Stavertongirl

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Posts posted by Stavertongirl

  1. With great trepidation I decided to venture into my conservatory this morning, haven’t been in since my confrontation with my “beast”, it has been securely locked since then. I armed myself with my hoover and my trusty brush. Felt a bit like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti movies when he confronts the bad guy, throwing his poncho over his shoulder so he can get to his gun or perhaps Dirty Harry might have been better with his big gun! 

    Had a good look through the patio doors before venturing in, very carefully opening the door and put my hoover in. Waited a bit and then stepped in protected by my brush. Moved away from the patio doors where he dashed under after last time in case he jumped out and got my leg. Hit the plastic lip a few times with my brush to see if he emerged, nothing happened.

    Feeling a bit braver I swept under the blinds and then put hoover on. The air was electric, would he emerge in fighting mode or just skulk in his hiding place?

    Finished hoovering, victory I thought. I was adjusting one of the blinds when one of my boys wandered into the room unbeknown to me and touched me on the leg with his nose. After I climbed down from the ceiling I beat a hasty retreat back to the safety of my kitchen.

    Perhaps he has moved on having had his fun with me or perhaps he could not stand having to deal with a mad woman hitting him with a brush and screaming?

     

     

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  2. I am finding myself creeping down the kitchen and peering through the patio doors into the conservatory to see if my giant arachnid has emerged from his hiding place. Nothing as yet. This begs the questions is he

    a) digging his way into my kitchen

          or

    b) plotting his next move

     

    I have now armed myself with a bigger plastic container. The internet says if you place the container in front of the spider and approach it from the rear it will run into the container. Right - If it is sat in the middle of the floor facing the patio doors and I have to approach it from the rear that means it is in between me and my means of escape. Plus it could run straight past the container and disappear into my kitchen which means I will be living in my conservatory. Doesn’t sound like much of a plan.

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  3. 22 minutes ago, katyjay said:

     then slide a piece of thin card under the glass and hold it in place while you eject said spider outside. 

     

    He is that big and built like a tank it will have to be thick card! I did notice he has a pattern (tattoo?) on his body that is how big he is. (I suppose it could be a she, aren’t the females bigger than the males, if not I definitely don’t want to have to deal with the female of this species.) He hasn’t appeared since our first round so will see what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps a good talking too will make him move out?

     

    On on a side note I was hanging my washing out and noticed I had a young toad sat next to me. Am starting to feel like I am amassing a zoo!

     

     

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  4. Got up this morning and there was the Mike Tyson of spiders sitting brazenly in the middle of my conservatory (I swear he had tattoos on his face!). We eyed each other up whilst I had my breakfast. I don’t like spiders, they make my skin crawl, but I don’t kill them just catch them and put them outside, usually over the fence into my neighbours garden so they don’t come back! But this is the biggest one I have had to tackle so far, tarantula comes to mind.

     

    So I went into ninja mood, got my (quite small) spider catching kit and my brush and went into battle. Went into the conservatory and it stood its ground, thought it might be dead but no luck. Tried to catch it but off it went towards the door into the house. It could have given Usain Bolt a run for his money. Stopped it with my brush, definitely don’t want it in the house, and it disappeared in the bristles. 

     

    The door out of my conservatory is a bit suspect, I could open it and shake him out of the bristles but not sure if the door will shut. Definitely don’t want to take the brush through the kitchen in case he makes a run for it. I swear I could hear it laughing. I managed to get him out of the brush and commenced chasing it round the conservatory eventually getting my plastic jar over him so he was contained I then realised I had to slide the top under the jar to put him outside meaning I would come into quite close contact with it. 

     

    Went and had a cup of tea (vodka might have been more fitting) and then went back into battle. He obviously wasn’t very happy but I tried to slip the lid under jar without hurting him. Unfortunately I dithered at precisely the wrong moment and he was off like a shot and went under the lip of the doors into the kitchen.

     

    I have shut and locked the doors to the conservatory and am wondering if it might just be easier to sell the house!

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  5. Having been at the grammar school in the 60’s I have had a look at the pictures with interest. Couldn’t remember what the buildings looked like but can remember the “new block” building. I can remembered the gym (I once put my hand through one of the windows when running) and the lab with the pipes for the Bunsen burners, also going up and down the staircase inbetween lessons. The smelly girls changing rooms and those awful showers where you were given 5 minutes to have a lukewarm shower and then get dressed with Miss Rattaray shouting at you to hurry up and going to the next lesson still damp! 

     

    Cant say I enjoyed my time there, but have happy memories of friends, things we got away with and a few teachers that weren’t boring or disinterested. All in all I was glad to leave and get on with life!

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  6. It seems my sparrow godson has flown the nest (well the garden really). He was practising flying this morning up and down the garden in between feeds before I went out. Came back and let boys out who hunted all round garden for him to no avail. I have been and had a look in his favourite hiding place and done a general look round of garden and can’t see him. Very relieved mission accomplished:jumping:

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  7. I went out for a bit this morning, got back and let boys out. Went out with them and then noticed them both sniffing something in the (very long) grass. Thought it might be a bee so started going across to rescue it when I saw something run from them down the side of the conservatory and hide in (what is left - see older posts) of the blackberry bush. Couldn’t see anything so herded them both in. A bit later they asked to go out again and they again found something in the grass. When I got to them it was a baby sparrow so I got them off it - it was being thoroughly sniffed but not hurt - only for it to run and I couldn’t see where it was and was worried about treading on it. Anyway I managed to get them reluctantly in.

     

    I kept an eye on where it was and saw the parents coming in to feed it through the afternoon so left it alone. Then they wanted to go out again I think really to have another inspection of their “find” more than anything else. My back garden is a triangular shape and it had moved right into the point behind the line post so luckily they didn’t see it. There were however two very anxious sparrow parents in the privet that overhangs my garden getting very concerned and swearing quite loudly.

     

    Now they want to go out again having been fed and I don’t know if it is still in garden or not. If it is I don’t really want to touch it as the parents are looking after it and my boys won’t hurt it unless they or I accidentally stand on it and it is safe as no cats come into my garden having been seen off by my boys. I think I once read somewhere that you should leave baby birds where they are as long as they are safe so am in a bit of a quandary what to do.

     

    This was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon with my podcasts and doing my new crochet project (just learned a new stitch) but has become quite stressful as I keep an eye on my new sparrow godson! 

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  8. I used to watch the wrestling on World Of Sport, it was on from 4 - 5pm on Saturday. My mum used to love Les Kennet, if my dad came in while we were watching it he used to say it was rubbish. One of my uncles was in the dressing room and heard the wrestlers going through what was going to happen in their match. 

     

    For my sins I watch WWE, even been to a couple of the live shows over here (had a thing about Kevin Nash, Big Daddy Cool, a gorgeous 7’ hunk with the most perfect pecs I have ever seen, even better in the live shows!). I went with 2 friends who had never seen it, after the show finished they wanted to know when they were coming back again so we could go again. One memory that sticks with me is taking my friends grandsons, one of them loved the Undertaker. We didn’t tell him that he was appearing in the show. The expression on his face when his entrance music started is something I will never forget. 

     

    It always makes me laugh when people say “you know it is fake” .....  no really ..... would never have guessed!

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  9. I had a relative ask if they could take my boys out this morning as they were going walking with a friend and as I had things I wanted to do said yes. They arrived, got backpack sorted (water for boys, poo bags etc) and off they went. Boys went out quite eagerly without a backward glance, puts my role into perspective! 

     

    Got loads done. Hoovered carpets without hairs appearing when I turned my back, washed floors downstairs without having doggie footprints all over them whilst they were still wet. Cleaned upstairs, battled with a hanging bag in the shower to put shower gel etc in, still can’t get the stupid thing to stick, so just cleaned the bathroom instead. Sorted out a few boxes (still have quite a few from the move last August that I haven’t emptied, need more storage), looked through some photographs I found. 

     

    Finally finished, made myself a drink and suddenly realised how quiet and empty the house felt. Then they came back, waggie tails and tired, water bowls attacked and water dribbled all over my clean floors, hairs on my clean carpet. Lots of fussing and vocalisation about their walk. Relatives left, boys settled with me in kitchen, things back to normal. Heaven:biggrin:

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  10. Been to hospital for appointment for my overactive thyroid. Tablets have done their job apparently but they now don’t want me to go the other way (underactive) so I am going to be weaned off them. Going to take them every other day at first instead of every day, if they are stopped straight away my thyroid might start being naughty again as I have only been on them for 6 months. But it was caught early when it had just started acting up so that is why tablets have worked so quickly.

     

    It makes me wonder if it was stress induced in the first place and now is starting to right itself with the help of the tablets. I have put a bit (about 2/3lbs) of weight on, still underweight for my height but hope to put a bit more weight on now so my clothes fit better (they feel like the clothes my mum used to buy that you would “grow into”).

     

    At least it is heading in the right direction and hopefully by the beginning of next year I should be tablet free.

     

    • Like 5
  11. I got back to the 1800’s on my dads family tree. It was only on my grandads side as my great grandmother was French (we presume my great grandad met her during the First World War). It was easy to start as my grandads name was Gresham and all his siblings had unusual names mostly biblical and we could remember my Great Aunt Zena (formidable lady) and my Great Aunt Lizzie (always with Zena but like a little mouse, always hung onto her handbag as if someone was going to steal it). It was very interesting, my Great Grandad was a Geordie coalminer who moved to Nottingham but my Grandad always said his boys would never be miners. I married a Geordie who was from a coal mining family and he ended working as a miner, came full circle.

     

     

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  12. When one of my relatives got one 

    4 hours ago, MargieH said:

    My granddaughter has one in her bedroom and she says it sometimes speaks to her in the middle of the night when she. hasn't said "Alexa'.  

     

    One of my relatives has one downstairs, she said she heard hers talking in the middle of the night a couple of times, perhaps they get lonely? She also put the guard dog thingy on it, only problem was she couldn’t get it to stop and every so often had what sounded like 5 different dogs barking. She googled it and found there were a lot of people in the same situation, took her ages to get it to stop.

  13. I am thinking about getting an Alexa, watching the price on Amazon to see when the best price is. I just wondered if anyone has one and what they think. Also which is best the full size or the small dot. The reviews are very mixed, some saying they are brilliant and others saying they are rubbish. I would mostly use it for audible books and my podcasts, with some music if I can get it for free. Any comments would be appreciated.

  14. On a slight tangent, my mum used to tell me about a lady who used to go to the shops on Bracebridge Drive in Bilborough with a small monkey. It used to be dressed in matching clothes to hers. I have asked about this at my clubs but no one can remember her, can anyone shed any light on this? Mum said I had seen her but I can’t remember it.

  15. I left Nottingham in the 1970’s, hubby got a job at a pit outside Doncaster where his parents lived, Nottingham pits weren’t taking on at that time. We came back regularly to see my family. Always considered it home so when I was on my own it was a no brainier to come back to the area I had grown up in to be with family again.  We were going to move back anyway before my husband passed, we had our names down for a bungalow as my husband was disabled but I didn’t qualify when I was on my own. Like most places it has changed somewhat (I get completely lost in Nottingham city centre) but don’t regret the decision and have had no problem settling into my new life despite the problems with the house I purchased. As I have said before the first time I was called “meduck” I knew I was home!

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  16. There is someone near where I live that has a puma and monkeys. He also bought a penguin off the internet (amazing what you can buy on eBay!) as his partner liked them,  but found out it had been stolen from a zoo in Scotland so it had to be returned. 

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  17. Just got back from a lovely walk (about 4/5 miles) with my boys. Not many people/other dogs about so they were off lead quite a bit. Lots of interesting sniffs to investigate (the boys not us), rustles in the undergrowth in the woods (will have to give them a once over with the brush when they are rested) and squirrels to sort out. Finished with a romp and play in the meadow (don’t know why but my iPad changed the last two words to Rotherham, is there much romping and playing there?) 

     

    Slow plod back home, both the boys and us, and now two tired but very contented dogs are stretched out on their beds fast asleep. It will be a quiet afternoon so I can get caught up on a few things and then relax listen to my podcasts, decide whether to do my crocheting or cross stitch and generally chill out. Life can be good sometimes:rolleyes:

    • Like 6