They didn’t shout TIMBERRRRRR :(
A few years ago, the tree was sick but not dead. Then it was full of rook nests.
When it died completely, the rooks left but the jackdaws would come and perch on the branches and chirp in the evening. A score or more.
I thought I would miss it more than I do, but it was a source of significant anxiety – only a matter of time before it came down on its own. The prevailing wind should have pushed it into the sheep field behind us, but there was a non-zero chance it would take out Uncle B’s greenhouse and maybe even the whole back of the house.
Two guys, three hours, start to finish.
August 26, 2025 — 6:48 pm
Comments: 9
Bye Baby
I’m always fussing about people posting their dead pets on X and making me sad, but *deep breath* last night, something (likely fox) ate my last hen, Baby, and my handsome mille fleur cockerel Moe. They were together in the middle chicken house – the newest and by far the worst cheap Chinese chicken house ever – when something managed to rip the door loose and get in.
Nowt left but a few feathers. That house is coming down!
Moe hatched out of the first fertile egg I ever put under a hen and I hopefully called him Molly, after the woman who sold him to us. Alas, he was also my first ever rooster. He was a fine, strapping beast and all the ladies loved him.
I make no apologies for the name “Baby” – I’d named six other chickens that morning and I was tired. She was the “test egg” I used to see if my new incubator was working; I never expected her to hatch. She was the only chicken whose parents were members of my flock – just an egg I plucked out of the nest box.
Down to two cockerels, Baby’s father Sam and the gigantic Poland lummox Albert. They hate each other, so I still will have to do the cockerel dance all day.
August 25, 2025 — 4:38 pm
Comments: 8
This is my third pair
Minimalist shoes. Barefoot shoes. Boat shoes. Gym shoes. I posted about the first pair I bought back in February. This is my third.
No, I haven’t worn them out. My first pair had laces, which damn near killed me when they wrapped around the bike and knocked me over helpless in the high street. A good samaritan came to my rescue. I tried tucking the laces into the tops of the shoes, but I was never confident.
So I bought a pair without laces and I liked them so much I bought another for banging around the house. Mucho recommendo.
Shame they look like clown shoes, though. Have a great weekend!
August 22, 2025 — 5:22 pm
Comments: 10
Meh.
We’ve got a plum tree in the back yard that also has a bumper crop this year. Damsons, I think.
I’ve never bothered to harvest them. Can’t be arsed to deal with a fruit that needs de-stoning before use. Tried one raw and it was nasty. I’m told the thing to make is plum jam, so I bought some today to see how I liked it.
Meh. It doesn’t taste of anything, just sugar. You reckon I got some bad jam?
August 21, 2025 — 5:47 pm
Comments: 4
Good haul this year
The onions what Uncle B growed me. Lost in a black and white photo, they’re a lovely deep red. Last year, I think there were a few more, but a large percentage of them were very small. This year has a predominance of lovely fat specimens.
This will last me at least the new year.
Anybody have skillz interpreting Windows Event Viewer? My computer has abruptly shut itself down several times over the last few days. My first thought was overheat, because this sucker runs hot. The fan wheezes like a jet engine.
Grok suggested calling up the Event Viewer and looking for Kernel errors around the time of a shutdown. I am now in the painful process of looking them up and Googling every code, abbreviation and error message.
I used to like this stuff :(
August 20, 2025 — 4:42 pm
Comments: 6
Like this, but silver
I have a hankering for a little silver knife to carry in my pocket. Maybe with some pretty engraving.
I have a great lunk of a Leatherman I used to carry for work. It’s technically illegal here because the blades are locking, but I’m told the coppers won’t harass you if you have a plausible reason to have it on you.
I thought Ebay would be lousy with them, but “pen knife” got one appropriate hit and a bunch of books – in German, for some reason. “Penknife” did a little better, but not much. “Pocket knife” called up some okay knives and a bunch of old table knives.
Oh, I used “silver” as a keyword in some searches but not others and it would seem the typical English ornamental knife has a blade of silver and a body of mother-of-pearl or tortoiseshell.
I fanned out to a Google images search and got closer. This antique silver site has some nice-ish ones, but insists on calling them “folding fruit knives” – and the blades are around 3″ long. Looks like antique silver dealers will be the way to go, but they certainly won’t be cheap.
I thought this would be easy!
August 19, 2025 — 4:52 pm
Comments: 10
It is time
Time to harvest the cobnuts. I’ve posted about Kent cobnuts before. I am fond.
Last year was the most prolific year for this tree that I can recall. We harvested, like, three sacks of nuts. Naturally, we ate a fraction of them. Knowing nuts, they’re probably still good.
This year, very few branches were productive, but those branches were very productive. They have to be pollinated by another cobnut, but we have one around the side of the house (that has never been prolific) and our neighbor has one. Go figure.
It’ll probably be just right.
August 18, 2025 — 5:26 pm
Comments: 2
As fat as ever
Someone inquired about our cat. He’s fine, thanks. Here he is having a kip in the chiminea, his summer quarters.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
August 15, 2025 — 4:20 pm
Comments: 8
Logs for scale
Look at my Batman. LOOK AT HIM!
I walked past him twice at a junk stall today and tried to talk myself out of it. In the end, the lure was just too strong. I’m not a huge Batman fan (really more of a Spiderman gal), but I’m a sucker for a 20″ superhero action figure in very good condition.
The seller said, “your husband is going to love that” and I’m like “my husband?”
August 14, 2025 — 5:32 pm
Comments: 3
They’re looking for a pilot’s seat – can you help?
They are rebuilding a Messerschmitt. This very one, in fact. It came down in one piece near Canterbury in 1940. They had a display with many of the parts they’ve been able to salvage or machine and they hope the final airplane will be about 80% original.
Here is the story and description of the project. Note the text doesn’t say “Messerschmitt” anywhere on it, so I had to ask my friend Grok how to spell it.
As the paint has worn away, you can just make out that it has been called 5 and 6 and 8 at various points in its life.
August 13, 2025 — 6:16 pm
Comments: 8