Morning all. Hope you are all ok. We seem to have been very lucky up here with little damage done in spite of horrendous winds a lot of the time yesterday. Glad we moved the ponies as quite a few large trees down on our forestry boundary fences have ripped up the fencing. Now have to wait for the forestry folk to come and make good again which may be a problem as they are bit busy right now. and ponies need that extra field space. Will have a look and a think in the coming days to see if we can do a temporary fix ourselves. Lots of debris on our lane down through the forest to the village below and trees down on the 'main' road into the village - now cleared by local chainsaws. More wind expected today, rain as well, but nothing too bad. As I said, we have been very lucky.
@AnnaB ...what sort of ponies? I've kept an Exmoor ride & drive and a Dartmoor youngster. I used to ride a friend's Haflinger and another friend had Welsh cobs and my Welsh cousin drives all sorts ...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Hello all. wet and cold here today after yesterdays warmth. Managed to prune out the old growth in the cornus Alba and trim the olive tree. We attacked a large overgrown privet but it wasn't only privet it had euonymus and bay growing through it so it's looking rather ugly now. Sorry to hear about your storm damage @punkdoc at least it will only be your wallet that will hurt! I hope others can mend their damage without too much cost. Is @Hostafan1 ok? Take care everyone.
@Dovefromabove they are not really ponies but Icall them that when posting as it is easier for folks to read. They are actually miniature horses - a mix of shetlands, mini shetlands, falabellas and American miniature horses. Alongside the 'proper' big horses I already had I started breeding miniatures in 1993 with a couple of smallish Shetland girls and a spotted miniature boy. When we moved from Sussex to Wales in 2006 we had some 36 minis to bring with us. For the next 10 years or so daughter spent the summers travelling the country showing the youngsters and occasionally the stallions with a lot of success. With careful breeding and adding outside stallion lines we increased the numbers to some 55+! But we last bred seriously in 2010 with a couple of extras in 2014 - lines we wanted before it was too late for the mares. Over the year since then we have slowly lost the 'golden oldies' (pts here on the premises), sold or sent off on loan to good homes, so we now have some 19 girls and three old stallions left. The girls now simply run the fields as a 'feral' herd (just foot trimming and regular worming), but if you want to check on them you just go out and clap your hands to be instantly surrounded by racing crowd of leaping, bucking excited 'ponies' all wanting attention, scratches and fuss! Sadly at the end of last summer I lost one of my favourite girls, she was the very first mare I purchased in 1993 when she was 3 years old, so she was in her early 30's and has many daughters, granddaughters and g/granddaughters still here. I miss her so much. Hope I haven't bored you too much!
Spent most of the early evening yesterday in a state of high anxiety over my poor photinia. I know it's only a photinia but I am very fond of it - it has grown into a very pretty little tree. I had to watch it through the window, swaying over waaay too much then snapping back. At one point I thought of just going out there and standing with my arms around it but of course I couldn't do that. Nothing to anchor it to - the fence was already broken and lying flat at one end in next door's drive (it's his fence, he is going to fix it). So it was the first thing I checked this morning and it has survived! Hope your roof tiles are easily fixable @punkdoc.
@AnnaB ... I remember taking Wonky Womble and her brother to see the Falabellas at Kilverstone years ago ... I wonder if any of yours are related to them ... they probably are somewhere along the line ... there's not a lot of them about http://www.falabellahorses.com/023-KILVERSTONE/KILVERSTONE.htm
Good luck to everyone with clearing up and repairs to do after the storm. It can be shocking what wind can do. Took us a while to get over our tornado damage 18 months ago and then 8 months to get someone to come and clear it all up, 5 of which were waiting for suitable weather.
It's been warm and sunny and calm here for a change. I have, of course, been stuck indoors doing the second coat on the "coffee wall" of our new coffee and cream living room. South and east facing windows so we wanted cool. This pm I'll be fixing the light fittings to the wall and a first coat on the door and its frame. So exciting - not.
Meanwhile, tried a new bread recipe and it's lovely. Takes a while as it starts with a slow poolish but ever so tasty with a mix of wholemeal spelt, rye and buckwheat flour and some linseeds thrown in for good measure.
Hope the weather gets better for everyone.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Sorry to hear about your storm damage @punkdoc at least it will only be your wallet that will hurt! I hope others can mend their damage without too much cost. Is @Hostafan1 ok?
Take care everyone.
Hope your roof tiles are easily fixable @punkdoc.
Good news @didyw
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's been warm and sunny and calm here for a change. I have, of course, been stuck indoors doing the second coat on the "coffee wall" of our new coffee and cream living room. South and east facing windows so we wanted cool. This pm I'll be fixing the light fittings to the wall and a first coat on the door and its frame. So exciting - not.
Meanwhile, tried a new bread recipe and it's lovely. Takes a while as it starts with a slow poolish but ever so tasty with a mix of wholemeal spelt, rye and buckwheat flour and some linseeds thrown in for good measure.
Hope the weather gets better for everyone.