Thread 17 - TalkLair: "Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge."

[RasaSayangEh]

(Previous thread 16).

Spring is springing, daffodils blooming all over our LairGarden, which have not all been picked by a neighbour's kid...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, cosy rugs are down on the floors looking a bit stained by cat hairball regurgitation. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Oh gorgeous sloths. What a lovely day you must have had.

I read that sloths don't smell because for some reason they only have sweat glands on their noses.

Well, I'm glad you had such a wonderful day out! I'm green with envy now! I'll have to see if I can get my daughter down, one holiday, she'd die of joy.

I've got to say that seeing "sloth energy" made me chuckle!

@SinnerBoy ... you may be able to find somewhere nearer to home? If you look up Northumberland Zoo and go to "Animal Experiences", they do lemurs and capybara, among other critters!

Years and years ago I did a "Keeper for a Day" experience at London Zoo and got to feed penguins, giraffes, spider monkeys etc. It were ace.

That sounds brilliant (especially if it was long enough ago for the penguins to still be living in the lovely Lubetkin pool).

Thanks, Gonners. I know it's there, but we never seem to get round to it!

I had an email from Skype today saying they are shutting the service down on 5th May. Would it be very wrong of me to email MrG's #1 son and suggest that we "chat" one day the following week? I won't, obviously, as his younger brother has got him under control, but the thought made me laugh. I think I've found an alternative that works on Linux (us) and Apple (#2 son) but not on Microsoft ... goodness how sad!

Meanwhile, Royal Mail sent a text saying they'd be delivering a parcel from BT "some time before 3pm" on "date" and to let them know if I wanted to make alternative delivery arrangements. So we hung about until 1:30 on Tuesday, when they sent another one and I realised I'd misread the 9th for the 8th. 100% my own fault. At about 2pm today I happened to go into the hall and discovered a small envelope that had been put through the letterbox, goodness know when. It contained one Ethernet cable and a note from BT saying they'd be sending an engineer to "fit it", i.e. plug it in from the router to the box on the wall. You know what ... this is very kind of them, but I think it's something I could probably manage!

@Gonners - I use Microsoft Messenger, which is part of Facebook but separate from your Facebook account so you can have it as an app on its own on your phone or tablet, to chat to my son in the UK. Would that work for you?

Or what about WhatsApp video calling?

Ah, I should have been clearer. My nefarious plan was to find something that doesn't work on MS Windows, so as to lock out #1Stepson's "helpful", pompous and verbose input. The twat has always done this, definitely since I first met him in the late 90s (when he would have been about 30) but (I am told) long before that. We are doing life ALL WRONG! And it's not just us, it's everyone. I suspect he is not a very happy bunny, but at this point ... well, frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn.

However, it hadn't occurred to me that pretty much everything works on phones. So, back to the drawing board ...

Good morning all! angelico/fenderstrat here for those who missed my return the the rights thread.

The sloths adventure looked quite marvellous! For some reason, the word has become a staple in our family: people will say "I'm off for a sloth" when they mean a rest. And I recall a school friend in the 60s, watching me completely foozlen a tennis shot and crying, in the voice of an umpire, "Sloth! Sloth on the court!"

Here's a pic of my 15 year old, Bailey. He and his sister Daphne were attacked by a huge off-lead, unmuzzled lurcher last year. Angelica scooped up Daphne but I was too slow to protect Bailey and he was badly savaged. As you can see, though, he recovered and remains beautiful, bless his bones.

Gorgeous, those ears! 😍

Magnificent ears!

Gorgeous little Bailey and his wonderful ears! How terrifying to get attacked by another dog, I am glad he has recovered. Did the lurcher's owner pay for treatment?

He's beautiful!

Aww lovely Bailey!

Hello @Sammidge, nice to see you here. I don't want to give my username to google but I was a star magnolia. Poor Bailey, what a horrible ordeal. My brother's little King Charles spaniel was savaged by another dog, I'm not sure which breed but it wouldn't surprise me if it were a greyhound or lurcher. Bro's dog was off lead in the park when he saw it happen and sprinted as he watched other dog shaking him in his jaws. Fortunately after some vet treatment he was ok. My brother, not so much.

I can't even begin to imagine the horror of seeing that happen to your beloved pet... I cried when I caught Kasper's paw in the window, and yesterday I spent ages looking for him only to discover I'd shut him in the wardrobe.

I'm on Day 3 of trying to quit snus/nicotine pouches with the help of Stop Smoking Drug cytisine. It blocks nicotine receptors so your brain doesn't register the nicotine hit, which makes the experience completely joyless and a bit disgusting. You're allowed to continue using nicotine for up to 5 days into treatment. Days 1 and 2 I used significantly less and the cravings weren't too bad, but today has been the worst of all so far. I seem to recall reading that Day 3 is often the worst when trying to quit. I hope tomorrow is easier, I'm really, really dreading Day 5.

If I remember my long-ago psychoactive drugs module (with Prof David Nutt) correctly, for nicotine withdrawal the physical part takes 3 days. So if you can manage that without using any, you're then only dealing with the psychological side.

I sympathise - I never smoked but I took old fashioned snuff two or three times more than forty years ago, and still remember how fantastic it was. Likewise a few times under stress at work I took very deep lungfuls of second-hand smoke. I'd have been a very addicted addict.

I’m terrible. I was a chain smoker when I smoked. When I vaped I was a chain vaper, I think I probably inhaled more nicotine than oxygen. I tried to quit with lozenges but got hooked on those instead, which was when I started using snus as it’s cheaper. I am/was pretty much never without one. The last time I tried to quit cold Turkey I felt like I was in that trainspotting scene.

But it’s fucking up my gums. My HR is too high. I feel like shit. God knows what the long term effects of the ingredients are. The final straw was that the only type I like has been discontinued.

Even after just two days I can’t believe the difference in my HR.

I could never, ever try heroin. I’d be dead in a week.

Heh! I've never vaped, and never will. Still smoke a bit, but tobacco consumption down to a bare min. I just had my BP checked, and the nurse said it was 'bang on', so that was pleasing. Blood tests next week.

Hello @Sammidge - Bailey is stunning and what a lovely picture!

What an awful thing for your Bailey, Sammidge, glad to hear he's recovered now. He's like a long haired fennec!

We just had a scare with my old Lab. A bit after 4, I heard a couple of thuds and what sounded like vigorous scratching. Then she started crying and I realised that she couldn't get up and had a visible lump near her hip - painful to touch.

I took her straight to the vet, fearing a slipped disc. It turns out to probably be localised vestibular something or other. She's managed to walk from the car home, about 30 metres, bit not easily.

She hasn't peed yet, will try later, I'm not sure if she can squat. She's got this weird head tilt going on, which is apparently a sign of dizziness.

She's going back tomorrow and Monday. Fingers crossed, she's wagging her tail.

Oh, poor thing. Paws crossed.