1. Breakfast banana.2. Sticky Willie invaded Munguin’s grounds.3. Nice to see your friends.4. Woof.5. I’m a Saffron Toucanet… I wonder why…6. Bissau.7. Look away now, DonDon… Another Bulgarian 8-legged beast.8. Dibbler, a small carnivorous marsupial, part of the same family as the quoll and the Tasmanian devil.9. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-15/santos-wants-wastewater-releases-near-endangered-turtles/10020937610. Hungarian flower bed.11. Cup Moth caterpillar.12. En Route for the Rocks of Solitude, Tuesday last week.13. I say, Munguin, is it safe for a baby raccoon to come out to play?14. Munguin’s favourite part of the gardens. 15. Munguin senses that something on these pants may be used to make drink…16. Um, yeah, the view is great from up here. Now how do we get down?17. Oslo.18. I look cute but I can be pretty vicious to take care.19. Munguin’s honeysuckle.20. It must be my birthday… Ooops, I got caught
Thanks to John, Kay,and the team in Bulgaria, Quokka in Australia, Daniel in Hungary and Norway, Derek in Scotland, and Munguin in Antarctica.
Tris, I found the two banana-related orangutan pictures particularly life-affirming, and reminded me that I have a couple of bananas in the kitchen which I need to eat before they get any riper.
As always, the photies were much appreciated here in Schloss Freeman, even the arachnid one.
Blood clots have been reported as a result of the vaccine but they are very few. However, it’s true that some people can get blood clots on flights, particularly long haul.
I think people can be trusted to make up their minds, but we live in lentiginous times.
Don’t know the answer to that.
I wouldn’t fly just now. vaccines are only partly effective particularly against this Delta thing that the moron Johnson allowed into the yUK. Sitting on a plane with recycled air for hours wouldn’t be my choice.
Help me out here. What exactly are ‘lentiginous times’?
In any case, the threat of a vaccine is considerably less than the virus. Y’know, vastly less.
Says someone who has had both shots and a streaming nose. Which, according to the tests is not Covid.
All of us get to chose whether we believe the scientific evidence or some random scare story. The latter are easy to fabricate and are as about reliable as get out.
Me?
I’ll stick with the science. Some of your other correspondents appear to have other ideas.
Lovely stuff. I liked the ocelot – beautiful creatures and the fierce dog. Bet those baby teeth pack a bite though! I share your dismay with sticky willies as I’ve discovered several clumps of them recently. Glad to see the cousins are eating well. I’ve no bananas so can’t join them.
Stickie willies on the rampage here for weeks. Hope I have not infested the Grounds of Munguin Towers along with contributions on popies, lavender, geraniums, and various other Bulgarian flora featuring on SS recently. Maybe even from the cats – who now get stickly wullies raked out using one of Claire’s horse curriepcombs.
I’m sure I’d have noticed a cat meowing in Bulgarian… We have a lot of poppies, but they are Icelandic in nature, so I can’t lay the blame on Bulgaria. 🙂
No2. Sticky Willie or Galium aperine has a really effective seed distribution method. By sticking to the coats of animals it gets spread far and wide. Wearing a wool jersey is not recommended when clearing it. I seem to remember back in the olden days when I started gardening, that it came later in the season than it does now. It’s maybe another sign that the world is heating up.
The plants in no 15 I suspect could be Hops and if that’s an area you want screened off then they’ll do the job sharpish. My late mother planted a golden hop in her small garden for the same purpose and it was beautiful in the summer. It’s a real thug unfortunately, sending out underground shoots that colonise the surrounding plants so it’s sometimes necessary to contain the root system. It would die back to the ground every winter, leaving a dry framework of old stems. You can almost watch them grow when they get established and I believe the early season young shoots are edible although I’ve never tried them myself.
Up to 6m, 20′, for common hops, a bit less for the golden one.
Climbers tend to be a bit rampant: the kiwis, all other Actinidias & Clematis montana you featured recently; Polygonum (now Fallopia) aubertii & P. baldschuanicum (mile-a-minute); some honeysuckles; common ivy, a weed IMO; Parthenocissuses (Boston ivy & Virginia creeper) all get huge and will take over, if you let them. Even Wisteria, given time.
To illustrate, I once managed to coax an oriental Euronymous “Emerald Gaiety” up a scruffy wall; just by spraying the wall regularly with water to encourage the aerial roots. Instead of being its usual short, wider than taller, mound of 2′-3′ (60-90cm), I got it to shoulder height, on me that’s 5′ or 1½m. The extra light and heat caused it to thrive; which is what true climbers are trying to achieve naturally.
—
Whoever put that herbaceous border together, in pic #10, kens their ingans; it’s a stoater!
I liked the video underneath that one of the bat licking the persons hand. Reminds me of my neighbour’s cat that always wants to lick you as an appreciation.
That article Danny, raises many more questions. I see the need for researchers to be there in Greenland for some time to come. I’m sure the mozzies will appreciate the dietry addition.
Right oh Tris, forget Avon Skin So Soft, (the midges still land on you and stick) midge net jacket is the way to go, much more comfortable than a hood. I will have a spare you can borrow.
😊 Good recruiting try Danny. There is a line, a fairly fat one, between acclimation to the wee buggers and having to suffer them.
I look out the window, the day is still, grass and trees transfixed, as if holding their breath, daylight but no sun casting shadows, a slight haar but without the cold. I’m thinking that the haze and lack of sunshine is due to midge density. Haven’t ventured out, yet, although my RS has, “Bloody midges, fearful trying to breath out there.”
Thanks for the offer Danny but I’m sure I’ve got flat feet, bad eyes sight, can’t spell for toffee and too old. Does that get me off the short list?
Possibly some exaggeration did enter the discription. There was a breeze, a zephyr later in the morning that cleared midges and haze. Whether this was natural convection or wafted air from the movement of people, I couldn’t say.
People don’t loiter when the midge is hungry, 😊
Need to encourage the wagtail, I have watched them eat prodigious amounts of midge. Only the male midge which dance in columns 1.5 to 2m tall and maybe a metre or so in diameter. The little wagtail runs along the ground under the column periodically fluttering up into the column and you can hear the clack, clack, clack of the beak.
Lived in a place that had all the ingredients that a midge could wish for but there was hardly any. July, August you could sit outside of any evening in comfort. It was in that place, curious why there were so few midges, that I witnessed for the first time one of many wagtails feasting.
LOL Alan…….Actually, by “excessive”, I was not suggesting exaggeration. I was just thinking that such a swarm would be SERIOUSLY too many Midges to have around. 😉 I remember reading once about swarms of misquotes in the old American West that would sometimes stampede cattle on the open range.
Enjoyed your description of the wagtail! So I looked them up. Seems to mostly be an Old World bird, but I see that a couple of species are seen in Alaska, where they would have plenty of mosquitoes to feed on.
OOPS….Alan…….Actually, I meant to type “mosquitoes” that stampeded cattle. As far as I know, “misquotes” have never stampeded cattle.
The practice of simply typing whatever letters came to mind and depending on the spell checker to arrange them into a word definitely has its limitations. 😉
Tris…..LOL……looks like bug zappers are now available in table top models. Interesting that it’s described as a “mosquito” and fly killer. In fact, I’ve read that zappers aren’t especially effective against mosquitoes and other biting insects. So I’m thinking that midges might avoid these things too. 😉
Wagtails might be the better bet…..LOL.
LOL……Whether they work with mosquitoes (or midges) or not, bug zappers are fairly popular here I think. Much to the annoyance of the environmentally responsible bug scientists I guess. 😉
Anyway, years and years ago, there was an actor named Vincent Price who gained stardom playing mad scientists and homicidal maniacs and the like in horror movies. He and his wife appeared in a funny credit card commercial that featured a bug zapper. Vincent appears right at the end.
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Saw this a few minutes ago.
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Oh wow, that’s lovely.
I’ve never been to Bosnia, but I know that Croatia and Slovenia have beautiful and dramatic countryside.
Maybe one day I’ll get there.
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Lovely.
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Tris, I found the two banana-related orangutan pictures particularly life-affirming, and reminded me that I have a couple of bananas in the kitchen which I need to eat before they get any riper.
As always, the photies were much appreciated here in Schloss Freeman, even the arachnid one.
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So glad to hear that, Ed. Also glad I’ve reminded you to eat your bananas.
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O/T I don’t like Cory Bernardi, a christian fundamentalist type, but in this case he is correct.
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Blood clots have been reported as a result of the vaccine but they are very few. However, it’s true that some people can get blood clots on flights, particularly long haul.
I think people can be trusted to make up their minds, but we live in lentiginous times.
Don’t know the answer to that.
I wouldn’t fly just now. vaccines are only partly effective particularly against this Delta thing that the moron Johnson allowed into the yUK. Sitting on a plane with recycled air for hours wouldn’t be my choice.
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“but we live in lentiginous times.”
Freckled times? You’ve been looking at that ocelot again 🙂
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Oh bums, autocorrect.
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Help me out here. What exactly are ‘lentiginous times’?
In any case, the threat of a vaccine is considerably less than the virus. Y’know, vastly less.
Says someone who has had both shots and a streaming nose. Which, according to the tests is not Covid.
All of us get to chose whether we believe the scientific evidence or some random scare story. The latter are easy to fabricate and are as about reliable as get out.
Me?
I’ll stick with the science. Some of your other correspondents appear to have other ideas.
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I meant litigious, prone to legal action.
I probably misspelled it and the autocorrect made it lentiginous which means full of melatonin.
🙂
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Pleezze! This is Soppy Sunday. Can we not have politics on this thread. Use the other 6 days to post thing. Keep Soppy Sunday Soppy.
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True. Unfortunately I don’t think twisting the truth allows one freedom to corrupt any thread with bullshit.
Spelling that out specficaly to Kangaroo might persuade him or her to remain within the parameters of a thread.
Best of luck with that.
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Lovely stuff. I liked the ocelot – beautiful creatures and the fierce dog. Bet those baby teeth pack a bite though! I share your dismay with sticky willies as I’ve discovered several clumps of them recently. Glad to see the cousins are eating well. I’ve no bananas so can’t join them.
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Sticky willies have really beautiful little flowers though if you leave them in place long enough to flower.
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Stickie willies on the rampage here for weeks. Hope I have not infested the Grounds of Munguin Towers along with contributions on popies, lavender, geraniums, and various other Bulgarian flora featuring on SS recently. Maybe even from the cats – who now get stickly wullies raked out using one of Claire’s horse curriepcombs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure I’d have noticed a cat meowing in Bulgarian… We have a lot of poppies, but they are Icelandic in nature, so I can’t lay the blame on Bulgaria. 🙂
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No. 4 brought a smile to my face.
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No2. Sticky Willie or Galium aperine has a really effective seed distribution method. By sticking to the coats of animals it gets spread far and wide. Wearing a wool jersey is not recommended when clearing it. I seem to remember back in the olden days when I started gardening, that it came later in the season than it does now. It’s maybe another sign that the world is heating up.
The plants in no 15 I suspect could be Hops and if that’s an area you want screened off then they’ll do the job sharpish. My late mother planted a golden hop in her small garden for the same purpose and it was beautiful in the summer. It’s a real thug unfortunately, sending out underground shoots that colonise the surrounding plants so it’s sometimes necessary to contain the root system. It would die back to the ground every winter, leaving a dry framework of old stems. You can almost watch them grow when they get established and I believe the early season young shoots are edible although I’ve never tried them myself.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I suspect that I may have brought the sticky willies back from some walk on my jeans.
Interesting about the hops (which they are, in Derek’s garden). I had no idea they were so invasive.
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Up to 6m, 20′, for common hops, a bit less for the golden one.
Climbers tend to be a bit rampant: the kiwis, all other Actinidias & Clematis montana you featured recently; Polygonum (now Fallopia) aubertii & P. baldschuanicum (mile-a-minute); some honeysuckles; common ivy, a weed IMO; Parthenocissuses (Boston ivy & Virginia creeper) all get huge and will take over, if you let them. Even Wisteria, given time.
To illustrate, I once managed to coax an oriental Euronymous “Emerald Gaiety” up a scruffy wall; just by spraying the wall regularly with water to encourage the aerial roots. Instead of being its usual short, wider than taller, mound of 2′-3′ (60-90cm), I got it to shoulder height, on me that’s 5′ or 1½m. The extra light and heat caused it to thrive; which is what true climbers are trying to achieve naturally.
—
Whoever put that herbaceous border together, in pic #10, kens their ingans; it’s a stoater!
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Why does this peach have legs? 🙂
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I liked the video underneath that one of the bat licking the persons hand. Reminds me of my neighbour’s cat that always wants to lick you as an appreciation.
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I’m not keen on the idea of bats licking me tbh. Cats yes, bats no. The one below that with the collies though, so funny!
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🙂
What a wee beauty.
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Mmm, how on earth, and why, did you do that with your legs? chirped the bird.
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The caribou posed for another picture with Denali this week. Very nice I thought.
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Fantastic picture there, Danny.
It looks the perfect place for mosquitos as described in that article.
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Yes, the Alaskan mosquitoes are legendary. Plenty of water around there for the arctic mosquitoes in the Spring thaw.
I saw this article about studying the arctic mosquitoes in Greenland.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/dc-waa072320.php
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That article Danny, raises many more questions. I see the need for researchers to be there in Greenland for some time to come. I’m sure the mozzies will appreciate the dietry addition.
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I’ll volunteer. I’m in love with Greenland.
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Right oh Tris, forget Avon Skin So Soft, (the midges still land on you and stick) midge net jacket is the way to go, much more comfortable than a hood. I will have a spare you can borrow.
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Sorry that was stingy, you can have the midge jacket.
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Generosity unbounded, Alan. Munguin will remember you in his will. 🙂
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🙂
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Alan, Tris…….I wonder if people acclimated to midges make the best Greenland mosquito researchers. 😉
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😊 Good recruiting try Danny. There is a line, a fairly fat one, between acclimation to the wee buggers and having to suffer them.
I look out the window, the day is still, grass and trees transfixed, as if holding their breath, daylight but no sun casting shadows, a slight haar but without the cold. I’m thinking that the haze and lack of sunshine is due to midge density. Haven’t ventured out, yet, although my RS has, “Bloody midges, fearful trying to breath out there.”
Thanks for the offer Danny but I’m sure I’ve got flat feet, bad eyes sight, can’t spell for toffee and too old. Does that get me off the short list?
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LOL……Yes, perhaps you should leave the mosquito research to others Alan.
BTW……I’d say midge density that blocks out the sun is seriously excessive. 😉
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Possibly some exaggeration did enter the discription. There was a breeze, a zephyr later in the morning that cleared midges and haze. Whether this was natural convection or wafted air from the movement of people, I couldn’t say.
People don’t loiter when the midge is hungry, 😊
Need to encourage the wagtail, I have watched them eat prodigious amounts of midge. Only the male midge which dance in columns 1.5 to 2m tall and maybe a metre or so in diameter. The little wagtail runs along the ground under the column periodically fluttering up into the column and you can hear the clack, clack, clack of the beak.
Lived in a place that had all the ingredients that a midge could wish for but there was hardly any. July, August you could sit outside of any evening in comfort. It was in that place, curious why there were so few midges, that I witnessed for the first time one of many wagtails feasting.
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LOL Alan…….Actually, by “excessive”, I was not suggesting exaggeration. I was just thinking that such a swarm would be SERIOUSLY too many Midges to have around. 😉 I remember reading once about swarms of misquotes in the old American West that would sometimes stampede cattle on the open range.
Enjoyed your description of the wagtail! So I looked them up. Seems to mostly be an Old World bird, but I see that a couple of species are seen in Alaska, where they would have plenty of mosquitoes to feed on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagtail
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Tell the Greenlanders!!!
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OOPS….Alan…….Actually, I meant to type “mosquitoes” that stampeded cattle. As far as I know, “misquotes” have never stampeded cattle.
The practice of simply typing whatever letters came to mind and depending on the spell checker to arrange them into a word definitely has its limitations. 😉
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LOL @ Danny!
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Loads of wagtails sound like a great idea to me. Sweet little birds.
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Tris…..LOL……looks like bug zappers are now available in table top models. Interesting that it’s described as a “mosquito” and fly killer. In fact, I’ve read that zappers aren’t especially effective against mosquitoes and other biting insects. So I’m thinking that midges might avoid these things too. 😉
Wagtails might be the better bet…..LOL.
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OK. That’s serious, Danny.
Wagtails it is then.
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LOL……Whether they work with mosquitoes (or midges) or not, bug zappers are fairly popular here I think. Much to the annoyance of the environmentally responsible bug scientists I guess. 😉
Anyway, years and years ago, there was an actor named Vincent Price who gained stardom playing mad scientists and homicidal maniacs and the like in horror movies. He and his wife appeared in a funny credit card commercial that featured a bug zapper. Vincent appears right at the end.
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Bug zapper overload?
https://fb.watch/6sy3shAec_/
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EEEEEEK. Take that, Greenland!
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LOL. I imagine that those NOT acclimatised might spend a considerable amount of their time in Queen Ingrid’s Hospital, Nuuk!
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Tris……At least you know the place to get medical care. 😉
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Just as well with all these hostile little creatures around. The polar bears I can handle, Midges? uh uh!
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LOL!
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