The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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You may or you may not believe this but we have forecasts here that predict heavy rain and, although the sky looks ominous, we get none whatsoever.

30 metres down the road, it's pissing it down!
 
Lullabelle said:
Apparently you have to bring them in over winter, preferably into a greenhouse, we don't one so not sure where we would put it because it isn't ideal to keep it in the house.
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I wouldn't worry too much because mine survived temperatures of -8C and below for long periods of time last winter and survived easily. It also didn't get watered at all whilst I was in hospital for 2 months. They just don't like wet roots and frozen for long periods of time.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I wouldn't worry too much because mine survived temperatures of -8C and below for long periods of time last winter and survived easily. It also didn't get watered at all whilst I was in hospital for 2 months. They just don't like wet roots and frozen for long periods of time.
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I'll wrap something around the pot in the winter then.
 
I have taken my orchids outside for a thorough soak in rain water. They are growing and producing leaves but no flowers :(
 
Lullabelle said:
I have taken my orchids outside for a thorough soak in rain water. They are growing and producing leaves but no flowers :(
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They are no different from any other plant. There is a set time of year to produce flowers but humans screw with that using artificial conditions. Just give it chance and stable conditions and it will sort itself out with time..

I used to grow lots and lots of orchids before I went off to cycle around the world. I even had a large blue flowering air orchid which flowered repeatedly over the years I had it and always looked amazing. It would go on holiday with me unless we are camping in which case I'd find someone to look after it for me. 10 minutes in a bucket of rain water once a day (unless the heating was on high as with some friends homes) and it was happy as anything. I'd just put it in the water when I opened the curtains in the morning, and pull it out after breakfast.

Now I just have the one orchid. But it's happy in its corner. I'm looking for another nice one but they are expensive over here.
 
Desktop went on the blink on Friday. Took it back to the builder who said it's not worth throwing money at it (10 years old). Bought a new one today. Bht 16,000.00 (£380.00). I may have to cut down on fillet steaks for a while.
 
Yorky said:
Desktop went on the blink on Friday. Took it back to the builder who said it's not worth throwing money at it (10 years old). Bought a new one today. Bht 16,000.00 (£380.00). I may have to cut down on fillet steaks for a while.
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Not only that, my beer supplier has put his prices up from Bht 500.00/case to Bht 540.00/case (12 x 640 ml bottles). I shall need to research alternative suppliers.
 
Yorky said:
Desktop went on the blink on Friday. Took it back to the builder who said it's not worth throwing money at it (10 years old). Bought a new one today. Bht 16,000.00 (£380.00). I may have to cut down on fillet steaks for a while.
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Eeek.. is that the monitor you are taking about?
 
I usually find desktops are easy to fix - parts for the older ones only cost pennies, TBH I usually just buy a replacement on E Bay for a few pounds - the new ones are out of date in a year anyway so no point in trying to keep up
 
sidevalve said:
I usually find desktops are easy to fix - parts for the older ones only cost pennies, TBH I usually just buy a replacement on E Bay for a few pounds - the new ones are out of date in a year anyway so no point in trying to keep up
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Generally neither Ebay nor Amazon deliver to Thailand. The problem, so I am told, is that the motherboard is so old that new bits (available locally here) don't fit.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
They are no different from any other plant. There is a set time of year to produce flowers but humans screw with that using artificial conditions. Just give it chance and stable conditions and it will sort itself out with time..

I used to grow lots and lots of orchids before I went off to cycle around the world. I even had a large blue flowering air orchid which flowered repeatedly over the years I had it and always looked amazing. It would go on holiday with me unless we are camping in which case I'd find someone to look after it for me. 10 minutes in a bucket of rain water once a day (unless the heating was on high as with some friends homes) and it was happy as anything. I'd just put it in the water when I opened the curtains in the morning, and pull it out after breakfast.

Now I just have the one orchid. But it's happy in its corner. I'm looking for another nice one but they are expensive over here.
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Garden centres sell them cheap when in full bloom, I try to ensure the ones I buy have buds to last longer, Supermarket prices are hideous.
 
Lullabelle said:
Garden centres sell them cheap when in full bloom, I try to ensure the ones I buy have buds to last longer, Supermarket prices are hideous.
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I always used to pick them up from the local garden centre (privately run) when they were reduced. Never paid more than £5 for any of them from there. A few did however come from an orchid specialist and those I did pay a lot more from.

My first one here I paid $5 for from Ikea. It died whilst I was in hospital for 2 months last winter after being left in the sun room which didn't have the blinds down in it. My replacement was $9.95 (AUD) again from Ikea. I did go to the orchid society annual sale list spring (in Canberra) but was unimpressed. Perhaps we were too late in the day but they wanted stupid prices for standard moth orchids and I won't pay what they were asking for what is a very common (and commonly neglected) plant.

I've had to remove quite s bit of the moss stuffed into the pot with my new orchid. Someone converted the base of the plant with 2cm of wet moss. A great way to ensure the plant dies quickly. They don't like the very base of their leaves being wet. The crown, that's the word. It's the main reason orchids (mouth orchids that is) die in people's home. Not overwatering, but bad planting (or deliberately bad planting to make it did more easily...)
 
It’s been a massive few weeks getting ready for hosting a big party.

Over caterer of the year awards should be a thing. However the thought of being stingy gives me the horrors. Possibly more so than wasting food. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of chilli con carne & squash soup that went in the bin on Sunday morning but the pulled pork & chicken had vanished along with the massive trays of Mac & cheese.

Speaking of - very little cheese was wasted. OH packed it up at some point & put it away in the fridge except for the big Brie covered in candied walnuts so some of it ended up in the bin.

None of the 120 bread rolls were wasted. There were 24 left but they were used for Sunday breakfast.

So many compliments on the food. Happy me.

I did forget to serve the potato salad, I didn’t have time to make the veg sushi & I completely forgot to get the sparkling wine served up before the cake presentation so we’ve got Christmas covered.

My brother compounded all this by arriving with more Camembert cheese, a container of pea soup & a heap of steak (why?) but redeemed himself by making delicious med rare well rested steak rolls with my beetroot relish for breakfast on Sunday for lucky hungover people. I had purchased 5 big bags of frozen hash browns for just this purpose. Just as well as I think there was at least 20 that slept over.

So between trays of hash browns, sink fulls of washing up, family on the tea towels and the hungover teens picking up rubbish the house was almost completely back in order by early bed time on Sunday night.
 
Frizz1974 said:
It’s been a massive few weeks getting ready for hosting a big party.

Over caterer of the year awards should be a thing. However the thought of being stingy gives me the horrors. Possibly more so than wasting food. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of chilli con carne & squash soup that went in the bin on Sunday morning but the pulled pork & chicken had vanished along with the massive trays of Mac & cheese.

Speaking of - very little cheese was wasted. OH packed it up at some point & put it away in the fridge except for the big Brie covered in candied walnuts so some of it ended up in the bin.

None of the 120 bread rolls were wasted. There were 24 left but they were used for Sunday breakfast.

So many compliments on the food. Happy me.

I did forget to serve the potato salad, I didn’t have time to make the veg sushi & I completely forgot to get the sparkling wine served up before the cake presentation so we’ve got Christmas covered.

My brother compounded all this by arriving with more Camembert cheese, a container of pea soup & a heap of steak (why?) but redeemed himself by making delicious med rare well rested steak rolls with my beetroot relish for breakfast on Sunday for lucky hungover people. I had purchased 5 big bags of frozen hash browns for just this purpose. Just as well as I think there was at least 20 that slept over.

So between trays of hash browns, sink fulls of washing up, family on the tea towels and the hungover teens picking up rubbish the house was almost completely back in order by early bed time on Sunday night.
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This sounds like a fantastic event. Did you take some photos to share?
 
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