Magazine style - all inclusive

[Perki]

Morning, early morning for me especially couldn't sleep so I am up and about. It were raining when I went to bed and its still raining now forecast all day to midnight, wind blowing bins over as well. The hole I've dug for the rambling roses keep filling up with water

My bulbs turned up yesterday and Thursday, dahlias - polianthes and lilium henyri, missing one dahlia ( spiderwomen ) so had to send a email off for that. Potted up the rest of the dahlias yesterday but the liliys will have to wait . Had some other lilys stargazer in another largish pot which I thought were to big, took them out yesterday and some have rotted which I feared might happen being in a pot to big for them. Think of get one of them tall thin terracotta pots from B&M think they look nice in one of them.

Sad world we live in , shame everybody just can't get along . Not watched GW yet might watch it now.

 

[alp]

Yes, very amazed that you are up already, Perki ! Must have been an awful night. We still have occasional strong gusts of wind. Just hung out my clothes. I think I had a spiderwoman and I must have killed it in the heat and drought. Why not scale the lily bulbs when they arrive, Perki ? It's quite easily done. I have 4 pots of them and I would leave them indoors. I so want to get Garden Rescue in to remodel my garden. My garden is a nightmare. I have to grow quite a lot of plants for their seeds and basically just plant them where they enjoy optimal growth, so there is no companion planting or design. I'm so fed up with my pragmatic and dull garden. Then there is the fencing. If I fenced the part of the garden, it would look tidy, but would rob my plants of light.

Very sad world and just look at our government and I can honestly say I am mired in despair - at their diva attitude, incompetence, and arrogance. They have successfully made the UK a laughing stock all over the world.

Taylor Swift, like you, laments the loss of her curls or wavy hair as she gets older. Funny thing is that when I went to Bedfordshire Whipsnade Zoo, I saw a mother who had very curly hair and then her mini me had exactly the same. Genetics is an interesting thing. Hope they could edit out childhood dementia. It's no laughing matter as children can die from it.

Going round the garden to find some more strawberries to pot them. I have tons of pots and hopefully tons of straws in the months to come.

Hope you can catch up with your sleep, Perki!

 

[DirtMechanic]

I read a shower thought that said Earth is and always has been stuck between love (Venus) and war (Mars).

Keep on growing and keep your balance @alp dear.

 

[Perki]

My rambling roses turned up but I can't plant ground to waterlogged so heeled inside the GH for now. My dad picked me a terracotta pot up from b&m ( £3.50 cheap ) tall and narrow to replant my lily stargazer in, can't be bothered scaling the lilies not worth it unless you want loads and I am to impatient for them to grow to a good flowering size.

A fence might be a blessing in summer from a hot sun alp, most plants grow in part shade anyway, anything like a fence is another opportunity to grow a climber on .

Dont get me started on brexit bunch of muppets on show for the world to see.

I didn't want the curls I am not sorry to see them go, still goes curl when wet though.

 

[alp]

Well, didn't go out at all. The winds have managed to whip up the FEAR factors in son's delicate psyche and he decreed that outing would be postponed.

My egg incubator arrived this afternoon and is now in action. I wish I had paid £40 to buy a proper one. Chinese toy to clog up the world soon.

I have never watched so many cookery programmes in one day! How boring! Not even a lovely Western movie on show! The winds just would not let up! Relentless! Hope no more damage to anybody's properties.

 

[alp]

Beware of B&M stuff - cheap, but bring it back into your greenhouse over the winter or it will be crocks in no time or onion skin erosion or a big chuck falls off.

 

[alp]

Just had my first Araucana egg. It's OK. I think I might have overcooked it a bit. I used the naked egg in swirling boiling water method. I think my pan was too shallow, so I will use a deeper one next time.

Pak Choi boiled in 1 minute as suggested by Jamie Oliver. I looked at the core and thought it was too raw, so I boiled it for another minute, the top leaves disintegrated. Ah, should have listened to him. They were delicious and literally melted in my mouth. Delicious stuff from Lidl. I also like their spinach. Dry and firm and keep well, quite unlike those from some other supermarkets. Very enjoyable dinner and hope it's Mother's Day every day! Now every day is a Son's Day!

 

[alp]

I thought I killed my egg incubator. Gave me a fright. Son specifically said he would be the only person allowed to add water. I added it and there was excess water and the machine went blank for a while.

Such a lovely bright day and the winds seem to have reside a little bit. Some of my 40 years' old fences groaned in the wind and some needed to be repaired.

Do hope the sunshine lasts longer than that. Definitely go shopping today.

 

[alp]

Five million UK homes set for smart meter madness as thirty per cent of devices to be installed in Government scheme won’t work properly

• New ‘SMETS 2’ smart meters are meant to send data to suppliers automatically
• But the new smart meters cannot yet be linked up with a central energy database
• This means they will not function properly in about 30 per cent of the country
• Homes in the North of England and Scotland are the most likely to be affected

**************
For those across the pond: Smart meter installation is an initiative funded by the government to install smart meters which send your usage number directly to the electricity and gas companies so that they don't have to send a meterman to come to your house and shine a torch at your meters to take the readings.

1) I don't see why the government should fund this initiative as the companies are paying their shareholders and we are still in austerity
2) There are instances these smart meters caused fires.
3) f you change your provider, even though you have a smart meter installed, it won't work with the new provider. I had one installed by SSE and now I am with one of the small companies gobbled up by them and my Smart meter won't talk to this SSE subsidiary.

I had been sent a separate smart meter and I charged it overnight and yet by 3pm, the charge went out and I had to pay for electricity to have the meter plugged in and I didn't see why I should subsidise the big 4, so I switched it off.

Someone in the government must be getting a future directorship, hospitality or kickback for pushing this costly and troublesome initiative. I'm constantly amazed at how stupid these government ministers are -

1. they have been exploited by the insulation company whose insulation panels sped up the fire at Grenfell Towers;
2. education and GCSE and A levels exam boards which make millions and yet are still enjoying CHARITY status. ..
3. PPI which can never be repaid ...

Ah, better stop moaning. It's early in the day .. I can go on forever ..

 

[alp]

Tory peer’s firm is paid £500,000 from energy companies set to profit from fossil fuel boiler ban HE helped push through

• John Selwyn Gummer key figure behind decision to ban fossil fuel home heating
• His consultancy Sancroft International has received thousands in fees
• Ban recommended by Committee on Climate Change which Mr Gummer chairs
• Already being investigated by Lords standards for £600,000 payment from ‘green’ businesses such as Johnson Matthey, which sells hydrogen technology

As head of the Government’s climate change committee, Tory peer John Selwyn Gummer was a key figure behind last week’s controversial decision to ban fossil fuel central heating in new homes.

But in pushing for the radical change, he failed to declare that the firm he runs has received more than £500,000 from companies which are set to make millions from the decision.

Source

Blatant and brazen? Arrogant and avaricious? You bet!

 

[alp]

While the sun is out

Camellia Brushfield

The zesty, jazzy Camellia Williamsii Debbie

Fritillaria michailovskyi

 

[DirtMechanic]

Socialism is Government of The Government, by The Government, for The Government. I am sure you smart meter will prove that energy use peaks during certain hours of the day, and you will next find that during that time of day the energy supplier is allowed to charge more for the supply of power, right when everybody needs it most. That is the way it worked here. The government taxes utilities more than any other, and always stands to make a fine return on their investment into helping the people. We just had a 10 cent gas tax rammed through the State of Alabama because there were vague comments about deepening a ocean port if we came up with the matching funds our senator shelby had arrived at from the federal level. The advertisements feature some old man attempting to talk road safety with a heavy country accent as if he were a man of the people. But nobody enunciates that poorly with perfect grammar and it is a creepshow.

 

[alp]

Socialism is Government of The Government, by The Government, for The Government. I am sure you smart meter will prove that energy use peaks during certain hours of the day, and you will next find that during that time of day the energy supplier is allowed to charge more for the supply of power, right when everybody needs it most. That is the way it worked here. The government taxes utilities more than any other, and always stands to make a fine return on their investment into helping the people. We just had a 10 cent gas tax rammed through the State of Alabama because there were vague comments about deepening a ocean port if we came up with the matching funds our senator shelby had arrived at from the federal level. The advertisements feature some old man attempting to talk road safety with a heavy country accent as if he were a man of the people. But nobody enunciates that poorly with perfect grammar and it is a creepshow.

This reminds me of the this minute by minute price fluctuation. The way sellers can track our desires and seasonal needs or daily needs, they can raise the price at peak times. What is the point of letting me know that using a kettle can cost me more money? I will still need to use the kettle. Smart meters is a way to save utilities the expenses of hiring metermen to come to our houses to take the readings. It doesn't benefit the government. Yet, some civil servants and naughty ministers are in the deep pockets of these companies, possibly with the reward of honorary directorships upon retirement. Yes, you're quite right. That's why government stands by and let the railway companies rip passengers off every year as they take some money from it.

Money is what talks in this country. Another thing is premiership. Funny that clumsy Boris and forgetful Jeremy Hunt think they stand a chance. The former is a philanderer and the latter can never remember that his wife is a Chinese, not a Japanese! What hope have we got? Another previous Trade minister got the sum 7 x 8 wrong. He said 42!

 

[alp]

Good morning to a cold and grey day. Rubbish day and a lot to do, but very little to show for in the garden. It seems to me that my erythroniums have all given up the ghost. Not a flower in sight. Let's hope it's too early.

Bought 3 bottles of Bordeaux in Lidl yesterday, 6 boxes of teabags .. been on green tea for a long time. Asparagus in Aldi and pork joint at £2/kg at Morrisons. Going to have a big roast today - chicken and pork.

 

[alp]

I certainly need this little helper

Pensioner, 72, left baffled as to who was tidying his garden shed at night is stunned to discover the culprit was a house proud mouse he's nicknamed 'Metal Mickey'

Uplifting video

A goat born with paralysis in her front legs has astonished villagers by learning to walk on her hind ones. She is seen here strolling around a field of crops in Ramdiri, northern India

Source for video

Well, my stipa gigantea seeds from RHS has germinated.

3 out of 8! Yeah!

Tree peony bought last year for £5.99 - 3 of them red, pink and white!

This peony is now 5 years old or more and for the 2nd time has buds. It had a bud last year and it was gobbled up before I could say hello. This year I have several buds unless I fell and sat on it... You never know! LOL!