Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

... After a trip to Finland my son commented about the availability of bear meat. He said he hadn’t tried it and that it was popular with the Russian tourists in Helsinki. 

There is a "Russian" themed restaurant in Helsinki where the locals like to drag their tourist guests. The restaurant famously serves bear. I had some. I don't remember how it was prepared but wasn't particularly memorable compared with the hype. What was more remarkable was the combination of gherkins and honey as an appetizer - part of a Russian 'Mezze' plate.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Andrew P said:

This is what I'm getting Rick, almost at the point of giving up now.

Andrew, I am seeing the same sort of floating panel at the top of the screen too - new for me since yesterday's post on the subject. Content is often animated and a new ad loads every 15 seconds or so.

 

Content is a combination of 'random' plus sites I have visited including a lot of Amazon stuff. (I'm not a WWF contributor, not that there's anything wrong with that.)

 

I'm noticing a lot of "waiting for xxxx" messages flash at the bottom of the page while the next ad loads.

 

This is in addition to the three ad panels at the bottom of the page.

 

EDIT:

It's gone away now and the panels at the bottom. Perhaps Andy Y has flipped the switch to "off"?

 

EDIT TO THE EDIT:

And 30 minutes later they're back with two floating panels per page, plus three embedded panels.

 

I have the distinct impression that Andy is working hard on this because they are now gone again, which is a blessed reprieve.

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Ozexpatriate
Multiple, as ads disappear and reappear

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

1) Wisconsin is the #1 world producer of Cranberries, almost ALL of that production in the area around Wisconsin Rapids where we were.

Wisconsin does produce 62% of the nations cranberries. They are big in Oregon too. So are blueberries.

 

How cranberries grow

Quote

The major production areas are New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Quebec. Other regions grow cranberries as well, to varying extent, and these include Delaware, Maine, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, as well as the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario. Cranberries are also commercially grown in Chile. These regions offer the special conditions that cranberries require, including sandy soil; abundant fresh water and a dormancy period that provides enough chill hours to produce a crop the following growing season.

 

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

2) Contrary to popular belief they are NOT grown in bogs/marshes/flooded fields. They are vines that grow in a very sandy soil!

Flooding was a traditional harvesting technique. It's not necessary with modern machinery.

[Coombe Barton]

... and the penultimate sunset of summer ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/09/21/depends-how-you-interpret-the-figures/

 

[simontaylor484]

A few years ago when i still lived with my parents my Grandad came to live with us after my Gran died me and my Grandad asked for a fry up for xmas dinner we got one and I still rate it as the best xmas dinner ever

[Sir TophamHatt]

That's inventive!

 

We fairly regularly have a fry up for tea - rarely for breakfast!

 

But always a traditional Christmas Dinner... no pigs in blankets though - ugh - they taste awful!

We do have bacon rolls (literally a rolled up piece of bacon) and sausage meatballs (sausage meat in a ball, covered in golden breadcrumbs).  Never put both in the mouth at the same time though but very tasty indeed.

[southern42]

' evening all from red dragon land. Only just past 8 and it is dark. What am I to do when it gets to midwinter...  

 

Warm and sunny, today, and another walk to the Log Swing. 'Finished' the log stump and roots going off down stream - though they will need tweaking, later - and sketched in the outline for the big moss-covered boulder behind the tree. Not all was peace and quiet.  I had been concentrating on getting the shape of the rear roots right when there was a sudden mad dash and splash into the stream in front of me from two dogs and a cat - not sure if the cat went in the water though. A distant whistle and they all ran off as quickly as they had arrived.  I do not think they even spotted me just a few feet away!

 

So the 'finished' stump from yesterday...

 

...and today's effort adding some roots.

 

Off to watch Silent Witness part 2.

 

More later - probably, tomorrow.

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I know it as the Rat Hole

I knew some old steam drivers who always referred to it by that name.  I think it got the later name after diesels and electrics gor headlights and you could see the bats flying around at times.

[brianusa]

13 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear's fun of the day includes doing the washing, plus a pair of jeans to iron.

  

Ironing jeans? Must be an English thing!  

  Brian.

   

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, brianusa said:

Ironing jeans? Must be an English thing!

Yes. Totally unnecessary.  Folding them is totally adequate.

 

The manufacturers even recommend washing them as little as possible. There are people who freeze them to 'clean' them.

[brianusa]

When first arrived on these shores, I wore more formal attire but after a few years decided it wasn't really necessary as not many others did so all those sharp creased pants went to Goodwill!

   Brian

[Dave Hunt]

I think that ironing jeans is right up there with peeling grapes and polishing the insteps of shoes as being among the more pointless exercises undertaken by mankind.

 

Dave

[Ozexpatriate]

17 minutes ago, brianusa said:

... all those sharp creased pants went to Goodwill!

I've hardly worn any 'slacks' or other dress trousers since pre-pandemic. I think I had an occasion to wear a pair of chinos/khakis one time. The employed white collar workers aren't dressing up either since they are all still in 'work-from-home' mode.

 

Business at the cleaners where I would take my dress shirts* pre-pandemic has been terrible since the pandemic began. They are barely hanging on. A huge part of their business was with office workers. The business recovered slightly after the initial lockdown, and while they do the specialty cleaning as well comforters/doonas, wedding dresses, dry cleaning etc, office wear was their mainstay. 

 

* I disliked ironing so much I was happy for someone to do it for me. 

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

doonas

I had to Google that. Most responses were for baby car seats or stroller/buggies.  Then I tried doonas Australian as a search and all was revealed. What would happen if I asked for a duvet in Australia?

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Like yesterday the weather has been very kind to me. I managed to get 2 more coats of primer on the back of the fireplace a 1st coat on the front of the fireplace before dinner. In between painting I planted up the violas, these replaced some summer plants that had died off. I also managed to get some varnish on the engine shed wall panels and even a 2nd coat of primer on the fireplace after dinner. 

 

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Still haven't cleaned the car out, it still contains some dried mud from a trip out in August. I'll have to find time to do it tomorrow. Either that or take it to a valeting service. The one I used to use, in the local Homebase went when Homebase was taken over by Bunnings and have never returned. Time to tackle Farcebook, be back later.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Sorry not up to speed as I’ve had a busy day at work and not helped by getting up late.

will try and catch up tomorrow.

Goodnight,

Robert

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[southern42]

' night all and nos da.

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I had to Google that. Most responses were for baby car seats or stroller/buggies.  Then I tried doonas Australian as a search and all was revealed. What would happen if I asked for a duvet in Australia?

You'd sound a bit up yaself.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

What would happen if I asked for a duvet in Australia?

 

It's funny because duvet was actually the word I wanted to use but the old neurons and synapses found doona in my grey matter instead.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

Ben the alarm clock Collie was a bit early this morning,

So we've been out for his walk, and Ben the very pleased with himself Collie came back with one more ball than we set out with. 

 

He's now snoring, when I've had a rest I'll make a muggacoffee and some pink pills, the legs aren't working well this morning very stiff and occasionally painful.

 

Ordered 10 cam cleats from China via the house of strong ladies, £47, Looking at the pictures they are the same as some are charging  £10 each for and if you buy a big brand name Allen, RWO and particularly Harken, you could pay the £47 each for them.  Harken will be a better quality though..

Anyway they should arrive in a couple of weeks, that should encourage the box of, removed from other boats bits, to reappear.

 

Should these be as per photo, then that will look fairly neat all being Identical. In the missing box is a single unit triple rope heavy duty jammer that I'd like to used for the main and jib halyards plus the topping lift. 

 

I'm researching through deck eyes / bushes, as 4 ropes need to come through the forward cockpit edge. Due to the thickness at that point it'll need bushes both sides. So that's eight needed, they appear to be stupidly expensive for something that consists of a stainless steel ring enclosed by a plastic holder / fitting flange.

 

Excuse me time to join Ben in snoring.

[chrisf]

Greetings

 

I'm puzzled by Brian's reference to planting violas.  My understanding, and I use the term advisedly, is that a viola is a musical instrument.  Imagine what would happen if you did plant one: it might grow into a cello.  Be that as it may, I had a spell wielding the hoe in my jungle yesterday afternoon which turned out to be an easier task than I had foreseen.  Although it triggered aches and pains, the borders now look so much better until the triffids start growing again.  There are still plenty of weeds growing in the paved area but removing them is a task for another day, or more accurately several days.  Will today be one of them?

 

In the early morning e-mails today was one giving details of another set of monthly meetings that are about to resume in a church hall not far away.  Slowly but surely, life returns to normal and glad I am of it.  The good news reminds me that I really should buy a 2022 diary as there is now plenty to put in it.  What's the betting that they are not yet on sale?

 

At the risk of being seen to tread too close to politics, it is all very well for no less than three cabinet ministers to harrumph about the protesters who have seen fit to block the M25 with their bodies.  Surely obstructing the highway is an offence?  Let them be thrown into gaol!

 

On that happy note, best wishes to all

 

Chris

Edited September 22, 2021 by chrisf