retired a detectable pulse was deemed sufficient as an entrance requirement for most science degrees.
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When I retired a detectable pulse was deemed sufficient as an entrance requirement for most science degrees.
Now it's optional Gerry ;D ;)
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He's chosen physics and chemistry. They are raising the entrance requirements for NZ universities http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/about-us/news/quals-review-guidelines-update-2/ (http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/about-us/news/quals-review-guidelines-update-2/)
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Are modern languages other than English not part of the core curriculum :o
New Zealand being the insular and (*I've momentarily lost the other word I want) it is, modern languages are NOT usually part of the core curriculum. One can, at some schools and all universities do French, German, Spanish and the larger Asian languages, as well, of course as Maori, but core curriculum? not really.
*If I were talking about rugby I'd say one-eyed, but it's not quite what I mean here.)
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New Zealand being the insular and (*I've momentarily lost the other word I want) it is, modern languages are NOT usually part of the core curriculum. One can, at some schools and all universities do French, German, Spanish and the larger Asian languages, as well, of course as Maori, but core curriculum? not really.
*If I were talking about rugby I'd say one-eyed, but it's not quite what I mean here.)
* parochial?
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My two have taken French in the past and now Lucy is taking a semester of Japanese and enjoying it. She's not sure if she'll take Japanese or Spanish next year, but in Scotland and New Zealand a modern language is not compulsory for the senior curriculum - from year 11 (of 13) in NZ and from S3 (i.e. S3 - 6) in Scotland. I think secondary school is too late to teach a modern language. It was pioneered in Scotland many years ago when modern language teachers (when they were required to actually be able to speak the language) were seconded to a small group of primaries to teach French or German. It was a great success, so it was wheeled out over the whole country. A few primary teachers (volunteers - a couple per school?) were given 6 weeks training and asked to teach one or t'other, depending on the whim of the head teacher or associated secondary school. Needless to say it failed as the teachers were ill equipped to teach it! At least in our local school most of the language teachers are either native speakers.
Back to James. We note that some Universities prefer physics for medicine over biology. Looking at the NCEA NZ year 12 and 13 courses I can see why: behaviour, genetics and evolution. No physiology what so ever! One thing the NCEA courses do is teach kids to discuss and evaluate. None of the rote learning and regurgitating of facts...and no, James is not considering medicine.
This shows how the school is advertised to international students. Lucy is playing her violin in the orchestra clip: Botany Downs Secondary College: New Zealand (for Europe) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ahUw77ruSw#ws)
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* parochial?
That's the one. Thanks Fermi.
Since we're moaning here, I bought a laptop computer yesterday, a Toshiba, and various software and security which I had the shop load on for me. I thought I was good to go, but not. Don't know how to connect to the r...y Internet, can't work the touch pad and a dozen other things. Followed the very sparse instructions on paper to connect this to that then turn on and immediately got a message saying not to turn of until setup completed. Result is it is still not turned off 18 hours later and I'm having to get someone come to the house to instruct me in basic use of a laptop as distinct from a PC.
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Re your post immediately above Anthony. I still have some French - and with a classic Parisian accent - because so many years ago I was taught at high school by a New Zealander, but who had lived many years in France, especially Paris and spoke that language as easily as she did English. It was the class I enjoyed most because it was all about France and life there as well as the language itself. I've remembered enough to confound our coffee maker and the couple who serve crepes at the market, all Frenchmen. ;D
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Lesley, I would recommend you getting a USB mini mouse for the laptop, I think you might find it easier to use.
The only way I could use a laptop is with a mouse and ergo keyboard plugged in.
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Roger's actually away getting one right now! and in the interim I have discovered that I should only be using the tip of one finger, not a bunch of two or three fingers at a time. I've no doubt it will all come right in a while. It's a bit like when the original Forum went and we had to get used to the new one. I was practically in tears before I had that sorted. I'm very close to heading for a certain not quite hidden cake of chocolate I know is in the cupboard.
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Lesley, that's how French, or any modern language, should be taught, so you can immerse yourself in the language and culture. Michaela was distraught when she left last term to go back to Germany, having been here for a year.
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Post made in wrong topic !!
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At least with the French we learned it means we can pronounce French words, like Garnier and Point Chevalier etc. correctly.
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Here's a lovely head of flower buds on a Fritillaria persica.
[attachthumb=1]
So why is it in this Thread?
Because it's no longer attached to the stem!
[attachthumb=2]
Thanks to those feathered delinquents the sulphur-crested cockatoos!
Other damage on a dianthus mat,
[attachthumb=3]
Armeria caespitosa/juniperifolia(?)
[attachthumb=4]
And a once healthy Onco!
[attachthumb=5]
Makes one think of resorting to caging the entire garden!
cheers
fermi
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Horrible damage, fermi, quite distressing to see. Are those cats of yours just lying about sleeping all the time? Should they not be patrolling the policies to chase off these feathered vandals?
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:o :o :o :o :o :o :o
Oh Fermi!! That must be heartbreaking. :'( Does it usually flower for you? Not a first flowering I hope? I have fingers crossed that I may finally get a persica seedling big enough to flower next year...... maybe. :-X
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How can I reliably kill Elderberry bushes. I thought I had achieved this several times but they keep coming back.
The roots are too big to dig out and in a relatively inaccessible place.
Currently thinking of drilling holes in the trunks and putting a chemical to kill off the roots.
Thanks in advance
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Chop hard back in March, feed well and water with brushwood killer in May. 8)
An African cultivation hoe is very good for getting roots out. Try e-bay.
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I killed mine by spraying the leaves with weed killer
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How can I reliably kill Elderberry bushes...............
What! and miss the opportunity of making red wine (paint stripper) with them ;D
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Chop hard back in March, feed well and water with brushwood killer in May. 8)
An African cultivation hoe is very good for getting roots out. Try e-bay.
Gerry
My pal has his special spade from BT and we thought we had dealt with them - they keep coming back.
Must find the right chemical to fill the holes I will drill in the trunks. Elderbery is a menace in a garden - though I am partial to elderflower cordial :)
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I had a balsam poplar in the corner of the garden and when I chopped it down the roots suckered all through the garden and even destroyed the pavement, coming up through the tarmac of the footpath other side of the garden wall. One spraying with brushwood killer in the late summer killed it.
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Oh Fermi!! That must be heartbreaking. :'( Does it usually flower for you? Not a first flowering I hope? I have fingers crossed that I may finally get a persica seedling big enough to flower next year...... maybe. :-X
Paul,
No, not the first flowering; I got it flowering size from a friend who thought it would do better at our place! Last year I posted a pic because I'd moved it in growth and though it hadn't produced top growth when I moved it what did merge looked a bit distorted though there was no problem with it this year - till the cockies hit! >:(
Maggi,
we are responsible cat-owners and the moggies are all inside at night and early hours; besides, Lachie wouldn't know what to do with anything larger than a mouse! ;D
cheers
fermi
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Mark S,
Not sure where else to ask this, so thought here would be as good as any.......
Why do you have your eyes closed in your avatar pic? Seeing no evil as one of the wise monkeys? ;D :P
I just had to ask, as an interesting choice. I realise perhaps those who have a deceased pet still as their avatar perhaps shouldn't be throwing the first stone. :o ;D ;D
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To look inscrutable? Empathy with bats? Sun too bright?
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Why do you have your eyes closed in your avatar pic?
Unless I am very much mistaken, that's a classic "I'm taking the sun" pose - can be seen in any place where the sun appears infrequently and so the populace is keen to soak up as many rays as possible, while it lasts..... :)
Fat lot of use here, where by the time one has found the sun lotion and applied it, the weather is more than likely turned right around and you need wellington boots and waterproofs to even venture outside.... :'(
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Lovely sunny day here in Sunny Dunnie but yesterday ugg The A 9 south after the Little Chef was like a river till it reached a dip then poured the 'water' into a garden and house beside the road. Craig my daughter's husband was on the train from Glasgow that was derailed between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane by a land slide It took well over an hour to decide what to do.The passengers were not allowed to leave the train? Health and safety!!!Craig got home 4hours later
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Bright here too, today, but really cold wind.
Good to hear thatCraig got home in one piece eventually, Jean.
I heard about the derailment on the radio and it sounded pretty scary.
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I've seen pictures from Dunblane and Bridge of Allan. Not seen anything like it in 35 years of living in Dunblane.
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Now it's optional Gerry ;D ;)
Not surprised. Where would it get you? Teaching? When I started teaching over 30 years ago it would have taken me about 10 years to earn the annual salary of a top CEO. Now it would take me over 300 years!
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Lovely sunny day here in Sunny Dunnie but yesterday ugg The A 9 south after the Little Chef was like a river till it reached a dip then poured the 'water' into a garden and house beside the road. Craig my daughter's husband was on the train from Glasgow that was derailed between Bridge of Allan and Dunblane by a land slide It took well over an hour to decide what to do.The passengers were not allowed to leave the train? Health and safety!!!Craig got home 4hours later
Indeed the important thing is that he got home safe.
The west coast main line runs along the bottom of our garden. I was on a train home once that broke down exactly there but they wouldn't let me get out and scale the fence!
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Why do you have your eyes closed in your avatar pic? Seeing no evil as one of the wise monkeys? ;D :P
I have a pictures of one of my relatives with their eyes closed but they are dead. I find this really disturbing, who would take a picture of a dead person.I have been meaning to get rid of it for years. When I saw Mark it reminded me of this. Sorry Mark :-*
Angie :)
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I did think he looked a little 'late' too.
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I have a pictures of one of my relatives with their eyes closed but they are dead. I find this really disturbing, who would take a picture of a dead person.I have been meaning to get rid of it for years. When I saw Mark it reminded me of this. Sorry Mark :-*
Angie :)
Angie, Victorians often photographed the late relative, for someone who went to live abroad this was the only way they would have a photograph of them, the better photographers 'inserted' eyes so that they looked alive. We have one where this was cleverly done.
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Angie, Victorians often photographed the late relative, for someone who went to live abroad this was the only way they would have a photograph of them, the better photographers 'inserted' eyes so that they looked alive. We have one where this was cleverly done.
Brian I just think it is so creepy. I have just collected all the photos of members of my family that I never knew and posted them to my mums sister in Germany, one way of getting rid of that horrible photo.
Angie :)
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Angie, I hope I don't make you creepy as we'll be rooming together later, but I took a picture of my Teddy after he had been killed. I just couldn't bear to think I'd never see him again. He was on the back seat of Roger's car and covered with his blanket, the one that stayed in the car, except for his head and front shoulder. He looked to be asleep. I suppose it was a bit creepy. Sorry.
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I can understand where you are coming from Lesley.
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I have a (different) picture of him by my bed. I contemplated a super pic of the second of my two surgeons which one of the nurses put on my camera. He is a real doll, about the same age as my son I should think. But thought Roger might object to that. ;D
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Angie, I hope I don't make you creepy as we'll be rooming together later, but I took a picture of my Teddy after he had been killed. I just couldn't bear to think I'd never see him again. He was on the back seat of Roger's car and covered with his blanket, the one that stayed in the car, except for his head and front shoulder. He looked to be asleep. I suppose it was a bit creepy. Sorry.
Lesley, no not at all. We all have our ways of dealing with our loses. I have four cats two dogs buried in my pony paddock and I still say hi to them when I am over in that corner. Looking forward to share a room with you, will be nice to chat face to face.
Angie :)
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Gerry
My pal has his special spade from BT and we thought we had dealt with them - they keep coming back.
Must find the right chemical to fill the holes I will drill in the trunks. Elderbery is a menace in a garden - though I am partial to elderflower cordial :)
The brushwood killer kills the elder. After its very dead the hoe makes it easy to get the dead roots out. 8)
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Blast from the 80s: just had a phone call from a double glazing sales person. ::)
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Blast from the 80s: just had a phone call from a double glazing sales person. ::)
Were they from Co Durham? ;)
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Didn't find out, but I suspect not.
This is our letter box. It took me a year of experimentation to make it water proof. This morning Vivienne watched the ignorant postman cycle up (over the grass, as usual - there's a lovely groove in the lawn) and open the back of the box, rip out the news paper (today's Herald, which is quite large) and slam it down on the stocks, breaking them, before inserting a couple of letters and a "recorded delivery" (aren't they meant to be signed for?) package from Oz in the back. Pointless making a complaint. These phrases could cross my mind: revenge e.g. missing/damaged mail, would be like punching fog, sound can't travel through a vacuum etc., but I'm not like that. ::)
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Lovely letterbox though Anthony, a pleasure to collect the mail each day. :D Ours is very utilitarian, one of a row of 7 at the end of the dead-end road. A large spider lives in the far end and the mail woman always pushes the mail right to the back so I have to get out of the car to get it out. Thought of putting a brick in the back so the letters wouldn't go so far but I might squash the spider.
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Roe deer wandered through my garden again the other night. Tops and leaves eaten off new raspberry canes and flowers eaten off the runner beans. I was late in planting the beans so they were just beginning to set. They did leave some mini pods but I'm not sure if enough are left to get a picking.
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Only partially a moan..
Last friday our lab lost one of its brightest stars when my friend Kathryn left to emigrate to NZ (Christchurch) with her husband Nic who is starting a new job there. They fly this coming week.
Not only is Kathryn a good friend (saying goodbye was HORRIBLE) but she is possibly the person I have the most respect for professionally too. Morale is not good this week as she was one of our perennially good-natured staff who could be relied upon to keep us grumpy old timers cheerful.
Anyway (this is the non-moan bit) - if any of our New-Zealanders (especially in Christchurch) would like to welcome them with a nice message please send me a PM with your e-mail and I'll put you in touch.
Neither of them are gardeners but are outdoorsy and like riding, diving etc and am sure they would love the mountains of South island.
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I'm sure the Christchurch alpine people will welcome Kathryn warmly. She sounds like an asset to any community and yes, the couple will certainly love the South Island mountains and wildlife. I'm less likely to meet them but all the same send warm greetings to them, as they arrive in this rather nasty spring. There is a thriving alpine (mountaineering) club in Canterbury and also opportunities for tramping, riding and just about every kind of outdoor activity. I hope they'll be happy in New Zealand.
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I'm sure they will find it an adventure. My experience of the South Island is restricted to the photos of tramps on the Forum, picture books and Lord of the Rings. We have yet to venture south of Taupo, and as yet the job situation is not secure. I got a phone call at 2.15 p.m. on Wednesday: "just checking you are attending interview at 3.15?" "What interview?" "Did you not get the email we sent on 1st of October?" "No!" "Can you still come for the interview?" "Yes." Teaching job, 50 applicants, their computer is playing up, so it doesn't flag up when an email doesn't arrive at its destination. I checked, no email had arrived. I didn't get the job because, they said, "another applicant has more experience with NCEA". Mmm. Don't need an interview to assess that piece of information! I suppose they couldn't exactly say "you didn't interview well" could they? Enjoyed the interview, which lasted only half an hour, and they couldn't fault my enthusiasm. It's a good school to work in, as I am teaching there part time until November. Introduced the Scottish physics teacher to "Glasgow Physics" (see YouTube). At least Vivienne's contract has been extended for another year.
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That's all very well Anthony but how dare you suggest that the Forum is peopled by South Island tramps. We certainly have a few tramps down here but keep them strictly out of the public view. Are you prepared to name them? Susan M? Dave T? Doug L? ME!!!? We are all civilized and respectable people I promise you. ( ;D)
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Two years ago Lesley that was the only meaning I knew for the word 'tramp', until I came here. ;D
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I buy books from Amazon.com and noticed the new Amazon Kindle Fire 8.9" HD 4G. Just thought I'd check to see if it will be available (as of 20th Nov in USA) to New Zealand customers! Fat chance. It doesn't even exist on the Amazon.co.uk web site. ::)
Just found this: http://www.valuebasket.co.nz/en_NZ/Amazon-Kindle/cat/view/54 (http://www.valuebasket.co.nz/en_NZ/Amazon-Kindle/cat/view/54)
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Our local town centre now has its Christmas decorations up. :(
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Apparently Santa's coming to a local (garden!!!) centre next week which happens to be a half-term week :-X
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Should have had a clause in his contract about working so early!
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Anthony!! ::)
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There were Christmas carols playing in the 'garden' centre I visited last week. ???
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Should have had a clause in his contract about working so early!
He must be mad!
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There were Christmas carols playing in the 'garden' centre I visited last week. ???
Who ever was responsible should have been hung, drawn and quartered before breakfast, and in public ;D
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Its only a bit of fun ... because we all know there ain't no ...
Sanity Clause (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS2khYJZKwA#)
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;D ;D ;D
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Our local town centre now has its Christmas decorations up. :(
Positively indecent not to have waited until November. ???
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One of our neighbours has her Christmas tree up already. Hope its artificial as there isn't much chance of it lasting till Christmas day.
Angie :)
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Hallowe'en seems to by-pass most of the shops here.
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Possibly banned, and if you celebrate it you get your home raided :P
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We got our home raided by van loads of 'guisers', but the not the welcome sort, last year. We're used to small children dressed up and willing to tell a joke, recite a poem or sing a song in exchange for a packet of Maltesers, peanuts, a tangerine etc. These adolescents just beamed down from the planet Zog, knocked on the door saying 'trick or treat' and then grabbed as much as they could with no offer of anything in exchange. Our door will be shut this year! >:(
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Er Anthony.... isn't that the idea of halloween? You give us something or we play a trick on you..... instilling in the younguns that blackmail is the best way to get things in this world? Personally I just hate the idea of halloween for that reason.
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Not in Scotland, where it has been a tradition long before it was hijacked by the Americans. I thought the tradition might have been brought here, like Guy Fawks night.
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One of the very few rotten Yorkshiremen .... Guy Fawkes >:(
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I think he may have shared some of my views about politicians! :P
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I think he may have shared some of my views about politicians! :P
I too can see t'reason.
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Anthony,
I think you've superceded Cliff as the resident comedian title holder. ::) If you're not careful we may have to take punitive measures. ;)
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I might take a measure or two myself, this evening? 8)
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;D
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I wish I could shout and swear on here. The painter who is painting the wall around the house put a full bucket of paint on top of my 10 year old Daphne Blackthorn Triumph. This was a special wee plant bought because it was grafted on to a two inch 5cm stem making it a lovely weeping Daphne. It's now lying flat with many branches/twigs broken. "It will come back next year" he said.
He's already been warned because last week he was standing on orchid noses after being told DO NOT stand on this bed and had piled pots on top of my troughs. Luckily these troughs has mainly small herbaceous plants and Iris.
This is how it looked in 2010
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Bad luck with your trees Paddy. We saw your garden from the toll motorway this
summer on our way to Durrus, we spent 3 weeks. Next time I will stop there before
travelling on. Hope, it will not happen again.
Uli
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A neighbout put up and turned on their Christmas lights on Friday. One day later than last year. If they keep up with one day late a year in 40 years they will get to a better time of year to turn them on.
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From 2nd to 5th November fireworks go on sale here in car parks, empty shops etc., and Kiwis endeavour to blow themselves up. People were still letting off mortars at quarter past midnight last night! Fortunately Heidi isn't bothered. She doesn't even open her eyes if she's 'asleep' on the couch and an air bomb goes off nearby. Here are a few pics, mostly of the remains left behind in the park by hoons who probably haven't a clue as to the significance of bonfire night! What a mess!>:(
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So easy to avoid.... >:( >:( >:(
http://www.leathermag.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/15269/Chemical_spill_at_Tasman_Tanning.html (http://www.leathermag.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/15269/Chemical_spill_at_Tasman_Tanning.html)
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So sorry about your beautiful Daphne Mark. The painter man is an idiot and you should have sacked him after the orchid episode.
Anthony we only had bangs, from across the road, from 6 to 10pm on the 4th. Not a single one last night, for which I was grateful as our Marley was terrified of the bangs and for the first time ever, when we couldn't find him, he was discovered buried deep down inside Roger's bed. I'm all for the public displays put on by some councils but I hate the private explosions many still go with. A person I know backed his car out of his garage to go look for his dog - a few years ago now - only to run over him. The dog was crouching down behind the back wheels.
What a disgusting mess left by the people in your park.
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Mark - I can sympathize. Today the gasline installers arrived and were quite taken by a big Rhododendron rex hybrid of mine. During coffee break the one with the biggest feet and sporting huge steel-toed boots abruptly stepped toward it to ask if those were flower or growth buds. One foot was firmly atop one of my prized dwarf R. camtschaticums when I let out a yell that almost made him fall down. Nice fellow but these tradesman rarely see plants, though they all commented on that big-leafed hybrid.
May get the first frost tonight or tomorrow night.
johnw
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Oh Mark, that's awful re your Daphne. Any chance of trying to strike cuttings from it at least? Worth a try, regardless of the time of year, if you've had pieces break off. I hope it recovers OK.
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Just realised that I haven't been looking at the bulb log and haven't for ages etc. Seems like out of sight out of mind. I now find myself looking at this page thinking how do I find them?
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Follow this link Anthony: http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=bulb (http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/index.php?log=bulb)
or..... click either of the links at the top of each Forum page titled "Click Here To Go To The New SRGC Site and/or " Click Here To Go To The Archive SRGC Site" to find links to all the SRGC goodies!
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Thanks. I've now seen what I was missing! Here's what you are missing!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7979461/Panic-on-Mt-Tongariro-as-volcano-erupts (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7979461/Panic-on-Mt-Tongariro-as-volcano-erupts)
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No moans from me that we're missing that particular "excitement" ! ::)
Super video , though.....
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Most fortunately, the volcano itself missed everybody,no-one even spattered with dust or ash apparently, which is all good. It was mostly steam and ash, no rocks thrown around. It seems that there could well be further similar eruptions in the near future, both on Tongariro and Ruapehu.
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Rumour has it a small person was trying to get rid of an unwanted ring! ;D
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Anthony,
I'm not sure that steam and ash really warrant a name like "Cracks of Doom". That really would be a volcano with delusions of grandeur. ;D
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;D ;D ;D
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I have spent most of the morning trying to buy a Kindle Fire HD for a Christmas present without success. I have a Amazon account and even when purchasing other other goods in the same basket they refuse to ship it to Ireland. >:( I get at least one Email per day from Amazon trying to sell Kindle fire HD. :( Does anyone know what is going on.?Tesco would appear to be the nearest agents for Kindle here but the number on their website is registering as a unknown number,even went through directory inquiries and got them to connect to the number but got the same reply. ???
Finally got a number from the telephone directory for another Tesco store and after a ten minute search the girl on the phone said they didn't do Kindle Fire HD. :( Wouldn't you think the with the recession these companies would be anxious to take my money, obviously not so.
P.S. I still have a full head of( White )hair. :)
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Which version Michael? There's the 7" and the 8.9" 3G and 4G versions. I wanted the last and some companies advertise it in NZ. They even suggest you order one, but then say there is no release date or even a price for the thing here! I just decided to order one from Amazon and have it delivered to a friend in New York. He'll post it on. At least that worked with no problems with addresses or payment, unlike trying to book a holiday in Mexico via an American company. Clicked "international" option (as opposed to USA) but it wouldn't accept Visa payment because I didn't have a US billing address! Eventually booked it with the same company's Mexican office, but had to book flights separately! The same holiday was twice the price in the UK because of school holidays etc!
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Michael,
For some reason Amazon UK don't sell Kindles (or e-books for it) to customers in the Republic. Buy it (& e-books) through amazon.com (http://amazon.com) which deals with all other countries. Prices are in US$ but include customs charge incurred for shipment to Ireland, and delivery is fast. It seems cumbersome but works fine.
Sorry for that misinformation Michael. My local expert tells me they'll only supply the basic version to Ireland. Very frustrating >:(
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It was the 7" 16G version Anthony. Strange behavior since it would appear that Amazon now own Kindle. I am glad the plant Nurseries don't operate in such a fashion or I would be looking out at a concrete garden now. ::)
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Try here. It includes Ireland. http://www.tesco.com/direct/amazon-kindle/ (http://www.tesco.com/direct/amazon-kindle/)
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-15°C to come this night and I was not really prepared. There's already 15 cm of snow. How will the Pleione's do, the Nerines were even still in flower.
Let's hope the plants will come through it without too much harm...
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Things didn't look too bad after all. A few kilometers from here it reached -13°C, but in the garden only -8,5°C.
The next morning the wind turned from north to the ordinary southwest and we got our normal second-hand English weather again.
The Nerines survived, one flowerbud might even give some weather-beaten flowers and I found even some seeds. It is a tough strain.
I have the Pleione's in a vertical peat wall, just like the botanical garden in Utrecht. The Pleione limprichtii should be able to cope in these conditions, but I safeguarded the Pleione bulbocodium now. It looked unharmed. The only thing that didn't look good was Clematis 'Winter Beauty'. It will survive, I'm sure about that, but it does set flowers in mid-winter. Just like former years the flower buds were forming, but before it is really flowering it is again badly damaged. I will just have to wait for a mild winter. I have added some extra mulch to the tender plants to be better prepared.
Well, these things happen and let's hope that this winter will not be as ravishing as last one.
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Well, that worked! I now have an 8.9" Kindle Fire HD. 8) From despatch to friend in New York to being unwrapped in my study was less than a week. ;D
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The frost has gone but wind and rain overnight. The ground is saturated and some of it still frozen under the surface. The wood behind the house is about a foot higher than the back garden. This morning the water was running out of the wood, along the path beside the cold frame, through the gate and down beside the wall in my brother's garden. Luckily he only grows grass and a few elderly fruit trees. My bulb pots are at the far end of the frame where the water is deepest. The seed pots at the nearest end are only half submerged so at least the seeds will not be washed away. The last time this happened was January 2010 after a snowmelt but the water wasn't so deep and had started to go down during the day. Not happening yet this time :'( :'(
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That looks awful Roma, I hope you get a few dry days (and no frost). :o
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My goodness. We are having a drought at the moment (touch wood).
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The water has disappeared from the frame today. I think most things will survive if it does not happen again too soon. One consolation - I will not need to water for a long time ;D
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I take it it has not been raining in Kintore as heavily as it has in Aberdeen today, Roma? ::)
Torrential rain here.
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Roma, trust you to look at the bright side of things. Roma thats where your brothers plum tree is, I hope it won't affect the tree. I have never seen a tree with so much plums in my life, wish I just lived over the fence ::) ;)
Yesterday my American Fridge freezer went faulty, only a few years old and guess who the guarantee is with, Yes Comet and who closed there doors yesterday. Not going to moan as I can just go and get another fridge but think of all those Comet staff being payed of and at this time of year.
Angie :)
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Raining again and the weather forecast shows no improvement before Monday. The frame was filling up again this afternoon. The water was not running out of the wood yet but seeping through the wall. Plants and bulbs have survived this treatment before but not for a prolonged period. I would think prolonged flooding at this time could be more harmful than a good soak in October/November or in late January/February. I can only hope most things survive.
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Each day this week we have been forecast rain. So far we haven't had any. :-\
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We've actually been forecast a dry day tomorrow, bet it doesn't happen!
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Its been raining here all day. I am so fed up of it now. Glad I am leaving it behind for a wee while.
Angie :)
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Lucky you, Angie. Where are you off to?
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Lucky you, Angie. Where are you off to?
Off to Tenerife. Hotel is beside the botanic gardens, not sure how good they are. Just know we are going to the North side of the island. I won't be getting on the plane if its as windy as it is now. I really don't like flying. Derek can go on his own.
This rain is terrible, my ground is so waterlogged, being on the top of the hill has it advantages sometimes. I wonder how long this wet weather is going to last the whole country seems to be having a miserable time.
Ok no more moaning it will soon be Christmas and I know that I have got LOTSof chocolates from folks, so so happy.
Angie :)
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I'm not really one for moaning about our weather because it's what grows our plants (and I live in the warmest and driest part of the UK!!) - but this year we have now recorded over 35 inches of rain, 10 inches more than the average! I know if you live on Scafell Pike with over 100 inches you won't have much sympathy, but at least you can grow meconopsis and lots of primulas pretty successfully. The weather really brings out the adaptability (or not) of plants and the true gardener in us!
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Tim we haven't had a drop of rain here for four days now, ok I own up I am not in Scotland ( on holiday at the moment ) Went a long walk today, fed up of seeing beaches and all that that goes with it. After walking ten miles I thought ok ready for my first snack, so out came the chocolate bar, it had melted. Now there is no chance of that happening back home. See there are some benefits of living in a colder climate. Hubby bought me another bar of chocolate after I walked another few miles, what I would do for chocolate.
Angie
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....we have now recorded over 35 inches of rain, 10 inches more than the average!
Tim,
I would be willing to accept your excess. We are many inches short on precipitation for the year. Ponds are empty and many plants have been lost from the drought as well as prolonged summer heat. I have many other plants that, while still alive have been very stressed. We have a chance of snow on New Year's eve. It is a shame when I get excited that I might get 2 inches of snow which corresponds to about one sixth of an inch of rain.
There, you have my moan for the day. I'm surprised how much better I feel.
Leon