Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

So unlike too many of the politicians of today -  a lot of whom wouldn’t (or couldn’t?) agree with a casual comment of “nasty weather, today isn’t it?” without running their reply through a focus group or two and a couple of SPADS….

 

As for stuffing their snouts in the public trough…

This is hardly different for members of the political class from pretty much any point in history in any place.

 

I give most of them the benefit of the doubt when they are first elected as bright eyed and wanting to do good. The cycle of reelection to hold onto 'the reins of power' and influence is corrupting for many.

 

It leads to the debate over term limits and passionate political injénues versus corrupted pragmatists who know how to 'get things done' in the system.

 

I had to look up "SPAD" in this context. I had heard of the French aircraft manufacturer and "Signal Passed At Danger", but not "SPecial ADvisor"*. I guess aides and political consultants are the terms used in the US.

 

* Google/Oxford identifies this usage as British and dates this to the early 21st century.

[BoD]

I was doing my volunteering stint at a NT property today when a young(ish) gentleman asked “Did you used to teach at ******** school?”  I tried to deny it - but he had me bang to rights.

 

“You used to teach me” he said.

”… and my mam”.

”… and my gran”.

 

You can quickly go off people.

[Dave Hunt]

5 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

.https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/04/30/drifting-uncertainly-and-thus-far-19-04-of-over-75s-have-had-the-spring-booster/

 

I'm not sure what percentage of those offered the spring booster have had it but Jill and I have only just had our invitations to book a slot and quite a few people we know who are eligible still haven't been invited.

 

Dave

[skipepsi]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Introduced in the mid thirties it was the VW beetles big brother, with a three litre air cooled V8 hanging out of the back, great fun on an icy Alpine road it was not. It was referred to as the Czech secret weapon during the war as so many German officers were killed driving them that Hitler forbade his officers from driving them. 

After the war in Europe was over the British secret service used them to round up Nazi's apparently it was easy to fit bodies in.

[tigerburnie]

37 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

I'm not sure what percentage of those offered the spring booster have had it but Jill and I have only just had our invitations to book a slot and quite a few people we know who are eligible still haven't been invited.

 

Dave

My missus has had hers as she's in the vulnerable group, I'm too young and healthy it seems as I haven't had an invite..........................

[pH]

These are wild cherry trees on the hill behind our house:
 

 

I don’t know where they came from - there was one there when we moved here. Over the years, they’ve spread - there are a half-dozen smaller ones to the left of this picture. 
 

The cherries taste nice, but the flesh to pit ratio is low, so they wouldn’t be commercial. That doesn’t concern the wildlife, though. The birds love them, and you occasionally see a raccoon sitting in one of the trees gorging itself on the fruit. (They will also, in season, deposit pit-laden poop on our back lawn.)

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, pH said:

These are wild cherry trees on the hill behind our house:
 

 

I don’t know where they came from - there was one there when we moved here. Over the years, they’ve spread - there are a half-dozen smaller ones to the left of this picture. 
 

The cherries taste nice, but the flesh to pit ratio is low, so they wouldn’t be commercial. That doesn’t concern the wildlife, though. The birds love them, and you occasionally see a raccoon sitting in one of the trees gorging itself on the fruit. (They will also, in season, deposit pit-laden poop on our back lawn.)

 

They are called bird cherries because the birds eat the cherry and then deposit the stone hopefully onto somewhere it will germinate hence you get one and then many.

[TheSignalEngineer]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

I was doing my volunteering stint at a NT property today when a young(ish) gentleman asked “Did you used to teach at ******** school?”  I tried to deny it - but he had me bang to rights.

 

“You used to teach me” he said.

”… and my mam”.

”… and my gran”.

 

You can quickly go off people.

When my son passed the exam for my old school in Birmingham we went along to a summer fair run by the parents association just before he was to start attending. I met seven teachers who had taught me even though I had left 20 years earlier.

[polybear]

Bear here......

Danglin' on a brush done, followed by repairing three stair treads; the nose of the treads showed signs of cracking - they've almost certainly been like that for years** but I figured I'd do a repair.  I drilled 2" horizontally from the front of the tread & thru' the crack into the sound area, then hammered in 1/4" wooden dowels coated in glue to strengthen the area; the longest crack got something like a dozen dowels so I reckon they won't be going anywhere soon.

(**Quite possibly as the result of a pair of young cubs sliding down the stairs on a folded-over camp bed mattress many moons ago.  Oops).

 

Tomorrow sees yet more danglin', possibly followed by some work on the Leccy C.U. Box.  I need to get my little furry ar5e to change up a gear and get this bluddy refurb finished cos' I'm fed up with it now and want to do other stuff instead.

 

In other news....

I've been watching a bit of Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets today; there's a character in it called "Moaning Myrtle" (the ghost of a 14 year old girl) - I thought she reminded me of another character seen in "Happy Valley" a few months back (a nutcase Teaching Assistant).  After a Google it seems that the same actress (Shirley Henderson) played both parts, despite being 37 years old (and 40 when she reappeared in The Goblet of Fire).  Bet you're glad I told you that.......

 

Bear Gone.

[polybear]

Oh yes....

Whilst listening to Radio 2 the other day I learned that Raisins (and Sultanas, Grapes and Currants) are poisonous for Doggies.  Bear never knew that....

(Though I very much suspect that clever doggie people such as @iL Dottore and @The Q do).

 

[PeterBB]

9 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

I think the problem is that the drinker has no idea of the volume consumed, and things get out of hand...

 

If it werein hand then the straw would not be needed!.

[PeterBB]

6 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Another fisheye from Coventry Cathedral. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/04/30/drifting-uncertainly-and-thus-far-19-04-of-over-75s-have-had-the-spring-booster/

It is 'by invotation' that includes where you have to go and the time s available hence the current uptake is low but many are booked in the near future ... at least I hope so as although I responded as sson as received the arly dates and times were aready filled.

[PeterBB]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

I was doing my volunteering stint at a NT property today when a young(ish) gentleman asked “Did you used to teach at ******** school?”  I tried to deny it - but he had me bang to rights.

 

“You used to teach me” he said.

”… and my mam”.

”… and my gran”.

 

You can quickly go off people.

ERs is phenomenal in providing me memories so here's tree'

1 - a chance meetingabout 20 years or more ago "You taught me ny first notes on the tenor horn". someone wroking I believe at the foreign office; 2 In a then unknown town walked into a gym to ask ahow to get to to be greeted by "You taught me FAW at XXX". before telling her mates and giving me directions ; 3 working with the homeless at breakfast in a drop-in centre in anither West Midlands tcity a young XXX turned round when my voice was heard and also told ne that you taught me FA at XXX.

 

And the 'You taught my Mum"

 

Thank you @BoD for that reminder.

Edited April 30, 2023 by PeterBB

[Gwiwer]

Evening all. 
 

Still getting by hour-by-hour with the ups and downs of Dr. SWMBO.  We managed a couple of very short trips to garden centres this weekend but she struggles to find reason and enthusiasm to do much when her anxiety strikes. 
 

We are booked to go for a ride on the preserved 1938 tube stock train in the morning and through some nice Holden stations as well. My suggestion was taken up on the grounds that she liked the look of “that train” in some photos and, as a fan of art-deco, she knows of Charles Holden’s work. 
 

We also managed an afternoon cream tea outside enjoying the finally-better weather and the results of planting a neglected corner of the gardens a few years ago; the “woodland glade” has exploded with colour this year and is covered in bees. 
 

 

 

 

By 4pm however she had had enough and has been asleep in bed ever since. A bit like 

 

 

Let’s hope for a better tomorrow 

[PhilJ W]

39 minutes ago, polybear said:

Oh yes....

Whilst listening to Radio 2 the other day I learned that Raisins (and Sultanas, Grapes and Currants) are poisonous for Doggies.  Bear never knew that....

(Though I very much suspect that clever doggie people such as @iL Dottore and @The Q do).

 

And chocolate and onions. In fact raw onion is poisonous to humans as well, but you will have to eat a lot to feel any adverse effects. Onions are also antibiotic and so is honey, even more so.

[Andy Hayter]

43 minutes ago, polybear said:

Oh yes....

Whilst listening to Radio 2 the other day I learned that Raisins (and Sultanas, Grapes and Currants) are poisonous for Doggies.  Bear never knew that....

(Though I very much suspect that clever doggie people such as @iL Dottore and @The Q do).

 

 

Probably better known is how dangerous it is to feed chocolate to a dog.  However, perhaps less well known is that chocolate is poisonous to humans as well.  The lethal dose (LD50) for an average weight human is 22kg. 

 

Thankfully I think I would be sick first.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The sprained elbow is still reminding me that it is there but the Nurofen taken for the arthritis is also having an effect on the sprain.

[pH]

Having taken so many photos in the Deeley Motorcycle Exhibition, I feel I should make some use of them - hence another batch. (Don't worry, I've only got one more batch after this one!)

 

While Deeley was a Harley dealer, he was obviously interested in other bikes. And, being in North America, the most common 'other' bikes would be Indians. Here are (I think) all of the Indians in the exhibition, in no particular order again.

 

1)

 

2)

2)

 

 

3)

 

4)

 

5)

 

6)

 

7)

 

8)

 

9)

 

10)

 

11)

 

12)

Edited April 30, 2023 by pH

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I’ve spent most of the day in the workshop, measuring up the rotten pieces of wood that need replacing. More flooring has been removed, to gain access to some more rotten areas, but this section of flooring is ok, it’s just the end support that needs replacing, so each board was marked before they were cut, so that they can go back in the same order. After dinner, I cut out the first piece of wall, so see just how easy/difficult it would be. It came away quite easily and it’s just the end near the corner that will need replacing, so that’s good news. However, before anymore bits are removed, I’m going to fit a support batten along both walls to prevent any movement during the repair works. The wall and floor supports also need to be shaped, thankfully the wood I’ve got for these is a little too big, so I drew up a diagram of shapes and sizes and a start on cutting will commence tomorrow. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[monkeysarefun]

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

Afternoon Awl,

Went to sailing club,

Put flags up,

 Put buoys out,

Had bacon butty and muggacoffee,

Watched two races.

Had cheese and onion baguette ( small)

Had another muggacoffee.

 

 

 

 

 

When I saw your post

I thought is that a Haiku?

Turns out it is not.

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

And chocolate and onions.

You used to be able to get chocolate-drop  dog treats in supermarkets  up until they somehow  became  poisonous in the recent past.  On a tour of the Cadbury Factory in Hobart in the mid 90's they told us that damaged or faulty chocolate bars were made into chocolate treats  for dogs so it apparently wasn't poisonous at least up until then . I gave them to my dog from the time she was a puppy, she died at 18 from an  incompetent vet poisoning,  not chocolate poisoning. 

 

Avocado is deadly for parrots if that is any help.  But on the other hand, parrots don't have whatever sensors we have that makes chillies hot, in fact they love them because it apparently has a mild sedative effect on them. Gary The Parrot  gets baby Thai chillies every day. 

 

 

I tried him out on Chocolate Naga chilllies I grew at one point (Scoville heat scale of 1,000,000 Heat Units.  As a comparison Jalepeno chillies are 10,000 SHU). He was completely unaffected and got stuck in without any issue but I feared  going  near him for several  hours afterwards  in case  he  stuck his beak in my face and tear gassed me.

 

I occasionally read or hear gardeners "Tips" about how to stop cockatoos etc eating the tomatoes - which is to grow red chillies in amongst them. The theory is that the parrots will go for the  chillies and burn their beaks and thus associate red and green things with pain and therefore not eat the tomatoes. . Love to see the result of that plan, most likely word will get around and you wont be able to move for blissed out cockies eating the tomatoes.

Edited May 1, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Gary The Parrot  gets baby Thai chillies every day. 

We grew 'Thai Dragon' chilies* one year when we lived in Chicago. We used them with tomatoes to make a fresh salsa (actually closer to pico de gallo). It was fantastic but it was spicy.

 

* 75,000 to 150,000 Scoville heat units

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[BR60103]

There is a bird seed available here that has been treated with some sort of hot sauce. Supposedly too hot for squirrels but the birds don't notice.