Because It's Topical...
Feb. 4th, 2012 03:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endlessraritiesSince Caldwell Tower's been a hot topic of conversation on everyone's posts just recently, I thought I'd dive back into the archives with this:-
http://endlessrarities.livejournal.com/129578.html
It's been a mad kind of day. I phoned up the garage to arrange for Sophie's MOT to be done, only to be told 'bring her in now!' So I took her in, and now she's back again, having passed with flying colours. And my beloved Minty, whom I handed over to the owner of the garage on the off-chance that he could do something with her rather than scrapping her, has now been patched up with some welding, and is currently being used as as the garage runaround, and is doing a grand job in that capacity.
I feel quite chuffed about that, I must say!
It's not all good news. I've made the decision to put Sophie in again later this week to get her timing belt changed, but that counts as a good investment, as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully, it won't prove too expensive, as I guess the mechanic owes me a favour, considered I gave him just under six months' free road tax and a car worth at least one hundred quid in scrap value...
And then I came home and had to do some surgery on a begonia. One of my overwintered corms was hollow and a bit iffy looking, so I carved into it and found a mass of rotton spongy 'flesh' which was being feasted upon by what appeared to be fruit fly (or similar) larvae, with some little adult flies gadding about. The rest of the begonias look quite healthy, so I suspect that the small flies have been attracted to the rot, rather than being the cause of it. Anyway, the begonia is beginning to sprout, so rather than chucking away the whole plant (that was J's suggestion...) I've gone for the kill or cure option. I carved out all the rotten stuff with my trusty plasterer's leaf (helpful to archaeologists, AND to gardeners...) much as you'd carve the rotton stuff out of a horse's hoof if it has an abscess (NB: I've never tried doing this. I've just watched the vet and held my nose...)
Will the patient survive? I haven't a clue. But I thought it was worth a shot. Fingers crossed...
http://endlessrarities.livejournal.com/129578.html
It's been a mad kind of day. I phoned up the garage to arrange for Sophie's MOT to be done, only to be told 'bring her in now!' So I took her in, and now she's back again, having passed with flying colours. And my beloved Minty, whom I handed over to the owner of the garage on the off-chance that he could do something with her rather than scrapping her, has now been patched up with some welding, and is currently being used as as the garage runaround, and is doing a grand job in that capacity.
I feel quite chuffed about that, I must say!
It's not all good news. I've made the decision to put Sophie in again later this week to get her timing belt changed, but that counts as a good investment, as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully, it won't prove too expensive, as I guess the mechanic owes me a favour, considered I gave him just under six months' free road tax and a car worth at least one hundred quid in scrap value...
And then I came home and had to do some surgery on a begonia. One of my overwintered corms was hollow and a bit iffy looking, so I carved into it and found a mass of rotton spongy 'flesh' which was being feasted upon by what appeared to be fruit fly (or similar) larvae, with some little adult flies gadding about. The rest of the begonias look quite healthy, so I suspect that the small flies have been attracted to the rot, rather than being the cause of it. Anyway, the begonia is beginning to sprout, so rather than chucking away the whole plant (that was J's suggestion...) I've gone for the kill or cure option. I carved out all the rotten stuff with my trusty plasterer's leaf (helpful to archaeologists, AND to gardeners...) much as you'd carve the rotton stuff out of a horse's hoof if it has an abscess (NB: I've never tried doing this. I've just watched the vet and held my nose...)
Will the patient survive? I haven't a clue. But I thought it was worth a shot. Fingers crossed...
