Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Miftan
Mar 31, 2012

Terry knows what he can do with his bloody chocolate orange...

DesperateDan posted:

I apparently have cows. As in at least 3. Wasn't planning a trip today but it seems the bovine comedy continues and I'm gonna have to pop down after work and see if they moooved on

Cows are precious, treat them well.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Miftan posted:

Cows are precious, treat them well.

I'm gonna have a few as neighbors for a while :) the owners didn't want Eunice getting lonely so more cows are now here for a long holiday with the hopes they will herd up a bit- fencing has been repaired a bit and a few creature comforts installed so they can hopefully stay happily on the right side of the fence.

Got some non cow pics and will try and chuck em up tomorrow

Miftan
Mar 31, 2012

Terry knows what he can do with his bloody chocolate orange...

DesperateDan posted:

I'm gonna have a few as neighbors for a while :) the owners didn't want Eunice getting lonely so more cows are now here for a long holiday with the hopes they will herd up a bit- fencing has been repaired a bit and a few creature comforts installed so they can hopefully stay happily on the right side of the fence.

Got some non cow pics and will try and chuck em up tomorrow

I only care about cow pics now :colbert:

xcheopis
Jul 23, 2003


I vote for more pictures of cats and bees.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

xcheopis posted:

I vote for more pictures of cats and bees.

Miftan posted:

I only care about cow pics now :colbert:

Yeah? Well if you checked your calendar it's 2018 and you should know voting and caring about stuff doesn't get you far at all :colbert:



But you can have a super blurry picture of a deer's arse! It was a deer anyway, honest!


not even really an update but I like titles they make poo poo neater







Comrade DDan, on Flickr

I had more of a post but the forums ate it and it wasn't that good. Pretend you read some floral poo poo about the beauty of the solstice summer sun contrasted with the calm and quiet of everything being asleep. Got my cameras charged and wiped so hopefully next time I won't have an easy excuse to leave them behind- I wanted cow pics too, but they hide well. Work and family stuff have me tied up a bit right now but should be there at the weekend to find out how much more fruit the birbs have made off with and maybe chop some tree.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


You're in my neck of the woods and I'm v jealous that you have land like this.

endlessmonotony
Nov 4, 2009

by Fritz the Horse
It's not the imgur hosting, it's using timg where it loads the full version. You want to add "l" or "h" to each imgur link just before the .jpg. Using Flickr really improves nothing.

Compare:




EDIT: One of those images takes ten times the amount of time to load the other does. It's not imgur being a lovely host, it's that the page is full of loving huge images that take forever to load and most browsing devices just go "nope not enough RAM to display them all".

EDIT 2: Go through every image-heavy post, edit every instance of ".jpg" to "h.jpg" and watch the problem go away.

endlessmonotony fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Jun 23, 2018

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Jaded Burnout posted:

You're in my neck of the woods...

I'm sorry to hear that, but escape is possible :)

Jaded Burnout posted:

...and I'm v jealous that you have land like this.

I'm really lucky to have access/stewardship, but it's not "mine"- I wouldn't have had a hope in hell of affording something even a tenth of the size when it was bought, let alone after 20 or so years of land price increases. It's part of the reason I want to share what I do, because I love it dearly and because I know that for the majority of people who want to do it, it's largely out of reach financially- I want people to see what goes into working it.


endlessmonotony posted:

EDIT 2: Go through every image-heavy post, edit every instance of ".jpg" to "h.jpg" and watch the problem go away.

Well, that was a really loving boring few minutes clicking and pressing "h", so hopefully it makes a difference :)

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


DesperateDan posted:

I'm sorry to hear that, but escape is possible :)

I chose this life :(

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

DesperateDan posted:


Well, that was a really loving boring few minutes clicking and pressing "h", so hopefully it makes a difference :)

I wondered why this loaded quickly all of a sudden, so I'd say yes.

schmug
May 20, 2007

DesperateDan posted:


Well, that was a really loving boring few minutes clicking and pressing "h", so hopefully it makes a difference :)

ahhh-much better

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


This thread now also means I don’t have to reexport my thread’s photos at 1024 like I have been, thank you.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
I have some pics from the last year or two I found on my phone but I'm having issues with my home internet right now so upload is a pain.

Tried out the new squarecut trimmercord on the back garden and it was amazing, car (and lunch) is packed to roll tomorrow morning for hopefully an earlyish start on mowing and clearing before the sun kills me entirely. Want to upgrade a sapling as a matter of urgency too, heatwave on the way :)

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


DesperateDan posted:

Tried out the new squarecut trimmercord on the back garden and it was amazing

Ooh, I'll look into this when I next do my garden, last time I tried to strim the heavily overgrown grasses it was a huge pain.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
thwocka thwocka thwocka




Brought down 40 bottles of water and then ate my pork bun while cording up the trimmer. Think I'm gonna hit the Chinese supermarket on my way down here more often, that bun was insane :) Boiling hot weather but luckily I got started before it got too terrible, and I brought two cans of Yorkshire's finest bitter to supplement my hydration :cheers:






I mowed the entire grass area again and did all the pathways with the kickass squarecut cord, then swapped out to the cutting blade and re-cleared some areas and made some new space for bushes.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Ooh, I'll look into this when I next do my garden, last time I tried to strim the heavily overgrown grasses it was a huge pain.

It really rocks- its much tougher and more effective than regular cord, the only downside so far is I can't get quite as much on the spool at once- it's a lot chunkier than rounded cord.




I then made the choice to stop for the day- I had wanted to clear the new area on the north field, and didn't feel too tired at that point, but it was hitting 30C and I would have no cover whatsoever- it's gonna be great for crops there. With how sore/slightly sunburnt I am today it was probably the right call :)




A few pictures from last year because its bad luck to go awhile without cat pictures




After the caravan flooring and window replacement I will be simplifying the electrics a bit and installing a solar vent fan. Not falling through the floor is the priority though- downsides of a caravan evil lair older than myself.

Bit of a lack of cool new pics but the day was focused on getting the cutting and mowing done- next up I'm aiming on clearing out the area on the north field, its a lot less area but the ground is quite uneven and has a lot of heavy growth- should be a good challenge, and having enough space for a few standard allotment sized plots is one of my main goals.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


DesperateDan posted:

I then made the choice to stop for the day- I had wanted to clear the new area on the north field, and didn't feel too tired at that point, but it was hitting 30C and I would have no cover whatsoever- it's gonna be great for crops there. With how sore/slightly sunburnt I am today it was probably the right call :)

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of work outside in the sun and bought some gear specific for it, namely some UV forearm covers, peaked hat with neck cover, and most recently 20 plain white fruit of the loom tshirts (for just over 30 quid) because my current ones leave a gap at the neckline.

Begone, sun.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Yeah, I've been doing a lot of work outside in the sun and bought some gear specific for it,

A wide brimmed boonie hat has been my best purchase for that so far, next time I cut I'm gonna use some old formal shirts for the reflective white and the baggy factor- longsleeved anything seems a winner, sweat be damned.



lazy sundays




All right, people, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the corps! on the farm! A day in the Marine Corps on the farm is like a day on the farm! Every meal’s a banquet! Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation a parade! I love the corps farm!




The rounds were uneventful other than finding a line of stones away from bushes- seems like something crawled in and had a dig then hosed off. Oh, something else had a pop at the lavender but the stones deterred it- both might actually survive.

I had more planned for today but ended up just ticking a few things off the list as we spent a few hours in the shade shooting arrows and little lumps of lead at things instead.



I did get my new cherry tree sorted out, it should have been a priority as should have another peach tree from this years planting that's probably entirely dead now- they were really cheap saplings but they deserved better, lessons learned, 2/3 survivors ain't bad, stiff upper lip and such. The weed proof matting and stones are going to be mandatory on planting from now, and I'm probably gonna retrofit the other fruit trees I planted too.



There is wood left in this shovel handle, and the paint is all flaky and lovely. This displeases me. And I'm really lazy.




So you burn.

I had hoped for more pictures of the process, but I hosed things up a bit- essentially I remembered that the metal needed to be quenched at the last minute so I had no prep- my new fire resistant gloves got a good test as I ran through the woods while juggling a very very hot shovel before throwing it in the pond to a satisfying hiss and cloud of steam.

Probably great for flame resistance and handling metal like grills for bbq, but the shovel head had surprising thermal mass and wanted me to know all about it- no wounds though, so they pass.

Will show results when I wire wheel it, but it looks pretty good already for something I set on fire for an hour then chucked in a swampy pond. The handle has been whittled to the point where once I get the rivet out I can start fitting it- time to pick paint and varnish out. I could buy one cheaper but gently caress that, I want it to be mine.



She's a better archer than me now for short distance stuff and not ashamed to let me know about it :) got to dial in the air rifle scope a little closer to true at the same time as putting a bunch of holes in various things, and even better we didn't lose any arrows.

Back tomorrow for a flying visit to run some supplies down like some more stone etc, then aiming to cut new areas later in the week- weather and other commitments dependent.



I leave you with spider. I'm no spider expert, but I'm pretty sure the one on the side is a male, and I think he's either made this nest to impress, or is about to try and enter the female's nest in order to try and get laid.

Ganbatte spider-san. Write that down in your copybook.... now.

Miftan
Mar 31, 2012

Terry knows what he can do with his bloody chocolate orange...

The pictures load much smoother now, so thanks for sorting that (and thread for advising)

How on earth you not only went out to do work in this loving heat but STARTED A FIRE is beyond me.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


Miftan posted:

How on earth you not only went out to do work in this loving heat but STARTED A FIRE is beyond me.

I know, right? I called off on my project today, no way I'm working out in that, I can barely work in my kitchen.

DesperateDan posted:

A wide brimmed boonie hat has been my best purchase for that so far, next time I cut I'm gonna use some old formal shirts for the reflective white and the baggy factor- longsleeved anything seems a winner, sweat be damned.

That's why I like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WGW7P1R

They keep the sun off, wick sweat pretty well, and because it's not a full on long-sleeve top you get to keep some venting.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
Heat wise today, out in the open when I sorted the cherry tree out- those 10 minutes or so in direct sun was more than enough to put me off more- got through nearly 3 litres of water in just a couple of hours mainly in the shade.

The bit the old firepit is located in is right in the woods, gets no real direct sun to the floor but still has good airflow- it feels like a 15 degree drop coming from the middle of the fields. We were shooting close to there so it was easy to monitor things while staying out of heat/smoke range from the fire.



Jaded Burnout posted:

That's why I like these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WGW7P1R

They keep the sun off, wick sweat pretty well, and because it's not a full on long-sleeve top you get to keep some venting.

They look good, I might grab some- how thick are they? My only concern is with sap spatter soaking through and still giving me chemical burns with it held tight to me.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


DesperateDan posted:

They look good, I might grab some- how thick are they? My only concern is with sap spatter soaking through and still giving me chemical burns with it held tight to me.

They're fairly thin, think lycra shorts or what have you. They protect me against scratches against brick and splintery wood, but I've not spilled anything on them so I don't know how you're fare there.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
Fuel pump on my audi died, so today was spent waiting on a flatbed to show up and then being disappointed the tow truck driver didn't have a dog rather than getting a supply run done.

poo poo happens, its just annoying when it does- and like normal it coincided with a bunch of minor bullshit.

Jaded Burnout posted:

They're fairly thin, think lycra shorts or what have you. They protect me against scratches against brick and splintery wood, but I've not spilled anything on them so I don't know how you're fare there.

I might try a close fitting shirt first to see how it leaches- the nasty part of the sap burns is that you don't realise it's happened till 24hrs+ later when the blistering begins

DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 16:58 on Jul 2, 2018

Pesky Splinter
Feb 16, 2011

A worried pug.
I said it when you first posted it in the UKMT, but seeing these pictures are great :)

It's nostalgic for me, for when I did groundskeeping for a year (I now work in a tin-box factory instead of the open air), and when I had access to a garden.

Maugrim
Feb 16, 2011

I eat your face
I am enjoying this thread but your avatar and red text are annoying the poo poo out of me so I would like to buy you a new one. Any requests or shall I just use the catte

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Pesky Splinter posted:

I said it when you first posted it in the UKMT, but seeing these pictures are great :)

It's nostalgic for me, for when I did groundskeeping for a year (I now work in a tin-box factory instead of the open air), and when I had access to a garden.

I do the thread and pictures mainly so other people can see so it's great to hear :)

Hope you get a chance to drink heavily in the bushes rock your skills again soon :)




Maugrim posted:

I am enjoying this thread but your avatar and red text are annoying the poo poo out of me so I would like to buy you a new one. Any requests or shall I just use the catte

That would be touchingly kind- I'm not really picky so a catte would be fine- just please be aware I have grand capacities for pissing people off and it may well be replaced by another :)

Mousepractice
Jan 30, 2005

A pint of plain is your only man
This is a great thread! Thanks for sharing with us.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Mousepractice posted:

This is a great thread! Thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks :)

Enjoy!


They came on in the same old way.. and we defeated them in the same old way...




Today I went out for a quick trip to do the rounds and maybe grab some fruit- had planned on getting a bunch of stones to drag over here as well, but the fuel pump/filter fix has wiped the spare funds for this week.

What I didn't plan on was dropping 3 squirrels, a male and 2 female, within minutes of each other, all round the same clump of trees. I could have come down here and spent hours lurking around with the gun and not had a nice clean shot on anything at all, so it's nice to not have to invest much time in doing the necessary.

All three were suitable to be left for the foxes (the lead pellets went clean through) this time, but one of them had a good amount of meat and has me thinking of skinning and maybe cooking one again- those skills are rusty for me.



The rose flowers have dropped, and the rosehips, the accessory fruit of the roses are forming. These have multiple uses so I'm happy to encourage a few of the patches I have down here.



This tree had seven apples last time and now I'm down to these two- I think it was probably deer. Sucks, but in a few years it will be big enough to not worry about too much.



The birds have been razing what little fruit the new bushes have been producing, but I found a few treats left. Next year I will just clip some netting onto the fence of a few of them and see how much it helps.



The more established blackcurrants have also taken a hit, but there was a few handfuls of ripe fruit on my main two patches which I picked and I'm either gonna scoff or freeze for jam.



Lots of these curious little fellows on the currant bushes :)



This grape vine is doing nicely, and I'm glad I got down to train it a bit again today before it gets unruly. The vines need good support or they get really brittle in winter dormancy- the two vines I have potted at home are both ready for transplant this year, and there are two locally growing vines I also have eyes on taking cuttings from- I have homebrewed fruit wine before and have some grand plans.




Seasonal treat- blackberry season proper is approaching, but some kind of fluke happens to about one in every few hundred flowers and they produce an early berry- tiny but sweet- weeks before the bulk of the crop is active.



A quick look at a one of the recently cleared areas shows a good amount of grass growth- one of my favourite mildly invasive plants.




Time was short today but I'm glad I did get down for a bit at least, and I took a few minutes to sit in the woods and just chill.



I bloody love strawberries I do. These are from home, and taste amazing.



Blurry picture of a rusty shovel but with me being bad at before pictures it will just have to suffice.



Put power tools in the hands of kids everyday!



Tomorrow I will probably get the old rivet drilled out so I can start fitting the handle, and then shorty shovel is really starting to come together. Think I'm gonna rock black paint on the metal, and a bright tip to the handle.



I leave you with a pic of one of my favourite bits of my commute, the journey down was powered by some rumours era fleetwood mac, and the soundtrack to hotline miami took me home. Car is solid again, should be back on the acres come the weekend.

DesperateDan fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Jul 5, 2018

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
holy gently caress dat avatar oh gawd thankyou

Maugrim
Feb 16, 2011

I eat your face

DesperateDan posted:

holy gently caress dat avatar oh gawd thankyou

You're welcome. I was born and grew up in the East Sussex countryside, so it's a real treat reading these posts - it's like going home again!

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Maugrim posted:

You're welcome. I was born and grew up in the East Sussex countryside, so it's a real treat reading these posts - it's like going home again!

It rules and I will name something after you!



rocking it




Had a minor foot injury at the weekend so I hosed things off to let it heal a bit. Only main target of the day was bringing down some stone, so I was glad to find some more energy/lack of pain that allowed me to wander about slowly and get some boring stuff done.



By immediately insulating the hash browns and bacon roll they stayed nice and warm by the time 40 kilos of stone had been lugged. The crisp, cold, cheap lager made it perfect :)





After the rounds I cleared up the most overgrown set of fruit bushes- some had next to no stone over the matting, and lots of unwanted plantlife crawling up the sides. Cleared up all 8 in the patch and laid about a bags worth of stone atop.



Then the lavender got a quick neaten up and some more stone- it really needs some nice wet clay packed down to stop the slabs slipping but that's gonna need rain.



There are large cracks like this in multiple places- haven't seen decent rainfall in a long time



As my now pretty much non existent pond shows. Its a problem and an opportunity- if it holds out awhile longer I can get down in there and dig out a few barrows worth at least to allow more water to settle- the more the better but its gonna be root filled and stinky.



Same deal with this drainage ditch- it needs digging out a bit and a lot of clearance work, but luckily the pipe is surprisingly clear.



Did some pathway maintenance next in a few places.



Blackthorn is really thirsty to lay some hurt on the unwary. I had to get a 3cm bit surgically removed a few years back.



Many big spider webs like this around. Wonder if our friend from a previous episode got his end away...



Lots of mr wiggles type caterpillars around today too, all having a little boogie.



Saw these on the way out- too close to the queen's highway for me to legally have a pop at here, and it seems they know it :)



A few hours spent well, will see how the weather is later in the week and I might get some new bits cleared or just haul more supplies- if the drought continues then I will start hauling extra water for my saplings too.

Miftan
Mar 31, 2012

Terry knows what he can do with his bloody chocolate orange...

Please don't hurt the animals even if they're not on the queen's territory. :(

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Miftan posted:

Please don't hurt the animals even if they're not on the queen's territory. :(

I only hunt grey squirrel on sight- there's really no other way to dent the numbers of them, and if I didn't they would mess up the local wildlife- they have no natural predators, reproduce rapidly, act like locusts on food supply and are invasive to the point they will quite literally turf baby birds/eggs out of a suitable nest. I can probably turf up more reading on it generally if you want but culling them really is the only option available that stops my woods from being overrun with nothing but squirrel. It's not my desire to hurt anything, and when I do things right they never know another thing happened.

Miftan
Mar 31, 2012

Terry knows what he can do with his bloody chocolate orange...

DesperateDan posted:

I only hunt grey squirrel on sight- there's really no other way to dent the numbers of them, and if I didn't they would mess up the local wildlife- they have no natural predators, reproduce rapidly, act like locusts on food supply and are invasive to the point they will quite literally turf baby birds/eggs out of a suitable nest. I can probably turf up more reading on it generally if you want but culling them really is the only option available that stops my woods from being overrun with nothing but squirrel. It's not my desire to hurt anything, and when I do things right they never know another thing happened.

I know, but it still makes me sad.

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Rats and squirrels are perfectly acceptable to shoot at, I'm even thinking of getting something to tackle the rats who seem immune to our poison traps.
Wife likes the squirrels though, so looking pretty as always lets you get away with murder.

xcheopis
Jul 23, 2003


Pshaw. Sure didn't work for me.

Crankit
Feb 7, 2011

HE WATCHES

DesperateDan posted:

I only hunt grey squirrel on sight- there's really no other way to dent the numbers of them, and if I didn't they would mess up the local wildlife- they have no natural predators, reproduce rapidly, act like locusts on food supply and are invasive to the point they will quite literally turf baby birds/eggs out of a suitable nest. I can probably turf up more reading on it generally if you want but culling them really is the only option available that stops my woods from being overrun with nothing but squirrel. It's not my desire to hurt anything, and when I do things right they never know another thing happened.

do you eat the squirls?

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
Not much updates at the moment as work is busy and my beloved cat is in the vets and frankly the anxiety from that is draining the crap outta me. Probably gonna whittle a bit while sitting next to the phone.


Miftan posted:

I know, but it still makes me sad.

I feel a little sadness when I do it still, theres a wide range of emotion attached to it all and words dont do most of it well- hunting an animal effectively means doing a lot of observing of the animals habits and learning about them- I find grey squirrels are amazing creatures, and I wish they had a more natural means of control, but my sex ed classes for squirrels really didnt go well, and having pine martens introduced apparently has a long waiting list.

I have tried a few times to throw together my thoughts on hunting and it never seems to come out "right" to how I feel on it. I guess the root of it all is being torn to the point of feeling hypocritical- I despise people that hunt anything for fun, and yet some of the times I have felt closest to that place have been the times caught in the sheer intoxication of hunting- it hits a part of the brain that nothing else does, and I really do lack the words for describing how it feels.


cakesmith handyman posted:

Rats and squirrels are perfectly acceptable to shoot at, I'm even thinking of getting something to tackle the rats who seem immune to our poison traps.
Wife likes the squirrels though, so looking pretty as always lets you get away with murder.

I used to hunt rats on neighboring land around some woodpiles, as rat piss/poo poo covered firewood isn't good to deal with. Owner soon moved the wood piles away from good cover/easy water for them, closer to the fox/badger runs. No more rats in the woodpile.

If you have rats in the home, then they are there for food/water/shelter and if you can deny them that the problem goes away (also, strong snap traps and varied bait), in the woods its hard to deny a squirrel some trees.


xcheopis posted:

Pshaw. Sure didn't work for me.

You gotta flaunt it more :boom:


Crankit posted:

do you eat the squirls?

I have done previously a few times, I have also given them away to be cooked. Most of the time, provided there's a good exit wound so the lead is gone I leave the remains for the foxes- quite often it's gone within an hour of me leaving it by a set.

Tastes like cheap pork with a definite hint of nut, there's not a huge amount of meat but it's almost all around the back legs so it's not too hard to deal with.

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.
A combo of work stuff and the cat being ill is putting me out of action right now, poor little guy has some kidney issues and the next week or two are gonna be a bit touch and go. Hoping to gather myself up for at least a quick look around and tree watering tomorrow.

Miftan
Mar 31, 2012

Terry knows what he can do with his bloody chocolate orange...

All the best to your catte

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

DesperateDan
Dec 10, 2005

Where's my cow?

Is that my cow?

No it isn't, but it still tramples my bloody lavender.

Miftan posted:

All the best to your catte

Thanks- sadly the prognosis really isn't good, but he's home and very happy/comfortable for now. I'm a total, absolute wreck- little guy has seen me through thick and thin and the thought of saying goodbye so early is devastating.



H2whoa this drought sucks



On the road again, just for a bit.



Todays theme is water. It still hasnt rained, and the forecasts don't hold much promise for volume- not good for this years saplings. 40 litres fortunately rolls a lot better than it carries.



Being downhill of some woodland, the grassy areas are greener than most, but still showing the heat.



The newer plum got the weed sheeting and stone treatment long enough ago that it's doing well, but I gave it a good drink anyway.



But this cherry has lost pretty much all its leaves now- the sheeting and stone can't help hold rain when it simply isn't loving raining. gently caress.



It was planted on a slight hillock, so water drains away- check the cracks. No bueno.




I have seen them survive worse and put out leaves again though, so I raided my recycling bag and rigged up some dripper bottles to give it a fighting chance.

There was another new plum tree but I have all but given up on that one- will check it come next spring and replace if the roots are dead.



Just another glance at how bad the heat is cracking the soil up.



Went and visited the bees on the neighbouring land- was going to try for some good pics but its heavily overgrown and they were a bit feisty as it was midday so I bailed. Good to visit the hives every now and then though- the bees get used to you being around.



My tended sloe patch is looking at a good crop this year- I have a similar sized clump also with good sunlight I can clear too.



Spot the butterfly :) they are hard to get a good picture of, but there's a good variety of them down here.



All going a bit pear shaped. These are about head height on me, so it will be interesting to see if the deer get them. A good reminder I need to cut my way down to the big pear tree on north field.



I'm glad I made myself make it down here, not sure how the next few weeks are gonna pan out but I will keep you all posted.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply