Saturday, 9 May 2020

Strange Times; End of Week 8

It really is Saturday again, even though it felt like Saturday yesterday,  funny how it comes around  quickly even when doing nothing.

Morrisons was my choice of shops for my fortnightly supermarket excursion. I'm loving driving at the moment, everywhere is so empty. Diss has one main road right through the town and it's usually a crawl through until the Morrisons roundabout, but now it's virtually empty - just drive straight in. I got to Morrisons just after 9 and there was no queue. Like everywhere else the flour shelves were empty but I'm still OK for flour, otherwise plenty of food for everyone.

Something very strange happened on Monday with my "Looking for a Cross Stitch Kit" post. It's so far got over 12,000!!!! page views. Normally each post gets between 700 and 1,500 depending on how boring it is. I'm not sure I believe 12,000 that's just silly, although the post from last month "A Little Bit of Stitching" also went mad with over 3,000 page views. Is stitch  or stitching some sort of code word?

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04/05/2020

Another strange thing happened overnight Wednesday. I went out onto the meadow Thursday morning and saw several of the plastic mesh barriers that Col made to go round the new trees were off the trees and laying in the middle of the footpath and the stakes that had held the plastic were broken and strewed all over the place. On closer inspection another couple of trees had been nibbled. So I reckon the culprit is a deer but this time one with antlers and as they put their head over the top of the plastic fence to get to the trees they got stuck and dragged the plastic off the trees with the wood stakes getting broken and dragged out of the ground too. Dear little Deer! Hooligans and vandals! Colin's Birthday wood has shrunk from the 40 we planted down to less than 20. High voltage electric fencing would be an answer! but perhaps not an idea for a meadow with a public footpath.

The vase on the table this week contains a collection of wild flowers from the meadow, just for a few days - they don't last long indoors. White dead-nettle, Cow parsley, Wild Geranium - perhaps they have another name - I forgot to investigate, and a bit of speedwell. It will be Aquilegia next, they don't last long indoors either.


 My 16 Brassica plug plants - 4 each of 4 different things-  arrived in the post on Thursday...............Just in time for heat followed by cold! So instead of planting them out I've done the equivalent of "heeling in" and popped them in some pots, covered the roots with soil, watered well, labelled them and stood them in a shady and sheltered spot where they will be OK  until one day next week.  Just waiting for the Melon plant now.

Yesterday I did the 6 mile bike ride around all the parts of the village to have a look at the bunting and flags, lots of people about and bunting and flags in several places. This village has the second largest acreage of all the villages in Suffolk so it's no wonder it's 6 miles around and even then it doesn't include two little bits.

This Hosta's looking good, it's outgrowing a huge pot so heavens' knows how I'm going to re-pot it into something bigger..




Don't forget to leave a comment on the Wednesday  1,000th post  if you would like to go in the draw for one of the 4 little giveaways. I'm doing the pull-a-name out-of-the-plastic-tub tonight and will let you know tomorrow who won.


This week I'm grateful for
  • The Brilliant blog readers who tracked down the cross stitch chart- Thank you everyone
  • Sunshine


Back Tomorrow with results of the draw for the little giveaways.
Sue

40 comments:

  1. I do like the vase of wildflowers. Shame about the deers' antics (or antlers).

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    1. I'm waiting for the next flowers from the cutting garden which should be the alstroemeria I think. In the meantime it's short term stuff on the table.
      There's no way to keep the deer out

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  2. Thinking to pick some wildflowers from the garden this morning. All the lovely ones are opening up now. Wonder what you can do about the deer problem?

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    1. 6 foot tall industrial fencing around each tree I think!!

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  3. How do you keep your hosta looking so good? I have one in a pot and the slugs have had a good go at it already.

    As for deer, I think a deer-proof fence is the only answer. My neighbour has strung up old CDs to protect his vegetables. I've never asked him if it works. They are a pain but I haven't seen one for a while *touches wood*.

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    1. Touching wood crossing fingers etc but there don't seem to be as many slugs here as other places I've lived

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  4. I picked cow parsley yesterday for my flowers in the house. I am not into having nettles in the arrangement though.

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  5. In Leicester they still call cow parsley by the old name "keck". I prefer the (slightly less old) name "Queen Anne's lace". Re blog post hits - you're right. Some people have "alerts" set up, so "cross stitch kit" will instantly generate hits. My post today has "Yoda" in the title. I suspect that my extra hits have come from Star Wars fans. You neve know, Sue, you might pick up regular followers through this. How often do we all discover a blog which we really like, quite by accident? Have a lovely weekend!

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    1. It's odd but we never called it anything other than Cow parsley - I'll look in my Suffolk words book.
      12,000 page views is really Very odd

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  6. I love seeing a little posy of wild flowers in a vase, but they don't enjoy being picked and never last long do they. But still a day or two of prettiness is well worth it.

    Maybe everyone is just looking for stitching ideas with the Sewing Bee programme is on or something like that, if it's not that I have no idea why your hits have gone up to such high levels. It's fascinating though.

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  7. Sorry about the Deer we have a coukd in the field behind me but they can not get thru the wire. Glad you had a nice bike ride. Lots if people really made an effort to decorate. I had a string of little flags out, my D and GD came in the after with a lovely after noon tea in the garden, my GD was very careful about the distancing she is 27yr and it worries her. It's a lovely sunny day here so I must do a little in the garden.
    Hazel c uk 🌈🌈🌈

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    1. Hope you got everything done in the garden - before the cold weather arrives tomorrow

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  8. My posts went mad too. I only get about 12 views per day but that day I had 599. I thought it was something to do with the post about blood donors!! How odd.
    Sorry to hear about your deer hooligans. Hopefully they will find somewhere else to go and leave your poor trees alone.

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    1. Spies from Russia!!
      I've just visited your blog - you have several in your reading list that I've not seen before - I shall investigate. Thank you for reading

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  9. A nice newsy post today Sue - you pack so much into your posts and it makes them such good reading, so thank you for that.

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  10. Those few wildflowers in a pot really do look charming. I love little bunches like that, they delight me in a way that florists flowers never do, something to do with their fragility and fleeting beauty, I suppose. Your bike ride sounds brilliant, three cheers for less traffic.

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    1. I think the Alstroemerias will be the next things from the cutting garden - florists favourites as they last for ages indoors

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  11. The vase of wildflowers are lovely. I don't think I'd buy any if I could pick them regularly, even if they do only last a few days.

    What a shame about the damaged trees. Will you re-plant more? Glad you managed to get the cross stitch chart. Have a lovely weekend. xx

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    1. I've got half a meadow of cow parsley!

      I don't think I will plant more trees. The huge Poplars around the edges take all the moisture and now deer visiting - so they would need a lot of watering and much better protection.

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  12. You could split your hosta - they recover quickly. We split and moved several of ours a couple of years ago and some of them are in need of splitting again, as they have tripled in size. Ranee (MN)

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    1. I'm not sure how I would get it out of the pot - can't lift it!

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  13. Your hosta looks very good, mine have been eaten by slugs again. Next time I will plant them in a pot and put grit around them. Helen S.

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    1. Luckily there don't seem to be many slugs here. I try and keep the pots away from other plants. Where we lived before I always put gritty stones on the top of the pots - sometimes it worked

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  14. It must be fun bike riding in Suffolk. It's so hilly here I find it hard to do more than 3 or 4 miles. I've been going out quite a bit recently after perhaps a decade not at all, and can now pedal up all the hills albeit with a couple of stops, but I don't have to walk now. I've never been one of those with all the kit who shoot past as if it's only the miles that matter. So with the hills you need gears. On Friday I changed gear and the gear change arm caught in the back wheel spokes and locked it all up. Skidded to a stop. Hand to carry the thing home. Fortunately the local bike shop was still open. "What can we do for you?" he asked, then glanced down, "Oh!, I didn't need to ask did I?" I am waiting to hear what it's going to cost.

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    1. The 6 miles circular is almost flat all the way which is good, just one nice downhill bit and one short walk up hill.
      I'm not sure what I would do if my bike broke down there are so few bike shops left, in fact I can't even think of one except for heading 20+ miles to Ipswich - and my bike wouldn't fit in the car!

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  15. I once got hopelessly lost on the way to Great Yarmouth and drove through Diss and then Stowmarket , i never worry about getting lost we live on an Ireland so how lost can you get ? Drives Mr BH batty ..lol

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    1. Yes you really were well and truly going in the wrong direction!!

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  16. I love wild flower posies - much nicer than bought flowers. Shame about the deer damage, but how lovely to have deer nearby. Got to look on the bright side! Your hosta looks very healthy, mine are just slug and snail food, sadly. I don't like to use slug pellets and have tried all sorts to deter them but they're determined little beggars! xx

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  17. Flowers are always uplifting. Am enjoying the ones in the garden right now. Arilx

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  18. I looked up your flour shortage...it seems only 15% of UK's flour is packaged for selling in grocery stores. The rest is sold in bulk. There's enough flour but it cannot be quickly repackaged for home use. Same as with many other food staples here. There is an online source set up with a map for people to buy flour for personal use from restaurants and bakeries who are now closed. [if you run out]. I have flour but am also using oatmeal and buckwheat and rye flour, all very tasty.
    The wildflower bouquet is so sweet.

    lizzy

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    1. Yes the flour in sacks and bulk rather than bags is a fact we've heard about - not easy to do anything about but lots of small bakeries are re-packaging and selling flour from their shops.

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  19. Gorgeous hosta, it is really doing very well.

    God bless.

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  20. Friday felt like Saturday to me too and Yesterday felt like Sunday. it didn't help that I had a roast dinner, I suppose.
    A beautiful hosta - such a fresh, cheering green.
    That's a lot of views. There has to be a reason but apart from what you said, I can't think of one. It would be nice to know, wouldn't it?
    Have a lovely day.
    xx

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  21. Beautiful hosta, ours are so large this year too, must be the sunshine and added wet earlier I think.
    Sweet posy on the table from the meadow.
    Such a shame the deer have done damage.
    What a lot of views .... lucky you.

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  22. Split the hosta up and plant into your yard. Or give one to another for their yard.

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