What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[portland_bill]

Three days ago, the cat brought in a mouse, dumped it in the middle of the floor, sat back and looked at us as if expecting praise. Mouse made a run for it.
Much searching, hidden well. Cat looks around for a while, then seems to forget.
We had a live trap, a little box with a door, that traps the creature without harm. I trotted off down the road to Toolstation to get two more, and all three were placed around the room.
Night before last, mouse appeared in middle of the floor, sat up, looked around, just to tease I think. By the time I'd got the recliner chair down, mouse had scampered to a corner. Missed again.
Each morning, and frequently during the day, I check the three traps. Mid morning, one has its door shut, and there inside is the mouse - success. I carried it outside and released it into the bushes. Cat had damaged it, as its left rear leg was unused, but at least it has a chance.

Five minutes later, in comes the cat, with another one. (Not the same one, as this one had full use of all legs. This time recliner was not reclined. We have a couple of cardboard tubes, the sort used for posting documents, posters, etc. I grabbed one, and popped it over the mouse. Slid an old envelope under, and again carried it outside for release into the bushes.

The joys of being adopted by a wild animal.

 

[Eklipze3k]

Three days ago, the cat brought in a mouse, dumped it in the middle of the floor, sat back and looked at us as if expecting praise. Mouse made a run for it.
Much searching, hidden well. Cat looks around for a while, then seems to forget.
We had a live trap, a little box with a door, that traps the creature without harm. I trotted off down the road to Toolstation to get two more, and all three were placed around the room.
Night before last, mouse appeared in middle of the floor, sat up, looked around, just to tease I think. By the time I'd got the recliner chair down, mouse had scampered to a corner. Missed again.
Each morning, and frequently during the day, I check the three traps. Mid morning, one has its door shut, and there inside is the mouse - success. I carried it outside and released it into the bushes. Cat had damaged it, as its left rear leg was unused, but at least it has a chance.

Five minutes later, in comes the cat, with another one. (Not the same one, as this one had full use of all legs. This time recliner was not reclined. We have a couple of cardboard tubes, the sort used for posting documents, posters, etc. I grabbed one, and popped it over the mouse. Slid an old envelope under, and again carried it outside for release into the bushes.

The joys of being adopted by a wild animal.

Ours never bring us anything live, thankfully. A few days ago they'd left a dead rat in the garden which the magpies were picking at, and yesterday they brought us a squirrel. Just what you want with an infant exploring the garden!

 

[portland_bill]

Ours never bring us anything live, thankfully

Is your cat male? My experience is that male cats tend to hunt and kill, and will often bring the dead creature in to share and for you to be proud of them. Female cats tend to bring their prey back alive. This stems from teaching kittens to hunt and kill, so live prey is a useful teaching aid. Sadly, they also seem to be good at letting the prey run away to hide under furniture.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Can I say right away that I'm a "live and let live! sort of chap. I spent a lot of my younger life out in the countryside and my Mum was a founder member of a dog charity. I save "worms" which have strayed onto hard surfaces (pavements etc) when it rains heavily, carefully put outside the occasional wasp, fly, woodlouse, etc which finds it's way into our house and even hid my sister in law's mouse traps in the outside shed last Easter when we found a mouse in the kitchen one night. I think anything which is "alive" deserves to live it's life normally and unpersecuted. Not quite so sure if I'd feel the same about something like a highly poisonous snake or Tiger if I live somewhere that I might find one in my house or garden?

Anyway, having said all that, The day before yesterday I cultivated - hoed and weeded - my small vegetable patch and I've just been out for a look at all my bedding plants, Geraniums, Impateins, Petunias, etc. This morning, walking round the corner to where the Vegi patch, I can clearly see something, probably a cat, has done it's "business" right where my rhubarb is growing. I quite like cats, although I prefer Dogs, and they will often come and keep me company when I'm scrabbling around under one of the family cars, which I rather like as I "talk" to them. There are many of them in this immediate area, house across the road has 3 as does the neighbour two houses away. At the last count there are at least 12 in the very immediate area and "entertaining" territory disputes/fights are common). It's rare for more than a couple of days to go by without me having to clear a "deposit" from one of my beds. I have two electronic noise generators which do have some effect but don't deter in the areas they don't cover and I have to say that I'm getting really fed up with so often clearing this mess away. We also get foxes and, occasionally, a couple of badgers are to be seen, The Fox poo is easily seen to be different to the cats so I'm convinced it's cats that are my "problem" but I've run out of ideas as to how to discourage them.

 

[portland_bill]

... I'm convinced it's cats that are my "problem" but I've run out of ideas as to how to discourage them.

Only sure way of discouraging cats from your garden, is to have one of your own. They tend to not deposit in their own garden, and territory mark so others don't either. But you could be unlucky, and get a lazy one that deposits in its own garden making matters worse, or is a wimp, and lets others deposit on their terrirtory. Other than that, lion poo is supposed to deter all sorts of other creatures, especially foxes, but is only available if you have a wildlife park nearby. 'Pick your own' might be a challenge.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Maybe that's why our garden seems to be the "toilet of choice" they are all so busy marking and defending their own so it's "open house" at ours? Afraid I married a girl who's prone to asthma. Fluffy dogs, guinea pigs and all which molt are bad news but cats in particular set her off almost before she enters a house where they live. I've heard talk of the Lion Poo before though so might look into what acquiring that entails.

 

[vexorg]

We got a few of the cat scarers that sense movement and make ultrasonic sounds they dont like, they do make a difference. The one has settings for different animals, cat, dog, fox, even bear!!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Can I say right away that I'm a "live and let live! sort of chap. I spent a lot of my younger life out in the countryside and my Mum was a founder member of a dog charity. I save "worms" which have strayed onto hard surfaces (pavements etc) when it rains heavily, carefully put outside the occasional wasp, fly, woodlouse, etc which finds it's way into our house and even hid my sister in law's mouse traps in the outside shed last Easter when we found a mouse in the kitchen one night. I think anything which is "alive" deserves to live it's life normally and unpersecuted. Not quite so sure if I'd feel the same about something like a highly poisonous snake or Tiger if I live somewhere that I might find one in my house or garden?

Anyway, having said all that, The day before yesterday I cultivated - hoed and weeded - my small vegetable patch and I've just been out for a look at all my bedding plants, Geraniums, Impateins, Petunias, etc. This morning, walking round the corner to where the Vegi patch, I can clearly see something, probably a cat, has done it's "business" right where my rhubarb is growing. I quite like cats, although I prefer Dogs, and they will often come and keep me company when I'm scrabbling around under one of the family cars, which I rather like as I "talk" to them. There are many of them in this immediate area, house across the road has 3 as does the neighbour two houses away. At the last count there are at least 12 in the very immediate area and "entertaining" territory disputes/fights are common). It's rare for more than a couple of days to go by without me having to clear a "deposit" from one of my beds. I have two electronic noise generators which do have some effect but don't deter in the areas they don't cover and I have to say that I'm getting really fed up with so often clearing this mess away. We also get foxes and, occasionally, a couple of badgers are to be seen, The Fox poo is easily seen to be different to the cats so I'm convinced it's cats that are my "problem" but I've run out of ideas as to how to discourage them.

Ive said it before on here. MACHINE GUN! Howitzer might do it and I suppose these days a cruise missile could be in order. Generally I agree live and let live. But... cats who pooh in the vegetable garden pigeons who wreck the vegetable garden and tory politicians are exempt!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Decided to check Noops brakes today. This car just 13000 miles has been driven pretty carefully and is garaged when not in use. Brake discs were well worn about .75mm lip on both faces of the disc and just beginning to rust around the edges. One down 3 to go. Disc mesured at 21.84mm thickness. Checking the s4P site Magnetti Morelli discs stated to be 22mm thick new and 20mm min thickness. This suggests the replacements would be thinner than the originals and last for 25K tops. Im going to check what blueprint discs measure. It seems excessive to have to strip the whole system after just 13K but at least a good clean of the first corner revealed nothing too bad. Pads and calip0ers were beginning to rust together and the sliders were as dry as a desert. But what a dirty jub grinding the lips of the discs away. The rears look worse than the fronts too. I took the opportunity to clean and lubricate all the other nuts and bolts that were visible including the hydraulic pipe unions and bleed nipples all of which looked as if they had been parked in the sea for a while so once its all done we should be able to relax for a while. My maintenance holiday on this car is celarly over.

 

[StevenRB45]

Car things...

The Citroën has been very mildly broken since April, this in itself is not an issue, it drives entirely fine and these are the first problems it's had in 5 years. One of them will be covered under warranty the other may be but even if it isn't it'll get done.

So why I'm debating getting out of it?

The reason it's been broken this long...is it's been a proper chew on to just get it in the garage, get it looked at, get it diagnosed and then a month waiting for parts. The parts have now arrived but the first time I can get a courtesy car is end of the month but it's also on a working day I'm off the following week so I've had to go with that. So 2 months from fault to fix...on replacing suspension.

Buuuut that's forgetting the inlet valves, which they didn't do a full diagnosis on last time. To submit that to the warranty company they need the car...so next time they see it in July.

Once they've seen it...they'll order the bits for that...and once they arrive that's a 2 day job...also it's due a service in September which is pre-paid but again more chewing on.

When we had two cars it wasn't a problem god knows it stood in for the Mazda on multiple occasions..but when you've got one car and the garage is 20 miles it's a bit much.

Every body is having supply issues on the sunlit uplands of brexit/post covid...so it'd probably be same regardless of car but it is annoying.

Looking at new cars thinking "hmmm" but they may have issues out the gate and I'll be back waiting for parts.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Car things...So why I'm debating getting out of it?

Sorry to hear of your irritations. I think there is a market for a decent garage that thinks about the practical implications of daft trips to and from their premises and act in a more helpful way. Stick with it watch the elctric space.... Two months not too bad Citroen had my BX for 4 months with suspension troubles and did quite a lot of dammage to it while repairing which caused a lot of anst Pain flakes in the hydrualics blocking height correctors meant the car went up and down at any time without warning.... not good. I think the value of ICE cars will start to plummet soon as fuel prices go up exponentially as demand reduces might as well hang on for a few more years if you can and save up for hte £50K electric trike you will have to afford! It may well be more viable to convert the car rather than buying a new one at that time. We shall see.

 

[StevenRB45]

Sorry to hear of your irritations. I think there is a market for a decent garage that thinks about the practical implications of daft trips to and from their premises and act in a more helpful way. Stick with it watch the elctric space.... Two months not too bad Citroen had my BX for 4 months with suspension troubles and did quite a lot of dammage to it while repairing which caused a lot of anst Pain flakes in the hydrualics blocking height correctors meant the car went up and down at any time without warning.... not good. I think the value of ICE cars will start to plummet soon as fuel prices go up exponentially as demand reduces might as well hang on for a few more years if you can and save up for hte £50K electric trike you will have to afford! It may well be more viable to convert the car rather than buying a new one at that time. We shall see.

Funny you should mention electric I've been looking at possible options in that area.

Currently C3 is worth between 7000 and 8500 as a trade..not bad given I paid 7150 to finish the PCP in 2020.

I could chop it in against an R135 Zoe (latest one) with a good range (real world 180 in winter) and similar interior with a bigger boot, put in 5 grand and be left 3 years of 250 ish a month to own.

Doesn't sound an amazing deal except even at 45-55 to the gallon the C3 is costing 220 pm in fuel alone.

Did say I would be pragmatic about these things and it's getting close to the point where it would work out similar kinda money to switch it over. Yes I'm putting 5k in but the car is also 3 years newer.

 

[portland_bill]

Just after 7am a Thames Water van arrived, parked on the pavement between my immediate neighhour and the next hose down. Despite having a white, LWB Hi-roof, VW Crafter, he placed 'men at work' signs in front and behind it, then took pics. Health & Safety silliness. Anyone not seeing a large white van, are probably not seeing the signs either.
After knocking on both those houses doors, about 10 minutes later, he knocked on mine.

There's a blocked drain, below my next-door neighbour's house. Access to their inspection cover has been made difficult, by them laying decking over it. Mine is accessible. Ours is in the grass (I refuse to call it a lawn), annoyingly at an angle to the house. A previous owner added a row of bricks around the outside, and layed a paving slab on them, to bring the slab just above grass level. I've not lifted it since 1995.
I assumed the drains went all the way down the backs of the row, but apparently each run does a few houses, then turns ninety degrees and heads out to the road at the front. The house below me is the last of our section, then it turns and heads out to the road between them and the next pair of semis. Their side path has also been paved and sealed, so access there is difficult too. Oops!

(We're on a slight hill. I'm no.25, semi-detached with 23. Then a gap of course, and 21.)

There is a blockage after my drain, but before the road. The resultant overflow is leaking into the garden of 21. The blockage appears to be at the bend after 23, which seems inevitable, if you're going to put sharp bends in drains. Our inspection pit shows a tide line about half-way up, showing evidence of the blockage.
With the van now on our drive, first a camera went down the drain, inconclusive. Then down went the manual rods, lots of pushing and pulling, no result. Man has made the decision that the decking next door will have to come up, as access from our drain isn't going to fix the issue.

I'm thinking Thames Water are not going to cover the cost of lifting the decking. Next door live on benefits. The decking was put down by her partner, who left late last year. I'm guessing he may be back shortly to undo his handiwork. The house next door is owned by a housing association, but they won't cover such costs, as it is not part of their 'structure'.

Of course, whatever is causing the blockage, may not have originated from the house next door. It may have floated down from one of the ones above me, but I doubt they'd be putting anything inappropriate down the drains. No23, however, have recently added a new baby to the house (18yr old daughter!). My immediate thoughts are baby wipes being flushed.
I wonder, if when the cause is found, if more than a build-up of correct waste, the water company look to recover any of their costs if the culprit can be established.

We watch, and wait, with noses held.

Edit: And as I type this, an email arrives from Screwfix, advertising offers on decking. Perhaps I should forward it to next door.

 

[Rocinante]

Just after 7am a Thames Water van arrived, parked on the pavement between my immediate neighhour and the next hose down. Despite having a white, LWB Hi-roof, VW Crafter, he placed 'men at work' signs in front and behind it, then took pics. Health & Safety silliness. Anyone not seeing a large white van, are probably not seeing the signs either.
After knocking on both those houses doors, about 10 minutes later, he knocked on mine.

There's a blocked drain, below my next-door neighbour's house. Access to their inspection cover has been made difficult, by them laying decking over it. Mine is accessible. Ours is in the grass (I refuse to call it a lawn), annoyingly at an angle to the house. A previous owner added a row of bricks around the outside, and layed a paving slab on them, to bring the slab just above grass level. I've not lifted it since 1995.
I assumed the drains went all the way down the backs of the row, but apparently each run does a few houses, then turns ninety degrees and heads out to the road at the front. The house below me is the last of our section, then it turns and heads out to the road between them and the next pair of semis. Their side path has also been paved and sealed, so access there is difficult too. Oops!

(We're on a slight hill. I'm no.25, semi-detached with 23. Then a gap of course, and 21.)

There is a blockage after my drain, but before the road. The resultant overflow is leaking into the garden of 21. The blockage appears to be at the bend after 23, which seems inevitable, if you're going to put sharp bends in drains. Our inspection pit shows a tide line about half-way up, showing evidence of the blockage.
With the van now on our drive, first a camera went down the drain, inconclusive. Then down went the manual rods, lots of pushing and pulling, no result. Man has made the decision that the decking next door will have to come up, as access from our drain isn't going to fix the issue.

I'm thinking Thames Water are not going to cover the cost of lifting the decking. Next door live on benefits. The decking was put down by her partner, who left late last year. I'm guessing he may be back shortly to undo his handiwork. The house next door is owned by a housing association, but they won't cover such costs, as it is not part of their 'structure'.

Of course, whatever is causing the blockage, may not have originated from the house next door. It may have floated down from one of the ones above me, but I doubt they'd be putting anything inappropriate down the drains. No23, however, have recently added a new baby to the house (18yr old daughter!). My immediate thoughts are baby wipes being flushed.
I wonder, if when the cause is found, if more than a build-up of correct waste, the water company look to recover any of their costs if the culprit can be established.

We watch, and wait, with noses held.

Edit: And as I type this, an email arrives from Screwfix, advertising offers on decking. Perhaps I should forward it to next door.

With a bit of luck, the joists aren't directly over the manholes, and it would just be a case of lifting a few decking boards to gain the requisite access to the manhole. Can't imagine the entire decking will need removed.

As for identifying the 'culprit', I can't see how that would be possible. Even if they pulled a nappy out the drain, how could they possibly identify who it belonged to, who's to say you haven't had a visitor, who flushed a nappy. Unfortunately for you, the best they could do would be to charge everyone on the line, as they are carrying out a service to get your drain working again, but I very much doubt they would do that retrospectively. I would think they would have to give you the option to have it sorted yourself before commencing the work.

 

[puntofan01]

Family issues...

 

[The Panda Nut]

Family issues...

Chin up. Hope its nothing major. Familiys.! Cant live with them wouldnt exist without them... Rock and hard place.....

 

[The Panda Nut]

NHS. I need my stent changing and its now 2 months overdue. I cant do much at all before needing to lie down. N&N Norfolk dont seem bothered and wont pick up the phone or respond to messages. I am getting to the end on my tether and just do not know what to do to resolve this Its looking like an op in the USA is on the cards but thats £30K down the chute and that is one lot of dosh. The big worry is if I do this and then I or Mrs needs something else we would be stuffed. It would be nice if some undetsanding of the length of the queue or waiting time thought probable were given. A response to any of the many shouts for help and advice might help. The feeling of being trappeded is really overwhelming at times. Suggestions seem to be reaching a concensus that going to A&E may be the way forward but it seems extreme.

 

[portland_bill]

NHS. I need my stent changing and its now 2 months overdue. I cant do much at all before needing to lie down. N&N Norfolk dont seem bothered and wont pick up the phone or respond to messages. I am getting to the end on my tether and just do not know what to do to resolve this Its looking like an op in the USA is on the cards but thats £30K down the chute and that is one lot of dosh. The big worry is if I do this and then I or Mrs needs something else we would be stuffed. It would be nice if some undetsanding of the length of the queue or waiting time thought probable were given. A response to any of the many shouts for help and advice might help. The feeling of being trappeded is really overwhelming at times. Suggestions seem to be reaching a concensus that going to A&E may be the way forward but it seems extreme.

If you are taken to A&E in an ambulance, they woudl keep you in and do the op promptly. However, the paramedics, and A&E would need evidence on the ECG to show a recent heart attack, however mild. Not a good idea to overwork and promote one, but if after any effort you get a pain across the chest, it might be worth an ambulance call, or at least an A&E visit. Of course you know this.
Was it a heart attack that prompted the original stent fitment? Or did they catch it early enough to do preventative maintenance?
Just before Christmas 2015 I had an attack, a short stay in Swindon hospital, and day after boxing day a trip to Oxford for a triple by-pass. Supposd to be then 'fixed', but a checkup 2 years later showed one had healed over. (Great the way our own bodies try to kill us) Apparently the other two are supplying adequately, so no further action.
Hopefully you are on the waiting list, and they'll get around to you sometime. Good luck.

 

[portland_bill]

The night before last, just before bed, I looked out the window to see a car parked across the next-door neighbour's drive, of course, partly on the footpath. Parking is generally on the other side of the road, and there was space for two cars opposite, and three more further up.
Yesterday morning it was still there, so not someone just popping in. I heard it move around tea-time so it had been there around 24hrs.
Looking out this morning, surprise, it is now parked on a drive, not next-door, but the next house down. One of their own cars has been displaced to the 'proper' spaces opposite. So their visitor, parked across a neighbour's drive, for 24 hours. The hosts had been out, having squeezed past the rear of their visitors car, yet didn't realise that it was theirs.
Lucky next-door didn't want/need to go out.

DSC_0051.JPG

• portland_bill
• Jul 3, 2022

 

[vexorg]

Lucky next-door didn't want/need to go out.

Maybe they asked first??

Suggestions seem to be reaching a concensus that going to A&E may be the way forward but it seems extreme.

I'm sure your wife would stab you in the heart for the greater good, then they'd have to go in.