THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

GreyQueen

((((((((thriftwizard))))))) and (((((((((dfor v)))))))) wishing you both better health and a full recovery. I've had a camera stuck where the sun don't shine, isn't exactly my first choice of leisure activity, but not as bad as I thought it would be, either.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Three days of only partly successful sorting, cleaning and categorising Expensive Equipment at the paid thing. Still not completely fixed the Stuff so that it works As Intended, but at least the unpaid overtime I will be partaking of next week in an effort to fix it will be in a clean, tidy and non hazardous environment. And the offer of help from a friend who is considerably more qualified in this area will be invaluable.

Hope everybody has uneventful recoveries/investigations.

Living_proof

The trick question appears to be "Did you have all your vaccinations at school?" If the answer is yes, and the victim is born After 1957, then hustling them off for an anti-tetanus top-up is unlikely to be needed. Other treatments possibly, but a bunch of bugs from a pointy needle less probable.

My daughter's cat bit me in the fleshy part of my palm below the thumb and I know this can be dangerous so I took myself to the local MIU where I was given antibiotics (now have a very dodgy tummy). With regard to tetanus I was told it was life long although I was born in 1953. I think I last had a booster around 40 years ago, but I was assured that if I put a fork through my foot or something major, I would be given another just in case. That's heartening to know!

DigForVictory

Aie! Cat bites can be viciously infectious - the good thing is you are not hospitalised on a drip. (Happened to our dentist, making life complicated for his reception staff, poor souls, but all recovered!)
I'm told live yoghurt helps with the upset tum. All the best!

thriftwizard

Thanks, everyone, for the good wishes. The op. should happen in just over a week's time, and yes, there will be dietary restrictions both before and after. I do like the sound of chicken bovril soup, thank you, DfV! And when it comes to meals for the family, there are lots in the freezer to use up, but I probably won't be able to eat most of them. Or vegetarian stuff, or fruit, or all the things we're normally urged to eat more of, and that I like! Apparently chocolate eclairs are OK though...

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Welcome to Autumn in the city.

Idiot Cat has just had his first confirmed kill of the year. The cacophony of scrabbling and thuds from the kitchen revealed an errant rodent in his clutches. I am hoping that he decided to bring his prize in from the garden, rather than it already being resident (no signs and it looked more like a Wood/Field Mouse, which we get living under the shed every year).

Himself was summoned to assist with relocating Cat and Rodent into the back garden, which went well until I suggested that, if the rodent were still alive but mortally wounded, he put it out of its misery with a steel toecapped boot or shovel. He came over all unnecessary at the thought and is now looking at me strangely since I praised Idiot Cat when he was allowed back indoors sans Rodent, Apparently, he can't quite believe I didn't grow up in the countryside with that attitude.

I'm not convinced this should be a surprise when he knows I can both dismember/portion an entire chicken in under five minutes and I'm not too shabby a fisherman.

GreyQueen

I was taught by my 'rents (country folk) that you should always praise a cat for catching rodents, it's what they're for.


Well done, Idiot Cat. I wonder if he's part of the extended family of Wild Thing, the parental cat. Looks like a miniature version of a Maine Coon but is deffo a Heinz. Also the cat whose antics cause rueful shakes of the head and comments of She's not right (in the head), is she?:rotfl:

DigForVictory

I praised the cat even when I found her birthday present for me under a bare foot. I then stroked her while mum relocated my "present" to the back garden.

We took her on holiday to Wales with us, we barely saw her & then my sister complained she couldn't go to bed, the cat was having kittens on it. All together a memorable holiday.

When I hear a

cacophony of scrabbling and thuds from the kitchen

these days, I presume a son is making a light snack & a larger mess. I'm still hoping one will bring back fish from fishing but so far just more laundry.

thriftwizard

One of our resident moggies has a habit of leaving little "presents" for DD1 in the shoes that she persists in leaving outside her bedroom door. Usually ham or chicken, occasionally cheese (which is the only one that my darling daughter doesn't mind, as a pescatarian) but last week's offering was a somewhat damaged but still quite lively mouse. The scream was deafening...

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I did point out that Idiot Cat was merely fulfilling his purpose in life and, had his people not performed similar acts, they would never have earned the Godlike status which they so richly deserved. Himself was not totally convinced by this argument, but was swayed by the obvious swagger and satisfaction on IC's face when I started calling him Mousebreath.

I will still rescue anything else that he brings down or falls at his feet (the infamous Concussed Sparrow Incident of 2016 springs to mind here, along with the Elephant Hawkmoth Demolition Derby, both of which left him rather miffed and sulking on the draining board upon their successful release), but agents of pestilence are on their own, as long as he dispatches them within a reasonable period of time.

His rather pretty housemate, Mme Fluffyknickers (who is allegedly MC descended, but looks more like a bag of fluffy ginger, black and white cat bits were glued together in the shape of a small, gingery sheep with a womble's nose stuck on the front), has not got past dashing in whilst making muffled squeaking noises as long arachnid legs protrude from between her teeth. I attribute her lack of hunting prowess to the thick fur between her toes making her claws ineffective.

I'd rather she didn't involve herself and stayed purely decorative, but the house is quite liberally scattered with legs by morning throughout September and October (and I vacuumed a rather flat looking 5 legged corpse off the skirting board on Saturday where it had been presumably splatted against it as a warning to all others that might come in). The False Widow living in the gap between the kitchen cabinet and the wall has been left unmolested for months now, so they can differentiate between big and hairy and small but useful [strike]with a bit of a nip to them[/strike].

[By the way, am I the only person who thinks that the city dwellers who work in schools and are hysterically closing them for liberal dousings of poison because of a few False Widows deserve a slap and to be told to grow up/try listening to Science for a change rather than the Daily Mail?]


Himself has conceded defeat on condition that the back door is shut whenever he is sleeping, lest he receives the gift of a post-nap snack on his pillow. And he's still none too pleased that I have confiscated his bug spray. At some point I'll tell him about the Mouse Spider that lives under the windowsill.