Self-isolation Activities

[Harry Harrison]

29 minutes ago, Bryan said:

On my allotment I have taken to embedding posts in free draining but rammed gravel to try to ensure that they are kept as dry as possible.

For some reason Google resolutely decided that I needed to know about 'Postsaver', the ads kept following me round. They do look quite interesting though, 'bitumen' based sleeves that heat shrink on to the bottom of the post. I've got some bitumastic paint that I think I'll try instead. You must be right about the rammed gravel offering drainage and longer life, certainly any cement mix needs to be very weak. I've got to replace some well rotted posts in 'metpost' bases where I blocked up the drainage with cement.

 

https://www.postsaver.com/

 

I hope the forum will forgive this brief diversion from stock photography discussion but I just don't know any fence post forums....

[Mr Standfast]

After this year's storms we went to concrete posts...

[Harry Harrison]

Yes, inclined to agree, thought concrete looked a bit 'municipal' but paid for it with many hours on hands and knees digging out concrete round rotten posts.

 

Fence panel tip - don't drive the nails fully home - they stay up just as well but panels can be replaced easily. 

 

Actually perhaps I really do need to find that fence post forum. 

[John Morrison]

Forgive me from wandering away from fence-posts for a moment...

 

For anyone with half an hour to spare, I can recommend this article, by Rebecca Solnit, a favourite writer of mine. Wondering how the world will be, once the plague has blown itself out (or we find a cure), will be a mini-industry in itself.

 

I’m not sufficiently optimist to think we’ll right all the wrongs, but we can surely make a few radical changes, in the way our societies operate. If we don’t revisit our certainties, and question the status quo, we will have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…

Edited April 7, 2020 by John Morrison

[geogphotos]

Yes, everybody and his dog looks forward to a better future. But pop over to the Telegraph and you'll find somebody suggesting that the pandemic will lead to a move to the right, closed borders, less migration, fewer foreigners, more reliance on ourselves ( by which they mean British workers rather than foreigners doing the c.rap jobs), shifting away from globalisation, nationalism, revival of traditional seaside resorts and holiday camps, fewer plebs visiting nice middle class tourist destinations which they 'spoil' through their presence etc etc - that to some is a better future.

 

Just as history is interpreted through a prism of ideology so is the future.

 

Not being flippant and I can find speculation interesting but of more immediate relevance to me is what this means for the future of stock photography. The most obvious thing seems to be a further decline in print and more web uses ( web uses which few have been able to make pay commercially). What it is likely to mean and what we could be doing about it.

 

I am struggling to find any real reason to be more optimistic now about the future of stock than prior to the pandemic ( is that word still allowed here? 🤪)

Edited April 7, 2020 by geogphotos

[NYCat]

Here is my latest report from the epicenter. It is really boring so feel free to skip it. I just went out in the world today for the first time in 5 days. People are cheering medical workers and others on the front lines at 7pm every day but I don't face the street so I cheer quietly in my apartment. It reminds me of the weeks (months?) after 9/11 when people would gather on the West Side Highway to cheer the people going down to work on the Pile. We New Yorkers like to present ourselves as hard-boiled but we are quite sentimental about these gatherings for our heroes. I am lucky to have a courtyard garden here so if the weather is nice I go for a walk around and around. Yesterday I saw our porter Mr. Singh. He was wearing a mask and we waved from a distance. There is a robin building a nest! I wonder if he is one of the ones born here last year or the year before. That reminds me that I have photos of that on my hard drive. Uploading them would be a good activity. So last night I got mail for the first time since last Wednesday. Two friends are having birthdays this week and I haven't sent cards but it is probably a good thing because the postal service seems to be having a hard time. I got the statement for the largest part of my nest egg and opened it with great fear. Fortunately, I am conservatively invested and though I have lost a lot it is not a total disaster. Whew!

 

So I started by saying I went out today. We are now being told to wear masks. We are supposed to make our own so as not to deprive our nurses but I had scored a couple at the beginning of this that don't look likely to be good for medical workers so I wore one. I did not feel like I could breathe properly so I'll try a scarf the next time. I have three cotton ones that seem possible. I don't know how the wonderful nurses manage to wear those masks for hours. I could never do it. The store was not crowded. There was plenty of fish, berries, fruit, vegetables. They haven't found a way to put up plastic screens for the cashiers but they have face shields as well as masks. What science fiction movie am I in? They have changed the credit card reader so we don't have to sign. When I got home I washed my hands and keys, put away the groceries and washed my hands again. Then I used a bleach cleaner on my doorknobs and light switches. Wake me up when this is over.

 

Paulette

[NYCat]

I forgot to add that I LOVE hearing about fence posts. I think it's great that you can worry about fence posts. Sounds like such a healthy activity. Hooray for fence posts.

 

Paulette

[John Morrison]

11 minutes ago, NYCat said:

What science fiction movie am I in?

 

I know the feeling (and just hope they never make a sequel)...

 

[spacecadet]

Just finishing the "absent friends" video for my lodge and its stranded members. Last Friday was the first time since our founding in 1903 that we couldn't meet. Freemasons propose the toast but it could really be applied to anyone who can't get together just now.

Do have a look if you wish.

BTW my toast is cochineal in water- no more wine till the Zoom wine tasting on Wednesday! Drinking on set is a bad idea anyway🤪

 

[Shergar]

Mrs Shergar says I shouldn't get used to the little dressing up game!!!!

[NYCat]

I've heard about a woman who is wearing a clown mask. She loves making people laugh. Good for her I say.

 

Paulette

[meanderingemu]

48 minutes ago, NYCat said:

Here is my latest report from the epicenter. It is really boring so feel free to skip it. I just went out in the world today for the first time in 5 days. People are cheering medical workers and others on the front lines at 7pm every day but I don't face the street so I cheer quietly in my apartment. It reminds me of the weeks (months?) after 9/11 when people would gather on the West Side Highway to cheer the people going down to work on the Pile. We New Yorkers like to present ourselves as hard-boiled but we are quite sentimental about these gatherings for our heroes. I am lucky to have a courtyard garden here so if the weather is nice I go for a walk around and around. Yesterday I saw our porter Mr. Singh. He was wearing a mask and we waved from a distance. There is a robin building a nest! I wonder if he is one of the ones born here last year or the year before. That reminds me that I have photos of that on my hard drive. Uploading them would be a good activity. So last night I got mail for the first time since last Wednesday. Two friends are having birthdays this week and I haven't sent cards but it is probably a good thing because the postal service seems to be having a hard time. I got the statement for the largest part of my nest egg and opened it with great fear. Fortunately, I am conservatively invested and though I have lost a lot it is not a total disaster. Whew!

 

So I started by saying I went out today. We are now being told to wear masks. We are supposed to make our own so as not to deprive our nurses but I had scored a couple at the beginning of this that don't look likely to be good for medical workers so I wore one. I did not feel like I could breathe properly so I'll try a scarf the next time. I have three cotton ones that seem possible. I don't know how the wonderful nurses manage to wear those masks for hours. I could never do it. The store was not crowded. There was plenty of fish, berries, fruit, vegetables. They haven't found a way to put up plastic screens for the cashiers but they have face shields as well as masks. What science fiction movie am I in? They have changed the credit card reader so we don't have to sign. When I got home I washed my hands and keys, put away the groceries and washed my hands again. Then I used a bleach cleaner on my doorknobs and light switches. Wake me up when this is over.

 

Paulette

 

 

interesting.  mask wearing is being added to our list of things that may help, but only for inside, not for outside

[Allan Bell]

Did a bit of weeding in the garden. You know - those plants that are in the wrong place.

 

Allan

 

[NYCat]

12 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

Did a bit of weeding in the garden. You know - those plants that are in the wrong place.

 

Allan

 

 

Is that it? I seem to be good at finding plants I think are pretty and then somebody tells me it's a weed.

 

Paulette

[aphperspective]

10 hours ago, Bryan said:

Not sure that it is suitable for contact with the soil Vincent, it contains no biocide. On my allotment I have taken to embedding posts in free draining but rammed gravel to try to ensure that they are kept as dry as possible. Previous tenants have used concrete to embed the posts, but the posts rot just above the concrete and the concrete is very difficult to remove if you want to install a spur post.  I believe that the various countryside agencies recommend against the use of concrete for setting wooden posts.

 

 

 

Have you tried the metal post bases Bryan. They drive into the ground and have a 3", 4" or 6" square socket on the top that a post bolts into. If they rot just unbolt the post and replace.

Andy.

[Harry Harrison]

There's been a few , er, posts, that weren't about fence posts, so just to redress the balance, "How to install Metposts like a Pro"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05_S9Spperg

 

Edited April 7, 2020 by Harry Harrison

[Mr Standfast]

Leaving a gap or a small hole in the fence helps the hedgehogs get around...just saying. 

[Marvin McAbee]

On my need to list I have two riding lawnmowers one has a tire that leaks down and the other has a vibration in the deck.  The Craftsman has the leaky tire and the John Deer has the vibration.   I can still get by pumping up the tire on the Craftsman I 'but think I will have to pull the deck on the John Deer.  Just haven't been motivated to get started.  I have photographed the flowers and pine trees in the back yard.  Need to keyword and upload pics from the transportation museum that I made before the Virus hit.  So I just need to get started or may be tomorrow.😏

[Bryan]

2 hours ago, aphperspective said:

Have you tried the metal post bases Bryan. They drive into the ground and have a 3", 4" or 6" square socket on the top that a post bolts into. If they rot just unbolt the post and replace.

Andy.

 

I know of them thanks Andy, but the wood is free issue at the allotment site, and preparing it gives me something to do! However it's maybe something to raise with the committee.

[geogphotos]

Post apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy, dystopian or horror in which the Earth's technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed is a subgenre of science fiction, science fantasy, dystopian or horror in which the Earth's technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed.

 

The forum version has clearly started.

Edited April 7, 2020 by geogphotos

[aphperspective]

3 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

I know of them thanks Andy, but the wood is free issue at the allotment site, and preparing it gives me something to do! However it's maybe something to raise with the committee.

No worries glad to be of help, many many many years ago i used to help my grandad down his allotment, real bunch of old timers they were. I ate more peas than i picked shells as well, probably the odd maggot to go with it. Ahh the innocence of youth.

Andy. 

[meanderingemu]

 

 

RIP

[Robert M Estall]

Bryan, there are several ways to tackle this fence problem. The culprit is bacteria in the soil which attacks the wooden posts, and the posts aint what they once were; they are fast growing pine and much more open grained than, say hardwood. A chap I know works for the local council doing fences among other things. He's really a roofer, but he doesn't like heights! Their solution is to buy in specially formed heavy plastic wrapping bags which extends the life a lot. So more plastic! I always have a pot of bitumen paint to hand designed to keep a covering on my foot or two of outside wall down by the damp course. Several layers of that are worth a try. Concrete spurs planted in the soil and bolted onto the existing posts if they are otherwise in good repair is a good solution but they are heavy to haul around and quite a performance to install. Packing the posts in with crushed stones works for a few years, but will fill with soil and there you go again. Metal spikes are only an option when first erecting the fence and they will rust. Can't really be fixed without taking down the fence. Concrete posts work, but they are ugly! I had a willow fence woven in situ around old gas pipes for support which was lovely but lasted about 12+ years after which it crumbled slowly and looked awful. Our dog in pursuit of the neighbour's cat could just run through it cartoon fashion eventually. In the end, there were so many Dalmatian sized holes that we had to take it down. Plenty of hedgehog holes! Brick walls are best, but an extreme solution.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Robert M Estall

[Ed Rooney]

His songs are still with us, Jean-Francois.

 

This was Liverpool City Centre yesterday, a lovely spring day. The building with the dome is Town Hall and this street is lined with restaurants and small hotels. Everything is shut down with not another person in sight.

 

[John Morrison]

7 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

RIP

 

I'll be playing some John Prine today. I saw him, years ago, by chance, in the acoustic tent at Glastonbury, and was immediately taken with his songs, his demeanor and his easy rapport with the audience. His introductions were even funnier than the songs. He could pack a lot of emotion into a couple of verses and a chorus...