Bryan

Got to see our third grandchild again yesterday, he's coming up to to a year old and has started to walk. Took him to see the swans in Roundhay Park, Leeds and he had a go on the swings. No crying was heard. Shot some video. At the other end of the age spectrum, we attended a one year Covid postponed golden wedding party last night, along with other old friends. Life starting to get back to normal. 🙂

Good for volume at 25, but gross revenue disappointing at $371. Highest mid $$, but a distributor sale. A few tiddlers earning me less than a $ each. Some curious small debits and some additional small sources of income. Might start giving net income here as it more accurately describes the situation. Good to see some folk still making $$$ sales, and one at $$$$. Could use some of those.

I did it quite a while ago. The waiting around was a drag, but the few trials that I got to participate in were interesting - fortunately nothing gruesome. It was also interesting to see how the other jurors behaved, most took it seriously but a few just wanted to be away and wouldn't engage in the process in any meaningful way. However, having reached my 70th year and at the height of Covid, I was called again. This time I decided against it and sent a truthful account of my health issues. I was excused.

Have now lifted all of our blighted spuds. The second earlies are OK, they grow quite quickly, but the maincrop hadn't reached maturity. However slug/wireworm damage was evident in some of the tubers, so maybe just as well to get them out of the ground. Made the first Spanish Tortilla of the season using the Charlottes. also used some of our onions - apparently some people make Tortilla without onion, now why would you do that? - it was delicious. Probably by the time the Charlottes have all been used up we will be sick of the taste of Tortilla - but that's way ahead.

All this talk of plumbing reminded me of our troubles with our so called en suite shower/toilet. Located off the main bedroom, the principal users were our two sons, who would each shower twice a day. The missus and me prefer a bath. Anyway all of this showering caused water to get behind the tiles and eventually we had to have the walls rebuilt, and then we replaced the tiling with large sheets of some composite material. Finally, of course, the two lads flew the nest and we were left with an unused and unwanted protrusion into the bedroom. Over time the water in the waste water traps evapora

Programme on BBC radio 4 about the Indian photographer Deen Dayal

Yes finding it difficult to motivate myself to take photos to upload. Just logged a sale under the new contract and that was pretty discouraging. However nice to see some old faces still around.

In these parts the local council mows all of the grass spaces every fortnight or so throughout the summer. We've tried without success to have them reduce the amount of mowing they do, all that is needed is a roadside 1.5 m path cut through the grass and a check that drivers' sightlines are not impeded. I would much prefer to see wildflowers and an annual cut and rake. This would not only save money, but would also look much nicer, encourage wildlife, reduce the noise pollution, reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emitted, and release the staff to do more useful work, e.g. litter

Bad luck to have thunder but no rain! Likewise we need some rain. The last fell about 3 weeks ago and the gardens are becoming parched. Getting used to wandering about in shorts and sandals, surely this can't last. The water supply company is warning of a shortage but no hosepipe bans as yet. Weirdly we found the riverside footpath in Durham to be wet and muddy this afternoon, don't know where the water is coming from. There is a possibility of showers later in the week, if you can believe the weather gurus.

Wish I could be persuaded Andy, but the only thing I have found to work anything like effectively are slug pellets. I apply them sparingly within weighted yoghurt pots so that they are kept off the soil and not soaked by the rain. Also they are normally used in our brassica beds, which are netted to keep the birds off. So, hopefully, only the slugs take the hit.

Yes do that all of the time Allan, I collect the seeds every year and sow the next, works very well.

Yes we enjoyed the first of our Charlottes the other day, provided that you deal with the blight early enough, you still get a viable, if smaller, crop. Once upon a time amateur gardeners could use Bordeaux Mixture to control blight but it's probably a good thing that it has been withdrawn from sale. I try to garden organically, but I've not found an effective and sensibly priced organic alternative to a minimal use of slug pellets.

I've been using a Samsung ML2240 for years now. Proved to be reliable and cheap to run. Some while ago the paper feed gave trouble but replacing the feed roller cured that. In retrospect I should have tried cleaning the old roller first.

It's not uncommon Edo, but strange in that we haven't had any rain here for the past 3 weeks and blight is normally associated with damp conditions. It's a bit early this year too, usually we can grow a decent crop before we have to take action. Some years we escape it entirely. But there are far worse problems elsewhere in the world, e.g. fires in North America, flooding in Europe, China and India, drought in Iran etc.

Back to normal every day gloom, our spuds have blight. Lifted most of the Charlottes and cut the tops off the remainder of them and all of the maincrop. Not good as the maincrop is nowhere near fully grown. The Charlotte tubers are OK, but could have done with a few more weeks maybe. Must remember to plant some blight resistant varieties next year, if I can find any that are nice to eat. Outdoor tomatoes so far OK.