The General Chat Thread (2024)?

Waiting for a car to take us to the airport so the hotel gave us 1 of these each, carton is plant based and the cap made from sugarcane.

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SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
TastyReuben hows Mrs T doing?
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Lullabelle said:
You beat me to it, been offline for awhile. How is Mrs T TastyReuben
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Thanks for asking!

We’ll see how she is when she wakes up, but I think better.

She had a wildly racing heart, and with her Fitbit, she was able to monitor it obsessively, which I don’t think helped matters, so she called her cardiologist’s office and they had her come in for an EKG.

That looked fine, so they sent her over to the hospital for an echocardiogram (and that was an adventure in itself, getting that scheduled for “right now,” - they almost had to send her in through the ER to get it done $$$$$$, but they worked her in - kudos to the cardio lab at the hospital!).

They did one echocardiogram, uploaded the results to her digital record, the doc read it, then said, “Don’t go anywhere, I’m coming over.” - his office is just about a half-mile from the hospital.

In he popped, and they did another echocardiogram right there, then he said everything looked perfect with the way the device was fitted and performing, and told her to stop taking the Plavix he prescribed, because she could be having a reaction to that, to wait a few days, then start on a low-dose aspirin and see how that goes.

He did explain that heart rates jumping around like that aren’t unusual after any heart procedure, which also happened last year during her heart ablation, so at the risk of sounding uncaring, I wasn’t terribly worried about it.

MrsT does tend to obsess over things like this, mainly expecting that 34.7 seconds after any procedure, regardless of how mild or serious, she should be completely cured/over it and back in peak condition, and as soon as she notices a side effect or symptom that’s completely normal, she freaks out. But…you gotta check that stuff, or the one time you don’t - ☠️

I hear her stirring in the back. We’ll know for sure in a bit.
 
TastyReuben said:
Thanks for asking!

We’ll see how she is when she wakes up, but I think better.

She had a wildly racing heart, and with her Fitbit, she was able to monitor it obsessively, which I don’t think helped matters, so she called her cardiologist’s office and they had her come in for an EKG.

That looked fine, so they sent her over to the hospital for an echocardiogram (and that was an adventure in itself, getting that scheduled for “right now,” - they almost had to send her in through the ER to get it done $$$$$$, but they worked her in - kudos to the cardio lab at the hospital!).

They did one echocardiogram, uploaded the results to her digital record, the doc read it, then said, “Don’t go anywhere, I’m coming over.” - his office is just about a half-mile from the hospital.

In he popped, and they did another echocardiogram right there, then he said everything looked perfect with the way the device was fitted and performing, and told her to stop taking the Plavix he prescribed, because she could be having a reaction to that, to wait a few days, then start on a low-dose aspirin and see how that goes.

He did explain that heart rates jumping around like that aren’t unusual after any heart procedure, which also happened last year during her heart ablation, so at the risk of sounding uncaring, I wasn’t terribly worried about it.

MrsT does tend to obsess over things like this, mainly expecting that 34.7 seconds after any procedure, regardless of how mild or serious, she should be completely cured/over it and back in peak condition, and as soon as she notices a side effect or symptom that’s completely normal, she freaks out. But…you gotta check that stuff, or the one time you don’t - ☠️

I hear her stirring in the back. We’ll know for sure in a bit.
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Good to hear she’s heading in the right direction.
It is very unnerving having your heart jumping about she has my sympathies, as do you!
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Good to hear she’s heading in the right direction.
It is very unnerving having your heart jumping about she has my sympathies, as do you!
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Her heart rate this morning is 88, which is still very high for her (she usually has a shockingly low heart rate…and BP), so she’s pleased enough with that. I’m sure I’ll get updates throughout the day. :laugh:

After…36 years together, I know what she’s like with health stuff. She’s an extremist that way - “Don’t take a bath for a week” means two weeks for her, “Don’t lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk” means she won’t even pick up a 17oz bottle of water, that sort of thing, and she also cross-references their discharge instructions with other hospitals around the country - “He said no exercise for 5 days, but this page from the Mayo Clinic says no exercise for 5 to 7 days…what’s that about? I better make it 10 days!”

It can be…trying at times. :wink:
 
TastyReuben said:
Her heart rate this morning is 88, which is still very high for her (she usually has a shockingly low heart rate…and BP), so she’s pleased enough with that. I’m sure I’ll get updates throughout the day. :laugh:

After…36 years together, I know what she’s like with health stuff. She’s an extremist that way - “Don’t take a bath for a week” means two weeks for her, “Don’t lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk” means she won’t even pick up a 17oz bottle of water, that sort of thing, and she also cross-references their discharge instructions with other hospitals around the country - “He said no exercise for 5 days, but this page from the Mayo Clinic says no exercise for 5 to 7 days…what’s that about? I better make it 10 days!”

It can be…trying at times. :wink:
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Honestly it sounds pretty exhausting!
I have met many patients like that, it’s usually a mixture of fear, anxiety and some difficulty with not being in control.
I’m lucky enough that for me it was temporary ie they always went home but it’s a different matter when you’re related.
Oddly it was often teachers who would struggle the most with it, go figure!
 
Ok, bird experts, give me some advice, please!

I’ve got a robin that’s been slamming itself against window for the last few hours. There’s a shepherd’s hook (or is that a cottage hook? :laugh: ) outside the window, and he perches on that, beats his little brains out against the window over and over again, collapses in exhaustion, rests a bit, then starts all over again.

My assumption is he’s being a territorial little fellow, seeing his reflection in the glass, and trying to run himself out of town.

I’ve put the mesh screen in the window, thinking that would get rid of the reflection, turned the lights on, turned them off, pulled the curtains closed…nothing. He’s still at it, but just bouncing off the screen now. At least it hurts less. Who knows, maybe he’s having fun.

Next step, I’m pulling that hook. Maybe if he can’t perch there and see himself, he’ll go take his fight elsewhere.

Any other tips?

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/BOId7Yf7Boc?si=MLbo3qKr9K9srpFP
 
TastyReuben said:
Ok, bird experts, give me some advice, please!

I’ve got a robin that’s been slamming itself against window for the last few hours. There’s a shepherd’s hook (or is that a cottage hook? :laugh: ) outside the window, and he perches on that, beats his little brains out against the window over and over again, collapses in exhaustion, rests a bit, then starts all over again.

My assumption is he’s being a territorial little fellow, seeing his reflection in the glass, and trying to run himself out of town.

I’ve put the mesh screen in the window, thinking that would get rid of the reflection, turned the lights on, turned them off, pulled the curtains closed…nothing. He’s still at it, but just bouncing off the screen now. At least it hurts less. Who knows, maybe he’s having fun.

Next step, I’m pulling that hook. Maybe if he can’t perch there and see himself, he’ll go take his fight elsewhere.

Any other tips?

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/BOId7Yf7Boc?si=MLbo3qKr9K9srpFP
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Thats a new one on me!
 
I gave up cooking for large numbers of people quite a while ago, gave away my 16 seater dining room furniture and almost all of my ‘large party’ serve wear, crockery and glasses because I was totally utterly done with it!

I now have plans to turn the dining room into a cinema room - film snacks, more fun less work!

So it’s a bit of surprise to find myself cooking for my wider family again. Just 10 folks but thats enough.
I think it will be a one off.
No I’ll rephrase that, it WILL be a one off!

Going through the few lines of stuff I kept (just in case) I think I did ok on the choosing front because although I’m one or two pieces short in every area, twenty years later they are still making them (or so similar you can’t tell the difference).

At the time I wanted to choose prettier stuff but was swayed by practicality and the potential of replacing broken pieces as I have a problem with mismatched crockery etc unless it’s all really deliberately mismatched.
This has paid off over the years. I just didn’t expect it to still be paying off over 20 years later!

Bless the classics like Picardie glasses, tulip sundae dishes, knickerbocker Glory glasses and plain plates.
They might not be sophisticated but they’ve saved me plenty of time (not looking for new replacements), plenty of space (by not accumulating too many different sets) and over the years plenty of money!

Anyone else got any classics they’ve been able to hold onto and replace breakages with the same?
 
TastyReuben said:
Ok, bird experts, give me some advice, please!

I’ve got a robin that’s been slamming itself against window for the last few hours. There’s a shepherd’s hook (or is that a cottage hook? :laugh: ) outside the window, and he perches on that, beats his little brains out against the window over and over again, collapses in exhaustion, rests a bit, then starts all over again.

My assumption is he’s being a territorial little fellow, seeing his reflection in the glass, and trying to run himself out of town.

I’ve put the mesh screen in the window, thinking that would get rid of the reflection, turned the lights on, turned them off, pulled the curtains closed…nothing. He’s still at it, but just bouncing off the screen now. At least it hurts less. Who knows, maybe he’s having fun.

Next step, I’m pulling that hook. Maybe if he can’t perch there and see himself, he’ll go take his fight elsewhere.

Any other tips?

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/BOId7Yf7Boc?si=MLbo3qKr9K9srpFP
Click to expand...
Yep, this bird is most likely attacking his own reflection. Or, he may see the reflection of trees or other vegetation in the glass. Birds can’t tell the difference between real trees and a reflection. Birds striking windows is the #2 cause of bird fatalities (cats, both feral and domestic, are #1). North America has lost over 3 billion birds since the 1970s, and many bird species are continuing to decline.

Drawing the curtains didn’t help because the reflection was in the outside of the window. To solve this problem, you need a solution on the outside of the glass. I recommend using a product called Feather Friendly - it is a series of white dots, applied at 2-inch intervals on the outside of the glass. This will break up the reflection so that birds recognize it as a solid surface. Those bird stickers unfortunately don’t work - birds just see that as a black blob. Since birds can fly through pretty small gaps (that’s how they navigate through trees), they just alter their flight plan slightly and hit the glass right next to the sticker. The 2-inch spacing is dense enough to prevent this.

Feather Friendly sells DIY kits that you can easily put on your windows. I did my patio door and kitchen window last fall, and happily we haven’t had a bird strike since. I plan to do the rest of my windows as soon as the weather is warm enough (it needs to be warmer than 10 degrees C for the dots to adhere properly).
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Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
 
We sat and watched a native bird (size of a thrush/blackbird) last night singing it's heart out to its reflection in one of my 4×4 wing mirrors. It found it could hold on to the rubber trim around the window of the driver's door at the bottom where it meets metal and where it spotted is reflection in the wing mirrors. It would sing beautifully for a few minutes then land on top of the wing mirror and stop, no other bird. It did this for about 20 minutes before it stopped.
 
TastyReuben said:
Ok, bird experts, give me some advice, please!
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I've got no idea why they do it, but they do. I have birds banging on the windows all the time. And here's the thing: our French window now have two small holes in them where the birdies actually cracked the glass :hyper:
I'd spray something nasty on the window (nasty, not harmful) so the robin doesn't come back, otherwise you may end up with a hole.
Or you could put a picture of Vladimir Putin on the inside.:laugh::laugh:
 
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