BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 05:20 PM

Charmion, at first I didn't understand what OP KITCHEN was. I actually thought it was the name of a tornado or hurricane or blizzard, but then I re-read it and realised it is a kitchen renovation project with the associated difficulties related to bad weather, getting ready and organised, dealing with the kitchen installer, wrangling cats, etc etc.

It belongs in this thread, IMO, but go ahead and post it in the other thread as well. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Charmion
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 05:11 PM

Oh, dear — I put that post about my kitchen renovation in the wrong thread. Sorry, all! Won’t do it again.

---

Fixed, but I'll leave this here since there was some discussion. ---mudelf

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 04:57 PM

The galahs who inhabit our part of the world bred each year, so each year we have young galahs taking flying lessons on the other side of our wire fence.

I know we shouldn't laugh, but young galahs face planting while learning to fly is quite humorous. Several years ago we had friends visiting from Canada at flying lesson time, and they thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 02:51 PM

Grackles are smaller than crows, and the males in particular, when they display, are very shiny and a purplish tint in some of their feathers. In indigenous cultures Ravens and crows are the tricksters in North America (along with coyotes and various rabbits.)

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 02:30 PM

I haven't heard of gackles. They look like crows or ravens to me, but they don't sound like them.

To stick to the topic of this thread i.e. making us feel better in our lives, Corellas and cockatoos are jokesters - very funny, like circus gymnasts - although not funny if you are a farmer and the huge flocks steal your crops.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 11:54 AM

The North American cognate to Oz's corellas are grackles, and usually in the mix are a lot of smaller starlings. From a few years ago, a grocery store parking lot in Houston. Since I don't commute to work now I don't see them so often, there were places at a few parking lots and highway intersections where they would be perched on all of the overhead phone and power lines and in all of the trees and on the grassy areas.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 08:12 AM

Hey, Mrrzy! Welcome back! How are things with you??

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 03:24 AM

FYI for non-Aussies: Corellas invade Australian suburb in their thousands

Corellas sound like the night of the living dead and their flocks are huge. Their noise can be deafening if you are too close, or even if they are flying overhead and there is nothing - not one thing - soothing about the sounds they make, especially the sudden squawk that they make some of the time.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 12:50 AM

Yes, they are hard to ignore, but especially at stupid dark early o'clock in a campground. :-D

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Mar 26 - 12:31 AM

Helen, many years ago - might have been early 2001, from memory - we had our caravan set up at a caravan park just out of Halls Gap. Each morning without fail a very large flock of sqwarking corellas would fly over at stupid dark early o'clock, at a time when all right-minded folk would be still in the arms of Morpheus.

Every time we hear a flock of corellas, it takes us back to those days......

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Mar 26 - 09:07 PM

There are flocks of Monk's Parakeets all over the US at this point. There were a bunch in a neighborhood just north of me; they build multiple nests the size of grocery store shopping carts and gather in huge family flocks. You read about them building in places like the towers that support large electric transmission cables, in the superstructures of stadium lighting, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 09 Mar 26 - 06:50 PM

JennieG, every time I see and hear the huge flock of corellas flying overhead I say "noisy buggers". We don't seem to get as many Sulphur Crested Cockatoos as the corellas here.

Or maybe the rainbow lorikeets were smuggled in with the eucalyptus trees, Rapparee. LOL

I know there are eucalyptus trees in the US but I haven't heard of the lorikeets being over there but I vaguely recall that there is a multi-coloured parrot in South America. Maybe they look similar.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Mar 26 - 05:46 PM

maybe flocks of lorikeets migrated across the Pacific?

or maybe you have an active imagination?

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: JennieG
Date: 09 Mar 26 - 05:45 PM

We are frequently visited by Eastern Rosellas and Rainbow Lorikeets.

And King Parrots....Galahs, who are very funny....corellas, noisy buggers....Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, even noisier buggers.....lots of magpies (our city's crest features magpies)....grey Butcher Birds who sing beautifully.....and of course those ubiquitous native Noisy Miners.

It's not always quiet here in the Small Smoke......

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Mar 26 - 11:50 AM

Why, I do believe there's a whole passel of them rainbow birds a-livin' in a tree in my back yard here in Idaho!

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 04 Mar 26 - 01:06 PM

Thanks Sandra. Looks like a Rainbow Lorikeet to me. Aah, living in Sydney!! What a life!

No thanks. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Mar 26 - 06:27 AM

they are beautiful whatever their name! I've emailed you a pic.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 04 Mar 26 - 02:01 AM

Sandra, yesterday Hubby referred to the Eastern rosellas in the grevillea bush but I, of course - a wife's duty - corrected him and told him they are rainbow lorikeet.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 04 Mar 26 - 12:45 AM

My suburb is near the harbour & was the first area in Sydney to replace many of our 19th century terrace houses with small apartment buildings, starting in the early 20th century & we only have a few later 20th century skyscrapers! but not many parks. ps. we have 2 major parks nearby Centennial Park & Hyde Park.

Pigeons & seagulls are everywhere, as are ibises whose ancestors left inner Australia in the early 80s following a big drought. I live in a 4-story apartment block, one of 2 that replaced 4 terrace houses in 1917, our shared courtyard with a bit of a garden has attracted a pair off rosellas for a number of years now. They like sitting on a window sill across the courtyard, not easy to photograph thru my window. One day the photo showed 3 rosellas!! I assume their grown up baby has it's own family now & as they now perch on a window in my building I can no longer see them

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 03 Mar 26 - 03:58 PM

Thanks keberoxu,

Luckily the side of the family which seems to have been up to no good are down south and I doubt I will ever meet them again. In fact, I first met the two nieces and some of their family at the memorial service, and only met their mother once when I was a kid. So, now it is all water under the bridge.

Aussie animals are cool! Wombats, Tasmanian devils, koalas, blue-tongue lizards, kangaroos, wallabies, possums - the list goes on and on. A possum family is now living in the tree at the front of our house, and although I haven't seen one for a while I am fairly sure the blue-tongue lizard is still living in our yard. Then we have rainbow lorikeets, kookaburras, magpies with their amazing songs, bellbirds, butcherbirds etc. The rainbow lorikeets and the noisy miners have territorial arguments over the grevillea bush which has a lot of flowers with nectar.

Aussie bird song collection

There is a list below the video. There are a lot more bird songs worth listening to as well as those in the video.

Common aka Indian mynahs are an introduced pest, but the noisy miners are funny. If I hear kookaburras laughing I know it will rain in a couple of days. If I see black or gang-gang cockatoos which is rare around here, it will be a big rain event. We hear and see a LOT of white corellas - loud, huge flocks flying over or eating the fruit in our olive tree before we can get to it. Someone told me they come when the grain shipments are in the nearby harbour.

Then there is the iconic Aussie bird, the galah, i.e. one of our favourite smarty-pants names for people who are acting silly.

Native animals, birds, and plants are good for the soul.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Mar 26 - 03:51 PM

Years ago I was the administrator on a family estate (there was no will) and it was hell over a couple of years total. All it takes is one sibling who wants everything to make the process one that needs a robust paper trail. It is almost a relief that the kids don't seem to want most of our stuff for when that time comes.

This morning I pulled up some announcements about upcoming estate sales, and the amount of stuff in those houses is mind-boggling. (I'd watched a program about how to use scarves and was looking to see if any of the sales had clothes, specifically scarves). There's so much stuff in the world already fabricated it makes one wonder why we keep making stuff. But of course the answer is that we are a capitalist society based upon selling instead of reselling.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Mar 26 - 03:08 PM

No wombats over here, but fresh snow and still falling.

Helen, I'm so sorry about the family drama.
The only sane thing to do is to disengage from that drama as much as is practical,
because you can't control what others do.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 26 - 11:36 PM

I am fairly sure my memory of seeing and photographing the wombat in snow was IRL - but then again, until I find the actual photo I won't be 100% sure. My old non-digital photos are not as easy to search through as the photos on my computer.

I had some scary moments driving through southern mountains on the border of NSW & Victoria when there was ice on the road. I had absolutely no knowledge or experience of that. I didn't even know there was ice until I skidded on a country road. Give me coastal Newcastle weather any day! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Mar 26 - 11:15 PM

just google - wombat in snow - lots of great pics!

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: JennieG
Date: 02 Mar 26 - 10:56 PM

Helen, no doubt karma will rear its head one day.

We have seen snow in autumn while on our Canadian visits. Before that, we saw snow in New Zealand in September 2000 while driving on the Dessert Road - a high dessert renowned for variable weather, it seems - a bit hair-raising while driving our hire motorhome; we weren't even used to driving in snow in a car, let alone a taller vehicle.

Snow in the Australian Alps back in early January 1991 while travelling with our teenage sons, in fact the younger was not yet a teenager. Somewhere we have photographic proof of our boys in shorts and t-shirts throwing snowballs at each other.

And snow at Hanging Rock, about an hour south-east of our home here in the Small Smoke, more than once. Hanging Rock sees snowfall more winters than not.

I would love to see a wombat in snow!

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 26 - 04:59 PM

This is the final curtain on the saga of my Aunt and her side of the family.

I found out this week from one of my Aunt's neighbours that her estate has almost all gone to her relations, and as my Uncle's estate all went to her when he passed away 22 years ago, close to none of his estate has come back to our side of the family. I suspect, without proof, that it is possible that when her nephew took her down south to his place and said she would never be coming back, he might have orchestrated a visit to a lawyer to update her will in their favour. Given that she was progressively getting worse with dementia or Alzheimer's, she should not have been legally allowed to change her will. It's just a suspicion, but....

The word "machinations" just popped into my mind. I suspect there is a whole lot more behind this story. Almost enough to write a novel.

machinations (definition from Wordnik)

1) The act of scheming or plotting. 2) A crafty scheme or cunning design for the accomplishment of a sinister end. 3) The act of machinating, or of contriving a scheme for executing some purpose, particularly a forbidden or an evil purpose; underhand plotting or contrivance.

As I said before, it's only money and our side of the family are doing ok financially. Almost all of our side has professional or other qualifications and good jobs.

I'm not going to rock the boat and I'm going to let it all go, when I get my equilibrium back, which should be soon now that the story is complete.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 08:20 PM

Same here, Sandra. I've only seen snow once. It was on the trip back from southern NSW after going to a week-long set of classes at the uni where I had been studying for my Librarianship qualification through external/home studies. External studies was ok but it was good to meet the lecturers and other students in person, for the one and only week in the whole course.

I think somewhere I have a photo of a wombat trudging through the snow, but I might have conjured that image from something I saw in a book or magazine. It was close to 50 years ago. Memories from different events in my life begin to blend together in my brain like a sludgy, fruity milkshake.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 06:56 PM

I've only ever met snow once. It was on a weekend away the week before the snow season started in Australia's Snowy Mountains. I was dressed for inner Sydney winter, living near the Harbour as I do, & the friend I was visiting provided an appropriate jacket! My leather soled shoes were good for getting pulled briefly across the snow, but my sneakers were better for walking. Kids had built a snowman, we threw a few snowballs & headed back into the fire! It all looked lovely. I'm glad I live where I live & that those who live in colder climates share their stories.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 28 Feb 26 - 02:11 PM

Another cold snap on its way this weekend.
But then, for the first few weeks of March,
the weather will be rainy and mild,
which should do a lot to melt the frozen snow that has been sitting around for weeks at a time.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 01:58 PM

This is the second time in this New Year that
a snowstorm has caused chorus rehearsal to be canceled.
It was a good choice -- parking alone would have been unsafe,
never mind the conditions of the roads and highways.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 23 Feb 26 - 01:29 PM

In Herself's lexicon, a "bottom drawer" is where "a young woman collects linen and suchlike in anticipation of marriage". (Collins's offers "hope chest" as a West-Pondian translation.) Similar function, t'other end of married life. Hope this helps.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Donuel
Date: 21 Feb 26 - 06:20 PM

Over the last 2+ decades, a few original folks may have noticed the trouble I got into by disclosing my prescient nature prior to some major events on this obscure website. The trouble has been lifelong, but fortunately, most people do not listen or remember well.

I had the audacity to go to the FBI in person to discuss the necessity of defensive measures aboard commercial flights prior to 9 11. I did the same with the CIA regarding a different matter. The CIA saw value, but the FBI did not. Fortelling paintings I did and other predictions seemed normal to me, but sometimes disturbed others. While there are rational explanations for any of these incidents. There are now prediction markets for people like me. We are more alike than unalike, except for our DNA coding and our experiences.

The attack on the Capitol building totally blindsided me because I reasoned no one would risk their life to obey Trump. Except for predicting the rise of fascism, I now stay out of trouble and limit profuse predictions here. It normally only occurs for eventual mass knowledge events anyway.

There is no such thing as the Mandela effect, but I would attest to the Cassandra curse.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: JennieG
Date: 21 Feb 26 - 05:42 PM

The bottom drawer is what it says - the bottom drawer of a desk or filing cabinet, somewhere to keep information that needs to be passed on. In this case, probably a desk.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 26 - 11:09 AM

Jennie, hopefully he will fly there to visit with you! (And this reminds me to finish renewing my passport.)

With the thread results opening a page of 50 results I'm looking at JennieG's Jan 26 post about The Bottom Drawer Book as I write my remarks. Very practical. Does the term "Bottom Drawer" refer to a coffin or grave or something along those lines? (About the author.)

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: JennieG
Date: 20 Feb 26 - 09:39 PM

Flying has lost whatever 'glamour' it once held, keberoxu. These days it's no more glamorous than riding a bus.

We have made those long flights to visit our Canaussian son in Toronto, Canada, but I have no more of those loooong flights left in me.....so, sadly, our trip late in 2018 will be our last one.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 20 Feb 26 - 04:52 PM

The weather for my return arrival in Albany (nearest airport to home)
is discouragingly bad, with snow, ice, and freezing rain today.
I fly to Albany tomorrow, when they will be digging out.
I'm landing late in the day, so I've already planned to
stay the night at an airport hotel
and make the trek to Massachusetts the following day.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 26 - 11:49 PM

Good! I was hoping you had that experience in Texas!

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Feb 26 - 07:05 PM

Ann Richards!

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 26 - 05:01 PM

Who was governor when you were in Austin?

Several times when friends were en route from point A to point B and they had to change planes at DFW we've arranged that I drive to the airport and meet them outside their departure gate. The last time I did that I brought along our lunch, only to discover that the restaurant hadn't tucked in implements for eating my rice dish. :-( Had to MacGyver something to use to eat. My friend had a sandwich, much easier with no cutlery.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 19 Feb 26 - 01:41 PM

Years ago I lived briefly in Austin, before becoming a Mudcatter. While I was here I had my will and documents written. I still see an attorney here, which is one reason I'm here now. She pointed out that now that I have definitely settled down in Massachusetts, I need to have an attorney write me a new will that is based on Massachusetts state law. So she will scare up some referrals to attorneys there.

I also had my accounting done here, and still do.
It's unusually warm even for Austin. Normally February in Austin is in the sixties, but today it's above eighty degrees. A big change from western Massachusetts, where they are struggling to stay above freezing. But I fear that I will return, day after tomorrow, to fresh snow and ice, as there is a storm system crossing the northern US.

It's been a good five years since I got on an airplane. I don't enjoy plane travel as much as I did when I was younger. On the longer flight , from Detroit to Austin, the seatbacks had the built-in video screens. I didn't choose to watch anything. But the person seated in front and to the left of me watched the film "Bugonia," and I could see everything like a silent movie. That was a weird movie at that, I'm not sure I can recommend it, but it kept me from dozing off in my seat, I will say that. As I say, plane travel is not so pleasant for me, but I ought not to complain as everything went the way it was planned, and there were no snafus. Hope it goes as well on Saturday when I fly back home.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Feb 26 - 11:26 AM

Darn, I just saw this. If you have a chance to swing by Fort Worth let me know. Can you tell us what brings you to Tejas?

I pulled this thread up to also remark on the weather - it's spring as far as my yard is concerned, and also my mood. Stepping out into the sunshine and admiring daffodils and looking for green sprouts around the garden is energizing in a very good way.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Feb 26 - 10:21 PM

I've just arrived in Austin, Texas for a few days.
Long flights and I'm exhausted.
And in shock at the change of temperature.
I left New England just above freezing,
and down here it's in the '70's.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Feb 26 - 12:14 AM

This week a used Nikon Coolpix camera arrived in the mail, purchased via eBay. I had one of these (in about 2012) that I gave to my daughter for her travels, but she hasn't used it in years. I wanted to get it back to use as a modest little camera at the Trump protest marches so I could leave my phone tucked safely away. The current small camera I've tried using that way is too fussy, and my daughter will never get around to looking for our camera in all of the unpacked boxes from her last move . . .

The thing about this little camera is that it seems to have been used just for a couple of years when the previous owner had it. Old batteries burst inside and it needed cleaning, and the card that the original owner used was still in it. An Asian family in an Asian country, travelling to rural schools, from what I can tell. Photos and videos interspersed with beauty shots of elaborate cookies, cakes, and pastries.

How the camera got there and back, or came here from there originally (the language was set to English, so probably a round trip), and why didn't they take out the photos? It's tempting to put out a few photos into the world to see if anyone recognizes themselves or family members to return the card.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Feb 26 - 11:18 PM

That's a good outcome, keberoxu! (And will you contact your old friend? I hope you do and it is fruitful for both of you.)

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Feb 26 - 09:40 PM

YAH!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: keberoxu
Date: 10 Feb 26 - 07:04 PM

I've been in treatment now for six years.
And I am noticing one big change.

Six years ago, I was terribly reluctant to make music any more.
I still felt hurt and wounded inside, and when I felt like that, it actually seemed to hurt to make music, so I stopped, for years.
This has changed slowly and gradually over time, with treatment,
and with participating in the chorus that I enjoy singing with.

Yesterday I got the notion to look up a fellow student from university.
We have been out of touch for decades;
but I was aware that she had an operatic career of some distinction.
So I Googled my old classmate to see what had happened to her.

There was more going on there than met the eye.
She had her very successful career in opera for years.
Then she had a health setback; it was a neurological issue affecting her hearing and her balance, nothing was wrong with her singing voice.
She had to stop performing completely and get treatment for maybe five years or so.
Then she gradually resumed performing again.

The thought crossed my mind, if she can do it, maybe I can do it too.
I found that I felt excited and happy at the idea of playing the piano again,
when previously I shied away from doing any such thing.
This is something I scarcely dared hope for when I started treatment,
I feared that I would have that wounded feeling inside for the rest of my life, and be unable to make music at all.

So it seems that a real healing is taking place at last.

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: r.padgett
Date: 07 Feb 26 - 02:09 AM

Yes Freedom to do as you like and use use Art as escapism

Different from cold blasts and winds and snow in UK

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Feb 26 - 04:58 PM

I just came across this lovely article & just had to share it

The tide takes away his work each day, but learning to let go has transformed this artist

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: r.padgett
Date: 05 Feb 26 - 02:05 AM

Andrew Mountbatten Windsor ~ oh dear the pressure must be unbearable ~ yes I know!

I wont say the obvious ~ some one suggested a flit to a far away place

Ray

Subject: RE: BS: stay out of trouble thread (stay afloat)
From: Helen
Date: 02 Feb 26 - 04:34 PM

Thanks Ray. I agree: it's not pleasant reading. My Ma-in-Law was a lovely lady, with a few quirky aspects including her sense of humour, but very clever with arts and crafts, and very loving towards her family and her dear, departed husband. That song is totally not her.

I can think of so many other pieces of music or songs which would have paid a fitting tribute to her. She loved Andre Rieu's music, and I've been listening to a couple of Sandy Denny albums in my car this week and when her beautiful song Like an Old Fashioned Waltz came on, I cried partly because it is about flowers. (Note: Ma-in-Law was a florist at one stage in her life.)

Oh well, I'll just have to let go and listen to the music myself as a tribute to her.