This is the Australian masked owl from Tasmania. It is the largest Tyto owl in the world. Its plumage is highly variable. This owl is often confused with the Eastern Barn Owl. However, masked owls have much larger, powerful legs and a broader, rounded facial disc. This is one of our more elusive, shy owl species, which is predominately a terrestrial hunter targeting prey items such as Bandicoots. They rely on old, large trees with hollows for breeding.
Not a cat. Luke is a European Wildcat ( sort of like Bob Cat.) He was found as a wild kitten with big azure blue eyes in the Ardenne Forest by a friend of Miss Seagoon. He couldn't purr or meow like normal cats , when grown was huge, had a stubby tail and big paws. He was so timid he would lash out . Just had to leave him be and he was fine. I tried to bring him to the zoo in Antwerp but they said I had to legally keep him .
He was a nice boy who liked to chase butterflies and sit near to me. I never once patted him tho I really really wanted to. He went to live with friends in Brussels when we moved to America, he would never have passed quarantine.
On the way back from Aldi I gave a bunch of their in house splice's to a road crew. Well threw them at traffic control and the guys on shovels. Having been on the other side of it myself I'd be cool with it, I hope they were.
Was pretty tired last night and was having good sleep, until the possum/cat/screaming wildlife orgy on my neighbours colourbond roof at 4 am. Whatever the animal was, it had a lot of stamina.
For everyone who doesn't sleep well may I remind you of the sweet smooth soft honey voice of Professor Brian Cox. He will lull you to sleep with his talk of the universe.
The mrs is very quick to ditch the AC, rather than chuck a hoodie or trackies, even if Im still sitting sweating on the couch. She's part flame monster I am certain of it.
My kids both insisted on wearing track pants to school, despite my urging them not to, arguing and reasoning etc. 😳Miniest made a reasonable argument about the classroom aircon being set to subarctic temperatures and her seat being right in front of it. Elder has to carry his locker key around and the school sports uniform shorts don't have a pocket. I put one of those retractable lanyard clip things on it but to no avail. Was refusing to go to school at all so I had to let it be 😭
I've had to submit a uniform pass for my son to wear his runners on swimming days, because making him put on his school shoes twice in a day is enough to cause a 'I feel sick' day. I get it!
My work is like that - so cold I have to wear a jumper in summer. Have to share the space & go with aircon majority rule, but when I’m by myself I turn it off
You know it's been hot when the salty brine of sweat makes it into your mouth without even trying. Well, the house is almost entirely clean sans kitchen - and now it's time for a last round of bulky-item-shopping for the young relative moving to Melbourne tomorrow to study. With tomorrow's weather I don't want her and her dad lugging too much around, especially after an overnight flight.
It's been so long since I moved from scratch that I forget how much you need on that first night when you're just starting out, even in a furnished student accom unit.
What I've gotten so far.
Sorted out bed linen early, but I forgot about towels and a bath mat til this weekend, and only remembered body wash and hand soap today.
Welcome "pack" also includes two rolls of dunny paper, a small bottle of dishwashing liquid, some laundry powder for period stains, panadol and naproxen; might throw in some maltesers and rice crackers on special. Considering taking a small esky with half price ice lollies to the airport too so everyone can freshen up.
We'll be eating out nearly all meals for the first week meeting up with various people, so crockery and cutlery can wait. Oh - but she would need a glass or mug. Will give her one of my spare mugs. What else am I forgetting, hm.
I've packed a single set of a spoon/fork/knife/teaspoon from random leftovers in my drawer, to tide her over until she gets her own cutlery set. The teaspoon was the first thing I thought of really, then I decided to add the others...
I think she'll be doing breakfasts inc. famous Melbourne coffee with her dad daily while he's here, but we'll definitely stock her up with some tea and milk and such when we do the pantry shop on the weekend. I don't think she's a habitual tea/coffee drinker yet. Just a naive lass of 17, barely...
I got her a La Roche Posay one when I last visited a few months ago precisely for this moment 😎 but yeah I already got some Nivea sunscreen for her dad and his partner, and we'll see if that works on her as she has sensitive skin.
She'll definitely need some easy meals for this first year, it's her first time being completely responsible for managing her studies and chores. She knows how to cook but as with many in our country she's grown up with live-in domestic help doing all the shopping, cooking and cleaning - so it'll be a big adjustment. Anyway she only has one induction panel and a microwave to cook with so nothing fancy is going to happen...
Trying my first pimple patch ever... I've got a wee blindey on my face that I feel all the time. It's on the edge of the triangle of death or danger triangle pimple zone, where the risk of a poor pop can lead to a brain infection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_triangle_of_the_face
It sounds weird but a slice of raw potato makes a good cool compress to bring blindies to a head. You can also use a cool wet cloth. Both are taking the heat and inflammation out and helping it to start healing. But a small slice of potato is more convenient as it can be held to your face with a bandaid and doesn't drip.
It might take a few applications but you should quickly notice any swelling or redness going down (try like 15 mins)
How long and hot to cook gravy beef for a beef vindaloo? I'm not a big beef eater, last time it was chewy as and I wound up blending it (meal prep). I want it to fall apart like a stew/curry.
1-2 hours on a VERY low heat is minimum. It helps to seal the lid down with a sausage of flour & water paste. Ideal for a slow cooker - 4 hours on high setting and up to 8 hours on the low setting if you're doing more than 1 kilo. Add veg & thicken sauce at one hour out from serving.
You'll want to brown it first then add your liquid then bring it to a boil then simmer on the lowest heat with a lid on. Stir occasionally. It could take an hour or two.
QAnons and alt-righters are losing their shit at the Super Bowl win.
Taylor Swift and the Biden administration scripted the win in favour of KC. Ironically, KC is from Missouri, which is a fairly conservative state, and SF is the most left leaning one. Important to mention SF was the team with Colin Kaepernick who started kneeling during the anthem.
Hmm when Dune came out I didn't go and see it at the movies. I'd never read or seen any Dune before but I knew it'd be a big spectacle demanding a big screen, however I told myself I'd hold off for when Dune 2 came out because I had a feeling they'd do a double feature.
And so here we are.. they're doing a double feature on the 28th.. I've since watched Dune at home (a couple of months ago) and I'm just not sure I have it in me to spend 6 hours at the movies and yet I feel like if I don't take my chance to see Dune 1 on a big screen with big sound I'll regret it later.
Edit: I'm convinced. I've bought a ticket. Going to have to warm up my butt for a marathon sitting.
I've only watched Dune 1, it was alright as a film personally, but I loved the experience on the big screen. Definitely worth springing for a good cinema screening vs watching it at home
Thought I would be spending $$ on a plumber call out today as water was not draining in my shower. Toilet water was not flushing either. Left it overnight, thankfully the water level went down enough that I could pour a big bottle of Drano down the drain. I think I've fixed it, hopefully it stays that way. I have one of those tile cut out drains, didn't know it could come off or that things collected under there and.... yeah there was a lot of black going on under there. So gross.
On the plus side, it was a great excuse to get out of going to the office today.
Have just sent da boss out to Bunnings to acquire cockroach bait - we are having a plague of the pesky critters here at work. I think I must have clobbered at least 10 this morning. Is anyone else having the same trouble? In Richmond.
I have made a mistake. I signed up to 3 hours of tennis today. Fuck. It's too late to cancel cuz I've already paid for it. I was supposed to cancel yesterday but I forgotttttt 😪
Yeah the heat really built up at the ramshackle old place I'm housesitting. Can't air the room or I'll be flooded by mozzies as there's no fly screens. Times like this I'm grateful for my place even though I tire of it in other ways.
I would've headed home but the cat needs breakfast in the morning before her human returns, and won't eat dry food left out too long. Gotta try and get up as early as possible so I can get home and water my plants asap.
It's not fun... apparently it's going to be 35 degrees tomorrow? Do I have that right? I've completely neglected my potted plants and forgotten to put out wildlife water 😞
Edit: I was going to suggest stick in mozzie screens but if you won't be there long and it's not your place it's a bit of a waste
Housemate and I both just called it in (a very rare occurence), the air in our house is like wading through soup, it's disgusting and no one has slept. I see a day of crankiness, attempted naps, and maybe some blow up pool action.
I think I've found the weirdest Sci-Fi film I've watched in a very long time!
It's called Mars et Avril (Mars and April) and I've had to pause it a few times just to regain some perspective (sanity). The soundtrack, styling, acting, and all that business is top notch, but holy batman the storyline is wild.
I'm just about to finish it and I kind of want to rewatch it, but I think I need a few business days to reboot.
Side note - As someone who took French for a few years listening to Canadian French is strange, like my brain semi (very semi) gets the jist, but it just won't process it.
As someone who studied Canadian French, going to France was an experience. My French wasn't great to begin with, but having French people switching to English immediately really discouraged me from trying.
Oh no, I have a family friend with a similar story. She was raised in Ontario by French Canadian parents, and when she was a teen they went on holiday to France (Paris), and for some reason she didn't think and started speaking French Canadian only to be told by a Parisian woman that she sounded "ugly".
Somewhere in all my decluttering I seem to have lost the power cord to my sewing machine. Conveniently it takes the same type of cord as the battery charger for my camera so I can still sew.
I have ordered a new cord for the machine, and spent a ton more money on some accessories that are at a really big discount as they are not going to be stocking them any more - I have almost bought them before but decided they were too expensive, so I'm pretty happy to be able to get them at a good price.
Combined with the foot pedal is the most common way. This machine is also designed so you don't need to use the foot pedal, so if I lost that I could still use it as it can be run by buttons on the machine (although that means taking a hand off the fabric, so the pedal is easier to use).
I just realised that on Lemmy you can search your own comments. This is so good. You can't sort the results by time but as someone who often goes back trying to find something I mentioned/when I did or ordered a thing it's a step up from Reddit
Another night of restless sleep ahead. I’ve got aircon which does make it somewhat better, but I don’t sleep all that great with that either. Hot nights give me nightmares and multiple wakings.
Very envious of the air con, bedroom is much hotter than outside, and all I've got are fans. Can't call in sick tomorrow either, some rather important paperwork needs to happen tomorrow.
All you poor bastards come crash at ours, we have a whole house ducted beast and it's currently 22c. Prepare to be sat on by cats. Also i am running a wes anderson marathon.
Edit: I seem to have got onto the moth issue in the pantry (if there was one) by moving the potentially affected food to the fridge to kill any eggs before throwing it out. Not seeing any bodies in the pantry trap. Edit: Wait no, there's a couple.
But I still see one or two of the little bastards flying around the dining area and my room, plus some corpses in the wardrobe traps. It was a good call to randomly throw those things into an order when I did. No idea how I managed to get clothes moths because the only likely source coming in recently has been dry goods and I don't leave anything open without flyscreens. Unless they hitched a ride on a single clothing item from Kmart.
I haven't had the energy to hot wash/dry everything and do a full vacuum yet but I'm going to chuck the two op shop wool coats I have in the dryer to kill anything in there and bag them. (I know they should have been safely packed away already but my health has been arse.) Dry heat shouldn't shrink items, I think it's only if they go in wet. Then I'm going to keep decluttering and organising to ease more regular vacs.
Sooo I watched Fargo s1 to the end as I couldn't sleep and therefore did not get up early (this is an issue as tomorrow I absolutely have to get up early in order to pick up the carshare to ferry some overseas visitors and bulky items around.)
However, a judicious water on Sat evening meant my plants haven't fared too bad. I still haven't found my card anywhere but this is a shitful time to lose it given that I have these visitors over the next week. Argh! Gonna just call it in and frantically update the god knows how many apps that use it as default payment method
It seems that cool change has arrived a bit quicker than expected. I was hoping I'd be able to hang my clothes out when I'm done at the laundromat and they would be dry before I leave for work tomorrow 😬
I guess I should appreciate the earlier cool change as we all may sleep a little better tonight.
Plants watered and hauled inside, shitty cracked plastic serving tray filled with a shallow amount of water. I wish I had a real birdbath but would never be able to clean it daily to avoid spreading disease
Cat poo talk
Melbcat has dropped a giant deuce! Yay! Hopefully she will feel better and won't need the vet for that at least.
Started researching camper trailers more seriously as a way to stop myself spending too much money on upgrades for "right now". Thinking more future stuff. Having a lot of fun researching options.
hahahha fucking muppet has been going up and down chesterville running his fart muffler full bore and this absolute legend just got ahead of him on a narrow stretch the other side of south and dropped down to 40.
Argh! Boyo doing an online induction thing. Camera broke. No idea. I can’t legally let him use my work machine. Have to wait for a break to try fiddling with setting things. So much for my recovery day off.
I learnt a lazy person will not do an extra bit of work today, even if it means doing much less tomorrow and increases efficiency.
They just don't want to do anything right now. They see work, even doing work for their own quality of life, as a chore and pointless, something to hate and not think about.
Turned my central evap cooling on during the heat of the day today. It did nothing except raise the humidity inside. Getting a split system years ago was the best idea. At night though, when it’s cooled down outside and is still stuffy inside. This is when evap shines.