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Davit
12-06-15, 08:23
Well I didn't want it to be just gardening or my other hobby wood work so post what you do for hobby, hell post what makes you happy.

In summer I garden and in winter I do wood work, I will add pictures next time.

MyNameIsTerry
12-06-15, 09:01
I do a fair bit of reading (mostly historical fiction, adventure, fantasy, etc), I walk daily and used to like doing this in the countryside, taking my dog for walks and playing with him is fun too. I have quite an interest in fermented foods and I'm gearing up to start fermenting my own probiotic drinks and maybe make some probiotic cheese.

I want to get back into drawing which I haven't done since school a couple of decades ago now! So, I've bought a book and some materials to see how it goes.

I would like to get into cycling as I used to love that when I was a kid and I'm not far from the countryside so I can get to some nice places. Struggling to find the space at the moment though.

Davit
13-06-15, 00:14
I just realized all my best pictures are on my other computer which doesn't have google chrome.

It is cooler today which will help the cabbage transplants with shock. I'm going out shortly to transplant peppers to my little green house. Part of the bigger greenhouse is going to be fallow. Quack grass has got in and I need to dig it up. This year my potato patch is fallow and a third of the other garden. I put the potatoes in the garden this year. (300 hills) With a tiller on a tractor it only takes minutes to bury any weeds that come up. (in the fallow parts) Last year some thistle got missed and this year it has popped up proud. My garlic is very happy in a flower bed, happier than it has been anywhere else. I will put more in there this fall. Apples have set a lot of fruit so there will probably be a fruit drop as they do that. First time I saw the ground covered in little apples I was horrified, now I know it is necessary for big apples. I still have juice from last year. Black current bush is loaded, so are strawberries and raspberries. Elder berry bush set out new shoots and died.
They do that when they get a certain size. I'll cut it down and give it some planer shavings to change the soil PH. Blue berries need that too. I kept the ground around the black berries clean so thistle has moved in there. Going to make a thistle tool, It is a piece of pipe with the end cut and ground to look like a narrow trowel that you push down beside the thistle and pry it out. A tree planting spade works good if the soil is light.

So off to get those peppers in so I can have my house back. There have been plants started inside since March. Peppers are the last to go out and I'm late by quite a bit at that.

---------- Post added at 16:05 ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 ----------

I mix my compost into the little greenhouse beds. While cleaning it up for the peppers I found three peach seedlings and a Bells of Ireland and a big lettuce. Years ago I had two peach trees on their second year when I had to go to hospital. They never got watered so died. They would be producing now if they lived.

---------- Post added at 16:14 ---------- Previous post was at 16:05 ----------

I make sauerkraut in 4 ltr glass jars on the counter. They hold eight pounds of shredded cabbage and it is ready in as little as eight days. Good stuff, not processed so it is crisp, not mush. I have made yoghurt cheese from goats milk when I had goats.

jake1234
13-06-15, 01:55
Davit has inspired me to make 2016 the year of the garden. I take a lot of pride in keeping my landscaping around my yard look like a golf course. I figure next year I'll take that extra step and work on a huge garden.

My other hobbies are playing guitar. I recently picked up a bass and learning something new always takes your mind off any existing worries. Recently I've been trying to force myself to learn new things at work, but frankly, I have no interest in it anymore. I much prefer doing house projects. My tastes have changed as I've gotten older.

swgrl09
13-06-15, 02:05
I am just learning how to garden. It's hard enough for us to grow grass!!

I used to love music. I sing, play saxophone, and taught myself guitar. However over the years I stopped doing it for various reasons. I would like to be involved again and may look to join some local groups if I can find any.

Davit
20-06-15, 06:06
It finally rained and so I can transplant raspberries if the ground is as wet as it looks. There are some coming up in the strawberries where they don't belong and lots under the apple trees. Some in the squash.

Mosquitoes are out now making life unpleasant. They come in when I let the cat in too. Every few years we get a bad mosquito summer and just live with it. Last two summers were good. I have a net and repellant. Still I don't like them. Soaker hose wasn't keeping up so this rain will have done the strawberry patch good. Five days of sun coming up. There will be lots of strawberries ripen. Using this wet time to clean house. Thinking about raspberry pie. I have a huge toad in my greenhouse, bet he likes the mosquitoes.

MyNameIsTerry
20-06-15, 06:24
Yeah, I bet he does. He will probably enjoy munching on any slugs you have too.

Lots of vitamin C coming up for you then. Do you sell any of your fruit?

Carnation
21-06-15, 00:15
I love Gardening. Anything that is outside.
I used to play piano and guitar; self taught like you SWgrl. Played semi-pro years ago, but too old now. But, love to listen to music.
Used to draw, and like you Terry, I must start up again.
Used to play snooker, but know where to go to do that.
Love animals, have a cat which is like a dog.
Walking, watching nature and star gazing.

p.s. Davit, I don't know what has happened to my lettuces, but they are growing outwards instead inwards????? :shrug: But, my celery is doing really well. :)

Davit
21-06-15, 01:01
Terry, I just give away any excess, There usually isn't much. Apples though I have too many and do give away quite a few.

Carnation, is it leaf lettuce not head lettuce. Even head lettuce like cabbage will have a lot of loose leaves before it makes a head. Early yet. Celery needs a lot of water, it doesn't do well here. Ends up hollow. Still the leaves are good.

Carnation
21-06-15, 01:13
Davit, they are Gem Lettuces. So I suppose that comes under a head.
Each seed has produced about 6-8 leaves and they are bending outwards instead of curling inwards and meeting at a point at the top. The leaves look healthy, but I have never grown anything before, so I don't know what I should do with them. I have a bout 50 of them, in different stages.
My celery is doing so well and I don't know why. My Mum said it is difficult to grow them and you are right they do need a lot of water. They take it everyday.
I am proud of them. :)
Tomatoes are doing well. And what do you know about broccoli?

Davit
21-06-15, 03:40
Your lettuce is a long way from making heads, Broccoli needs a lot of room and will get about a meter tall. When you cut the head it will form more, cut off all but the best two new heads or just leave them. Green caterpillars from the white cabbage moth love them. I just pick them off.

You can cut some leaves off most of your lettuce and leave only a few to make heads. If lettuce grows too slow it gets bitter. bone meal will encourage root growth so they take up more food. Don't mulch close if your ground is wet, you will get slugs. Remove lower tomato leaves so they don't touch the ground. When they set fruit cut the stems that have just leaves back about half way. Remove the branches starting in the forks or you will have a jungle. Don't remove any fruit spurs.

MyNameIsTerry
21-06-15, 05:30
And what do you know about broccoli?

It's green and a good source of iron. :D

---------- Post added at 05:30 ---------- Previous post was at 05:25 ----------


Don't mulch close if your ground is wet, you will get slugs.

We have a pond so we get armies of the things. But we also get frogs so I would imagine a fair few get slurped by them. We get a couple of families of blackbirds too and I've seen them eating them. The empty snail shells have a lot of suspicious pointy impact points so they must be eating them too as I'm always finding loads of them.

I didn't know they ate slugs. Although I was once sitting by the pond and watched a bumblebee fall down the waterfall into the pond and within 2 seconds one of our fish had gobbled him up! :ohmy: I didn't know they ate them either but fish tend to eat pretty much anything, dead or alive, I guess.

Because of all the slugs, we have periods where they come under back door and leave trails in the kitchen. I've found that slug barrier gel prevents this 100%. Luckily the slugs aren't as adventurous as the snails...I've seen those up near the bedroom windows at times!

Davit
21-06-15, 07:04
Copper reacts with there slime, they won't cross it.

Wow, I have a pond too. I don't have slugs that bad, Maybe one or two in a row in the garden mostly on cabbage or potatoes.

MyNameIsTerry
21-06-15, 07:51
We tend to have some pretty fat frogs, at times.

We also live near a crossed over resourvoir, one of the underground ones, so we probably get hedgehogs coming through but we never seem to see any. They love slugs!

We get the copper tape in the garden centres around here, bit pricey though, Probably cheaper to bulk buy and make it.

Rennie1989
21-06-15, 10:04
My two hobbies which I really enjoy are writing and knitting. I write blogs on mental health (http://positive-mental-health.blogspot.co.uk/) and novels. When I'm in the midst of writing my novel I am very much in my happy place.

I started knitting when my mental health got bad, I could not go any further than garter stitches and scarves for a long time, now I knit toys for friends at work. Here's some of what I've done:

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11537708_10155597873220577_5382306052503639935_n.j pg?oh=5a923f3d89ad92687d2d78d1a3eae3f4&oe=56271161

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/11051775_10155198513540577_1134181399647371910_n.j pg?oh=847cd3b58f067d09ec5843503554cb11&oe=56234F9E

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/11110873_10155326818435577_494646024719859992_n.jp g?oh=b3366c710ac6249f47e99aff45d6587f&oe=55EE05AD

MyNameIsTerry
21-06-15, 10:08
They're really good, Rennie. Loving the owls!!!

My mum knits a lot. She always makes baby clothes and then donates them to DMH to sell.

Rennie1989
21-06-15, 10:23
Thank you, although I still think that my owls are on narcotics o.O

That's honourable of her. I've thought about donating to the shop in the hospital where I work but they seem to be inundated in donated knitted toys and clothes. My colleagues are happy to pay for mine, which helps the purse!

Carnation
21-06-15, 15:42
Davit, thank you so much. :)
My lettuces are already huge! So, I will do what you said.
The tomatoes plants are already junglised and I have been removing the new growth in between, but I will shorten the dead branches like you said.
I am pleased you told me about the broccoli, I had no idea they needed a lot of room.
Iron? I could with a lot of that at the moment.

Rennie, I love the owls. :)

Davit
21-06-15, 18:59
Yeah, love the owls.

Going to check that site, sound interesting. I'm always gathering information.

Jimpy
21-06-15, 19:35
Them owls are great :)

Davit
21-06-15, 21:17
Rennie

I read your blogs with interest. It helps me to know what people elsewhere have available for free help. It appears to be little in the UK. Not so in this part of Canada. Talk therapy can go on for years every week. And it is free. You don't hear us quoting books because we have no need for them. There are a few good books, but they are outweighed by therapies that are outdated, don't fit todays lifestyle or take forever page after page to give you nothing but another coping skill and nothing cognitive. My grandmother could lecture me on just do it, but she is from a different era. Back then you could bull through things because there was only a fraction of the stressors there are today. I'm 64 and badly physically disabled. I could not get to a course or sit through it although My Therapist wanted me too. So I have been using the internet, but not blindly. And that takes a lot of reading to sift the wheat from the chaff. You can say anything on the internet. But also there is some very good information. A large part of my information came by way of my therapist over five years. Some of it as recommended sites. Some very technical. Some was very eye opening and some was too close to home and needed days to absorb. I found a connection to how the brain works and mental conditions. I also found it does not malfunction, it can not. But it can use the wrong information to function. Garbage in, garbage out in a way. The exception is schizophrenia and bipolar and psychopaths. There the brain is wired different from normal. The first two can have relatively normal lives on medication.
These no help outdated books are not making what I am trying to do any easier. They lie about only one thing. CBT, coping is not CBT it is only behavioural. It is only a small part of CBT. It cures nothing.
I write but find little time to. At the request of a friend I put all she needed to know in a book and sent it to her. 47 pages, 25000 words but it covers anxiety and panic pretty thorough. It has information that is not on the net too.

I like what I am doing but often get frustrated and feel I should give up. It is hard to get people past coping, since so much of life is coping. But then I remember how I was and how I am now and push CBT, real CBT, some more.

Davit
22-06-15, 20:28
I'm going outside to face the mosquitoes and weed. Rain made the grass grow too.
I've spent too much time on here and my garden and house have been neglected. I need to change that. My carrots are thick as dog hair and need to be thinned. Strawberries are turning red. Out of the three varieties I planted last year I now know which I want. There will be lots of sucker transplanting. Going to get hot and dry again so I will be back to using the sprinklers.

Rennie1989
23-06-15, 14:05
I can see what you mean that the old theraputic approaches are old-fashioned, but psychoanalysis is very different today than it was when Sigmund Freud practiced it, as it is with CBT from Ellis and Beck and humanistic approach from Perls- who literally argued with his clients! But what I have learnt is that the different approaches has different uses. I feel more in control with my anxiety and panic attacks than I ever have been, thanks to CBT, but I now know that I need psychoanalysis to explore my childhood in regards to my depression, which is far from controlled. Humanistic and person-centred counselling is the most popular, by far, and has fantastic results because it allows the person to explore their own world and their own problems without being prodded and poked by their therapist, which does happen in psychoanalysis and CBT.

My theories on what causes mental illness is far more broad than just neurological, I believe there is biological influences (inflammation, endocrine), sociological influences (relationship with society) and psychological influences (how you think and feel about things, how you see yourself in your world). I think I have touched upon them in my blog but it has yet to be of benefit to somebody. If I found out that my depression was caused by psychological issues it would not make the depression go away.

Thank you for reading and taking interest in my blog.

Davit
23-06-15, 20:48
I think the problem with CBT is that people think it is one thing and doing one thing will cure them. It is in fact many things dealing with many things and six to eight weeks doesn't even touch the surface. I believe like you there are many things influencing it not just thought, thought is just the conveyance to get it where it does it's damage. Feed back is one of these thoughts. Hypothalamus sends pituitary instructions. Feed back sends back the reaction. It becomes an update directing the next reaction. Hypothalamus tries to make a correction with the information it has. It can only use what it has.
It can get stuck in a loop of "this is what we did last time". (panic) You have to consciously break into the loop and say try something different. But you have to have a reason to because core beliefs are directing it (along with mood)(mood picks the core to use)
Since so many cores (spin offs) come from cores built in childhood a self search can reveal some damaging thoughts you are not aware you have. At three years of age I built a negative core and it and it's spin offs directed my life for fifty years. Some of the spin offs though negative had a positive effect. EG: I have to be the best I can be gave me a good work ethic. It also got me to look for the right answers when dealing with my anxiety, panic and phobias. It could have turned into OCD but didn't. No short cuts, a lot of study and cross reference. A lot of what doesn't work anymore to discard. And I won.

Analyzing your life and your thoughts is going to open some surprises but also give you answers you need. It certainly helped me.

Carnation
24-06-15, 00:15
I know I had issues as a child and a teenager that I carried with me in to adult life.
I turned to music from an early age and created a fantasy world for myself to keep bad thoughts and sad moments at bay.
I have spent most of my Life trying to please others, especially my Parents to no avail. I now try and do what I want to do as much as I am able.
I have always had a problem with refusing or saying NO. I hate arguments and I tend to think my thoughts rather than voice them and I have had a problem with expressing how I feel, especially when I am unhappy. I don't think anyone listens anyway. (Not on here, I am referring to people in my Life).
I have always been creative and I tend to put my emotions in to my creativity.
Like playing an instrument. Playing the 'Blues' on guitar can be very satisfying.
Drawing a picture, writing a poem or story, landscaping a garden, making a sculpture and so on.
I actually feel like two people. The real me in my fantasy/art time and the robot type with normal day to day life.
My goal is to eventually move by the sea, to be able to feel free and breath healthy air and live my fantasy and become the real me, all of the time. :)

Davit
24-06-15, 02:16
Do they have mosquitoes by the ocean, I just brought a whole bunch into the house with me. They are bad this year.

Country is expensive but worth it, I'm sure it would do you a lot of good. I was weeding onions but it started to rain so I'm going to make chilli in the slow cooker. I still have onions from last year. Almost out of garlic.

Carnation
24-06-15, 02:26
Davit, you are always so busy. Do you ever get any rest?

My tomato plants are looking good, thanks to your tips.
My lettuces look better too. Celery has been no bother, I just keep giving it loads of water and it is happy. (I think it is an alcoholic!) :D

They have lots of May bugs in Norfolk. They are really big and quite frightening.
I used to have a nest of them in my old garden and they used to keep head-butting the kitchen window when I was washing-up at night. :scared15:

Davit
24-06-15, 03:27
No wife, I have do do my own cooking and cleaning. Laundry practically does itself, dishes aren't many and I try to keep something in the freezer for tired days. Lasagna, shepherds pie, chilli, spaghetti sauce, soup. Some other stuff. Mini pizzas are handy. I slice my bread and freeze it too so it is always fresh. Biggest chore right now is watering flower beds. Garden has sprinklers on a pump out of one of my ponds.

Davit
24-06-15, 03:56
This is a past garden in the fall.

Carnation
25-06-15, 01:03
Wow! That's a big piece of land. I bet it also looks stunning in the Winter.

Davit
25-06-15, 02:37
I kept 6.3 hectares when I sold the farm. There are five old beaver ponds for ducks and geese and other wildlife. Some wild berries, no neighbours on this side of the road. Land to hunt for Jasper cat. One neighbour on the other side on the farm I sold him. This is common in parts of Canada.

Carnation
25-06-15, 02:49
You sold you neighbour???? :D:D

Davit
25-06-15, 03:11
I subdivided and sold the balance. We can have four feet of snow on the ground by spring. Driveway can have eight foot banks where I or my neighbor push it up. Usually my neighbor.

Carnation
25-06-15, 23:53
What a lovely place you have Davit.
How far away is your nearest neighbour, because you do look very isolated.
You must be Panic free, because I would fret like mad if I was out in the wilds; or would I?

Davit
26-06-15, 01:02
My nearest neighbour is a quarter of a mile away across the road but at the far end of the property. It was part of the agreement that he wouldn't build anything close. Next is 3 KM away. Going the other way is about the same. Everything around me is treed crown land. Behind me is a nature preserve. Nearest store is a general store with post office and one gas pump. It is 18 km. The other way is a village with bigger stores and 2000 people it supplies. This is a narrow valley between two mountain ranges with farms and acreages either side of the road and river that runs through it. A lot of lost dreams here. A lot of people are here because they want the isolation and are very independent keeping their roads open in winter with a tractor. Some acreages across the river from me don't even have power. There side of the river is accessed by a surplus WW2 single lane baily bridge.
The railroad is on that side as is the general store. You can purchase a ticket on the internet and the train will stop for you. No bus stop that is in the village. When it gets down to -30 some people like me don't go anywhere. Outside for more firewood is all and to feed animals if they have them. There are lots of retired people here, some came to avoid the draft in the states. Some just because of Canada's health system. There are events every month and dances, farmers markets and an indoor market once a week in winter. A three day music festival that gets musicians from as far away as Australia, and people as far away as 5000 km. Nearest city is 210 km. nearest park is 160km.
And there is the internet to bring the world to our doors without the people. We have a hospital. Excellent ambulance service. Including helicopter if needed and city to city by lear jet or turbo prop if needed. I've rode both.

The UK would fit in BC and London probably has more people than the north half of BC.
Our roads are wider than yours. Some of our doctors are from the UK.

But you might not like the isolation here or the mountains. There are roads up most of them. If not there are hiking trails up them, the trail behind me is 8km and goes to a natural arch. There are mountain goats up there.

Carnation
26-06-15, 01:22
What a very different world you live in compared to me.
The way you describe it, it sounds like paradise, but I don't think I would like the -30 temperature. :ohmy:

Davit
26-06-15, 01:34
It only lasts a few days, last winter was pretty mild. It rained part of it. It is paradise except when the mosquitoes are bad. We are far enough north we can still grow apples without the parasites like codling moth so we can grow most stuff organic. We grow some very fine garlic. I grow most of what I need. Summers are too dry for my liking now. This weekend it will be 34C. I don't like it that hot. Strawberries and raspberries do though. My flower beds will love it.

MyNameIsTerry
26-06-15, 04:28
Sounds very nice to me. A peaceful, honest and hard working paradise. Better than living in the rat race and status chasing.

Davit
27-06-15, 04:54
Hot today. Good day to mow lawns but the lawn mower died. 30C had to wait till it cooled a bit. Managed to weed spinach and Swiss Chard. One twenty foot raised bed is my goal for a day. Onions are done (four beds, 600 onions) Carrots are too small yet. Squash are weeded. Green houses weeded mostly. Beets are still too small, so I guess it is potatoes. Mosquitoes were not as bad today till evening. Picked another four cups of strawberries. I'll freeze some. Getting lot of flowers in the flower beds. Peony flowered but it is plain white. Still pretty. Black Iris has seed pods but might have crossed with the blue.

Valerian has flowers and bees so I should get seed. It is two years old. One more year before I dig it up. I'm going to dry some leaves. Time for tea and think about a movie. Time to shut off the sprinklers.

Rennie1989
27-06-15, 19:52
I think the problem with CBT is that people think it is one thing and doing one thing will cure them. It is in fact many things dealing with many things and six to eight weeks doesn't even touch the surface. I believe like you there are many things influencing it not just thought, thought is just the conveyance to get it where it does it's damage. Feed back is one of these thoughts. Hypothalamus sends pituitary instructions. Feed back sends back the reaction. It becomes an update directing the next reaction. Hypothalamus tries to make a correction with the information it has. It can only use what it has.
It can get stuck in a loop of "this is what we did last time". (panic) You have to consciously break into the loop and say try something different. But you have to have a reason to because core beliefs are directing it (along with mood)(mood picks the core to use)
Since so many cores (spin offs) come from cores built in childhood a self search can reveal some damaging thoughts you are not aware you have. At three years of age I built a negative core and it and it's spin offs directed my life for fifty years. Some of the spin offs though negative had a positive effect. EG: I have to be the best I can be gave me a good work ethic. It also got me to look for the right answers when dealing with my anxiety, panic and phobias. It could have turned into OCD but didn't. No short cuts, a lot of study and cross reference. A lot of what doesn't work anymore to discard. And I won.

Analyzing your life and your thoughts is going to open some surprises but also give you answers you need. It certainly helped me.

(Sorry, I know I'm going off the original topic)

What you said was interesting 'I have to be the best I can be gave me a good work ethic. It also got me to look for the right answers when dealing with my anxiety, panic and phobias. It could have turned into OCD but didn't'

From a therapist point of view I could challenge why you have to be the best, and what would happen if you did not achieve this. Maybe this is something you could ask yourself? But it sounds like you have a pretty good awareness of your core belief, in that you have a good balance of the perfectionism trait in that it is enough to promote work performance but not too much that it causes issues. I don't think there is anything wrong wanting to do things to the best of your ability as long as there's an awareness that you alone can only do so much and humans can make mistakes, which is OK. Allow yourself to make mistakes as these allow us to learn.

I learnt something interesting about synapses and how repeated behaves creates bigger and stronger synapses. This is an issue in panic, anxiety and depression because these unhelpful synapses can be hard to 're-route'. One of mine was obsessive checking. Learning to behave differently, thus changing these synapses, is hard and takes a long time, hence why there is NO quick fix to these.

Davit
27-06-15, 20:51
Rennie,

I read that at 18 years of age the mind drops half it's pathways in the mind to be used to strengthen essential routes in preparation for becoming adults. These spare routes double up with existing ones. Because electrical impulses are controlled by resistance these doubled up paths have less resistance and so neurons travel faster. Negative or positive makes no difference. I don't think it happens overnight, I believe it is on an as needed basis. So anxiety certainly could create these stronger synapses with repetition. Lack of use makes them salvageable. Constant positive thought weakens these routes from lack of use and strengthens the positive non anxiety routes. Amygdala has it's own memory so we will still have the ability to react in a danger situation, but Hypothalamus will not be able to add to it, positive thought makes Hypothalamus use positive memories because it has no reason not too. This cycles back to Amygdala for future use telling it not to panic for no reason. EG: thinking positive or negative conditions Amygdala and this condition directs Hypothalamus to use either positive or negative memory. Constant use strengthens the synapses in either a good or bad way.

SSRIs shut down some of the paths across the synapses but they reopen upon withdrawal. This is okay if they are now used for positive but a nightmare if they are still used for negative. Calcium helps Serotonin do it's job by carrying instructions from Hypothalamus.

When you salvage a negative route it holds back the thought that it happened so you can still put the anxiety back together using other memories. (sometimes warped and inaccurate) Each neuron is connected to a thousand others so alternate pathways just take longer to use. But once used they get stronger.
The hard part is getting people to break out of their shell and think different.

---------- Post added at 12:51 ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 ----------

I still have to be the best I can, but because it pays in the long run, not because I'm not good enough. Different core now.

Davit
28-06-15, 02:38
Woke with sore shoulders and flared. Took more pills but can not do my gardening today. That bothers me. It was hard enough with the heat and mosquitoes but to barely be able to move is unpleasant. My one source of anxiety even though I shut it down and it never causes panic it is still annoying. Above 30C is far too hot to work in. I did water flower beds and will go back out to water green houses. I wanted to take the tiller off the tractor and put the mower on but don't think I can get on the tractor. Being old it was always a chore anyway. I like mowing, it makes the place look less ragged. Still going to be 11C tonight. No breeze to help with the mosquitoes. Time to turn the sprinklers on too. Need to check my data usage to see if I can keep watching movies. New provider so I could spend more time on here so I have to check Data usage. Only fifty gig a month. 13 days left. Might have to get some from the library.
Tomorrow will be another day, flares don't last, I will be back gardening and feeding mosquitoes.

blue moon
28-06-15, 10:37
Gee try living and work in 45c with mossies the size of roos,then you can complain...:mad:

Davit
28-06-15, 15:46
Your choice to live there. I wouldn't. At least we don't have west nile, snakes or poisonous spiders. Just right now hoards of little tiny mosquitoes and they will pass. A good forest fire will smoke them out.

Carnation
28-06-15, 18:13
Davit, use this time to have a well earned rest. Don't get frustrated, as they say; 'tomorrow is another day'. :)

Davit
28-06-15, 20:09
I'm going to clean some house even though I'd rather cut thistles and feed mosquitoes. I have to water. Flower beds and green houses take about an hour and a half. Sprinklers and soaker hose is all on valves and separate hoses, nothing to move. So that is all I have to go out for. It will go back down into the twenties in a couple days, might even rain. Still thinking about rhubarb pie. Lots of strawberries now.
Flare passed yesterday so I got the brush hog mounted on the tractor and mowed an hour. Five foot cut covers a lot of ground. Power steering and power brakes makes it easier than driving to town. Kind of fun in a challenging way.

blue moon
29-06-15, 03:01
Yes We did choose to live in Aus,I came from a country where No I am not going there,you would not understand.WE do not have so called ñile snakès,but funnel web spiders that can kill lot of deadly taipan,brown snakes that would like you and your garden.:roflmao:

Davit
29-06-15, 03:17
I live in the sticks but still know what is happening in the area you come from. I didn't start it, no one in my country did. You have a right to be angry. Just not with me. This is getting personal.

Well now we know what your hobby is.

blue moon
29-06-15, 04:20
I was not angry with you but now I am,
I do not think it is getting personal,just saying what a lot of people on here are thinking.

You enjoy your evening,I know I will.:D

Davit
29-06-15, 05:10
So how did the vote go, No one has told me I was voted out. I could go or just stay in PM. It is getting busy. I have netflix now but it doesn't have much of the British programming I like.

And all you people thinking, skip your spokes woman and tell me direct, you can't hurt my feelings. I supposedly don't have any.

This is my thread I can say what I want, only I or the moderators can delete it.

Davit
29-06-15, 22:57
I have a full wood working shop The lathe is my favourite tool but the fun tool is a scroll saw Relaxing and distracting and I can spend hours with it.

The bench straddles a row and I sit on it and weed. Trivets were made for Aline

Some candle sticks went to derbyshire, most are across Canada, some in the states. The cake dish has a pattern in the core wood that looks like a rose. It was firewood so has cracks. There is a matching bowl, plate and short fat candle holder. Given away.

I have ornaments and scale models too.

Davit
01-07-15, 04:32
Had company today, rained too so no gardening. Cats are in hiding from the rain. Thunder and lightning, some close. Most hit the mountains.

Davit
03-07-15, 00:04
Bloody hot, going to try weeding for an hour any way. Running sprinklers every day. Getting so dry. Yesterday the mozzies were bad. No wind today. Rain does little good.

newme
03-07-15, 22:28
Quilting is a hobby of mine. I have been thinking about doing a Log Cabin quilt next. Of course that means staying off the computer, forums and social networks. So yes this will turn out to be three positives for me. Turning the negatives into positives again with positive distractions is the key for me.

Carnation
03-07-15, 23:04
Davit. How long can tomato plants go without water before dying?

Davit
03-07-15, 23:21
Not very long. There are products that give off water slow over a week end and there are pop bottle waterers that use a two litre pop bottle and a spike. Without evaporation they dry out and die. if they are in pots you put them in a bath tub with an inch of water.

---------- Post added at 15:21 ---------- Previous post was at 15:20 ----------

Or there is soaker hose.

Carnation
03-07-15, 23:41
Oh Dear. That's 200 tomatoes diminished.
I have been staying at my Mums and there was supposed to rain last Wednesday, but it didn't come. So I think I will have lost them. :weep: 4 months work down the drain.

Davit
03-07-15, 23:49
It happens, but wasn't it a fun four month. Learning is never a loss. You have next year. If any are alive cut them off above the last live leaf and water. Keep dead leaves off and a shoot will come up in the fork.

newme
04-07-15, 17:00
Hi Davit.. Just wondering were you able to get outside to tend to your crops yesterday and how are they doing this year? As for me I finally sorted through my fabric yesterday and am getting ready to start cutting fabric for my next quilting project. So it was a good day for me being that I was finally able to stay focused on a positive distraction again.

Davit
04-07-15, 17:08
newme, I'm not getting any younger and never could take the heat. I did a bit but even people in better shape than me are finding it hard. When it does cool the mosquitoes come out. It would be fine if the mosquitoes were gone. My garden is not very good. Sprinklers are not the same as rain. Hydro is expensive, or I'd have soaker hose and pump 24/7.

Have you decided what this new quilt will be?

newme
04-07-15, 17:34
Davit, Sorry to hear about the heat there getting in the way of you working on your garden. I can't take the heat either anymore and have been inside the house with the a/c running this year.As for my new quilt I am not sure yet I am trying out a Log Cabin block for the first time so we will see. I may do a table top quilt this time for a oak table measuring 24" x 24". The Log Cabin block represents the heart of the home with the center being red representing the fire in hearth and the logs being fabric on either side of the hearth. one side being light fabric which represents the light from the fire in the hearth and the other side being dark fabric representing the shadows from the fire in the hearth. This block goes back for centuries. Anyway I am using red in the center with golds on one side and browns with a little red on the other from some fabric in my stash called the Red Rooster line. Some of it has chickens and lambs on it and some has birdhouses plus I will use various shades of brown and gold fabric for the logs too. Have you thought about working in your wood shop with a fan running this summer being that it is to hot to work outside? Woodworking is a very positive distraction and do seem to enjoy creating with this medium. You do create beautiful pieces.

dally
04-07-15, 18:00
Wow. You are so talented davit. Love the candlesticks and the trivets.
Do you sell them?

Davit
04-07-15, 18:16
My shop is cool, it is in the basement. I'm okay for something to do, Email and PM keep me busy. It is though just as tiring as weeding. I really miss siting on the deck especially as the flowers are quite nice right now. Two roses died last winter, they were not for this area. My lawn mower died so I ordered a new one. It will not be here for a few more days. Grass is getting very tall. I can mow in the heat if I sit every few minutes. Hope to till beside the potatoes so I can hill them. There is a lot of horse tail from some hay I tilled under. Very invasive.

---------- Post added at 10:16 ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 ----------

dally

No I give them away. A friend in derbyshire has some, there are some in parts of Canada and the US. My brother has quite a few and well we get power failures so I have some. My Therapist has my best work. I sent one to the first person to cure her Agoraphobia with my instruction. On the bottom I wrote, "now you don't have to live in the dark anymore".
(she is still panic free after five years)

Wood work is fun. The lathe especially. I like to let what is in the wood come out. Hidden grain can be very unique.

Sam123
04-07-15, 18:18
I have only just saw that woodwork Dave, i want it all! :D i love the candlesticks.

---------- Post added at 18:18 ---------- Previous post was at 18:16 ----------

I did woodwork in school and enjoyed it a lot but was never that good at it.

newme
04-07-15, 19:08
Keeping busy is good. Doing something you love is even better. I think we all need to take a little down time from the work and trials of daily life and never let ourselves forget to include some time in every day to give ourselves a little nurturing self care. I just cut my first piece of fabric, now if you pick up that first piece of wood I will be able to see your next creation.
Now that's something I'm looking forward to my friend....Well it's back to my project I must go for a little self nurturing.

Carnation
06-07-15, 00:09
Davit, my tomato plants are fine. :D
I have pulled off the dead leaves like you said.
I think another day or two and I would have lost them.
Counted at least 200 tomatoes in the making. :)
I also made sure that I had a conveyer belt of tomato plants and staggered my planting times, so I have at least another 8 plants, plus the other 8 I moved over to my Mums. If all successful, I will probably have enough to supply a Greengrocers. :D

Davit
06-07-15, 00:59
Carnation,

I'm very pleased to hear that. I have flowers coming is all so far but I will have tomatoes. They are Amana Orange. They can get as big as a slice of bread, are low acid and very meaty. Small seed pocket and very little water. Perfect for sandwiches. Ugly though. Look like small rough pumpkins. I only have eight.
Raspberries are starting. Too hot to work today, so just turned the sprinklers on. Besides todays attack has upset me more than I expected and I should have expected it. Tonight I might just watch a movie.

Carnation
06-07-15, 01:16
That sounds a good idea. Try and get some rest. :hugs:

Davit
06-07-15, 05:41
There are posts I would answer but don't know what sort of welcome I'll get. Some I see no one answers and that makes me sad.

MyNameIsTerry
06-07-15, 06:52
Some I see no one answers and that makes me sad.

Other people say that too and some just post to reassure although they state they don't know how to help so at least they don't feel ignored.

Some of the boards are very quiet, mostly OCD, Phobias, maybe Social Anxiety & Misc at times too. Its because the majority of people on here have HA or GAD really so those boards get a lot more traffic.

Davit
06-07-15, 08:40
Maybe I'll just say hi.

Ljj44577
25-11-15, 01:23
I like to write, listen to music, surf the Web, look up things on the Internet, watch videos on Youtube, relax, etc.

spanishbasqueheart
22-06-16, 01:20
I watch football/soccer and cricket both in person and on TV, go to Zumba classes, learn languages, read books (currently reading Obababiak by Bernard Atxaga) and travel too

Geminios
07-07-16, 12:01
love Learning new languages.