A little peek into life in Northern Ireland nowadays:
Where's WYK been, and what trouble is he making?
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Seems the Prods will never realize that Jolly Ole England, simply doesn't care about them, and they were never british, they were Scots banished from England...
Anyway, its purely economic based, and if the prods own most of the businesses... well... Same story different century
Honestly the Prods would do a damned sight better to abandon England and accept their southern neighbors, England and its brixit nonsense has hamstrung itself, The Republic of Ireland is a life raft for the "ulster men" (that a red flag BTW) one the republic doesn't need to offer, but will.
Anyway, its purely economic based, and if the prods own most of the businesses... well... Same story different century
Honestly the Prods would do a damned sight better to abandon England and accept their southern neighbors, England and its brixit nonsense has hamstrung itself, The Republic of Ireland is a life raft for the "ulster men" (that a red flag BTW) one the republic doesn't need to offer, but will.
any time they use the term "sectarian" take it with a giant grain of salt, as the IRA Shin Fein et all, have never really been 100% catholic, yet the Ulster Men/Orange Order/UVF etc its a requirement to be protestant first.
Monday is 25 years. Wow. And to think, there’s new nationalism growing now in the wake of Brexit…
TL/DR
Please summarize, snarkily.
Please summarize, snarkily.
So this happened last night:
I don't think being genuine is ever a gaff. He's always loved Ireland and it's people. And like he says, there's over 30 million Americans that claim Irish heritage.
Politics will always be politics; preying on ignorance and fear. He's the President, and he doesn't really care too much if he's re-elected. So, may as well just be genuine. A very fresh change.
Politics will always be politics; preying on ignorance and fear. He's the President, and he doesn't really care too much if he's re-elected. So, may as well just be genuine. A very fresh change.
He's not my favorite president by any means but he is at very least level-headed and genuine. I'll take that for now.
I'll just leave this here:
Schulmann has a couple of interesting things to say. She needs more time than she had here, but it gives you some insight.
Something 'light':
Just some Irish greenery. This is at the Powerscourt Waterfall here in Wicklow.
The yellow one looks to be a combination of Ragwort, Gorse and Scotch Broom, with the Gorse being close up there with the hound jumping around in it. It's not great for livestock, but is harmless otherwise, and in Ireland is fairly easy to control. So easy, we don't need to bother. Ragwort will look much different in a few months as it blooms later than the broom does. Ragwort also prefers it wetter, as well as Gorse (yes, it gets more wet here than what's in the video). Of the three, we have much more Gorse. Ireland is rather late blooming compared to the states. Late May is considered middle of spring here to some species.
Broom is native to Europe. It doesn't grow nearly as fast here as it does stateside due to the competition it has with local flora and fauna, especially grass and ferns, which are much more aggressive here in Ireland in moist regions. Scots/Scotch broom prefers sandy, well drained alkaline soil - which does not describe most of Ireland and much of western Europe, at least not at altitude. And it likes sunlight(which usually also means a plant likes it warm as well) - so it struggles in Ireland, whereas the grass here grows year round. It is usually found here near rock outcroppings(which makes it easy to survey the land from a distance here). So on the barrens, and up in the mountains is where it is usually found. This video is taken near the PowersCourt Waterfall, so it is actually up in the mountains, which is why you see a lot of it here near the rocks.
I tried to find other photos I might have had of it, and in the thousands of photos I have of Ireland, I couldn't find one good example. So it is actually fairly rare here outside of the top of our mountains. The most I have ever seen of it in person is near Hollywood, Wicklow, which is very rocky. Here's a photo I found on line as I do not have one myself. Even so, as in the video, much of this is Gorse:
You can see in that photo it is sticking to the outcroppings and leaving the meadows alone. Still, there's loads of it there. The photo makes it look smaller than it is. And even so, that pinkish stuff you are seeing is dormant fern. So even on the hillside, it competes well with the gorse etc. And this is kind of a desaturated photo it appears. There's still loads of grass about.
Here's a couple of views from above Glendalough from behind the Sugar-Loaf peak in the distance. This is all at roughly 1,000'-1,500' altitude, and you can see even here it's just too wet for it to take hold even though there'd be plenty of rocks here still:
Also, if you have grazing land that gets plenty rainfall(which describes 99% of Ireland), the animals(via trampling and urinating) and water keep the broom away without any management necessary. The scene in the video is managed only by allowing sheep to graze on it and people to hike on it. Which, unfortunately leaves their droppings everywhere(prolly both people and sheep!), so watch your step, and don't let dogs eat it because they will eventually get luke worm.
Broom is native to Europe. It doesn't grow nearly as fast here as it does stateside due to the competition it has with local flora and fauna, especially grass and ferns, which are much more aggressive here in Ireland in moist regions. Scots/Scotch broom prefers sandy, well drained alkaline soil - which does not describe most of Ireland and much of western Europe, at least not at altitude. And it likes sunlight(which usually also means a plant likes it warm as well) - so it struggles in Ireland, whereas the grass here grows year round. It is usually found here near rock outcroppings(which makes it easy to survey the land from a distance here). So on the barrens, and up in the mountains is where it is usually found. This video is taken near the PowersCourt Waterfall, so it is actually up in the mountains, which is why you see a lot of it here near the rocks.
I tried to find other photos I might have had of it, and in the thousands of photos I have of Ireland, I couldn't find one good example. So it is actually fairly rare here outside of the top of our mountains. The most I have ever seen of it in person is near Hollywood, Wicklow, which is very rocky. Here's a photo I found on line as I do not have one myself. Even so, as in the video, much of this is Gorse:
You can see in that photo it is sticking to the outcroppings and leaving the meadows alone. Still, there's loads of it there. The photo makes it look smaller than it is. And even so, that pinkish stuff you are seeing is dormant fern. So even on the hillside, it competes well with the gorse etc. And this is kind of a desaturated photo it appears. There's still loads of grass about.
Here's a couple of views from above Glendalough from behind the Sugar-Loaf peak in the distance. This is all at roughly 1,000'-1,500' altitude, and you can see even here it's just too wet for it to take hold even though there'd be plenty of rocks here still:
Also, if you have grazing land that gets plenty rainfall(which describes 99% of Ireland), the animals(via trampling and urinating) and water keep the broom away without any management necessary. The scene in the video is managed only by allowing sheep to graze on it and people to hike on it. Which, unfortunately leaves their droppings everywhere(prolly both people and sheep!), so watch your step, and don't let dogs eat it because they will eventually get luke worm.
Ahh I found this:
Broom left, Gorse far right.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/99366/gorse-and-brooms.pdf
And here's an example of sheep. In Ireland, anything outside of the city that needs to be mown is nearly always done so by livestock.
The establishment gets free mowing, the farmer gets free food. This is the over flow car park in Powerscourt Waterfall. It fits maybe 500 cars.
All freshly mown by sheep.
Broom left, Gorse far right.
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/99366/gorse-and-brooms.pdf
And here's an example of sheep. In Ireland, anything outside of the city that needs to be mown is nearly always done so by livestock.
The establishment gets free mowing, the farmer gets free food. This is the over flow car park in Powerscourt Waterfall. It fits maybe 500 cars.
All freshly mown by sheep.
Reply to post 1176:
1st photo: The gorse looks to have a rather different plant structure (more squat & compact, less tall and willowy) than the broom we fight.
2nd & 3rd photos: Such lovely country! Much as I have become attached to the Northern California environment, I still miss the year-round green of the NE USA where I grew up.
To post 1177:
Up close the differences are pretty clear; thanks for the link.
And 3 cheers for mutton mowers. Our desire to employ sheep/goats for veg control is tempered by the mountain lions (pumas, cougars) and their dietary preferences.
1st photo: The gorse looks to have a rather different plant structure (more squat & compact, less tall and willowy) than the broom we fight.
2nd & 3rd photos: Such lovely country! Much as I have become attached to the Northern California environment, I still miss the year-round green of the NE USA where I grew up.
To post 1177:
Up close the differences are pretty clear; thanks for the link.
And 3 cheers for mutton mowers. Our desire to employ sheep/goats for veg control is tempered by the mountain lions (pumas, cougars) and their dietary preferences.
Oh you KNOW I have some opinions on Broom.
Charlie, ask me in the fall and I'll tell you some tales of fire and phylogeny.
Charlie, ask me in the fall and I'll tell you some tales of fire and phylogeny.
Most fires here are Gorse fires, and often because the farmers started them and they got out of hand during a dry spell.
It is just astounding how beautiful it is here, and it's completely lost on the inhabitants!
Here's a view of that car park from the woods - all sheep shorn:
Random photo from a top the Deise(Day Shyuh), atop the Comeraghs mountains, on a sheep ranch of course, near where I work a ranch:
On the opposite side of the Comeraghs looking towards Tipperary. Half of what ya see here is Tipperary, the other Waterford:
And this is looking back on the Comeraghs from the opposite direction in Tipperary at the foot of Slievenamon mtn. The ranch/farm I often work is just below the three square fields you see on the right of the image in the distance.
And the photo in #1176 with the point peak? This is looking back towards it about 1/4 way up the peak:
