Preparedness for when

siegemode

craigywv wrote: »

Siegemode you deserve a medal , I would have expired if I had seen never mind be bitten by that thing, I hope your ok . Think I shall stick to dogs at least I will live maybe reach end of natural life span , if I had a cat i would be dead in a week I'm afraid. My phobia is them things with long tails, give me snakes ,spiders,bugs anything but them. On another note my veg is popping through the soil at a rapid rate seems the mild weather is helping. Blooming maggots are back again at back door usually in threes got eaves checked for dead birds etc and gutters can't find where they coming from, oh thinks they coming up from the ground as they only come when it rains, I think it's my next door neighbours brown food bin as its on other side of my fence where my back door is. I had a peek but couldn't see any on her bin. They are yellow , I even thought they were being dropped from nearby tree but they not. Getting used to them coming every time it rains. I can't put chemicals out there as I have a Yorkshire terrier, any ideas anyone pleasssssse I at wits end here thanks.

I had no choice but to deal with mice and baby rat presents. Our original 2 moggies weren't great hunters and were adopted at about 18mths and never showed an interest in anything other than the occasional spider, moths or dragonflies. This little chap who adopted us as a kitten (original guardians were out all day and appeared uninterested) was an extremely good hunter so I had no option but to become a good catcher. I can't however deal with spiders and go in to melt down if they are bigger than a penny and when they run I totally freak, hyperventilate or feel physically sick. I hate most creepy crawlies, but nowt affects me like a spider.

ArthriticOldThing wrote: »

Oooo I can add to the mouse stories.


A couple of weeks ago a friend and I had a weekend away at a rather 'nice' hotel in the countryside. All was well - fantastic really - til the second evening when I went back to the room and found a mouse scootering about as if it owned the place.:eek: Maybe it did.


It was a very clever mouse, not bothered by any noise or even the presence of humans, but scooted away under a bed as soon as anyone approached it. I tried, then called the hotel staff who tried, but none of us could get near it. As soon as we moved away a little it was back out from under the bed though. It obviously had us sussed as useless humans.:rotfl::rotfl:


Eventually the hotel staff agreed that they would have to get us another room - I just could NOT sleep with thought of mouse running over the bed or me!! :eek::eek:


My friend, however, was more upset at having to move rooms!!!:mad:


You tell me please......am I just a wimp?:rotfl:

No you're not a wimp. I have to catch them before I can sleep or relax and I'm terrified our little hunter will let them escape before he gets to the bedroom. At least he wakes me up and gives me a fighting chance of catching the gifted critter. I would feel much better if he killed them first though. I worry about them getting a taste for our stores let alone the havac they could reek in a timer framed house. I also worry about them running over me whilst I sleep.

thriftwizard wrote: »

Is anyone else feeling a tad unsettled about this "smog" thing? I know they're saying it's just because the reporting agency has changed so we're all more aware of it, but we're nowhere near the worst of it and I've been picking up a strange, slightly chemical smell on & off today. I know I'm not the only one; have read blog reports from locations well north and north-east of here. Although we are close to the Channel, I really don't think this one is down to rotting French cabbages...

I drove back across our county this afternoon and the weather could only be described as weird; very heavy monsoon-type rain, falling through thick orange fog. But 15 miles up the road, just a sepia sky with ordinary English spring rain, and no smell. All a bit bizarre...

On our return home from the doctors earlier both OH and I were talking of the strange feeling we had in relation to both what is in the news these days but especially this smog. We are in the grade 10 area and it feels surreal. Both of us have stayed in and both of us have felt head achey, dry eyes and tight chest. A friend in the Derby area spoke of a metallic taste in the air, teeth sensitivity and feeling generally ill and achey. It has amazed me to see washing out, even my mum couldn't understand my concerns and just said I remember the real smog of the fifties. I see little point in doing the washing only to hang it out to collect dust and pollution, but mum said she'd put hers out and everyone round her way was doing thhe same despite us being in the worse affected area. Whilst I sorted the rubbish out earlier this evening we had 60 seconds of a very lite sprinkling that couldn't be described as rain and I wondered what was in the fine mist like moisture. There definitely feels like a strange energy in the atmosphere. Another thing that shocked me was a group of mothers out with babies, one was interviewed and said “The warning that many people shouldn’t be outside does make you think, but it hasn’t stopped us from doing what we normally do, even with our babies”. It seems that little thought was given to their still developing lungs etc. The world seems such a strange place these days:(

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/east-anglian-spirit-undimmed-as-the-dreaded-saharan-dust-cloud-settles-on-ely-9233714.html

thriftwizard

During a somewhat sleepless night - I adore conspiracy theories but I don't want to live in one! - I pinned down what it smelt most like to me. It reminded me of the times I've inadvertently driven through a spray cloud, when a farmer's spraying crops near the road, and not realised what's going on until I've smelt it; if I see 'em in time, I shut the windows & turn the ventilation onto "recirculate" but sometimes the tractor isn't visible until it's too late.

(That, by the way, is why we live in a town surrounded by National Trust farmland... I longed to bring my kids up in glorious wide-open countryside, like I grew up in, but things have changed somewhat since those days.)

But no farmer in his (or her) right mind would have been spraying anything on a day when heavy rain was forecast, surely?

mardatha

Siegemode I'm the same with spiders, if they start to run then my stomach drops out. I'm fine with mice and rats and anything else but things with more than 4 legs and antennae make me sick. I can't be in a room with a moth. Fearless prepper lol

D&DD

Morning all


LOL yup fearless preppers Mar we'll be ok tho as I don't mind snakes,rats,mice or spiders..as long as someone takes care of the beetles..I can't do things with shells since living with cockroaches!!


OH is helping out in the garden today so I have me list at the ready,he really enjoys his days off.


Better get cracking have a great day all XX

[Deleted User]

You're right THRIFTWIZARD that's just how the air has been smelling here too. We noticed the dust on the cars on Monday and the smell has been here since then but we're used to smells as we have Fawley Oil Refinery on the other side of the solent and until recently Fawley Power Station added its own fragrance to the local air, closed now though. I wonder why we weren't warned about this cloud of nastiness earlier than we were, there must have always been the potential for it to be caught up in our weather systems but the weather forecasters were late in the warnings weren't they. Has anything happened of an industrial accident nature in Europe that our news hasn't covered here do you think? I wonder if it wasn't big enough to be news internationally but big enough to cause substantial contamination of the atmosphere plus pollen and sahara dust, might just be an unfortunate coming together of different items into a bigger event.

paidinchickens

GQ That's terrible, I can't imagine how you felt.

The most disturbing thing is how many people live through this nightmare every day, it's just so sad.

What do the Council do about the anti social behaviour?

PiC x

GreyQueen

paidinchickens wrote: »

GQ That's terrible, I can't imagine how you felt.

The most disturbing thing is how many people live through this nightmare every day, it's just so sad.

What do the Council do about the anti social behaviour?

PiC x

Booger all, frankly. Our perception as tenants is that other tenants can put neighbours through hell and get away with it, but gawdelpyou if you fail to pay your rent, as they'll have you out for that.

In fairness, the logjams in the system are these creatures called 'district judges' - at least here in England. Such posts are typically late career promotions for soliticitors, usually from the most privileged sectors of society. Often what I call the county set, IYKWIM.

Having never lived in high density housing among the wrong 'uns, they're pretty clueless and put loads of obstacles in the way of councils trying to get legal possession of their homes on grounds of anti-social behaviour. It's all Why didn't you try this? and Why haven't you tried that? and lots of rigmarole.

Because it costs money to go to court and because it's so hellaciously difficult to get possession ruled in the Council's favour, they all tend to do it (IMO) too seldom. We've got rid of some bad barstewards in this neighbourhood because they got jailed for a long stretch or defaulted on their rent and wouldn't co-operate with paying it down.

Righty, off to shoulder my share of the workload for the day. Laters, GQ xx

Frugalsod

I have no phobias. It means I am able to catch and release spiders wasps even a big hornet. If I see a snake I have sense of caution, though nothing more. I know that the snake will not want to bite me unless absolutely necessary. So I back away and allow it to move off. Unless I make myself a threat to the animal I am not likely to be attacked. Though remember more people are killed by cattle than by any predator in most places.

[Deleted User]

I've just been reading a very interesting article that has concluded that the black death couldn't have been spread by fleas. The current thinking is that the bacillus must have been airborne and spread by coughs and sneezes for it to have infected such a large proportion of the population so very quickly. The consensus of evidence is also that most of the victims were in very poor health due to malnutrition/medical conditions/ physical problems and that was a contributory factor in succumbing to the disease. Makes the idea that we keep as fit and healthy as we can and get all the immunisation we can seem a very good idea doesn't it?

maryb

I remember a theory going round that the Black Death was actually a haemorrhagic fever (a bit like Ebola) rather than the normal flea borne bubonic plague. Bubonic plague is endemic in some parts of the world even today but doesn't cause such high death rates. But people had the characteristic buboes (swellings) so plague must have been part of it. Horrific to think that maybe it was a mutated virus along the lines of Ebola hitching a ride on a less virulent strain