Daily Discussion Thread: 🐱 Sun 4 February 2024

I haven't been around much, but I'm a bit bummed I missed out on yesterdays thread, because it was a strawberry and last night I consumed my first ever home grown strawberry

It was only little bit it tasted good!

savour that strawb experience. Strawberries seem to be a high value target for every single bird in the neighbourhood so protect the crop
- It was savoured! I put some netting over the box, so hopefully that'll make the birds leave it alone
Homegrown strawbs are the BEST! More to come I hope.
- Heaps more on the way!
Home grown strawberries are the best! So sweet! I hope there are lots more to come on your plant, keep the water up to it and it'll keep producing
- There's about a dozen strawberries that are already beginning to form, and that's just on the top. There's heaps more under the leaves. I started with 4 plants and now the entire planter box looks like a jungle
Wow, congratulations!! I have the shittiest luck with strawberries - wilting, mildew, not to mention slugs AND birds - so that is a very rewarding outcome for someone who was so nervous about growing plants :)
Hope you feel inspired to continue on your horticultural journey :D
- There's been a few things nibbling away at some of the leaves, but (touch wood) everything's mostly alright. The pineberries are a different story, though. The gnats killed one of the plants and the other seems to not be doing much of anything. It's not dead, but it's not producing runners, or flowering, or fruiting. Birds (and hopefully slugs) will be deterred by the netting we chucked over it though!
  Thank you!

You know, I don't see many "don't forget to water your plants" posts... just saying.

It’s getting a bit late, you might boil them. Wait until evening. Also bowl of water for wildlife 😺
- I’ve just watered my outdoor pot plants - was that a bad idea? I thought they could use a drink before all the heat
Too late she cried as she waved her wooden leg. Watering first thing in the morning, fine. Right now, will cook the plants if it does get to 38. Better to cover plants with light cloth or shade mesh and water this evening. Bird/wildlife water - yes this is needed.
Don't forget to put out water for any passing fairies because they feel the heat too 🧚‍♂️
- just put fresh water in and will check every 4 hours or so to top up
- also it's midsumma, so all the fairies are out and about.

Think I might break out the beach tent thing today when we go.

The one that takes 30 seconds to unfold and 30 minutes of headscratching to try and fold it back up.

I'm not a massive (or even quite large) gamer, but bought a playstation portal on a whim yesterday. I wake up a lot, lot earlier than my wife: sitting in bed playing something stupid and listening to her sleep might be my new favourite thing.

Ok it’s a bit warm now. Commencing atmospheric cooling procedure.

faster plz
- That’s what she said..
  -Scott, Gretzky, et al..

We're back to a prediction of 38 deg today. Light winds only. Cool change overnight. Enjoy this morning's coolth while we can.

Anyone brave enough to attempt Pride : water, brolly, water, sunscreen, water, and water!

just poured vietnamese coffee into the ice lolly maker. should be ready by mid afternoon.

I bought silicone ice lolly tubes that make little 40ml calippo shaped ices. I put a lime jelly / strawberry protein powder mix in them (because I had it on hand) and it turned out great.
I miss my Frostiecup

Well the cat had had Gabapentin and is now officially high 🤣 Poor thing. It is funny thought.

Naw. Poor stoned kitty.
- She's going for a blood test tomorrow so it's vets orders. She's currently sitting on a towel waiting for me to drag her around the house lol

Bad day to be fluffy

My silly black cat has declared today is an outdoor day. I check her very frequently, pet door is open and she's hanging around in the shade outside. Bloody weirdo.

i wasn't hot all day long, didn't even have the fan on
but now that the humidity rolls in i finally feel hot

to bed i go

Took advantage of the coolth to do some much overdue leaf raking. Green bin is nicely filled for next pickup.
Now for a relaxing day after all the running around yesterday.

Also filled the green bin and feeling very accomplished. I did a heap of gardening last week so there was a green-bin backlog. Now to tackle the oven… ergh
- Not even thinking about the oven but one load of washing is on the line and a second lot's in as we speak.

Just got back to my place after a day and a half with my parents split system and it's SO GROSS in here. Stripped, AC and fan on. Think I'll sleep with everything going tonight!

Never ever get a west facing apartment with no obstructions to block the afternoon sun.

Wow, that was a big sleep in for me!

I don't feel optimal. I've felt a lot worse but this.. this is also not ideal.

I keep seeing all these inspiring reddit posts by people who lost weight by stopping smoking by no coca cola , by exercising, by eating good food

I have no bad habits to break and am still overweight,

maybe I eat too much healthy food.

Count your calories for a month?
Less carbs. More protein.
There really ought to be a website/app dedicated to recognising what exactly IS the healthy weight for a given age, height, bone structure and reproductive history. My suspicion is that the range of 'healthy' weight is really quite wide, a lot wider than the diet industry would have us believe.
My theory is that if one's organs are working fine, bone structure is fine, and you're not limited in your activity level, then you're healthy.
- Limited supply due to weight loss without tears dieters - so limited that people who need it for diabetes and/or other life saving purposes CAN'T GET IT.
I’ve been having a break from alcohol for a bit (~2.5 months so far), and haven’t even lost a pound. I’m so disappointed. Might have made up for it with alcohol-free beer & cider and extra timtams though, I guess
CICO EOS.

Breakfast 🍏🍎🍐🍊🍋🍈🫐🍓🍇🍉🍌🍒🍑🥭🍍🥥🥦🥑🫛🍆🍅🥝🥬🥒🌽🥕🥐🍠🫚🥔🧅🥯🍞🥖🥨🧀🧇🥞🧈🍳🥚🥓🥩🍗🍖🫓🍕🍟🍔🌭🥙🧆🌮🌯🥗🍲🍜🍝🥘🍛🍣🍱🥟🦪🍥🍘🍚🍙🐠🍤🪼🦀🐙 🍗🥮🍢🍡🍧🍰🧁🥧🍦🍨🎂🍮🍭🍬🍫🥜🌰🍪🍿🍯🥛☕️🍵🍺🍶🥤🧋🧃🥂🍷🥃🍸🍹🧉🔋

Ice ice baby
- 🧊🧊👶
Too early yet for breakfast on a Sunday. Could I have tea and avocado toast in about an hour's time?
- 🕧☕️🥑🍞
Cold pizza sounds perfect
- ❄️🍕
a cup of green tea and a crumpet with blackberry jam would be lovely thanks 🤗
- 🍵🥯🫐🍯

Ted Cat won't stop biting. Just nips but they are still bad and unacceptable. I think he does it as a way to get what he wants.

I sometimes gently tap him on nose or bum but this gives him a huge fright and makes him defensive as if I've beaten him.

Not sure what to do. I try to have a very reliable routine so he doesn't have to feel insecure.

My Void bites to ask for food. No advice on this one….
- Ditto and ditto. Though in Zooki's case it's more of a demand.

Attempting to sort stuff out on the table, I'm reminded of the Law of Flat Surfaces. Certainly holds true in my case. Every flat surface of my tiny flat is covered in accumulated clutter. Except for the dishwasher. It sprung a leak recently which meant I had to take all the stuff off the top of it in order to cobble together a repair. It struck me how nice it looked for a change, and it made me look around.. and shudder. Miniest is a prolific crafter and artist, and I'm discreetly removing the not greatest of her work and binning/recycling. Also the various items (cardboard tubes etc) that I've been promised will be used to create something. Sorry but we just don't have room and it's making the place look like a shithole. I feel like a monster, both for judging the artistic merits of an almost 10 year olds work and for disposal of it. There's stuff that's my fault too, like receipts and flyers and odd unfilled documents. Why am I so bloody untidy‽ I guess I get home from work and have to cook etc and when I have spare time I just want to blob out and do nothing.

It's ok. You can't keep everything. A lot of parents do keep a few sentimental items and have to downsize the rest.
You're also working all the time, raising the kids, responsible for doing everything and picking up after everybody. You're not untidy. You're exhausted and needing that downtime.
- Peeler is pretty amazing. 👍
@PeelerSheila @melbaboutown oh this is me too, I have the excuse of only just finishing renovations when I got an excruciating herniated disc, which took about 3 months to almost heal... and then promptly another disc popped. Am only now starting to feel like the surfaces might get cleared again as the post-reno reorganising is only just in the last week really starting to resolve.
- Ouch! Take it easy mate, that sounds awful! It's so frustrating when you have to look at things which need doing because you can't get stuck into it. Mr Peeler gets disc trouble and he can go from naught to bedridden in a very short amount of time.
um, yeah. Same here. I try very hard to clear surfaces so I'm always putting things away.

Slept in, got some iced coffee, playing a new mobile game. Life is good.

What are U playing?
- Kingdom Two Crowns. Little pixel-graphic town/Sim, sidescroller. One is a Queen building her new kingdom. Very little text, it's absolutely stunning and very intuitive. Discovery, little secrets, mounts, it's really cool! Plays very very well on mobile imo

I am ridiculously sticky, the cats have melted, and for some strange reason boyo smells like pickled bamboo. Bring on 10pm!

Predictable post is predictable.

TIL that pickled bamboo is a thing
- Yeah, throw a few in many curries or stir fries for a nice crunchy thing with a tart lift. Cheap as and keep near forever in the fridge.

sigh

My flat is presently eight degrees cooler than the outside temperature, after I switched on every single thing resembling a fan, chucked alumium insulation on the outside of the windows, and have switched off every light source in the flat.

It's STILL fucking unlivable.

When the fuck do we do something about the state of rentals in this fucking country? Open revolt is looking more and more attractive every day, and we're constantly being gaslit by conservatives with the whole "toughen up" bullshit.

Welp, at least Persona 3 Reload is good.

I’m jealous. I’m not sure if I should pick up persona 3 knowing they might release a new version with the FES content later down the road.
My place is slightly hotter than yours as well which sucks.
I’ve been rotating icepacks and cooling myself with them.

Too hot, top floor apartment with an old-ass aircon. It's doing it's best.

Some chick is mething out in the alley below, calling everyone and no-one assholes lol. Post-dinner, twilight entertainment.

Edit: oh there's the cool change

I'm grateful that I actually managed to get up early enough this morning - got some desperately needed meds (stupidly forgot to buy until they ran out, missed chemist closing time by half an hour yesterday), other odds and ends, and gave the plants a good water before it got too hot. Between yesterday and today and my sore arm I've got my 8 cartons of coconut water to get me through till the weather gets cold again.

My neighbours all seem to have headed out, but I'm content to be ensconced at home, although that existential angst over not doing enough with all my free time atm has been flaring up again lately.

Doing a heap of laundry... maybe I'll catch up on a couple of books if I don't get caught up trying to solve another stack exchange answer for 5 hours.

Ugh... I ended up sleeping most of today. I have no energy. I left the back door (screen locked) open, forgot to water the plants and forgot to put out bird/wildlife water. I've managed to water the plants, close the door and put on the cooling but that's all.

My health is getting pretty wrecked.

I had one win though. Melbcat has been having little accidents due to the uti but after two leaks in the bed I put down a washable puppy pad and layered some towels over it. That has just saved me from having to strip the whole thing tonight. I've chucked another pad down with an old flannel sheet over it and can just throw the other stuff in a nappy cycle with knockoff napisan.

It’s nice to see magpies and noisy miners making use of the bird bowl for drinking and splashing in. Hope they are doing ok in this heat, glad I could help them out.

The doonas are dry. The world can end now and I won't care.

tsunami from giant meteor wets the doonas
- Wet doonas now 15000 km away on small island
- Grrrrr. After spending the morning trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored in the bathtub, I am seriously invested in getting the damned things dry before storing them ready for winter. And this is the first weekend day this summer where there's been a hope in Hades of getting them dry. Effing feathers. Next 35 plus day on a weekend is the rugs. If I'm lucky, there'll be a howling wind for faster drying.

Power out and my phones not fully charged. I might as well end it all now, don’t think I’ll survive until midnight when it’s expected back on.

- well that went down easy. Cheers y'all.

I find that one (and most commercial gingers) to have a chemical back taste. LickPier is the goer.
- We haven't been able to find Lick pier for ages, they went bust. Someone has apparently bought them out, but I haven't seen (or even looked for) any for at least 12 months. I'm shattered as I don't like the taste of most alcohol, but I did like them.
- Yeah, my partner says the same. I don't get the aftertaste.

I find it can only cool so far when it's so hot outside so I have had it on 24 most of today to get ahead of it. My place is fairly well insulated though.
@wscholermann @melbaboutown I usually have my AC cooling at 22 as well.
Any colder and you struggle to be in the flow of it.
Set it to 23. I could even go for 24 but I only set it to run for an hour and I figure the residual coolth will be enough.
My portable says 24
I have an old box one in the wall so it doesn't have a thermometer but the digital thermometer on the opposite wall says it's 25°c in the lounge room.
Not on now. Had it on for about an hour earlier today at 22
Whole house ducted was cranked to shit during high sun (solar), now up to 24.

Preview of the art that will be part of the Metro Tunnel stations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__pjsj8PEs8

What I find interesting is that the renders of the State Library station entrance artwork more clearly show there will be (or might be) a building above.

I can't find any info on it... wonder what it is?