The Bluestocking - Raiders of the Lost Sparp

[lcakethereforeIam]

Welcome everyone. Wipe your feet, it's been wet out.

Don't forget to namechange before posting if necessary.

They have a Bertie Badger, and gerbils skilled in making hot toddies.

@MarieDeGournay - the gerbil in the pipe band who hasn’t got a set of bagpipes is probably a learner - you start off just playing the chanter - the bit where you do the fingering - so you can practise that part without having to coordinate blowing and squeezing the bag.

I would love to learn the bagpipes, but dh abhors them. He believes that the definition of a Scottish gentleman is one who can play the bagpipes - but doesn’t!

What a lovely update Swashy. That's the kind of customer service we all deserve- and especially you, under such trying circumstances.

@Swashbuckled brilliant news.
Small companies rely on their reputations to advertise them, so the ones that last are usually very good.

I quite like bagpipes, though probably not at dawn. Likewise kettledrums, especially when played on horseback.

And I should send DH over to the Staunch Ally for some TLC, because he's not getting much from me. He has a headache and some joint aches and a Bad Knee and I keep telling him to take a painkiller and he won't, so sympathy has been withdrawn. My motto tends to be, if it's bad enough that you're whinging about it, then take action. And action isn't finding Edith busy about her chores, and complaining at her.

We had some butternut squash left over from the Hallowe'en supper my husband cooked. Like a twit, I said I'd make soup.

Hell's bells, what a faff! Simple enough recipe, but the peeling and deseeding and chopping, and then the crawling around looking for the liquidiser in the under-counter cupboard, and then the bloody endless washing up!

I hope the Staunch Ally can give him a comforting (and healing) hot honey and cider vinegar drink, a bowl of steaming Friar's Balsam to inhale, and a warm bed to recover in.

A stick blender would spare you some of the faff and washing up.

Glad you got the customer service you deserved, Swash, and isn't it lovely when people just do The Right Thing💙

That explains it, Woley, and how supportive of the band to put a beginner up near the front
Perhaps you could compromise with DH and learn the Scottish smallpipes? quieter, and easier on the lungs because like Irish uileann and Northumbrian pipes, they are bellows blown.

Stick blenders are brilliant. We were given one for a wedding present 30+ years ago and used it so much that we wore it out.

Also, if making butternut squash soup, halve the thing, deseed it, sprinkle it with pepper and salt and splatter it with olive oil and roast it till soft.

Then v easy to get the skin off...

I have a small pumpkin lurking in my kitchen which needs the same treatment.

The other way to soften up a butternut squash before trying to peel or cut it is a blast in the microwave.

I might try the microwave thing.

My sister gave me her cheapo stick blender. Very basic, has no attachments. I use it for lots of things that are meant to call for a food processor. Mainly liquidising and pulverising. Dead easy to clean and store.

Our gerbils don’t jerbil!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5437466-jirble-do-yo-use-this-word?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Good thing too, that would be shockingly poor service! Maud would be horrified!

Definitely not a case of nominative determinism in our choice of serving staff!

Same! I've had the same basic one from Tesco for years and I love it.

Someone I know is in S America and has posted this. (Wait for it to load)

I have asked for a picture of the female version.

I have a nasty cough and a sore throat - kept me awake somewhat last night and I feel like crap today. I tested and it's not Covid, so just a regular buggering bug I guess.

It's a small local election here today and DH drove so I could go and vote, and I put a mask on. As it turns out, it was just as well I did. After voting (no on the voter ID thing, yes on the increased minimum wage thing, yes on the red flag gun law, and various people for various positions) as we were walking out there was a petition to ban boys from girls' sports, which both DH and I were happy to sign. A trans person (female to male I guess since there was an actual beard and male clothing and she wasn't tall and had fairly small hands) came up to the table where the petition was and begged me not to sign. I duly signed, whereupon the person said "shame on you". DH and I assured the person that we were absolutely not ashamed of holding this view, whereupon a phone camera was raised attempting to take a photo of me. I pushed it aside and said "You don't take photos of people without their permission and I don't give it" and DH backed me up on that and we walked away. No idea if a photo was taken showing my coat as I did that, but most of my face was covered by the mask. I feel a bit shaken waiting for something that would identify me being blasted over local social media, but I'm feeling so crap today anyway that it's no worse than that I guess.

I hope you're feeling better soon @Britinme

Brit, well done a thousand times for your stance and for not backing down at all.
Are people actually allowed to approach you and heckle as you're voting? I was very surprised at that.

PS the mean part of me wishes you'd coughed on them.

The voting was done by that time, albeit in the same room (large gymnasium). It's common here for there to be tables on the way out with petitions for various things.

She's covering at the Staunch Ally.

She's not impressed. So much jerbilling.

And before anyone asks... Of course she takes a Bluestocking sign everywhere with her

Well done @Britinme, and well done the person running the petition.
hope you feel better soon.

I'm going to tell Gesundheit to go home. She's very confused. She's not well, (it might be Govid) and every time she sneezes about 10 women call her over to their table.