Chitchat thread #24

[Snoop Puss]

Apparently, GF, you need all these things to use those star map apps that tell you what constellation you're looking at. I shall find out more. Peace currently reigns in the Snoop household, largely aided by a bottle of wine with supper and now some hazelnut chocolate.

[bramble]

Goodnight all
I am still on holiday so dont feel able to add much and dont want to be going on about the fantastic weather we are having.
The temp has been in the mid 20's since we arrived 10 days ago
Nothing to report other than pl4nty of long walks, and live,y food at half the price of home.
Have a good night all,
l

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Rained all night here.
Come on bramble - how about sharing a lovely photo of sunshine…I’m already missing it!!!

Speaking of which…it really is still dark in the mornings now isn’t it…and in the evenings. The clocks change in two weeks, I can’t believe we’re suddenly at that time of the year again!
I’m just listening to an owl and the first bird calls of the morning. They seem to start in the woods before we hear them in the garden.

Snoop - I bet you must have incredibly clear views of the stars. We have amazingly clear views but on one horizon is a hill and another has slight light pollution. Not much though thank goodness. I love sitting outside in the evenings next to a fire pit looking up at the stars. There seem to be so many satellites whizzing past these days. Or are those the smiles having one last flutter before bedtime?

I’m fancying breakfast pancakes with egg and maple syrup this morning ( the diet starts this coming Monday)…one last taste…..
The alternative is stewed apple, weetabix and live yog. I’ll let OH decide.

Yesterday I stewed down 6kg of apple for the freezer. Got plenty more to do as the apples seem to have a lot of bugs in them this year. I hate to waste them. Well not waste as I could compost them (as they are also small and fiddly to peel)….but you know what I mean.

Anyone got plans for the weekend? More of the same for me, but maybe an outing in the camper. There’s a shortage of petrol here at the moment ( refinery workers on strike) so we may well just stay at home.

Anyone fancy a brew?….I’m going to top up my mugs….

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Its raining here as well Nicos, I've only been out to get the milk in and apples for juicing I should have put a jacket on Just had my second mug of tea so anymore and I'll be drowning in it thanks.
I love those star map apps I've got 2 on my phone its really interesting putting names to the stars.

Enjoy your day.

[Nicos]

Morning Bren.

Pancakes it was…..in case anyone was wondering!Yum.

I didn’t mention this, but I have a new iPhone!….an actual new one All the previous phones have been second or third hand and not really worked very well, but having sold my beloved car I thought….what the heck. So there we go! I’m still at the learning stage ( after X number of years) of learning how not to drop it….Yeh…I know - that’s presumably why people have donated their old phones to me.

So come on….which star maps do you rate the best? Sounds fantastic!

[greenishfing]

Good morning all.

Nicos a new phone.....exciting. I have asked Santa to bring me one..... I love the one I've got (first smartphone ever for me) but it really is getting to the end of it's life. I keep putting off getting one but eventually I'll have to. My first one was a rather random purchase. I'd been using an old non-smart phone of my husband's for ages and just couldn't understand why anyone needed a smartphone...including the ancient in-laws who all had them. When the ancient brick died I decided I really ought to catch up with modern technology. I wandered into Carphone Warehouse and said to the girl I've got a budget of £xxx, what do you recommend. For a few weeks I used it just as a phone, then I connected it to my wifi, then lost in the wilds of North Yorkshire (with a faulty satnav in the car) I pulled in, turned on mobile data and google maps and found my way. That was it! I was converted. No longer did I end up with several hundred emails in my inbox or unanswered texts as I dealt with them immediately. I would really struggle without it now in so many ways....and as for shopping.....

We get far too much light pollution here to appreciate the night sky but when out at sea or in the wilds in the past I found stargazing magical.

I'm happy to say that after after-decent night's sleep I'm feeling much more human today.

We are really heading towards Winter now. I'm watching lots of leaves being blown off the trees and dreading going back to GMT.

Off to make more coffee now.

[Snoop Puss]

Afternoon all.

In a similar position to you, Bramble. It's bright and sunny and too hot to be clearing beds (30 ºC in the shade), which was what I had planned for today. Just right for a beer and some cheese and crackers for lunch, though.

I've just looked up all the bits and bobs I mentioned. Essentially, a magnetometer measures Earth's magnetic field, the accelerometer measures acceleration and the gyroscope keeps track of whether the phone is vertical or horizontal. Between them, I believe..., they know where the phone is and where it is pointing (in the sky) and they keep track of it moving as you change your view of the sky. Don't take my word for it though. Google knows a lot more than I do.

Nicos, I believe the very best star gazing apps are for iPhone. Mine is Android and a big step up for me. But you should be able to find an amazing app for your phone. Loads of info online.

Bren In Pots , which star apps do you use? Do you have a preference? As far as I can tell, none of them are that expensive and I cannot be doing with ads while I'm trying to work out how apps work. So I'm happy to pay if that makes a difference.

And yes, we have a pretty decent view of the sky and not much light pollution. A bit from a few villages, but not too bad. Really looking forward to using an app. I've tried using a planisphere, but not been very good at it.

Mr Snoop has gone into town. Supposedly to do some laundry. In practice to use the fibre optic connection... He now wants me to buy a new computer for myself for work purposes so he can have my hand-me-down, which is better than his own. Would have been a bit more affordable if he hadn't lost two phones... Lots of dot, dot, dots there. Just to be clear, peace does reign here, honest.

No idea what happened to the smiles. One minute they were here, next minute they were gone. Pretty much like time itself. Where did this year go? Feels like it was 1 January only yesterday.

Have a great rest of the day, everyone.

[rary]

Good afternoon, a wet cold day today, got back from a holiday in the Lake District yesterday and trying to catch up with some necessary work while away there was some rain ingress in the conservatory, fortunately it wasn't a lot I had asked my son to keep an eye on it for me and everything was fine till last night and had some water on the floor this morning, fortunately I carried out a repair just before some heavy rain started, and its been raining heavily for the past 3 hrs and everything seems OK. This morning I had something similar but opposite to Snoop where for Snoop it was too hot to clear the bed, here it was too cold to clear the bed, but OH threatened violence if I didn't get out of bed☹️
With all the talk about following the stars on the phone, I thought someone had been following me😊 till I realised it the night sky that was being reffed to, on that subject, have any of you seen the programme with Martin Compston, on the telly, where he was in the dark sky area of the Galloway forest, it showed you the night sky in all its splendour, really good to see, haven't seen the likes of that since I was a boy, sadly it brings home how much damage we have done with pollution, however things are changing, though slowly its still happening. On that note I need to go and finish a PowerPoint presentation I am making about growing and storing fruit and veg. without using freezers, along with flowers from the garden for cutting, to try and avoid buying flowers brought from far of countries. Well that the excuse I will use when OH thinks I should have bought her a bunch of flowers 🙄😉
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and keep smiling

[Bren In Pots]

Evening

Snoop both me and MrPots use Sky Safari on our phones, he has an android mines an iPhone. Then I’ve got Skylight on mine both are free apps.

I didn’t get my juicing done today I made chutney instead Only 3 jars because I’ve got a few left from last year.

enjoy your evening

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

Dark innit?

I was wondering if any of you have any more photos for our competition?
It’s closing tonight and we’ve not really had many people enter The entries we’ve had are great . I’m going to add a photo of my lawn/ garden and I’d love to see piccies of a favourite part of your gardens etc. ( or any other class entries…)
Its just for fun…the various classes are here…… https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...table-showcase
please be tempted

Hibou is bouncing around with her legs crossed - clearly a life skill!….I best go let her out!….
Anyone fancy a brew?

[mothhawk]

Morning all.
Ta for the brew, Nicos, hits the spot every time

Clear sky and the air feels chilly, proper autumn fresh. The chilly nights are starting to turn the leaves golden on the trees too. I love autumn, especially when drippy, misty, early mornings transform to a glorious sunny day.

Not got much planned, but I must take down my tiny blowaway for the winter now the tomatoes are done. I've a big bowl of green ones and hoping they ripen as I'm not a fan of chutney. Perhaps I'll have a search for a pickle recipe, or I wonder if they'd go in piccalilli?

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

I'm afraid my pictures have disappeared with the phones, Nicos. Thinking about photos made me think of QW. I know he's using another name now but I don't remember when I last spotted him. He usually posts lovely pictures. Has anyone seen him about recently?

Nice to see you back, Rary. Hope you had a good time away.

Thanks for the info, Bren. I've seen good reviews of Sky Safari but will check out the other one too.

Bright morning here. I'm about to go out and do some gardening. The smiles were mooching about the place but I've shooed them off. They were enjoying a robin singing away and a thrush tugging at the olives on our tree by the house. Bit early for them to be raiding the trees. But I notice the olives are already black, so the night time temps must have been lower than the thermometer suggested (it's in a sheltered spot).

Better get on with things. Have a good day, everyone.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Snoop once you start looking there's 100's of sky apps I'd suggest you download a free one and see how you get on before going for a paid one, out of the 2 I've got I do like Sky Safari best.

Its lovely in the sun today so we'll be making the most of it.

Enjoy your day

[greenishfing]

Good afternoon....I don't know where the morning went today.

Do you get your own olive oil Snoop? If so I am green with envy🤢.

It's sunny but breezy and cold here. I have cajoled Mr GF into the shower this morning so I might change the bed next and try out the new brushed cotton quilt cover set. I have actually washed it first, as per the instructions. Somewhere it did say minimal iron which I took to mean just the pillowcases as the quilt cover had blown itself more or less creaseless on the line.......mmmmmm.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks, Bren.

We don't have enough olive trees to get our own oil pressed. Though I do think we should plant more on a bit of land we have. Trouble is they take a long time to become productive enough to make it worth while. The local oil is fantastic (made with the local olive tree - empeltre - it is denominación de origen protected, a bit like appellation controlée for wine) and people are experimenting with other trees as well now that the climate is warming up.