Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

13 hours ago, polybear said:

... a woofums (other pets are available too) are for life

Fans of little doggies will be pleased by the rescue of a Jack Russell terrier puppy that fell from a boat off the Florida coast. It's all over the internet by now. There's a YouTube version here. The owners were searching miles away.

[PhilJ W]

4 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A couple of weeks ago I saw a sparrow hawk sitting on the shed roof in our daughter's garden. It was studying activity around the bird feeder a few yards away. It returned the following morning, not for the small birds on the feeder but took out a feral pigeon picking up the bits that they had dropped on the lawn. 

Feral pigeons seem to be their favourites, a bigger meal than a sparrow.

[simontaylor484]

I have been trying to find Rolo the dachshund's poppy bow tie that fits on his dog collar just to see if it goes his new collar (6months old) its a rather fetching Harris tweed number with copper coloured fittings but its wider than his previous collar. I hope it fits still. He does like to compare his dog collar with his Grandpa's his dog collar is always white though

[Gwiwer]

40 minutes ago, PeterBB said:

Like others have had third jab (Moderna this time) plus flu.  Currently both arms still feel sore and had a sleep this pm but not the problems of Neil.  Improving now and able to get on ER early but still feel tired so looks like an early night.

Not due for three weeks yet but will jump at the chance when presented.  Both previous jabs resulted in very slight stiffening of the shoulder for a couple of days but nothing at all of note.  

 

13 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Get BoZo to go on TV and tell everyone there is no shortage of dogs and no need for panic buying. There will be a queue round the block by dawn tomorrow.

Or try selling Barker's Eggs as a product   

 

The Big Black Woofing Thing who lives upstairs has taken to thumping the floor with his tail.  For hours.  It's getting irritating at times.  

 

A quiet day has passed Upon the Hill of Strawberries though with laundry a-plenty dealt with.  Tomorrow there is rather more to be done including giving the Little Red Driving Box a thorough check over before it is expected to take us west later in the week.  It is almost time for the dreaded three-letter budget-buster called "MoT" which awkwardly falls due two weeks before C*******s.  It can be done not more than a month early but the cost will be the same and it comes out of the same account.  The only benefit might be in having it done in good time rather than finding there is nowhere able to do it at that time of year and having to SORN for the duration.  

[iL Dottore]

11 hours ago, Tony_S said:

This is Willow.

She was returned to the rescue charity by the family who adopted her during lockdown when they had to return to working from work instead of home. She now resides with my nephew and his partner in Sussex. I think they are all very happy together

Well Done! 
Absolutely, totally, bloody well done!

Given that I am a misanthrope, I think it is perfectly valid (and appropriate) to put forward the opinion that those people who bought dogs because they were bored during a lockdown or because some moronic “personality” has one or they saw it on a TV show should be taken out and shot (and that is the “kind” option).

Dogs are not toys nor are they trophies to show off, they are sentient animals (and in some cases are a damn sight more sentient than their owners) and cannot (should not) just be acquired and then abandoned on a whim…

From what the rescue centre said when we got him and observing his behaviours since he joined the family, we concluded that poor Schotty was abandoned/dumped. He does not like being left alone (although now we have Lucy that’s less of a problem)  and whenever we drive somewhere new, or take a route we haven’t taken before to get to someplace he knows, he gets incredibly anxious. Poor Lad.

11 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Having had to replace my much loved miniature schnauzer, Ziggy this summer I think it is outrageous the prices that have been charged. Rant over.

But that’s what you get when you start treating dogs like commodities and not like the amazing companion and working animals that they are.

 

To anyone who has recently lost a dog, no matter what the breed, and they want to get another dog to fill the hole in their heart, then I always recommend going to a shelter. Even if you want a particular breed, by using the Internet and visiting the websites of reputable shelters and organisations (like the Dog’s Trust, Battersea Dog’s home and the RSPCA) you’ll be able to find your new companion (of the preferred breed) without too much difficulty.

 

What’s more, a rescue dog’s gratitude (and love) is endless and enormous. One can just barely imagine what it must be like for a dog to be placed in a shelter and to be saved from that living hell (although most shelters do their very, very best to give their dogs an adequate life) will certainly fixate the dog on the rescuer.

 

As Mrs iD rescued Schotty (a tale I will tell perhaps one day), Schotty absolutely adores her, wants to always be with her and believes that she can do no wrong and that the Sun shines out of …..  Well, you get the drift.

 

The only problem with the above scenario, is that Mrs ID is now expecting the same unqualified and unending adoration from yours truly (nor is yours truly as easily fobbed off with a few biscuits, a tummy rub and a scratch behind the ears as Schotty)

Edited October 23, 2021 by iL Dottore

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Pork roast complements apple sauce nicely; lamb goes with mint sauce; beef accompanies hot horseradish and English mustard. Turkey matches cranberry sauce and duck with orange sauce. The humble roast chicken however gets sage & onion stuffing rather than a sauce. 

Nice choices. I like to drown the chicken in gravy. For me, mustard with cold roast beef and horseradish (even better in a little whipped cream) with hot roast beef.

[simontaylor484]

Rolo is our first dog he has been a fantastic companion to me whilst I was really poorly I do miss taking him for a long walk up to the castle and onwards my knees cant take it.

   Rolo was brought into our lives as a therapy dog for the boys a role he has more than filled 

[Winslow Boy]

24 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Well Done! 
Absolutely, totally, bloody well done!

Given that I am a misanthrope, I think it is perfectly valid (and appropriate) to put forward the opinion that those people who bought dogs because they were bored during a lockdown or because some moronic “personality” has one or they saw it on a TV show should be taken out and shot (and that is the “kind” option).

Dogs are not toys nor are they trophies to show off, they are sentient animals (and in some cases are a damn sight more sentient than their owners) and cannot (should not) just be acquired and then abandoned on a whim…

From what the rescue centre said when we got him and observing his behaviours since he joined the family, we concluded that poor Schotty was abandoned/dumped. He does not like being left alone (although now we have Lucy that’s less of a problem)  and whenever we drive somewhere new, or take a route we haven’t taken before to get to someplace he knows, he gets incredibly anxious. Poor Lad.

But that’s what you get when you start treating dogs like commodities and not like the amazing companion and working animals that they are.

 

To anyone who has recently lost a dog, no matter what the breed, and they want to get another dog to fill the hole in their heart, then I always recommend going to a shelter. Even if you want a particular breed, by using the Internet and visiting the websites of reputable shelters and organisations (like the Dog’s Trust, Battersea Dog’s home and the RSPCA) you’ll be able to find your new companion (of the preferred breed) without too much difficulty.

 

What’s more, a rescue dog’s gratitude (and love) is endless and enormous. One can just barely imagine what it must be like for a dog to be placed in a shelter and to be saved from that living hell (although most shelters do their very, very best to give their dogs an adequate life) will certainly fixate the dog on the rescuer.

 

As Mrs iD rescued Schotty (a tale I will tell perhaps one day), Schotty absolutely adores her, wants to always be with her and believes that she can do no wrong and that the Sun shines out of …..  Well, you get the drift.

 

The only problem with the above scenario, is that Mrs ID is now expecting the same unqualified and unending adoration from yours truly (nor is yours truly as easily fobbed off with a few biscuits, a tummy rub and a scratch behind the ears as Schotty)

 

Therefore are we to assume that Mrs ID rescued you from a home for waifs and strays then?

[Winslow Boy]

9 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Rolo is our first dog he has been a fantastic companion to me whilst I was really poorly I do miss taking him for a long walk up to the castle and onwards my knees cant take it.

   Rolo was brought into our lives as a therapy dog for the boys a role he has more than filled 

 

That was why we acquired our miniature schnauzer and she was worth every penny and more that we paid for her. I think its probably safe to say that if I hadn't had her my life would not be as good as it is.

[simontaylor484]

I have a delivery coming from DX express I have never had anything delivered by them before. They sent a text earlier saying delivery would be Monday I was able to change to Tuesday because we have an appointment on Monday..

I do know what is coming and who from I was wondering if any one else had any experience of delivery from DX express 

 

[Coombe Barton]

33 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I have a delivery coming from DX express I have never had anything delivered by them before. They sent a text earlier saying delivery would be Monday I was able to change to Tuesday because we have an appointment on Monday..

I do know what is coming and who from I was wondering if any one else had any experience of delivery from DX express 

 

Are you expecting something? There's a spate of scams going round about deliveries.

 

[monkeysarefun]

16 hours ago, polybear said:

Did the fires not teach them anything?

It is not humanly possible to over-emphasise the power the mining sector has here politically.

 

One side of politics bases most of its policies from think-tanks heavily weighted with resource industry conmections, the other ties itself up in knots promoting alternative energy policies to urban electorates while simultaneously giving guarantees that the mining industry will be here longterm to the rural mining job dependant ones.

 

Any displeasure felt by the resource industry over any perceived threat to their profits or operational methods  is met by dire predictions of job losses and the warning that they'll go off and dig up someone else's stuff instead. 

 

The Murdoch press has always been the mining industry mouthpiece. Their columnists are almost exclusively global warming sceptics and any 'green' initiative has been mocked or torn apart by the Murdoch newspapers and Sky news.

 

Due to a brilliant propaganda campaign 'miners' in most Australians eyes are the sweaty fly covered working class blokes (and ladies) in flouro vests who appear in TV  ads driving monster Tonka trucks around massive holes in the outback, rather than  privileged blokes (and ladies) in suits in board rooms in London and Hong Kong.

 

Hence any hint of more restrictive laws or increase in taxation is shot down by a massive advertising campaign claiming that the government is attacking poor working class blokes just trying to earn a buck. (Or $200,000 bucks in reality, miners are well paid here.)

 

A proposal to charge a Norwegian style resource rent tax by one side of politics in 2010 was met with a tsunami of these kind of ads, so was watered down to the point that it is meaningless. So while Norway reaped billions and trillions  we got virtually nothing for letting private industries (and overseas ones at that..) sell our resources literally  from under us.

 

Last year we overtook Qatar as the worlds leading exporter of LNG. In 2019 Qatar earned $26 billion In tax from their gas sales, we got 600 million.

 

 

 

But its not all doom and gloom!

 

Australian society embraces green technology -  we have sunshine to spare so solar panels on roofs are almost ubiquitous here, to the point that a couple of years ago the Brisbane power grid was having issues due to the amount of power being fed back into it from domestic panels.

 

The miners have made a few major PR blunders recently and have had their Emperors clothes exposed. A huge mine proposed by the Indian miner Adani in the Queensland outback has been the source of much protesting, not helped by 'mistakes'  íts made in Environmental Impact Studies, its treatment of the traditional landowners, and ïssues with some of the dodgy pre-mining infrastructure its rolling out. As a result no banks will touch it currently and its having trouble getting off the ground. (or into the ground - since its a mine) 

 

Rio Tintos wanton destruction of sacred Aboriginal sites to build a road to a mine site, its initial dismissal of protests and 'promises' to not change its methods caused a huge outcry here and brought more critical eyes to bear on the mining industries operations in general.

 

The miners portrayal of themselves as providing jobs for hardworking Aussies has started unravelling the more and more they embrace automation.  Those giant Tonka toys are increasingly more likely to be driven from a control room in Perth. Even those trains 2km long full of ore trundling through the desert are now part of the worlds biggest train set, driven by some lucky bloke sitting in a control room within 20 minutes drive of the beach.

 

And over the last few months the remarkable has happened. Business groups, major mainstream businesses and high profile  individuals have begun giving undertakings of moving to carbon zero. Even the Murdoch press has begun a massive campaign promoting it which is really super weird. This has left the government backfooted, its turned around to find much of  its little gang of supporters has vanished. 

 

Its certainly been a strange few months and makes me wonder why, since traditionally these groups only ever do something that has something in it for them. The cynical bit of me is  starting to wonder if they haven't become privy to some startling secret information about global warming trends not released to the rest of us and its actually managed to scare the sh1t out of them. If nothing else, that explains all those Mars rockets suddenly getting built by them rich guys.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

I overheard a phone conversation a couple of weeks ago regarding puppies.

The gist of the conversation was that the bloke I was listening to  had a dog and it had unintentionally had a litter of pups and he was so pleased with the amount of money he’d received from selling the puppies  he was going to try for another litter. Seemed like a complete idiot to me who shouldn’t be allowed a dog in the first place.

I have a good friend who together with his SWMBO  tried to adopt a rescue dog strangely to us, they were turned down. They’ve  had dogs in the past and their most recent one passed away earlier this year. they’re in their early sixties, fit and healthy, and we’re looking for a mature dog. Anyway in the end they bought a cockapoo pup and unfortunately they are having a bit of trouble with its behaviour. Seems very timid, highly strung  and barks at anything that moves or makes a noise.
  

Walked into Penistone today to deliver a prescription to SWMBO’s cousin and then visited the gluten free bakery for a takeout sarnie and three different slices of cake to take home. Altogether it’s about a ten mile round trip so ankles, feet and left knee are now complaining and I think Sydney was glad to get home. Don’t know what’s on the agenda for tomorrow, I know what I’d like to do and what I’d like to avoid but for now Goodnight,

Robert

[TheSignalEngineer]

I was looking for some old coronavirus items on the Government website and came up with this.

 

If you own a ferret

You should isolate your ferret for 21 days if:

• you or your household are self-isolating
• you’ve brought your ferret to England from outside the Common Travel Area (UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man)

Isolation means you should prevent contact between your ferret and ferrets or people from other households.

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

38 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Are you expecting something? There's a spate of scams going round about deliveries.

 

I get lots of spam messages about parcel deliveries, although in the last three weeks they seem to have been overtaken by the daily collection of emails telling me my antivirus subscription has run out. I'm tempted to tell them I have been vaccinated so no problem.

[Ozexpatriate]

23 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

If you own a ferret ...

Mink farming was hit really hard by CoViD-19 early in the pandemic. Infections amongst that kind of animal were very common (they are particularly susceptible) and because of their congregate 'housing' it ripped through populations and spread it to their keepers.

 

Millions of mink were culled.

 

Link here to a synopsis of a documentary on the subject. (Didn't see it.)

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[The Lurker]

15 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear has been known to dabble....

 

 

Available from Home Bargains at (IIRC) about a quid a bottle (500ml) - it seems that 41% is "reconstituted dried mint", with the rest being made up of various things - some of which that would no doubt make a Supervillain frown.

Bear likes the green nectar on pretty much any sort of din dins - from roast spuds to a full english, though I do try to refrain and usually have it only once a week or so.  It does look like I'm down to my last litre though (plus what's in the fridge) so better start planning a future raid.  Unless of course I have more squirrelled away - I do come across things that raise a "I never knew I had that" 

I was in my 30’s before I realised that mint sauce could be purchased; it was always came from fresh mint from the garden with added malt vinegar and possibly sugar.

 

it’s always the best bit of a roast lamb dinner and can cover all the accompaniments and mixes well in the gravy. I am not that keen on roast lamb but mint sauce always veins! In fact, you could leave out the lamb altogether if the mint sauce were there and I would be happy 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Ozexpatriate]

51 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

It is not humanly possible to over-emphasise the power the mining sector has here politically.

Very much so.

 

I think Australians still see BHP and Rio Tinto as fair dinkum, "Australian" rather than the massive global/multi-national mineral extractors that they are.

 

Even BHP describes themselves (on their website) as:

Quote

As a world-leading resources company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, our products are sold worldwide, with sales and marketing led through our Singapore and Houston locations. 

 

Rio Tinto describes themselves as:

Quote

We work in 35 countries – in mines, smelters and refineries, as well as in sales offices, data centres, research and development labs and with artificial intelligence.

...

We were founded in 1873, on the banks of the Rio Tinto river in Andalusia, Spain. We are proud of everything we have achieved. At Rio Tinto, we know our future is even brighter than our past.

 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

do know what is coming and who from I was wondering if any one else had any experience of delivery from DX express

We have had something delivered by them. I seem to recall they are used for items needing 2 man deliveries. Though when they delivered the chair I had ordered one stayed in the van! The tracking/timing was accurate.

[monkeysarefun]

32 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I get lots of spam messages about parcel deliveries, although in the last three weeks they seem to have been overtaken by the daily collection of emails telling me my antivirus subscription has run out. I'm tempted to tell them I have been vaccinated so no problem.

I get about a dozen variations of these SMS messages a day..

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Is that the time? at least I can have that extra hours lie in next weekend.

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

I have a delivery coming from DX express I have never had anything delivered by them before. They sent a text earlier saying delivery would be Monday I was able to change to Tuesday because we have an appointment on Monday..

I do know what is coming and who from I was wondering if any one else had any experience of delivery from DX express 

 

Not had any deliveries from them but I Googled them and looked at the reviews. Most seem to reckon that they're carp so be careful. 

 

32 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

I have a good friend who together with his SWMBO  tried to adopt a rescue dog strangely to us, they were turned down. They’ve  had dogs in the past and their most recent one passed away earlier this year. they’re in their early sixties, fit and healthy, and we’re looking for a mature dog. Anyway in the end they bought a cockapoo pup and unfortunately they are having a bit of trouble with its behaviour. Seems very timid, highly strung  and barks at anything that moves or makes a noise.

Don't expect any 'new' dog to be like its predecessor. A colleague of mine had a Staffie, a friendly dog if a bit excitable. Sadly he had cancer and had to be put to sleep. My colleague purchased a Staffie puppy a few months later but as he grew up it was apparent that he was a completely different character, not aggressive or unfriendly but rather stand offish. Whereas his predecessor would rush up tail wagging and greet you this one would stay in his basket.