Early Risers.

[AndyID]

Is your state one of the ones that disputes Darwin?

 

It's a "self-determination" state. If you're determined to do yourself in the state's not going to stop you.

 

EDIT: Mind you, in terms of population it is the fastest growing state which is likely to alter the demographics and the political landscape fairly quickly.

Edited July 19, 2018 by AndyID

[Barry O]

Thanks for the birthday wishes.

 

Good cricket tea including copious numbers of strawberries.

 

My Australian umpiring colleague was 20 minutes late as they had changed the start time without telling us. I was half an hour early.

 

Yorkshire U15 girls defeated Durham U15 girls by 80 odd runs.

 

Now off to have a birthday supper.

 

Baz

 

Ps Kohli was not happy getting bowled out by a leg spinner.. first time in his ODI career

Edited July 19, 2018 by Barry O

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

 

Work is getting somewhat busy, to much to do, not enough time to do it. One unit has been returned to cal again for the third time, let's hope they've fixed it this time.

 

I stopped for new number plates on the way home,this is for the trailer I'm getting, and a spare to keep in the landrover for towing someone else's trailer. Also I had the motorboats registration number put on a plate twice, which I'll cut in half. That lot were printed and sat on the counter before the other guy had finished the legal document For the trailer plates.

 

Got home to take Ben the Border Collie to the vets, the nurse on duty asked if we could rearrange the visit as they had an emergency, a dog was " open on the table".

We were just about to rearrange when the junior Vet appeared, had a quick look, gave Ben a sweet, said it was ok and disappeared back into the surgery. We weren't charged.

 

After much research, I've chosen and ordered a new tablet for SWMBO, much more expensive than this one, If she knew that, I'd get it in the neck, if I get her a cheaper, one it would be slower / smaller, I'd get it in the neck...

 

Time to.... head off to facebook and read the families page, it's my mum's birthday.

[petethemole]

Evenin' awl, and Happy Birthday to Baz.

 

a bit late on parade today despite actually rising early, a rarity in college holidays. I had to accompany Mrs mole by taxi to the Eye Hospital. Following the cataract operations she has a "cloudy" spot in her lazy eye, and she'd been booked for a laser treatment to remove it. However after various waits and examinations they decided they couldn't treat it, however she shouldn't worry as her sight is now better than it's ever been, which is why she can now see it, as it's related to the lazy eye and has always been there. So we got a bus back.

 

Shopping done, MRJ, Back Track and Steam Days acquired, pint consumed, tea cooked and eaten, time to relax, after packing a couple of items.

 

Good vibes to all,

 

Pete.

[bbishop]

Is your state one of the ones that disputes Darwin?

 

And does it acknowledge Darwin Awards?

 

Bill

[bbishop]

Hopefully attending a 20-20 match at Lord's tonight. A friend has a spare ticket - a client of his must have turned down at the last moment for me to make it on the list. It's supposed to be couriered here, but no sign just yet....

 

And it is about the only game that I'm missing.

 

Bill

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land.

 

Is your state one of the ones that disputes Darwin?

 

 

Not as much as Utah, or Kentucky.

 

 

And does it acknowledge Darwin Awards?

 

Bill

Many Darwin award winners appear to come from those states, I wonder if there's a connection?    They actually have a 'live' candidate for the award this year. A 16 year old youth was practicing sex with various household objects including a blender. However he didn't notice that it was still plugged in, as he was doing the deed he accidently switched it on... The paramedics got there just in time to stop him bleeding to death but he has certainly removed himself from the gene pool.

Edited July 19, 2018 by PhilJ W

[Black Marlin]

Evening all from Estuary-Land.

 

Many Darwin award winners appear to come from those states, I wonder if there's a connection?    They actually have a 'live' candidate for the award this year. A 16 year old youth was practicing sex with various household objects including a blender. However he didn't notice that it was still plugged in, as he was doing the deed he accidently switched it on... The paramedics got there just in time to stop him bleeding to death but he has certainly removed himself from the gene pool.

 

Sounds like he gave himself a nasty turn.

 

[JohnDMJ]

Sounds like he gave himself a nasty turn.

 

 

Probably feeling a bit cut up about it!

[southern42]

' Evening all from red dragon land.

 

Happy birthday Baz.  Wishing you many more but not too close together.

 

Trip to town for long overdue haircut.  Lovely hairdresser who had it done it no time so I arrived at N*r*'s for coffee ahead of the others.  One had gone to the barbers, youngest went shopping.  Managed to read an article in the H***by mag about the joys of making things fit on the 0 g**g* test tr**k.

Then bought a pot of red enamel paint for the name plates to go on Speedy.  Spent the afternoon cleaning the name plates and painting them.  Then made my fat free fruit bars for the weekend.  The Grand Opening is apparently now ending at 5pm instead of 4pm so I will need some extra sustenance without the extra weight gain.    

 

Sun down.  Dark grey cloud along the horizon with layer of red haze above fading into clear sky.

 

' Night all and nos da.

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Sister Drac - well actually Sister Diabolic and then the Doctor - so having got in to see him I made good use of my appointment time and almost as much again.  The numbers game was interesting - cholesterol continues on bingo numbers, new pill to be tried 'which can cause pancreaitis' so as L said to the Doctor having b*ggered my kidneys with one lot of medication. your next target is going to be my pancreas, no wonder they employ nurses to stop the doctors killing their patients.  (he took it in good spirit); BP 'excellent' and one of my pills immediately to be reduced in hit value by 50% to see if I can manage to keep it that way, regular BP checks at Tesco to be carried out; diabetes number up - got me really going but he seemed happy with it although medication duly changed from today to a different pill of the same hit value.  Otherwise all well - kidney function improved as a result of reducing the diabetes medication a year ago.  He had a good look through my hospital results from Tuesday and said at least I'd got a full MoT out of it!   Some checks briefly carried put to make sure my head wasn't drowning in my own blood.  Told by sister Diabolic to lose some weight - hmm, er, well, maybe, perhaps but no doubt the walk to/from the surgery in this heat might have had some effect apart from leaving me k-nackered.

 

Chiropractor - new guy - came with a new form of 'treatment' called, in plain language 'pull the patient's head off' carried out by means of a towel round my head, no passing Vogon demolition fleet was encountered and my head remains attached but seemingly slightly repositioned.  The problem is apparently in my neck - further treatment on Tuesday.

Edited July 19, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[AndrewC]

Meanwhile, in this state you can drive a motor-bike without a skid-lid and carry passengers in the open bed of you pick-up truck, which never has to pass any sort of safety inspection or emission test although I think it does need to show at least one red tail-light after sundown. Oh, and you can use your mobile phone while driving but you're not allowed to text.

Riding in the bed of a pickup is a sore point for me. Way back in high school (78 to be exact) my best mate's sister and the gang were out for a Saturday jolly in the Rockies. Truck hit a big pothole just as Kim was moving from one side to the other. She was bounced out and didn't survive. She was a lovely girl (that I fancied) and not even 16. Senseless waste.

[Andrew P]

Evening all,

 

Sister Drac - well actually Sister Diabolic and then the Doctor - so having got in to see him I made good use of my appointment time and almost as much again.  The numbers game was interesting - cholesterol continues on bingo numbers, new pill to be tried 'which can cause pancreaitis' so as L said to the Doctor having b*ggered my kidneys with one lot of medication. your next target is going to be my pancreas, no wonder they employ nurses to stop the doctors killing their patients.  (he took it in good spirit); BP 'excellent' and one of my pills immediately to be reduced in hit value by 50% to see if I can manage to keep it that way, regular BP checks at Tesco to be carried out; diabetes number up - got me really going but he seemed happy with it although medication duly changed from today to a different pill of the same hit value.  Otherwise all well - kidney function improved as a result of reducing the diabetes medication a year ago.  He had a good look through my hospital results from Tuesday and said at least I'd got a full MoT out of it!   Some checks briefly carried put to make sure my head wasn't drowning in my own blood.  Told by sister Diabolic to lose some weight - hmm, er, well, maybe, perhaps but no doubt the walk to/from the surgery in this heat might have had some effect apart from leaving me k-nackered.

 

Chiropractor - new guy - came with a new form of 'treatment' called, in plain language 'pull the patient's head off' carried out by means of a towel round my head, no passing Vogon demolition fleet was encountered and my head remains attached but seemingly slightly repositioned.  The problem is apparently in my neck - further treatment on Tuesday.

Your lucky to see a GP Mike, I called my Surgery on Monday, and the earliest Phone Call back I can get is the 9th Aug, hope I don't snuff it before then, or it'll be well annoyed.

 

I'm ringing the Surgeon that did the Stent tomorrow for a consultation.

Edited July 19, 2018 by Andrew P

[Barry O]

Very nice Italian meal eaten with a bottle of merlot. Amaretto based decaf coffee drunk...now for some sleep.

 

Sleep well all and hope all who ail have a restful evening.

Baz

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

Your lucky to see a GP Mike, I called my Surgery on Monday, and the earliest Phone Call back I can get is the 9th Aug, hope I don't snuff it before then, or it'll be well annoyed.

 

I'm ringing the Surgeon that did the Stent tomorrow for a consultation.

 

It's usually a 5 week minimum wait to see this chap Andy but it's a diabolic check I was called for so they told me the date although I didn't realise I'd get to see the doctor until I signed it - and even then it was at 4 weeks notice!

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

The sun has been shining all day. This morning’s tasks were all completed before dinner, so I was able to spend the afternoon in the workshop, although I only managed a couple of hours. My first task was to make myself a rack to hold all the long pieces of various size brass, aluminium and steel rod in. I’ve made it from a few off cuts of 54mm down pipe from when I fitted gutters to the shed, it looks like a very large desk tidy for pens! Once that was finished, I made a start soldering up the frame of a MARKITS gearbox.

 

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[lightengine]

Chrisf -- investigate J D Williams   - around £15 per pair - zippers, stretch, and wash and wash  (separately initially!)  I have worn their indigo ones for years and live in them - Currently have four pairs of brand new ones - to be washed when needed. Hate buttons

M&S outlet shops sell a good variety of zippered fly jeans at reasonable price around £15. The quality is excellent

[Ozexpatriate]

I am still tired, (but feeling increasingly better as the weekend approaches) after preparing to be plumbed fore and aft yesterday morning. Drinking 4l of evil 'prep' in two stages between 6:00pm and 3:00am, followed by less than three hours of sleep is miserable.

 

The endoscopy/colonoscopy procedure itself was uneventful. Much better than last time due to the presence of an experienced nurse anesthetist. I'm glad it is over and am looking forward to relaxing on the weekend.

 

After a brief respite from the high heat, the weather is warming up again with 33°C expected on Sunday. It was warmer than that last weekend when Wimbledon finals kept me occupied in the cooler morning hours while the weeds and grass grew unabated.  The dandelions are laughing at me. I shall have to make an effort to weed and mow early on Saturday.

 

Wildfires are tearing through fields east of the mountains fed by winds flowing between a coastal high and an inland low pressure system.. A farmer died, presumably trying to create a fire break with his tractor. 50,000 acres have been consumed in the "Substation Fire".

Edited July 20, 2018 by Ozexpatriate

[AndyID]

Riding in the bed of a pickup is a sore point for me. Way back in high school (78 to be exact) my best mate's sister and the gang were out for a Saturday jolly in the Rockies. Truck hit a big pothole just as Kim was moving from one side to the other. She was bounced out and didn't survive. She was a lovely girl (that I fancied) and not even 16. Senseless waste.

 

That is very sad Andrew.

 

MrsID's brother was the front seat passenger in a Mini during a low-speed rollover while approaching the toll-booths at the Erskine bridge. Two things could easily have saved his life; seatbelts or anti-burst door locks. Unfortunately the Mini had neither. I'm an engineer and that really pisses me off. These were not new ideas at the time.

 

We try not to talk about it.

[AndyID]

I had ideas about actually washing my truck, but as it's a bit toasty I thought, "Buqqer it! I'll run it through the new all-singing, all-dancing automated carwash".  Looks like it did a pretty good job too. The only snag is when I stopped at a store five minutes later some bird had carped all over one of the doors.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all, with apologies to Baz for overlooking his birthday yesterday.

 

Various computer idiosyncracies annoyed me beyond measure yesterday.  One of those attending Area Group on Wednesday thoughtfully sent me a link to a website which gave more details of the methods he used to weather the wagon that he brought to show us.  After trying several times to copy and paste it into an e-mail without success, I contacted the helpful person.  Apparently it only works if you copy the link from the e-mail to a Word document, then copy it again and paste it into the e-mail that you are about to send.  I shall try to remember that but more likely I shall fail miserably.

 

Then there has been more grief with Faecesbook.  I spent what was probably most of the day figuring out how to post in the check-in section, by means of which you can tell anyone that you have been somewhere.  Almost accidentally I made it work for the pub where Area Group meets – the Engineer in Harpenden, since you ask - but, try as I may, I could not get it to tell the world that I checked into Bristol Pride on Saturday.  Common sense tells me not to bother but I have an obstinate streak.  Eventually, and despite p!ss-poor instructions which seem to omit half the procedure, I achieved my objective.  The silly bit is that there are now also entries in News Feed AND Profile, which looks a bit odd nearly a week after the event!  Why is nothing ever simple? Later I amused myself populating the section telling whoever wants to know what TV programmes I watch.  I wonder what it will do if I ask it to list Z Cars?  Watch With Mother?  The Test Card?

 

Happier news by far is that the new Mamma Mia film opens today.  That will give me something to do over the weekend.

 

Fancy jeans with flybuttons being high fashion!  As I profess either to set trends or ignore them completely I am quite shocked and may never live it down.  Both my pairs of jeans have survived the laundry process but a visit to M&S before it succumbs may not be a bad idea.  As far as I know the only designer item I have is a Jasper Conran towel.

 

Warm thoughts to Andyram, Andy P, Robert, Simon, Debs, Tony and Aditi, Mal and all who are in distress or missing.

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

We look set for another warm day today.  According to the forecast it is going to be the warmest of the year so far.

 

Everything is incredibly dry around here.  Most of the crops have already been harvested because of lack of water.  Yesterday, the fire brigade turned up at around lunchtime and rushed into the forest which I can see from my office window.  It later transpired that somebody had spotted smoke, but it turned out to be dust created by a lorry manoeuvring on a building site!

 

Hopefully we'll have some rain in the new future.

 

Have a good day everyone...