The Gerbil World Cup at the Bluestocking!

[Magpiecomplex]

New thread.

No pushing at the back, please, we have plenty of scones and kilts for everyone.

since you mention it

really not what I needed

🐱❤🌡

Poor you
It's as likely as not that you'll be 'grand' in no time - it's important to keep that in mind, shingles isn't always awful - but you can be left feeling quite run-down after it, so when you start feeling 'grand', which I hope you will ASAP, don't jump back in to buzzing around like nothing happened - continue to take care of yourself, don't push yourself too hard, eat well, rest lots, until your system is back on track.

That's what Dr Bessie told me, anyway

💜Thanks Marie. I will try to remember that. It really could be a lot worse. It's just the heat, humidity, and I'm so bored being in the house for days on end, looking outside thinking "driveway, weeds, grass, too long, weeds, needs cutting, weeds weeds weeds, oh and by the way the windows need cleaning" and I have no energy to do it and the sun is too hot.

Nevermind, it will probably rain every day next week! 😄

I used to have a cat who would sit on my head until I woke up. Very insistent. And patient.

I once cat sat for a friend for two weeks.

The cat would start yowling at 5.45am for me to watch him drink his water.

The water was out but he would scream saying I can’t drink it unless you watch and I’m really thirsty.

He was quite happy to drink it on his own the rest of the day.

Sounds about right.

As a non-domestic-animal-holding human, I'm finding all these stories about the quirks of cats and dogs very informative and entertaining.
They really are funny little four-legged people, aren't they?
I appreciate that I'm getting all the 'fun' stories about having your head sat on till you feed them at daybreak stories, without having my head sat on at daybreak!

And all the wonderful stories about Brains and Batshit, without ever getting my feet muddy😁

Here’s one.

When I’m away my neighbour J looks after Kitty.

The first time J came in, Kitty hid under the sofa & J had to lure her out with Dreamies. All fine then & I got photos of them playing together & Kitty asking to be stroked.

The next day, Kitty met J at the door so no need for Dreamies bribery. After a few minutes, Kitty ran under the sofa - since that had worked previously.

It’s an understood thing now that if J’s looking after Kitty, the Dreamies come out immediately.

One of our dogs is a very early walker - and it is hard to ignore a Labrador jumping on you. Luckily dh is an early bird too, so doesn’t mind getting go up with the dogs, while I go back to sleep.

It isn’t as warm here as it was yesterday - it’s overcast so it is muggy, and we’ve had some drops of rain, but no thunderstorms yet.

Watching the tempest employment tribunal, its a lark!!!!

We had the promise of a thunderstorm and it was very cloudy early this morning, but there was just one rumble of thunder, then it rained abut 20 miles to the east of us 🙄

It's about 30C at the moment, but should be cooling down later this afternoon.

On the subject of animal friends, a very funny video popped up on my google feed a few days ago, of a women demonstrating making a sponge-type cake, when a golden lab popped up and swallowed the cake batter as she was trying to pour it into the tin😁

So am I. I am torn between wondering how on earth this case ever reached tribunal stage and being glad it did, just to show how batshit some people can be.

I am hoping that the cooler weather arrives soon - my feet swell up when we have a heatwave, and I hate it when they look like overstuffed sausages!

Baking hot and no prospect of rain on the flatlands.

Lots of hay being cut this past week, so at least it's drying well.

Much frenzied irrigation is going on at the moment - potatoes and onions, mostly - and you'll see a John Deere towing irrigation going one way at 5 in the afternoon, and then at 7.30 next morning it's coming back the other way. The pump on the nearest farm reservoir is a couple of hundred yards away, and it's running 24/7. You don't notice it during the day, but it sounds louder at night. At least it's a fairly lulling noise and I can fall asleep to it.

I'm keeping the vegetables, any new plants and the sweet peas well-watered. The sweet peas are going nuts.

It is now gloomy and raining here.

Baking hot and no prospect of rain on the flatlands.
I hear that being sung by Bruce Springsteen, though it might be 'badlands' not flatlands

I saw a news report about vegetable crops being damaged not just by the lack of water, but by the very hot sun.

I have this mad idea - solar farms are much maligned for taking over fertile land but...
Supposing the panels were placed 2m above the ground, allowing crops to grow underneath, without the damaging direct rays of the sun, and giving shelter to animals from both sunlight and heavy rain.

And speaking of rain - supposing the panels had a system of gutters running the full length of the array of panels, collecting rain and carrying it into storage tanks, to be used for irrigation, esp during droughts...?

🤔?

Okay i am in what shall we call this enterprise then?

We had big fat raindrops and a decent thunderstorm around 6:30 this morning. I had to hurriedly close the velux or the bed would have been soaked.

Now 34⁰ in the shade. I've wrung my dress under the cold tap twice and I still can't cool down. I'd hoped the storm would have reduced humidity but it hasn't.

(My approach to extreme heat is to wear very thin, very loose cotton dresses and put them on wet if I'm going outside. No one but family can see me and they don't care if I'm scruffy)

How would you harvest the crops? 🙄

I know! Gerbils on mini John Deeres small enough to move in and out of the rows of panels!

Perhaps Germinate could draw up some plan.

That sounds like a really good idea, Pasta! I might try that next time.

Breeze has definitely picked up, thank goodness, but still about 25C and boiling in the sun. Very humid. No sign of rain and looks like tomorrow could reach 27.
😑

This had better not compete in any way with my business enterprise with Fuzzy! I was pulled in by the sheer ruthlessness of it, and I want my money now.

No selling solar panels to land owners in Scotland who might buy our Pee Pants!

Angle, a cold wet bandana around your neck also helps a lot

You have hit on a very current topic there. There's a lot of emerging evidence that solar farms are not the blight on the landscape that they were thought to be. Panels have been installed on higher supports and sheep have been put in with great results for the ecosystem. Even at normal height the panels provide shelter from the sun for insects and mammals and also slow evaporation from the soil. There's a significant increase in biodiversity, and because solar farms are generally fenced, smaller mammals find safety from predators. It's fascinating and encouraging to read about.

I'm tangentially involved with research on flexible photovoltaics for polytunnels and the sides of glasshouses too, it's surprisingly efficient and as long as you factor in the effects on light wavelengths and quantity, can work really well for protected crops. There was an exhibit about it at Chelsea last summer (2025).

My legs encased in compression socks and wearing orthotics in my house shoes.

In this heat.

I am thinking cool thoughts.