Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2024

Good morning @Busy-Lizzie. You have an industrious day ahead of you. How is your knee these days? Just pace yourself on the jobs you have planned. Shame about the peach tree though.

 

Morning all, what a change in the weather! We have 18c and heavy drizzle again. 20 deg cooler than a couple of days ago!
We had a peach tree but OH strimmed the bottom of it and it is no more
The electrician is here this morning doing some odd jobs like moving plugs and switches to more accessible places.

 

Good Morning all.

Didn’t have time to check in with yesterday’s chat so consider yourselves all ‘liked’.

Much cooler today despite a no-show from the rain. Just planning my day but I’ve already started pruning a dead branch from my big Ceanothus and I’m still in PJs!

May your Friday be as relaxing, productive or pleasant as you wish for.

 

No rain here, yet, but decidedly cooler. I'll have to water if we don't get any soon.
@steephill glad the system eventually worked well for you. Hope nobody was injured in the fire.
@RowlandsCastle it might only be one peach, but it looks a mighty fine one.
Sorry to hear about the demise of yours @Busy-Lizzie and @floralies
My hub has been dismantling our old BBQ and it's now ready to take to the recycling depot, along with the acres of cardboard packing for the chair. Deep joy, a visit to the tip.

 

We've had nine peaches in total. However, that was the first blueberry, and there's only two more.
Admittedly, we only planted it earlier in the season, so I never expected any this year.
I didn't expect any peaches either.

 

Good nearly afternoon for the Blighties (not Blighters!!)

Decided to make a bit pot of ratatouille this morning. All done and cooked and I had a plateful for lunch. Delicious!!

Still hot here @Busy-Lizzie @floralies and @Obelix-Vendée Golly! 18°C that is really really cool!!

I have tidied up the kitchen and am now sitting in a cool room for the rest of the day. A bottle of cold filtered water at the ready and cold hibiscus/blackcurrant tea chilling in the fridge. I even have a very naughty plain eclair, filled with strawberries and whipped cream to go with that later. Decadence!!

Enjoy the weather and whatever is your pleasure!!

 

Morning all. I was in the garden - strange weather, very warm, very windy, very black clouds - but got rained off half an hour ago. Proper rain, not normal Irish drizzle. It's also considerably cooler. Hope those of you who've been suffering with the heat are feeling some relief now, though it sounds as if parts of France are still sweltering. Glad you slept better, @Busy-Lizzie - nothing worse than struggling through the day following a sleepless night.

I can see an afternoon of "un-knitting" coming on, whilst watching Olympics.

 

Is anyone here an authority on hedgehogs? I assumed that the hog sleeping under our shed was male, but a photo from the wildlife camera, taken yesterday evening, shows a rather bulgy Mr(s) Spikey leaving his/her daytime home...

 

Out early this morning, and into Sidmouth before the free parking gets full up. Fairly quiet so far, the Folk Festival doesn’t really kick off until this evening, so we had a peaceful breakfast in a coffee shop, where we ran into some friends, then a wonderful walk along the river bank through the park. The Byes is a public open space with footpaths and a cycle path, with lots of specimen trees and a community orchard. We didn’t see any otters in the river today ,but quite a few fish, no idea what kind. It’s an area much loved by the local community and visitors alike. To enjoy similar river views, I suspect we’d have to drive to Dartmoor or Wales, but we can enjoy these almost on our doorstep.
Plenty of cloud to temper the sun here at home, so I might be able to dig a couple of holes for the potted hydrangeas without getting overheated. At least they will be near enough to the house to do some post planting watering. So far, we have escaped the storms and rain, but I’m sure they’ll get to us eventually.
I met a rather cute caterpillar making its way across the patio last night, and after a bit of a fight - it wouldn’t cooperate with the glass and card trick - I managed to relocate it to a safer spot in the shrubbery. Should have got a picture, but was able to identify it later as an elephant hawk moth. I hope he stays locally, so I might see him in his full glory.

 

Have done gardening and hung out washing. Too hot to be outside now.

How do you know that's a female hedgehog @Liriodendron?

 

Friday, almost 8AM here. already 79 degrees.
A splash of rain yesterday, more wind than water. Have some jugs of old fish tank water I can use at the base of some selected plants, full of good fish poop etc.

@Ladybird4 , have you ever noticed, during the winter, the base of the Yellow wax bell. After I clean out all the spent plant material in that area, there is a big round crusty disc ---remains of the Yellow Wax bell sleeping under it, amazing how in the spring through that disc the emerge, magic.

Hoping to make my way to the outlets in, west of me, about a 30 min drive. Thinking I can go on a parallel road that also has a Farmers Market on it and stop there also.
There's a couple shoes stores I want to get to, 1/2 price.

Well on to what ever. Have a grand day all.

 

I don't know it's a female, @Busy-Lizzie , just wondering if anyone on this thread knows how to tell. It's just that it's got a big bulge on its side, so I wondered if it was pregnant...

 

To be honest l don't know how to tell if a hedgehog is pregnant @Liriodendron .
There could be 2 possible explanations.
If it's out in daylight and is moving with purpose, it may well be a female building a nest. You may see her (?) coming back with nesting material in her mouth. The fact she's appearing from under a shed may well be the case.

Please don't be tempted to try and look underneath to see, unless you know she's not in the area. If a nest is disturbed, it has been known for the mother to kill or abandon the hoglets.

The other option may be that the lump is a sign of something serious, and the hedgehog is out in the day as a sign of being in distress.
If you have a local hedgehog or wildlife rescue, it might be worth giving them a call.

 

In case some of you are loosing sleep over this information I'll catch you up. As you know we had to cancel the trip with the show car because of the rain in KY. So also canceled the restaurant for my birthday in Pittsburg, PA. So now my birthday restaurant dinner will be at Barberet Bistro and Bakery - Modern French Influenced - Barberet first time there, heard good things about, and reviews are great. about a 44 min drive for us.

 

Thanks for that, @AnniD .

The hedgehog built its nest under the shed a month ago, and we've positioned the wildlife camera so we can see it coming and going. It leaves the shed around 7.30pm each evening, and returns around 5.15am. It has more than one entrance/exit since the shed is raised on concrete blocks set at intervals underneath, and after young magpies started showing a lot of interest in the hog returning as it was getting light in midsummer, it stopped using the "front door" it had made use of when making its nest. Other than when it was nest building, we've not seen it out during the day, which is good news, I think. There's no possibility of looking under the shed, fortunately, even if we wanted to, without standing on my head..

Perhaps we could monitor the hedgehog's appearance for a few days, and contact Hogsprickle, the local hedgehog rescue, if it continues to appear "lumpy"?