Random Thoughts Showing 6,551-6,600 of 17,689

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I don't get why they have such a problem with their notifications. They have been in existence, doing the same thing, since GR started. You't think they'd have refined it by now.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Mark wrote: "Its been strange winter here in the uk, poor andy down in the southwest has been hammered most of the winter the same for west coasts of wales, scotland and england, but here in the northeast engla..."

An then there is America's weird winter and their drought. Plus other countries in the world are experiencing some odd weather.

Something is definitely going on with the planet.
Last year was our hottest on record at nearly 2 degrees celcius hotter. Then this year as broken records again and will probably be even hotter than 2013.

I can not remember a drought like this one. We've had big droughts, but this one is different. For the rains to simply not come at all is unprecedented.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

...and now the notifications are working again. *shakes head and rolls eyes* of course they would.

Feels like the norm for notifications to be defunct for 12 hours and then suddenly be working again.

[Jane]

We've had about 10 inches of snow overnight last night and today. It seems like it's over...cross my fingers.

[Andy]

Terri wrote: "Mark wrote: "Its been strange winter here in the uk, poor andy down in the southwest has been hammered most of the winter the same for west coasts of wales, scotland and england, but here in the no..."

We've nicked all the water for sure & yous the sunshine & the Yanks the Snow!

Best we all go out & plant some more trees i'm thinking - simple things/changes would make such a HUGE diffo to our eco-climate which is defo on the tilt

[[deleted user]]

Simona wrote: "Derek wrote: "Darcy wrote: "Hey Derek, Sorry so late. I had planned on getting a Samsung, but was gifted an Ipad mini. I like it, but I wouldn't pay for it. All my research, and everyone I know who..."

Thank you, Simona. I'll definitely look into it. I appreciate all the helpful suggestions from everyone. Beyond the ipad, I had no idea what to look for, and now I have many good options to choose from. It's one more awesome thing about this friendly group.

[Alicja]

Andy wrote: "We've nicked all the water for sure & yous the sunshine & the Yanks the Snow!"

What a great summary of all I've missed. It seems we get extremes all around this year. All of ya with dangerous weather, stay safe.

[[deleted user]]

Terri wrote: "I'll add a warning. There are a couple shots of cattle carcasses. Sorry!"

Wow Terri...That looks drastic. We are in a drought here, but nothing nearly that bad. Hope you get relief very soon.

[Allison]

Not a bad idea Andy but I'd have to shovel a foot of snow and then power drill into the frozen earth if I wanted to plant some trees :)

[Allison]

Alicja wrote: "Andy wrote: "We've nicked all the water for sure & yous the sunshine & the Yanks the Snow!"

What a great summary of all I've missed. It seems we get extremes all around this year. All of ya with d..."

Yeah, where have you been lately?? :)

[[deleted user]]

Allie wrote: "Not a bad idea Andy but I'd have to shovel a foot of snow and then power drill into the frozen earth if I wanted to plant some trees :)"

Lol! Where are you at, Allie? If you don't mind my asking that is.

[Alicja]

I've been working 2 jobs, the second being seasonal. I'll be back on more after midway through April.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I have always liked the 'plant a tree' method. As long as it is a tree native to your area. That way it benefits the broadest range of native fauna species as well.
I plant plenty here. Our property is designated for wildlife protection. We have a contract with the government to make best practise decisions on the farm that maintain or advance ecological health.
It is a voluntary conservation program.

We also have a 14 acre patch of rainforest that is full of endangered species and we are involved in the long term process of putting a convenant on that rainforest. Classifying it as Nature Refuge. Which means it is protected forever.
Once we are gone, the next farmers and the farmers after them and so on and so forth, can never damage or destroy that rainforest. It is illegal to do so.

I think small changes can all help. From solar, to not driving the car as much if you can take public transport, planting trees (native to your area), or even doing a little volunteering with an environmental program in your area. Such as vegetation restoration projects.

It all helps. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Derek wrote: "

Wow Terri...That looks drastic. We are in a drought here, but nothing nearly that bad. Hope you get relief v..."

Thanks mate. :)

Chatting to you guys and helping people find books to read gives me some internal relief. :)
Takes my mind off things.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Alicja wrote: "I've been working 2 jobs, the second being seasonal. I'll be back on more after midway through April."

We'll be here. :) I look forward to your thoughts on The Ten Thousand: A Novel of Ancient Greece too. So I can live vicariously through you all. I would have liked to read that one.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

On the subject of The Ten Thousand. I mentioned this to Dawn the other day....has anybody else but me noticed that Dawn's new avatar looks like the cover of the Ten Thousand? It makes me giggle.
She didn't do it intentionally. Purely coincidence.

easiest way to see what i mean is to go to the group main page where Dawn's avatar image is over in the moderators section and the Ten Thousand cover is displayed on the left.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

Both images have similar metal faces too. :)

[Mark]

Terri wrote: "On the subject of The Ten Thousand. I mentioned this to Dawn the other day....has anybody else but me noticed that Dawn's new avatar looks like the cover of the Ten Thousand? It makes me giggle.
Sh..."

Never noticed, lol.

[Jane]

Terri wrote: "On the subject of The Ten Thousand. I mentioned this to Dawn the other day....has anybody else but me noticed that Dawn's new avatar looks like the cover of the Ten Thousand? It makes me giggle.
Sh..."

I can see a resemblance and I smiled. But it looks more like a René Magritte surrealist painting to me.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Still no internet at work. I am heading down the path of extreme crossness.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Damn. Hang in there. :)

[Andy]

Terri wrote: "I have always liked the 'plant a tree' method. As long as it is a tree native to your area. That way it benefits the broadest range of native fauna species as well.
I plant plenty here. Our proper..."

Thats grand that Terri, I have trees planted in little forests for me in areas in the UK, a project started about 15yrs ago or so, maybe more now called http://www.futureforests.org.uk/

& yes I do sneak out at night (when it stops raining.....) & hug a tree :)

[Linda]

The weather seems to be affecting everyone in one way or another. Stay cool if your weather is hot; stay dry if your weather is wet; stay warm if it's hot; etc. From Texas to Maine, stay home.

[Alicja]

I was looking at comments on amazon.com for one of my favorite books. I want to buy another copy since mine has fallen apart since from re-reading. Anyway, there are only two 1 star reviews so I went to check them out. One was completely ignorant and had 15 comments under it so I started reading the comments. There was one that basically blew the guy's ignorance out of the water and I'm thinking "yeah, amazon commenter, go get him" and then I look at who wrote that comment... and it was me a long time ago. I didn't even remember writing it so the whole cheering thing was embarrassing. It was an odd experience.

Anyone else ever read something they wrote a long time ago on the internet and not realize it was written by them at first?

[Erica]

Alicja wrote: "I was looking at comments on amazon.com for one of my favorite books. I want to buy another copy since mine has fallen apart since from re-reading. Anyway, there are only two 1 star reviews so I we..."

Haha which book?

[Alicja]

Erica wrote: "Alicja wrote: "I was looking at comments on amazon.com for one of my favorite books. I want to buy another copy since mine has fallen apart since from re-reading. Anyway, there are only two 1 star ..."

The Persian Boy, some guy claiming to be hetero found the "man-boy love" (which it doesn't have at all; it does have child abuse since Bagoas was abused as a child but not by Alexander but when he was first enslaved) and "graphic" sex scenes (which I think he needs to read the definition of graphic since the very few intimate scenes were well hidden and vague) as repugnant while calling Renault's presentation of Alexander the Great as "goody-goody" regardless of mass slaughter, murder, decades of war, domestic violence, killing friends in anger, executions and everything else presented in the book.

And over a year ago I did a great job responding to his unjustified trash. I don't care if people hate the books I love, it happens, but blatant lies and homophobia pisses me off.

:)

[Allison]

Derek wrote: "Allie wrote: "Not a bad idea Andy but I'd have to shovel a foot of snow and then power drill into the frozen earth if I wanted to plant some trees :)"

Lol! Where are you at, Allie? If you don't mi..."

Not at all. I'm about a half hour outside of Detroit. Most of January temps for all of us in the Great Lakes State have been in single digits or negatives. Although we are getting a warm front these days, almost 30 degrees :)

[Allison]

Terri wrote: "I have always liked the 'plant a tree' method. As long as it is a tree native to your area. That way it benefits the broadest range of native fauna species as well.
I plant plenty here. Our proper..."

We A&MHF fans, making the world a better place :) That's awesome Terri. You're saving entire species!

[Erica]

Alicja wrote: "Erica wrote: "Alicja wrote: "I was looking at comments on amazon.com for one of my favorite books. I want to buy another copy since mine has fallen apart since from re-reading. Anyway, there are on..."

Oh I see. I just ordered Fire from Heaven on your recommendation! :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Andy wrote: "Thats grand that Terri, I have trees planted in little forests for me in areas in the UK, a project started about 15yrs ago or so, maybe more now called http://www.futureforests.org.uk/

& yes I do sneak out at night (when it stops raining.....) & hug a tree :)
..."

Good on you. That is a great project. So many corporations have offset programs, but they don't include Joe Citizen in it. Go Future Forests! :)

I've been known to secretly, on special occasions, hug a tree for a laugh. :)

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Allie wrote: "We A&MHF fans, making the world a better place :) That's awesome Terri. You're saving entire species! ..."

Entire species'. Multiple species'. :D

Such as these cute little guys. I am a heavy breathing stalker of these little quail. :) You will often find me at certain times of the year sitting in the dark bushes observing these birds and collecting data while they go about their business. I have become very stealthy. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-br...

[Allison]

Ah, as an animal lover, I cannot embrace the birds. I hate them. They are creepy, disgusting little vermin w/ wings. ***shudder*** get that away from me.

We once had to bird sit for a neighbor when I was about 3/4. The only place to put the cage in our living room was right before the hallway. I refused to come out of my room until my dad picked me up and carried me on the opposite side of him than where the cage was. The most terrifying few days of my young life. Sorry thing is, is that I think I'd still need to be carried by it at 28 years of age. I'm not facing that little devil monster alone!

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I love me the birds. All of them. :)

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

*hugs internet* I love you and I will never let you go. <3

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Saw your Tweet. I cheered for you. :D

[Portia]

Allie wrote: "Ah, as an animal lover, I cannot embrace the birds. I hate them. They are creepy, disgusting little vermin w/ wings. ***shudder*** get that away from me.

We once had to bird sit for a neighbor wh..."

Be careful for yourself, Allie. My mother had a bird phobia to the point where Spouse and I couldn't have love birds on our wedding things even if we wanted 'em. She threatened to have her second brain explosion or at least spoil the day for the rest of us unless she got her way. Luckily, our last name is Bell, so we had an alternative.

Care for yourself. I am afraid of heights. But take care not to ruin other people's fun because of it (I won't climb that mountain so you can't either.)

And lets all work to help the dogs of Sochi.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "Saw your Tweet. I cheered for you. :D"

48 hours without internet. We've been going almost insane at work.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Allie wrote: "Ah, as an animal lover, I cannot embrace the birds. I hate them. They are creepy, disgusting little vermin w/ wings. ***shudder*** get that away from me.

We once had to bird sit for a neighbor wh..."

Interesting. I don't have pet birds, but where I live has some friendly Magpies and a Raven, that come and sit on the rail of the porch with me. The raven has let me hand feed it a time or two. They are wild birds, but they do know when a human means no harm.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Crows or Ravens are cool. Very clever.

[Margaret, Sherlockian Sheila]

Terri wrote: "Crows or Ravens are cool. Very clever."

I love corvids. The entire genus is so damn intelligent.

[Lisa]

Margaret I love magpies, I think they are a very funny bird. My all time aussie bird, apart from the wedge tailed eagle, is the King parrot. He is sensational. When we lived in NSW we had rainbow lorikeets and king parrots that would feed in our backyard. One pair of rainbows would come back every year with a baby. He was so funny, this great big ball of multicoloured fluff, that we could hand feed. We really have some beautiful birds here.

I so hope you get rain soon Terri. One of the young fellas at work was involved in an event last week loading hay on flatbed trucks that had been donated by all the local Gippsland farmers. No doubt it will make it's way to those that need it. I love that spirit. Fingers crossed for you.

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Big hug for the Gippsland farmers.
That actually brought tears to my eyes. *sniffle* As a Queensland farmer, please pass on my thanks to the fella at your work. Thanks for helping out and supporting the farmers up here. It will make some farmeing families (and some starving livestock!) very, very happy.

Was Aussie Helpers involved in the hay load or did the farmers down there organise on their own?
http://aussiehelpers.org.au/

[Terri, Wyrd bið ful aræd]

I love King Parrots too (actually all the parrots) :)
We have a few different species of parrots that breed here on the farm. ie King Parrots, Lorikeets, Black Cockatoo.. we used to feed them, but scrub turkeys used to come down, chase away the parrots and eat it all. So we had to stop.

[Lisa]

I'm not sure Terri, I will ask him on Monday. And I will show him your comments, he will get a real kick out of that! :) a lot of farmers here have an amazing amount of silage. You can see where the saying "make hay while the sun shines" comes from. They get soooo much rain here in winter, I've never seen anything like it. Then when the warm weather comes the silage is non stop. When it's warm though they get virtually no rain. It's now too hot and dry, and they risk grass fires if they do, so the season is nearly over. Victorians are a little gun shy when it comes to the slightest fire risk, and rightfully so. It's been 5 years this weekend since the Black Saturday fires. It was obviously such a horrific event, and I don't believe these people will relax until a generation has passed. Because we aren't from Victoria perhaps it's more obvious to us. But whenever there is a fire event there is a level of anxiety and nervousness that creeps in. I'm not sure they even realise it when it happens. You kinda of want to sneak up and hug someone and say it's ok. No doubt a weekend of reflection for many.

On a lighter note : Two weekends ago Chris was " swooped" at the beach by a peregrine falcon! With no camera to hand I might add. They then put on a fine display of aerial fighting and attacking. He was one very excited boy, lol. another fave the black cockatoo. There's a great bunch of Maggie's here. On a full moon night these guys will be up all night warbling. They crack me up. I love them.

[Portia]

We don't have Magpies in the US, more's the pity. I've seen them in England and think they are pretty cool. Anything that "collects" anything is my sort of critter. We have Blue Jays here. They can be fairly bold but they don't take shiny things. We have a flock of crows that lives here all year round but likes whatever winter allows to grow on our yard. The "murder" visits daily in January. Rarely, thank the Powers That Be, we are visited by vultures -- those birds seen circling in old American cowboy movies when some poor guy is trying to cross Death Valley and called "Buzzards." They creep me out. But they only stop by when we have many-foot deep snowfalls.

[Allison]

Portia wrote: "Allie wrote: "Ah, as an animal lover, I cannot embrace the birds. I hate them. They are creepy, disgusting little vermin w/ wings. ***shudder*** get that away from me.

We once had to bird sit for..."

I wouldn't dissuade someone from buying a bird. I just could no longer be friends with them hahaha.

[Darcy]

I'm like you Allie. The only thing that flies and that I'm okay with are aeroplanes :D

[Allison]

Well we are in good company lol.

Lucille Ball hated birds too. She wouldn't go into a hotel room until someone else went in and made sure there were no bird painting/pics. She'd make hotel staff take them down!

[Darcy]

Well, I can handle bird paintings/patterns. I also don't mind seeing them out the window, but I don't like them flying around near me. Which is odd considering when I travel I usually stay on farms and they always have free range chickens running around.

Someone mentioned blue jays, they are our official provincial bird and they are meanies. They'll rip peanuts out of unsuspecting squirrel hands.

[Allison]

They are meanies! I remember as a kid, everyone told us to look out for robins and blue jays cuz they'd "get ya" but blue jays were always categorized as the worst!

[Portia]

Allie wrote: "Well we are in good company lol.

Lucille Ball hated birds too. She wouldn't go into a hotel room until someone else went in and made sure there were no bird painting/pics. She'd make hotel staff ..."

Bet her daughter, Luci Arnaz, couldn't have love birds on her wedding napkins, either :P