Post a good thing that happened in your life today

[Rebecca Ore]

Made a loaf of bread in the toaster/air fryer oven with the dodgy door -- needed to let it rise more, and maybe sift out the bran, but it was tasty with the pure peanut butter at least two stores have started carrying -- La Colonia and the Mini Guadelupe that may be under US sanction since it doesn't accept US credit cards but is happy to take US money.   Had breakfast as usual in my friend's hotel.  Thinking about a chicken stew with vegetables for supper.

 

Luis took the smaller fish tank home with him yesterday.   I added a Eheim heater and a sponge filter.   All he needs to buy are lights, a air pump and tubing,   I suggest he let it run empty for a week before adding fish.   I suggested that he start with guppies, and showed him from a list of good beginner fish what might be good to get and what to beware of because of the size.   He's bugged me about not having colorful fish.   I like fish who do things other than just swim around.   The male Convict Cichlid was trying to move a bit of plastic yesterday since it might hide one of the others who want to chow down on his babies.   I went in and took the plastic thing out of the tank. 

 

An orchid I've had trouble with in the past,Guarianthe skinneri, formerly Cattleya skinneri, is now blooming along with Laelia rubescens which is my favorite Nicaragua orchid still.   G. skinneri has a bigger flower, five to the spike in my plant, but doesn't have the substance of the Laelia, so far at least.  The G. skinneri is endangered in the wild because vendors cut the flowering parts off them, and pot up several of these to make a show, but if the plants don't have at least two leaves and pseudo bulbs, they don't live long.  The Laelia has smaller flowers, but long flower spikes with more flowers.  I'll see if the skinneri flowers show better in a day or so.  L. rubescens is so tough, I had blooms after rescuing a Christmas wreath with them in April after that Christmas.  And my other L. rubescens is also a rescue that I got in even worse shape.

 

And I've found that when the electricity goes off even for a while, my cable box turns the TV on.   I wasn't sure what was happening the first time that happened. 

 

This is what Laelia rubescens looks like.   First time I saw one, I thought they looked like tiny Cattleya flowers.  Same family.  The G. skinneri looks a lot like this, just somewhat bigger flowers.

 

 

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

Speaking of chicken soup, I had leftover-from-Christmas chicken. I cut it up & added it to a large pan with boxed Chicken stock, water & chicken granules. I chopped up carrots, onion & celery. One mashed clove of garlic. Seasoned with a touch of sage, parsley, oregano & black pepper. When veggies were tender, I threw in a small package of Raman noodles, (didn’t used the seasoning packet) then thickened the broth with some flour mixed in cold water…just a little bit.

It turned out delicious, and I ate off it for three days. I think the secret was all the seasonings were in balance & nothing was overpowering.

[Bryan]

2 hours ago, spacecadet said:

Rex, the Beautiful Daughter's last goldfish, died recently aged about 20, years after she'd moved out and before she could get him moved to her now big enough house. So the fishtank and a very heavy engineer's drawing board have just successfully Freecycled locally. The success rate is quite high but no-one wanted the VHS cassettes.

So I now have a bit more space in the garage for jobs such as replacing the ABS pump, but not that, as I've just done it. So the MoT-failing yellow light that appeared in France has now gone.

Next up for removal, some really bad naive art by a family member and some crates of awful collectible knick-knacks. I confidently predict that they will not Freecycle.

I think the wind-up gramophone cabinet may be used by the grandtwins for hiding for a bit.

We had to clear a relative's house some years ago. We tried Freecycle but were disappointed to experience people saying that they wanted items, but then failing to turn up - resulting in more than one wasted journey.  We had much better success offering stuff for sale, even if we intended to give it away when they came to collect !  Not sure what to read into this.

[spacecadet]

12 hours ago, Bryan said:

We had to clear a relative's house some years ago. We tried Freecycle but were disappointed to experience people saying that they wanted items, but then failing to turn up - resulting in more than one wasted journey.  We had much better success offering stuff for sale, even if we intended to give it away when they came to collect !  Not sure what to read into this.

We tend to put the stuff in the porch so we don't have to wait in.Wouldn't work with a sofa I agree. Or rain, which Iuonderstand you have some of. People can just take it away if they don't need to knock on the door but perhaps that's more of a London thing. More often than not there's more than one enquiry anyway, so you just pass on to the next one. More folks about probably.

Edited January 1 by spacecadet

[Steve Hyde]

17 hours ago, spacecadet said:

A tricky fix as they really don't want you to get inside those things, for good reason. It suggests some sort of short. If it's old, decision time.

 No it’s not that old. The main heating element is causing the short. I’m quite happy doing the repair and I’ve ordered a new element from Neff at a reasonable £24.99. 🙂

[spacecadet]

4 hours ago, Steve Hyde said:

 No it’s not that old. The main heating element is causing the short. I’m quite happy doing the repair and I’ve ordered a new element from Neff at a reasonable £24.99. 🙂

Shame about the cheesecake then. Unless you can stick it in the fridge till the job's done.

My sort of job too if I can diagnose it, saved the washer with new brushes and the fridge with another new thermostat recently, but had to say goodbye to the freezer because the stat would have been €80.. But not everybody wants to stick their fingers in the mains, as it were.

Edited January 1 by spacecadet

[Betty LaRue]

All of this talk about the RX100-Vll made me go out a buy probably the only one left in Wichita. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? I'm rubbing my sore arm where y’all twisted it.
Beat ya to it, Marianne. Actually it was me looking for them for you, finding out there was only one in town that made me push the panic button.

I had to drive 20 minutes to the Best Buy across town rather than the one nearest me that had zero, zilch. 

I’ll take pictures with it of the banana bread I’m gonna bake.

And in my positive thread I do report I was in my happy place painting watercolor today.

Edited January 10 by Betty LaRue

[Allan Bell]

7 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

All of this talk about the RX100-Vll made me go out a buy probably the only one left in Wichita. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? I'm rubbing my sore arm where y’all twisted it.
Beat ya to it, Marianne. Actually it was me looking for them for you, finding out there was only one in town that made me push the panic button.

I had to drive 20 minutes to the Best Buy across town rather than the one nearest me that had zero, zilch. 

I’ll take pictures with it of the banana bread I’m gonna bake.

And in my positive thread I do report I was in my happy place painting watercolor today.

 

You are going to love it Betty. The banana bread I mean. Not the camera.😄

 

No really you will love the camera as well.  Did you get the handgrip for it. If not start searching or those might disappear soon as well.

 

Allan

 

Edited January 10 by Allan Bell
spelling error

[Bryan]

Despite the miserable weather - thinking positively, it might be dull but its unseasonably warm at around 6 deg C  here - I've starting sowing this year's seeds indoors. One batch of leeks, to be repeated at fortnightly intervals, and a couple of pots with basil. 

[Bryan]

10 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

All of this talk about the RX100-Vll made me go out a buy probably the only one left in Wichita.

 

And in my positive thread I do report I was in my happy place painting watercolor today.

Enjoy the new toy !

 

Watercolor painting sounds a great way to pass a dull day, for those gifted enough to do it.   I once joined an art club at school, but only lasted a couple of sessions.  A pity as my dad used to paint. The critical gene bypassed me and lodged with our younger son, so all is not lost.

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

You are going to love it Betty. The banana bread I mean. Not the camera.😄

 

No really you will love the camera as well.  Did you get the handgrip for it. If not start searching or those might disappear soon as well.

 

Allan

 

No, I didn’t get the hand grip, Allan. I have the MK 1 and 3 and have never felt the need for one. I imagine a man’s larger hands would feel more comfortable having it, though. Maybe my fingers are sticky like those little green frogs.
Hmm, I do look a bit like this, especially if I don’t get much sleep.

Edited January 10 by Betty LaRue

[Betty LaRue]

27 minutes ago, Bryan said:

Enjoy the new toy !

 

Watercolor painting sounds a great way to pass a dull day, for those gifted enough to do it.   I once joined an art club at school, but only lasted a couple of sessions.  A pity as my dad used to paint. The critical gene bypassed me and lodged with our younger son, so all is not lost.

Yes Bryan. Painting is a brain exercise just like puzzles. Watercolor more so since decisions are made about stages of wetness & when to add more paint. Too soon & it’s ruined, bleeding colors, too late and hard edges happen where one doesn’t want them. Watercolor is the most difficult medium. I started in oils,  but after two paintings I decided I preferred the translucence of watercolor.

[Allan Bell]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

No, I didn’t get the hand grip, Allan. I have the MK 1 and 3 and have never felt the need for one. I imagine a man’s larger hands would feel more comfortable having it, though. Maybe my fingers are sticky like those little green frogs.
Hmm, I do look a bit like this, especially if I don’t get much sleep.

 

 

You will enjoy the extra reach of the mk7 Sony.

 

Allan

 

[NYCat]

Today was my first day off from cat-sitting since December 7. I have a standing date on Thursdays with a friend in Soho for yoga and lunch at an Italian restaurant. So nice to only have responsibility for my own cat. Tomorrow I start back again but most of the time just Friday PM through Sunday AM.

 

Paulette

[Bryan]

So yesterday I was persuaded to join my wife litter picking where we live. It got us out of the house and a bit of exercise.

 

An unexpected bonus, I came across a discarded Ward watering can among bushes at the riverside. I have a good collection of watering cans, but someone at the allotments may use it. 

 

How did it get there, was it stolen and dumped or is there some nefarious activity linked to watering cans ?

 

 

[Betty LaRue]

On 13/01/2024 at 00:54, Bryan said:

So yesterday I was persuaded to join my wife litter picking where we live. It got us out of the house and a bit of exercise.

 

An unexpected bonus, I came across a discarded Ward watering can among bushes at the riverside. I have a good collection of watering cans, but someone at the allotments may use it. 

 

How did it get there, was it stolen and dumped or is there some nefarious activity linked to watering cans ?

 

 

Did it smell of fuel? Maybe someone used it to siphon fuel into from someone’s automobile gas tank. The long spouts on some watering cans would make for an easy transfer.

[Phil]

On 10/01/2024 at 16:34, Betty LaRue said:

No, I didn’t get the hand grip, Allan. I have the MK 1 and 3 and have never felt the need for one. I imagine a man’s larger hands would feel more comfortable having it, though

 

Betty -congratulations on the RX100 VII.  Since I got mine just before Christmas I've only picked up a bigger camera once.

 

I seriously considered a body grip during my first few days of using my RX100.  But the more I used the M7 the more a body grip just didn't seem to be what I needed.

 

I had a little mini tabletop tripod with 5 inch legs laying around - so I mounted it on my M7's tripod socket with the little tripod's legs closed.  I liked the vertical grip it provided - it seemed it provided a much more secure and firmer grip for stability of the camera.

 

After a few days using the mini-tripod as a vertical handle on my M7 I poked around Amazon and found this vertical handle grip and ordered it.  A nice solid chunk of machined and knurled aluminum. It's 1/4" screw is the correct length for the M7's shallow tripod socket.  It even has a rubber pad around the screw's base as a cushion against the bottom of the M7.   The M7 and vertical handle still slips in/out of my vest's pocket easily.  All for $10. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0144QWRLU?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

 

[Bryan]

8 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Did it smell of fuel? Maybe someone used it to siphon fuel into from someone’s automobile gas tank. The long spouts on some watering cans would make for an easy transfer.

 

A plausible explanation Betty as there was a rash of fuel thefts  a few years ago, however these thieves were not so subtle, they would rupture the tank to get what they wanted thus providing the owner with a large repair bill in addition to the cost of the fuel. Fortunately there have been no cases reported recently. The can didn't smell of fuel but it might have lain there for years. 

 

Back to fuel theft, there is a large distribution depot a few hundred yards from our allotments, and an attempt was made to steal from their diesel storage tank by rigging up a long pipe line to a track adjacent to our gardens. One of our gardeners was a police detective at the time and  he and others foiled the attempt. We still have two big coils of large bore corrugated plastic piping on site, and no idea what to do with it. 

 

All this brings me to another bold attempt at theft, again adjacent to our allotment site. Alongside the site is a mothballed railway track, there are periodic attempts to re-open the line but, so far, to no avail. A group of workmen, clad in protective clothing with hard hats and with expensive machinery, appeared and began to remove the track. Everyone assumed that this was a legitimate operation, and they took a substantial amount of track, but it turned out that they were stealing the rails and were eventually apprehended.

 

This might seem like I live in a crime hotspot, but nothing could be further from the truth. In the 40 years we've lived here there have been a few minor incidents involving the theft of a pedal cycle or objects from gardens, but no serious domestic crime.

Edited January 15 by Bryan

[spacecadet]

3 hours ago, Bryan said:

A plausible explanation Betty as there was a rash of fuel thefts  a few years ago, however these thieves were not so subtle, they would rupture the tank to get what they wanted thus providing the owner with a large repair bill in addition to the cost of the fuel. Fortunately there have been no cases reported recently. The can didn't smell of fuel but it might have lain there for years. 

Vehicles have been siphon-proof for decades, the locking flap and the design of the filler tube takes care of that. That's why they moved on to puncturing tanks. You can't get a watering can under the tank of course.

Edited January 15 by spacecadet

[Ed Rooney]

 

"Hand grip? I don't need no stinkin' hand grip!"  (A sort of quote from a great John Houston-Bogart film.)

 

The included wrist strap works nicely, thanks. 

[Allan Bell]

13 hours ago, Phil said:

 

Betty -congratulations on the RX100 VII.  Since I got mine just before Christmas I've only picked up a bigger camera once.

 

I seriously considered a body grip during my first few days of using my RX100.  But the more I used the M7 the more a body grip just didn't seem to be what I needed.

 

I had a little mini tabletop tripod with 5 inch legs laying around - so I mounted it on my M7's tripod socket with the little tripod's legs closed.  I liked the vertical grip it provided - it seemed it provided a much more secure and firmer grip for stability of the camera.

 

After a few days using the mini-tripod as a vertical handle on my M7 I poked around Amazon and found this vertical handle grip and ordered it.  A nice solid chunk of machined and knurled aluminum. It's 1/4" screw is the correct length for the M7's shallow tripod socket.  It even has a rubber pad around the screw's base as a cushion against the bottom of the M7.   The M7 and vertical handle still slips in/out of my vest's pocket easily.  All for $10. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0144QWRLU?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

 

 

Just looked (out of interest) and it is currently unavailable on the British site.

 

Allan

 

[Phil]

24 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

Just looked (out of interest) and it is currently unavailable on the British site.

 

Allan

 

 

Bummer.  US Amazon site has them in stock and on sale - buy 2 or more and receive 12% discount.

[Allan Bell]

57 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Bummer.  US Amazon site has them in stock and on sale - buy 2 or more and receive 12% discount.

 

Never mind. If I wanted one I would knock one up in my workshop. Was engineer by profession.

 

Simple job.

 

Allan

 

[Betty LaRue]

18 hours ago, Phil said:

 

Betty -congratulations on the RX100 VII.  Since I got mine just before Christmas I've only picked up a bigger camera once.

 

I seriously considered a body grip during my first few days of using my RX100.  But the more I used the M7 the more a body grip just didn't seem to be what I needed.

 

I had a little mini tabletop tripod with 5 inch legs laying around - so I mounted it on my M7's tripod socket with the little tripod's legs closed.  I liked the vertical grip it provided - it seemed it provided a much more secure and firmer grip for stability of the camera.

 

After a few days using the mini-tripod as a vertical handle on my M7 I poked around Amazon and found this vertical handle grip and ordered it.  A nice solid chunk of machined and knurled aluminum. It's 1/4" screw is the correct length for the M7's shallow tripod socket.  It even has a rubber pad around the screw's base as a cushion against the bottom of the M7.   The M7 and vertical handle still slips in/out of my vest's pocket easily.  All for $10. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0144QWRLU?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

 

Cool apparatus. I saw a picture in the link & it looks handy. Cheap enough, too. What I’m curious about, would it help to keep the camera on an even plane? My biggest fault in lining up a shot is not having the plane level. It seems I always have the right side more forward than the left, or the other way around. Also the up & down plane. I don’t seem to have that problem with a larger camera.

Edited January 15 by Betty LaRue

[Gervais Montacute]

Treasure of the Sierra Madre.