Good Evening

Having been missing from the fori, and board, as a whole, I would like to wish each and every one of you good people out there in DG Land a pleasant day by your computer.

Times have been hard without DG for the last few months, but since I was travelling so much, it didn't make any sense to come back to the fold, as I only saw my wee garden once every 2 weeks, and then only for a day or two .... and what interest would you have in fungus in aeroplanes, or the blue speckled bread on British Rail? Those subjects are more for the academics in "Tropical and Medieval Diseases" as opposed to us mere gardeners.

I would like to congratulate Dave, Trish, and everyone who has looked after the site in my absence on such a wonderful job, but now that I'm back, you can keep control, and do as you have done since my departure. Spiffing job ... what?

It has also come to my notice that one or two new members have joined since my sojourn in the lands of the European continent, so let me wish you all "Great Gardening Action", (as seen on TV), and that you don't worry about me, cos I'm just a Scottish head-case, and I've been told that when I'm out and about, a village somewhere is short of an idiot. An excellent compliment, don't you think?

This is the beginning of a new era for Dave's Garden, we're moving ahead, we're going forward, we're .... well lets not get too carried away, eh, what??

Please fasten your seatbel... sorry I'm reading the wrong page ...
By renewing my membership in this wonderful community, I am generating new activity in my life, I can walk out of the door with my head held high and shout:

I'M A DAVE'S GARDENER AGAIN!!!!!

This burst of emotion doesn't always bring about the expected reaction, as just 15 minutes ago, my good lady, or as some may know her here, SWMBO, (She Who Must Be Obeyed), was already telephoning the authorities to "come and grab the bampot, he's here now", but she saw the betterment of her ways after I offered to show her the "other" use for a half empty bottle of the best Scotch. Needless to say, the rest of the said bottle is on the way of all good amber liquids when a Scotsman is about. Lovely stuff. Cheers!!!
There has also been an uprising on Haiti, with marauding mobs of the Ton Ton Macouté trying to block my internet connection. I don't mind hackers, but throwing spears at a satellite .... oh well....


But let me finalise in saying that it gives me great pleasure to offer a, "Thank you all", for looking after this wonderful site in my absence, but now that I'm back, I hope you will all carry on as before....

WELL DONE TO ALL !!!


Wintermoor

Hey, welcome back Wintermoor!!!!!! You surely were missed.

Greetings from Chile,

Ursula

Hi Ursula,
I just met a young tourist from Chile 2 days ago in Hamburg. He was from Cartagena, (sorry I think there should be a wee squigly thing above the 'n' but it's not on my keyboard, although I could offer you an ä ... doesn't help, right?), so I told him where to go ... in the finest sense of course ;-)


Wintermoor

Welcome back Barry. We missed you.

MYSTIC!!!!!!
Great to see you're name again

Let's make some noise ;-)


Wintermoor

Barry I wouldn't have any interest in fungus in aeroplanes, or the blue speckled bread on British Rail but I would have in Barry and his travels. I sure have missed you and so glad you are back. Hasn't been the same without you. Jim

Big Jim, Georgiaredclay, the friendliest man on DG !!!
(btw, did you know that my 2nd name is James? ;-) ... brothers in arms)

Thank you


Wintermoor

Well shut my ever-lovin' piehole! Look what the wind blew in! Look what the cat drug in! Lookit what surfed in on a butterfly~!

Howdy Wintermoor! (Hope Springmoor is doing well, as is your lady of the house!)

Good to see you homeground again...traveling wears a body out.

See you around the site!

keep smiling....and remember,

Zoo heads are better than none! (er, sumpin like dat!)

All of my numbers have gone since I got a nyoo high falootin 'puter.
I'll be in touch my good man, and tell yer wee lassie, that she's the one wth the accent ;-)
Great to 'see' you again :-D

All the best for you and your family, Shoe


Wintermoor

Wintermoor - ahhh, I've moved a bit closer to your balmy climes since we last wrote... I might make it to Scotland yet!

Hey Barry! It is great to see you back here again! You have really been missed.

WOOOHOOO...our balmy man from the continet is back!!

Glad to see you. Jo

so good to see you back!

Wintermoor! Glad to see you arrived safely back into the fold.

Barry, I was thinking about you the other day. I rarely use the computer nowadays, but I do check in here when I'm on and it's very nice to see you.

Well hello, Wintermoor, how d'ye do.. I'm one of the new ones, gladtameetcha, name's Blooms.

'moor' connotates Scotland to me yet your addy says Germany. Are you a displaced Scot? and you travel a lot?
I'm coming to Scotland on a trip next fall with my Sis who has adopted the country as a second home.
I'll be watching for your postings. I live in high desert, red-rock canyon country and garden despite the climate. or to spite it.

This message was edited Sep 5, 2004 12:09 PM

Barry, great to see you, I had wondered where you were off to.....any chance you'll be coming to turkey in the near future?

it's good to have you back in the fold!

Barry Travlingmoore, good to see you again, friend! You know you were missed if Whiterose posted. LOL!

Hey bin missin u Barry
Welcome back - now we'll all be enjoying summermore ;oD

Och! as my grandma would have said, himself is back and is up to no good. We tried to keep things up for you, as you can see. You'll have to spin us some tales about your travels.

Oh dear, I forgot to mark this thread as "Watch", stupid me :-(

Thank you folks for the overwhelming welcome back amongst you, and I hope I'll be on the board a lot soon.

Thank you to sbarr, Badseed, roadrunner, justmeLisa, frogsrus, whiterose, BloomsWithaView, pebble, gardenwife, philomel, and Kathleen. Wow, what a group of lovely ladies, I'm extremely honoured!!!

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You !!!

I've been on the road for the company with which I have been working for the last 14 months. I am working as an engineering consultant in street lighting, and although it sounds a bit dry, it is actually very interesting work, and I get to travel around a bit too .... yipeeee :-D

Here is our web site, and if you click around the top you'll maybe get an idea what we do, especially if you look under "Projects", as there we have some pictures of the cities and towns where we have our digitally controlled street lights.
http://www.streetlightengineering.at/sle_en.htm

I'll get back to you soon, and until then, stay healthy and happy.

All the best


Wintermoor

Looks like they could have used you guys here in Columbus' Short North area. They had these gorgeous arches installed and they've never worked right. http://www.nbc4i.com/news/3625652/detail.html

I read about that Kimberley.

They made many mistakes in the planning, and used all of the wrong systems to control the lights. Bad planning both from the town engineers and the contractors.
I'll look into it ;-)


Wintermoor

Welcome back Barry! Now settle in and relax.... ok that's enough relaxation... time to get back to the important job you do here. Making us smile, giggle and roll on the floor in laughing! Gosh, Golly, Gee, I missed you!

Great website Barry, with lots of interesting links as well.
Is that you in the Team for Skandinavien, UK and UAE?

I've been involved in a very small way with this when acting as a bat and dormouse consultant in England. For this I was assessing the presence (or not) of these protected sp. and the impact of projected development projects (roads, buildings etc) upon them.
In my recommendations I had to take into account the effects of lighting. I am still in contact with friends in this field in the UK and I am sure they would be very interested to learn about lighting and the different possibilities from the other side of the fence. Difficult to balance the needs of humans and the necessity not to harm the environment if avoidable.
I have to confess that I haven't delved deep enough into your website to know if this angle is something that you take into account. Would be very grateful to be pointed in the right direction for any info that would be useful in this work.

The UK is only just beginning to use green bridges for wildlife and to realise the huge difference such approaches can make (way behind other EU countries). But the ideas are beginning to emerge.....
:)

Thanks Phil, the website is always under construction, and we're always adding little things here and there.

I'm not only in the team for UK, Scandinavia and the UAE, I am the chief consultant for those areas.

We are trying to bring about a rethink in street lighting by digitally controlling it, which means that a town/county/village can control the lights per computer. The light power can be reduced thus saving energy without causing real detriment to general vision.
We work normally with a type of lamp (bulb) which is called SON-T, which gives a warm bright yellow glow, which animals can't realise. This means that moths and other wee flying insects can live their lives as if in complete darkness, and don't flit about the lights as you see today.

Ground creatures, such as the normal rural fauna are also not affected by these lights, nor are cats or dogs.

Botanically these lamps are also a blessing since they have no affect on the general flora in the vicinity of the lamp.

We use what is known in the light business, cut off luminaires, (a luminaire is the 'lampshade' at the top of the lamp post). These luminaires only allow the light to shine downwards, hence cutting off any light which could escape into the night sky, causing light pollution.

Street lights should do as their name suggests, light the streets, not the clouds, nor should they shine into windows, causing light stress for humans at night, when their rooms are lit by badly designed street lighting.

We are a members of the Dark Sky Association, the European GreenLight Programme, and many other associations dealing with light pollution, and energy saving.

Our only enemies are of course the big elecricity suppliers, since they are not interested in saving energy ..... they want to sell it.


Wintermoor

Ah, yes I meant the named member on the website - so I take it that's you :oD

Thanks very much for all the interesting info. I'll pass the website addy on to my friends and let them see what you've told me above.
I have friends in the ecology departments of both Hyder and Atkins and a couple of smaller companies. If they are not aware of your company they will be soon :)

Also a number of ecological consultants who have a say in similar projects and can make recommendations

Barry, Welcome Back. It is always great to read your "colorful" posts. I would welcome and enjoy postings of your trips and have decided that you must be the life of a party! I will surely tell my DH about your description of your good lady 'SWMBO'. I totally agree with you and will enlighten him. :) Happy Day, Kathy

Hi
Even though I didn't get to meet you the first time I must welcome you back !!!

I love your humor in the post and I am sure we have to get to know each other!!!
Alice

Hey there Barry,

So glad to see you back here with all your great humor and stories. I also have noticed you were missing, and figured you were off working again. Are you still working with the entertainment people too?

Welcome home,

Donna

I totally agree with the Dark Sky people. Is a SON-T bulb available for porch light use? We have no street lights where I am but my neighbor has a hi-watt light over her business. Severely tempted at .22 plinking. I have seen many storys about unlighted neighborhoods where a crook has to carry a flashlight and thus be much easier to track. I only use the outside light when the dogs go out. It's a fenced yard but I need to be sure they won't meet a skunk, etc. Oh, welcome home to DG and to where you really live. Frank

Barry!!! woohoo! Welcome home. :)

Now get your lousy butt over to the jokes and chat forum and make me laugh!

Welcome back! I did read some of your posts before you went AWOL! lol

Wintermoore, I must be honest and say that I didn't miss ya, but heck I hardly got to know ya back before ya left! I do believe I woulda missed ya though, back then when you left and I was still here without ya. (Does that make any sense?? No? Good, because it ain't supposed to. Welcome back!)

In reading an excerpt from Thoreau's "Walden", he mentioned the following quote from Confucius that I feel the need to share with you, and you, and her, and him. ..

"To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge."

TC...

Wintermoor, I have come across many of your posts in the past few years and certainly enjoyed your humor. Guess I've never posted anything positive about that before, to my chagrin. Just need to say Welcome Back!

Wintermoor, welcome back. I laughed at your calling yourself a 'Scottish head case'. I was at a conference in London recently and after the Scotsmen finished speaking someone would inevitably shout, 'Translation into English, Please'. :-)
Your humor and passion were missed. Good to see you back.

Welcome back!!!

Pleased ta meetcha, Wintermoor - looking forward to your wit and quips and wee garden tips.

Say Barry, we could use something like that in Bodrum!!!

GREAT SEEING YOU AROUND AGAIN

Now wher'd he get off to this time??? BARRY! Come baaaack. Jo