Watcha Doin' - 2016.1 Showing 101-150 of 3,910

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Is your cow okay?

[Travis]

Cow is fine. It was basically the equivalent to a person skiing and having ice in eyebrows or eyelashes. You dont really feel it. A cows teats are really the only thing susceptible to the cold and frost bite. The rest of them covered in hair allows them to tokerate real cold weather. Our oldest heifers run loose in a pen and we leave the door open most all winter and you would be surprised how cold of days they just lay in the snow soaking the sun. Windy and wind chill they stay in barn but if there isnt much wind theyll be outside regardless what the mercury says.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh good. I remember you saying last year some ears got snapped, so was making sure she's okay.

[Travis]

Oh yeah the baby calves and the frostbite on the tips of the ears. I'd forgotten about that. That was very srrange occurance. Must be bexause the calves don't have the thick growth of hair. It's still that soft silky hair wheb they're little. I've never seen a mature cow have a problem.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Poor little baby cows. I'll give them hugs to warm them up.

[Lynda]

Man, Travis, you need a shot of tequila! Sorry it was such a rough day, but good on you for helping out at the gas station. Your karma tank is full.

It's been really cold here, too...or I should say, really cold for the NW. It's been 30° F every morning - I'd really like it to get back into the norm temp range of 40-45° (7° C). Yesterday it rained a ton, so this morning the road was a skating rink, couldn't go more than 30-35 mph (48-56 kph). As I was leaving my town (where the speed limit is 25) a big truck came screaming up behind me. When we go to where the speed limit jumps to 50, he goes to pass, starts to spin-out, ducks back behind me, and backs way way off. I would have laughed, if I wasn't so focused on the road.

[Peggy]

I hate it when it's so icy outside. In the north of the Netherlands streets have frozen over as well, people are actually ice-skating in the streets! Schools and some companies are closed, public transport is disrupted, and people are told not to go outside unless they really have to.

[Travis]

Ice is one if the worse things. Then you have your black ice that is basically invisible. It sucks. My driveway has a slope to it and a small hill in one spot. Ice makes is crazy. We have had freezing rain forecasted quite a bit this winter but so far have dodged most of it.

[Ariane]

Peggy wrote: "I hate it when it's so icy outside. In the north of the Netherlands streets have frozen over as well, people are actually ice-skating in the streets! Schools and some companies are closed, public t..."
I read that in the newspaper Peggy, that's impressive! Fingers crossed, no snow or ice here so far! I hate snow...

[Travis]

Last couple days I been thinking where did the kids snowman arm and face go. Just 3 blank balls of snow. Juat realized they built it within the dogs wireless fence. He stripped down frosty

[Sarah]

I have visions of a screaming snowman unable to get away from the savage jaws of a dog. Out of curiosity, what kind of dog do you have Travis.

[Travis]

He is a german short haired pointer. Brown so he looks like s lab but has a softer finer fur than the coarser hair pf a lab. I mention this because they shoulf be colored with a white spotted head but they breed them to be all brown for some reason. We took him after he had been through 3 houses. No one cpuld handle his energy. He is a bird dog, well he isnt, but the breed is amd like most hinting dogs full of energy. Bunch of people tried raising him in an apartment. Look people don't buy a dog whoch needs excessive excercise if you live in an apartment simple as that

[Lynda]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Ice is one if the worse things. Then you have your black ice that is basically invisible. It sucks. My driveway has a slope to it and a small hill in one spot. Ice makes is crazy. We have had freez..."

Blech, yes. We're very susceptible to black ice here in the Northwest. I like the idea of everyone just staying home for a while.

[Mariab]

And severe flooding here in the South (Nord for Russalka).
"El Niño" is to blame.

[Sarah]

We have a frost this morning. It was so cold in the boat - I didn't want to get out from under the duvet but if I didn't get up and light a fire it would have got colder. Only 10C in the boat. Brrr. I had to go out to empty the ash pan too. So much for having a non-slip plank to get off the boat! The non-slip covering just iced over. I slipped on it with the ash pan in my hand - I have no idea how I managed not to go down on my arse or in the canal. I am staying put in my boat now - I'm not going anywhere. It looks like winter has finally arrived here in the UK and it's set to hang around for at least the next couple of weeks. It does look pretty out there.

[Travis]

Ok let me explain why that is so funny Sarah. You slipped carrying an ash pan. While perhaps a bit icy, ashes are great to put on ice for traction. Somr people still soread them on their driveways when its icy. You coukd have simply soread some ash ahead of you

[Rusalka, Moderator]

So I had a ridiculous conversation with a friend in Maryland the other day. Albeit, he was drunk, but he asserted that you don't have what i call a doona or Sarah calls a duvet, in the States.

Please tell me this is not so.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Ok let me explain why that is so funny Sarah. You slipped carrying an ash pan. While perhaps a bit icy, ashes are great to put on ice for traction. Somr people still soread them on their driveways ..."

But then it'd be wet AND dirty.

[Travis]

Rusalka wrote: "So I had a ridiculous conversation with a friend in Maryland the other day. Albeit, he was drunk, but he asserted that you don't have what i call a doona or Sarah calls a duvet, in the States.

Pl..."

I googled it. No we don't. We use comforters which are similar but different. Wikipedia had a lot to explain on it and said you would call it a doona Rusalka. I'd never heard either word or seen one either. Sorry. Guess we don't roll like that

[Peggy]

Comforters and duvets look exactly the same to me when I google pictures.

You were lucky Sarah! Wise to stay safely inside :)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

You should. I rarely sleep without one, unless it's stupid hot and I pull out a sheet. It's like being hugged to sleep by a giant goose. Blankets or Quilts don't cut it.

For others, it's two pieces of cotton, and is stuffed with usually down (tiny feathers), but I have had a wool one before. It is stitched into large squares (quilted) to make sure that the stuffing stays put, and doesn't all fall to one end. It's so fluffy and warm and cuddly.

Right, well thank you for that. I need to go apologise to someone it seems...

[Travis]

Well the duvet descriotion says it is more of a stuffed bag. Comforters everything is stitched tight and uses a flat chunk of cotton vs. a fluffuer stuffing in the duvet. As I understand it via wikipedia

[Sarah]

I have never heard of ash being sprinkled on ice before. Salt, yes! I'll remember that. You learn something new every day!

I always associate a comforter with something a baby sucks for comfort, a dummy, a teddy bear, a blanket, a hankie etc.

I checked the wiki for comforter and it looks like they are thinner than a duvet and therefore you'd have a sheet underneath and perhaps blankets on top. Duvets are measured in tog ratings for how warm they'll be. My duvet is 13.5 tog. It's a couple years old now though and on the boat, we have a sheet under it and a small blanket over our feet so a comforter doesn't sound like it's a million miles off a duvet. They look similar.

[Peggy]

I read about it now and I get the difference.

We use duvets, but in the middle of winter when it's icy cold I throw a comforter on top (although probably a bit thinner than people in the US would use on a daily basis).

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh so like a mini-doona-blanket is a comforter. Nah. Commit people. Get the 25cms thick duck down doona.

Understand Peggy, until I got my new doona, I used to chuck a blanket on top for super cold (*cough*-8C*cough*) nights, But I got a new one that wasn't 20 years old and fixed all that.

[Travis]

You'll have to get a bag of safer than salt. It is an environmentally safe alternative and safe for kids and pets to melt ice. You know too much salt in the water is bad for the fishies.

[Sarah]

I can see the difference between a duvet and the comforter - the seams across it stop the filling bunching up. Good to hear you use both in the winter Peggy. I'm off to by one to go on top of my duvet! It seems we call it a bedspread that goes on top of a duvet.

[Travis]

For us a bedspread is a very thin blanket usually fitted to bed size to go actoss top and down sides to hide all matress sheet blanket whatever. Decorative not usually used to cover with.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

We call that a bedspread too. No function, just floopy. You chuck it over you when you're in a hotel and you have no other blankets.

[Peggy]

Rusalka wrote: "Oh so like a mini-doona-blanket is a comforter. Nah. Commit people. Get the 25cms thick duck down doona.

Understand Peggy, until I got my new doona, I used to chuck a blanket on top for super cold..."

Besides the extra warmth, I also really like the heavy weight of duvet + comforter in winter. But we should look into new duvets at some point probably. We have duvets that consist of two parts, and you can click them together. There's a thinner part for summer (although often I sleep under only a sheet)/spring, a thicker part for spring/autumn, and then for winter you click them together.

Maybe it's a bedspread for us too. It's thicker than a blanket but not as thick as a duvet/comforter. But I would call it a blanket, but something thinner just to cover yourself when you're reading on the couch and it's a bit chilly would be a blanket too.

Ah, I know what you mean by bedspread Travis! I saw them a lot when we slept in hotels and motels in the states. Although sometimes hotels here have them too.

Who knew there was so much difference in this across the world!

[Travis]

Never gave it a tgought before but that us all a hotel gives you

[Sarah]

OK. I'm going to look in to this bedding further. I want some extra warmth.

Anyone else wonder why duvets/doonas/comforters aren't longer so that your feet are covered AND your shoulders at the same time. Not either or? Just a couple of extra inches would do it.

[Sarah]

And, noted about the right kind of salt for the fishies! Thanks. At the moment we don't use anything (other than roofing felt nailed to the plank for extra grip) - hence why it was slippy.

[Peggy]

Sarah wrote: "OK. I'm going to look in to this bedding further. I want some extra warmth.

Anyone else wonder why duvets/doonas/comforters aren't longer so that your feet are covered AND your shoulders at the s..."

Hm. Never had that problem. Standard length here is 200cm / almost 80 inches

[Travis]

Um our comforters can be tucked under our feetby like a foot and still able to pull it over our heads around here

[Travis]

I think our comforter is lije 2 feet longer than our bed and wider too

[Sandra, Moderator]

We used duvets in Austria a couple of years ago, and loved them. They are really warm. I thought they were warmer than comforters, but then I discovered my comforter was overdue. I bought a new one for this winter and it's soooo great! It happened that I changed my mind about the design of the fabric in the last minute when I was buying it, and distracted because of this I ended buying a King size instead of a Queen. I realized at home and thought of returned it, but my husband wanted to try it anyways. It's the best thing we could do! It's giant for the bed, and it doesn't look like a bed from BetterHomes magazine, but it's absolutely great. I'm never buying a Queen one never again.

[Travis]

Of course at my house we bleed quilts. My mother in law is a quilter. Making quilts is an addiction for a quilter. Therefore we have about 8 quilts for every bed anyway. They are everywhere. She has like industrial quilt making shop in her house she really pumps these things out fast and then they need homes. I'm guessing all her friends and family have a lifetime supply by now

[Lilisa]

Some folks in the U.S. use duvets. I have a duvet in my guest bedroom. It's lighter than a comforter but we have a blanket under it for guests to be nice and snugly in the winter. It slips into a duvet cover.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Sarah wrote: "OK. I'm going to look in to this bedding further. I want some extra warmth.

Anyone else wonder why duvets/doonas/comforters aren't longer so that your feet are covered AND your shoulders at the s..."

Right. So I'm going to share some secrets with you.

Lexx and I have two single doona covers, and one doona each in both. Best. No fighting in sleep for doonas, etc.

Inside each single doona cover, we have one queen sized doona each. Lexx folds his neatly in half, coz he's like that. I shove mine in, as I'm like that. Queens are a bit longer too so covers everything, but I'm a shortarse at 160cm (5'1"-2" depending). So I'm fine. But I and Mr 6' don't have probs with single doonas here either. Maybe they are shorter in the Uk (oh the double entendre).

Either way, double the warmth, no fighting over doonas. If one person chucks it off in the night, no possible waking the other by throwing it off them. Amazing.

[Stephanie]

@Rusalka I'm glad I'm not the only one that has a separate blanket from their significant other ;) I'm a blanket stealer (my husband tells me) in my sleep so we had to opt for separate blankets :)

[Peggy]

Lol Rusalka, we are the same! We have two separate matrasses and two separate duvets. I love it, never any worries about pulling the other's cover off while sleeping or fighting about it. And you don't have your matras going all bouncy when the other moves a lot. We always fight over the covers when we have to share the duvet when we sleep somewhere else.

[Sarah]

I can see the advantages with your setup Rusalka. Our double duvet is 190cm long. I'm 170cms (my partner's taller) so sounds like we should have plenty of duvet but still when it's cold I find that I either have cold feet and warm shoulders or warm feet and cold shoulders. Oh well.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

We have a Memory Foam (http://au.tempur.com/mattresses/) matress which aborbs tossing and turning... so many jokes, so little time. So we don't need separate mattresses. But that's really not a bad idea.

Lexx sometimes completely stole the doona, rolled onto it, and there was no moving him. I am so happy. He's happy as he sleeps with less than me, so can without dealing with a doona if he needs.

I've never heard of it, but Lexx's parents apparently always had separate doonas as they needed different levels of warmth. Gave it a go, and never went back.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Peggy, Rusalka and Stephanie, I proposed this solution to my husband a few years ago and his answer was like "what come next? divorce? I kill you and then kill myself before that". :) Well, not exactly, but kind of. :) But the extra huge comforter did the trick. And to be honest, I like to put my frozen feet in his burning ones... so...

[Travis]

Wr have so many quilts we each can use however many we want the only thing we share is the comforter that goes over everything. Ive gone to bed and found my wife under like 6 quilts where as I forget to cover up a lot and sometines am shivering balled up under a towel or a tshirt or even a pillow case covering a tiny percentage of my body. We keep the furnace vents cloaed ib the bedroom so it is a bit chilly at times in there

[Tasha]

Travis of NNY wrote: "He is a german short haired pointer. Brown so he looks like s lab but has a softer finer fur than the coarser hair pf a lab. I mention this because they shoulf be colored with a white spotted head ..."

My step brother has one of these dogs and he does go hunting with him. He has him trained really well. A beautiful breed! I bet yours love the farm life, so much to keep him occupied.

[Travis]

My dog probably could have been a hunter too if hed been started as a pup. He was too old when we got him. I am partial to English Setters myself but the german shorthairs are supposed to train easier. Plus the kids can do whatever they want and doesnt phase him. So good with kids

[Stephanie]

@ Sandra we tried a larger comforter but I still stole it at night...oops ;) it probably doesn't help that our dog sleeps with us. He sleeps on top of the covers though :)

[Sandra, Moderator]

Haha, I forgot Blake. Yes, that's too many "people" in one bed and for one comforter... :)