Early Risers.

[Barry O]

@Happy Hippo..wot.. no Giant Viper then??

 

Baz

[tetsudofan]

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Snakes come in a wide variety of colors; one in my lawn (I almost stepped on it going into the house and then saw it on my way out), it is an Eastern Garter snake:

 

Nasty, never been keen on snakes, nearly stood on one in Japan.

 

Keith

[New Haven Neil]

DCC for donkeys.

 

 

Driving on the 45mm line.

 

 

[jamie92208]

35 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Foxes are ok but do leave a mess.  One tries to stare you out if he sees you.

 

Anniversary drinks

 

And after 14 weeks..a take out from Wan Loi. .our local Chinese takeaway

 

Baz

Funnily enough we had a bottle of that tonight. As we haven't got one of those fancy  tops we had to  sit out and watch the sunset and finish it off. It's a hard life.

 

Jamie

Edited June 23, 2020 by jamie92208

[PhilJ W]

The next door but one's (pre-school) grandchildren were screaming the other day about a 'snake' in the garden. It turned out to be a slow worm. Interesting fact about snakes (and spiders), they are the only two species that are 100% carnivore. 

[Coombe Barton]

... and experimental supper.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/06/23/st-johns-eve/

[Tony_S]

48 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

only two species that are 100% carnivore. 

What about cats? I know people feed them on stuff that isn’t entirely meat but in the wild do they eat vegetables? Doggy type creatures are at the meaty end of omnivores? I am not arguing just wondering?

Edited June 23, 2020 by Tony_S

[bbishop]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The only person who feeds foxes around here is the local gamekeeper, with .223.

 

Our biggest problem is from cats coming into the garden to use our vegetable beds and lawn as a public convenience.

 

We never had this issue when we kept a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

 

And I'm clean out of Claymores

 

Catapult?  B

[Barry O]

59 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Funnily enough we had a bottle of that tonight. As we haven't got one of those fancy  tops we had to  sit out and watch the sunset and finish it off. It's a hard life.

 

Jamie

Well..the top wasn't nended. ..we enjoyed it. Great having an ex cocktail barman as a junior herbert

[bbishop]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

What about cats? I know people feed them on stuff that isn’t entirely meat but in the wild do they eat vegetables? Doggy type creatures are at the meaty end if if omnivores? I am not arguing just wondering?

 

Our family cat visited all the neighbours to cadge "nice hot cops of tea"  He was quite happy eating dog biscuits.  Bill

[bbishop]

For Ian, and anyone else who is interested, Today's Railways Europe has been published.  Bill

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[newbryford]

9 hours ago, TheQ said:

 

 

In MK we used to get Southern , Eastern, and Midlands TV channels, none of which covered MK very well..

 

Is that such a bad thing?

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by newbryford

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, tetsudofan said:

Nasty, never been keen on snakes, nearly stood on one in Japan.

Keith

Actually the Eastern Garter snake in the photo is a very nice snake to have around, their diet consists of toads, frogs, slugs, and worms, but they will eat almost anything they can overpower; usually insects but probably not a hippo!.

Edited June 23, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[newbryford]

Work was worked late, but for good reason.

The warehouse has been in need of a good tidy up and just needed a couple of hours or so uninterrupted by daft phone calls for two of us. 

There is a bit more work to do, but there is now a large light at the end of the tunnel that clearly illuminates with the following message.

"You will shortly have room to put your layout up to test it/play trains".

 

Yay!

 

In other news, my predictions regarding the after effects of last night's unsuspended bike ride were unfounded. In the words of Thomas the Tank Engine, I do not have a tender behind.

 

More work on the hump day and hopefully more catching up.

 

Have a good one folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Glad to see Chrisf is up and better(than he was). Also happy anniversary to Bas and Mrs O.

Been to site earmarked for the pharmacy to do a bit of tidying up of the grounds and meet some who’s giving us a quote for new fencing. Then back home and a quick trip to the dump it site and a bit of work around the garden. Tea and a spot of modelling. 
As Bugs Bunny would say,

’that’s all folks’

Robert
 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Barry O]

Glad anniversaries happen once a year. Totally worn to a frazzle!

Baz

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

 

Baz

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

Australia have kindly sent this delightful chap back to us - cheers guys:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-53095334

 

 

Wish there was a "No Worries!" button..

 

Re confidence in politicians at the moment. Although devestating at the time, I think that the bushfires here really helped engender a realisation  that  politicans can sometimes do something right, as well as a community spirit and sense of shared emergency and pulling together which has really helped with the way the virus has been handled and responded to here.

 

Although the federal govt, and the PM in particular were hopleless and rightly condemned for their response to the fires at the time, the state premiers were always front and centre, giving information and organising the response in a professional way, 7 days a week and seemingly at all hours of the day, without the usual blame shifting, finger pointing, corner-cutting and  excuses to do less that politicians are known and loved for.

 

  When the seriousness of the virus first came into the public conciousness again the PM began looking like he was not going to give it the imporatance  it deserved ("social distancing begins Monday, because  I am going to the footy Saturday!").

 

However the state  premiers of both political leanings came together in a non-partisan way and announced greater restrictions and a more serious co-ordinated response, forcing the PM to go along with them. He has since managed the response competently, co-ordinating the states while still letting them adapt to their individual situations.

 

Because the state governments  had largely  built up  trust and confidence in their ability  during the fires, and because we'd had experience of being shut up (due to smoke) and travel restrictions (road closures and areas of the country declared no-go due to the fire dangers) and because there was this recent experience of a  shared sense of community pulling together  in a crisis, there was very little to no arguing about the distancing and lockdown rules, or any  selfish questioning of perceived restrictions of personal rights.  Also, the rules here right from the beginning have been consistent, clear, and simple to understand  (10 lines on a document , no ifs or buts...)

 

Its rare that politicians get things right or  achieve something that is universally popular (89% approve of our govts response to the virus here despite the economic hit) , and they'll probably be back to normal and bu99er up the next crisis, so I'll get in and give them a rah while I can. 

Edited June 23, 2020 by monkeysarefun

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

Actually the Eastern Garter snake in the photo is a very nice snake to have around, their diet consists of toads, frogs, slugs, and worms, but they will eat almost anything they can overpower; usually insects but probably not a hippo!.

That would be the ultimate example of biting off more than one could chew!

 

[TheQ]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

But didn't we deport the Lockerbie Bomber back to Libya, who then promptly received a hero's welcome and went on to live another 3 years (he had cancer, and was supposedly at death's door when released)?  Personally, I'd stake 'em out on the local beach and let the tide do the rest - why waste an expensive bullet or run up the leccy bill?  As for giving him free room & board for the rest of his life....

 

Australia have kindly sent this delightful chap back to us - cheers guys:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-53095334

 

In other news, Bojo says "we must rely on the British Public to act responsibly".  So that's us totally screwed then.

 

Polluting beaches is illegal 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The bench is now finished and sat inside the arbour, it hasn’t been used today as once I’d fitted the slats, I painted the screws holding them in and touched up a few knocks caused when I moved it. 

 

I next tackled a couple of small gardening tasks, one was to report some rosemary that was looking a little tired and I also fed the potted viburnum on the front door step, as that too was looking a little tired. I then packed away all my gardening tools and then opened up the workshop. Work continued on the turntable, the main issue was to sort out the miss alignment of the main axle. The main problem turned out to be the bearing in the main base plate, it wasn't square. One The was corrected I was able to get all the other parts aligned, with the result that when the turntable bridge is in place in the well, I can spin it and it will rotate freely for several seconds until it comes to a stop, so I’m very pleased with that. I then flipped the lot over and adjusted the limit switches, switched it on and it was still very jerky, pah! Obviously the friction of the rollers on the indexing wheel is the cause, so it’s now plan ‘C’ a frictionless method, namely photo interrupters, a system which someone on here (sorry can’t remember who it was, but thanks) kindly pointed me in the direction of a few weeks ago. An order was placed for the new parts this evening and as everything was in stock, hopefully it should be with me before the weekend. Recent online research has showed that I can use a modified circuit that I’ve already designed to drive these units, the only uncertainty is about the size and how I’ll locate/fit them. However, this should become a lot clearer once I get my hands on the items and I can have a play with them. So, tomorrow I’ll remove all the limit switches and associated wiring and install the electrical feed system to the bridge.

 

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

What about cats? I know people feed them on stuff that isn’t entirely meat but in the wild do they eat vegetables? Doggy type creatures are at the meaty end of omnivores? I am not arguing just wondering?

One of ours is very keen on various leftovers from the dinner table but never eats any bits of veg if he knowingly finds it.  But some cat foods do come with items of vegetable in them  although i've yet to come across a cat which is taken in by the trick - they just eat the meat and sauce/gravy and leave the bits of veg.