Amazon exiles discussion
Don't Kill Snails with Salt ... Creme Eggs & Toasted Teacakes ... Biscuits & Bench Stories, Life, the Universe, & Everything!
P.S. ... you're all going to be getting an early Christmas Gift in the Post ...Four Toilet Rolls and at least five large Baking Potatoes each!!! ;o>
Happy birthday to youHappy birthday to you
Happy birthday
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday!
Happy Birthday Suzy, hope you're having a great day! Very belated wishes to Duke too. :-)
suzysunshine7 wrote: "P.S. ... you're all going to be getting an early Christmas Gift in the Post ...Four Toilet Rolls and at least five large Baking Potatoes each!!! ;o>"
Ooohhh...i do like a baked spud! :)
happy birthday, suzy.and don't worry about the freezer, they stay frozen a long while (days) if unopened and the power is off. If you feel like it you could fill the empty space with water filled containers like milk cartons. If the freezer's full it'll cost less to run, and stay frozen longer if your dad switches it off! :)
Awww, thank you! ... x x xIt's certainly been quite a day all day long here today! - and I'm SO shattered that I can barely even work out how to type anymore so I'm off to Bed early for a change tonight ;o>
In between all of the mind-boggling moments of complete chaos here I've also spent several hours online in trying to help with sourcing essentials for a local Community Group - which has had me wondering if I'm missing something on wondering over and over again as to why on Earth Companies don't seem to be able to link up their state of the art modern technology between their Website Shops and their Warehouses ... so that they have always got regular and reliable updates on Stock availability on each Item?
Is it just me not getting just how challenging and difficult this might be to set up? - because it really does seem to be such an incredibly obvious and easy solution to letting Customers know they are ordering and paying for Stock that is, and then suddenly isn't, available and won't be for some time either?
I've been on an urgent hunt for a large bulk-buy of cheap yet strong Disposable Aprons and have made it as far as the Checkout so many times and ticked Next Day Delivery only to discover that their idea of 'Next Day' on Delivery is actually going to be sometime in late August or September.
I've finally seemingly found and bought some - but I wouldn't be at all surprised if I have to try and chase this Order up in a day or two only to get told that they currently have got no Stock in. I got the Order in before 3pm so, in theory, they should be coming tomorrow or possibly the day after? ... which would be absolutely ideal as the Volunteers are estimating that they only have around about two days supply left as of today.
Ahhh well, it won't be easy trying to sleep with all of my Fingers crossed but, what the hey! - I'll give a go! - LOL!!! ;o>
The Manual for the Freezer says it can keep on working for up to 17 hours during a Power Cut, Serial, so I think you're right that we've got away with it only being switched off (with the Door staying shut) for around 6 hours. I've put a two thick pieces of bright red PVC Tape in a cross shape and stretched it over the Plug in the Socket and the Switch on the Wall in the (vain?) hope that it might stop this from happening again!
Thank goodness I decided on later on this week for being the best time to do the 'big shop' to refill it - instead of doing it last week as I had originally planned! ;oO
Right! ... Bedtime! ... and before 4am for a change too?! - WoW!!! ;o> ...
x Nighty-Night x Sleepy-Tight x and very Sweet Dreams to all x
A belated happy birthday to Suzy. Sounds like you needed someone to buy you something like this for your birthday present!https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0784XM46...
Ohhh Derek, thank you! ;o>I hadn't even thought of anything like that? - but they look ideal! - especially the first one as it looks so neat and discreet and a Hell of a lot 'less obvious' that I'm actually trying to prevent an adult from doing this.
The Red Tape in a cross shape is a very obvious warning and is something that my Dad has done himself in the past on various Switches around the House so I thought it would be good as a temporary measure - but I didn't fancy leaving it like that or maybe having to also do it all around the House at some point in future as well. The Freezer is in the Garage but we have Switches all over the House that do not need or shouldn't be being switched off or on.
We have a separate Switch outside the Bathroom for switching over to the Immersion Heater - which we have never yet needed to do plus I've been lectured by Dad in the past that it is a last resort for Hot water because of the expense of using it. It is positioned right over the Light Switches and I've started noticing that it has accidentally been switched on with the Lights several times over the last year and am having to remind myself to double-check on it every time that I am upstairs these days.
Those Switch Safe Covers are so neat and discreet (and reasonably priced too! - YAYYY!!! ;o>) that you might need to look twice just to realise that they are there. I shall have to have a good look at the Reviews first before committing myself to buying ... but they look like exactly what we need here now ;o>
Bless you, Derek ... x
My pleasure Suzy. The only thing with that first one is that you can still switch them on/off when they're in place, but you have to use a screwdriver or something similar to get in at the side. If you're dad is likely to do that, then it's less easy to see that they've been switched off.
I don't think that he would go out of his way to ever do so? - as it's far more of a case of him just going around flipping Switches from on to off as he wanders around before exiting the Garage and putting the Padlock on the Door last thing at night. Usually I nip downstairs after M&D are in Bed a while - on the pretext of making myself a Drink but, in reality, I go round checking on everything as Dad often sets the Central Heating to stay on full blast in the Summer and then, perversely, has got into an annoying habit of turning it so far down that it stays off completely when it is extremely cold during the Winter months.
Mitzi sleeps upstairs on the Landing so as to be much nearer to us these days (now that she sadly no longer has her beloved Sister and best friend to snuggle up to anymore) and I have to make sure that she also doesn't end up in getting too hot or too cold overnight.
I switch off the Tumble Dryer at the Wall when not in use but don't bother with the Washer except to turn the Water Taps off overnight in Winter - as they run from the House to the Garage underneath the Patio and occasionally will freeze solid if the Water supply isn't switched off when the Washer isn't in use.
The old Freezer has got a Plug Socket that is not easily accessed and so it has never been an issue - but the new Freezer was always going to pose potential problems as it uses a Double Plug Socket that Dad uses to recharge the Garage Radio, occasionally plug Power Tools into, the Car Vaccuum, or anything to do with Car maintenance that he still likes to keep up with although he doesn't drive anymore.
I think a Cover Switch will effectively help to stop all of us from making any kinds of easily-done absent-minded mistakes with the new Freezer ;o>
Just saw a cartoonish confrontation between a grebe and a coot. For no obvious reason (except that coots are stroppy birds) a coot came steaming and squawking up to a grebe, which answered back without moving for a bit. As soon as the coot got close, the grebe dived and there was a classic head bobbing pirouette from the coot "Where's it gone? Where is it? It was here, I saw it..." The grebe calmly surfaced some distance away and the coot clearly didn't make the connection, just looked around a bit longer and made off the other way.Such is our entertainment now. :o)
Confession time? ... over the last decade I've also put away quite a few 'handy' and conveniently placed things (like Screwdrivers, Drills, Spanner Sets, and Pliers, etc) without saying anything ... and so now when Dad goes around muttering that he can't find anything in this bloody House these days there is actually a reason why - me. I can ever-so-casually ask him why he needs something, while pretending all the while to help him look for it - and then, if necessary, try to distract and divert him into considering or doing something else instead.
It's rather a painful thing in now having to parent my parents like this - but it saves on SO much stress and distress and some absolutely horrendous terrible temper tantrums too (him not me) when he gets it fixed in his Head to go and do something. He'll often wander off and start doing something else halfway through anyway - and Mum and me are almost always the ones who have to stop what we are doing to finish each of his jobs off and spend a lot of time in tidying up after him too.
Isabella wrote: "Just saw a cartoonish confrontation between a grebe and a coot..."I've had several pairs of sparrows nesting in my honeysuckle for a while. However, the recent strong winds might have dislodged some of their nests. I noticed at the weekend that we suddenly had several magpies in the neighbourhood, presumably intent on stealing smaller birds' eggs. Sadly, I don't think there'll be any chicks.
The blackbirds have got very noisy. Not sure where they're nesting.
Isabella wrote: "Just saw a cartoonish confrontation between a grebe and a coot. For no obvious reason (except that coots are stroppy birds) a coot came steaming and squawking up to a grebe, which answered back wit..."HA HA HA HA HA!!! ... I love being witness to interactions like this between Wildlife. It just reminded me of the time that I was almost close to killing myself with laughing at two Squirrels a few years back, Isabella ;o>
One shot up over the Hedge between us and next-door, ran Hell for Leather across the Patio, within inches right past me and Mitz in her Box, and leapt up onto our Paperwaste Wheelie Bin a few feet away.
Barely a mere second later another Squirrel followed in hot pursuit and jumped up next to the first one - and then a frantic and furious argument kicked off about a piece of what looked like Cheese that the first one was resolutely hanging onto and adamantly refusing to give up a share in!
After a noisy exchange, the first one crammed the entirety of whatever it was in it's Mouth and dared to stare down the second Squirrel as if to say ... "So? - what are you going to do about that then?!" ... and the second Squirrel just completely lost the plot, dived on the first, and actually started pummelling it!!!
Then Mitz woke up and barked and they both rocketed off together into the Garden on the other side - LOL!!! ;o>
Gordon wrote: "Isabella wrote: "Just saw a cartoonish confrontation between a grebe and a coot..."I've had several pairs of sparrows nesting in my honeysuckle for a while. However, the recent strong winds might..."
I have a soft spot for Magpies, although I don't know why because they seem to like hanging around like a bunch of bored teenagers with Attention Deficit Disorder issues going on - always on the lookout for game playing and mischief making ;o>
Magpies are lovely close up with the iridescence on their wings but they're not pleasant characters...
They like to follow the Squirrels around for hours at a time - from Branch to Branch and Tree to Tree - and seem to really enjoy having the most terrible sounding full-on screeching and screaming rows with them ... usually perfectly timed around me just bobbing out to sit and rest for a little while on the Patio with a nice relaxing Mug of Tea! ;o>
suzysunshine7 wrote: "They like to follow the Squirrels around for hours at a time - from Branch to Branch and Tree to Tree - and seem to really enjoy having the most terrible sounding full-on screeching and screaming r..."We have Red Squirrels here, they seem to like the spruce forest just below our place, and up the road there are lots of them in thick Hazelnut woods.
Only ever greys, lovely to have the red.
suzysunshine7 wrote: "Gordon wrote: "Isabella wrote: "Just saw a cartoonish confrontation between a grebe and a coot..."I've had several pairs of sparrows nesting in my honeysuckle for a while. However, the recent str..."
During the Autumn, we often see a Maggie following our resident tree hugger burying it's nuts in the ground.....the cheeky Maggie following it discreetly..and when the squirrel has gone, the Magpie nicks all the nuts! No wonder squirrels spend so much time wondering what's happened to their stash!
I like to imagine it scratching it's head thinking "I'm sure i put one here?!" :)
Isabella wrote: "Only ever greys, lovely to have the red."On the holy island of Caldey, near Tenby, following a programme of rat and grey squirrel eradication on the island....red squirrels were introduced in 2016. 6 pairs were intially introduced..and with supplimentary feeding, they're breeding successfully. I went over there last year to see if could spot them.....i didn't need to try very hard!
I sat on picnic bench with a bag of hazel nuts..and within 20 minutes i had several of them come and join me! They're very tame! A couple had kittens with them.....the babies are so cute! :)
Magpies! Gives me a good excuse to post this wonderful song from The Detectorists :)Magpie by The Unthanks
https://youtu.be/C6gSYHJhuCw?t=57
theDuke wrote: "Isabella wrote: "Only ever greys, lovely to have the red."The holy island of Caldey, near Tenby, folowing a programme of rat and grey squirrel eradication on the isalnd....red squirrels were intr..."
I feel a day trip coming on... (once we're allowed, of course). :o)
Sera69 wrote: "Magpies! Gives me a good excuse to post this wonderful song from The Detectorists :)Magpie by The Unthanks
https://youtu.be/C6gSYHJhuCw?t=57"
Oooh, I got chills listening to that! ... thanks, Sera ;o>
Brilliant song, brilliant programme. Why isn't there more like it?
I think Australian magpies are quite different. They have a magical song. I love the poem "The Magpies" by New Zealander Denis Glover. It has been put to music many times (my favourite is by Aussie singer Graeme Connors but it's not on Youtube). This is a recent interpretation by Paul Kelly:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdfdh...
And another Magpie song here, Patrick Wolf & Marianne Faithfull this time - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B4Vztp7...(Uses lyrics by Davey Dodds, like the Unthanks song.)
No magpies round here at all (I think we're too high up?) but plenty of jackdaws which raid other nests. A neighbour saw one fly off with a baby bird in it's beak the other day after raiding a nest in her garden. I live in red squirrel land too, no grey ones at all.
I've never seen a magpie take a baby bird (although they have the reputation) but the gulls like duckling...
Isabella wrote: "I've never seen a magpie take a baby bird (although they have the reputation) but the gulls like duckling..."We had Ducklings here (Aylesbury) and the Jackdaws were trying to rip through the netting to get at them, thank god I put the netting up.
In the end one of the Jackdaws got caught in the netting, so I finished the little sod off and hung him up over the pen.
Jackdaws didn't come near after that.
In the North of Scotland they shoot the crows and hang them on the fences. Do they really imagine the crows are thinking they'll meet a sticky end if they kill the little birds? I don't imagine cause and effect come into it somehow! Doesn't work anyway.
Lez wrote: "In the North of Scotland they shoot the crows and hang them on the fences. Do they really imagine the crows are thinking they'll meet a sticky end if they kill the little birds? I don't imagine cau..."Does it not work there?
I've done it twice here, once over the Ducklings and once over the Pig Sty, where the crows were stealing lots of food. Both times it completely stopped any Corvids coming near.
Over here it's common to see a dead Crow hung over Silage bales, to stop them ripping the plastic wrap off the bales.
suzysunshine7 wrote: ""LOL! :-)
Ah..those pesky Borgs.. i remember them well! :)
theDuke wrote: "suzysunshine7 wrote: ""LOL! :-)
Ah..those pesky Borgs.. i remember them well! :)"
Yeah! Coming 'ere, winnin' all our tennis matches... All tall 'n' blond...
surely all those implants would now be on the wimbledon banned list!
Mitz had me up and down all night long! - but I was also in a lot of pain so it wasn't like I was ever going to get much, if any, sleep anyway. I only realised yesterday just what an ancient and awful state all of my Dad's Trousers are in and he typically isn't at all bothered or even vaguely interested in actively doing anything about them as usual - so, while I was up with Mitz, I sat on the Sofa and put the TV on for her and took a look at M&S on my Laptop.
It took a while to pin my Search down to the only ones that he will buy and wear - but I luckily I remembered right on the size - and apparently they are of a Regular Fit and Flat Fronted in design. And they are having a Sale on! - buy 3 get the 4th Free! - so I ordered two pairs in Navy and two pairs in Dark Grey.
Ended up falling asleep on the Sofa and woke up an hour later with a very hot AND HEAVY little hairy woofer lying on top of me and drooling in her sleep down the side of my Neck! ... ohhh lovely! - thanks Mitz!!! ;oO ... and went back up to Bed only to still be woken up several times more! ... apparently for a cuddle and also to be asked very noisely each time if it was Breakfast time yet?!!
I'm starting to wonder now if I'm the only one left in this House that doesn't have some form of Dementia going on?!! ... but would I actually know if I did? ... and maybe I don't really want to know the answer to that?!! - so if you think you might know the answer?!! - DON'T tell me!!! ;oO
Snook a look in Dad's Wardrobe and, if I have a really good squint I can just about make out a 42S on one Trouser Label and a 42XS on another - so I was right on the size and just hope the style and quality will be up to standard when they arrive. It was suggested at Checkout that they would be coming by Free Next Day Delivery, but past Orders from M&S have always been incredibly slow to Despatch, never mind to Deliver, and in times like these I wasn't expecting any different except for it to take even longer.
However! ... I've just found two Emails from 3PL in my Spam Folder in the last hour?!! ... one timed at 4am saying we have your Details and are waiting on your Parcel! ... and one timed at 7am saying we have your Parcel and will be attempting Delivery today?!! ;oO
International Pandemic? - what International Pandemic?!! - hey? - this isn't just an Order? - this is a Marks & Spencer's Order!!! ... HA HA HA HA HA!!! - LOL!!! ;o>
I've also just got a Text saying that Delivery will be within 12 and 1!!!!!!!
... and that's the Doorbell ! ! ! ... and here's Mum with a large Box ! ! ! ;oO
suzysunshine7 wrote: "Mitz had me up and down all night long! - but I was also in a lot of pain so it wasn't like I was ever going to get much, if any, sleep anyway. I only realised yesterday just what an ancient and ..."
You're so good to your parents, Suzy.
"You're so good to your parents, Suzy"think she's got room for another one - free to a good home?
.............in fact, free to any home!
Hmmm? ... no, sadly I don't think so, Serial, because if I was a really good Daughter I would surely have noticed sooner just how much of a tramp my Dad was starting to look?! ;oO He can get away with bumming around in his scruffs around the House but I'm definitely not having him going out anywhere in public after the Lock-down wearing such awful Trousers as he has got now! I'm not having him add Scruffyitis onto his long list of Medical conditions - LOL!!!
I didn't even realise quite how awful they were until I followed right behind him upstairs to Bed last night and saw them close up in all of their utter 'orribleness. He keeps on insisting on wearing the same pair day in and day out and they are actually so faded that they are almost a completely different colour down the Inside Leg and they are covered in excessively shiny Iron Marks too! I don't do any Ironing, he does it all, and I think that he's possibly been over-ironing them on far too high and hot a Setting and unfortunately managed to scorch the Fabric by doing so? ;o<
He won't have it that he can still try and buy new ones without having to visit a Store but I'm not going to be letting him get away with using that excuse - LOL!!! ;o>
Tech XXIII wrote: ""You're so good to your parents, Suzy"think she's got room for another one - free to a good home?
.............in fact, free to any home!"
NO! ... NO!! ... and thrice NO!!! ;oO
I rather like the Photos that the Couriers take to put up as proof of Delivery. I never realised just how attractive and photogenic our Porch and Driveway looked until now! - LOL!!! I must move our two large Front Planters a little bit nearer to the Porch Doors though ... so that they can get in much more of the beautiful Flower display on their Photos - LOL!!! ;o>
suzysunshine7 wrote: "I rather like the Photos that the Couriers take to put up as proof of Delivery. I never realised just how attractive and photogenic our Porch and Driveway looked until now! - LOL!!! I must move o..."
Can we see some of your beautiful flower display, please, Suzy? :o)
Unfortunately my Camera isn't connecting to my Laptop at the moment as I found out yesterday when trying to download some Photos for my Mum to send to a friend of hers. However I may have some Photos stored on my Laptop from previous years if you want to see those instead, Isabella? ;o>
Yep! - I've got a few pics of last year's so I'll put them up on my Profile. The Front looks pretty much the same every year but we have gone for more intense Apricots and golden Yellows this year as I was the one who was mainly in charge of buying online the extra Plants that were needed - and I think just about everyone on here knows what my most favourite colours are by now! - LOL!!! ;o>
I unexpectedly came across a Cake one as well ;o> ... I don't really like to look at these as it still hurts far too much not be able to be making them anymore - but this was rather a special Cake because it was made for an adorable little Girl with Downs Syndrome who was, and still is, utterly obsessed with Butterflies ;o>
suzysunshine7 wrote: "Unfortunately my Camera isn't connecting to my Laptop at the moment as I found out yesterday when trying to download some Photos for my Mum to send to a friend of hers. However I may have some Phot..."All flowers welcome!
Amazon exiles
Books mentioned in this topic
Ten Poems about Snow (other topics)And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems (other topics)
The Tiger Who Came to Tea (other topics)
The Quangle Wangle's Hat (other topics)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Christina Rossetti (other topics)John Keats (other topics)
Joan Aiken (other topics)
At least Mum has calmed down again ... I've put yet another half Mug of lukewarm Tea down somewhere in another Room so I've given up on it and opened up a lovely new bottle of Port instead!
I reckon we've both more than earned having a VERY large Port & Lemon today! ;o>