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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 17 2:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Confirmation that the new shed has been made by the maker, so I am at least half happy, but have not been given a date for erection-holes and concrete etc. before he can start.

I am glad you enjoyed the show Jam Lady. I have heard about the snowstorms coming to US, Jam lady, from the news paper, it worries me that it is on its way here and I can cope without any snow, what we have had so far has been enough-2inches on 2 occasions is adequate. Telling the lady to tell husband to collect her from the next stop is easy, if both are switched on. I just get by without a working 'phone; on the other hand I have one when I can find it, and it is charged-basically I forget where I put it last!
Colmar sounds more Irish to me. The name gwynned I would have expected to have 2 d's at the end and pronounced 'Gwineth', but spelt in Welsh-Gwynedd.

I tell you what my mother said MR, 'when the USA has snow it is 3 weeks and we get a dose', but the onion sets should survive a spell of cold I think the rule is more applicable to us in the Midlands and above. I suspect you have some influence on weather from the sea-salty air-and you warm up much earlier and quicker than we do here.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 17 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I guess you must not have "onion snow" as a traditional occurance of spring planting.

"Onion snow" is a term particular to the state of Pennsylvania originated by the Pennsylvania Dutch culture and language, and refers to a snowfall that occurs after the spring onions have been planted, and comes right as they are sprouting. It refers to the last snowfall of the winter season and is said to mark the beginning of spring. It received its name because onions are planted in early spring, and the later snow fall covers them, providing small portions of beneficial moisture. Others say that this late spring snow is an indicator for when it’s a good time to start planting onions. Either way, the snowfall is defined as light and melts quickly, and is usually the final snowfall before the end of the spring season."

Of course our current snowfall is not light by any definition. Can only hope is melts quickly . . .

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 17 5:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yes! Hey there Gregotyn. There WAS a sizable Welsh settlement in Pennsylvania.

In the late 17th century, there was significant Welsh emigration to Pennsylvania for religious and cultural reasons. In about 1681, a group of Welsh Quakers met with William Penn to secure a grant of land in which they could conduct their affairs in their own language. The parties agreed on a tract covering 40,000 acres (160 km²), to be constituted as a separate county whose people and government could conduct their affairs in Welsh. The Welsh Tract's boundaries were established in 1687, but notwithstanding the prior agreement, by the 1690s the land had already been partitioned among different counties, despite appeals from the Welsh settlers, and the Tract never gained self-government.

The area is now part of Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware counties. Many towns in the area still bear Welsh names. Some, such as North Wales, Lower Gwynedd, Lower Merion, Upper Merion, Bala Cynwyd, Radnor and Haverford Township, are named after places in Wales. Others, such as Tredyffrin or Uwchlan, have independent Welsh names.

Some communities in the area that formerly comprised the Welsh Tract were subsequently given Welsh or Welsh-sounding names to improve their perceived desirability. Among these were Gladwyne, formerly "Merion Square" (which was given its new name in 1891, although the name is meaningless in Welsh), and Bryn Mawr, formerly "Humphreysville" (which was renamed in 1869).

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 17 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We have what is called a 'blackthorn winter' Jam Lady. We don't expect winter to finally leave us until the blackthorn flowers have gone. They haven't started yet, so we could end up with your snow storm when the bluebells come out, which isn't totally unknown.

Glad you got to the flower show and it was up to expectation, even though the journey was rather fraught.

Gregotyn, good to hear news of the shed, even if it isn't up yet.

We went to pick up some more birch at the heath yesterday. I shifted some of the lighter bits while husband and son used the timber tongs to pick up the bigger bits. There are some that are too big to move, so they are going to take a chainsaw up and saw them lengthwise to make them possible to lift. More wood anemones are coming up in the woods now. I need to get into the lower part as I think they will be further advanced there, and see how they are coming on.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Wed Mar 15, 17 2:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This snow is not going anywhere, anytime soon. When Dave came to plow yesterday evening with his big truck that Gregotyn admired it took him multiple passes to get up to the top of our driveway.

Some more snow and freezing rain expected at the end of the week. With circa 700 students registered for Saturday's home gardeners school (and already paid too) there is no way they are going to cancel. I am NOT looking forward to the hour-long drive to get there.

Not going to my knit-on-Wednesday-morning group today. Himself will try to shovel out the snow ridge the plow pushed up in front of the cars at the bottom of the driveway. Worried that the wet snow has frozen into ice.

Meanwhile - here's a look at A Visit to the Philadelphia Flower Show

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 17 7:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That looks like an amazing show Jam Lady. The Princes of Orange, of whom William III was one, originally came from Orange in France. Another piece of useless information I have picked up over the years.

Your snow sounds quite serious. We have a friend who was supposed to be flying to New York yesterday, but last I heard is still in the UK waiting for the airport your end to open again.

Here spring is springing like mad. Daffodils everywhere, and because the weather has been quite mild during the day this week, the leaf buds of some trees are starting to break. Saw lots of primroses yesterday too, and there are a lot in the lawn in our garden. The fritillaries are just coming into flower too.

The largest of our local winterbournes, the Lavant had started to run yesterday. I wasn't sure if it would this year, as we have had a reasonably dry winter, but yesterday it had come up; about its normal time as they tend to run March to June. More work in the coppice today, so another heavy day.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Mar 16, 17 2:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yes Jam Lady, it does seem a serious amount of snow, the spring onions will float away! I supply a local coal merchant and have advised him to get some extra stock in ready for the next 3 weeks when the snow will arrive. We have hedges on the move sprouting well in some places, and there is plenty of grazing around. It sort of looks as though spring has sprung, but I am not going to hold my breath in case it is a false start. I have viewed the show and very good indeed, most importantly the machine allowed me to access the show without going into 'chrome'. I am hoping this will work every where now!
His Lordship will take you on Saturday if you smile sweetly to him.
I just hope Bryn Mawr is a 'big hill' which is the literal translation.

I have no news really just get up go to work and hope for the best! Worst thing is that I have developed a cold which has been spread to others by the lad who is now on holiday for 5 weeks. The other new boy second in command has developed a disease called 'fot, hand and mouth'-highly contagious. I must keep going to work as it will leave all the work on the last member of the team and he is allergic to work itself, unless he is making the money; he has a theory that he should be waited on. I on the other hand have a motor full of wood just waiting to be converted into kindling, via my deWalt saw, and brummack.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 17 8:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hope you get over your cold soon Gregotyn. Don't push it too hard. You can always remember you are the oldest one in the team occasionally and leave it to the lazy one to do some work.

Another lovely day here. I go to the food bank on Friday, but it looks like a day to be in the woods. We found some toothwort (Lanthraea squamaria) had come up in a sheltered spot in the coppice we are working. More wood anemones are up, and the celandines will be fully open today. Yesterday we cleared a lot more brash and got more large wood and small timber into the piles for extraction for charcoal and firewood. A good productive day.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Fri Mar 17, 17 2:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The cold is still with me and is probably mild flu. I am the man what does the early mornings only. There are 3 of us, no.1 is lambing and the carrier of the cold-he kept coming to work every day, so that is how I got it; no.2 is off for an indefinite period as he has caught hand foot and mouth disease, which is having a spell round here, and being highly contagious, he is not with us also, for an unspecified period. This means me and the wages clerk to do the work, and he is lazy/superior-so I am doing all but serve customers; I am happy as I will be booking from 6am rather than 7am. & hours today so I may as well be full time, this week is 31.5 hours last week 30.5 hours. Tax man gets a lot but so do I! I have, to be honest, a lad there who wants to do my work as well as his own and if he can he does, so that things that the top man would leave till I get there in the morning are already done by the new man when I arrive in the morning. Pity he doesn't concentrate on getting the hard bits right first. I soldier on-mother would be proud etc.! I have just read what I wrote on Tuesday and as usual now I am repeating myself-please make allowances!

It rained in the night-well, 4.30am-ish, as I was getting up, but stopped as soon as I went out so that speeded the journey a bit, and overall I did this morning more than I expected to achieve, so pleased about that. I perform much better when I am left alone to get on with "it".

I went to the house yesterday to cut wood and there is a digger on site now so the shed is imminent, in theory, but a digger is a start. Hoping by Sunday I can move stuff in-depends a bit on of they have done the concrete for the posts or not, but as they say I am on the list! It is to be 5x6 metres as I look at it it will be too small, but if I can get most of the contents of my current area inside that will be a good start and I already have another shed for spare timber to go in. I just need to set the saw up in the shed and cut for 3-4 days kindling lengths to stop me hoarding stuff that 'may come in', but probably won't achieve either!

It is always good when you have a good productive day, MR. I don't get too many of them, there is always the b..ration factor, which hits the final blow on a good day. All over now till Monday

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 17 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yesterday's event went well. They closed enrollment after 875 so you can imagine the throngs shuttling up / down stairs and in some cases across the highway bridge from building to building between classes. I had 46 students for A Japanese Touch for Your Garden (one of whom emailed yesterday evening to ask if I could provide "the photos used for the seminar" - sure, why wouldn't I want to give away my entire lecture), 63 for Backyard Chickens, and 100 for Made for the Shade. Enthusiastic people, laughed at the right points, asked good questions. Drizzle unpleasant weather for the drive home but the roads were fine.

Sunny today but I decided to skip the rock garden society chapter meeting. Just did not feel like driving an hour each way for a lecture with a subject that didn't especially appeal to me. So I'm doing laundry instead.

Snow gradually melting away. There is reported damage on early flowering fruit trees, ornamental cherries, cranberries, blueberries. This is the second year in a row as last year there was the late freeze when the trees were in full bloom. Such a flip-flop - it was too warm early on for a decent maple syrup making season. Which also coaxed the fruit trees into earlier than normal bud break.

So nice to read about all the early woodland flowers spangling the ground in your woodlands Mistress Rose. Eventually there will be something here. But there will be damage from the freeze.

Happy first day of Spring when it arrives tomorrow.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 17 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Oh dear - missing in action once more - sorry for that but life is full and when I sit down I seem to have grown a cat on my lap. Billy is being ridiculously affectionate and possessive. The dog gets a swipe if he gets too close, and so does Smidgen! So I guess Billy has become a little more confident!

The shed has two doors Gregotyn. One goes into the garden tools section (which houses garden tools, beekeeping equipment (for that distant day when I resume bee-keeping) and currently a set of shelves that will be filled with the contents of kitchen cupboards preparatory to dismantlement. I plan to add a pallet on one wall to house long-handled tools and a bin for stakes and such like. The other bay is the work shop and will eventually have a wood heater in it. I am presently lining it with insulation left over from the ceiling as well as some panels of bracing ply which will be used for attaching stuff. I find me and tec screws do not get along, but we are coming to an agreement, slowly. It also has three sets of shelves (two small, one large). The smaller ones are flanking an old kitchen table and will be my dyeing area. The kitchen table top is chipboard which has deteriorated badly from being out in the weather. It will be replaced with some of the counter top I will be removing from the kitchen and have a long flip top box (currently housing my herbs and spices and taking up valuable benchspace) for the littler things like thermometers, commercial dyes, chopsticks, tongs etc. There is electricity in there now - two double power points (one above the dyeing area, the other below the front window) and one of those dangly power points that are useful when you are working in the middle of the room, as well as two strip lights that are lovely and bright. I have been using them all lately to vacuum out, use power tools etc and it is an absolute treat to have a space to work in (even if it has been a bit hot just lately).

The first load of wood has been stacked, and I await further loads. This is good at Wednesday will be rather cooler than the 30 degrees we had yesterday. It is Autumn so the morning mists are a feature of the day. The mushrooms have yet to put in an appearance but as it is very dry this is hardly surprising. I am looking forward to the next few days of rain and showers as this will hopefully bring them out in droves.

Other than work on and in the shed I have been spending time in the History Room and getting a bit of spinning and knitting done. Am working on a lace-work scarf (only a very simply one-line repeat with alternating purl rows), and spinning up the sock fibre I bought at the Spin In - it has nylon in it so is specifically for sock work.

Rowena gave me a heart attack by suggesting my moorit fleece might have a 'break' in the fleece, but when I tested it I can see no evidence of this. I will take it to her on Thursday to double check, but it sounds sound to me and I can not see any thinning in the staple.

Spending my 'off' days transferring stuff from the kitchen to the shed. I am hoping to employ a young girl with trade qualifications to help me set up the workshop as she will presumably have a better idea than me on how to arrange things for maximum effect (and may have a better relationship with tec screws).

So it's all go. I will wait with bated breath on the progress of your shed Gregotyn!

gz



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8576
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 17 12:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Shed envy here!! That sounds well planned already.
This is our last full day in Blenheim so I've been packing while the Pirate had a good bike ride with the group, over Dashwood and Weld Passes to Seddon for coffee. They found mushrooms near the roadside between the two passes.
We've been having mid 20s max and 7-10 degrees min, so feels a bit more Autumnal here, especially when the wind turned SouthEasterly.
Hoping for a smooth crossing on the Bluebridge ferry tomorrow.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 17 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Your shed sounds elegant, Cassandra.

Have you considered using PVC pipe to hold gardening tools and stakes? I found this online and snipped it for you.


Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Mar 20, 17 8:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nice idea Jam Lady. Glad your courses were well attended and that the weather didn't stop anything, even though it does seem to be doing nasty things to the trees. Noticed our quince is starting to break leaf, so hope we don't have any really severe weather now. The blackthorn is just starting into flower, so we still have the 'blackthorn winter' to come.

Cassandra, I was going to PM to see if you were joining us again soon, as I have been missing your posts. You have been busy; I had seen the knitting and spinning, but didn't realise you had been so busy on the shed. Look forward to hearing about future progress. Nice Billy is getting more confidence, but seems he has decided you belong to him and won't share, which isn't so good.

It has decided to be wet here again, so husband is going to sons flat to sort out the last of the wiring. DIL will be at work, and they need to take up some of the floor, which would isolate her in one room if she was at home. No doubt the cat will have to be shut in one room as last time she nearly ended up lost under the floor. Husband only knew she had gone down because he saw her tail through a hole so could extract her before it was capped.

We managed to get a bit more of the buddleia shredded yesterday, and husband has managed to seal the holes in the pond liner, so the pond is now pretty well full again. Some progress on the garden, and primroses, violets and fritillaries in flower.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Mar 21, 17 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not a very nice day here. Windy with some rain, so husband decided to finish son's electrical work. I did the washing and finished off the basket I had pretty well made. Not happy with it, but have learnt a lot, so hopefully the next one will be better.

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