Recent content by Toddy

There have been so many initiatives to encourage home gardeners to have small ponds, saucers with pebbles so that bees, wasps, and butterflies can drink, bird baths, etc., It would be horrible to see all that diversity destroyed.

My Dad was in North Africa during the war, and he ended up with malaria. It bothered him for the rest of his life. It seemed to come back in waves and then settle down for years, only to flare again. I hope we're better at dealing with it these days, but it's an own goal we really don't need here.

In light of the Summer we have had, and the obvious climate changes, an article link this morning on Medscape is perhaps something to consider. "An invasive mosquito species known to transmit diseases such as dengue and Zika virus has been found to be breeding in the UK for the first time" I...

I have a buffalo fleece bag and a pertex cover for it. Sandbender gave them to me twenty years ago. They work well, they last well, and they're comfortable. Worth it if you can find a set in decent condition.

I confess, I would have told the police and the local paper, and nowadays I think anyone who has a pet really ought to get it microchipped (not sure if that's the word, the little electronic tag thing the vet puts under the cat/dog/whatever's skin.

That is a really good read :) Not just the recipes, but the sheer practicality of it all :) Thank you for the link. M

Another pair of hiking socks for my husband. That's four pairs this month. I am rather scunnered of knitting socks just now. M

Synchronicity can be wonderfully apt, and at sometimes most annoying.:bluethinking: I've just been to the loo, but Son2 had been in the bathroom half an hour earlier for his shower before he left for work, so the window was open. I'm literally on the loo, and a blasted wasp came in and started...

I do take your point, but from the reality of a street full of young children (there are over thirty of them now) and their pets, all of whom have become uncomfortably familiar enough with wasp stings that there is no, "do not swipe at them", no, "less aggressive".....it's all out war. They know...

I made rowan and apple jelly today; we're having a really heavy fruit year. The rowans were huge, and a deep red colour. Not as bitter as usual either.

As I understand it; ....gave up writing on this, copy pasted from google..... "The lifecycle of a wasp colony is closely tied to the seasons. After hibernating through the winter, queen wasps emerge in spring to build new nests and lay the first batch of eggs. By early summer, the colony starts...

Speak to John Fenna......he has a love of ventile too.

Wasps are maniacs in late Summer, and sort of angry maniacs, and they sting when folks panic and flail around....which being honest is the usual reaction to them too close. I live in Lanarkshire, we have a lot of fruit, as in forty fruit trees within range of the street I live in, a lane lined...

We call that a wasps byke. No idea why, just what it's named. I live next to woodland, and we have an annual cull of bykes from rafters and sheds. Usually we just put a paper bag over them and tie a bit of string around the stalk (how they fasten them onto the rafters) and then cut that off with...

We have one that age...might be more, nearer 25 years, and it's still in superb condition. As @Damascus said, they were built to last :)