CoTT 2 House of Cards

[Marty]

2 minutes ago, dughlas said:

 

There's no rush. Y'all know if he's wearin' plaid he's one o'mine. To say otherwise is in the words of his Imperial Texyness ...

Drew will probably now just get upset that you didn't title him "His Imperial Texyness" (with the capital H)

 

[dughlas]

1 minute ago, Marty said:

Drew will probably now just get upset that you didn't title him "His Imperial Texyness" (with the capital H)

 

If he nukes me I'm blaming you.

[Marty]

I'll be manning a helpline (from home, using a special App on my smartphone) for two hours starting in about ten minutes time.

After that, I'll do my best to post a photograph showing my garden progress (or lack thereof) today.  

Edited February 4, 2021 by Marty
Tidying up

[Page Scrawler]

11 hours ago, Drew Espinosa said:

Morning y'all!

 

Hey, Drew! 

 

7 hours ago, Drew Espinosa said:

Morning Sexy! And... No comment.

Watching drilling documentaries again? 

 

1 hour ago, dughlas said:

Took mum out to a nearby breakfast/burger/bbq place for lunch.

Sounds good. I might have Morgan pickup some burgers from 7 Monks Taproom. 

[Marty]

So, I started today by clearing the worst of the ivy that was growing on end of outside of the end of the stone wall. I'm a bit concerned that the ivy has damaged part of the wall. This photograph will .likely show you what I am talking about:

Although they are not in any immediate danger of falling, there are some large stones that have shifted slightly, probably as a result of ivy stems growing between them. The stems thicken as they age, and thus move the stones. It looks as though some stones have actually already fallen in the past. 

I'm thinking that I may have to get a "professional" in to make the end of the wall safe. I wouldn't want the local kids climbing on the wall and hurting themselves from the loose stones moving. I'll make a few enquiries tomorrow.

[dughlas]

17 minutes ago, Marty said:

So, I started today by clearing the worst of the ivy that was growing on end of outside of the end of the stone wall. I'm a bit concerned that the ivy has damaged part of the wall. This photograph will .likely show you what I am talking about:

Although they are not in any immediate danger of falling, there are some large stones that have shifted slightly, probably as a result of ivy stems growing between them. The stems thicken as they age, and thus move the stones. It looks as though some stones have actually already fallen in the past. 

I'm thinking that I may have to get a "professional" in to make the end of the wall safe. I wouldn't want the local kids climbing on the wall and hurting themselves from the loose stones moving. I'll make a few enquiries tomorrow.

This photo is proof of why letting ivy or anyother creeping vine grow on masonry is not wise.

[Albert1434]

36 minutes ago, Marty said:

So, I started today by clearing the worst of the ivy that was growing on end of outside of the end of the stone wall. I'm a bit concerned that the ivy has damaged part of the wall. This photograph will .likely show you what I am talking about:

Although they are not in any immediate danger of falling, there are some large stones that have shifted slightly, probably as a result of ivy stems growing between them. The stems thicken as they age, and thus move the stones. It looks as though some stones have actually already fallen in the past. 

I'm thinking that I may have to get a "professional" in to make the end of the wall safe. I wouldn't want the local kids climbing on the wall and hurting themselves from the loose stones moving. I'll make a few enquiries tomorrow.

You be careful Marty please

[Marty]

4 minutes ago, dughlas said:

This photo is proof of why letting ivy or any other creeping vine grow on masonry is not wise.

Here's part of a screenshot from Google Maps Street "Street View" that was taken in August 2009 of the back of my property:

You can see the ivy at the far end of the wall. It was already overtopping the wall at that time, so it's had more than another eleven years to wreak its havoc.

You may remember me sharing a photo last April or thereabouts showing ivy overtopping the wall to the left of the gate. Thankfully that hadn't had as many years to damage the wall.

You'll maybe also notice that the public road hadn't been lowered at that stage, and so there is no ramp up to the gate...

[Marty]

1 minute ago, Albert1434 said:

You be careful Marty please

I will, Albert. I promise.

And thanks for your concern.  

[Marty]

Later this afternoon I moved inside the garden to remove the ivy from that side of the wall, and also to make a start on cutting back the boundary hedge. I took this photo showing that corner of the garden when it was almost totally dark, so apologies for the not great quality:

There's still a bit of ivy to clear off the inside of the wall, but I'm not going to remove any more from the far end of it until I have got advice as to how to best stabilise the stones.

I've made a very small start on tidying the hedge itself. It looks as though down through the years several attempts have been made to block the hedge with chicken wire, plastic screen-like wire, and even (now completely rusted) chain link fence. None of these seem to have been erected on fence posts; more just pushed against the hedge and tied back with bits of wire. I hope to remove them all, as they otherwise will prevent me from cutting the hedge as low as I'd like to. But I can see them being difficult to remove, as brambles, ivy, and the hedge itself, have grown through them in lots of places - and the bottom few inches of them are buried under the accumulation of years and years of rotting leaves...

[Headstall]

4 minutes ago, Marty said:

Later this afternoon I moved inside the garden to remove the ivy from that side of the wall, and also to make a start on cutting back the boundary hedge. I took this photo showing that corner of the garden when it was almost totally dark, so apologies for the not great quality:

There's still a bit of ivy to clear off the inside of the wall, but I'm not going to remove any more from the far end of it until I have got advice as to how to best stabilise the stones.

I've made a very small start on tidying the hedge itself. It looks as though down through the years several attempts have been made to block the hedge with chicken wire, plastic screen-like wire, and even (now completely rusted) chain link fence. None of these seem to have been erected on fence posts; more just pushed against the hedge and tied back with bits of wire. I hope to remove them all, as they otherwise will prevent me from cutting the hedge as low as I'd like to. But I can see them being difficult to remove, as brambles, ivy, and the hedge itself, have grown through them in lots of places - and the bottom few inches of them are buried under the accumulation of years and years of rotting leaves...

Looks to be a great view through the opening.

[Albert1434]

I agree Gary

[Marty]

13 minutes ago, Headstall said:

Looks to be a great view through the opening.

 

12 minutes ago, Albert1434 said:

I agree Gary

And I'll be interested to see if you still think the same when I have opened the view up even more...

[Marty]

The number of the beast... 

[Albert1434]

4 minutes ago, Marty said:

The number of the beast... 

Look its Drews number

Edited February 5, 2021 by Albert1434

[Marty]

Well, it's after 1:00 am here.

Good night, all!

Gonna leave you with some Iron Maiden.

 

 

[Page Scrawler]

1 hour ago, dughlas said:

This photo is proof of why letting ivy or anyother creeping vine grow on masonry is not wise.

On US-31, there's a house on the corner where the turnoff for the hospital is located. It's small, two stories with yellow brick. I think it must be owned by an elderly woman, because the garden outside is....well. The house has ivy growing up the wall which faces the highway, and it seems to be cut back every 4-5 months or so. It might look attractive, but I always wonder about the structural integrity of the building. 

[Albert1434]

Man the tuna came great

[Headstall]

1 hour ago, Marty said:

Well, it's after 1:00 am here.

Good night, all!

Gonna leave you with some Iron Maiden.

 

 

Sweet dreams, Marty.  

[Albert1434]

Engelbert Humperdinck, Who Has COVID-19, Asks for Prayers as Wife Struggles with Virus and Alzheimer's

[Albert1434]

This is for Val!

[Valkyrie]

@Bucket1, this explains it!    

[Marty]

8 hours ago, Albert1434 said:

Man the tuna came great

Thank Cod for that!

 

[Marty]

2 hours ago, Valkyrie said:

@Bucket1, this explains it!    

Michael Marshall Smith is one of my favourite authors. He's written under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Marshall, M.M. Smith, and Michael Rutger.

His horror/science fiction novels, written as Michael Marshall Smith, are my favourites. I particularly liked Spares, One Of Us, and his debut novel Only Forward. There's also a collection of short stories, What You Make It, which had some very interesting, and sometimes quite disturbing, chapters. I believe that was only published in the UK, but the chapters were included later in a much larger collection of short stories (More Tomorrow & Other Stories) which was sold outside of the UK.

I also enjoy the more "modern day" novels that he writes as Michael Marshall (The Straw Men and Blood Of Angels spring to mind. But I have to say that his horror/sci-fi novels are my favourites.

Thanks for reminding me of him, Val!  I must dig his books out and give them another read.

[Albert1434]

1930's Dust storm