Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dull, dismal and damp here.  A showery day forecastv with the chance of thunder and lightning. 17°C now rising to 25°C.

Suffering from a serious case of slow today - slow to get to sleep, slow to wake, slow to get up etc.

Two bin lorries have already been and gone, one to come as well as Sainsbury's who are slow telling us whether or not we're getting everything we ordered.

Time for brekkie.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited August 24, 2023 by grandadbob

[PupCam]

Morning All

 

9 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

I would like to issue the following statement - Nope, Narda, Nein not me. Statement ends.

 

I suppose a garage is out of the question then?

 

41 minutes ago, polybear said:

In other news.....

There's video here, showing the aircraft that the Wagner Boss was *supposedly* on going down:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66601553

 

- which seems to be a rather strange way for an aircraft to crash - unless something very catastrophic has happened to it of course.....

 

Unless it became a target .....

 

ION

 

Off up the smoke again this morning, back later.

 

Over and Out.

 

 

[polybear]

22 minutes ago, PupCam said:

I suppose a garage is out of the question then?

 

If Bear remembers correctly then WB does in fact have a Garage after all - a snippet that he somehow forgot to mention when saying how shedless he is....

 

22 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

Unless it became a target .....

 

Shurely Not?

It seems the Bosses' right-hand man was on board as well.....but were they?  Or is it all a clever ploy to disappear......

 

 

[grandadbob]

Fast has been broken and I'm moving slightly quicker than slow now.  Sainsbury's eventually advised us that we're getting everything we ordered which is good as The Boss is assisting with the catering for a surprise party tomorrow..

Coffee now and after our delivery I will be heading Shedwards.  Still much to do.  First task today will be sieving bird grit for ground surfaces in goods yard etc.

[DaveF]

Fairly dull this morning after rain overnight, just a few glimpses of blue to the north.  It is forecast to stay dry with bits of sun now and then.

 

I had a good sleep, am up and had breakfast and just catching up on things.  The next thing is church, a bit of shopping and I'm not sure after that - it depends on the weather and how much energy I have - it is still lacking, especially when I start coughing.

 

I know why it rained - I washed the car yesterday.

 

David

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

At home, 5 hours sleep, 2 hours sleep, 1 hours sleep. I needed that.

 

Why?

Well 18:00 ish Mum called 111 about Dad who was in pain, the phone said 10 minute wait, 15 minutes later, mum gets through, explains the situation to the person, who then passes the call on, mum explains the situation, to the next person, who passes mum on to a doctor, to whom mum explains it all again. Doctor says I'll call out a doctor. Call length 55 minutes... Doctor turns up just before midnight. She calls ambulance, ambulance leaves with Dad about 01:00.

05:00 i wake up, 06:00 i start loading car, 06:45 we hit the road...

 

Dad is now stable in hospital, it's a recurrence of a known bowl problem, they'll give him a day or two of tests and prove it's the same as before, then send him home with another bag of pills..

 

We stopped often on the journey home. Each time I'd have a eyelid inspection of half an hour or more while SWMBO took Ben for a walk, hence the journey home took 12 hours.

 

Cockwombles,

On the way up there was one major cockwomble on the A1M, north of Wetherby, a BMW 4x4 at 62mph in the right hand lane..... For mile after mile after mile, one or two cars under took it. The car in front of me started boot polishing and flashing his head lights. Eventually the BMW moved over and let him through, it then tried to move back again but I squeezed through, the BMW then blocked all the cars behind us.

 

On the way back.

What's is it with mamils that think cycling solo or in groups on MAJOR A roads is a good idea on a busy afternoon. Mile after mile of huge slow traffic jams while no one could get past, this happened on several major A roads on the way back, only once did a single mamil pull off the road and wait for the huge jam he had caused to clear

 

Other oddities on the way back,

At a roundabout 4 big 4x4 tractors joined, we were in the middle, each was towing a big full muck spreader....

about ten miles before we escaped that.

On the M180 a AMG Mercedes went past like we were driving backwards instead of 70 forwards, he must have been up near the 150mph ...

We came up behind a long line of traffic doing 20mph, eventually traffic speeds up as we pass a tracked APC (civi plates) towing what appeared to be a large generator, it had pulled over but still trundling forwards on a slip road, it rejoined the main road soon after us.

 

On the Lincoln northern bypass a woman pulls in to the left hand lane at a round about. Waits a huge amount of time checking everything is clear big build up of lorries behind us...  then she turns right without indicating......

 

As for being up there, that went well. Ben certainly loved it. Lots of long walks mostly down on the old pit bing, which Is now a large nature reserve, handily a 304 mm to the foot preserved parallel bits of metal runs through it. I refelted mum and dad's garden shed, I'd noted it was in poor condition last time we were up, so it was planned. Also I spent a serious amount of time up dating mums laptop and Dad's PC.

 

A niece up there has COVID for the 4th time, after the 3rd time she became highly reactive to sunlight, her skin burns and swells up after a few minutes exposure to Scottish sunlight. This time she's loosing her hearing..

 

My great niece up there threw a wobbly, she went back for her first day of her last year at school, and then walked out again.. quite what she's going to do now I don't know, get a job or go to a college?

 

Today we're sorting out the wreckage, one lot of washing is already in the machine. More stuff to be unloaded from the car, and I'll have to top up the washer check the oil etc.

 

This morning Ben the stiff legged Collie has taken me on patrol. , The garden needs mowing, the rabbits have been digging holes in the area we were clearing before the Scottish trip. Somehow a clematis has broken about a foot above the ground, that stem is over an inch in diameter we'll have to wait an see if it resprouts.

 

Whatever is done today it won't be in a hurry, 

 

Time, I think, for muggacoffee number 2

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by TheQ

[BoD]

Good grief.

Ten pages of erudite guff since Monday evening. 

I just can’t keep up with you lot.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well, what a time we’ve had, we’ve been inundated with flies, hundreds of them! We first spotted them last night as we were going to bed, so we spent about 30 minutes dealing with them first. This morning there were lots more around the bedroom window, lots more. They seem to be coming from the fireplace in our bedroom, so I’ve spent the first hour sucking them up with the vacuum cleaner, as it’s quicker and cleaner than swatting them. My only thought is a bird has fallen down the chimney and died! Anyway, I had a good look round the fireplace and noticed there were a couple of small gaps between the cast iron surround and the tiles, so wet paper towels have been used to fill them temporarily until I’d had breakfast. After which, I’ll see if I can find where they’re coming from and deal with it properly. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[The Lurker]

32 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

Good morning everyone 

 

Well, what a time we’ve had, we’ve been inundated with flies, hundreds of them! We first spotted them last night as we were going to bed, so we spent about 30 minutes dealing with them first. This morning there were lots more around the bedroom window, lots more. They seem to be coming from the fireplace in our bedroom, so I’ve spent the first hour sucking them up with the vacuum cleaner, as it’s quicker and cleaner than swatting them. My only thought is a bird has fallen down the chimney and died! Anyway, I had a good look round the fireplace and noticed there were a couple of small gaps between the cast iron surround and the tiles, so wet paper towels have been used to fill them temporarily until I’d had breakfast. After which, I’ll see if I can find where they’re coming from and deal with it properly. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

We had a holiday like that in Brittany many years ago. The weather had been wet and was followed by warm days. It was a common problem in the area (near Guingamp); the local supermarches sold flypaper. The cottage we were staying in had thousands and thousands - probably eggs in cracks in the walls or something. The owners, who lived next door to the two rental properties buggered off for the week just as the outbreak hit, leaving their renters to cope. We left the last lot of flypapers complete with hundreds of flies for them to clear up. It nearly broke us, and one of the teenage girls in the next door property found it so bad she slept in their car. We've ever been that way again.

[jjb1970]

I'd be surprised if the Prigozhin plane crash was an accident.

 

In life you can have some enemies, but to make enemies of everyone isn't wise. He led an attempted mutiny so the Russian government had every reason to exact revenge after things quietened down. The Ukrainian's had every reason to hate him. Western intelligence agencies weren't fans (there has been speculation he was playing multiple games) and mobsters tend to have enemies in their own world. It reminds me of the old (very poor taste) joke when someone deeply unpopular dies there are X million suspects (X being the population of the country).

 

Either way, outside his immediate family and entourage I'm not sure many will miss him.

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I stood on the steps of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay one evening**...

 

(**After an evening meal there - during which I ended up with food poisoning; I lost 13lbs in 3 days).

Whilst a hyperactive boweled Bear is most deserving of sympathy (severe acute diarrhea can be life threatening), I'm wondering whether or not "food poisoning" is really to blame.

 

One of the idiosyncrasies of the human body is that the gut flora varies, not only within the GI tract itself, but also from geographic location to geographic location - based on a myriad of factors (see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82311-3)) and there is evidence that when you stay in a country for more than a few days (especially if you eat what the locals eat), your gut flora will change and "go native" (so to speak). For many (such as myself, when I was in Japan) the changeover results in a minimal and short lived GI disturbance - for others it can be more severe indeed.

 

"Disgusting" Medical Fun Fact: Patients sometimes get faecal transplants. Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a treatment used for Clostridium difficile infection that is either recurring or is not responsive to standard treatment. And researchers are now also studying the effect of FMT in Ulcerative colitis (UC),  Crohn’s disease,  Cirrhosis, Multiple sclerosis, Depression, Obesity, Food allergies, Diabetes and diabetic neuropathy.

 

Who knows, there may come a day when, in going to the GP, you may be asked to take away a poo sample and not leave one....

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by iL Dottore

[PhilJ W]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

The scouting parties have  been sneaking in for a while....

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-40679679

 

I hope @Gwiwer didn't have any stowaways when he returned from Australia. In the Amazon the locals use soldier ants to get rid of cockroaches. When the ants are marching they lay a trail to their houses then leave the house for three hours or so. When the householders return the house is insect pest free. The ants envelope the victim, snip off the wings and legs and carry away the helpless but still live victim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-xLIfjrtFo

 

[Gwiwer]

1 minute ago, PhilJ W said:

The ants envelope the victim, snip off the wings and legs and carry away the helpless but still live victim.

No stowaways. 
 

I still have all my wings and legs. Unsnipped. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Had a good seven hours sleep last night despite a couple of trips to the loo. The joints were a lot easier too. Waiting in today for a parcel Parcel should have been delivered yesterday having been marked as dispatched. I went to check on it and found the dispatch notice had been cancelled. The vendor had also closed their E-bay account. I have notified E-bay and Paypal.

[PhilJ W]

Re. the above, Paypal has refunded in full, within ten minutes, well done Paypal. 

[BSW01]

Well, I was right, a bird had fallen down the chimney! I was expecting to find a dead pigeon as we’re always hearing them and they’re really stupid, but no, it was a magpie! Anyway, the remains were removed, triple bagged and but in the bin, along with half a bucket of rubble, no doubt dislodged when the bird was trying to get out! I’m hoping that this will sort out the fly problem. I gave the room a good clean once I’d finished and since then there’s only been a handful of flies spotted, but they’ve been dealt with. 

[Tony_S]

35 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

bird had fallen down the chimney

We had a few bird down the chimney events some years ago. A neighbour, who does a lot of roofing work, put a wire cowl on the chimney. This worked well for years but a couple of years ago, the wire corroded and birds came down the chimney. They couldn’t get past the faux flame fire but there was much noise. I removed the fire, released the young starlings and spoke to the neighbour about more permanent solutions. The chimney now has a proper pot fitted with a cowl that allows ventilation but not birds. If the fireplace was ever used for  heating other than electrical the cap would need to be replaced. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Tony_S

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I'd be surprised if the Prigozhin plane crash was an accident.

 

In life you can have some enemies, but to make enemies of everyone isn't wise. He led an attempted mutiny so the Russian government had every reason to exact revenge after things quietened down. The Ukrainian's had every reason to hate him. Western intelligence agencies weren't fans (there has been speculation he was playing multiple games) and mobsters tend to have enemies in their own world. It reminds me of the old (very poor taste) joke when someone deeply unpopular dies there are X million suspects (X being the population of the country).

 

Either way, outside his immediate family and entourage I'm not sure many will miss him.

 

By all accounts he p1ssed off quite a few of his own guys as well because of the Moscow saga.

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Whilst a hyperactive boweled Bear is most deserving of sympathy (severe acute diarrhea can be life threatening), I'm wondering whether or not "food poisoning" is really to blame.

 

One of the idiosyncrasies of the human body is that the gut flora varies, not only within the GI tract itself, but also from geographic location to geographic location - based on a myriad of factors (see: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82311-3)) and there is evidence that when you stay in a country for more than a few days (especially if you eat what the locals eat), your gut flora will change and "go native" (so to speak). For many (such as myself, when I was in Japan) the changeover results in a minimal and short lived GI disturbance - for others it can be more severe indeed.

 

"Disgusting" Medical Fun Fact: Patients sometimes get faecal transplants. Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is a treatment used for Clostridium difficile infection that is either recurring or is not responsive to standard treatment. And researchers are now also studying the effect of FMT in Ulcerative colitis (UC),  Crohn’s disease,  Cirrhosis, Multiple sclerosis, Depression, Obesity, Food allergies, Diabetes and diabetic neuropathy.

 

Who knows, there may come a day when, in going to the GP, you may be asked to take away a poo sample and not leave one....

 

 

Bear started to wonder how the poo is administered - Up?  Down? IV?

And then I rapidly decided I'd really rather not know.....

 

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Had a good seven hours sleep last night despite a couple of trips to the loo. The joints were a lot easier too. Waiting in today for a parcel Parcel should have been delivered yesterday having been marked as dispatched. I went to check on it and found the dispatch notice had been cancelled. The vendor had also closed their E-bay account. I have notified E-bay and Paypal.

 

I wonder how such people actually think they're going to get away with such behaviour?

[PupCam]

Back from another successful "Smoke run".  

 

It's ironic that it is far easier and  probably quicker to go up to London for blood tests than to have them done locally.   It certainly amuses me that such facts provide excellent ammunition for the "how carp the local service is discussion" that I may be having at some point.

 

In Other News

 

Stumbled on on Faceache.   A little rocket science related story for a Thursday afternoon which may be of interest.      And to think there are countless hundreds of other "little" problems to overcome in such a system.

 

 

TTFN

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 

If Bear remembers correctly then WB does in fact have a Garage after all - a snippet that he somehow forgot to mention when saying how shedless he is....

 

 

Shurely Not?

It seems the Bosses' right-hand man was on board as well.....but were they?  Or is it all a clever ploy to disappear......

 

 

 

Drat I was hoping no one would remember that 'minor' fact. Trust the Bear to be the one as well. Will have to remember to be careful what I say in front of him now.😁

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The problem with the E-bay purchase was dealt with promptly by E-bay/Paypal, within ten minutes of my reporting the problem. I placed the item on my watch list and when I made the purchase it immediately moved to the 'ended' page. There it said 'see relisted item' and when I clicked on there it said sale closed. It might be that they were on to him already as his E-bay account was closed.

1 hour ago, polybear said:

I wonder how such people actually think they're going to get away with such behaviour?

As you can see above he didn't.

[Tony_S]

15 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Drat I was hoping no one would remember that 'minor' fact. Trust the Bear to be the one as well. Will have to remember to be careful what I say in front of him now.😁

Do you have any other garden constructions, like a greenhouse, cold frames or gnome display stands?

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Bear started to wonder how the poo is administered - Up?  Down? IV?

And then I rapidly decided I'd really rather not know.....

As you ask so nicely...😁

 

Faeces* are liquidised, filtered and the resultant liquid is administered by colonoscopy. The patient is prepped and managed as for a diagnostic colonoscopy (bowel prep before and something like propofol during). After administration, the patient is discharged (or sent back to the ward) and instructed to take/given an antimotility drug - such as loperamide - for a short while afterward. The antimotility drug slows down bowel function (it increases the time material stays in the intestine, allowing more water to be absorbed, It also decreases colonic movements and suppresses the gastrocolic reflex).

 

If all goes well, the patient ends up with a gut full of healthy "good bacteria" and is on the mend....

 

*not just any old poo, there's a detailed protocol associated with obtaining the right "good gut bacteria"

[Danemouth]

6 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

As you ask so nicely...😁

 

Faeces* are liquidised, filtered and the resultant liquid is administered by colonoscopy. The patient is prepped and managed as for a diagnostic colonoscopy (bowel prep before and something like propofol during). After administration, the patient is discharged (or sent back to the ward) and instructed to take/given an antimotility drug - such as loperamide - for a short while afterward. The antimotility drug slows down bowel function (it increases the time material stays in the intestine, allowing more water to be absorbed, It also decreases colonic movements and suppresses the gastrocolic reflex).

 

If all goes well, the patient ends up with a gut full of healthy "good bacteria" and is on the mend....

 

*not just any old poo, there's a detailed protocol associated with obtaining the right "good gut bacteria"

 

TMI 😁

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Faeces* are liquidised, filtered and the resultant liquid is administered by colonoscopy.

I have had numerous treatments for ulcerative colitis for the last 40+. Haven’t had faecal enemas yet but I was aware of them. Fortunately for me my condition developed just as many treatments other than surgery were also becoming available. Once upon a time the purpose of the large bowel was understood to be simple but it appears it is far more complex, Faeces make a change from the usual “have you tried yoghurt? “ from people who seem unable to understand why you are so ill when they recovered quickly from a dodgy burger.  I returned to work once after a period of being unwell, and the college vice principal wondered if I had considered trying yoghurt. I asked him what he thought I should do with it and did he not think that if it had been helpful my very good GP and my consultant gastroenterologist would have suggested it instead of steroids, anti inflammatories, immunosuppressives and a load of other stuff. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Tony_S
Comma