I am still not done cleaning up my workshop. Here you can see what I have done with my hoard of wood for knife handles – I had to figure a way to get it out of the way so to speak whilst at the same time have it accessible whenever I need it. Unfortunately, this capacity is not enough and I will have to figure out some more.
The incomprehensible mess that was my garden shed and workshop is slowly turning into a comprehensible mess. Today, I hope to turn it finally into ordered state and then I shall spring into action making knives. I cannot wait.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Open thread, talk whatever you want, just don’t be an asshole.
Anne
*hugs*
It must be a strange feeling. I always used to plan to move back into our family home when my grandparents were gone, and the day I figured out that this would be a disaster was a strange day. Funny enough, my sister, who moved out as young as she could has moved back in.
Times are changing a lot. Space that used to be big enough for three generations now seems crowded. And also people live longer. But on the other hand, new homes are made. I mean, we moved into such a house. It was built by the previous owner’s parents. Their own children had long established their homes and families elsewhere. Now it’s our home.
voyager
It depends. in the state where I did my training there is no official day set for a staff outing. We got one by claiming it was “educational” and had to hand in an evaluation on how this could be incorporated into teaching. My home state has an official one. Since I belong to two schools, I get twice the meetings but also twice the staff outing. The first one was in December and very different: we went to a nice town with a historical tour, went for lunch and then to the Christmas market.
If I hadn’t wanted to do either of them I could have just gone to work at the other school.
And yes, the aching has mostly passed.
Giliell,
A nice historical tour sounds like fun and it’s relatable to teaching. The 20K hike could relate to teaching, but it’s not so much fun for a lot of people. I suspect that the person who planned it is young, able-bodied and maybe a bit clueless.
Charly‘
That’s a very neatly organized woodpile. I know such things take a lot of work, so good job. I am totally crushing on the root in the centre of the shelf. It’s beautiful.
I hope you get everything done today that will have you ready to make knives. You’ve had a hard winter and spring. It’s time to have some fun making sharp, pointy things.
Voyager, Giliell, thanks. The family that bought my mom’s house plan to fix it up, but not change the weird charm -- like the livingroom with the barn-like ceiling and rafters, and the bookcases that are a secret door into the attic (my dad built those). His parents live down the street, so their two kids will grow up near their grandparents.
I’ll get used to the idea, it’s just weird right now.
Thank you, all!
Giliell, a 20 km hike on the hills is a bit much. One doesn’t have to have major mobility problems for that to be too much. I’m glad you’re already feeling better.
Anne, my warm thoughts. It must be hard to let go of a place which has played a major part in one’s life for a long time. I’m a rootless descendant of uprooted people* and none of the places I spent my time is a place I can visit apart from my paternal grandparents’ farm, and even that belongs to the cousin I’m least close with. We moved multiple times when I was a kid, the summer cottage we rented was demolished, both my parents moved at least once after I left home and my maternal grandparents moved out of the apartment they lived in when they retired.
__
* = Grandpa was born and raised in an area, which became a part of Soviet Union, twice (1940 and 1944).
Anne
People who’d do that would probably also kick puppies.
Our house was as generic 1960s as they get so we didn’t feel bad about renovating it completely, but our friends bought a late 19th century farmhouse whose last owner was a carpenter and man that house has character.
Could we have a link to the last TNET in the intro post to the new one please? I have obviously missed bits of news.
Anne
I am glad your mum’s home is going to a young family that will appreciate it.
I know people want more space than they used to, but that can get silly, our family home in which my parents brought up six children was sold to a couple for their retirement home!?! It has four double bedrooms and two single ones, ok they’ve probably put in at least one more bathroom, but still it is a lot of space for two people. One of my brothers lives next door to them so if I really wanted to I could probably find out what they have done, but I don’t see that brother except at weddings and funerals, so I’ll be waiting a while.
Charly
Lovely wood storage displaying intersting bit of wood. I hope the tidying is done and dusted so you can get stuck in on the knives.
Sorry for any news I’ve missed.
——--
I’ve been a bit rough, but am feeling somewhat better, a day out yesterday at a couple of country pubs sitting in the gardens in the sun with friends and the dogs, just talking about nothing in particular, certainly helped.
Now, what a surprise. I’m traveling to Switzerland for a conference, and the weather forecast is promising an extreme heatwave in south-western Europe -- so extreme it’s already mentioned in Finnish news. Do not want.
Jazzlet 6
You have pubs, we have sauna.
lumipuna @ 7
I’m hoping the weather forecast is incorrect.
—
Found something new to put on sandwiches. Vegiar, which is basically a paste made of seaweed that’s been smoked and processed to resemble cod roe paste* (it’s popular in Finland and especially in Sweden**). The taste is close to the real thing and as cod is in danger of becoming extinct, it could be a bit better thing to consume than actual cod roe paste. It doesn’t seem to cause problems with my gout.
__
* = Which Swedes call smörgåskaviar*** (open sandwich caviar)
** = The taste is rather strong, (unapologetically) seafoody and salty, so it may be an acquired taste. The aroma is also strong. Adding some mayonnaise to the sandwich may make the taste a bit rounder.
*** = The Swedish word for (open) sandwich, smörgås is literally “butter goose” (gås is goose). I’m not sure if English smear and nordic smör/smør have a common etymology.
In Latvian, we say smērēt, which means “to spread (like butter)”, so I would think there is some etymological connection.
Ice Swimmer
Sounds like a good find for you. The only way I eat smoked roe is in taramasalata and I guess it would make a perfetly good substitute were I to make it myself rather than buy it in, we just don’t eat enough at a time for it to be worth making. Also smoked roe isn’t that easily found here.
Your speculation about the origin of smear is likely correct, although which of the groups that invaded us and settled we got it from is unclear, the root for similar words in a range of European languages is apparently “smerwjan” from Proto-German, so we could have got it from the Saxons or the Vikings or both in different areas of the country.
lumipuna
I hope it isn’t too sweltering for your conference.
—
We have rain again, although only light rain so far today, sun is not forecast until Thursday.
Can confirm. I’m currently sweating through the second dress for today. It could also be the tenth dress for today if I owned that many.
At school we’re doing “project weeks” to pass the time between “last class tests” and “start of holidays”, and given our school’s location “in the wrong part of town”, we have to do it on a tight budget, so today I accompanied a 7th grade to a city rally where they need to find out things about the city they live in (or close by). Basically my colleague and I were slowly ambulating from café to café, meeting with them and doing a headcount periodically. It was fucking hot and is supposed to get even hotter tomorrow.
Just butting in to let you know that unfortunately, I did not have time to even read the comments that much. Partly because the spring cleaning is not done yet, or more specifically I want to make some improvements to my workshop when I am at it, and partly because it is absolutely sweltering hot here. It has not rained for two weeks straight already, it is not supposed to rain at least a week more, so each evening I spent a lot of time watering even things that normally do not need watering. Today we arrived at a stage when there is no noticeable drop in temperature after sundown, and the house, even though well insulated, starts to become uncomfortably hot. Last night I got no proper sleep, and I expect that to continue for a few more days until the heat wave passes.
I hear that south of here it is much, much worse, Giliell, fingers crossed, I hope you, yours and your garden fare well.
I hear that heatwave is heading north, not looking forward to it! Stay cool and stay safe as much as possible, everyone!
Charly
The garden is toast already since the refurbishing is still going on.
The rest of it gets watered with the kids. Luckily I installed a drip hose in the front yard so that is easy watering
My good deed for the day:
at my AgedParent’s new ExtendedCareFacility, we were on the patio having a few minutes of sun before the next deluge and I lit the cigarette of one of the other inmates.
Twice.
I think that a bit cruel. He has an electric wheelchair and can get himself out to the smoking-zone but he cannot operate the lighter or insert the smoke into his own mouth.
He said, “thanks”, I said, “you’re welcome”.
Sorry to hear that everyone on the other side of the pond is having a historic heatwave. Here in the middle of North America it has been a cold wet May, followed by extremes of hot windy days and much cooler than normal weeks. I am normally harvesting raspberries by the first week of July, but they are currently in full bloom and wont be ripening for several more weeks. The strawberries are beginning to ripen, the squirrels and birds are busily raising a new brood, and hopefully I will get caught up with the gardening. I haven’t even got the veggie garden prepped yet, much less planted.
Ice Swimmer
Yes, schmear is another form of the same Germanic root word, though it is a general term for something that is spread on bread, such as butter or cream cheese. Smorgasbord is borrowed from Swedish into English, and is a buffet style meal of various cold and hot foods that almost always includes rolls, butter, and various sliced meats and cheese varieties so that you can make a sandwich. It also can simply refer to having a wide range of choices. The wiki article has a good explanation of the etymology of the goose part.
My sympathies to everyone dealing with the heatwave, stay safe! I’m still somewhat surprised (and relieved, really) that we escaped it this time. It’s 23ºC and drizzling here. Go figure.
Jazzlet,
I’m glad to hear that you’re starting to feel better.
chigau
Well done. Getting old is full of indignities.
I hope all of you who are dealing with the heatwave find ways to stay cool.
I survived the conference, thanks to air conditioning (present in nearly all indoor spaces and transport I visited, though not always sufficiently powerful for that weather). Walking outdoors was difficult, though I tried my best, since Zurich was a very beautiful city in summer sunlight.
We made a brief excursion to the Alps on Thursday, perhaps the hottest day. It was still hot at 1900 m above sea level, just barely tolerable for walking outdoors in the afternoon sun. Cable car ride up and down Mt. Stanserhorn was amazing.
Hello my my wonderful people.
It’s still too hot, but the holidays are here.
I also think I’ve found the local upscale drug trading post. As I mentioned, we’re a family of enthusiastic Pokemon Go players (btw, does anybody here play?). One of our “hunting spots” is the local zoo. Even when we don’t visit it’s a nice walk along the outside, with many Pokestops (places where you get resources, to those who don’t know the game) and Pokemon. Lately we’ve been doing our walks later in the evening because of the heat and I noticed some cars and people whose behaviour could not be explained by playing Pokemon. Cars that stopped extremely close to each other, window to window and that drove off again after a few moments. Cars that came, did one sweep across the car park and left again.
I just hope that should the police one day find out about I won#t have to explain that no, really, I’m just playing a silly computer game…
Today (Tuesday) has been a thunderstorm day here in Southern Finland.
In Riihimäki a lightning struck a birch and blew it up. Birch has a tough and air and watertight bark, so if a lightning can get inside the wood material and vaporise the water, the tree will explode. The article states that the whole town must have heard the bang.
Riihimäki is a fairly small town, that’s there because of the railway station (it was the first railway junction in Finland, the St Petersburg line branching from the main line there). Later, glassworks, a dairy plant, a sawmill, a garrison, a rifle factory and much later, a hazardous waste incinerator were built in the town.
Ice Swimmer
Wow, that must have been quite a blast. I am sorry, but I can’t speak Finnish so I couldn’t read the article, I guess that car was damaged in the explosion? I hope no people were hurt.
—
It is pleasantly warm here, we have had one very hot day, but most have been tempered by Britain being an island on the edge of the north Atlantic, so actually fairly normal summer weather for us. I hope those of you where it is horribly hot are finding pleasant ways to keep cool or at least not sweltering too much.
Jazzlet @ 22
Nobody was hurt. The car was indeed damaged by the blast/lightning strike. It is said in the article that the blast did set off car alarms all around the town and scared cats and dogs (someone described their cat’s reaction by saying that the tail looked like a bottle brush).
Comment posted by Nightjar on Charly’s post Supporting Punching Nazis but Condemning Punching Antifas is not Hyppocritical Copied to here by Voyager because I think it’s important.
Well said, Charly. It shouldn’t have to be said, but sadly it does.
I was going to post this over at TNET in case it interests anyone, but I think here it fits better. The people behind Black Flags Over Brooklyn (the anti-fascist and anti-racist extreme music festival that is trying to confront metal’s Nazi problem) have put together a compilation from 33 metal, hardcore and punk artists called Riffs for Reproductive Justice. All money raised will be donated to two abortion funds. If you are into this kind of music consider heading over to their bandcamp page to support abortion access and also to show solidarity with those within the extreme music community that are pushing back against the infiltrating fascists. After all, music is like the right not to be punched: it should be for everyone, except Nazis.
The drought killed four of my trees. I do not have as much water for watering as I need, which sucks. NO rain for six weeks and counting, no rain forecast for at least a week more.
Son of my parent’s friend has killed himself in a car crash. Irresponsible driving -- 22-year-old with a very strong car, the result was 200 km/h speed and a death. I think the idea that motor strength should be limited for drivers under 30 has something to it.
If you have been hearing about an earthquake in southern California, this is it:
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci38443183/executive
I’m about 160 miles from the epicenter, and we got a lot of long rolling waves with no damage as far as I can see.
Trump must be apoplectic. How dare those west coast liberals have an earthquake to take attention away from My Special Parade! Hee hee.
Glad to hear you’re OK, Anne!
+++
My body is an asshole. I took one day for slouching and it took revenge with an inflamed sacroiliac joint. It’s something I only get if I don’t stand/walk for at least 8 hours a day, so a day of reading in bed was too much.
The only treatment that I know is to MOVE (but slowly). It#s #1’s birthday today and tomorrow we need to pack the caravan and it hurts so fucking much.
Charly
Sorry about your trees, and the lack of water, it’s so frustrating when you know they need water, but there is none to be had.
There is no doubt that younger drivers are over confident in their own driving abilities with crashes the inevitable result, they do mostly calm down after around 25. There is a bit of evidence to suggest that the ones who don’t learn better by then never will, but are likely to turn into the kind of bloke (there is no doubt that men are far worse for this than women) who hits middle age and decides they want a big motorbike or sports car, then as soon as they’ve passed the test (in the case of the motorcycle) go out and maim or kill themselves by driving it far faster than they can control.
Anne
Glad you are ok. and there is no obvious damage.
Giliell
Human bodies are all the agument you need for evolution, and against even a minimally competant creator unless you believe your creator was also a sadist. Hope the pain eases and you manage to get everything done in time for the birthday and going away.
Probably not what you want to be doing, but will there be one of your gorgeous cakes for #1’s birthday?
—
I am in the dog house. We had an electrician round to look at various things we need doing, then I took Thorn to the vet to have an odd thing on the inside of her eye lid looked at leaving Jake at home alone; both are completely zonked out now after all the excitement, but still managing to express their disapproval. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s quite impressive to be able to express disdain when you are asleep!
Charly
I’m sorry about the trees, I’m much more sorry for your loss. Toxic masculinity kills. The idea that your value is decided by speed and risk taking. A life lost.
Jazzlet
There was and there will be pics, but only come August.
Anne,
I’m glad there’s no damage in your area. It must be unnerving to feel the ground move under you.
Charly,
I’m so sorry about your trees. No rain for 6 weeks is serious.
I’m also sorry to hear about your young friend. Going fast can be fun, but any car that goes as fast as 200 km/hr should require some sort of extra training. There’s no place for that kind of speed outside a race track, certainly not on the highways and roads that normal cars drive. Your idea to limit the amount of power available to young drivers (mostly male) has merit, but would be difficult to enforce. Why do any cars go that fast in the first place? It’s illegal everywhere and totally unsafe.
Giliell,
Ugh! Pain always seems to happen when it’s the most inconvenient! I say you should assume the role of delgator and superintendent and direct the packing of the caravan. Your daughter won’t mind working on her birthday, will she? ;D
Try not to do too much. A bit of ice might help. I hope #1 has a great birthday.
(I hope it was a good book.)
Jazzlet,
I’m glad Thorn doesn’t need treatment, especially if the eye isn’t bothering her.
It’s tough to be in the doghouse, though. I hope they let you off the hook soon.
Gentle hugs to all in need. Giliell, I hope you are feeling better. Make the kids help out!
More about the earthquake -- It looks like while there was some significant structure damage and a lot of broken dishes in the area around the earthquake epicenter, no one was seriously injured. There’s also a lot of people going to look at the big crack in Highway 178. https://laist.com/2019/07/05/ridgecrest_earthquake_crack.php
We did the annual family trip to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach today, while Emily could go along. I bought a new toe ring to replace the one that broke, and a shiny hair fork, and we ate lunch there. So that was fun.
Well, yesterday’s earthquake is now a foreshock -- this evening we got a 7.1 further north on the same fault system. Even here it felt bigger and longer.
Dr Lucy Jones is doing an outstanding job of explaining everything and answering reporters’ questions, as usual.
Yay, my contract for next year has arrived, just in time for our holiday
Anne
I hope that is the worst of it and that you and yours are safe.
The only time I know I was in* an earthquake -- I may have been woken up by another -- it was fairly mild, I was sitting at my solid metal framed desk in the offfice where I worked, and suddenly the desk went all wobbly, flopping around which was very strange and not at all what you expect in the West Midlands. The people standing up in the office at the time didn’t feel anything, just those of us sitting down.
*Is ‘in’ right? It doesn’t feel right, I wasn’t in the moving rock, would ‘at’ be better’?
—
The dogs forgave me after the application of a lot of scritches and their regular evening fish skin chew, fish skin chews apparently make pretty much every thing better.
Giliell that’s wonderful news, I bet it’s a weight off your mind!
@Giliell, congrats on the contract. I am sure it feels good to have at least one year of some stability in front of you.
________________
Sorry folks, there will be no post from me either today or tomorrow. I had an interesting theme in mind for today’s Slavic Saturday, but I also had to shift 4 metric tonnes of briquettes into the cellar for the winter and that had precedence. My hands are really, really heavy right now. As are my eyelids.
,Giliell
Hooray! Now you can really enjoy your holiday.
Jazzlet,
I’m glad the dogs have forgiven you. I’m sure the scritches helped, but the smelly fish skin chews probably won the day. Jack absolutely loves those things. I have to hold my breath when opening and closing the bag.
Anne
I’m glad everything’s alright with you and that no one was injured.
It sounds like you had a lovely day at the Sawdust Festival. If it’s like the festivals we have in our area there was a lot of good music, plenty of greasy food and a whole bunch of local artists who make beautiful things.
voyager, the Summer Sawdust is exclusively Laguna Beach artists; Winter lets in others. I’ve been going long enough that my hair jewelry artist trained his grandson to take over and retired last year, which is kind of cool.
Giliell, HUZZAH! Now you can relax and enjoy life for a while!
Charly, ouch, rest and feel better soon.
Jazzlet, these are way far away from us, so what we got with the one on the 4th felt like vertigo. The one last night was more obviously an earthquake, and bigger. I’ve lived in Southern California most of my life, so I’ve been in several of the larger ones, including the 2014 one that was only a few miles from our house. That must have been scary and unexpected for you!
Here, have a look. I finally think I’m done rearranging my new old bookshelves. https://anne-d.dreamwidth.org/335348.html#cutid1
Estonia and Latvia seem to be competing on the alcohol taxes. I’m predicting that alcohol will win this competition, sadly. The Finnish government isn’t very likely to lower alcohol taxes, the biggest parties in the coalition are somewhat pro-temperance and the alcohol tax is one they can easily agree on.
Heya
Just letting you know that we arrived safely
My back is slowly, oh so slowly, getting better.
Love to y’all
Giliell
Good to hear you’ve made it safely and I’m glad your back is a bit better. I hope you get lots of rest, have as much fun as you can handle and enjoy your vacation.
Anne
Nicely organized. I wish I could come and browse.
Oh, and nice crow!
Giliell, I know from personal experience how hard it is to delegate, but please make other people help. Your back needs time and rest to heal.
Paul drove Emily home today. I spent most of the day sorting through and culling the huge pile of embroidery threads and ribbons and so on from Aged Mum’s hoard. So much stuff. I may never have to buy metallic threads again, she had even more than I did.
voyager, thanks! I really am going to get some bird photos together one of these days, I swear!
This song. This bit of history. Listen to this voice, listen to these lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ25-U3jNWM
Feel the raw pain, hear that voice, think.
That’s all.
.. & I’m a white dude, an ocean -- the widest ocean -- away. But fuuu..
Also musical truth :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QzH4KOf9Bs
Plus this. The quote at the end and the stats -- that are now doubt now even worse :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40w7nhMFVLk
Oh and “why shouldn’t I get emotional, the bush is sacred.”. It really is if you go there, be there , you’ll know it is. ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eti99nV3gCk
Too many trees dying :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-07/centuries-old-australian-native-trees-dying/11282364
I don’t know whether these are being replaced by seedlings of same species (presume Santalum spicatum,) Tried to find the species lifespan but my googe-fu failed me but a really bad sign.
I am very pleased to say that the odious white supremacist Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who prefers to be known as Tommy Robinson, has been jailed for nine months for contempt of court. What with being milk-shaked and losing his deposit in the European elections he’s not having a very good year.
Appropriately enough there has been a thunderstorm here, followed by a rainbow over Top O’the Hill
Heya
Sitting here and trying to cajole#1 into taking a shower and brushing her hair.
The longer this puberty thing lasts, the more I sympathize with the old upper class tradition of sending your teenagers to boarding school and reaccepting them as adults.
As for the back, sadly rest is the worst. Walking 12 km through the zoo and the city were what I needed.
Anne back then we donated lots of my gran’s craft supply to the daycare.
Truth.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51206.htm?fbclid=IwAR2R0miS3VPTRjEr-HYX0fE_TTn1CvwVQEc2lXT1ZzAPj56Gvm4PaEK5My0
Time it was told. Time we heard the Indigenous Voices and had a Treaty. As the NAIDOC week slogan goes :
https://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/2019-theme
(Note -- these numbers are conservative and likely under-estimates. There can be no calculating the pain and suffering and grief involved in the reality behind these stark figures.)
***
“In this first snapshot of the continent, we have found that there were at least 270 frontier massacres over 140 years, as part of a state-sanctioned and organised attempt to eradicate Aboriginal people.
Starting in 1794, mass killings were first carried out by British soldiers, then by police and settlers – often acting together – and later by native police, working under the command of white officers, in militia-style forces supported by colonial governments.
These tactics were employed, without formal repercussions, as late as 1926.”
***
Also this song :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aywDT6yHMmo&fbclid=IwAR01EQJ2bBwTLQWJh5jaLVKL60CJJvz6w1T_28fpTEDicAN7WTQojuPU350
Powerful, moving music. Damnit something in my eye ..again. Happens every time I listen to this ..
I live on Kaurna land. Colebrook house where they kept stolen Indigenous children is under an hours walk away from where I live.
I haven’t seen any mention of it in the media oddly (hmm ..vested interests at play behind that?) and sod all online but this “free trade” aka “Give huge multinational Corporations and wealthy oligarchs ever more power” agreement seems to be worth knowing about and seems to have rather significant implications :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership#Criticism
There’s a petition here with more and different information on it too in hope that helps :
https://actionaid.org.au/actions/rcep-petition/
In totally unrelated news :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-17/moon-us-plans-cold-war-russia-sputnik/11220340
Whoah. That’s rather staggering and glad they went with the Lunar landings instead.
Heya
Leaving some greetings. We’re currently at the Barcelona Aquarium, making use of the free WiFi (the WiFi at the campsite is basically nonexistent).
I took some nice pics of the lunar eclipse, so there’ll be some post when we return.
We saw the eclipse by accident, which was a little weird as it was so obviously not the normal moon, but since the crescent showing was not at either side we deduced that it must be an eclipse. It was rather pretty here.
Jake has done something to the right side of his mouth, I am not sure what as I can not both hold him and open his mouth to have a look, so that will have to wait until Mr J is home to help. He could have finally been stung by a bee -- he likes to eat them and flies -- or he could have chipped a tooth on a rock -- he will chew rocks or it could be somethig I haven’t thought of. I’m hoping it’s not a tooth problem as that will mean an investigation under anaesthetic and I’ve already spent a fortune on Thorn this month for more meds and having her blood checked to be sure the meds aren’t doing more harm that good. Which they might be, we are supposed to be getting a piss sample -- HAH -- and having her bloods tested again in a month. Thorn has so far not co-operated with any of our attempts to collect her piss, and we can’t make her piss to order, though I know someone that did train their dog to do that and I ather wish I had *sigh* She isn’t young, she’ll be twelve next month, I’m not sure what we will do if the meds are harming her kidneys as without them she was scratching her face raw which isn’t acceptable either. *sigh*.
I’m sorry to hear that, Jazzlet. Crossing fingers for Thorn and hoping Jake’s problem is nothing important.
***
I completely forgot about the eclipse. Someone reminded me, like, 3 hours before and I still managed to forget, even though I was awake. But it’s OK because I saw something much better last night: a nightjar! It flew so close to me and then disappeared into a big cedar tree. Closest I have ever been to one. It made my week.
***
Brass Against are the best.
Speaking of birds, have you folks seen these photos of light diffracting through the feathers of hummingbirds?
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/07/christian-spencer-rainbow-bird/
Jazzlet,
Poor Jake. Eating bees and chewing rocks both sound a bit problematic. I hope it isn’t anything serious.
I can relate to the pee sample. Jack needed one a while back and they gave me this tiny plastic tray to collect it with. I’m stalking Jack waiting for him to pee and when he starts I try to move in quickly and cleanly and… nope he stops peeing when I get close. We did that for a few days until I finally got him on a first morning pee. Female dogs must be even more difficult.
Giliell,
I’m looking forward to those eclipse photos.
Nightjar
Wow, a Nightjar. That is special.
Anne,
Those photos are fabulous. They’re like birds made of rainbows. Thanks for sharing that.
I also forgot the eclipse, though there wouldn’t have been much to see. In the semidarkness around midnight I did notice part of the moon was visible, between clouds near the horizon. Even looking more closely, it would’ve been difficult or impossible to tell it was partially eclipsed.
Just yesterday, I got my new, long-postponed glasses. Now my vision is much sharper, but also my depth perception was initially totally out of calibration. Especially when walking outdoors, it felt like everything was closer and my own 2-m body was pint-sized. Never felt so small.
@ lumipuna, that made me chuckle, that new glasses might make a 2m chap feel small :-D.
It was weird; if I didn’t look directly at my feet, it felt like ground level was at my knees. Now I’m already mostly accommodated.
Anne,
Wow, I hadn’t seen those photos, they are absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for sharing.
I so very much wish that this wasn’t so painfully applicable here too. So many good points. So horribly much in common with the three worse-than-stooges running us, the USA & now the UK :
WARNING: Swearing, a lot of justified but very strong and very rude & offensive swearing incl the C-word spoken. (Aimed at those in power -- punching up.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Rho9tvpNM&feature=share
It’s hot in Finland, also in the north: Reindeer went to the beach to chill out. The qr
I’m sorry, the comment got loose before it was fully written.
Anyway, the article also states that the leading newspaper here also reported about reindeer “queueing” in the shadow of the local welfare agency office in Inari (in northernmost Lapland, home of Saami people).
Reindeer don’t handle hot weather well, AFAIK. I’m hoping the reindeer find cooler places, especially in Rovaniemi and reindeer herding areas both north and south of it (North of the river Iijoki).
Heya
Still in Spain, still alive.
I got so much to tell and show you.
Also, it’s been “cooler” here than at home.
Giliell @ 62
The hot weather seems to be in the north. Hopefully not for long, the forecast is predicting the return of normal summer weather, not this 33 °C heat.
We seem to alternating hot -- for the UK, not for elsewhere, 28 C more in some places -- with heavy thunderous rain o we have a lot of humidity. Today is warm and rainy.
Is Twitter’s navigation recently broken, or just redesigned?
It’s only going up to 30°C today. Yesterday peaked at 36.
@ ^ chigau (違う) : Celsius? Wow. That’s Aussie summer weather that is!
Hi everyone -- I’m just popping in to say hi and let you know I’m okay. Toothless and a bit sore, but doing better than I expected.
Ice Swimmer
That’s an amazing photo. I hope the weather cools down for the reindeer -- and the people.
Jazzlet
Humidity is the worst. I hope it passes for you soon.
Chigau
30 is still bloody hot -- stay hydrated.
lumipuna
I’m mostly Twitter illiterate, so I have no idea. Sorry.
The extreme heatwave was thankfully short here, peaking around 33 C in many parts of Finland a week ago. Then it quickly went below seasonal average -- especially this weekend, northeastern Europe got that that cool air that should be sitting in Arctic. It feels very pleasant, but vegetation is still parched from drought.
Voyager
Glad to hear you are doing better than expected!
Iumipuna
I wish you could have some of our rain, it’s been ridiculous, I’m amazed any of our crops are managing to grow past the slug damage.
I had an impression made for a tooth guard today, I don’t grind, I clench -- without realising it, I stop when I notice -- and my dentist says I need to protect my teeth at night or I’ll do them serious damage. When he first suggested it my immediate reaction was “No!”, but Mr J said he’d noticed me clenching my jaw in my sleep, so here we are. *sigh*
Heya
We’re back home from the longest holiday we ever took. Of course now we have to cross the Pyrenees made from dirty laundry again, but that was expected. Stay tuned for lots of pics and stories.
Jazzlet,
The mouth guard bugged me so I stopped using it and now I need dentures that are even harder to get used to. There’s also the horror of looking at yourself without teeth for the first time.
Jazzlet
Mr’s been wearing a mouth guard for ages since he grinds his teeth. He chews through one of them a year and that simple fact has driven home what he’d be doing to his teeth if he didn’t wear it.
voyager
I hope the dentures will fit nicely and you get used to them quickly. Not looking forward to that and I have the worst teeth on planet earth, courtesy of my grandpa.
+++
I had a very nice surprise on Monday. One of the folks who went through teacher training with me failed the whole thing twice and then contact more or less dwindled and I was worried about her but also didn’t want to bother her because I could very well understand if she didn’t want to see any of us ever again even though we always got along really well. As I picked up the little one from afterschool daycare this week i walked cross the schoolyard and thought “the woman there reminds me of A”, but dismissed the idea because what would A do there? I got closer and thought “damn, is this A?” At that point she came towards me and yes it’s her and she got a job at the daycare and I’m so happy for her. She did have a horrible year, also personally, which is why she dropped off everybody’s radar, but now things are looking up. And I got a friend back
So its mid-winter here in Oz and there’s still bushfires :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-10/emergency-warning-for-nsw-fire/11402326?fbclid=IwAR1QsTtE27cb7uxLGoXLHSiKfXLJ_dto9kJlH-EHmI2K34M2Xmfou_JfoXk
Albeit in a neighbouring state to mine which is also in the grips of one of the worst droughts on record which has dried up Australia’s second longest river.
Meanwhile there’s also fires burning in Siberia, Alaska, the other great temperate sub-Arctic rainforests -- and even on Greenland :
https://nationalpost.com/news/world/as-wildfires-scorch-greenland-its-ice-sheet-is-on-track-for-a-record-melt-season?fbclid=IwAR36qbWwD2HcF-O8roKJ4YO2l1QQdt3kNmuZ8G_aY4GwQfCFSGLxMN8WsvY
Plus in a very unusual event there’s been lightning over the geographic North Pole too :
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/very-rare-lightning-recorded-near-north-pole?fbclid=IwAR3MzZv_FcoShLIrky5dRluBLQdSp_HHnY72FY-8ddRa56nAtrRF6xdYA4E
Oky, not exactly right over it but a typically relatively close.
Oh & our disgusting, coal-fondling, hypocritical, sociopathic, miserable excuse for a PM apparently just reduced the Tongan leader to tears during a Pacific nations summit by refusing to take action on Global Overheating.
Atypically.
Sigh. Usually have a lack of spaces with my typos but now just when I don’t need one ..
See also :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-15/no-endorsements-come-out-of-tuvalu-declaration/11419342
In other more encouraging news :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-16/adani-snubbed-by-rail-company-as-aurizon-faces-pressure/11418900?section=environment
Plus just great nature photos here :
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-15/australian-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year/11408742
Hi, all.
The twins are growing fast. Ivy is 11 pounds. Shelby is just under 13 pounds. At three months. Not bad considering they were 3.4 pounds and 5 pounds at birth. Both are developing normally — beginning to socialize, cooing, facial recognition, smiling, etc.
Oggie
Awwww that’s good to hear.
I am managing ok with the mouth guard, I haven’t got so used to it that I don’t notice it yet, but it isn’t bothering me anywhere near as much as I thought it would. I hope I don’t wear it out in a year, but I do wake up clenching hard some days so we’ll see.
Peter Fonda died yesterday.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Fonda
.
*huggses* to the Oggie grands
Oggie, good news are always welcome. Thums up.
Sorry folks that I did not update this thread recently. I completely and utterly forgot. I will post a new one during the week, hopefully, tomorrow.
Oggie @ 76,
Nice to hear good news about the grandkids.
voyager @ 72
When Grandpa got new dentures after about 35 years with his previous dentures, it took a few visits to the dental technician to get them fitted right. I’m hoping for a simpler process with your dentures.
New thread.