Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Archived
>
Royal Escape from the Topic - for off topic chit chat
Years ago a power company employee cut down a branch on a wild plum tree - for no reason other than to check that his chainsaw was working :-<
The journey, not the destination! Although it's nice to find good shoes, too...
I just saw the wild plum cutting comment and I seriously snorted! I mean, it's funny (haha), but I'd probably grab my own chain saw and take out after him. "Let me cut off your arm and see if my saw is sharp, ok?!"
Carol ☀ Walking in Sunshine wrote: "Years ago a power company employee cut down a branch on a wild plum tree - for no reason other than to check that his chainsaw was working :-<"!!! Rude!
Our power lines are underground, so we usually are safe during storms. There are a lot of trees in our area. Just a few minutes ago, there were two deer hanging out in our front yard, so beautiful!
❇Critterbee wrote: "Our power lines are underground, so we usually are safe during storms. There are a lot of trees in our area. Just a few minutes ago, there were two deer hanging out in our front yard, so beautiful!"Lovely! The owner of the offending trees wasn't home apparently. The neighbour just did a really rough hack of the offending branches. After the girls have gone I will look properly at the trees on the property - see if we need to talk to the neighbour about this.
Had a late Christmas & the girls persuaded our boy to stay another night. X just left at 5.30.
❇Critterbee wrote: "Our power lines are underground, so we usually are safe during storms. There are a lot of trees in our area. Just a few minutes ago, there were two deer hanging out in our front yard, so beautiful!"Lucky! I know they can wreak havoc on a garden, but they are gorgeous.
Carol ☀ Walking in Sunshine wrote: "❇Critterbee wrote: "Our power lines are underground, so we usually are safe during storms. There are a lot of trees in our area. Just a few minutes ago, there were two deer hanging out in our front..."I’m so glad you had a lovely family visit and the girls are enjoying Oz; good luck with the trees!
Carol ☀ Walking in Sunshine wrote: "Years ago a power company employee cut down a branch on a wild plum tree - for no reason other than to check that his chainsaw was working :-<"What a jerk!
Carol ☀ Walking in Sunshine wrote: "Had a late Christmas & the girls persuaded our boy to stay another night. X just left at 5.30. "Sounds lovely, enjoy! It is so nice to have holidays at non holiday times, so much more relaxed, and you're really able to appreciate family.
I don't mind so much feeding the deer, if they stay in our neighborhood they are pretty safe. We had to research what to plant that deer did and didn't eat, and they have avoided the daffodils, zinnias, astilbe, lenten rose, irises, dahlias, hyacinths and butterfly weed.
Alas, my poor tulips and phlox and azaleas...
I know what you mean - my sister and brother-in-law, avid gardeners, lost lots of plants until they started doing some research. Their yard was a virtual deer salad bar!
We've found, too, that if they're hungry enough they'll eat anything. Everything and anything...
Susan in NC wrote: "I know what you mean - my sister and brother-in-law, avid gardeners, lost lots of plants until they started doing some research. Their yard was a virtual deer salad bar!"Deer Salad Bar - I am getting wonderful mental images of that! So cute. Thinking we should put that on a sign in our front yard...
Karlyne wrote: "We've found, too, that if they're hungry enough they'll eat anything. Everything and anything..."
That is why we try to have so much variety, so they only eat the stuff they prefer, and leave us a nice selection to gaze reflectively upon.
Sadly, “deer resistant” plants are a bit of a misnomer. What tends to happen is that the deer take a big munch, go “Ugh! Ptui!” and leave the plant alone for a while, but then they forget and sample it again. When I lived in southern California, they would even eat juniper in drought years.They don’t like succulents or rosemary and have yet to eat most of my Australian plants (grevillea, acacia), but just about anything else will at least get sampled.
I think it's amazing how much they like thorny plants, too. Roses are top of the deer-eating list! I've watched elk eating pine boughs, when the snow is so deep that's all there is. Hunger causes them to eat about anything.
If I had deer come to the garden, I'd be stocking it for them! You're so lucky :)
I think it's amazing how much they like thorny plants, too. Roses are top of the deer-eating list! I've watched elk eating pine boughs, when the snow is so deep that's all there is. Hunger causes them to eat about anything.
Louise Sparrow wrote: "If I had deer come to the garden, I'd be stocking it for them! You're so lucky :)"Not if you wanted to actually eat anything from that garden, let alone have any fruit trees left. They're seriously destructive!
Karlyne wrote: "Louise Sparrow wrote: "If I had deer come to the garden, I'd be stocking it for them! You're so lucky :)"Not if you wanted to actually eat anything from that garden, let alone have any fruit tree..."
They are indeed very destructive! beautiful to look at but devastating to all the young trees that grow on the hills around us if they get near them. The Deer fences work most of the time so that's okay!
My spring project is Fencing (capital F, big ones). Can't wait to figure out what and where...Louise, I did think of planting a garden for the deer. We do love venison. (hahahaha!)
Karlyne wrote: "My spring project is Fencing (capital F, big ones). Can't wait to figure out what and where...Louise, I did think of planting a garden for the deer. We do love venison. (hahahaha!)"
En Garde!
❇Critterbee wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "My spring project is Fencing (capital F, big ones). Can't wait to figure out what and where...Louise, I did think of planting a garden for the deer. We do love venison. (hahahaha!..."
Lol, now I have a ridiculous picture in my head of Karlyne leaping about her garden, fencing with a cartoonish deer (for some reason I’m seeing Bullwinkle the Moose from my childhood cartoon days...)
Deer 🦌 hunting. Brings back memories of Western Pennsylvania, Monday after Thanksgiving almost all the boys were absent, off hunting with their fathers. School finally just recognized futility of having massive absences, so from about my freshman year, we got Monday off. People were not sentimental about them, generally speaking. I love seeing them except in front of my car, have had so many near misses. One time I was driving from Western PA to Cleveland before sunrise, I was passing an RV. A buck appeared from the median, it had made it across 3 lanes of interstate traffic...I tapped my brakes lightly and just missed hitting it, but the RV whacked it and I ended up with no visibility as my windshield was covered in deer viscera & antler pieces. No amount of windshield fluid was going to clear that, but after a few seconds that felt like eternity of blind driving, I got a small clear space & was able to maneuver over and find an exit so I could rinse the car off at a gas station. Not the best way to start the day, I felt so sad and shaky.
Susan in NC wrote: "❇Critterbee wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "My spring project is Fencing (capital F, big ones). Can't wait to figure out what and where...Louise, I did think of planting a garden for the deer. We do love..."
Well, I have chased them down the driveway. And by "chased" I mean I yelled and threatened, and they laughed....
Kim wrote: "Deer 🦌 hunting. Brings back memories of Western Pennsylvania, Monday after Thanksgiving almost all the boys were absent, off hunting with their fathers. School finally just recognized futility of h..."My poor husband was called "The Deer Slayer" because not only did he hit two on the way to work one year, but one on our way to see his folks. They were all in the dark, and there is simply no way to see them before you hit them. It really is awful!
Susan in NC wrote: "❇Critterbee wrote: "Karlyne wrote: "My spring project is Fencing (capital F, big ones). Can't wait to figure out what and where...Louise, I did think of planting a garden for the deer. We do love..."
Oh how funny! Critterbee, my mind immediately went to the same phrase. And then, since Karlyne's profile page used to say "gardening with elk", I started picturing her leaping and lunging around the garden with the elk, shouting "En garde! Allez!". Probably a similar vision to what NC Susan had!
Ok, Karlyne, that’s an even better visual - you chasing them down the driveway, thanks for the chuckle.Kim, I am so sorry, what an awful experience for you - and the phrases Western PA and deer hunting make me think of that great scene in the movie Deer Hunter where all the young men are playing pool (I think - such a powerful, sad film, I only saw it once), sinkiging along with Frankie Vallie (sp?), “I Love you, baby!” Great song, great scene!
I'm not saying I've never fenced with deer. There was this one time when they jumped into my very raised beds and ate all my gorgeous bean plants down to the nubbins...
..."setting the hare's head against the goose giblets"... (The Toll Gate, which I picked up this morning since I'm between Steinbecks) I don't know how I've not noticed this before, but it made me laugh out loud this time. What a visual!
@ Critterbee - you lost your power for a few days!!! We were so over it after 27 hours back in January!Hope you didn't lose too much food out of your freezer.
The food mostly seems fine - it is mainly vegetables, some dairy, which generally seems to last longer. We did not open the freezer, and we took out everything we needed from the refrigerator as quickly as possible. It was so cold - the first night it got down to 50F/10C in the house. Luckily, we store a lot of water.When I was driving the first night of the winds, we saw a power box on a power line explode twice! First when we were about 25 feet in front of it, and then RIGHT as we were driving past, it exploded a second time and we heard and felt something like a giant rubber band twaaaaannnnnnngg. I hit the gas and sped away, but it was the oddest feeling! Trees down in our yard, trees on power lines on the main street nearby. Luckily our power lines in the neighborhood are underground, but that does not help much when the lines to your neighborhood are damaged.
Luckily, overall, we were only inconvenienced, and are much more appreciative now of power and running water.
❇Critterbee wrote: "The food mostly seems fine - it is mainly vegetables, some dairy, which generally seems to last longer. We did not open the freezer, and we took out everything we needed from the refrigerator as qu..."Whoah!
I'd forgotten you were a non meat eater. (Vegetarian?)
Once we realised that this wasn't an appliance destroying power surge we kept out of the freezer & only lost some frozen capsicums. They were a gift from a neighbour & I wasn't sure how old they were, so decided better safe than sorry.
We lost milk & yoghurt from the fridge though.
When in doubt, throw it out! Ha ha!Luckily, because it is still chilly here, the food seems to have survived! Yay! (I eat mainly plant based food, some dairy and occasionally fish)
Oh boy,is that true - when in doubt, throw it out! We’ve had hellacious winds and outages in the Greensboro area of nc, but we didn’t personally lose power this time! So glad you’re restored to power and water and dodged the explosions- heard one of those the other night with the wind.
Susan in NC wrote: "Oh boy,is that true - when in doubt, throw it out! We’ve had hellacious winds and outages in the Greensboro area of nc, but we didn’t personally lose power this time! So glad you’re restored to pow..."Glad to hear you survived the wind! Without power, phones, internet, it was difficult to see the size of the affected area. I had no idea whether the outages were local or regional or what.
Charlottesville is about 180 miles north of Greensboro, so really not too far away. Maybe about the same distance as a return trip from London-Bath-London!
If you ever decide to race your curricle down this way, give me a heads up and pay your tolls for you and brew up a pot of tea! ;)
The storm hit here in New England as well. There are some power outages. I spent Friday at the DMV and they lost power briefly twice. All was fine where we live. The driveway is filled with mud and pine boughs but no major damage. Some of the reports in the newspaper sound terrifying.
Here, southwest of Baltimore, we didn't lose power. Hooray! We have a yard full of tree debris--lots and lots of dead maple limbs and bushels of smaller branches and twigs. A neighbor lost the huge pine in his front yard. Fortunately it fell parallel to the house and not directly on it. Several counties cancelled school for Friday, as well. But not very much rain--another hooray. A couple of people killed by falling trees. Our top gusts were in the 70mph range. A good couple of days to stay inside.
Thank goodness QNPooh and Barb. We had limbs down from high winds, hubby just finished gathering them up. (Good thing we have had the tree surgeon tend our huge maples over the years - I love our trees but they could have caused major damage over the years with the ice and wind we’ve had).
Hopefully the wind demons have calmed down for the East. Bonus reading times:
During power outages (with a light source for reading).
When you are Stranded at the DMV (performed by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta)
Sailing on calm seas
❇Critterbee wrote: "Hopefully the wind demons have calmed down for the East. Bonus reading times:
During power outages (with a light source for reading).
When you are Stranded at the DMV (performed by Olivia Newton-..."
I like the way you think!
"Susan in NC wrote: We’ve had hellacious winds and outages in the Greensboro area of nc, but we didn’t personally lose power this time! Susan I live in Greensboro NC . We were lucky weren't we that we had power through all the wind last week.
Ginny wrote: ""Susan in NC wrote: We’ve had hellacious winds and outages in the Greensboro area of nc, but we didn’t personally lose power this time! Susan I live in Greensboro NC . We were lucky weren't we th..."
Yes, indeed! Before my neighbor trimmed his trees up, we’d lose power fairly often!
Yet another winter storm coming Wed.-Th. for the northeast U.S. It looks like wintry mix for us on the coast. I would rather have snow and have it melt the next day than ice that sticks around forever. I have a few things downloaded on my computer just in case and a tablet with 4G to download more books .... just in case!
Charge up, stock up food and stay warm and dry. Good luck!
We are just coming to the end of an horrendous week of snow. The weather front “the beast from the east” came in from Siberia and hit us with icy winds, masses of snow and chaos to transport. Schools closed, supermarkets ran out of supplies and trains and planes were cancelled all over the place. It shows how bad it was that our friend’s funeral was postponed from Friday until tomorrow. I have never ever heard of that happening before. Thankfully we didn’t have any power cuts, but the central heating has been on 24/7 and we had the log burner on as well. Apparently it is now officially Spring - not that you would know from looking outside!
Wow, the storms you guys have in the US put our 'Beast from the East' into perspective! I thought that the 4 inches of snow outside my front door was impressive.On the other hand the Canadian at work was laughing at us all for the chaos and school cancellations for what she thinks is just normal weather!
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Georgette Heyer Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
The Peppermint Mocha Murder (other topics)The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (other topics)
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (other topics)
The Toll-Gate (other topics)
The Toll-Gate (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Molly Thynne (other topics)Georgette Heyer (other topics)
George Bellairs (other topics)
Amos Bronson Alcott (other topics)
Amos Bronson Alcott (other topics)
More...
Our utility company is almost over-zealous when it comes to cutting back trees that are near power lines. Their crews are in constant rotation through the area; they hit our street about every 3 or 4 years. It takes a storm of hurricane levels or really bad ice during the winter to take out the power in our area. The down side is that there are whole stretches of very one-sided trees--not pretty at all!