General Chat

Having read about poor bob getting stung I was going to put this on his thread but it is not really relevant to that.

Anyway, I was talking to OH the other night because I sometimes need to and beavering away at my patchwork. There was a bit of an itch on my arm and I was just thinking about having a scratch when I had finished the piece of vital information I was giving him when he asked me what that was on my arm.

Of course I jumped because it was a female stag beetle. She was big and gorgeous but it was still a bit of a shock. Don't know where she came from or how she got in but I apologized for startling her and put her outside to carry on stag beetling.

Lucky you!! :-D :-D

I love Stag beetles.
When my girls were young, we'd walk back from school the 'pretty' way, along a path on the edge of the New Forest.
Many a time we'd come across Stag beetles, and it was the girls' job to pick them up off the path and put them out of harms way.

Other people obviously walked back from school this way, and seemed to think the 'thing' to do with the beetles was to stamp on them. :-| :-|

I remember doing my paper round and trying not to step on them!

Did you try not to step on them out of respect - or did you think their 'claws' would go through your shoe!! :-D :-D :-D

Didn't have time to help them and didn't fancy squashing them...never took legs off spiders either !

Didn't have time to help them and didn't fancy squashing them...never took legs off spiders either !

No, I never took the legs off anything. Was that a boys pastime?

Not sure why it posted twice!
Yes probably more boys than girls....they used to bring chicken feet to school as well to scare the girls....got them from a nearby factory.

When we were very rural, and occasionally received a brace of pheasants, I used to pull a tendon in the leg, to make the feet 'claw' up.
I taught one of my daughters.
She's taught her daughter............

Daughter and grand daughter live in a rural area.
Grand daughter (aged 15) helps old ladies in the village out (townies who've moved there), by plucking and gutting pheasants for them - apparently that, and babysitting are her forte.
The ladies are thrilled (and slightly horrified) when she shows them the foot 'trick'!! :-D :-D :-D

Yep that's what the boys used to do, having crept up behind you first!

Mr Tibbs my 4year old rescue from Cats Protection in June 2015 was due his annual jabs

He HATES with a vengeance being in a transporter I have to surprise him with treats to pick him up and feed him into the cat carrier

well after he went out twice this morning he wasnt amused i wouldnt let him out again when he came in at 8.20 am

so we went for his jabs at 9.50am and he protested all the way . He was examined for his teeth his ears his bum!! and all ok .

he had his jab and then the vet got him back in his carrier . Little git just went in ok .
the receptionist said they hate the vet and just want out

so £96 plus later with six months supply of flea treatment we went home

he isnt speaking to me at the mo cos I am that awful one who confined him .

he is in the garden under a bush snoozing and thinking can he trust me

I did give him a cuddle and said he was a good boy but that doesnt count at the mo :-P

My cats don't have jabs - but putting the flea treatment is such a joy! :-| :-| :-|
I wait until a dry day, as they will shoot out of the cat flap.
First, lock cat flap!!
Just the rustle of the container sets them a-running.
If I hide in the bathroom to do that bit, and take the lid off, as soon as I open the bathroom door they seem to smell it
By this time, they're quivering by the (locked) cat flap.
Grab one.
10 seconds of pushing their fur up and emptying the container - it's all over!!
Meanwhile the other one's b*ggered off. If I'm 'on the ball', I've closed all doors, and they're soon cornered.

Open cat flap - I don't see them for a couple of hours :-D :-D

Well his flea treatment is waiting for him to come in . I usually wait for my granddaughter to come in and hold him so I can empty the tube on his back neck

He hasn't been home so far from getting back from the vet at 11am

He is in the garden cos I can see him snoozing under a bush

Guess he doesn't trust me at the mo

Ah, but it's a lovely day for sleeping under a bush!!

I haven't seen Betty all day - and I didn't put any flea stuff on her!
(she's under the mock orange bush)

My late Tommy had a vets appointment at seven one night. He was around the house all day, some of it he was even indoors, but at six-thirty when I went to find him, he was nowhere to be found. I had to ring the vet and say he could not be found, which he could not, until he came sauntering in nonchalantly at seven-thirty.

Another time he ran across the road under a car, ran into the wall and ran off somewhere. The woman driving the car stopped and knocked my door to tell me and we eventually had fourteen people looking for him.

The man next door didn't bother, well he wouldn't, and it was he who saw Tommy come sauntering up his path as we all combed the area.