Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 9: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

It was very tasty but I had no idea it was so late. Lunch has been drifting towards 2-2.30 all week and today will be no exception. 😆

I have got the bread maker out of the loft and first loaf is in

Happy Birthday to @MissConductUS’S DH - hope he has a wonderful day with lots of 🎂 and 🎁!

@MissConductUS - It's your birtheday?

Herzlichen Glückwunsch! I hope you are having a great day.

It is still raining 'et fisselt' - what is the English for sth wet coming down that is not quite rain but you get wet anyway just very slowly?

Sodding came back from his garden escapades after my breakfast and let it be known via headbumps, kittenish purring and fussing that he was ready for his long lap cuddle/snooze. It’s ruining my productivity but this time with him is golden. I have invoked cat privilege, so DH is making me a cup of tea. 😄

That sounds like drizzle, Prok - very fine rain, almost mist-like but over time enough to make you soggy. If it’s windy, it is fine enough to blow under your umbrella and still get you.

Welcome @toomuchlikemyusername and @topcat2014 and thanks for joining us and sharing your news.

@kittlesticks - I had some challenges conceiving my first but that was in 1999 when there was really no online support and the medical options were more limited. It did ultimately happen of course and I later became pregnant with our second (DD) when we weren't even trying.

Thank you all for your lovely feedback on my post last night.

As @Nydj mentioned it is my dear husband's birthday today. He is such a kind, loving and thoughtful man, and has been a wonderful husband and father. One thing I credit MN for is making me realize how lucky I am to have him.

I had a very cold run this morning under an almost full moon and clear skies, so I guess that's a good start to 2021.

sodding as in drizzle cake? Ok, noted, thank you!

After our midday meal I will fix DS's new calendar to his wall - fotos of cats through the year.

So is ‘et fisselt’ the German word for rain like that then, prok? That looks like it should sound quite a lot like ‘drizzle’ - I wonder if they have the same linguistic root? One of the things I always remember from my A level English is that when you look at a lot of common English words, they tell a story about history - so for example many of the words for farm animals have a German root as the Anglo-Saxon peasants were the ones rearing the animals. But the words for the meat (like beef, mutton and poultry) come from French, because the Norman rulers were the ones eating the things!

@MissConductUS happy birthday to your DH. Hope everyone is having a good day.
DD is skipping her nap and I have just put a few chicken thighs into the oven with some veg and the remains of the wine - hopefully will turn out ok.
Made a bird feeder with DS who got the kit for Xmas. He's 3. We put some seed in it and stuck it to the window, it's one of those ones with suckers.
Hoping the birds find it as that will make him really happy.

Happy New Year one and all.
So far today I've been for a run, showered etc, had poached eggs & spinach for breakfast, finished tidying the spare bedroom (AKA the Christmas room, as it gets taken over from about August every year by an ever increasing pile of presents).
Just having a brew and a peruse of Mumsnet then going to set off a lot of yoghurt. TH is in the cellar - I can hear sawing. I have no desire to investigate what he's up to.

@kittlesticks - we have a bird feeder. In our house, it's cat TV. It may take a day or two but they will find it. My only concern with sticking it to the window is that some will accidentally fly into the window.

Thanks for the DH birthday wishes. I'm sure your chicken will be delicious cooking with the wine.

Happy new Year to everyone.

We've watched the New Year Day Concert from Vienna, strange to see no audience physically present, but wonderful that lots of people had bought tickets to join a virtual audience and we could hear their applause and see lots of thumbnail pics, many of whom were holding something to say where they were. It makes one realise how international this event truly is.

@Prokupatuscrakedatus, another name for that fine rain is 'mizzle',which is probably a bit finer than drizzle, edging into mist; so you don't think you're getting too wet, but you arrive at your destination soaked through!

@Spudlet

Et = it and fisselt = is drizzling / drizzles. It is regional to the Ruhr area.
The 'hochdeutsche' d. i. written Version used in the weather report is 'nieseln'.

Happy New Year - it's officially 2021 and not looking too bad so far. I was up before 9 which is a minor miracle given how much I drank last night

I am feeling envious of everyone with kittens/cats/dogs etc. The DDs and I would dearly love a pet but DH will not entertain the thought of one. Plus I used to be allergic to cats. I think I have grown out of it, but I would hate to get one and then discover I haven't. I well just have to live vicariously through all of your stories and photos.

@kittlesticks and @MissConductUS we have a hummingbird feeder up at my mum's cottage on Georgian Bay. I just love watching them. We back onto a ravine here in the city so we have all sorts of birds and wildlife (squirrels in huge abundance, raccoons, possums, coyotes, foxes, rabbits, sometimes we get deer). But it has never occurred to me to put up a bird house or feeder! It's a great idea.

@Prokupatuscrakedatus thank you for the German lesson. I am brushing up on my German via Duolingo because it was getting very rusty. My best friend is German (Hamburg) and I try to write to her in German at least partly but it is so tricky when you don't use a language very often! Are you originally German or English (or something else?)

We used to have a bird feeder at our old house, our current house has a thatched roof and female holly tree with berries so is a bird magnet and doesn't need a feeder. At the old house it used to mainly attract squirrels , they were super cute and the squirrel and our cat would watch each other. We have a very cute photo somewhere of our cat one side of our French doors to the garden and the squirrel the other side just gazing at each other inches apart. Cat used to also do that with the fox and appeared to love anything with a big fluffy tail. She used to howl to go out with the fox and seemed to want him as her boyfriend, obviously kept her in. We stopped the feeder though as the squirrel kept burying all the nuts in the garden for winter and digging up the lawn then we started getting mice in the house attracted by the nuts and our cat is a bit variable often she will just gaze at them and I don't like seeing them dead either.

Possums and raccoons are lovely, we only get deer, squirrels and all different kinds of birds here like pheasants and greenfinch though I love the birds when our roof is full of them singing away.

My DH needed persuading to get a cat and eventually said I could get one for me but he quickly became besotted and the two are totally in love. I'm allergic to hay though which makes the silkie chickens and the rabbit a challenge - I didn't realise until we got the rabbit. The silkies are easier as outside but the rabbit sets off asthma in me. I love him though and wouldn't be without him.

@HeartsTrumpDiamonds

I am German (grew up under the influence of the BFBS the radio division of the SSVC). My DB lives in Hamburg.

Oh no I didn't think about them flying into the window!!
It has suckers so needs to go onto glass. I feel like the bird feeder kit people didn't think it through.
Just managed to have a bath and am about to go downstairs as I can hear kid madness brewing.

If you have squirrels in the area a squirrel-proof feeder is a must, or they will empty it in very short order. Here's a picture of ours. The perch ring the birds land on is on a spring and is connected to a cylindrical metal sleeve inside the feeder. If anything heavier than a few birds lands on it the sleeve slides down and covers the round ports that allow access to the seed. The squirrels eventually give up trying.

We used to have one of these:

[[https://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/RTProduct.asp?SKU=WB-WB-8
Wild Bills Electronic Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder, 8 ports]]

Which gave the squirrels (but not the birds) a small electric shock when they landed on it. That trained them to keep off very effectively.

You'll see in the picture that it's about 5 feet away from the window in our kitchen, which minimizes the birds flying into the window.

Oh no I didn't think about them flying into the window!!

If it happens it's no more than an annoyance. Birds are very light.

I get a daily visit from a couple of wood pigeons, they expect food and look at me with raised eyebrows when I am not ready at 7.

Squirrels are very crafty! And greedy!

Did laundry this morning.. Got ready for work. Lost keys (I had put them in laundry bag!). Went to shop looking at magazines, went to adjust glasses and realised they were not there. Could not be bothered to go back and get them.

I have just been to the loo and was congratulating myself that my 11's (lines on forehead between eyes) had disapeard. Sorry without glases cannot see what I wrote!)

Of course I realise now they probably haven't gone away and will be even more pronounced tomorrow with all the screwing up of my eyes!

I Will have to go to South Ken M&S tonight as I am on until late, it is my birthday tomorrow so I need to bring in a cake to work and as I am working early tomorrow there is no way I can leave it until the morning,

It feels like the weekend already and is freezing!

There is a youtuber who turns access to his bird feeder into an obstacle course for squirrles. They are really intelligent creatures plus they have those big feet with claws.