My Home is my Castle

[Olham]

I never had Haggis - but I would definitely try it. When the Scotch can survive, I can also.

And who knows - perhaps it is even very tasty?

[UK_Widowmaker]

Ah yes Haggis!

 

We have a saying here in Northumberland..that here, we feed Oats to Horses..in Scotland, they feed them to the people!

[Flyby PC]

When making the World, Jesus looked up to his father, "Father, I'm confused".

 

"Why my son? What's wrong?"

 

"You've created this country called Scotland".

 

"Yes my son. What confuses you?".

 

"Well, you've given it some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, beautiful mountains you can scale in one day, and silver sand beaches you can follow for miles. You've blessed it with temperate climate, neither too warm nor two cold, nor too wet nor to dry, and made it soils productive green pastures and it's shores and rivers abundant with fish. You've populated it with hard working people of stout character and intellect, and neither serpents nor insects carry toxins to threaten them like everywhere else in the world. You've even created the gulf stream to wash it's shores with tropical currents in winter".

 

"Yes my Son. I have done all of this."

 

"But father. It isn't fair."

 

"Fair?"

 

"Yes fair. In Scotland you've created paradise on Earth. Everywhere else in the world there is harmony and balance, the good offset by the bad. Why do you so richly bless this country called Scotland?".

 

"Ah, I understand".

 

"Explain it to me father. What's to stop the rest of the world looking upon these rish blessings you have bestowed on Scotland with jealous eyes?"

 

"My son, the balance is maintained. Look a little closer and see the neighbours I've given them...."

Edited June 14, 2012 by Flyby PC

[UK_Widowmaker]

Yeah...bloody Welsh!...who needs them!?

[corsaire31]

Although I live now in Toulouse, I was born and lived a long time in Brittany. Of course in my young days I visited all my fellow celtic countries (was very much involved in celtic culture and music at the time)... two things come to my mind from my scottish tour : climbing the Ben Nevis on a beautiful clear day ( must happen once every 100 years or so...) and " haggis and fries".

I could add a hundred of other things, it is really a beautiful place and just talking about it makes me feel like planning another trip. If they just could get rid of all the mosquitos... (I was camping on my tour ! )

[Olham]

Mosquitos??? Even in Scotland they are???

 

I've never been there yet, but will go one day. I only know Scotland from the great film "Local Hero".

[Flyby PC]

No mosquitos in Scotland. The Midges have eaten them all.

[corsaire31]

I was talking about the midges of course, couldn't remember the name... old age coming ! Anyway they had us spend a couple of nights in the car, we couldn't hold inside the tent !

[Olham]

Flyby, are you from Scotland?

Damn, I couldn't even find you on the OFF Pilots Maps - am I senile, or are you really not in there yet???

In that case, please send me a PM with your town, and I'll add you at last - sorry about that!

[Hauksbee]

We have a saying here in Northumberland..that here, we feed Oats to Horses..in Scotland, they feed them to the people!

Ha! 'Been reading our Dr. Johnson, I see.

[corsaire31]

There was a time where I had porridge at breakfast, specially in winter...

[Flyby PC]

If you Google Earth 55°25'59.92"N 2°45'39.17"W It'll bring you right down on top of the yard, with my yellow landy in the drive.

 

 

[angles1100]

Nice yard Flyby PC I hope theres a keystone in that arch by now it looks unnatural hanging there without one

 

 

 

 

cheers

[HumanDrone]

Well, I'm late to the party here, and Olham's on leave, but here goes:

 

 

I have almost 6 acres there, the care of which tends to keep me "grounded" a lot in summer time! There is a natural spring near the small white fence to the right of the house; I've piped it to a pond that we use to keep everything watered. As you can see, there are a couple of other part-time springs in my driveway! The large swing set just visible at the right edge is our summer night sanctuary, cooling off after mowing or other yard work. But the real "sanctuary" is behind the house - that addition makes it from an "L" shape, and there is a patio that is partially roofed. Many morning coffees out there, watching turkeys, deer, and various other birds from hummingbirds up to pileated woodpeckers. Plus it's a great place to sit (under the roof, of course) during a summer rain storm! In the winter, a sealed, glass-front fireplace helps keep us warm. It takes it's combustion air from outside the house and the inside air is heated by a fan blowing air around the firebox. But yikes, did I buy some steep ground when I was young! Now I'm trying to conquer the hills so I don't have to mow them!

 

Ok, figured out how to link form my gallery...Here's one looking from the pond outflow toward the spring. They are actually separated by about 30 ft. or so...

 

 

That's enough for now! But really, I love seeing your places... This is a nice thread...

 

Best,

 

Tom

[Hasse Wind]

You have a beautiful home and garden.

 

Mowing the lawn must keep you in good shape.

[HumanDrone]

Thank you! And yes, it does! It needs mowing in those pictures, but the weather was nice... With my brother-in-law's help one night, I mowed it in a total of 3 evenings this week. We're working to eliminate the tough spots and make it go more quickly, but much of it is too steep for a tractor.

 

That snowscape you posted on the first page is beautiful. That's why I like this area, we get it all, though sometimes the snowfall is disappointingly small. As Calvin said, "Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery." (Quoted on this page of marvelous "Calvin and Hobbes" snow art)

 

Thanks again,

 

Tom

 

[UK_Widowmaker]

Beautiful place!

[Hasse Wind]

 

That snowscape you posted on the first page is beautiful. That's why I like this area, we get it all, though sometimes the snowfall is disappointingly small. As Calvin said, "Getting an inch of snow is like winning 10 cents in the lottery." (Quoted on this page of marvelous "Calvin and Hobbes" snow art)

 

 

Thanks.

 

And when there's three feet of snow on the ground and temperature drops well below zero, you begin to think you actually haven't won anything.

[JFM]

Nice, HD! I love Pennsylvania.

[RAF_Louvert]

.

 

I love Pennsylvania as well, and you have a beautiful place there Tom, though for the life of me I don't know how you keep the landscaping from washing away in a really hard downpour. Glad it doesn't though, that is some fantastic gardening.

 

.

[Olham]

I may be on leave, but my sister's husband has a rig - so "Hello!" from Ostfriesland,

HumanDrone - that is a fine castle indeed, Sir!

[HumanDrone]

I thank you all! Yes, indeed, I am a man most blessed. Let me reply to some of these. As Hasse Wind points out, there is the other extreme to small snowfalls. I mention this because of a good "war story" concerning snow. A few years back, I had just nearly put myself in divorce court for buying an 18 Hp New Holland Compact Utility tractor. I got a pretty good deal on it - it was 4WD, Diesel powered, with a front loader, box blade, back blade, 60" floating mower deck and a trailer for getting it around or for other uses - I just pulled home a ton of wall block, for instance... anyway, my Wing Commander durn near court-martialed me for buying that thing! So come February the following year, and my company needed somebody to go to Kansas to do a test. The weather was calling for maybe 4 inches of snow, so I took it - "Promises, promises..." I thought.

 

But the snow was much worse than forecast. We're flying back from Kansas and all we hear is snow, snow, and more snow. Arriving in Charlotte, we learned that they had closed the airport in Pittsburgh! We waited for several hours, and finally took a flight to Cleveland and rented a car and drove back to Pittsburgh. Meanwhile I'm telling my wife to leave that monstrous driveway alone, I'll dig us out when we get home- the tractor was pointing straight out of the garage - and she's out there with my (autistic) son trying to shovel what is now 22" of snow, with snowplow piles at the end of the driveway, and I'm like DON'T DO THAT! And she says, but they're be no place for you to pull off the road, and I said "It doesn't matter- No one will be out anyway, and I can clear the driveway in just a few minutes with the tractor!

 

So in the end, my oldest son was able to get to our place and HE GOT TO USE MY TRACTOR TO PLOW SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME INSTEAD OF ME! But at least it kept her from further attempts at a truly Herculean task.

 

We ended up with 44 inches of snow that month, and I got plenty of slow plowing in, and my dear beloved has since learned to appreciate the versatility of the tractor. Turns out what really disappointed her was that she wanted a John Deere! (mucho $$, especially new!)

 

In the downpour department (just for you, Lou), the worst we've had was in 2004 with the double punch of Hurricanes Francis and Ivan (or what was left of them). Francis already had the ground saturated when Ivan came and dropped 8 inches of rain within a very short span, something like 12 hours. There used to be pine trees running up between my house an the hill to the right in the picture, as I didn't own that land, a vacant 4.75 acre tract. So I'm leaving work early because of flood warnings everywhere, and I call my wife to make sure everything there is okay, and she says, "No! A tree just fell on the house!" She sounds panic-stricken, so I'm walking her through on the phone looking for damage or signs of leakage - turns out it was the smallest of the pine trees, and all it did was bend the rain gutter a little.

 

But that lead to me getting that tract of land, as the owner didn't want to bother with the trees and was willing to sell it to me cheap. Ivan also collapsed the hill behind the addition - a structural retaining wall is there now. But surprisingly, it's not rain that sends the landscaping downhill - It's the critters! Deer, turkey, squirrels, ground hogs and God knows what else are always grubbing around in that mulch, eating the shrubbery, etc. I need that "Not tonight, Deer!" solution in the 55 gal. drum size!

 

Well, excuse me for a TL;DR post. I thought you may enjoy it, especially our patriarch Olham, checking in on leave! It'll give him a nice long story to peruse in his leisure! Best to you all!

 

Tom

Edited July 3, 2012 by HumanDrone