The General Chat Thread (2026)

How's your driving coming along Windigo?
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Barriehie said:
How's your driving coming along Windigo?
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That’s sweet of you to ask, thank you ☺️ I learned to reverse last week, now am going to practice reversing in a bend on saturday. Also got a theory training day on sunday.
Reversing was done three times without issues.
 
So the fox has paid another visit. It didn't get anything. We have a broody chook on the verandah (hormones mean she just wants to sit on eggs indefinitely until chicks apear). It went after her. It was still light, but darker than normal because of heavy low cloud, and drizzle being inside said cloud. That's its attack favourite and I no longer let my chooks free range when conditions or weather forecasts suggest it will be like that. So the 4 non-broody girls were behind and electric fence and the broody was in a big dog cage on our verandah just meters from where I was sitting. She never made a sound even when it got a mouthful of her tail feathers which were sticking through the bars of the dog cage. Not a cheep.

She's now in the mud room in the smaller dog cage. She won't be safe on the verandah until the fox has been dealt with so my first day back at uni is going to be spent chook sitting and then moving her into the smaller chook house inside the dog cage. She can't be allowed to nest, which in that chook house is a problem. It means lots of work to dig it out tomorrow afternoon.

And I guess i won't be getting any more chicks to join the flock for a while either.:(

But she is safe and uninjured, just missing a few feathers.
 
Some good news for me…I’ve been officially (re)approved to work from home full time.

Corporate has mandated everyone return to the office five days a week, which is something I haven’t done in 20 years, but I just received notice that my residence is considered too far from my office location, so I get to stay home.

Yay for me!
 
Enjoying our trip to New York…first time ever (after many times passing through to other destinations). This was our first meal, at Il Brigante in Manhattan:

Farfalle alla Campagnola - broccoli rabe, mild Italian sausage, and sun dried tomatoes tossed in a garlic and white wine sauce. This was magnificent....I truly savored every bite, every chew:

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Fettuccine alla Bolognese:

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I'm not sure if I’m more embarrassed by how bad Bolognese normally is in the States, or if it’s worse how many seem to love it. The Olive Garden variety is normally just bland ground beef with an equally bland red sauce which my wife's sister says is "to die for". I don't think I'd risk my life to eat that crap, but I'd consider it for another bowl of what Il Brigante serves. This one positively sang with the quality of the beef and the robustness of the sauce.

All the pasta was freshly made, and had a nice chew that was just a bit past al dente.

We started with freshly baked (I mean, REALLY freshly baked) bread with a balsamic reduction in a cup of olive oil, and a Caesar salad that was simple, but served with leaves of romaine that seem to have just been harvested:

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I was pleasantly surprised that the meal was affordable. I mean, spending just north of $100 on 2 meals with drinks every day would bankrupt me, but I was expecting a much higher price in Manhattan, the most expensive part of the 3rd most expensive city in the world (behind, if I were to guess, Paris and Tokyo). I guess not all diners are Wall Street millionaires.
 
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