Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

57 minutes ago, Darlington_Shed said:

15 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

the Australian Magpie is not a Corvid,

Another interesting diversion

But it’s a scruffy bird and a right noisy b****r. 
 

Mellifluous and one of the iconic sounds of Australia in the way that a leaf-blower on Sunday morning, also one of the iconic sounds of Australia, just isn’t 🤣

 

The Eurasian Magpie is spectacular in its white and pearlescent plumage but lacks the song quality of its Australian namesake. In fact it lacks much song quality at all. 
 

And the Eurasian Magpie doesn’t swoop at you. Swooping magpies in Australia are one of the hazards they don’t warn you about. Spiders, snakes, giant hopping marsupials ….. but a bird that can cause injury (and exceptionally death)  by swooping at you often from behind is in another league of terror! 

 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

7 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

And the Eurasian Magpie doesn’t swoop at you. Swooping magpies in Australia are one of the hazards they don’t warn you about. Spiders, snakes, giant hopping marsupials ….. but a bird that can cause injury (and exceptionally death)  by swooping at you often from behind is in another league of terror! 

 

 

 

 But it's the horses that are out to get you  according to some .    😎

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

 But it's the horses that are out to get you  according to some .    😎

There were quite a lot of horses in Iceland but we didn’t get a warning about them. We were warned about being attacked by Arctic Terns and what to do if we were. 

[BoD]

Back home, procedure has been carried out.   All very straightforward. It is  carried out on a machine with one of those chin rest/forehead rest thingies.  A lens is placed on the front of the eye followed by a series of laser flashes.  Five minutes per eye and done. The most  disconcerting thing about it was the red sign lit up outside saying ‘Danger Laser in use’.
 

I will have a check up in about eight weeks to see if it has had the desired effect.   The numbing drops are starting to wear off so there is some irritation and soreness developing which is to be expected. It should only last a couple of days.  An excuse to lay off the ballasting for a bit?

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. It's still a bit cloudy but dry at the moment though rain is expected this evening. When I mentioned having my tonsils out I was given ice cream, the first time I had ever had any. Back in the day there was no such thing as 'soft' ice cream, it all came in a solid block and had to be left standing to soften up. Now to put the latest washing into the airing cupboard, housework never ends.

[Hroth]

The rain is now bucketing down.

Glad I got my outdoorsey stuff finished before it arrived!

 

Now the problem is the sore throat I developed last night, along with feeling uncomfortably warm with a mild headache at lunchtime.  Went to bed for a snooze and the rain woke me up.  I'll go downstairs in a bit and select something to eat, until then I'll have a read as I feel I can concentrate now the headache has gone...

 

Ice cream, there's a thought!

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Hroth

[TheQ]

Just had Thor's antics here, with a heavy downpour, now just light soggyness falling.

 

Went to The mobile home to take some pollyfilla down there, noticed on the microscope box I'd put a batten / microscope holder the wrong side of the marks I'd put on.. opps luckily it wasn't fully dry, removed, reglued put the other side of the marks..

 

Evening meal has been started, swmbo should appear from weaving in 3/4 of an hour..

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by TheQ

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

due to  tourists pinching the old ones all the time!

You're sure it's tourists then?

 

I don't think highway warning signs would fit in the overhead bin and I can't imagine how much Australia Post would charge to send them abroad.

[Winslow Boy]

16 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

You're sure it's tourists then?

 

I don't think highway warning signs would fit in the overhead bin and I can't imagine how much Australia Post would charge to send them abroad.

Perhaps it's the magpies. The European ones are well known for having a liking for shiny things. Maybe the Australian versions just like to go one better.

[Ozexpatriate]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

The European ones are well known for having a liking for shiny things.

Australian satin bowerbirds like to collect blue objects.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Ozexpatriate

[DaveF]

It has rained all day, it is now expected to stop at 9p.m. tomorrow.  So far there has been 55mm since 7a.m.  and the wind is all over the place, sort of north east southish.  It has got up to 11°C.

 

I did a bit of shopping this morning in the rain, I made sure I went to a shop I could park outside and bought some trays I needed for moving plants around and standing them on in the garage over the winter.  Then I went to a barber, again parking outside the shop.  The young ladies who run it cut my hair nicely and washed and dried it for me.   The only thing missing was the discussion about football, the state of the shops and how the town used to be in the old days which are features of a normal barber shop visit.

 

The greenhouse and part of the garden are now under water, as is much of next door's drive.  Fortunately mine is a few inches higher then hers.  When it gets a bit deeper it will reach a drain so it isn't a big problem for either of us.  

 

The house has remained watertight apart from the rain being drived through the letter box by the wind.  I will look exactly how when it dries up.  Sometime I need to get someone to look at the flashing where the garage roof joins the house, but it has always tended to leak in exceptionally heavy rain when the east wind drives it under the flashing edge.  Some of the bricks in the garage are just a bit damp so no real problem.

 

David

Edited 2 hours ago by DaveF

[New Haven Neil]

27 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

You're sure it's tourists then?

 

Nah, it'll be the horses.

[Ian Abel]

Moaning 

 

Yesterday was very low key, after consult with doc prescribed Paxlovid and given all the warnings/to-do/not to-dos, and spent the afternoon quietly.

 

Today will be/is a repeat. Not happy that this lurgy brings on frequent trips to the smallest room <bah>

 

Weather is nice, not that I really give a rats arse or can take advantage. 8c first thing, sunny, high of 20c expected.

 

carry on.

[PhilJ W]

Frequent showers this afternoon but no sign of Thor.

[Grizz]

4 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Frequent showers this afternoon but no sign of Thor.

Er… there is in Grizz Castle….that is number one cubs name 😆

[The White Rabbit]

Evenin' awl,

 

The weather seems to be trying to provide some atmosphere for reading (or writing?) a historical novel. "It was a dark and stormy night in October, during the year of grace 17xx. The wind whined around the chimneys like a pack of the wolves sometimes seen in the depths of winter. The outline of the solitary small tower on the north side of the manor could be seen occasionally in the flashes of lightning. Inside the Great Hall .... " Well, maybe not quite that bad. But it's certainly soggy and blustery. 

 

Sympathies and positive vibes to @Ian Abel , @Darlington_Shed and anyone else with the pestilence, hope it passes quickly for you. 

 

Various odds and ends done, something of a 'MIUAYGA'/'unspecified pottering' day. I posted a book off which someone was kind enough to buy, did some painting (inside!) and played with composing a song. It's not really me but I thought I'd have a crack at something different. Something akin to I'm sorry I haven't a clue's one song to the tune of another. Baked a loaf - bread and cheese for tea - and replied to someone's email about C***mas lunch. 

 

I'd like to get a plant transplanted in the garden if it stops raining. A hole has been dug - and flooded! Tomorrow is supposed to be dry, so if I have a reasonable night and the hole empties, I'll try that later on. I could also do with planting out some aubretia which has been in pots and troughs this summer. 

 

And now, back to my reading ... maybe I'll find out whether the Baron did it in the courtyard with a broadsword or it was the Countess with a poisoned hairpin in the bedchamber... 

[monkeysarefun]

6 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Swooping magpies in Australia are one of the hazards they don’t warn you about. Spiders, snakes, giant hopping marsupials ….. but a bird that can cause injury (and exceptionally death)  by swooping at you often from behind is in another league of terror! 

 

 

I'd rate Plovers (Masked Lapwings) as scarier - they usually attack in pairs and one distracts you while the other comes from behind!  Although they aren't venomous, because they are Australian wildlife  they have still been weaponised via a sharp spike on the leading edge of their wings that they try to rake across your face.

 

 

 

They are not the smartest of birds, they are ground nesters and usually pick the stupidest place to set their nest - in the middle of a footy oval, on a traffic island in the middle of a roundabout, or in the case of where I work - on the lawn patch right outside the occifers mess..

Edited 3 minutes ago by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

And the ER LEAST  likely to slam the door in your face if you knock on it unexpectedly is.....   (hint - its not @polybear!)

 

 

 

 

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