• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

little camera.png
 
Iris said:
It wasn't one of the windows that have a cord at the sides was it? Sometimes they fray and the window will just slide down until you fix it.
Click to expand...
No. fairly new, push opening windows with metal frames.

Am now off to tie myself to the bed. What?!? @Floyd1 has told me to...
 
catseye said:
In fact, it was so warm, that had the massed pipe bands of the Highlanders come marching down the road at one a m, I probably still wouldn't have shut the window.
Click to expand...
Especially whilst sleeping topless? :chuckle:
 
Floyd1 said:
I was in the kitchen last eve and had the tv on just as background noise really while I washed up etc. That programme 'Britains Most Historic Towns'', presented by Alice Roberts had come on. I am aware of the series, but can't watch it due to that 'shaky camera' nonsense that they still insist on doing even though I've told them all that it drives me mad.
Anyway, the 'strange' bit was that I heard her say ''At one point in time, it was Norfolk that you went to for high fashion, not Paris''.
Did I hear correctly? No mention of Cromer as far as I'm aware.
Click to expand...
Well, not quite Norfolk, but the king of Paris fashion in the mid-1800s was Charles Worth, who was actually born in South Lincolnshire.
 
hunck said:
A funny incident earlier - there was a black cat sat on my front garden wall which is about 3 ft high. A youngish girl was walking by on the pavement with her dog on a lead. The dog was interested in the cat & stopped right in front of it, probably no more than 3 feet away. I thought at first it was going to go for it but it was wagging it’s tail & appeared to just want to interact & stay close to it, maybe play with it. This went on for about 5 minutes with the girl trying to entice the dog away after a while but it didn’t want to know & just remained on the pavement directly in front of it wagging it’s tail.

Eventually she pulled the dog away & regretfully it moved, checking back on the cat as it went. Throughout the whole incident the cat didn’t move even once.

A couple of other pedestrians noticed the stand-off & stopped to watch for a while in amusement.
Click to expand...
The cat was back in my front garden again - same red collar.

I think it’s a recent arrival & is going for the most popular cat in the street award. This cat loves everyone & everyone loves it. It’ll stop to be fussed over by anyone, as is becoming regular.

I gave it a bit of a chuck behind the ears, it then started to cough & retch looking like it was about to vomit. On my front path - lovely. Anyway I beat a hasty retreat at this point & when I got back from the shops, no vomit to be seen so I’ll let it off.

I suppose it could’ve puked then eaten it again while it was still warm, as per dogs. Do cats do that?
 
hunck said:
The cat was back in my front garden again - same red collar.

I think it’s a recent arrival & is going for the most popular cat in the street award. This cat loves everyone & everyone loves it. It’ll stop to be fussed over by anyone, as is becoming regular.

I gave it a bit of a chuck behind the ears, it then started to cough & retch looking like it was about to vomit. On my front path - lovely. Anyway I beat a hasty retreat at this point & when I got back from the shops, no vomit to be seen so I’ll let it off.

I suppose it could’ve puked then eaten it again while it was still warm, as per dogs. Do cats do that?
Click to expand...
I think most cats wont, they're too classy :)
 
hunck said:
The cat was back in my front garden again - same red collar.

I think it’s a recent arrival & is going for the most popular cat in the street award. This cat loves everyone & everyone loves it. It’ll stop to be fussed over by anyone, as is becoming regular.

I gave it a bit of a chuck behind the ears, it then started to cough & retch looking like it was about to vomit. On my front path - lovely. Anyway I beat a hasty retreat at this point & when I got back from the shops, no vomit to be seen so I’ll let it off.

I suppose it could’ve puked then eaten it again while it was still warm, as per dogs. Do cats do that?
Click to expand...
No but they do put on a good show, always on the rug, have people shoving pieces of paper towel under their little jaws, and then just walk away.
 
Last edited:
This past Thursday, I noticed a fruit fly in my apartment. I figured it must have gotten through the window screen in the bedroom. Friday there were several fruit flies and I became concerned. I thought maybe the balcony door had come loose from the AC partition and so I opened the balcony blinds to have a look. To my shock and horror there had to be at least 50-60 fruit flies inside the first set of the outer windows! I checked where the door met the wooden slat for the AC. It was air tight. I even had put weather stripping on the wood for extra safety and then used a couple pieces of duct tape to keep it tight against the wooden partition because I noticed last year that the balcony door kept opening a little every few days from all the heavy traffic vibes. There was no space for anything to get through. I still don't know how they got in. I had no bug spray so I grabbed some febreze aerosol and sprayed between the the 3 layers of glass, well one layer is screen the other two are glass and I used paper towel to squish and wipe them up as they fell. I obviously could not get all of them because I can't get in between the layers.

Later that day I went shopping and purchased some raid. By that time it was dark. Each time I saw a fruit fly, I squished it with paper towel. I saw quite a few that evening in my kitchen, but I killed everyone that I came across.

The next day, I opened the blinds again and there were even more than the first time! I grabbed the raid and sprayed the entire area like crazy. I sprayed all the drains in the apartment and because most of the ones in the apartment were around the fridge, I sprayed all around the sides and underneath. Then I made a few traps with apple cider vinegar and put one in each room. By about 4pm I was surrounded. Seriously, every room had dead carcasses littering the floors and counters. It took me hours to clean.

Today, there are none. Thank goodness.

Now, here's the strange part... I have no fruit or vegetables in my apartment. All things like flour and pasta or sugar are in glass jars with lids. I take the garbage out everyday because we have those big bins outside, so why not. I hate bugs and so I am very careful not to attract any by leaving stuff around. I don't even have a house plant. There is no reason for these flies to have made such an effort to get in here. I don't understand what happened.
 
I spoke too soon. I was just making toast in the kitchen and spotted one flying around. :mad:
 
michael59 said:
I spoke too soon. I was just making toast in the kitchen and spotted one flying around. :mad:
Click to expand...
I used to open up a hotel at about 6:30 every morning and there was swarms of the twats around the beer taps. I used to use some sort of flammable aerosol can and a cigarette lighter which was very effective although the can could have exploded and splattered my hand .. I was like Bill Paxton in ALIENS .. :) ... I used to do the same thing when I was a kid in my bedroom.
 
michael59 said:
There is no reason for these flies to have made such an effort to get in here.
Click to expand...
Climatic conditions making them congregate in a certain part of the building?

I used to work as a school caretaker and every year one of the classrooms got infested with ladybirds, all along one wall, by the largest windows.
We figured this was because at that time of year the sun was at the correct angle to make the wall outside very warm which somehow encouraged the ladybirds there.
 
'Cluster flies' are terrible too. Easy to catch, but it takes a good while to get rid of them all as they just keep coming, but you can't work out where they're coming from. Hundreds appear on your windows out of the blue. Had it happen 2 or 3 times in this house.
 
Floyd1 said:
'Cluster flies' are terrible too. Easy to catch, but it takes a good while to get rid of them all as they just keep coming, but you can't work out where they're coming from. Hundreds appear on your windows out of the blue. Had it happen 2 or 3 times in this house.
Click to expand...

That has to be it because I have been living here for 13 years and it has never happened before.

We call "Cluster Flies" No See'ums. lol
 
Trevp666 said:
Those sticky strips that you hang up are good for catching the little blighters.
I think you can get them in most 'pound shops'.
Click to expand...

I will be going out either later today or tomorrow and will seek those strips out because they do recommend them. It's just the thought of having to deal with it afterwards that gives me pause. lol

Thanks everyone. :)
 
michael59 said:
I spoke too soon. I was just making toast in the kitchen and spotted one flying around. :mad:
Click to expand...
I've had an outbreak of fruit flies (Drosophila) in my office for the last two years - it's worst in winter and they largely disappear over the summer. I try to make sure there's no waste food in the bin and the windows are all sealed - they congregate near water ie the sink, the fish tank, fridge and freezer and on the condensation on the dry ice container. I use an electric tennis racket squatter (very satisfying) and fly-paper rolls - this one was 5 days old.

Fly Paper_0235.jpg
 
Got ready to retire last night but the electric toothbrush was as dead as a Doo-Doo - I normally get some indication the battery was running down. I put it on a charger and dug out a manual brush and shortly after went to bed. At bladder-o'-clock I got up for a splash 'n' dash and checked the charger - toothbrush was still totally dead ie not re-charging. I put it on the bathroom floor and found another older model that surprisingly still worked (worn head) and put that on the charger. I was half way up the stairs when there was a vibration in the bathoom loud enough to wake the neighbours - the original electric toothbrush on the floor had decided to come alive. I can only surmise that the problem had not been with the battery, but with the on/off switch (in some weird unrepeatable way). Works fine now.
 
hunck said:
The cat was back in my front garden again - same red collar.
. . .
I gave it a bit of a chuck behind the ears, it then started to cough & retch looking like it was about to vomit.
Click to expand...
Could be a heart problem. They wheeze and sound like they're about to upchuck, but they have some kind of heart fluke I think. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top