anyone past 50 on here?

[Autumn Sunrise]

Welcome, Lisa64648 Hope you enjoy our company here :)

[Skycaptain]

Lisa64648 welcome to AVEN 🎂 🎂

pickles mcgee it sounds like there has been a maggot infestation somewhere nearby. It may take a dose of insecticide to get rid of them.

It reminds me of an incident when my sister, her now husband and myself were all still living at mum's. He's a keen angler and bought some maggots to use as bait the next day. We had a pet guinea pig which liked chewing plastic. The said rodent chewed a hole in the bait box, allowing all the maggots to escape. To say we had a fly problem a few days later was a massive understatement.

[Mocha Jo]

Pickles- if they are cluster flies, we get them every spring in this house. They are pretty common. I vacuum them off the windows where they congregate and dump them outside.

Welcome, Lisa 64648, to the liveliest thread on AVEN :cake:

[Myssterry]

Happy British bank holiday, everyone. After a glorious Sunday, today is wet and grey. Didn't stop me visiting the bluebells though. :)

[Muledeer]

What do you call your white-barked trees, Miss Terry? Do you have aspen in England? I really enjoyed that discussion on robins yesterday. I thought a robin was a robin was a robin but that photo sure didn't look like the robins I see in the American West.

I just love discovering the world through Aven. Places I will never go and people I would never meet all come together on this thread!

[Myssterry]

Yes, muledeer, we do have aspen, but the white-barked trees are birch trees. The leaves are just breaking out now, with a wealth of delicate fresh greens.

This thread embraces the world from the USA, Canada and Australia to the UK, and has the nicest people posting on it. :)

[pickles.]

Skycaptain, cluster flies enter the home as adults and hibernate for the winter. The ones that got into my friends' house must have been there since the fall. They live their first three stages in the soil outside--egg, larva (maggot), and pupa, and the larva feed on earthworms. They are not attracted to human food or garbage.

Mocha Jo, when you say you dump them outside, are they dead or alive when dumped?

[Qutenkuddly]

Welcome, Lisa64648! Please enjoy some !

[Skycaptain]

Good news, I finally got into the garden properly. Lawn mown, tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines planted. Ground cleared ready for beans, peas, runner beans leeks and onions to go in next weekend, I had to give a dose of weedkiller so I'll leave a week until planting.

[Finding myself]

Hi everyone, I am just back from a week's holiday in St Ives, in Cornwall. My first time visiting Cornwall, and WOW it is beautiful. All in all I had a great week.

tja, sorry that your boss is horrid.

Things I can remember from the postings:

- a poorly chicken that is improving. :)

- stones that have been moved and arranged. :)

- beautifully photos from Miss Terry. :)

- the challenge of ordering a ring via the post/internet.

Apologies for the MANY other postings, that I have forgotten.

[Fire Monkey]

Pickles and Mocha Jo, I remember those flies. I used to volunteer with the Ag extension office, answering phone calls from the public, and that question came up every year. It was nice to be able to reassure people that no matter how gross and annoying the flies might be, they were temporary and not destructive indoors. Another one we used to see this time of year was clover mites--tiny red crawling things--in windows, usually. We had to warn people not to try to smash them on the walls or windowsills, but to vacuum them or wash them up with windex and a rag because they would stain! Of course, usually by the time they were calling us, they were stained already...

Miss Terry, Lovely, lovely photo!

[Tystie]

Miss Terry: Fabulous robin photo...and the bluebells look great. Ours are obviously a long way behind yours. So far, the most I've seen are leaves.

Tja: commiserations on the boss front. He sounds horrible and utterly unreasonable.

Pickles: The flies sound disgusting!

Mocha Jo: OOOoooo! Spinning and yarn work! I've had a go a spinning. (There's a local group.) I enjoyed it, but I didn't stick with it, really because there is only so much I can cram into my free time. The yarn I spun came out all lumpy and bumpy, and I didn't produce enough to do anything with. I think it's now buried in my stash. I. have a feeling that your efforts are definitely in a different league to my pathetic ones. Good luck with the lace knitting.

To everyone else: best wishes, and welcome to the new folk.

[pickles.]

Good to hear from you, Finding myself! Glad you had a good vacation. I loved your list of posts you could remember, with an emoticon after each one. I may have to borrow that idea sometime.

Fire Monkey, I was reading (after the fact, of course) that cluster flies also stain when smashed, and give off a smell ("When crushed, they give off an odor like buckwheat honey"). I didn't notice the stain or smell, probably because we were doing a lot more vacuuming than smashing. But now I want to remember to ask my friends about that.

Miss Terry, I loved your line beginning, "This thread embraces the world..."

And now I'm off to google St. Ives, Cornwall.

[daveb]

Miss Terry, thank you for bringing some beauty into this thread! lol (it really does look gorgeous)

Finding myself, I was in Cornwall several years ago. I was actually staying in Plymouth for a few days and took the train out to Penzance one day. I loved it, too. I also found the Cornish language on signage interesting.

I'm avoiding the other discussion like the proverbial in the ointment. :P (I don't want any mental images stuck in my head!)

[Techie]

Techie, talk about a ring saga! I have to make sure rings will go over my knuckles, which can leave them a bit loose on my fingers, so they tend to twist around. That's okay if they're pretty much the same all around, but doesn't work well if they have a "right side up/out". I see catalogs that have circles printed in them so you can match rings that you know fit to the size you need. I hadn't thought of it before, but you could use anything to match up like some of the washers, tubing, etc., to match up with those diagrams. The circle in the diagrams represents the inside diameter of the corresponding ring size.

It is kind of funny that in my almost 54 years here on my Earth assignment I have never had to measure my fingers for rings. I do recall in the past seeing cardboard ring gauges but that has been a long time and would be back in the days when my mother subscribed to women's magazines and they would be in there. I have seen plastic ring measurement devices available for the cost of postage but the paper one I made from a printout seemed to work well enough. As you noted, using various round things to get a measurement works too. The 23mm diameter tubing I eventually settled on was (of all things) the tubing inside of a 1967 Ford Fairlane station wagon overdrive solenoid! I'll leave the reason I had the guts of one lying around for another day but my middle finger could slide in and out snugly without getting stuck. I also tested one of those cheap dollar store LED flashlights that take three AAA batteries. They are round and one I had was close in size. Stuck my finger in one and could barely get it out without almost ripping my finger off. It measured about 22.5mm so I am fairly confident I am in the 13.5 to 14 ring size. My finger is somewhat tapered and the knuckle has not been much of an issue. If I can slide something off of the base of my finger it has no trouble going the rest of the way.

Delivery is expected Thursday but I will not be back at that address until Friday. Still living the nomadic life between my sisters and my elderly mothers. As I have mentioned to close friends, I live wherever my car is parked at the moment.

[Skycaptain]

One minor point to remember with rings is that your finger diameter varies from day to day.

[Mocha Jo]

Pickles- I don't really notice whether they are dead or alive when I dump them outside, LOL. I just want them gone! If they don't survive the vacuum that is sort of their problem. I think most of them are in shock, but alive.

Techie- I hop this latest incarnation of your ring fits!

Miss Terry- Love the bluebells- just lovely. My fiber people online post pictures that have been inspiration for their dyeing projects, and that picture would make a great dye project with that blue, green, and the white of the trees.

[Mocha Jo]

[Mocha Jo]

Ha! I got one to post. If only photobucket wasn't so incredibly slow and full of flashing ads. This is my "new" old Canadian production wheel, which were only made up until the 1920's or so. Her name is Wilhelmina :)

[Skycaptain]

That looks a fun piece of equipment, Mocha Jo.

I'd have thought insects caught in a hoover would die from impact as they go through the suction blades

[teatree]

Chicken update: Her eyes are open! The scabs fell off so now she can see--I had been worried that her eyes might have gotten damaged by the pecking, but they seem okay. She has been moved out into the barn during the day, but since the coop has not been finished yet and her room is not critter proof, I am moving her back inside for the nights. She's more active and both drinking and eating. Now I'm trying to find her a gentle, non-threatening companion hen--I posted a request on Freecycle, but no responses. She needs a friend so that she won't get depressed!

Daveb, I would like to ship some of our rain to you. It began raining on Sunday and just keeps going. Hoping the weekend is less damp, as I want to get out and work on the digging of the knotweed.... I can HEAR it growing with all this rain!!!!

Nice wheel, Mocha--how and when did you get into spinning?

Ugh, bugs...the fly talk made me shudder. Around here some people get infestations of ladybugs--how cute, you might think, till you see thousands of them crawling everywhere. Luckily I have not had that problem. We had a short-lived infestation of those tiny ants for a while, but now they are gone. The cat food seemed to be attracting them, though I have lived here all year without it being a problem before.

Well, it is NOT raining at the moment, so I am going to chance it and go do some digging....

[pickles.]

I love that, Techie, your "Earth assignment." Yeah, lots of times I feel like I'm not from around here. -_-

Way to go, Mocha Jo! I don't know if I'm more impressed with the spinning wheel, the beautiful room it's in (is that your house?), or your technical skills!

Skycaptain, we were vacuuming them with a machine with a hose, so they just got sucked straight into the bag. There would have been no other way to vacuum them off the walls, ceilings, light fixtures, etc.

[Fire Monkey]

Hi, everybody--it's been an interesting few days and I have a couple of odd newsy things to report. First--one of my nieces lives in the D.C. area. Last Thursday, she arrived home after work and discovered her apartment was empty--every last scrap of everything had been removed. Turns out, there had been an eviction scheduled that day and they cleaned out the wrong apartment! She was in #201, eviction was supposed to be #301. Yikes. The whole family has been at sixes and sevens over this, understandably, and they have hired a lawyer. Can you imagine? Her entire life carted away and incinerated. I don't know how this will resolve, but I certainly hope for her sake, and her parents', that it involves gigantic bags of money. Because you just cannot do that to people.

The next odd thing is at least more positive--a paddle for stand-up paddleboarding arrived by Fedex yesterday from Amazon. I did not order it, I have not been charged for it, and I have no idea who sent it. Gadzooks. A mystery!

[pickles.]

We were posting at the same time, teatree, so I just saw your happy chicken news. That is fantastic! I'll keep my fingers crossed that you can find her a suitable hen friend. Also, this line made me laugh: "I can HEAR it growing..."

And now I just got notified that a new post had come in, this time from Fire Monkey. Egads, FM, that is outrageous! I've never heard of such a blunder! I'm so attached to my things that it's almost a sickness (photos, artwork, letters, other memorabilia). On the other hand, sometimes I wish a flash flood would come and carry it all away. Though it would break my heart, it would also free up my mind. Or so I fantasize.

Btw, do you paddleboard?

My big news is that I'll be catching a plane to L.A. in a few hours. I'm going for my nephew's wedding this Saturday, and will be helping with lots of food prep beforehand (his mom is a fantastic cook and baker!). As some of you may recall, my family of origin is a mixed bag for me, so I'm already feeling somewhat stressed (or is it because I have yet to pack?).

But my lovely daughter and her husband are also coming down for the wedding (driving from Utah), so that's exciting. She asked what I would like to do on Sunday for Mother's Day, and I chose the beach. I do not get enough of the coast, ever, nor do I get enough of my daughter--I'm looking forward to the rare combo.

Which reminds me, Autumn Sunrise, where did "cats" take you on your surprise adventure?

[Fire Monkey]

Pickles, I never have, but, I may be learning...still waiting to figure out if this has come to me by mistake. :)

Hope the wedding and everything it entails is joyful for you.

Teatree, Delighted also to hear the ChickenLittle is recovering!

[Mocha Jo]

Fire Monkey-that is awful! They incinerated everything?? Not even a waiting period? Argh! The remedy better be bags of money, but, I would be hard pressed to actually replace some of my stuff f it happened to me!

(You paddle board? I am in awe)

And, yes that is the living room of the "divorce" house that I really hope sells some day so I don't have to live here anymore and can have my own place. It's a nice house, but I rattle around in it like one pea in a pod. And it has too many regrets attached to it.

Yay, for Chicken Little ( you know that is going to end up being her name unless you tell us otherwise!)

[teatree]

I have heard of the wrong house being demolished.... Similar story, the demolition crew got the right street, wrong number. I have trouble even comprehending the scenario. How horrifying.

FM, I think you need to take your new paddle as a sign that you WILL be learning to paddleboard! (I have tried it, but just on a lake. Did okay until a powerboat went by and created some wake.... Down I went.

Pickles, have a fab time. Beach plus daughter sounds lovely. Enjoy your Mother's Day!

Did an hour of digging in the light rain. Gloves, boots, and shovel are pretty muddy, but it was actually pretty pleasant. And no bugs yet...bonus!

[pickles.]

Thanks, Fire Monkey. Half my family is very Mormon; the other half is not. This is a Mormon temple wedding, so I shouldn't say I'm going for the wedding, as I won't actually see it. I'll be waiting outside the temple, which would be dull if I wasn't also in charge of my niece's kids, ages 7, 5, 4, and 2 (kids are not allowed in the temple either). My daughter was not planning to go to this portion of the festivities, but when she found out I'd been asked to nanny she volunteered to come with me to help ( ), and her husband and my roommate will also be there. As will any of the other non-temple-going members of the family who decide to come; others will just meet us at my sister's house afterwards for a family luncheon. And then there's an open house at my sister's that night; it's going to be a very long day.

[Gentle Giant]

That is absolutely terrible what happened to your neice, Fire Monkey! I hope she can be properly compensated for that huge mistake!

Teatree, glad to hear your chicken is doing better and hope you can find her a suitable companion. This pecking thing reminded me of seeing on one of those antique sales shows where someone had a box of what looked like little sunglasses that were worn by chickens. They were actually some kind of blinders to prevent them from seeing blood when they pecked and prevented them from pecking further. Weird! I've never heard of such a thing.

[daveb]

Well, Fire Monkey, at least you won't be up the creek without a paddle...

Teatree, that's good news about Chicken Little! I'll gladly take any rain you can spare! (it's sad to be a pluviophile in the desert)

Have fun, Pickles! I'm sure you will; it sounds like your kind of thing (the non-temple stuff).

If the forecasts are to be believed it looks like the next few days it might actually be cooler here than in Portland (OR). But I don't trust the slight chance of rain.