vasoline, greasing the pole, I had to scroll down a bit to get some context here... :rolleyes:
Printable View
vasoline, greasing the pole, I had to scroll down a bit to get some context here... :rolleyes:
We used to keep raccoons and skunks from climbing the support poles under the roosts on our chicken houses by putting a metal "collar" around each pole. Each collar would be cut in sections partway up. The top end (without the cuts) was wound around the pole and fastened (nailed on with roofing nails), then the cut bits were flared outwards, kind of like the ruffles you would put on a roast turkey leg, but straight-edged. The flares had to be long enough and bent outwards enough that the 'coons couldn't reach around them to pull themselves past that point. It worked. And I don't think any raccoons or skunks actually cut themselves on the flare edges, although they were a bit sharp. These are smart animals. When they feel that sharp edge with a paw, they turn back down and look for a safer route.
That's so funny, me too. For some reason a stripper's pole sprung to mind. I know somewhere on some forum recently I was reading a thread about how much fun and exercise stripper's poles are and they are a great exercise fad - so that's just what I thought was being discussed. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by kelownagirl
I can't say anything here...but you know I have so much to say.
You can buy a "squirrel proof" bird feeder. I have one, in fact had it for years. It's on a pole as you describe, but the feeder part is weighted, so if an animal heavier than a bird gets on the ledge, it clamps shut, causing the offender to fly off.
Much easier than the vasoline, which we tried for quite awhile.
Do they have squirrel-proof stripper poles? Or Stripper-proof bird feeders?
I'd think there'd be a market for both.
I have no reply to that question, Lisa! The Audubon Society would disown me.
Is Ruby getting a stripper pole?
Margot is losing her puppy fluff and now is getting real dog hair. I think she's going to be more of a blonde than butterscotch golden. Puppyhood is so fleeting (thank God!). She's 12 weeks old today and can already jump up onto the furniture. :eek:
Rain again! Well, it looks like I might be able to get a run in this afternoon and a ride first thing tomorrow morning, after I get my hair cut.
I am cutting my hair off after a year of growing it. I can't take it anymore... Straightening every 3 months, having to wait half an hour to blow dry it, or total frizz, using the flat iron. Plus, although it looks straight when I am done, it's not particularly stylish looking, more like a suburban mom look.
Not to mention the pain of it when cycling. I am getting it cut very short again, but instead of the spikes, I am leaving it longer and "messy" looking on the top.
My visit to the "special" PT seems to have worked. She used the "McKenzie" method to work on my neck and sent me home with 3 exercises that are working. I go back tot he regular guy Tuesday.
Crankin, glad you're feeling somewhat better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I hadn't heard that word "microaggressions" before, but it sure is beautifully descriptive. I totally get what you mean about not wanting to jump to conclusions, but I wouldn't be so quick to excuse the guy as clueless. My experience is that the people who make those little comments to someone's face, are the same ones who'll say something much more vicious and explicit when they're gone. :( I expect that where you live, there just aren't that many social situations where it's acceptable to make blatant racist comments. Unfortunately, that's not the case where I live, so I get to see both "faces" of people.
You are right, in that it definitely is not acceptable to make racist comments around here. But, he doesn't even know he is making a "comment," which is why I said he is clueless. That's why it's a microaggression which build up, because people assume that the culturally dominant way of thinking is the only way. For example:
Him: What are you doing this weekend?
Me: Riding on Saturday and going to a wedding on Sunday.
Him: ON SUNDAY??? (in a raised tone). Who gets married on Sunday?
Me (to myself): Jews do, you ignoramus.
Me: I really liked that sample of BioFreeze you gave me.
Him: Oh yea, it's a great stocking stuffer.
Me (again, to myself) I'd like to stuff your stocking...
Obviously, these comments taken on the surface, are not racist. But he is assuming a lot. He works in a community (the town where I used to live and where my kids went to school) where at least 30% of the population are not Christian, mostly Asian and Jewish. I guess my blonde hair and blue eyes hide my true identity, but he should be more aware.
My mom, 2 aunts & cousin are coming in September :eek: We're now wondering where everyone will sleep & how all 6 of us will travel together. Our ute only fits 5.
Not only that but we were going to do a big mtb event that month..do we still do it?
Of course you do it. You can't stop your life just because someone is coming. They can come and watch!
Karen
Brings to mind when UK-E was beginning school. Norway has a national church (Lutheran) and schools required "Christian education" class 2 hrs per week, unless the child was excused from them. Non-Lutheran parents could request that, back in UK's day (nowadays they've changed the name of the class, though not so much of the content, and taken away the right to refuse it -- a solution being contested in international courts). Anyhoo, back then, if more than 5 such requests came in for a given grade level, then the parents could collectively request that those kids be offered an alternative class in ethics and world religions. We and 6 other families did. The 1st grade teachers at the school then came back at us, one family at a time, urging us to withdraw that request so they could keep each class together as a unit at least that first year. I said that would depend on what they planned to teach in the "Christian education" classes. "Our" teacher said something like "Only things everybody believes in, like that G-d created the world." Well, as an atheist, I don't happen to believe that, but she didn't seem to understand my point. So I tried to explain to her that I'm not simply an atheist, but a secular Jew. "Oh!" she said, "Then [UK] gets her Christian education at the synagogue." Uhmmmm ... what did you just say...? Well that settled it for me. Taking "Christian education" classes throughout one's school years clearly rendered one dense as a doughnut when it came to understanding others' religious feelings. I was having none of that for my kids!Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
What a story, Duck! But, it doesn't surprise me.
Yesterday, when I was at PT, he asked me if I was of Scandanavian descent. Apparently, people from that part of the world have an extra rib that can cause issues. I said , "No, I am Jewish and a 3d generation American... all of my grandparents were born here."
No response, but we will see if he keeps making the comments.
:confused: huh?Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I was in McDonalds recently where they've started selling Angus Burgers. A woman next to me asked what kind of meat is an Angus.
I know everybody doesn't know everything but I sure thought everybody knew that. Maybe I know too much about meat.
I can vividly remember the discomfort I felt when i left parochial (catholic ) school and went to public school where everyone had to pray a protestant prayer. Most of the prayer were the same words as what we'd said the year before, but at the end it was very different. When I protested, I was coerced, forced, whatever to chant along with everyone else. Imagine how little jewish or muslim kids felt about that!
Zen, I kid you not. This is what he said. OK, maybe it's not an extra rib, but he definitely said something like that, describing in detail some physical anomaly in that population.
I still remember when we said a prayer in public school, too. We said the 23d psalm, which is not inherently Christian or Jewish, but the only time I've heard it in synagogue is at the end of a funeral, when the casket is being wheeled out to the hearse. However, being the mature young kid I was (this was maybe in 3d grade), my friends and i decided to get hysterical over the line in the prayer that says "my cup runneth over." I guess we were obsessed with the idea of bra cups??? I got in trouble for laughing during the prayer.
It was during that year, they passed the law against school prayer, so I didn't have to worry about getting into trouble anymore. No wonder I liked being with middle school kids. Nothing they did in class could surpass some of the weird things I did.
no cycling but tiling today. And I pretty happy with the result. I'll do the grouting tomorrow. :)
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...t/IMG_3103.jpg
oooops I think i posted this one in the wrong place. :o :D
Looks like a nice tiling job! :)
It's pouring rain again. What else is new? :(
The excavator won't come to dig out my new big vegetable garden until the ground dries up a little. But it won't stop raining for weeks now! :mad:
I've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Our other project is to repaint the porch, and we can't do that either....the wood has been sopping wet for weeks now.
So instead I re-arranged our canned goods in the basement. :rolleyes:
sounds like the monsoon on the east coast! (of the USA I mean)
We could use some of that rain. 103 and boiling here!
I'm a little bit more south on the coast. It finally stopped raining here. Hot and humid for the next 5 days or so.
Just an " Only in Australia" story..
http://www.themercury.com.au/article...eird-news.html
Wha? *feels ribs* I do know of two friends that both have unusually long backs. It's not visible, at least it doesn't look weird or anything, but I do believe they have an extra vertebra. Maybe it's more common here, never thought about it. I kid them that they're like these modern pigs that are bred with an extra rib.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I wouldn't mind an extra vertebra. My female friend has the loveliest elegant back you can imagine and looks stunning in long gowns.
Re: prayer and kids: not quite the same, but I can also vividly remember the discomfort I felt about the Pledge of Allegiance when I visited my grandparents in the States for 3 months when I was... 9 or so, and went to school there. Not surprisingly it just felt very wrong, which I "solved" in an extremely unelegant way, by mumbling, rolling my eyes and generally being a pain :D Funny, that no-one ever asked if I might want to pass on it and just sit. Do kids still recite this in school?
Skeletons aren't nearly as uniform as they'd have you believe in grade school health class.
I've got a transitional sixth lumbar vertebra, which is a very common variation - I think something like 20% of people have one (most people have only five lumbar vertebrae). It certainly hasn't made my back long though. (Or who knows... without it, maybe my ribcage would actually touch my hipbones. :rolleyes:)
My first husband's family was prone to having six fingers on one or both hands. Most of them had them amputated in infancy. That's a rarer variation.
The kneecap and the sesamoid bone of the ankle may be two bones joined by a ligament, rather than one as in most people.
There are several other bones that may be present or absent in humans - some are more commonly absent, some are more commonly present. Some are related to fetal skeletal development, but others are genetic variations that would be more common in distinct populations.
That's very cool, OakLeaf. My son has webbed toes, up to the first joint of 3 toes on each foot. I was told that this is just a common "defect" that happens sometimes, one of the harmless ones. No-one else in the family has anything like it. They look a little weird but I just tell him it's a sign he was born to love water :)
lph, I also feel the same cringe at reciting the Pledge. I don't know why. I always have, even as a kid. I am American, and while I don't agree with a lot of things going on here, I don't want to change my citizenship!
I think it has to do with actually "pledging" to something, which seems a little Nazi-ish to me. I can't really describe it. Saying the Pledge had dwindled in practice when I was a teen, going to school here. Then I moved to Florida, where, let's say it didn't go over well when I refused to stand for it.
As a teacher, we mostly could do it if we wanted, at the beginning of the day, in the middle school. For awhile, I had a principal who said it aloud, over the PA. Only once, did I have a kid ask me why our homeroom didn't say it. I told them, we could, if they took turns leading it. No one volunteered.
Yup, I have no problem with people being proud of their country, their countrymen and especially founding ideals, but ideals are just ideals,what matters is what is actually done. I do have a problem with being asked to blindly pledge loyalty to a *country* (or a flag, which amounts to the same thing), not the ideal as such. What if the leaders of that country act in opposition to those ideals - are you still expected to loyally support them?
And having an enforced pledge, even though it's just an expectation, sort of pulls the ground under the whole loyalty thing. "I promise to be loyal (cause my teacher sez I have to)" :rolleyes:
There has been a suggestion that people seeking Norwegian citizenship recite some kind of pledge. I think it's focussed on pledging to abide by the laws of the country though, which is easier to swallow.
The US citizenship oath for persons seeking naturalization is different from the Pledge of Allegiance - and it's much scarier than pledging allegiance "to the flag" (whatever that means).Quote:
Originally Posted by lph
I know at least one person who would like to become a US citizen, but won't seek citizenship because of that oath.
man, if I was born with 6 fingers on each hand, i'd be furious with my parents for cutting it off!!!
that would be SO COOL!
Unless you wanted to wear gloves (mittens would work for warmth, but for cycling, motorcycling, cutting, mechanical work, working with harsh chemicals or oils, etc. you need fingered gloves); learn to play a keyboard or stringed instrument, or touch-type without devising your own exercises and fingerings; etc.
I can see both sides of that one. IIRC what he told me, many of them were born with six toes as well, and those were left intact.
I admit gloves would be a problem - but people can knit and sew custom gloves easy enough, it's not rocket science!
I learned to play a stringed instrument, it fails me completely to understand why you think it would be harder if i had an extra finger.
and ah, on a typewriter/keyboard, how nice that finger would be to hit the end key and perhaps the escape key!!
Nitrile gloves for working with solvents in the garage are like $8 for a box of 50. Vinyl or latex gloves for washing dishes in hot water, cleaning the toilet, etc., are $5 a pair. Who knows what it would cost to get them made custom.
"Meat cutter's" (kitchen) gloves are $5-10. Those I guess someone could easily knit if they had access to kevlar yarn.
Bicycling gloves are $20-$50. Getting a custom pattern made and assembled would have to be at least triple that.
Motorcycling gloves are about $200. Getting a custom pattern made, custom carbon knuckle protectors molded, and the whole things custom sewn, I shudder to even think what it might cost.
I (used to) play keyboards. Sure, it could be done with six fingers. Jerry Garcia famously had four fingers and played the guitar just fine. What I said was devising your own fingerings and exercises. All commercially available exercise books are written for five fingers. Beginners usually rely on fingerings that book editors have worked out; devising your own fingerings is a rather advanced skill. I wouldn't ever have known how to come up with my own exercises, even when I was studying secondary piano at a conservatory/college. So it's not that it would be harder to do, it would be harder to learn.
Kevlar yarn is available on Ebay.
thanks Pam, I'll stock up so i can use it in my next life when i have 6 fingers on each hand and my parents don't cut them off.
:cool:
Ok, I really had nothing to add to this discussion...until I saw this. Now that is worth commenting on! And it made me smile--ok, almost chuckle. And now I am picturing some "mature" women sitting around knitting kevlar bullet proof vests (oh, and 6 finger gloves and socks, too!):DQuote:
Originally Posted by PamNY
Ed, Farrah, and now Michael. :(
Yeah, but at least my Mom came home from the hospital after getting an E-ticket * (ambulance) ride this morning. Texas heat + morning walk + underlying cardiac problem = trouble.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuckervill
She's fine, didn't want to talk, wanted to just check in, then go watch M*A*S*H! :rolleyes:
* anyone actually remember what an E-ticket is?