Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 26 August 2018

Happy Birthday Lindy!!!!

TeeJay- I know you are right and I do have a bug catcher to release spiders in the garden. I'll try and use it!

Heather,   I also remember cockroaches in old hospitals.

Also, in one place I worked there were pharaoh ants. There were pieces of foil stuck to the walls everywhere, presumably containing bait. I never saw any ants.

I also have a spider catcher. My OH is expert at catching them and releasing them on the balcony (but not too near the door). I know they are harmless and eat pests,TeeJay, but I cannot bring myself to love them.

I do not mind mice.

Maybe knitted sausages was a better subject!

Heather – The drought in New South Wales & eastern states is serious. Our state is OK (just haven’t had quite enough rain). Farmers in our state & West Aust have been donating fodder to the drought areas. Last week a convoy of 23 huge trucks passed across from WA, all that was enough for 10 days. I can remember when my mother convinced my father to hand feed his last flock of sheep with “sheep nuts” to keep them alive. He looked like the Pied Piper as he drove around the paddock dropping a trail followed by the hungry sheep. I don’t know what they were composed of then; nowadays sheep nuts are made from barley, wheat, triticale, oats, rice, peas, lupins, lentils, beans, soyabean, canola, sunflower.

Good to be mobile again, OG.

Don’t talk about spiders <shudder> I can cope with silverfish, which is just as well because this district is rife with them. My winter clothes reek of mothballs. LOL Rosy, yes, I prefer sausages, knitted or edible!

Nanny duty was a bit of an ordeal, 1) I have a chest cold and feel yuk, 2) extended hours due to Miss6’s guides meeting being later than usual and Dau having a kindy meeting. We had 2 sittings of tea. I supplied sausage rolls & veg. I can’t believe how much those children ate. I know they’d had an afternoon snack but they were still ravenous. MissL ate with Daddy as she napped late. While Daddy collected Miss6, at 7 pm I started the bedtime list. Dau has a chart, low on wall, to remind – pjs, milk, teeth, brush hair, story, song . . . Daddy & Miss6 came home just in time for “Kiss & cuddle” and popped Miss J into bed. I heard Miss6’s exploits at Guides and soon after, I left Daddy to carry on. Oh, I was so tired.

Born too late in the year (June), officially twins can’t start kindy until new school year (end of January), then it will be 2 days a week. Dau has managed to get them into an Early Start scheme. This means 4 half days Oct-Nov. I have promised to take Dau to Murattis on their first day (to ease her separation challenge).

Evening all: Well that was absolutely the worst drive through LA I've ever made.  Ugh.  Five accidents; three in our direction, two on the other side of the freeway, but everyone had to stop and look.  Anyway, finally arrived in beautiful downtown Blythe (well, it's a good stopping point) two hours later than usual, where it was 98F when I finally checked in at 8pm!

Garden sprinklers are fine; I screwed up - had the wrong date on the master control so I kept setting the system to water the next day, except it was the wrong day.

OG:  Sounds like a nice day there.  Good that J felt less anxious about work, but ingrown toenails are painful! All that concentrated weight on such a small area......

Diane: That's interesting about blocking the overflow to avoid silverfish.  Hadn't heard that.   Like AQ, we have them here too (not helped by all the paper and books that OH has in his area).  I'm always tossing paks of boric acid (I think) behind bookshelves and drawers.  Yuk!

TeeJay:  We don't kill spiders, but they're evicted pretty quickly.

bjane: I had one of those bug vacuums, but it really only worked on crane flies (probably an inferior device).  Incidentally, where did you get yours?  Sewer roaches!!!  We had roaches at my old house in Long Beach (they seem to be an old-house specialty).  Some of them were so large you could throw a saddle on them!

AQ: I think it was the BBC that had a recent feature on aerial photos of your drought.  Terrible when folks have to kill off their livestock.  Does Murattis servce champagne?  I'd think it would be a day to celebrate!.  :-)

It won't be so hot tomorrow in Prescott Valley, which is at 5,000 ft - thank heaven.

Take care all.

Good morning, all.  Lovely, sunshiny day here, but various routine tasks to be completed before gardening.  OH has been shouting at B Gas to get our tariff right, and Mrs Wall Repair to get her OH here soon!  OH now off to town and Tesco.  I have to slice courgettes for blanching and freezing.  J was actually chirpy last evening and gone off to work on time this morning.  The lack of a routine at the beginning of term throws him, working to an as-yet-incomplete timetable, and he is working alongside several NQTs who don’t yet know their way around the school, the “system” or the pupils!  (NQT = Newly Qualified Teacher).

AQ – doesn’t sound like a very good day for Nannying yesterday.  It would be helpful if Miss L could follow the same pattern as Miss J – does she still not sleep through the night, or does she just need more sleep overall?  Pleased they can start early and part time at Kindy – but that will introduce a whole new pattern to the week for them all!  Terrible drought for farmers over there – ours are not happy that they have had to use some winter feed in the heat of the summer to keep cattle fed, but looking at the fields since the rain came, I would say some of the fields could yield a late crop of sileage in the next couple of weeks.

Annette – sorry about that first part of the journey, in that heat.  I hope it improves for you and your niece.

Hello, all -

ANNETTE - sorry that you had such a rotten journey. Will be thinking about you as you proceed on your travels.

OG - I received a missive from Scottish Gas, yesterday, informing me of a price rise. they are offering a cheaper tariff, but only if I pay by D/D. Why should that be cheaper than paying as I always do, in full, within a day or so, by bank transfer ? There is a catch in all this, I feel it in my bones. No time to check more thoroughly at the moment, trying to get the house organised for my visitor.

AQ - No wonder that you were tired. I hope that the two girls will soon be in 'tandem'! Before Kindy, anyway. My granddaughter aged three is still in nappies for everything (!) and daughter in law is desperately trying to get her out of them before pre school.

Heather - it makes me cross as well.  I have always paid my bills when they arrive.  But have felt forced to pay electricity by DD.  I think the catch is that they take money each month from my bank account, and get interest on it, rather than me getting the pathetic interest on it.  And they ALWAYS charge more than the bill comes to.  But the difference in DD versus no DD is enough (at the moment) to just about make it worthwhile.  But it still annoys me.  It's as though that bit of free will has been stolen away from me …

Heather thought of you today whilst in the “hand” car wash in Elgin this morning..

The man was jet washing off the bubbles and a spider started walking up the window..

Had to grit my teeth as obviously couldn’t open window:-)))