Late Autumn Bits and Bobs.

[peter]

It's the low level headache that gets to me most.

[Primrose]

Reinstalling our bird feeder for the winter seems to have been a bad move..

Local starlings have rediscovered it and are appearing in hordes of biblical plague proportions to strip all the cages of their contents within 30 minutes of them being restocked. The small birds like tits and robins are not getting a look in.

Does anybody have a solution to this problem ? Trying to balance nature is so tricky !

[retropants]

we have the same issue Primrose. They discovered our larder last year, and are now always hanging about, ready to pounce. The noise is quite alarming also. We put dry mealworms on the lawn for the blackbirds and robins, but as soon as the starlings see one other bird eating, they are down like a plague. Sometimes the blackbirds try and chase them off, but they are completely outnumbered!

[Primrose]

I think one deterrent might be to hang the feeders in the middle of fairly thick shrubs where small birds can access but birds like starlings, especially en masse,might find it harder but unfortunately we don,t have any such shrubs in our garden, except one very tight leaved holly bush where the feeder would be completely hidden from all the birds.

We too have been spreading suet pellets, dried mealworms and other goodies on the grass but the current heavy rain is turning everything into a soggy mess......and of course, the rats are always lurking somewhere in the vicinity to come and forage.

[retropants]

Ah yes, the rats. We had to get the council to come and bait ours and our neighbours' gardens in the spring. It turns out they had become homeless when the neighbour but one had demolished the ancient garage they were living under.

[Primrose]

I read advice somewhere to cover the top of my compost cages with a waterproof cover during winter to help retain a little heat and speed up the composting process and then I realised I was probably just adding a nice waterproof roof to somewhere where the rats might be sheltering, so decided I wasn't going to enable their comfort.

I'm sure any hibernating frogs in there are already used to moist conditions !

[oldherbaceous]

Just got back from seeing the Hip specialist, and although the xray shows it to be very worn and a lot of Arthrtis present, we decided to leave a replacement for another year...I know it will mean a lot more on going pain but, at least I won't be laid up again in the New year...He also said, "you look a very young 58 year old"...thought I would just share that comment with you all...

[Diane]

Well I think you are very brave coping with the pain and admire your decision to postpone the op.

[Geoff]

How's your Christmas shopping going? Here's a must have, a real turkey!

A Real Turkey.JPG (67.33 KiB) Viewed 2807 times

[Westi]

OH! Pain wears you down & reminds you of what you can & can't do! You've made the choice to wait & I would as well, but prep the plot so you can go back to it & loose nothing when the time is right. I'm sure as you are such an asset to the community they will rally around & help you out with that. Don't be stoic & share/ask for help to keep it ticking it over. The hip will be fine in time but the surgeon will berate you if you overdo it afterwards - & can I warn you in advance the therapists will be even angrier! Never cross a therapist OH! They will be polite but you will get the message loud & clear!

[oldherbaceous]

It will all be fine, I've had a lot of pain over the last 17 years and have found many ways to deal with it but, managed to keep off painkillers for most of that time... but it has now got to the point where I will take a low dosage, before the pain gets to the point of no coming back...so that will give me at least another year.
I'm very well behaved when it comes to Physiotherapists, Westi, never miss my exercises and do as they request...

I'm sure there's a lot of our members with just as bad joints, that are equally as painful as mine, who just get on with life...

[robo]

O H I feel sorry for you I have the same problem ,a month ago an eye specialist at our local AanE said the same to me he could not believe I was 71 I think it’s part of the stock statements, in the last six weeks I’ve seen the optician twice the dentist twice an eye specialist as well as the one in the AanE I’ve seen the doctor three times I am now waiting for an appointment for the neurologist all over shooting pains that move from my teeth to my eye then my head ,no I don’t suffer with madness but I feel like it at times

[Colin2016]

Years ago when I was working I asked to have the flue jab & was prepared to pay for it, had a lecture from a health professional that it would be be better for me to catch rather that have the jab. So I said Ok when I am a pensioner and you want to give it to me for free I will remember you advice and refuse it.

[Stephen]

Just got back from seeing the Hip specialist, and although the xray shows it to be very worn and a lot of Arthrtis present, we decided to leave a replacement for another year...I know it will mean a lot more on going pain but, at least I won't be laid up again in the New year...He also said, "you look a very young 58 year old"...thought I would just share that comment with you all...

I'm sorry to hear of the pain and wear. You will have to go through the laid up period at some point, although you are encouraged to keep quite active, just limiting the degree of bending.

[Chantal]

Hi OH, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. The good news is that when you do have the job done, you can be on here all day long

I was thinking of the forum parties we used to have on here, back in the days when we were young - before you joined us, I think. We had virtual music from Prefab Sprout, Shallot Church, Billie (Maris) Piper, Artichoke Garfunkel and the like with lovely songs like Blue Swede Shoes, Little Red Courgette, Bohemian Raspberry, Don't let the Sungold down on me, etc, all washed down with sprout wine.

I held my hen night on here, everyone had to (virtually) dress as some sort of chicken and we had to guess who was what. Tigger won, dressed as a chicken Kiev. We had no chance...

Those were the days