You can never have enough...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Taupo had issues back then. We were advised to have someone house sit when my husband's funeral was on, because so many people knew it was on and where we lived. I found that hard to swallow, but a friend volunteered, so...

People can be horrible creatures.

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Hunnihunni thats the very reason we decided not to have funerals. It had been happening where we lived too at one stage.

I admit to feeling a little uncomfortable putting my address on FB. But we are in the phone book so easy enough to find anyway.

Ohh my knee really is a mess this time.. Ive had an oxy and am soo thankful my friend will be here to help. And I cant wait to be able to chat for a few hours...

Its nice and cool too so it shouldnt get too hot in the garage.

Have a fab day all.. Ill be the one with my leg up and cold hotties later lol.

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies Another lovely day on the cards today.

Good luck with the garage sale this morning, popeye

Nice to 'see' you again SueDonim I think you are right about the lanlord having a special deal with products. My sister had similar issues when she wanted to change colours and vinyl when buying a house under a body corporate. The contractor had bought everything in bulk and it would have upset the apple cart for her to change things. She could change things after she had moved in but it would have been cheaper for her to do while the house was being built.

Omg your story of the rat in the compost reminded me of the rat I disturbed years ago when digging out some compost. The garden fork missed it by centimeters and it leapt over my shoulder to get away. I will freely admit I screamed lol. MrK said I was lucky it didn't attack. So emptying the compost bin is MrK's job now.

This morning I have some mulching to do and a bit of weeding. I never got to the weeding yesterday or the inside windows. Will get there eventually.

I do feel for the Ukranian people. I was listening to Stephen Colbert interview a political analyst last evening and she said Putin has been planning this for well over a year. All the journalists being poisoned, dissidents jailed, political 'enemies' destroyed politically or otherwise, all paving the way for an uninterrupted invasion. He knew all the west could do was sanction and this would only affect the people, not him so he doesn't give a dam. We are so very lucky to be living here. Those protestors would be thrown in jail or worse in Russia. That's my political rant lol.

Still picking away at the branches on my embroidery. Long and short stitch is a slow process of multi-layers but I'll get there.

Just had my ankle bashed with the tug rope. Once again this well trained Jack Russell owner will do what is requested - no - demanded lol - and play with the Furry One.

Happy crafting

[Mica]

Morning all
Another nice day

Hope garage sale goes well Popeye

KM whats the progress with those pesky aggies?

Started 2nd giraffe yesterday will finish it and start new one while DH over gardening at DDs
Also converted DD preggy tights back to normal yokes so that she can continue to wear them

Once I have finished piecing giraffe quilt I will put my machine thru its paces on a charity baby quilt if she doesn't perform I will need to look for replacement. I will be sad as she is a great machine.

Coffee finished time to vacuum

Have a great day

[Roma]

Good morning. 

Lovely outside so far,  need to get out with dog soon before it heats up.

Visitors yesterday and some more vege garden clearing once gone.  Oh yes, the compost bin emptying was also passed on to OH when confronted with furry inhabitants. We have solved the problem now by drilling holes in the bottom and cable tying on a square of wire mesh (obtained from Bunnings).

The attempted Ukraine occupation by Putin and his men is so awful, certainly the Parliament protestors don't know what "loss of freedom" really means. 

Good luck with your garage sale Popeye.

Have a great day.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Nothing quite like flipping the lid on the compost bin to be greeted by the smiling face of a great big rodent! We started knocking on the lid before lifting it after that, but never saw that one again. I did keep it very wet though for a while afterwards in the hope the beast would find a more pleasant foraging ground.

Useful things though, I couldn't be without one now, and we have a few avocado trees well underway thanks to ours!

[JanW]

Good morning - must tell my rat story -we had French doors in the bedroom and my old boy before he died used to keep telling me to close them earlier when the weather started to cool because there would be rats in the nearby creek and they would be looking somewhere as the weather cooled - of course I never listened - anyway not long after he died I told my son I could hear a rat chewing in the bedroom wall - he told me rats couldnÔÇÖt get in the walls it would be the trees - the chewing continued the next night seemed to be right at the level of my ear - so I called him again - so he owns a supermarket and arrived around the next night with his arms full of mouse traps and boxes of rat poison smiling from ear to ear - he proceeded to nail rat poison on blocks of wood and put them all over the house - he put one behind the cane bedside table because thatÔÇÖs the level I could hear chewing - next night chewing again - I checked the poison not touched - I emptied all my tablets out of the drawer in my cane thingee so it was completely empty - different chewing - banged the wall etc etc - the bait was eaten - I had such satisfaction calling my son - so he rushed around with a trap - told my neighbour she tells me they had one living in the base of her kids bed - so back my son comes to check my bed - he tips it up and there is the biggest DEAD rat you have ever seen with two lots of my blood pressure tablets the foil chewed through - wish I could put the photo up he called it Jona - lucky it had only just died - but the chewing which I thought was by my ear was by my ear he was eating my tablets and when I tipped the drawer out he must have been there - needless to say those doors were shut in the early evening

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I shouldn't tell you all about my sister popping into her second floor bathroom and spotting a very big very wet rat emerging from the toilet bowl, and watching it see her, turn around and disappear back down the u bend...

I never peed in that loo again.

[popeye333]

Well it was very slow, but made a little money.

Might open again tomorrow.. Ill see how the knee is. Its narly at the mo.

I dont have a rat story of my own. but One day MrP was out trout fishing with his brother. They were both sort of on the opposite ends of a bend. MrP noticed a dead rat where he was and kicked it into the river. Flowing towards his brother.
Its snagged on his brothers line, apparently he got all excited yelling out he had caught one and promtly reeled in the rat lol... MrP still laughs about it lol.

[Lilith7]

The rat stories sound just awful! We lived out in the country when I was a kid & the local farmer decided to move his pigsty - rats were living under it & went everywhere when he moved it. Mostly to local houses, so visiting the outdoor loo became slightly hazardous.

I really, really don't like rats at all. At one stage one of my kids had a pet rat, & just being in the same room was difficult.


I'm not having a funeral; I'm going to have an unfuneral. Just family sitting around & telling those stories the little sods have been saving up for years; some of the grandkids stories may be slightly exaggerated. Or a lot.
In particular youngest grandson, who will (once again !) be telling all about the time he busted his saintly gran doing grocery shopping. When lockdown happened he'd volunteered to get any extra bits & pieces I might need - eldest granddaughter had already been over to organise me, & show me how to online shopping so I was all set & saw no need to mention that I'd be doing my final in-store shopping the day before lockdown.

So I went & did it & was just pushing the trolley out of the shop when this voice goes "and what do you think you're doing?"
Bugger.
Passersby were looking & trying not to laugh. And failing miserably.
Imo, the younger generation are altogether far too swift with their cellphones, taking pictures of their angelic gran & send it to all the other grandkids. By the time I got home, there were three tellings off waiting for me.

And it was the day BEFORE lockdown fgs!

[SueDonim]

Good afternoon everyone

Popeye - that must have been disappointing to do all that work and not have much response. I hope it gets better tomorrow or next time. Coping with a painful knee just makes it all harder.

Kiwimade and others with rat stories. Rats tend to freak me out too. We did have a black and white pet for a while when I was a teenager but I couldn't really appreciate it properly even then. Now they are the ultimate disgust. We used to have three round black compost bins with lids and they would sometimes get rats in winter. They come for the warmth and don't seem to mind the damp and if we didn't keep a watch on the "maturing" bin it would end up a huge slimey mess of tunnels. After we changed to three wooden open bins we have had very little problem of either rats or mice, either in the compost or in the house. Usually the first we know of their presence is a dead one on the lawn (or on the doorstep - Hunting Cat likes to assert his ownership over us with presents at times). I have occasionally come across a mouse nest in the compost but it's much rarer than it used to be.

I loved popeye's fishing story. I thought it was going to be that the trout grabbed the rat. I've heard of a "mouse" fly being used.

Another recent surprise visitor we had a couple of weeks ago was a weasel. We are fully urban although there are parks and a gully not hugely far away, but we certainly don't expect to see them here. Sitting on the windowseat one morning we watched this weasel appear near the fence and poke around the garden before disappearing into the neighbour's.

Yesterday I got my tops altered but it took all afternoon in the end. Was fiddlier than I expected. My T-shirt "blanket" might have to stay half-done for a while as I need to get started on curtains. DH is getting on with a coat of paint in the bathroom and other paint touch ups so I need to keep up with my part of the job.

[popeye333]

Oh I remembered lol

There was a family whose farm we lived on and it was a real Old MacDonald's farm they had everything.. One of the girls came out one day wit Snow White in her hand and handed her to me. I wasn't fully paying attention.. Next thing I knew I was holding onto a big white pet rat... Thank fully I didn't mind mice, I always took the schools ones home over the holidays.. But they rat.. Well i thought I coped quite well. Didn't scream or drop it. Stroked its back, said she was cute and handed it back lol...

Lol Lilith.. they're fast these days lol.. Things are around the world before we know it thats for sure lol

[JanW]

One more - when we lived in Bathurst our cat had to be contained in a run - it was made out of fine mesh - he had access into the house from the run through a cat door - one day I heard him howling looked out and he had a huge rat - I jammed the cat door closed before he got in but unfortunately one rat foot got caught in the cat door - I had to ring my hubby to come home from work to deal with the struggling rat still jammed in my fat cats mouth

[popeye333]

One more - when we lived in Bathurst our cat had to be contained in a run - it was made out of fine mesh - he had access into the house from the run through a cat door - one day I heard him howling looked out and he had a huge rat - I jammed the cat door closed before he got in but unfortunately one rat foot got caught in the cat door - I had to ring my hubby to come home from work to deal with the struggling rat still jammed in my fat cats mouth

Hehehehe Did Hubby tease you about it Jan?

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies   A greyer start to the day, maybe we will have some rain today.

Omgg all these rat stories, they just make me shudder.  I have rat bait in the ceiling as the little buggars  love it up there in the cooler weather.  And I know the Furry One can't get to the bait and is safe.

Maybe people are nervous about entering someone's property with this omicron, popeye.  Pity that doesn't apply to burglars. 

Lilith, my sister-in-law had what she called a 'gathering' where we could talk about our lives with her.  She wrote her life story and it was hilarious.  It started with... well... if you are listening to this then I must be dead.  She wanted a party type atmosphere and that's what we gave her.  

I noticed I have some suckers growing at the base of the cherry and a camellia so today I'll snip them off.  When MrK falls off his perch, both trees will go.  But for now I work around them.  As for the aggies, mica, those blo*** things are still there.  I'll have another peek when I mow the lawn next and out on the roadside near them.  We have another grouping of aggies I will dig out but these should be easier.  MrK likes them there so it's been a 'debate' for quite a while.  Now his sister has a camellia seedling with the same name as a niece who was killed in a car accident and suddenly it's ok to dig them out so the seedling can go there.   

The branches on my embroidery are pretty much done, now to work on the leaves and flowers.  I just kinda freehand those so it's a bit easier. 

Time to get moving, I slept in this morning.  The first time in months I slept until 7.00am so I feel a bit out of kilter.

Happy crafting

[JanW]

Good morning - few showers forecast but I put the washing on last night so hope they donÔÇÖt arrive
Yes Popeye I was not popular at all with the old boy - over the years he responded to many SOS calls - he warned our boys many times before the end what a liability I would be -his prophecy was right for the first year my son had a few disasters to cope with - but things seem to have settled down now -
I contacted the designer of the Dr Sues pattern I am struggling with - she explained it will look like a sketch so the colour changes are subtle rather than creating something like a photograph - I can where I am going now - was about to consign it to the top shelf in my craft room
Popeye maybe try Marketplace to sell your stuff

[Mica]

Morning all
Sunny day with stiff breeze today

Gosh those zggies are tenacious 

Finished 3rd giraffe yesterday plan to complete 4th today 

Got to do a bit tidy up once coffee finished

Rats no..... pet ones not so bad as long as they are not running around.

We sticking around home so not doing much though I do have to venture into cbd on Tuesday morning  business and haircut will drive in as parking is OK in these times.

Keep the needles moving

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

I was woken by Madam with its 8-30 and past time to get up.. I had no choice she just kept annoying me lol

Ive decided not to open again.. Im going to sort stuff into boxes for the recycle centre, the oppies and then some Ill keep for the next time one day. Ill allow myself 3 crates, and they can go in the other room. More can go to the oppy later if need be.

Ive given myself a new name.. Im an "Oppoholic".. Addicted to opp shops although I will say Ive only been in a couple of times this year.. I used to go in every week..

Im going to iron a couple of tops for Bobbie, one for MrP and take those up and drop them off. Then take some wool to a friend who brought it yesterday. Then Ill start packing up. I want to get the car back in the garage.

Its grey here too and not too hot so it shouldnt be too hot down there... Actually I might pack the stuff up for the recycle place and take that up while they are open today too.

Have a fab day everyone

[kiwimade64]

Thought it was close to cuppa time lol. Not much more I can do in the garden now until things start to die off. Amazing what an hour or two in the morning before the heat can achieve. I feel this summer has been the best garden-wise for me as I've spread the work load out more evenly. And it gives me one of my happy places to be in every day.

Just re-read SueDonim's post about the weasel. We see the odd one here too. A few years ago, the Furry One had a huge fight at 2.00am with one under the house. It was a vicious and nasty fight but the Furry One dumped it dead as a door nail on the kitchen floor, so pleased with himself. He had a bite on his nose so I gave it a dab of detol and he has the scar today. It was a female so even better. We were told by DoC that all female babies leave the nest pregnant thanks to the dad (gross, I know) so killing a female stoat or weasel is a bonus.

Time to put the kettle on, MrK is making bread and butter pickle with our cucumbers... sooo good!

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Nasty creatures, they like to kill for the sake of killing, like ferrets. And they stink.

Pity fur is unfashionable, it is the only good thing about them...