Ac Baker

"Catsteroseismology: Survey-based Analysis of Purr-mode Oscillations Suggests Inner Lives of Cats are Unknowable"
Holcomb & Lam, Tue 1 Apr 2025
http://arxiv.org/abs/2503.23560

We've just done a wonderful and successful observation: safely viewing todays solar eclipse (partial where I'm located) using just a kitchen colander and a sheet of white paper.

We have two colanders, and the one with the slightly smaller holes produced a better image.

Whilst being very careful never to look directly at the sun, one of us held the colander up with one hand to cast the shadows on the piece of paper in the other hand.

The other person 'posed' the first person to get the best focus of the projected shadows, and then used a not-very-new camera phone to capture the image.

This image was taken within minutes of the maximum extent viewable of the partial eclipse for us, at around 11:00 UTC today Sat 29 Mar 2025.   You can see the outline of the moon, partially covering the disc of the sun, through each of the holes of the colander.

It's not much to look at, but using a very old pair of 100% cotton jeans (which I will never fit in again, and the fabric has become too fragile to repair), and a catering-size chopped tomato tin that's been in my garden for a couple of years:

I've made my first 'seed-snail', to try to start courgettes (which hate root disturbance).

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Ac,
Cute robin! They are always please to see a gardener

Oh, yes: the gardener's friend, indeed.

Nancy Reading wrote:There is still a lot of overhang on that ivy. Pity the trees are planted so close to that boundary; the soft fruit would have been far more tolerant of a shady location. Hopefully what you have done will help them a bit though.

Yeah, the trees are only about 2 m from the boundary and thus also the sycamore that the ivy is growing through.   This was designed by our friend who formerly had the plot, so I didn't have any input.  We do plan to see how they go this year, mulch the trees with as much hand-chipped branch wood as we can, and potentially cut the ivy back a bit more in a year.  I have lots of ivy on my original plot growing over the shed that wasn't growing there ten years ago.  So I like to think that's a bit of a trade-off in terms of habitat and food source.

Nancy Reading wrote:If you get any bullace suckers I wouldn't mind one please. It's one form of plum that doesn't seem to be as widely available, but being a native plant (I think) is more likely to grow well for me.

I believe I have one that could come your way this Spring .. it's only about 1 m tall at the moment.  Of course, I'm not 100% sure of the ID, but I'd say I'm 90% sure?

Also, the robin whose territory this is, has been nagging for worms.  We have a lot of volunteer plants to exit out, mostly focken, dandelions .. and sycamore one year seedings!

Spring is finally arriving: we now know we have three rhubarb crowns, as their first leaves are emerging. So we're feeding this with some home-made compost, and will add comfrey trimmings later.

We've given the curtain of English ivy a 'short back and sides' to open up light & air to the dwarfing rootstock fruit trees. This has reclaimed 2m of path against the boundary fence too.  You can get an impression from this photo of our first fruit blossoms, bullace we think. The trees in the picture are two plums & two pears.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Ac Baker wrote:We who've been watching this, are now very excited to see if you might do Spring, Summer & Autumn versions of this walk-through!

I could do that; spring and summer are always fun. Autumn is a bit more tricky to identify as late summer slips into winter sometimes..

Ah, true: mid-September, once the midges go down, I was thinking!

Nancy Reading wrote:

Ac Baker wrote:I was wondering, would it be helpful to have a go a documenting some more of all this knowledge in your head about just what all these wonderful plants & guilds are planned to do, and doing in practice?

I'm happy to do that. Do you think video will work better than written posts? Any special requests? I suspect most areas will be more interesting when things are growing!
I'll maybe have a look at the coppice trees though, once I've finished cutting and started tidying up a bit. At the moment it is a bit like a disaster area in places with fallen trees!

I was thinking I might be able to help with transcribing, if you narrate a video?

R Scott wrote:I would not last long on that ration!

The key thing is, this isn't all your food, although as N says, other foods were in short supply.  Hence, being able to grow your own ('dig for victory'), and we have to admin 'the illicit trade' was so important to make up your calories & other nutrients.

Nancy Reading wrote:Nancycam....

A ten minute walk down the tree field in January - just an overview. Not great quality I'm afraid. I think I'll have another go at reinstating the sound on my cameraphone. This was with the proper camera and there is rather a lot of camera shake.

We who've been watching this, are now very excited to see if you might do Spring, Summer & Autumn versions of this walk-through!

I was wondering, would it be helpful to have a go a documenting some more of all this knowledge in your head about just what all these wonderful plants & guilds are planned to do, and doing in practice?

Speaking as such a friend, these all sound yummy! Thank you!