WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 2018

Back again!

Heather – Jonathan’s condition had been described to him before as Generalised Anxiety Disorder, but I don’t think he had ever told us that it had a name, until he mentioned it after last night’s episode.

Annette – as I said before, that goat must be unique, not to like weeds!  Did it have a pampered upbringing and only the best produce provided?  As I say annually, do take care on the ladder up the orange tree, but especially after your recent busy and stressful time away.  My first thought was stroke too, and J himself feared that also – and last time when he had a more brief episode, but I applied the “FAST” routine and decided the speech was the only symptom.  Unfortunately, due to his history, he has been warned of early onset of so many things (stroke being one example) that there is always something to worry about!  Do remember your visitors are coming to see you, not to inspect the carpets and chairs!  I am sure everything will be fine.

Linda – no wonder you are tired after the stress of waiting all that time to see G!  I think I see it as a good sign that they have told her the prognosis, and I hope that she will have a reasonable length of time feeling well enough to do various things she hopes to do.  I can’t help wondering what the hormone injections actually do; will she have to go up to the Christie for them every month?

Pat – our back lawn is a really good colour now – the one in the shade.  The front is still patchy and OH is hoping to scarify and mow, but each day we are getting just a little rain, but enough to stop those jobs happening.  Today he did re-edge the old grasses bed, so that is looking neater, and it wasn’t too hard to do as the rain had softened the turf.

Dibnlib – thanks for letting us know that Benson’s back is okay now, I was worried he might need manipulation to sort it out!

Well, early to bed, I think, after last night, and I hope everyone else who needs it gets a good night’s sleep!

Good Morning, All.  Nice to hear the good news that Benson is now OK. 

OG - Upsetting to have uncertainty over Js health, due to his medical history. You do sound to have good medical services there, which must be a comfort.

FB and everyone - Thanks for your support over my Friends sad condition. At least I can come on here and have a moan if I need to!

Slept like a log after our day yesterday. Today, the sun is out again but we are looking forward to some of the promised rain: walking on our parched lawn is like walking on cobbles, it's so dry and lumpy. Yesterday we put a dripping hose underneath some of the azaleas, although I think one of them is already dead.

LINDA- good to see that you managed to sleep last night.  Sorry about the Azaleas.  We don't seem to have lost any shrubs or plants, although some do look a bit sad.  We are expecting a very wet day tomorrow.

Today, J is driving into Carlisle city centre - I can't remember why!  OH and I are skirting the edge of the city later - to Dobbie's garden centre for lunch, a new border fork (the old one got its tines twisted digging up the grasses), a Broom plant if they have it this time and some cheese and scones - and then to M&S Food for necessities.

A quiet day here today, was in the garden by 9am. I was forking the ground over but it was like dust, not a lot of point except that there were weeds to shift.

Good that you slept well, LINDY. Like OG, I am wondering about the hormone injections. The only thing that I can think of is that G has metastases from breast cancer which may respond to hormone treatment.

Hope that OG enjoyed lunch and shopping!

Regards to all -

It started raining during the night and has only just stopped.  Everything looks 'washed' and clean - and you can almost hear the plants having a long cold drink!  We did need it.  But - dare I say it? - that's enough now, for a bit, thank you.  However, more forecast for the next few days …

Hallo everyone.  Somewhat muggy here today and the smoke from that fire way up north is still casting a sort of faint glow to everything although we aren't seeing as much as other parts of the West closer to the blazes.

Lindybird: I too was wondering about hormone treatments, although Heather's suggestion would seem to make sense.  Still, I guess they're doing what they can; perhaps it's the only thing they can really do.

OG: Trouble with all family animals is that they get treated so well that they get ideas above their stations!  :-)  Re house, I have been barely able to stand the carpeting myself since dear old Lightning left us, so it's as much for me as visitors.  And yes, getting oranges is a two-person job these days: Me up the ladder and OH down below holding the ladder and ducking any oranges that miss the bucket!

We've had a pair of Orioles bathing every evening in the fountain this year and the hummingbirds are visiting their feeders more frequently of late, probably because I tidied up all the salvia, which have yet to rebloom.  I'm still amazed that they are so very territorial during the day but will all sit nicely together at the feeder first thing in the morning and last thing before dark.  We've had to move some of the regular bird feeders because, even though we use "no mess," bird seed, it still makes a mess and forms a sort of crust over the soil. Moreover, I've spotted mice and at least one rat at the feeder in the bushes outside the kitchen window.  Have never seen that before and read that possums and raccoons keep them at bay, but OH and I were saying the other day that we've seen neither of those recently. I did spot a dead mouse along the back pathway last week. It looked fine (except for being dead!) and I'm hoping nobody in the neighborhood is putting down poison, which is ghastly and goes up the food chain to hawks, etc   :-(   I was also wondering if the Wildlife Rescue place up the road ever "adopts out" possums in the hopes they can settle in a neighborhood, although I've never heard of such a thing.

Anyway, off to sort out the world.

Hi, Annette. 

I would love to see your hummingbirds. I hadn't seen one hummer all summer, but on Tuesday, I finally glimpsed a female. She flew up to the screen of my porch, and I got a brief look at her. We have only Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds here, and no other species. 

The presence of dear Lightning probably kept the mice (and rat) away before. Sorry they've appeared now.

If you live near a zoo: I've been told that if you sprinkle cougar, bobcat, coyote, or fox urine or poo around outdoors, it will scare the mice and they'll depart. Your nearby Wildlife Rescue might give you some possum or raccoon pee/poo for a donation. You could ask.

I shouldn't admit this, but I've even sprinkled my own urine around the perimeter of my car in the winter! LOL!!! I haven't had anymore damage, but I've also been using the moth balls, so I don't know whether the urine is actually a deterrent. LOL!!!

A few years ago, the field mice chewed the fuel line on my car. The mechanic told me to get some moth balls and keep them under the hood and inside, because the smell repels the mice. He said the rodents won't linger around moth balls. I keep them in my car now, and I haven't seen any evidence of mice inside, and the squirrels stay out of my trunk, too. I don't know whether they would work in your garden, though. Be aware that moth balls are incredibly toxic and they aren't healthy for humans to breathe. They also make my clothes stink when I drive my car more than a few miles. LOL

People will tell you that dryer sheets will repel mice, but they didn't work on my rural mighty mice. I tried keeping the sheets in my car, and a mouse actually chewed one up! LOL Peppermint oil didn't work for me, either. 

Good luck!

Diane: Of course, the cat!  Duh.  Forgot completely about Lightning's deterrent qualities. :-)    Had heard talk about those same results with the other ahem - by-products but hadn't got as far as applying them. Too bad you didn't do a comparison study of the effects re your car!  I used to love the smell of mothballs, which we used liberally in the UK when storing winter woolies, etc.   

EDIT: Diane I'm reading a really good book - Bringing Columbia Home - about the search for and analysis of the pieces of the Space Shuttle Columbia, which came apart over Texas upon reentry back in 2003.  The author, Michael Leinbach, was the launch director of the Space Shuttle program and played a huge role in organizing the search.  

Still no rain here, but it's supposed to start in the night. Just watered the poppies which I planted out two days ago: I got them earlier in the year and have been growing them bigger before putting them in the garden. But one has already been badly nibbled by some snail or something - the slug pellets are out now!

Annette That book sounds good. I remember the tragedy, and wept at the time. Did see a programme about it once on tv. We can get dried lions poo here, to put in the garden as a deterrent.