Weekend social 29/8/2014

54 comments on “Weekend social 29/8/2014 ”

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1. Valleyman 1

   29 August 2014 at 3:39 pm

   Can I have fries & a coke with that please……..LOL
2. r0b 2

   29 August 2014 at 3:52 pm

   Project for the weekend – strip boxing from recently poured foundations and start assembling glasshouse. The “Instructions” make my brain hurt. Wish me luck…
   • weka 2.1

     29 August 2014 at 4:14 pm

     Luck! Glasshouses are awesome. What are you planning on growing?
     • r0b 2.1.1

       29 August 2014 at 4:23 pm

       Grapes, tomatoes and chilies for sure, salad greens, radishes. Mixture of stuff probably from the rest of the garden, to spread the yield over the seasons. Ahh Dunedin – we love your seasons!
       • weka 2.1.1.1

         29 August 2014 at 4:50 pm

         Grapes, is it quite big then?
         • r0b 2.1.1.1.1

           29 August 2014 at 5:02 pm

           Standard 3.6 x 2.4 I think – not planning a big vine, just a bit to get some early grapes before the main outside vine comes on line.
       • tinfoilhat 2.1.1.2

         29 August 2014 at 4:53 pm

         mmmmm radishes, nature’s most underrated vegetable.
         • r0b 2.1.1.2.1

           29 August 2014 at 4:57 pm

           I agree! And yet – and yet – they just never taste as good as I remember when I was young. Even farmer’s market radishes are a pale imitation of my memories. I suspect that this is just a consequence of age, and growing my own won’t make a difference, but I’m going to give it a try just in case!
           • weka 2.1.1.2.1.1

             29 August 2014 at 8:25 pm

             Heirloom varieties? (for the radishes)
             • r0b …

               30 August 2014 at 12:01 am

               Dunno – I’ll have to look in to that.
           • greywarbler 2.1.1.2.1.2

             29 August 2014 at 10:49 pm

             Perhaps radishes are tastier when well fertilised the natural way. Follow the politicians with a shovel, and voila.
             • r0b …

               30 August 2014 at 12:02 am

               I dunno that even a fondness for radishes is worth that price!
   • tc 2.2

     29 August 2014 at 4:36 pm

     Good luck, went through that and decided to have a woodshed made with clear light instead and delivered.

     The assembly of a poly tunnel was similarly daunting and if I screwed it up it was on me so I wimped out or made a wise decision depending on your view.
     • r0b 2.2.1

       29 August 2014 at 5:04 pm

       I am feeling a bit daunted to be sure, but the thing has been sitting the garage for way too long, the time has come to face my fears!
   • minarch 2.3

     29 August 2014 at 4:55 pm

     Good luck !

     Getting a glass house was one of the best moves I have made in a long time, I LOVE it and I hope you love yours too !

     I have just recently installed LED lighting to extend my daylight hours off season , Im really looking forward to seeing how they perform !

     my advise , get into hydroponics (if you arent already ? ) now that you have a protected environment, your yields and turnaround will increase DRAMATICALLY !

     plus its a lot of fun to !
     • r0b 2.3.1

       29 August 2014 at 4:59 pm

       Hydroponics and permaculture are both on the list to look in to. Fun – I hope so! – been meaning to get in to this for a long long time.
       • minarch 2.3.1.1

         29 August 2014 at 5:21 pm

         hydroponics is a lot less work, so you have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labours,

         Im starting to get into flori-culture, my dream would be to get my hands on a corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) , but i dont think the neighbors would appreciate that !

         I find hydroponic produce is tastier to, not to mention more nutritious and healthy !
   • Dumbrse 2.4

     29 August 2014 at 9:38 pm

     I suspect you don’t have enough brains for anything to hurt so, just get on with it.

     [lprent: Let me count the ways.. You are addressing a university prof, a profession known for their intelligence. Also an author. and you clearly didn’t read the post. Banned permantly for being stupid and unpleasant. ]
3. mickysavage 3

   29 August 2014 at 3:56 pm

   Why don’t we all pledge to get two more people enrolled to vote this weekend. Check with Whanau and neighbours. If a hundred of us do this it could be the difference between Key and Cunliffe being the PM.
   • sophie 3.1

     29 August 2014 at 4:06 pm

     I’m in!
     • weka 3.1.1

       29 August 2014 at 8:39 pm

       I’m in too! (already had one conversation).
   • sockpuppet 3.2

     29 August 2014 at 4:54 pm

     Not if they vote this weekend !
     • McFlock 3.2.1

       29 August 2014 at 5:33 pm

       be like nats with text voting – vote early, vote often 🙂
   • greywarbler 3.3

     29 August 2014 at 10:52 pm

     Yes, the pyramid effect would be great in the vote context.
4. Belladonna 4

   29 August 2014 at 4:40 pm

   I have exclusive brethren on one side so not too optimistic there!
   Nice to have Weekend Social back.
5. s y d 5

   29 August 2014 at 4:47 pm

   Can I recommend seeing 20000 days on earth?
   Not a huge Nick Cave fan myself, but my god I nearly screamed and hollered out loud in the cinema – how very un-kiwi of me……
6. minarch 6

   29 August 2014 at 5:23 pm

   This one is to good to be true !

   Abandoned Chocolate Factory To Start Selling Marijuana

   This former Hershey factory in Ontario is on track to be repurposed into a weed manufacturing plant. It’s like right out of a fairytale! Smiths Falls town Mayor Dennis Staples couldn’t be more pleased, and Canadian stoners everywhere are rejoicing at the prospect of a hydroponic hub, where weed flows like wine.

   https://roadtrippers.com/blog/abandoned-chocolate-factory-to-start-selling-marijuana-yay
   • weka 6.1

     29 August 2014 at 11:15 pm

     Surely you would want both a cannabis factory and a chocolate factory?
     • adam 6.1.1

       30 August 2014 at 12:22 am

       And ice-cream.
7. McFlock 7

   29 August 2014 at 5:35 pm

   One of the rare times my weekend is planned before it happens: a night in with Casablanca, a loaf of bread, a cup of wine, etc…
   • Belladonna 7.1

     29 August 2014 at 6:51 pm

     Casablanca is a great movie. I have it on VHS, bought myself a VHS player but just need to see if I can remember how to work it. You can buy VHS tapes for 50c to $1 and often find some really good movies. From memory they dont jump or get stuck like dvds tend to.
8. vto 8

   29 August 2014 at 6:24 pm

   Got dragged along to the type of movie I wouldn’t usually go to last weekend, and was blown away by it. Fantastic, dramatic, explosive. Special effects like you wouldn’t believe. If it even remotely interests you then go – and make sure you see it on the biggest screen with the loudest sound system ….. almost three hours of being glued to the seat and screen – didn’t want it to end.

   http://www.transformersmovie.co.nz/#home
9. Rosie 9

   29 August 2014 at 7:21 pm

   r0b’s back in town and that can only mean one thing, Weekend Social! 😀

   (I hope that OOS has started to improve).

   Good to hear about people’s gardens again and their plans for spring. We’ve had a severe attack of grass grub and have no lawns to mow for about three months now. Time to think about revivifying the raised herb garden and planning new projects for summer.

   If Anne is around I’d like to know how all her birds are doing. We now have our resident wild ducks visiting everyday. One of the ducklings who is now 3 winters old has returned after a long absence and looks like she is now carrying eggs. She still remembers her name. I was quite surprised about that.
   • r0b 9.1

     30 August 2014 at 12:05 am

     (I hope that OOS has started to improve)

     It is a little better at the moment, thanks. On the other hand, so to speak, I have managed to stuff up my left elbow with all the building work this year. Sigh!
     • Rosie 9.1.1

       30 August 2014 at 4:40 pm

       Oh how frustrating! Well all the best for ongoing improvement in both elbow and hand 🙂
10. Anne 10

    29 August 2014 at 8:10 pm

    Hi Rosie,
    I only have nine left now. They are the larger species of budgie and very brightly coloured so they still make a good spectacle. Today I had to remove them and bring them inside because we have yet another major easterly storm on it’s way. The little blighters have become very adept at ‘avoiding being caught’ so the air around the aviary was getting quite blue this afternoon.

    Now if Ennui is still around I’d like to know how is feathered ‘ladies’ are doing.

    Talking of wild birds, I am feeding a large contingent of sparrows, starlings, thrushes, a few pigeons and blackbirds and an occasional tui comes visiting too. But the most interesting are the grey doves. Every Spring they disappear to have their chicks. Then once the chicks are hatched and can fly they bring them to my garden and leave them with me. I have apparently become the local nursery for the grey dove chicks. Then when winter arrives they all return because food is getting scarce.

    Birds are smart creatures.
    • veutoviper 10.1

      29 August 2014 at 10:12 pm

      Birds, birds, birds – can I join in?

      After many years of dogs and cats, I ‘got landed’ with four parrots a few years ago and am now conpletely besotted with birds. I had always enjoyed birds and encouraged and fed the wild ones but knew little about the different needs, habits, etc of the different breeds. Now my life is taken up with birds.

      The parrots live indoors in their own parrot room except when the weather if fine enough to move their (very large) cages out onto the verandah during the day. One is an Australian Bare Eyed Corella (or Small Cockatoo) who is EVIL and drives me, my two dogs and cat, and the other parrots to distraction at times. He is out of his cage for most of the day causing mischief. The others are South American conures and now comprise a pair of Maroon bellied conures and a pair of Sun Conures. Just as well my neighbour whose house is close to the parrot room is elderly and deaf (but does not admit she is)!

      Outside, my garden is a haven for a large range of wild birds including Tuis, sparrows, blackbirds etc. But this year, I have not seen the Kingfisher who was a regular for the last few winters. As well I have a daily visit from as a large flock of wild pidgeons – not popular with my neigbours for them.

      And finally, (possibly temporarily, but most likely permanently) I now have three chickens, thanks to neighbours who have moved and don’t have the right section for them. They are doing wonders for weeding and cultivating my jungle of a garden – and the daily fresh eggs are out of this world compared to supermarket ones.
      • greywarbler 10.1.1

        29 August 2014 at 11:00 pm

        I wonder if hens are good on grass grubs? Rosie what’s the story on this. Have you had experience with using them for this job? If they like grass grubs it would be hen heaven, scratch up and chomp. The grubs are quite big if I remember rightly, greyish and curl into a C.
        • veutoviper 10.1.1.1

          30 August 2014 at 8:38 am

          Apparently hens love grass grubs and are one of the best ways of getting rid of them without chemicals etc. Stacks on this if you google “hens and grass grubs”. They also love eating snails and ‘Slaters’ – I had a visual image of giant hens eating a certain one!
          • greywarbler 10.1.1.1.1

            30 August 2014 at 9:56 am

            Thanks veuto. I thought I had heard about that and it is good information to get out and about. Perhaps it is hens that will save the world, (thanks for all the grass grubs) and not dolphins – thanks for the fish a la Douglas Adams.

            Do you know of an organic way of getting rid of bindweed (convulvulus tyrranusis!).
            Hens or bunnies digging it up and eating it like pigs eating truffles? I wish.
            • veutoviper 10.1.1.1.1.1

              30 August 2014 at 10:18 am

              I had to google that instantly as I have some bindweed in the jungle. From my quick read, chickens don’t like it and should not have it as it is listed in some lists of no, nos for chickens (although there seems to be mixed views on this).

              My quick read gave the impression that there is no sucessful way of dealing with bindweed organically. The problem is the deep roots and the only successful way is to ‘nuke’ it with chemical weedkillers such as glysophate.
              • greywarbler …

                30 August 2014 at 4:47 pm

                Thanks veuto. That’s what I had in my mind. But I hoped it was wrong. Just have to knuckle down and do it.
          • Rosie 10.1.1.1.2

            30 August 2014 at 5:07 pm

            Really lovely to hear about your parrot friends and chickens veutoviper. Both yourself and Anne sound like you are expert carers of birds.It’s nice to read your stories 🙂

            I’ve only recently in the last few years developed an interest and affection for birds. My grandfather was an ornithologist and reading about his life and the book he published I felt more connected with him and with his love of birds.It was his enthusiasm that got me started.

            We really only have ducks around here. There are some real characters, some stand out for their unusual traits and habits. The area we live in is devoid of trees and vegetation but even in the two years we’ve been here the local volunteer planting group who we’ve worked with, have through their plantings encouraged more bird life into the area. They have plans to create a bird friendly environment over the next 20 years.

            We’re making efforts in our own garden such as planting rewa rewa, to attract the birds. It’s a long term plan as they take so long to grow. Hopefully we’ll be rewarded one day!
          • Rosie 10.1.1.1.3

            30 August 2014 at 5:13 pm

            Thats interesting about hens and grass grub. The starlings like ’em but this year they lost the battle.

            We only sprayed once but were reluctant to do as the poison is quite toxic, and we have never used any other sprays in the garden ever. In fact our former neighbour who worked for the EPA said the chemical was on a list that was being considered for banning. Mr R kitted up in what looked like a bio hazard suit to get the job done. Won’t do it again as we can’t keep the ducks or the cat off the lawn.
    • Rosie 10.2

      30 August 2014 at 4:48 pm

      Lovely to get the update Anne. Thats quite adorable that you have been appointed nursery maid by the grey dove council of whanau. They obviously hold you in high esteem, to leave their chicks with you.

      I’ve not heard of wild grey doves.I’ll have to look them up later. Are they specific to your area?
      • Anne 10.2.1

        30 August 2014 at 4:55 pm

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mourning_dove

        They’re prolific in Auckland – at least the part of Auckland where I live.
        • Rosie 10.2.1.1

          30 August 2014 at 5:22 pm

          Thanks Anne, how interesting. I’m not familiar with them and don’t recall coming across them when I lived in Auckland. I might recognise a bird call so will check that out too.

          Always good to learn something new! Thank you 🙂
11. weka 11

    29 August 2014 at 8:27 pm

    I’m about to start watching The Fifth Estate (wikileaks drama). Will I regret this?
    • adam 11.1

      30 August 2014 at 12:29 am

      How was it Weka? I re watched the 5th Element and it was good!
      • weka 11.1.1

        30 August 2014 at 12:04 pm

        It was worth watching for its broad stroke overview of history, bearing in mind the inherent bias. Had bad reviews (I read afterwards), but as a piece of filmmaking I found it watchable. It’s mostly told from the perspective of Assange’s partner. Assange himself says the film is full of untruths. I couldn’t find a decent independent critique, so am unclear on how much licence the filmmakers took.

        One of the interesting things about watching it is it helped me understand better the people that followed the whole wiki leaks things closely as it happened and who see Assange as a hero and found it difficult to deal with the sexual assault allegations. Wikileaks was an amazing feat, and we’re never very good at understanding how good people might be able to do bad things.
12. greywarbler 12

    29 August 2014 at 10:47 pm

    A bit of light relief. Two spirited and talented singers with Anything you can do I can do better. A song for the times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UB1YAsPD6U
13. greywarbler 13

    30 August 2014 at 11:23 am

    [r0b: Deleted at writer’s request (below)]
14. greywarbler 14

    30 August 2014 at 2:08 pm

    Could moderator please if you have time, delete my long comment above. It vanished after I put it up and I looked for it for a while, then I thought it shouldn’t be here anyway and put it up on Open Mike, where it vanished again. And despite looking and refreshing, couldn’t find it. Now there are two long comments sorry. I would have deleted it myself but I didn’t have it to hand to work the options buttons.
15. Paul 15

    30 August 2014 at 4:52 pm

    Recommend Danish TV series Borgen.
    Really good.

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