marius

Well ... actually Baldur posted when marius finally got around to posting what she typed. Spouse had engaged her conversation about yard projects. He is quitting one of his part time jobs tomorrow and so happy for him. New owners/management are not working out for spouse and I'm so relieved he has made up his mind. Now he's very excited about all the yard projects we might get done. And, now that marius has antibiotics, she is feeling excited about things to do too! ; )

However, even though feeling better, think a hot toddy tonight would not be a bad idea. Off to make one and then to dream.

Sweet dreams to all! : )

Login

Good for you, marius ... get another hot toddy in your body.

Dragon

Congrats to marius' spouse on retiring from a frustrating job. My fella just started a new job last week and he is thrilled to be out of the job he left. It's not that he hated the work or the people (quite the contrary actually) but they paid on a flat rate basis meaning if you were changing out the brake pads and the rate for that job pays 1 hour then that's what you get paid. Great if it only takes you 20 minutes but if it's troublesome and takes you 2 hours then you get screwed. He was so sick of watching every minute and hurrying through jobs he'd rather be more thourough on. He's so much happier now even though it's a 45 minute drive away.

As for keeping cats out of gardens I've heard a few methods. The cayenne pepper one is new to me but sounds like the simplest and has a very good chance of working. I also understand that cats don't like marigolds and will avoid them but I'm not sure how accurate that is. There are a couple of items that can help, one is a can of compressed air with a motion sensor called Garden Ghost. You put it the garden and when an animal triggers the sensor it gives a blast of air. Harmless but scary, if you have a big garden you'd probably need a few. There's also a thing called a Scarecrow which is a sprinkler with a motion sensor, you hook it to the hose and turn the water on just the tiniest amount. When animals go through it triggers a 3 second sprinkler blast. Also good for neighbourhood dogs and for deer and it covers a pretty good sized range I think. It's good for keeping cranes and herons out of fish ponds too. Here's a video about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWuhhD4LfTg

If you want to get exotic about it there's also a type of fertilizer called Zoo-poo (I think) that's made from the feces of big cats and things like giraffes or something (I'm not really well versed in it) but apparently it's like advertizing that a lion lives there and it keeps out cats and dogs and deer too.

Login

Getting back to kilts and the modesty issue, a low slung sporrren (the wee purrrse) will also assist in the task of maintaining one's dignity when sitting, in a relaxed way, at a table. You see, the sporrren had more uses than simply somewhere to keep ones wee baubies (groats).

Qsilv

Hazer et al -- a pine cone layer (any and all sizes) works wonderfully at deterring cats - they don't like stepping on 'em at all.
It holds up very well, and actually looks rather lovely. ;>

Baldur

I was drafted into helping my parents bring home a new patio set today, which of course led to Baldur assembling it for them. It is almost as if the buy a new set each and every year, though Mother denies it.
My father then told me to get rid of the scrap metal stockpiled in his shed (I'm guessing 500 pounds of lead, brass and copper) and that I could keep whatever I made selling it for scrap.
What a mess, everything was in old damp cardboard boxes that were literally falling apart.

When I eventually returned home, rather grubby from the adventure and got a chance to examine the stuff Baldur was amazed. At one time my first notion would have been to keep a great quantity of it. It was like a Thinkdraw assortment of odd metal findings that one could create things from.
From these goodies I choose very few to squirrel away:
8 rather large heavy solid brass sets of hinges, these were larger in scale than the household variety and obviously came from a public building, perhaps a church.
3 brass pulley wheels weighing about a pound each, these would make superb candleholder bases.
a couple of brass faucet handles because they were rather sculptural
and last but not least a heavy copper coiled tube array that was possible part of the workings of a water heater, though to me it looks like a still. This piece is outwardly about 18" tall and perhaps 8" wide.
It is a single helix of copper with a smaller diameter single helix of copper within it's coils. There are threaded fittings both on the top and bottom, but are at weird angles to the array. I'm imagining this becoming a rather wild lamp with the proper components added to it.

marius

Sounds like Baldur found some nice treasures today! Can't wait to hear about the helix-copper lamp. Tee hee, thinking you had fun even if it was with family.

Dragon, that is great news about your fella's new job. Being able to be happy in work is a big plus ... and in this view, the only way to go!

Qsilv ... pinecones? That made me laugh. Bet it does work and will file that away in case it's needed some day. About the only cats to dig and spray in our gardens are our own. One will NOT use the outdoor potty and begs to go back inside when nature calls but the other adores leaving his treasures outside. He acts really sneaky too when he's doing his business. It cracks us up.

Dragon

Baldur, if there's much else in that scrap that's copper you could probably sell it. Copper is fetching quite a price these days, enough so that unscrupulous (+10 if I spelled it right) people will sneak into construction sites and pull copper tubing right out of the wall to sell. Having a batch obtained scrupulously (not actually sure if that's a word) you could probably get a pretty penny for it (no pun intended) though I'm not sure who buys it.

Dragon

I liked Qsilv's pinecone idea, seems much simpler and has less gross out factor than using Lion Poo.

marius

LOL Dragon and her penny pun!

Here's is marius' new torture, a game called Silversphere. Loved the first 12 levels because they were easy enough for this sinus-infected and drug-affected mind to handle. (Talking prescribed drugs here.) After that ... marius has to print out the gameboard to study or else go to cheats on google . Personally, I wish they'd make games like this that would go on and on and NOT get so difficult: marius does not want to think that hard ... just have fun.

Warning ... third link below is a cheat for level 15.

Disclaimer: marius, Baldur Radio and affiliates are not responsible for headaches, nervous tics, strange dreams or any other maladies this game may cause.

Silversphere
http://www.miniclip.com/games/silversphere/en/

Passwords for any level
http://www.learn4good.com/board/passwords_silversphere_0.html

Video Silversphere level 15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64_BEbop5Ms

Baldur

NO NO NO marius.
Baldur cannot play with arrow keys
Baldur begs you on his knees
He will not play this evil game
or play some game the works the same
He will not play it in a tree
He will not play it watch and see

Baldur

It's definitely a Gordon Lightfoot kind of evening here at Boughbreak.
Here is a wonderful musical interlude. Every person should own several discs by this brilliant man.

If you could read my mind love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
'bout a ghost from a wishin' well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
You know that ghost is me
And I will never be set free
As long as I'm a ghost that you can't see
If I could read your mind love
What a tale your thoughts could tell
Just like a paperback novel
The kind that drugstores sell
When you reach the part where the heartaches come
The hero would be me
But heroes often fail
And you won't read that book again
Because the ending's just too hard to take

I'd walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script
Enter number two
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me
But for now love, let's be real
* I never thought I could act this way *
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back

If you could read my mind love
What a tale my thoughts could tell
Just like an old time movie
'bout a ghost from a wishin' well
In a castle dark or a fortress strong
With chains upon my feet
But stories always end
And if you read between the lines
You'll know that I'm just tryin' to understand
The feelin's that you lack
I never thought I could feel this way
And I've got to say that I just don't get it
I don't know where we went wrong
But the feelin's gone
And I just can't get it back

AuntieB

Hello everyone.
Why am I having a dreadful problem finding decent domestic help?
All that required of this job is that the applicant be a hot man, who can cook marvelously, is an experienced housekeeper, a skillful masseur, a world class dancer, a brilliant mah jonng player and is fluent in the major modern languages.
Additional helpful but not require skills include:
flower arranging
gardening
being able to sew enough to perform minor alterations on elegant clothing
judo or other martial art disciplines
tantric massage
being able to type 75+ words a minute
the ability to properly perform ablutions in the style of a Turkish bath (Auntie B does have a small Hamam in her townhouse)

You would think that I was a demanding person! The employment agencies have been sending me a string of beautiful but mindless young men with no useful household skills and even less work ethic.

Baldur

....and yes Baldur went to the scrap yard today and got $181 (USD) for the pile of copper, brass and lead that my father gave me.
So that turned out well I guess.
I quickly deposited the money into my checking account to use in paying bills.

AuntieB

A young man named Sven came by today to apply for employment.
Yes, he was attractive in a blonde sort of way.
All of his bodybuilder trophies did not impress me however.
He could not cook, spoke Swedish, English very little Russian and no romance languages at all. I looked at his nails, they obviously had never done any serious work.
Apparently he could dance however, having done something called the 'Table dance' in a private venue in Bucharest.

marius

Baldur, marius is proud of you. Probably NO ONE should play games with arrow keys. Being dyslexic, wouldn't really want anyone to see me playing silversphere either. That's why there's a need for simpler versions ... get confused about which direction which arrow goes; have spent a lot of time in the water! Chances are ... when the drugs wear off and the sinus's clear, my brain will no longer be able to do this game ... although it was soothing at first. Anyway, loved your 'don't play that game' poem.

Tee hee ... here's a funny lesson I got from doctor. Last month went to Walgreen's clinic and they said to let my body handle the sinus infection. I thought, "You don't know my sinus's do you?" (Went to Walgreen's cause they get you in faster and are cheaper than reg. doctor ... but ...)

A month later (last Wed.) took the on-going sinus infection to my regular doctor and she said the sinus' were so swollen she didn't know how I could breathe. She said to come to her next time and to lie! She didn't use that word, but said, "If you go to one of those clinics before your infection is bad enough, they tell you to come back if it gets worse because there's a big thing about over-prescribing antibiotics. BUT ... we know your history and sinus infections get you EVERY time. However, we are also having to watch the over-prescribing thing so help us out. When you come in next time and it's only been a day ... say it's been three or four days! THEN, we can treat you early on and certainly before things get this bad." Duh - marius would have never thought of that. : )

Now, AuntieB, am so sorry to hear of your difficulties. marius has never wanted domestic help, but if she did - Jeeves would be the only one for her, if only to see him shimmer in and out of rooms. Wishing you the best of luck. Perhaps AuntieB should start her own school for domestic help? Am sure many of the rich and famous would appreciate her high standards. : )

marius

Baldur - WOW! You did hit the jackpot with your Dad's discarded items! Does this mean there will be some serious bead purchases?

Auntie, maybe Sven could go to your school?

Baldur

Baldur has never been able to use the arrow keys for games. I need to stare at the keys and think too hard about what they do.
Back when we got an early Atari system with the joystick I was good at that. It made sense in the way I think things out

marius

marius is game-deprived ... never played a game with a joystick but does sound easier than arrow keys. : )

Baldur

No bead buying for me, this will make my credit card payments for a couple months.
With no regular income I use the cards to put gasoline in my truck.