Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

Do you like engineering?

 

Do you like cats?

 

Do you need a 2023 calendar?
 

Well you're in luck! The US Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, has a calendar for you - cats superimposed into civil engineering landscapes.

 

Oregonian: Cat calendar wins the internet for Portland’s Army Corps of Engineers

 

Download as a PDF.

[TheQ]

Soggy mooring Awl,

Very Soggy, Ben the sensible Collie took one look out side and returned to his pit.

 

3 hours sleep, 1 hours sleep, 3 hours sleep, a good total for me but I awoke, with my head at a strange angle and therefore a head ache. Pink pill taken. This will also help with the forepaws which are also not happy being very stiff this morning.

 

Our side of the UK is entirely missing from the weather radar, as it is lost under bright  yellows and greens, indicating extreme soggyness.

 

Tapioca and sago puddings I hate, this is due to schools making foods inedible. They also made rice pudding inedible burning the top, undercooking the lower half, and of course like the other two creating hard lumps and watery remains.

The only reason I still eat rice pudding at all is mum made it properly.

 

Similarly I hate fish,   beans, broad and butter because of school dinners.

Being served a plate of fish (grey boney), butter beans (grey, hard skin mushy inside), and mash,( grey hard uncooked lumps the rest watery) is enough to put anyone off.. There were of course no choices and you couldn't leave the table, till it was eaten under the beedy eyes of the patroling teachers.

 

Plans for today,

Lay a few more rows of flooring,

Sand some bits of the shelving,

Sand the centre console,

Glass tissue the other side of the rudder, and start glassing the centre console.

 

But first I m in need of a muggacoffee.

Time to head for the kitchen.

 

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Wet and windy here again and it's forecast to continue like that until this afternoon. There may be some bright spells before dusk.  10°C now, might reach 12°C

Slept for a solid six and a half hours which is a bit unusual for me.  Usual aches and pains on waking but moving around is loosening things up. 

Yet again there is nothing exciting on the agenda.  Another replacement parcel is due from Amazon and I need to put some petrol in the car but nottalot else.  After lunch there is plenty of rugby available to watch if I feel like it but even that is failing to grab my attention at the moment.

Time for some porridge.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

[Barry O]

Rice pudding... Great with a knob of jam.

 

Semolina.. adhered to our school bowls so much you could turn the bowl upside down with no fear of it losing its adhesion.

No keen on semolina either...

 

Porridge Oats.. fine if made with water not milk and a sprinkling of salt..

 

Other breakfast /puddings like this are tried..  some are eaten again.. others.. nope!

 

Some things I won't eat.. tripe...mackerel (a dirty fish according to late father), American grits  (what's that all about??), iced tea  (just NOT normal)  but I will try anything.

 

Baz

 

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Barry O

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just a short hello/goodbye, off out to the toy fair.

[Grizz]

 

UUUUHO!!! Well that is my diet totally garbage trucked right there.

 

Told you! 
 

 

Mmmmmmmmm custardy loveliness in all five of them.…..and there are no witnesses!      Pause for demonic laughter…..

[DaveF]

The rain has stopped and the sky is clearing, the sun will be out from behind its cloud shortly.  There was a blackbird having a bath this morning, probably one from Europe as it has a black beak.  The wren was having his using morning walk round the garden finding things to eat.

 

Yesterday morning I went to the beach and had a walk along the promenade and onto the Links, there was lovely sunshine but the wind was very cold so I was glad I hadn't gone out for the day to have a walk in the countryside.  Back at home I had a good look through my shirts and got out the warm cord ones to wear on colder days.

 

The post brought the refund cheque from SSE for Mum's flat, that should be the last payment concerning the estate so I can now do myself a full set of accounts for my own satisfaction, then all the paperwork can be put away.  For once paying the cheque in with my phone seems to have worked - but I will check in a few days.  Just after that the funeral people rang to say that the council have tried to put the headstone back on Mum and Dad's grave but the ground is still too soft, they will try again in a couple of weeks.  It doesn't particularly bother me as I know where the grave is, no one else is going to go to look at it.

 

I did a little bit of gardening and threw out a couple of dead plants from the greenhouse, I had meant to get rid of them at the end of the summer as I didn't want to keep them but other things got in the way. I also put the amaryllis which is just about to flower in the living room where I can see it.  Later on I shredded a pile of old paperwork, mainly relating to photos I've sent to people over the years which I do not need to keep - almost all of it is on the PC and hard drives anyway.

 

In the evening I watched the Father Brown I hadn't seen in the afternoon, another old 'Allo 'Allo, and Death in Paradise.  In between them I read more of my book.  

 

Now I am waiting for my phone call about the possible colonoscopy.

 

David

 

 

[southern42]

59 minutes ago, Grizz said:

 

UUUUHO!!! Well that is my diet totally garbage trucked right there.

 

Told you! 
 

 

Mmmmmmmmm custardy loveliness in all five of them.…..and there are no witnesses!      Pause for demonic laughter…..

 

That's a "demonic" laughter I gave you, there, Griz :-D

[PeterBB]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good morning all,

 

To be brutally frank, I really don’t see the point in spending money to get on a plane, fly to an exotic location and then demand fish and chips or bacon and eggs. You might as well stay at home with a sun lamp and use the money to buy m***l r*****y stuff!

A number of comments on food and as you know that is something not normally commented about but ... agree with this although no thanks to a sun lamp!  As previously stated had tried to eat 'other' food but basically was sick as a  .... afterwards so 'exotic' trips abroad are a definite 'no no',  however, found that I could take French Fries ... otherwise a few days away has been a great way to loose weight!  

 

On an aside was once overjoyed to see a More Reasons in Gibraltar that made SWMBOs holiday much more enjoyable as her tastes are wide and therefore did not have to worry about me.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Yet another dull and wet start to the day here in England’s northwest corner, but at 8C it’s a little bit warmer than earlier in the week. I’ll shortly be setting off to collect Ava, who will be spending the day here with us, but I doubt she’ll be able to do any sewing today as the light is so bad. Still, I could always take her downstairs to the cellar and let her play trains for a few minutes, I think she’d like that, I know I will, any excuse! 

 

Best get going, back later. 

 

Brian

[Tony_S]

We are off to Mid Sussex today. This confused me at first as I thought perhaps it was just East and West Sussex. However Mid Sussex is a District Council and is part of West Sussex. Probably easier to say we are going to see our nephew who lives in Burgess Hill.

Various other family members will be there including those who live in what used to be Middlesex and the far north (Northamptonshire). 
The weather is wet and rather breezy but I don’t think we will be going out for walks during our visit. Our nephew asked if we would bring a cake, so a suitably sized chocolate cake has been baked. I did offer but Aditi insisted on making it. I spent quite a frustrating time yesterday sorting out the laptop I had in the garage for use with trains.  It hasn’t been used for a while, so needed a lot of updates. However before that I couldn’t remember the password to access the machine. I was just about to start the procedure for a full wipe and reset when inspiration struck and I remembered. During the mass of updates the PC got a bit stuck checking for updates. I tried leaving it for a few hours, no change, I tried turning it on and off, no change. Then I followed the procedure to get it into safe mode, let it boot up, and then restarted it, all was fine. Getting into safe mode used to be so easy, I had to generate 4 failed boots to get access to the menu allowing safe mode. I do have a newer MacBook that has better performance but the interface software doesn’t work well with it. I hope the 12 year old Windows laptop is adequate , I don’t want to buy yet another device! 
I also visited the dermatology clinic at Basildon Hospital yesterday. I was called in right on time, had a chat , had my skin inspected. All good,  or changes or new problems. Now on annual appointments rather than six monthly. 

Tony
 

[BSW01]

On the subject of food;

I hate semolina, tapioca and liver, all probably down to the way they were cooked in school. 

 

But I love rice pudding, mash potatoes and porridge as my mother used to make them properly.

[polybear]

Bear here......

Today sees Bear searching out suitable wood to make a framework for the boxing in of the Leccy Consumer Unit in the Hall - it lives above & to the right of the front door.  Being able to cut it would be nice too, but judging by the forecast that may well be a little too much to hope for.  Turdycurses.

Apart from that it's MIUABGAD; I received a new toy yesterday in a box marked Proxxon that promises to be a rather nice way to make small holes, so I may give that a quick test.

A text was been sent to the Plasterer yesterday - nothing back as yet.

 

In other news.....

After seeing that late TV news yesterday I see China appear to have dropped a very large tab when it comes to Covid - it appears some 900M people may well have been infected with Covid since 11th Jan 2023; some areas have rates as high as 91%.  Lunar New Year starts on 21st Jan - with the world's largest annual migration of people.  Doesn't seem a smart idea to this Bear.

Reports are that their Covid Jabs may well be less effective than our own as well.

 

And finally....

I see that the UK are about to ban single use plastics for Takeaways - and not before time too.  They mentioned on the R2 News earlier that the UK produces more plastic waste per person than any other major country, after the USA.  That's scary.

 

Bear gone.

 

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Potato salad??? The others I get, but potato salad??? (Said knowing my rice pudding aversion is hardly logical.)

I have no idea why I don’t like potato salad. I eat and enjoy all kinds of textures and flavours (I even enjoy chicken feet Dim Sum! [tasty when done right, but very rich - I can usually only eat 3 of a 5 feet Dim Sum basket])

 

Now having a “Full English” (no beans, no tomato, extra black pudding) in a lovely traditional “Caff” near Liverpool St Station.

Then it’s off to meet the Brains Trust to raise a glass to JohnDMJ, ChrisF and Andrew (whose RMWeb name escapes me at the moment) Brains Trust stalwarts who we sadly lost late last year.

[jjb1970]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Porridge Oats.. fine if made with water not milk and a sprinkling of salt..

 

 

Finally, a kindred spirit! Everyone I know thinks I'm bonkers for making porridge with water and adding a pinch of salt, it's the way my grandmother made it and it's still the only way I like porridge.

[jjb1970]

15 minutes ago, polybear said:

I see that the UK are about to ban single use plastics for Takeaways - and not before time too.  They mentioned on the R2 News earlier that the UK produces more plastic waste per person than any other major country, after the USA.  That's scary.

 

 

I wonder how that is calculated, as bad as it is in the UK I'd be amazed if it is worse than Singapore and some other Asian countries. I can go to the supermarket with five relatively small and light items and get five disposable carrier bags. Till cashiers give me a rather bemused look when I suggest it could all go in one bag. People here eat a lot of carry out food as it is cheaper than cooking at home, and while some comes in paper or banana leaf the majority is polystyrene or plastic. The amount of plastic waste here is obscene (I say that as someone who loves the place). Indonesia and Malaysia are similar, though Indonesia has been making an effort to improve, more so than Singapore.

[polybear]

23 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Then it’s off to meet the Brains Trust to raise a glass to JohnDMJ, ChrisF and Andrew (whose RMWeb name escapes me at the moment) Brains Trust stalwarts who we sadly lost late last year.

 

ChrisF's sad departure has been briefly mentioned in the latest copy of the EMGS Newsletter - there is to be an Obituary in the April Newsletter, apparently.

 

Bear here......

My last post was actually typed and sending attempted several hours ago - I've been noticing the "Submit Reply" box seems to regularly stick on "Sending" for ages in the last day or so; I've also noticed that the ER and TNM Boards often take ages to refresh, yet others seem to load very quickly.  All rather strange.

 

I've been into Beamland and a good supply of Timber suitable for framing the Leccy C.U. box has been obtained - much of it was rescued from the old kitchen units when they were broken up.  Result.  Sadly the cr@p weather means I can do little more on that job though.  Poo.

 

I've tested the new Proxxon FBS240/E Drill and noted that there is the usual high pitched "whizz" (technical term) that is to be expected and increases with the drill speed.  I did also note a quieter and much lower pitched background noise (rumble?) as well.  Wonder if this is normal - I've pinged a PM to a couple of RMWebbers with the same drill to ask if they have the same.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Wet. 5.5C.

 

Food in primary and secondary schools was pretty good, though I passed on the tapioca, sago, pink custard and a couple of other things simply because I do not like those things, Their rice puddings, sponge puddings, and chocolate pudding with chocolate custard were always looked forward to. I do not like green beens, but primary school did do a nice butter beans with tomato. Dinners were varied and were pretty much similar to what we had at home. (We are going back a few decades!) Fish and chips was a Friday thing at secondary, and also much looked forward to.  College food was even better in the days when college meals were fully catered. 

 

Rain has stopped and blue sky has appeared on the north side. At least it is brighter. Dismal when it is dark! Sun still stuck behind a big cloud on the south side, though, leaving us in the shadow.

 

Things to do including a bit of muddling that did not get done, yesterday, as planned. I ended up going through loads of paper stuff to see what could be binned, put away. or just tidied up. A job to be finished!

 

 

Keep warm / cool. Be good. Enjoy your food.

Polly

 

[Coombe Barton]

More logs have been delivered. Now waiting a diminution on the rain so that I can bring them n. They're covered in their bag so they'll remain as dry as they can.

Still cream crackered from yesterday. Hopefully we can recruit from that lot. Hopefully one of them can replace me. Hopefully then I can set a retirement date.

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Coombe Barton
Autocorrect said that more dogs have been ...

[monkeysarefun]

I don't think supplied school dinners (we'd call them lunches)was ever a thing here, everyone  just took sandwiches (or bought a pie from the school canteen in winter) , hence I have no PTSD style food phobias, other than for warm mushy bananas, dried up heat  toasted bread yet which managed to also be soggy due to the tomato, and lukewarm orange cordial in a plastic drink flask which flies would gather around and climb inside when you weren't watching.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Grizz said:

 

UUUUHO!!! Well that is my diet totally garbage trucked right there.

 

Told you! 
 

 

Mmmmmmmmm custardy loveliness in all five of them.…..and there are no witnesses!      Pause for demonic laughter…..

Beth is very partial to those whenever she sees them.  Here logs have been barrowed down.  

 

Jamie

[jjb1970]

School put me off milk for years, being forced to drink tepid milk through a paper straw gave me an intense hatred of milk. It's funny, I still remember all the flak Maggie got for stealing milk from the needy children of the world yet everyone I was at school with felt the same as I did about school milk.

[grandadbob]

I seem to have been lucky with school dinners as on the whole most things were edible although mainly overcooked.  The food was cooked on the premises unlike IIRC some of the schools in the area back in the 50s and 60s where it was transported from a central kitchen or a school with a kitchen. 

The one major dislike verging on hatred I had at school was hearts.  So tough and leathery I couldn't eat them and still don't although when Mum cooked them they were totally different.

I like most of the things that others here don't:  Rice pudding, semolina, tapioca, bread & butter pudding, porridge (with milk, never tried it with water) liver, (& kidneys), kidney beans, broad beans in fact all beans and most vegetables really except aubergine)

All this talk of food is making me peckish but I'll have to wait a bit until lunchtime.

[jjb1970]

I am not a big sea food eater but I like a lot of SE Asian seafood which is not fishy. One cautionary note about Asia is that the absence of fish doesn't necessarily mean a dish will be free of fish taste as fish sauce is used in other dishes. One of the principal condiments here is sambal which is chilli sauce made using fermented shrimp paste. It's perhaps an acquired taste but once you get a taste for it it's splendid stuff. Potency varies from relatively mild to fully weaponized.

[grandadbob]

36 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

I don't think supplied school dinners (we'd call them lunches)was ever a thing here

That's just flagged up a bit of an anomaly as we always seem to have referred to them as school dinners (and took our dinner money to school) but at home it was and still is lunchtime and dinner is in the evening.