The Thread about Nothing....



Beebers, that looks a tad chilly.

Returned to civilisation after a week on the Overland Track (and thus zero phone/internet). We were fortunate to have good weather for our walk, although track conditions were pretty ****. The first day in particular was a slog through softening, slushy snow. It took us six and a half hours to reach Waterfall Valley from Ronny Creek but at least we got in before dark, unlike a couple of our fellow walkers. We ended our walk with two days of decadence at Pumphouse Point including a massage (highly recommend both Pumphouse Point and the massage, but $$$$$).
 
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The mice and rat plague up here in NSW is truly evil.

I caught 11 mice in my study the other night. The cats catch two or three every day inside the house (which they have generously gifted to My Bride and me a few times by placing them in our bed). And every day we find dead or dying rats and mice outside thanks to the 20 bait traps I've laid around the house and in the ceiling space. When I mowed the lawn on the weekend, there were mice darting everywhere out of the grass; same same every time I water the pot plants. We've stopped putting the kitchen scraps in the compost bin after a tribe of the buggers were having a permanent rave party there.... they'd made tunnels through the pile.

They make nests everywhere and chew through insulation, skirting boards and flywire screens. And cover everything in green poison-coloured pooh.

One of My Bride's colleagues has abandoned their farmhouse and moved into town.... the rats have completely polluted everything they own and even run across their faces at night, and nothing they do seems to have an effect.

God help the farmers... they must have lost tons of grain from their silos.

The State government is doing their best to help by providing rebates as well as free baits [see what I did there?]. It's also applying for an emergency exemption to import a banned toxin from India, which is purported to be four-times stronger than poisons currently available.

One sad side effect of the baiting going on now is the death of native rats, lizards and birds of prey. Sigh.... (I am glad to report that the ones I have killed - so far - are rattus rattus rather than bush rats.)

Where are you now?

We were getting hit really hard two weeks ago. Plenty of mice inside and lots outside too. One night I shone a torch in the garden and I saw hundreds of mice scattering. A half dozen boxes of bait in the shed and some homemade bucket traps knocked off 70+ mice in a week and bought the mice numbers down to an acceptable level.
 
Where are you now?

We were getting hit really hard two weeks ago. Plenty of mice inside and lots outside too. One night I shone a torch in the garden and I saw hundreds of mice scattering. A half dozen boxes of bait in the shed and some homemade bucket traps knocked off 70+ mice in a week and bought the mice numbers down to an acceptable level.
That sounds hideous Cheetah. I bought another dozen bait boxes and put them around the house and the numbers seem to be dropping. The cats are still catching two or three a day in the house.

I just did a motorbike adventure in the Oxley Wild Rivers area and they're just as bad up there. I had four in my tent one night after I carelessly left my door unzipped for 1/2 an hour. Got them out, but during the night they ate through the tent wall. Little ****ers.

It was great to see the magpies and choughs gorging themselves on the mice. At least someone is benefiting.
 
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After 7 months of hotels, I’m headed back to KL today (and another quarantine hotel), via Accra & Dubai. I’m looking forward to seeing how the cockroaches have enjoyed my apartment and the, presumably, disconnected joys of an unpaid electricity bill.
I’ve grown a large, white beard during my trip, and strangers, especially kids, call out “Papa Noël” when they see me. I am the Grumpy Santa.
It’s been good over here in Congo and Côte d’Ivoire but, as the Russian said when it was time to leave, “Mus’ go.”
 
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Selfie from 1983 in Pilbara, WA, rocking the Malvern Star ‘Bushranger’...
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I’m feeling a bit like a reality TV version of “The Terminal”. After flying out of Abidjan on Saturday, I’m still stuck airside at KL on Tuesday, pending some documentation. Assuming I don’t get sent back, it’ll be one last fortnight of quarantine, and then I’ll get back to my apartment. The view from my window...
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Have you been vaccinated?

I had the Pfizer shot about 90 mins ago. So far just a sore arm and starting to feel knackered.
 
I have had both my Pfizer shots and felt nothing beyond a mildly sore arm. MrM on the other hand, was laid up in bed for a day after his first dose of Pfizer although he just felt knackered after the second dose.

Just had my fluvax at work and my arm hurts more from that than it did from the Sars CoV2 vaccine.
 
I had 1st shot of Astra Zeneca in Ivory Coast. No pain or discomfort at all. 2nd one is due in August in Malaysia (if I ever get back in).
 
I had 1st shot of Astra Zeneca in Ivory Coast. No pain or discomfort at all. 2nd one is due in August in Malaysia (if I ever get back in).
My boss was saying today he had the Astra Zeneca and felt shithouse for days. Aches, tired, nausea. Doesn’t get the second shot until August.
 
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My wife and I had the J and J vaccine with no issues. We both also had Covid back in December. I do think I can hear Bill Gates speaking softly to me sometimes at night.
 
My wife and I had the J and J vaccine with no issues. We both also had Covid back in December. I do think I can hear Bill Gates speaking softly to me sometimes at night.
Since receiving the first shot, I emit the Windows 95 theme each time I yawn. Getting used to it now.
 
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It's a wind back - not too far though - for a girl's night in (especially for anyone in Melbourne), starting with the incomparable Chrissy Amphlett, and followed by some other greats in no particular order....

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