Post a good thing that happened in your life today

[NYCat]

6 hours ago, Bryan said:

Starting with a bad thing, we lost our door keys between getting out of the car, opening the door, and unloading shopping.

 

Becoming longer in the tooth we are finding that keys are easier to lose, so we have tried to institute a system of always replacing the keys in the lock immediately after entering the building, but to no avail ! 

 

After a thorough search and several days having lapsed we had decided to have another set cut, but being imperfect animals, nothing got done.  However, this morning, my wife discovered the lost keys in the peg basket - as you do. 

 

I had to look up peg basket. Do you keep clothes pegs in it? How glorious to be able to hang out washing. When I grew up in California we could do that. Makes the laundry feel and smell nice. My life in the Big City is reduced to a small apartment and sending clothes to the laundry. I have hooks by my door for keys but, of course, they don't always land there. I also have a second set hanging there just in case.

 

P.S. We call them clothespins.

 

Paulette

Edited August 3, 2023 by NYCat

[NYCat]

5 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

I hope that Cardinal is headed this way. We're in desperate need of a bird who might teach these Herring gulls to sing. They all sound like Tom Waits with the flu. 

 

What you want is a mockingbird. Every possible song for long periods of time. Just don't let it sit outside your window when you are trying to sleep.

 

Paulette

[Bryan]

7 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

I had to look up peg basket. Do you keep clothes pegs in it? How glorious to be able to hang out washing. When I grew up in California we could do that. Makes the laundry feel and smell nice. My life in the Big City is reduced to a small apartment and sending clothes to the laundry. I have hooks by my door for keys but, of course, they don't always land there. I also have a second set hanging there just in case.

 

P.S. We call them clothespins.

 

Paulette

Yes indeed, our clothes pegs or clothespins basket ! That's a new word for me.

 

This month there has been so much rain that it has been difficult to air dry the washing, we don't possess an electric dryer but we do have a short covered alleyway, between the house and garage, that is useful. 

 

On the subject of gadgets, we don't have an electric dishwasher, that's my job, nor can I persuade my wife to invest in an air fryer, so we have a low tech kitchen.  We brew coffee using Moka pots on the gas hob, and grill/toast stuff using the gas grill, although we do have a small electric kettle and a slow cooker. 

 

With a nationwide commitment to net zero by some time in the future, the days of our aged but reliable gas stove are numbered. There is just a chance that it might be replaced by a hydrogen fuelled cooker, but I suspect that it will have to go electric, but that's probably someone else's problem.

[Michael Ventura]

I grew up, in the suburbs of DC, with air dried laundry.  It looked something like this.  But at some point my parents got an electric dryer and that was the end of that.  When my Italian cousin came to stay with me, she wanted to hang dry everything of hers, saying she prefers it because machine dryers beat the you-know-what out the clothes that she spent good money on.  I know what she means when I see how much lint comes off each load, but I do like how quick my clothes are dry.

[Betty LaRue]

6 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I grew up, in the suburbs of DC, with air dried laundry.  It looked something like this.  But at some point my parents got an electric dryer and that was the end of that.  When my Italian cousin came to stay with me, she wanted to hang dry everything of hers, saying she prefers it because machine dryers beat the you-know-what out the clothes that she spent good money on.  I know what she means when I see how much lint comes off each load, but I do like how quick my clothes are dry.

Our laundry was dried on clotheslines through my growing up. I had them after marriage until 1986. I had a gas dryer for part of those years, but preferred hanging my sheets on the line. They smelled so good & of fresh air. Plus the natural bleach for white sheets was the sun.

My family’s clotheslines were similar to this…but ours were sturdy iron poles painted silver to retard rust, and the T at the top held about 4 lines. The length between the poles were about 35 feet.

As an aside, when I was 8, mother had hung my quilt on the line. This was on the farm where we lived for 18 or so months. The wind blew it off & it fell into what I called chigger weeds. The ones that show up before the grass turns green, that have purple flowers. Little did we know the quilt was full of chiggers. After sleeping under the quilt for one night, I couldn’t put a finger on any part of my body that didn’t have a chigger bite. I ran a fever & was sick in bed & incoherent. I think mother bathed me in bleach water many times for several days before the chiggers were killed. Those things burrow into the skin & especially concentrate in places where clothing is tight.
But then, all biting insects will go for me & leave the person next to me alone. I get mosquito bites sometimes in broad daylight because the smell of my blood entices them from where they sleep during the day.

I don’t know of you have chiggers in the UK, but thank God if you don’t. You can’t see them & you don’t know they are on you until they burrow into your skin. 20 of them won’t make up the size of a grain of salt. Then the itch is intense & constant for days, enough to drive you mad. To walk through a field of high grasses or weeds from spring to freeze will guarantee getting them unless using strong repellent, socks & long pants. But that just keeps you from getting hundreds instead of dozens of bites. If you only have 5-10 chigger bites, you’ll still go mad.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[Bryan]

2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

I don’t know of you have chiggers in the UK, but thank God if you don’t. You can’t see them & you don’t know they are on you until they burrow into your skin. 20 of them won’t make up the size of a grain of salt. Then the itch is intense & constant for days, enough to drive you mad. To walk through a field of high grasses or weeds from spring to freeze will guarantee getting them unless using strong repellent, socks & long pants. But that just keeps you from getting hundreds instead of dozens of bites. If you only have 5-10 chigger bites, you’ll still go mad.

 

I had to look that one up, we don't call them chiggers, but there are apparently harvest mites which are related. My wife is prone to insect bites while working on our allotment, but they don't normally bother me, although last week I was stung by a wasp and needed antihistamine to reduce the swelling.

[sb photos]

On 04/08/2023 at 06:08, Bryan said:

I had to look that one up, we don't call them chiggers, but there are apparently harvest mites which are related. My wife is prone to insect bites while working on our allotment, but they don't normally bother me, although last week I was stung by a wasp and needed antihistamine to reduce the swelling.

About a month back I was stung by 2 large grey horse flies in Cornwall’s Cot Valley while checking images I had just shot. I knocked them off my arm but they had done their worst. Two large very itchy bumps soon appeared on my forearm, and the after bite pen was back in nearby St Just. Later the after bite only gave temporary relief. It was interesting researching the horse flies. Mine were female, as they feed on blood. The female feeds on pollen, a strange setup, or so I read. The bite sites are now largish hard bumps and sometimes still itch. Time to visit a pharmacist tomorrow for advice.

[sb photos]

Was pleased to get an email from Amazon today giving an estimated delivery day for near the end of the month for 2 more Domke Gripper camera straps. One was delivered around a month back, and the order was placed around 3 months ago. I bought one years back and find them very effective, especially with nylon style jackets. Will then have them on all DSLR bodies. They had been out of stock for ages with UK suppliers.

[Betty LaRue]

8 hours ago, sb photos said:

About a month back I was stung by 2 large grey horse flies in Cornwall’s Cot Valley while checking images I had just shot. I knocked them off my arm but they had done their worst. Two large very itchy bumps soon appeared on my forearm, and the after bite pen was back in nearby St Just. Later the after bite only gave temporary relief. It was interesting researching the horse flies. Mine were female, as they feed on blood. The female feeds on pollen, a strange setup, or so I read. The bite sites are now largish hard bumps and sometimes still itch. Time to visit a pharmacist tomorrow for advice.

I have been bitten by horseflies before & the bite is painful, back when we had our horses. Right up there with the worst. Hope yours are better soon.

Yesterday I saw two holes drilled a few feet away from each other at the edge of the walk. I suspected what was doing it. I filled in one hole & sprayed insect killer down the other. Sure enough, the offending insect came crawling out.

It was what I called a cicada killer (must look it up) & they can be nasty. A very large flying/stinging insect like a wasp, only thicker & meaner, a wasp on steroids, that build their nests in the ground.

Sorry to feel it was a necessity to kill it but it set up shop outside my side door. I was stung by one once. As I innocently walked by as it came out of its tunnel, it grabbed onto the hem of my jeans & stung me on the top of my foot. It was like having a glowing coal dropped on my foot. I didn’t care to revisit that again, especially since I go in & out of that door multiple times a day.

 

Not My Photo

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[sb photos]

4 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I have been bitten by horseflies before & the bite is painful, back when we had our horses. Right up there with the worst. Hope yours are better soon.

Yesterday I saw two holes drilled a few feet away from each other at the edge of the walk. I suspected what was doing it. I filled in one hole & sprayed insect killer down the other. Sure enough, the offending insect came crawling out.

It was what I called a cicada killer (must look it up) & they can be nasty. A very large flying/stinging insect like a wasp, only thicker & meaner, a wasp on steroids, that build their nests in the ground.

Sorry to feel it was a necessity to kill it but it set up shop outside my side door. I was stung by one once. As I innocently walked by as it came out of its tunnel, it grabbed onto the hem of my jeans & stung me on the top of my foot. It was like having a glowing coal dropped on my foot. I didn’t care to revisit that again, especially since I go in & out of that door multiple times a day.

 

Not My Photo

 

 

Wasps are nasty, as are the larger hornets. When I was a young school boy my father used to swat wasps that entered the house with a rolled up newspaper, then flip them out through a usually open slat window. On one occasion I was sitting on a garden bench seat just under the slat window when a wasp, stunned but not dead, was flipped out. It landed on my neck and stung me, it was nasty. Due to that I missed a friends birthday party later in the day, never forgotten.

[Michael Ventura]

19 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I have been bitten by horseflies before & the bite is painful, back when we had our horses. Right up there with the worst. Hope yours are better soon.

Yesterday I saw two holes drilled a few feet away from each other at the edge of the walk. I suspected what was doing it. I filled in one hole & sprayed insect killer down the other. Sure enough, the offending insect came crawling out.

It was what I called a cicada killer (must look it up) & they can be nasty. A very large flying/stinging insect like a wasp, only thicker & meaner, a wasp on steroids, that build their nests in the ground.

Sorry to feel it was a necessity to kill it but it set up shop outside my side door. I was stung by one once. As I innocently walked by as it came out of its tunnel, it grabbed onto the hem of my jeans & stung me on the top of my foot. It was like having a glowing coal dropped on my foot. I didn’t care to revisit that again, especially since I go in & out of that door multiple times a day.

 

Not My Photo

 

 

Just a couple of weeks ago, a long time photographer friend called me sobbing while at the ER at the hospital, he was hoping my daughter working that evening but wasn't.  He said his wife bitten by something in the garden.  She came in the house and told him about the bite, when she reached to shut off the water spigot.  She did not see what bit her.  Just after she told him this, she collapsed on the floor and turned blue in the face.  He called for an ambulance, she was brought in breathing but otherwise unresponsive.   I thought she must have been bitten by a snake.  Poisonous snakes are rare in this area but possible.  She was given an Epinephrine injection in the ER and that did the trick.  They determined that she was in anaphylaxis shock and through bloodwork, they believe she was stung by a cicada killer.  Now that she knows she has this allergy, she now carries an EpiPen.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Michael Ventura

[Rebecca Ore]

5 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

They determine that she was in anaphylaxis shock and through bloodwork, they believe she was stung by a cicada killer.  Now that she knows she has this allergy, she now carries an EpiPen.

I've seen a cicada killer once in Virginia, flying and carrying a cicada as big as it was.   Biggest wasp I've ever seen, obviously with some toxic venom.   Most snake bites in the US are going to be slower acting.  Coral snakes are the only North American ones with neurotoxic venom, and I'm not sure how far north their range extends.  I've had fish here die or be nerve damaged when a smaller tropical wasp fell into their tank (13 gallon tank, one floating dead wasp). 

 

One of my brothers had an anaphylactic shock reaction to a bee or wasp sting, and ended up hospitalized.  So, yeah, scary. 

[Betty LaRue]

5 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

Just a couple of weeks ago, a long time photographer friend called me sobbing while at the ER at the hospital, he was hoping my daughter working that evening but wasn't.  He said his wife bitten by something in the garden.  She came in the house and told him about the bite, when she reached to shut off the water spigot.  She did not see what bit her.  Just after she told him this, she collapsed on the floor and turned blue in the face.  He called for an ambulance, she was brought in breathing but otherwise unresponsive.   I thought she must have been bitten by a snake.  Poisonous snakes are rare in this area but possible.  She was given an Epinephrine injection in the ER and that did the trick.  They determine that she was in anaphylaxis shock and through bloodwork, they believe she was stung by a cicada killer.  Now that she knows she has this allergy, she now carries an EpiPen.

Boy, that’s bad. I welt up pretty bad with bites/stings, but that’s all. I know from my experience how nasty the cicada killers stings are. A notch up from regular wasp stings. I would suppose because they are so much larger than regular wasps, that if they inject venom, they have more to inject.

sb photos, through me trying to knock down a wasp nest when I was a girl by throwing cans at it, I can relate. Of course, as a child I thought that tiny stem holding the nest was delicate & should be easy to give way. WRONG! The wasps held a meeting, & were waiting on me when I came around the corner to throw another missile. They tangled in my hair & began stinging me on my scalp. I would imagine if anyone had watched, my hysterics & thrashing would have been something to behold. It’s a wonder I had any hair left. Had I been allergic, that would have done me in.

I never tried that again. Lesson learned. As an adult, I realized just how strong those stems are.

[Cecile Marion]

These nasty bugs! Their bites/stings can certainly wreak great havoc. While out with my camera, on a cold day in North Florida, I managed to pick up a tiny little Lone Star tick, hitching a ride on my leg. Due to the tick bite, I am now highly allergic to mammal meat and products made with mammal ingredients. So, no beef, lamb, pork, dairy, etc, for me. I now also carry an EpiPen.

[Betty LaRue]

9 hours ago, Cecile Marion said:

These nasty bugs! Their bites/stings can certainly wreak great havoc. While out with my camera, on a cold day in North Florida, I managed to pick up a tiny little Lone Star tick, hitching a ride on my leg. Due to the tick bite, I am now highly allergic to mammal meat and products made with mammal ingredients. So, no beef, lamb, pork, dairy, etc, for me. I now also carry an EpiPen.

I had read that before, but again just read an article about what those ticks do. What a shame, Cecile. No steak or ice cream!!  I realize that’s no joking matter, & a very serious thing. I’m assuming things baked with milk in the ingredients are taboo? But poultry is ok, correct? The article hinted that a treatment might be on the horizon that might reverse the condition. 🤞

[Cecile Marion]

That’s correct, Betty. It’s called Alpha-gal, and definitely no steak or ice cream for me. Avoiding the obvious foods hasn’t been difficult, but staying away from the beef, pork, and lamb additives hidden in medicines, building materials and household products can be tricky. Also, carrageenan is a red seaweed I must avoid. It mimics Alpha-gal and, especially in the US, it’s often found in plant based products such as nut milks and non-dairy ice cream. Chicken, turkey and other fowl don’t carry Alpha-gal so they’re okay to eat as long as mammal or carrageenan haven’t been added. I avoid them and eat a mostly "vegan" diet, but with the addition of seafood and eggs. 

[Betty LaRue]

2 hours ago, Cecile Marion said:

That’s correct, Betty. It’s called Alpha-gal, and definitely no steak or ice cream for me. Avoiding the obvious foods hasn’t been difficult, but staying away from the beef, pork, and lamb additives hidden in medicines, building materials and household products can be tricky. Also, carrageenan is a red seaweed I must avoid. It mimics Alpha-gal and, especially in the US, it’s often found in plant based products such as nut milks and non-dairy ice cream. Chicken, turkey and other fowl don’t carry Alpha-gal so they’re okay to eat as long as mammal or carrageenan haven’t been added. I avoid them and eat a mostly "vegan" diet, but with the addition of seafood and eggs. 

https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20200318/omalizumab-may-help-treat-red-meat-allergy-caused-by-tick-bites

 

and this:

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acu.2021.0010

Edited August 7, 2023 by Betty LaRue

[Cecile Marion]

Thanks for the links, Betty. Much appreciated. From what I’ve heard recently, the treatments are very experimental. While some patients have seen improvement, symptoms of others have gotten much worse. I’m happy to have a "wait and see" attitude. 

[Betty LaRue]

6 hours ago, Cecile Marion said:

Thanks for the links, Betty. Much appreciated. From what I’ve heard recently, the treatments are very experimental. While some patients have seen improvement, symptoms of others have gotten much worse. I’m happy to have a "wait and see" attitude. 

Good for you. There will be something concrete discovered down the road, I’m sure. Least ways, I hope. For me to have that allergy would be hard to take because I love my beef, (steaks, roast) bacon & pork chops. I don’t eat it as often as I used to, but that’s because of the skyrocketing prices per pound compared to before Covid.

I find it frustrating that once every company raised prices during Covid, the high prices remain there even though people have gone back to work. They are scalping us, because they found out they could get by with it. 

[Bryan]

Reading some of the above makes me realise that our boring UK temperate damp climate has the advantage that there are fewer nasty creatures ready to pounce !

 

Plus, although my outdoor tomatoes have been wiped out by blight, those in the greenhouse are now ripening nicely, they are sweet and full of flavour, which is further improved by grilling or baking, My wife is not a fan, but I do love tomatoes, possibly my favourite fruit, or are they a vegetable ?

 

Also the damp summer has meant we have had a bumper potato crop this year, so far free from blight. We have grown the ever reliable second early Charlotte and for maincrop the red skinned Desiree. An old farmer friend, sadly now no longer with us, told me that the reds keep better, but I have found that the Charlottes also store well. 

 

However the best result in terms of spud weight per plant came from a random previously planted white spud that grew as a weed amongst the squashes and courgettes. 

 

My allotment neighbour went to a great deal of trouble growing potatoes in containers, but his crop has been disappointing, those grown in the ground are far better. 

 

Then there are the blackberries growing over the fence from another neighbour's plot, they've arrived  Just as the summer raspberries have come to an end.

 

Not all in the garden is wonderful however, cabbage and kale seedlings raised indoors have damped off, presumably a virus in the bought compost, or maybe the pots were carrying it.

 

 

[NYCat]

Photo event returns to New York City. Covid killed off the PhotoExpo we had every year at the Javits Center. Last year some (I suppose young and fashionable) people tried to do something in Brooklyn. It was expensive! and very unappealing to me and it was cancelled. This year B&H, bless them, are having two days at the Javits Center Sept 6&7. It's a Weds. and Thurs. so good for me and avoids the religious days for them. There is an amazing line-up of speakers. Here is the info... all free..... https://www.bildexpo.com/?ref=bh-emls&sc_src=email_44078&sc_lid=4269550&sc_uid=4vvnxJGBbq&sc_llid=675787&sc_customer=AFE4F6D700B2506A11CB5675375CD4483C1E3B827D1B6205F5620749DD32ADAE&utm_medium=Email 44078&utm_campaign=Bild&utm_source=230808_EVT_EVT_+BILD-Schedule 20230808&utm_content=&utm_term=IMAGE+md_5033.jpg&encEmail=AFE4F6D700B2506A11CB5675375CD4483C1E3B827D1B6205F5620749DD32ADAE&i=dghTvgYQq23_Mqy4p9Nl15IbGYyxnpVB

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney]

 

 

Trastevere, the area where I lived in Rome, MV.

 

You folks seem to have wandered into the wrong post with your tails of poisonous bugs and snakes. I'll keep my story of 'the snake of the 7 steps' for another time.

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Ed Rooney

[Rebecca Ore]

I've decided to  sell some of my lighting gear, or all of it except for the on camera flashes and one umbrella stand and umbrella, and the reflectors.  Luis has been working on this.   One guy wanted to buy the mains powered light, cheap rectangular softbox and C-stand (the guy who bought the broken a7 cameras with a lens each).   Someone else wants the Westcott Octobox.  Someone else wants the Godox AD200s   And someone even wants the MagMod stuff.   I also have two Manfrotto super clamps, and a macro stage that I haven't used, and a boom that goes with the C-stand.  Nicaraguan pro photographers tend to be thrifty or go to work in Miami.   One of them was a set photographer for Miami Vice, and disappeared to work in the US when the riots began in 2018, but ended up back here.   Don't know if he's in the buying pool or not.  

 

Some of this is realizing that I made more money editing a collection of short fiction that I'd already sold to magazines over twenty years ago than I've made licensing photos, maybe two months of part time work to do the editing.  

 

I'll see what Luis can do and give him a 15% commission on done deals.   No checks, no time payment.  Luis may be tacking on his own commission in the prices we discussed asking this morning, but hey, he's working for the money.   Given my limited Spanish, I do like having Luis do the negotiating.

 

I think I'd miss the AD200s and their associated modifiers more than the Godox 400 w/s plug-in studio light on the C-Stand.   They're very useful singly or paired on the connector thing which uses the battery backs of each of them.    If the person interested in them won't pay the price I'm asking, I may just keep them.  I have all the toys for them: extra batteries, extra flash bulbs in the connector thing, some bare bulb reflectors and snoots, some clamps for holding them while on a light stand.  

 

 

 

 

[Keith Burdett]

17 hours ago, Bryan said:

 

However the best result in terms of spud weight per plant came from a random previously planted white spud that grew as a weed amongst the squashes and courgettes.

 

 

I've heard those called Volunteer Potatoes. In recent years however I've taken to calling them Remainer Potatoes.....

[Michael Ventura]

4 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

You folks seem to have wandered into the wrong post with your tails of poisonous bugs and snakes. I'll keep my story of 'the snake of the 7 steps' for another time.

 

Yes Edo, these threads have a way of crisscrossing at times.  Sometimes there is fine line between good and bad 😅