Early Risers.

[brianusa]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

As vermin it is a shame we cannot legally do more to excise them from the ecosystem

A problem!  Squirrels are classified as "cute" so impossible to bring harm upon them.  Its the bushy tail (as opposed to the ratty one) and how they stand upright and beg; you don't stand a chance!

      Brian.

[Gwiwer]

1 minute ago, brianusa said:

Squirrels are classified as "cute"

Not here they're not!!!  Oh yes they are considered "cute" by children and will approach them when offered food (even taking it from their hands on rare occasions) but not by anyone who tries to grow their own food or even brighten their surroundings with flowering plants.  

 

Personally I'm also not a fan of the Americanism "skwerl" though I'm sure they have issues with the British pronunciation of some words too.  

[brianusa]

4 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

but not by anyone who tries to grow their own food or even brighten their surroundings with flowering plants.  

 

You've been talking with my wife!  But she thinks they're cute also in spite of digging up the lawn in the search for buried nuts.

     Brian

[polybear]

 

 

Any use?

Taken at the Great Glen Lodges, Loch Lochy, 2009.

Pine Martens are rather partial to Jam or Peanut Butter sarnies, by the way.....

 

[simontaylor484]

Deep fried squirrel anyone?

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Didn't venture out today so the shower hose will have to wait, most of the leakage goes in the bath anyway.

I once had a colleague who kept ferrets and he told me that his ferrets sometimes killed grey squirrels. 

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Just been looking at BBC news and wondering about the film I watched last night, the climate disaster movie.

Madrid is expecting 8inches of snow tomorrow and -12 C on Thursday.

A couple of nights ago -36C was recorded in northern Spain!

59 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

I never hear owls.  Maybe because I use a Mac and never have Windows open   

Here we go again.

[Coombe Barton]

... evicting a sparrow and losing a thermostat ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/01/09/progress-and-calls-for-more-locking-down/

[Tony_S]

49 minutes ago, brianusa said:

 

You've been talking with my wife!  But she thinks they're cute also in spite of digging up the lawn in the search for buried nuts.

     Brian

Once upon a time our lawn was used  as a nut store by our local squirrels.  Then we got a spaniel puppy.  Robbie was fascinated and spent ages sniffing at the disturbed soil and then would dig up the nut and urinate on it. This seemed to deter the squirrels. 

[Erichill16]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

.......... dig up the nut and urinate on it. This seemed to deter the squirrels. 

I’m not surprised!
Perhaps I can train Sydney to do the same

[leopardml2341]

As forecast in my 'good morning' post. Not a lot of any use done today, but I can live with that

 

Best wishes and goodnight to all.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Deep fried squirrel anyone?

 

Squirrel fricassee anyone?

 

I believe the Romans used to stuff them, put them on a stick, roast them and then eat them sez Kebab style.

[jamie92208]

There was a very famous US soldier in WW1 surname York, like our leader. He grew up shooting squirels as food for the family. He's famous for holding down a whole battalion of German soldiers in 1918, for a day, he shot well over 100 large grey squirrels that day. The yanks named a mobile anti aircraft gun after him, Sgt York.

3 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Squirrel fricassee anyone?

 

I believe the Romans used to stuff them, put them on a stick, roast them and then eat them sez Kebab style.

Along with Glis Glis or edible doormice that infest France to this day.

 

 

Jamie

Edited January 9, 2021 by jamie92208

[tigerburnie]

I was part of a syndicate that shot on a couple of farms, we had a rule if you shot it, it had to be eaten, this was to deter anyone taking a pop at anything that moved. So the farmer asked us to reduce the Grey Squirrels as they were damaging trees and crops, no sooner had he walked away than my mate spun round, 2 bangs and 2 dead Greys hit the ground. So we had to eat them, took them his mums house as she could cook pretty much anything, Squirrel pie it was then, I was disappointed as I thought they would taste of nuts.

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

13 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

 Squirrel pie it was then, I was disappointed as I thought they would taste of nuts.

G'night all

They were thrown out with the innards.

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

A couple of nights ago -36C was recorded in northern Spain!

That's not a temperature - that's an offence!

 

Speaking of offences some oik (or oiks) at 23 o'clock let off a dozen very loud firecrackers over the road.  Waking up more than a few of us who emerged into a smokey haze after the event to hear cheering.  It's too late for English New Year and too early for Chinese New Year.  It's also too late at night for such antics and there should not be a gathering of people anywhere unless they are at home (and ideally inside) living together.  

 

Was there something else I missed?  Squirrel-fest, perhaps??? 

 

G'night all.  

[Ozexpatriate]

13 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Has anyone noticed that, until recently, despite the widespread use of tablet computers (like the iPad) for well over a decade, Hollywood’s depiction of computers would make the old SinclairZ64 look positively cutting edge! (and what’s with the black screen with green lettering, where the words slowly appear letter by letter as the computer responds to a command?)

Perhaps in a movie like "War Games" (1983). How do you define "recently"? Most of the television and movie computers I can think of that are set in contemporary times seem to feature holographically projected screens that respond to gestures and/or voice commands.

 

Mentioning tablets, the HAL-9000 has tablet interfaces in 2001. There's a scene with them on a table top surface in the (circular) crew living space. Samsung has used this to refute Apple's claim that Apple invented the tablet form factor.

 

13 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

One particular bugbear of mine is how people behave unrealistically in so many films. A good example being the typical horror film: we have a bunch of young people  in a remote country cottage having a good time when they learn that some psychopathic axe murderer has escaped. So, what do they do? Do they stay together in a room with the door locked and the windows bolted, arming themselves with serious improvised weaponry (like axe handles) whilst remaining fully dressed and “ready to roll”

You might enjoy this television commercial: "Let's hide behind the chainsaws".

 

There are a lot of parodies of horror movie clichés. This one (contains some 'bad' language) is a different take.

[The Stationmaster]

15 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Just been looking at BBC news and wondering about the film I watched last night, the climate disaster movie.

Madrid is expecting 8inches of snow tomorrow and -12 C on Thursday.

Don't worry - Mdrid is over 2,000 ft asl and does get snow in the winter.

 

As for squirrels we have had - until they were rationalised - a profligacy of hazel trees in the garden and their nuts always vanish early on.  Only good point about the rat with a fluffy tale is that over the years we've  regularly had oak seedlimgs growing in the garden - nice little plants provided you don't let them get very big.  not so good is that it nicks bird food even from allegedly rat with a fluffy tale proof feeders.  The little s*d is far too quick for foxy or the cats to catch it and because its main route is along the top of next door's fence on our boundary I can't go for it with the air rifle.

Edited January 10, 2021 by The Stationmaster
Coprrect typo, thanks iD

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

I was disappointed as I thought they would taste of nuts.

G'night all

I suppose it depends what part of the squirrel you’re eating!

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

They were thrown out with the innards.

 

5 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

I suppose it depends what part of the squirrel you’re eating!

Great minds think alike?

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

23 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Perhaps in a movie like "War Games" (1983). How do you define "recently"? Most of the television and movie computers I can think of that are set in contemporary times seem to feature holographically projected screens that respond to gestures and/or voice commands.

 

Quite amusing the first time round but I couldn't be bothered to watch it when it has been on twice in the past week or so.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not much else to report other then the lad next door had earlier in the day been to Holmfirth, about 10 miles away to go skiing with his mate on some moorland. With this kind of action you’ve got to feel sorry for the two lasses who got fined for travelling 5miles for a socially distanced walk.

Tried to get the Vat return sorted but again it was a waste of time. Other than writing my chairman’s report for the MRCs AGM next week nothing else of significance was done, except downloaded some pictures onto my laptop.

Goodnight,

Robert

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Must (but not all) of the stuff that I brought from the workshop to the cellar has now been put BACK in the workshop. Once I’d taken back what I wanted to, I set up the turntable and gave it a run, I timed how long it took to do 180 degrees and multiplied the figure by 2, giving me one revolution in just under 55 seconds. That doesn’t seem fast, but it does look quite quick when you watch it. I’ll have a play with it again tomorrow to see how it looks moving a bit slower and a bit faster. Unfortunately, the way I’ve set it up, it won’t rotate continuously, it stops at one of 4 exit roads. So, I might look into having an option for continuous rotation as it could have its advantages, I think a switch mounted inside the control panel, that bypasses the whole indexing system could work, it would certainly aid setting the rotational speed and could also be an aid to future maintenance too. It might just be a case of adding a few extra bits in the panel itself, something to think about there perhaps!

 

Whilst I was in the workshop, I had a look at my Zeus chart, there is no price on it, just a date, I’ve got the ‘New 1970’ updated metric version! It was obtained directly from my old employer British Steel, who I suspect bought them in bulk and we apprentices were able to buy them at cost. I seem to recall I only paid a few pence for it, for some reason the amount of 25p springs to mind.

 

This evening we opened and drank a nice bottle of Malbec whilst we sat and watched a film we recorded last night called ‘The Wife’ starring Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce and Christian Slater, it was a very enjoyable film. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all