Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

michaels

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Just had not one but TWO birds fly into caravan!!! :eek: Fortunately one flew more or less straight out. The other kept flittering around and landing just above open door, or the windows I opened. Carped on the wall by big back bedroom door. (I sprayed with Dettol disinfectant spray and wiped it off with kitchen roll)

Then I opened back door, and somehow it finally found its way out through there. Phew! :j

PS just had a sparrow try fly in! I stood up and he turned tail and flew off! Eeek, what's with these birds today? Maybe hint to fill up the food?

PPS Went and at risk to life and limb on the steps to patio (very careful with stick, food bag and food dispenser) managed to refill the bird feeders. Already the greedy flying pigs are back! Just hope the don't fly back into caravan again! :rotfl:

I guess birds dropping carp is a downside of living near the sea.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Because of the way the wind swirls here, if a bird's flying down the side of my house it gets knocked towards the patio doors as soon as the wall ends - and I fear that one day there'll be a random bird inside.

My neighbour (with the big annoying bushes) fed the birds - and my patio/car were full of bird cr4p all the time. And, they'd sit on the gutters waiting to be fed and poop on the windows.

She moved out a month ago - my neighbour said "isn't it great, I can finally hang my washing out!"

So, next time you feed them, think of where they're going to poop - as your neighbours will be suffering from that!



Until I'd lived near a bird feeder ... who then moved away ... I had no idea how annoying/life-limiting all that poop was... and how lovely it is to be poop free.

I couldn't even sit outside (if it weren't so windy ....) as I'd always risk being pooped on.

Our neighbours but one have just bought a cat - now that is anti-social. I know there is nothing they can do about it but I will complain to them when I see them so at least they fell bad about it.

In the meantime does anyone know how to deter cats from carping or indeed visiting at all? Apparently catching them and putting them in the wheelie bin is frowned upon.

zagubov

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Bwlchtocyn!

Bet you don't have trouble coming up with unguessable passwords!

As for birds, one downside of living in "leafy" surrey is the amount of birdpoo that damages your car's paintwork when you park under trees.

Anyhoo just had a pleasant day driving into central London for a family occasion. What lovely weather. :beer:

Pyxis

Maggie.....it is! It's "Mary Poppins - The Later Years!" :rotfl:




Well, I don't know if it's coincidence, but the only thing that seems to stop a cat carping on my bit of shingle is to sprinkle bits of fennel around from time to time.

I've got a fennel plant that keeps growing, next to the shingle, and I break bits off and chuck it over the shingle.
Perhaps the cat doesn't like the smell.

Nothing else I tried worked as well, except for the lion dung, which also seemed to. Oh, and I was never bothered by cat carp when my dogs were alive. (Although then I had dog carp to deal with, but at least that was my choice!)

You have to keep it up, though, especially after rain, and I still keep my scoop out there, just in case.

zagubov

PasturesNew wrote: »

That's what the paperwork said .... in real life the old fella had money and needed looking after - the younger woman married him for the security/to look after him, but they all understood she could retain her young lover who worked as a blacksmith along the road
.

That'll work unless you find the 80-year old looked like a slightly older David bowie while the local young blacksmith had a face like a dropped pie!

vivatifosi

Regarding cats.. They don't like Vaseline spread on top of a fence. Though you may get strange looks at the amount of Vaseline you are buying.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

I am trying to work out how high the eaves of my house are. Regular, new build, house. Regular room heights. Bedroom window frame touches the soffit.

So how long would a 5' person require a pole to be in order for that pole, with a brush on, to be used for washing gutter undersides etc.

There are plenty for sale that are 3metres (funny new-fangled measurement) ... but I figure that by the time I've used up 2-3' of the end of that gripping it and gaining control ... I'd end up being able to wash half the windows and get nowhere near the soffit/fascia.

Not going to do it this year, of course... just mulling how long a pole would need to be .... and wondering how many people bought a 3 metre pole excitedly, only to discover it wouldn't reach ....

Or maybe it is long enough .... I figure my toes to the tip of the brush would be 4.5 metres.

So ... how high is the soffit ...

As DG says it'll be 5m. Is there a risk of pushing the gutters out of their brackets with too vigorous brushing from underneath? Also, the plastic gets brittle with age. Don't we all, though?

GDB2222

I feel really sorry for people stuck on a cable car at 12000 feet on Mont Blanc overnight.

chris_m

GDB2222 wrote: »

I feel really sorry for people stuck on a cable car at 12000 feet on Mont Blanc overnight.

The cable cars offer tourists a panoramic view of Mont Blanc

:rotfl:

I know of that route - we looked at it when we were there in '76, and discounted ot because it was waaaaay too expensive for our tastes.
Even Aiguille du Midi was too much, but we did go to the halfway station at Plan de l'Aiguille so we could get above the snowline.
We settled for going to the Aosta valley through the Mont Blanc Tunnel instead, and the rack railway up the La Mer du Glace.

We did cross a border without the car one day though - we took the teleferique (looks similar to the stuck ones, cabins pushed onto a constantly moving loop of cable and pulled off at the other end) from Le Tour up to the top then walked over the Col de Balme into Switzerland. There was a little cafe just over the border which did the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted.

chris_m

vivatifosi wrote: »

Regarding cats.. They don't like Vaseline spread on top of a fence. Though you may get strange looks at the amount of Vaseline you are buying.

A friend told me about a teacher he'd had, who wasn't very popular. This teacher came in one day moaning about cats lying (and carping) on his car and asked if anyone had any suggestions.
The only one offered was catnip which, apparently he did actually try :rotfl:

Pyxis

chris_m wrote: »

A friend told me about a teacher he'd had, who wasn't very popular. This teacher came in one day moaning about cats lying (and carping) on his car and asked if anyone had any suggestions.
The only one offered was catnip which, apparently he did actually try :rotfl:

Catnip! :rotfl:


The first time I saw a cat meeting some catnip, I couldn't believe it! I was quite jealous! :rotfl:

What is it that catnip does to a cat's brain?


Trots off to google .........




............ah! It's thought to mimic cat pheromones. Also thought to produce a high in cats similar to marijuana or even LSD, but it's supposed to be safe for cats! Not all cats are sensitive to,it.....only about 50%, and if exposed frequently to it! they can lose that sensitivity.

Apparently it's useful for humans, too, producing a sedative effect a bit like chamomile. Just so long as it doesn't make you go all squirmy and rubbing up against people! :rotfl: