Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

ivyleaf wrote: »

My OH bought a chain saw from Lidl last year.

The saw and/or your OH will be armless.

[Deleted User]

I'm sitting here with nothing much to do, bar surfing the net (weather is looking dodgy), so I've decided to conduct and experiment.

I've measured one of my 8" household candles, then lit it.

I've set my kitchen timer to 60 minutes, after which I'll blow out the candle and remeasure it.

Simple maths will then give me a pretty accurate indication, of total burn time.

Butterfly_Brain

jk0

I find that if I wipe down the skirting and walls with a solution of water and a few drops of peppermint oil keeps the little burgers away :eek:

You will love this

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/13/spider-photobombs-bbc-reporting-scotland-news

Scarlet Raven welcome back and congratulations on the baby
I hope that you are recovered from the TB :eek:
They should never have stopped the TB vaccinations in schools

[Deleted User]

OK, so the timer just went off.

1-1/8th inches for the hour.

I make that, as near as makes no odds, 7 hours, for the 8" candle.

Frugalsod

jk0 wrote: »

By the way, anyone know how to catch an enormous spider?

Watching Big Brother last night, I saw one creep out from under my sideboard, see me, then run back in again.

I went in the kitchen and got a beer glass and a feather duster to tickle him out with. I got him out, but b*ggar me, he was too big for the diameter of the beer glass, and got away. About 4" across!

Just use your hands. Move slowly and trap the spider with both hands, eventually the spider will have to climb up one of your hands. When it does so adjust your cupped hands so that the spider is sealed within your cupped hands. Then move outdoors and find somewhere to release the spider.

The basic fact is that a UK spider will not bite you unless it feels threatened, so move slowly and even when it in your cupped hands it will not bite unless you threaten it. Venom for a spider is too valuable to basically bite everything. So just make sure that you are not considered a threat and you should be safe. I have picked up hundreds of insects and even as large as a hornet without any bites or stings.

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

jk0 a spider that size requires a machinegun. I would move out.
TY for diet advice, I am now making sure I get my daily allowance of veg and legumes. I do love liquorice.....

I had a recollection about you and liquorice, so went looking for the reference.

I have decided that I needed more veg in my life so had some Galaxy this afternoon, as you do. It's practically health food, innit?

No sound of the cricket/ cicada/ grasshopper since first thing this morning. It may have left/ died/ fallen victim to the Tribe of Pod, my resident cohort of those spindly pod spiders. I hope it made a safe getaway.

Frugalsod, I haven't the nerve to pick up a spider barehanded, although I will scoop the pods out of the bath-tub if the get stuck, but they can normally get out under their own power. I seriously wouldn't rest if I thought my tiny home harboured a critter too big for a beer glass. The pods will protect me, however; they canniablise other spider species.

Oh! It just started singing again - it is here after all. I spake too soon. Can't see where it is or trace it by its singing, so will just have to leave it to get on with it.

:T Have been buying some very cheap secondhand books this afternoon, some of which are being offered online in the region of a hundred smackeroonies. Kid Bruv the online bookseller is pretty pleased to hear about them. Of course, asking ain't getting, but the house record for the sold price of a single book is north of £300 so we can but hope.

And the critter steps up to the mike to give it some toons...............

Frugalsod

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

jk0

I find that if I wipe down the skirting and walls with a solution of water and a few drops of peppermint oil keeps the little burgers away :eek:

You will love this

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/aug/13/spider-photobombs-bbc-reporting-scotland-news

Spiders are natures little pest controllers. I never move them if I see them in the home. Though I might transplant one to a safer area for it to live.

The same for wasps. Though I will admit you have to try and avoid attracting them with sweet food. I did see a wasp once decapitating a grasshopper, and most wildlife is opportunistic so if you make it easier for them to chase you for food than hunt for their normal diet then you have to accept problems will follow.

Frugalsod

Well wages are still falling, as I expected.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/13/fall-uk-wages-bittersweet-rising-employment

Prepare for living standards to continue falling until there is a change of policy.

[Deleted User]

Frugalsod wrote: »

I never move them if I see them in the home. Though I might transplant one to a safer area for it to live.

I move them too.

I move them to under my computer desk.

GreyQueen

And the cricket sang on.......and on.........and on. It seems to rev up at nightfall.

I was fascinated to watch what happened when a wasp ended up in a spiderweb stretched over the outside of a window. It couldn't extricate itself and its thrashing summoned the spider from the edge of the web. What happened next was very interesting to me; the medium-sized garden spider carefully severed all the strands of web around the wasp and let it go.

I don't know whether it made a judgement call that the wasp was a bit to big to be eaten, or whether wasps give spiders indigestion, but it was interesting to watch. It didn't faddle about, just nipped in there and cut it free.

An old country trick is to use clean spiderwebs to lay over areas of abraded skin. Apparently the spider silk assists the cells in recovering the areas which have been grazed off. Sort-of forming a bridge. Please note that this isn't medical advice, just an old country folkloric thingummyjig.