General Chat

I have read not very promising reports on how to get completely (doesn't happen) rid of ivy. The fence was supposed to be done in a day - but they could not use their electric post hole borer and had to do it my hand - and even that was too hard. The boss arrived wth a pneumatic drill - we live on volcanic soil and under the top layer or so are rather large rocks. So only the anchor posts and the string line is attached to them. The palings will go up next week. They couldn't come Thurs because it was absolutely hosing down and yesterday they had to go to a place that has a ferocious dog. It was the only day they could do it - the dog was away for the day.

I have a climbing rose Sue and it thrives on being pruned - the painters wanted it cut back when they were doing the dining windows and the paint was hardly dry before it had shot up again. One can be as cruel as one likes to it.

P xx

My lillies are growing before my eyes at the moment:-)) It only seems like a couple of days ago when I notice them shooting but they are going mad. I have white and pale pink ones from last year but bought burgundy and dark pink bulbs from the gardening expo. I was telling my neighbour and she has some yellow lillies so we're going to do a swap after they have finished. My neighbour's OH never had time for flowers - most of the garden were veggies which was ok with us because we swapped produce. She can't keep up with the veggies but has now planted flowering plants in most of the garden beds. I have given her a number of cuttings and they have come on really well.

S x

The tui is one of our native birds Tec - a honeyeater loves our Totara trees berries and heads of flaz. It looks black but it has actually got a multi-hued sheen to its dark feathers and has this little white pompom on its neck.
They have a lovely trill to their whistling - and they can mimic.
There is a conservationist bird rescue chap in NZ who has one in a cage - the bird talks and sounds just like him says things like "I am goin' for a smoke" This bloke also has a one legged kiwi - it stays with him and each time he has another kiwi he is sorting out, the one legged one makes friends only to lose the friend when it is well again.

Perse

Reading on the verandah sounds good to me Sue - hope it works out that way for you.

Perse, You need dynamite for your fence holes - that'll fix it lol.
I cut my climbing roses down severely every year, they come back covered in flowers every summer.

Tec.

We live near Three Kings, Mt Roskill, Mt Albert and Mt Eden (this one has a big grassy green crater) - all extinct volcanoes. Three Kings is actually one king now - the others have been quarryed for their stone.

Do you live in a villa type house Sue... I grew up in a villa and would spend a lot of time in an old seagrass chair reading on the verandah?

Persey

Hi All
I'm late because my son had to do thing's to my lappy ( uninstall somethong's )

Perse good luck with getting rid of the ivy it's not easy, it just seem's to keep comeing bck.

Pat well done with the quiz hun, I'm hopeless at quizes.

Tec I thought you would be canoeing across the Irish sea after seeing the weather forcast this morning, it looked as though you were going to get torrential rain.


Hi Sue your day sound's the perfect day, just lazin around.

Perse is there any coffee left as I think I would like one please.

Diane

Hello Luvverly Liverpool Lass
You most certainly may have a coffee - would you like a black or I can do you a flat white? I have this little battery powered whisk that is very good at doing that with the hot milk.

Persey

Hi Perse hun, yes a flat white would be perfect thank you,

I just re-read what I put in last post ( somethong's ) instead of something's, I have decided to leave spelling mistake ( it made me laugh )

Diane

Good Evening Diane,

What with the rainfall, and the very high tide we had today, a canoe would have been a good idea. But we're not all washed up yet.

Perse the tui sounds nice - I feed our wild birds every day all year round, I buy big sacks of wild bird seed. Very fond of our native British birds, but quite envious of the birds you have, and in Australia.

Perse have you ever been to Lord Howe Island?

Tec.

I was too polite to say anything wasn't sure if he was removing thongs as in knickers or thongs as in flip flops that we call jandals... LOL Diane

Sue, I've got lots of lillies, Asiatic variety. If you lived a little nearer, we could do swops too.

I thought it best not to comment on your laptop Diane - made me laugh too.

Tec.

Hi there, Diane - hope you are well.

Perse - our house isn't a villa. Just an ordinary 3 bedroom, one story house. Just over 2 years ago we had a verandah put on the front of the house and we consider it one of the best things we've done. The children love playing there and we usually now eat out there when we have a family occasion. We can put a long trestle table and benches on the verandah.

S x

Tec - since we put in a native garden we are visited by a number of honeyeaters. I've counted 3 varieties but not sure what they're called. Our son has a lovely book on garden birds in Australia so I should have a look. We also have some green and red parakeets, crimson rosellas and galahs. The other day a flock of very raucous white cockatoos flew overhead. They are so naughty but they make you laugh.

Tec - the lillies I have are Asiatic. They are lovely.

"Somethongs" :-))))))

S x

We used to do something similar on our back deck area Sue - dining out under the bougainvillia - but the deck is covered in bits of wood & building things at the moment. We also have a long verandah area out front - we live in a 1917 built bungalow. My dad used to come up this street with his horse and cart when there were just a few houses in it.

Arum lilies sprout up here and there around our section... they are another of these plants that need no encouragement. I picked some when I was young for my mother - boy did I get told off - she was not having them in the house - signified death/funerals.

Pxx

Hi Sue I'm fine thank you, I have a veranda off the back door of my kitchen, as I'm in a flat it is only about 3 foot wide, just wide enough to put washing on the line that goes from end to end lol.

Isn't it funny when you make a mistake in spelling how it can mean something else and yet in a funny way make sence.

Diane

I found that amazing in Oz - having lorikeets, parakeets, cockatoos, galahs etc flying around - only in cages here. Came across a galah that wouldn't shut up it sounded like one of those squeaky toys.
Same with the wallabies, potaroos, pademelons etc - we just loved all the little animals, never knew when we were going to come across one.
Australia has such a wonderous collection of marsupials - they are really to be treasured. We have come back with books on birds, animals, flowers and trees... we spent a lot of time checking out the trees, hence our interest in the Wollemi Pine.

Persey

Sue I just love the cockatoos, especially the sulpher crested ones, but I know they are noisy, and destructive.
I once stayed at a house outside Melbourne and was amazed by the birdlife in the very large gardens - beautiful.

Perse, Arum lillies are associated with funerals here too - though not as much these days.

Diane - did you see my post about my daughter having a Norwegian Forest Cat?

Tec.

We have bushland at the back of our house and early the other morning I heard what was probably a kangaroo. We do have wallabies in the bush - unfortunately we also have fox.

It's funny Perse that you mentioned picking arum lillies and taking them home. When I was a child I went down to the creek not far from my childhood home and picked a huge bunch of arum lillies for my mum. She was very annoyed and promptly threw the lot in the incinerator. My dad explained why she was annoyed.

We have a covered area at the back of our house where we bbq. We often have breakfast out there but now spend most of the time on the verandah.

S x

There was a plan earlier this year to cull all the badgers over a large part of Wales. This was because there is a theory that the badgers pass on tuberculosis into the dairy herds. The dairy cattle have to be destroyed if they are found to be infected with TB. But a Badger Protection Society took the Welsh Government to court and won the right to appeal. So the whole thing is on hold pending appeal now.

Tec.

It seems sad that the badgers could be culled because of a theory. Surely it would have to be proved. I don't know anything about the habits of badgers. Can they be a nuisance?

We are near the mountains and there are problems with deer going onto the roads. They have caused several accidents.

S x