Sick of Summer already

It's been humid up here. Hot as well but mainly humid. We have missed the storms and a lot of the garden is looking a bit worse the wear. A lot of the perennials need cutting back so there is a good Autumn (can't wait for it) display.

Some of the roses (especially those that were affected by mildew in the spring) are not looking happy. Still sending out the odd flowers but nothing like spring or Autumn (can't wait for it).

There are the exceptions that are healthy and flowering away like nothing matters. Monsieur Tiller, Mrs BR Cant, Isabella Sprunt and "Rose Hedge Cottage Pink" are the standouts.

We will probably try to do our prune in March next year as then it will be autumn and yes I can't wait for it.

I feel for you , Gary......but I can't stand the cold.....so summer is great for me and I don't care how hot it is.....[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I probably should not be complaining as seriously it's not that bad. It's just that I have had a lot of stuff to do out in the sun. Mind you I should have done them when it was cooler but why waste the good weather back then doing things you don't want to do!

Hehehe
I love autumn.
Summer? ..... Not so much :/ Except it is useful when I want to get the washing dry.

I feel your pain Gary. Not a summer girl at all. I don't know how I survived all those years in Perth.

We haven't had any seriously hot weather in Melbourne yet, but it's been a really dry spring and I've lost a few plants in my "pot ghetto" due to the dry weather. I didn't have to water anything last year until January, so it's been a bit of a shock.

Not looking forward to bushfire season this year at all.

I can see some faults in your post Gary no mention of Golf, sitting on the verandah watching the world go by. Move to a state which does not have humidity and can grow roses rather than palms or move into a "Condo" on the coast . As you have "semi" retired, why not work around the weather or the jobs which Lee gives you, .
In all honesty Gary I feel for you. My climate as you know is opposite yours in many ways. Dry Summers with above 30c days most of the time, storms when they come. Winter can be cold, we do get down to -7c at times, but not long runs of it.
I agree with John, give me Summer over Winter.

Wendy wrote,
Hehehe
I love autumn. I thinks tells us a lot as it is the start of her username

Zoe, living amongst the "Gum trees" must be a bit cooler, as you mentioned Perth and its temps against what you get now, could it have anything to do with getting older like the rest of us, when we all were "younger" we took the heat better.

This could be Gary's new Avatar. (only joking Gary)

Hahaha yes David, it could well be because I'm a bit older now, and, err, how shall we say this? I have, umm, a bit more 'insulation' or 'padding' these days, shall we say.. Hahaha.

But I also think I've become acclimatised to the Melbourne weather over the past 11 years. Also we don't have any air conditioning here (in Perth it went without saying - everyone had ducted aircon!). I'm going to get a little split system installed in the bedroom early next year though!

Every summer I fantasise about getting a pool. And then every winter I think 'what a waste of space and money".. And so the cycle continues.

Life is a cycle, Zoe.

The Lazy Rosarian wrote:I can see some faults in your post Gary  no mention of Golf, sitting on the verandah watching the world go by. Move to a state which does not have humidity and can grow roses rather than palms or move into a "Condo" on the coast . As you have "semi" retired, why not work around the weather or the jobs which Lee gives you, .
In all honesty Gary I feel for you. My climate as you know is opposite yours in many ways. Dry Summers with above 30c days most of the time, storms when they come. Winter can be cold, we do get down to -7c at times, but not long runs of it.
I agree with John, give me Summer over Winter.

Wendy wrote,
Hehehe
I love autumn. I thinks tells us a lot as it is the start of her username

Zoe, living amongst the "Gum trees" must be a bit cooler, as you mentioned Perth and its temps against what you get now, could it have anything to do with getting older like the rest of us, when we all were "younger" we took the heat better.

This could be Gary's new Avatar. (only joking Gary)

Yeah well somehow the humidity does not worry me when playing golf. Strange that. I can play just as bad when it's hot as I can when it's cold.

Like I said it's not really that bad I am still out there doing things just it is that time of year between flushes, perennials being cut back etc. Actually I was just trying to get a conversation going in a quiet time.

You can however keep your cold. As bad as the heat is I prefer it over the cold. (I think but ask me again next week when it is hot again).

Rain at last. 50mm over the last couple of days. As it always happens it started about 10mins after I spent the whole morning to get a few sprinklers working to try to save some plants.

Do you folk know how hard it is to swim (ie you can't touch the bottom) in a dam in a pair of heavy work boots? Especially hard when you have to get through the water lilies for the first 5 or so metres.

Yep!...know how you feel , Gary....our survival training was in the sea with overalls and steel cap boots and land was 5ks away.....bye boys ...enjoy your swim.....

Survival? Sounds more like they were trying to get rid of you.

I would not have made it very far. 10metres and treading water while I tried to do up some wire to tie the inlet to a drum nearly did me in.

Gary, instead of trying for the "synchronized" swimming team for Australia, would it have been easier to take the pipeline, float and wire to the bank and connect there ?

Yeah well I did that. Struggled getting a wire around the outside of the dam and dragging it across the water lilies and finally got it in the right place and then could not get the pump to prime. I dragged the inlet back to the shore and checked the valve and it was stuck open (note for one's self to check the bloody thing first next time).

So I cleaned out the valve and dragged the inlet out again and could not get the thing pointing down into the water, so it was then that I decided to swim out and try to turn it downwards. No luck so I decided it needed a weight to pull it down into the water. I swam back to shore and found a bit of brick to tie to the valve, Got almost out and realised that I did not take my glasses off so I hooked the brick over the wire I had holding the float in place and swam back to shore and took my glasses off before I lost them. Back into the dam again and yep you guessed it. The brick was gone so back to shore, up the hill to the shed to get another bit of brick, back into the dam (without my glasses this time) swam out and attached the brick to the inlet. Nope too heavy. Back to shore and up the hill to the shed to make the weight a bit smaller. Back into the dam and tied it up and then back to shore (by this time I realised that pulling myself along the wire was a bucket load easier than swimming).

I then finally managed to get the thing primed and working. Not as good as before because the inlet pipe is twice as long but it works okay. An hour later it started to rain and we eventually got 50mm so We did not need the sprinklers.

During the rain we discovered the roof was leaking which needed the removal of a couple of sheets of roofing iron but that's a different story altogether.

I must have been really bad in a past life.

Things up your way seem to be going from bad to worse for you Gary. Yes what did you do in a past life or "how many chinese did you kill ? " Surely things must get better in the New Year for you.

Bahahahahaha Gary! Hahahahahhaha! Your stories are hilarious. I think you should make a TV show of your life.