Post a good thing that happened in your life today

[aphperspective]

3 hours ago, Shergar said:

I think a lot of folks are going to end up in that sub $250 group if things don't change.

The constant stream of small/tiny licences even with volume makes it hard, I contribute to live news but unless its "in print" still tough going. 

[Allan Bell]

I do not think A is A any more. It is PA. (Or is it AP)?

 

Allan

 

[Jose Decio Molaro]

On 20/03/2020 at 21:13, gvallee said:

Hoje é aniversário da minha outra metade. Estamos acampando, então servi o café da manhã dele ao ar livre com dois muffins de mirtilo e uma vela acesa em cada um. Foi agradável.

Congratulations.. here in Brazil, beginning of winter, temperature at 22 degrees and the June festivities started

[gvallee]

4 hours ago, Jose Decio Molaro said:

Congratulations.. here in Brazil, beginning of winter, temperature at 22 degrees and the June festivities started

 

Obrigada Jose. Eu viajei muitas veces para o Brasil. E um pais maravilhoso. Estou com saudades do Amazonas, 

[zxzoomy]

My pulled calf muscle is less painful today (rest, ice, compression, elevation is the usual advice). I could barely walk yesterday. I even managed to get photos of Armed Forces Day here in Manchester. 

 

 

 

[Bryan]

It's raining and our garden and allotment were both very thirsty. Having harvested a bumper crop of  overwintered broad beans and cleared the site I sowed a range of salad crops along with a row of wallflowers. We've had a good yield of strawberries and the rasps are starting to show, with the spring sown beans and peas coming along. 

 

Yesterday I spotted wooden pallets in a skip during building work in our street, and, having asked the builders, rescued them for use on the allotment. Spent the afternoon applying wood preservative to them in readiness for repairs to our compost bins.

 

Any bad news, well the overwintered onions have largely gone to seed, so I need to spend time cutting them up and retrieving what is possible to freeze.

[Betty LaRue]

I’ve been using my bone stimulator for a month. When I first tried it as supposed to, about 4 weeks post op, it reinstated severe nerve pain that I had just gotten over. I stopped it immediately and have been afraid to use it until recently. It is to help the bones in my spine fuse around the screws holding the rods. Sometimes with this kind of surgery, fusion fails.

Good news is it no longer causes nerve pain. The representative who supplied the unit told me that my nerve pain happened in only about 3% of patients.

Aren’t I unique!

Which reminds me, I need to take pictures of it. (A device that straps around my middle, covering front and back from low chest  to tailbone.

[wiskerke]

14 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

I’ve been using my bone stimulator for a month. When I first tried it as supposed to, about 4 weeks post op, it reinstated severe nerve pain that I had just gotten over. I stopped it immediately and have been afraid to use it until recently. It is to help the bones in my spine fuse around the screws holding the rods. Sometimes with this kind of surgery, fusion fails.

Good news is it no longer causes nerve pain. The representative who supplied the unit told me that my nerve pain happened in only about 3% of patients.

Aren’t I unique!

Which reminds me, I need to take pictures of it. (A device that straps around my middle, covering front and back from low chest  to tailbone.

 

Selfie! 😂

 

wim

[Betty LaRue]

3 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

 

Selfie! 😂

 

wim

🤣😁

[Bryan]

An elderly thrush has taken up residence in our garden, I managed to get a couple of shots of it, but it is a bit of a sorry specimen and not very photogenic. There appears to be a territorial dispute in progress between the blackbirds and the rather larger thrushes. The blackbirds have been nesting but I've yet to see any young. However our berberis bush is laden with berries and, in previous years, the birds have feasted on them and fed the fledglings. 

 

At my allotment I've carried out repairs to the compost bin using reclaimed wooden pallets. In an attempt to increase their lifespan I've mounted them on bricks and filled around the base with stones to improve drainage. 

 

We've had heavy rain recently with more forecast for today. This is good news for the gardens with peas, beans and soft fruit ripening. I ate the first pod of peas yesterday, taken raw, it would be a travesty to cook them !

 

Being dragged off to Newcastle today to visit the art gallery, I'll console myself with a coffee and cake.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Bryan

[Nigel Kirby]

3 hours ago, Bryan said:

An elderly thrush has taken up residence in our garden, I managed to get a couple of shots of it, but it is a bit of a sorry specimen and not very photogenic. There appears to be a territorial dispute in progress between the blackbirds and the rather larger thrushes. The blackbirds have been nesting but I've yet to see any young. However our berberis bush is laden with berries and, in previous years, the birds have feasted on them and fed the fledglings. 

 

At my allotment I've carried out repairs to the compost bin using reclaimed wooden pallets. In an attempt to increase their lifespan I've mounted them on bricks and filled around the base with stones to improve drainage. 

 

We've had heavy rain recently with more forecast for today. This is good news for the gardens with peas, beans and soft fruit ripening. I ate the first pod of peas yesterday, taken raw, it would be a travesty to cook them !

 

Being dragged off to Newcastle today to visit the art gallery, I'll console myself with a coffee and cake.

Love your garden posts Bryan have you thought about a separate post called "Bryans Allotments"

Best Nigel

[NYCat]

2 hours ago, Nigel Kirby said:

Love your garden posts Bryan have you thought about a separate post called "Bryans Allotments"

Best Nigel

 

Me too , Bryan. I have a neighbor whose family has a house on Long Island and there is a problem with their fence. I was able to find your post on fence posts and sent your information. She is most grateful.

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney]

 

Planting, growing, gardening -- I know nothing of these things. 86.4% of my veg comes from M&S. The other 13.6% I get at a little stand near the high street. I hope royal gardener Prince Charles does not export me, hearing this. I do pay my City Council Tax on time. 

 

Edo, a City Centre laddie. 

[Betty LaRue]

I’ve always had the pull toward gardening. Be it flowers (mainly) or veggies. At this time of my life, I have pots. In one, cherry tomatoes, they are producing. Pot two, a beefsteak type of tomato, pot three, a regular sized tomato. Pot four is my bell pepper plant. I’ve already harvested one pepper, and cooked it while making Swiss steak.

[Bryan]

Thanks for the kind words Nigel and Paulette ! 

 

Betty your tomatoes are ahead of mine, indeed the trailing variety Tumbler looks a bit sorry for itself, possibly early season blight or maybe something nasty came with the seeds or compost. I gave a plant to each of our sons and there's aren't too clever either.  It's very odd, they normally outgrow the weeds.

[Betty LaRue]

20 hours ago, Bryan said:

Thanks for the kind words Nigel and Paulette ! 

 

Betty your tomatoes are ahead of mine, indeed the trailing variety Tumbler looks a bit sorry for itself, possibly early season blight or maybe something nasty came with the seeds or compost. I gave a plant to each of our sons and there's aren't too clever either.  It's very odd, they normally outgrow the weeds.

Sorry to hear that. I can’t ever remember any sort of disease affecting any of my tomatoes. They are mainly subjected to the weather, which seems to effect how they set on blooms and produce.  I’m picking a handful of the cherry tomatoes every day now. They are great to simply pop into my mouth straight off the vine and enjoy the flavor.

it’s going to be very hot here for the next week. 100 F mostly. Only varying a degree or two up or down. I do not like hot weather.

 

[gvallee]

It's sunrise in the Bush. I've just returned from walking the dogs through glorious glowing bushland amongst towering 2m high termite mounds. It's the back-burning season here in the Top End of Australia. At sunrise, the light smoke in the air paints the entire sky and the sun a vivid red in a most spectacular way. The tall grasses and trees in the savannah glow a deep orange. The dogs have bonded with me big time. Slowly walking with them through fragrant bush at dawn with a hot mug of coffee in hand was no small pleasure.

[Michael Ventura]

13 minutes ago, gvallee said:

It's sunrise in the Bush. I've just returned from walking the dogs through glorious glowing bushland amongst towering 2m high termite mounds. It's the back-burning season here in the Top End of Australia. At sunrise, the light smoke in the air paints the entire sky and the sun a vivid red in a most spectacular way. The tall grasses and trees in the savannah glow a deep orange. The dogs have bonded with me big time. Slowly walking with them through fragrant bush at dawn with a hot mug of coffee in hand was no small pleasure.

 

We need photos!! Dogs, sky, tall grasses, termite mounds, mug of coffee etc... 🙃 that's Down Under smile!

Edited July 5, 2022 by Michael Ventura

[gvallee]

Just now, Michael Ventura said:

 

We need photos!! Dogs, sky, tall grasses, mug of coffee etc... 🙃 that's Down Under smile!

 

I was thinking about it while walking but was loath to interrupt the magic to go and get a camera. Sorry Michael (can't easily insert emoticon on this damn tablet).

[Michael Ventura]

57 minutes ago, gvallee said:

 

I was thinking about it while walking but was loath to interrupt the magic to go and get a camera. Sorry Michael (can't easily insert emoticon on this damn tablet).

Hopefully tomorrow morning will be just as nice!

[gvallee]

9 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

Hopefully tomorrow morning will be just as nice!

 

Unfortunately, this particular housesit is just for one day. Later today, we're returning to the previous one with the rescue wallabies.

[Rebecca Ore]

Asked Luis my helper if he was getting any use out of the a7 with the shutter problem.  Yeah, it seems to be that shooting videos with it is transparent and functional enough that he's going to do a video of his daughter's birthday party tomorrow.  Don't know if he's figured out how to transfer videos to his phone or if he has enough room on that, but maybe I can rig up a card reader for his phone or something.  So, he can get some use of it and I can set up an account of either this or my other machine and let him watch on that and maybe transfer to his phone.

 

I need to remember to tell him to see if one of the other expats who makes regular trips to the US can bring him back batteries. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Rebecca Ore
some grammar

[wiskerke]

2 hours ago, Rebecca Ore said:

I need to remember to tell him to see if one of the other expats who makes regular trips to the US can bring him back batteries. 

 

Don't the Chinese send stuff to Nicaragua?

 

wim

[Rebecca Ore]

2 hours ago, wiskerke said:

 

Don't the Chinese send stuff to Nicaragua?

 

wim

 

The PRC and Nicaragua signed a trade treaty to reduce tariffs coming and going, but getting electronic anything here by mail tends to be iffy for lithium ion batteries, and with a 15% sales tax on things not used for making coffee or cooking food.   So maybe Huawei phones will be cheaper in the future.

 

The person in the US might be able to bring things in as personal imports without having to pay sales tax.  Dunno.  I've yet to order anything from AliExpress. 

 

Nicaragua will  be sending beef, crude butter (whatever that is), beans and rum. 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Rebecca Ore
Not AliBaba

[Bryan]

I listen to the Folk Show on radio BBC radio 2 every week. occasionally there is a stand out track. This week it was provided by the "The Spooky Men's Chorale" an Australian all male choir singing Afred, Lord Tennyson's "Crossing The Bar".  Moving stuff, it occurs about 39 minutes into the programme. 

 

The Spooky Men are performing at Gateshead Sage on Friday night and I would have gone to hear them there, but family commitments mean that I will be in Leeds. 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Bryan