The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

Tranceypoo

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

I've just been up chasing a bat around with a towel. Didn't catch the little fella, he escaped into the hall and is hiding very quietly somewhere. He scared the life outta me, flying around my room at 5am!

That happened to me a few years ago, minding my own business lying on the sofa with the dog, next thing something flew across the room from one side to the other, bear in mind I am TERRIFIED of things with wings, I ran out of the room screaming, then realised I'd left the dog behind, opened the door a crack and whispered to him (you know in case the bat heard me) and got him out then phoned my octogenarian uncle up the lane to come and help me as I was a quivering crying wreck on the floor!! Luckily he got it out under a tea towel. It still makes me shiver and it was at least 4 years ago now.

As for the bird flying at someones head, I think I would have had a stroke.

borderlinemeath

Tranceypoo wrote: »

That happened to me a few years ago, minding my own business lying on the sofa with the dog, next thing something flew across the room from one side to the other, bear in mind I am TERRIFIED of things with wings, I ran out of the room screaming, then realised I'd left the dog behind, opened the door a crack and whispered to him (you know in case the bat heard me) and got him out then phoned my octogenarian uncle up the lane to come and help me as I was a quivering crying wreck on the floor!! Luckily he got it out under a tea towel. It still makes me shiver and it was at least 4 years ago now.

As for the bird flying at someones head, I think I would have had a stroke.

There's swallows nesting in our boiler house since April/May. Depending on the time of day that you go in, you get dive bombed at your head by a load of swallows. If I go to the freezer at night to get food out they tend to start flying around squawking at me, but they don't want to go out in the dark, whereas during the day they will dive bomb your head getting in and out the door. There's 2 couples nested in there this year and both had 2 broods of chicks, so it was non stop all summer.

SillyMangoX

I am strongly considering renaming dude to bambi... I opened the door to let him in as it was wet outside and obviously his paws were wet so when he ran in at full speed he slipped across the tiles like bambi trying to walk for the first time

Tranceypoo

borderlinemeath wrote: »

There's swallows nesting in our boiler house since April/May. Depending on the time of day that you go in, you get dive bombed at your head by a load of swallows. If I go to the freezer at night to get food out they tend to start flying around squawking at me, but they don't want to go out in the dark, whereas during the day they will dive bomb your head getting in and out the door. There's 2 couples nested in there this year and both had 2 broods of chicks, so it was non stop all summer.

Oh we also have a birds nest next to the front door in the guttering, apart from all the bird ****e everywhere round the house and on the car they started dive bombing me coming out plus I can't open any of the windows too wide as a couple of years ago 2 of them FLEW INTO THE HOUSE. It's a miracle I still live here and I haven't had a heart attack. Next month when they've definitely all gone the nest is being deconstructed I don't care if it's bad luck and I'm going to hell, I just don't care, then I'm putting balloons up all round the house next Feb before they all come back and start building again.

Pumpkinseeds

I've just finished tidying up/cat proofing the safe room for Pepper. It's our study/laundry room/junk place:D. Jazzy will not be pleased, that's his room and he's very vocal about that. I'm amazed at how much untidiness I can overlook until it's vital that I do something about it. I had an abdominal exercise thingy that took up loads of space(got used for about a week 2 years ago), thats gone to the shed until recycle bin day next week.

Zooplus.ie let us down on delivery of her litter tray and some clay litter I'd ordered, ordered it last week, everything I ordered from UK last week has arrived:rolleyes:. So gonna have to put the wood pellet litter in a basin til it arrives. We got her a little igloo bed and a round cushiony bed and I've cut a square out of a large upturned box so she can hide in it.

All I've got to do now is catch her tonight:eek:, so any postitive thoughts and finger crossing for that would be much appreciated:)

tk123

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

so any postitive thoughts and finger crossing for that would be much appreciated:)

Wear oven gloves lol :pac:

Pumpkinseeds

She's so edgy. Mr P is meeting me on his way home from work to carry her home if I can get her in the special carrier we got. She's a fuss pot and when I sit down beside her she purrs like a mad thing and her little stump of a tail quivers away while she gives me little head boops. I didn't go to feed her today, I'm hoping she'll be so hungry that she'll just focus on the roast chicken and not notice me put the carrier over her. That's the theory, whether it works remains to be seen.

The first time I tried to get her, she hardly knew me and tore the lip off me trying to escape. Mr P still has the scar on his hand from the same day, 4 months ago.

honerbright

Good luck getting her, Pumpkinseeds! Hopefully it'll all go smoothly. She knows ye a lot better now so it might not be too much of a panic for her compared to last time.

Pumpkinseeds

honerbright wrote: »

Good luck getting her, Pumpkinseeds! Hopefully it'll all go smoothly. She knows ye a lot better now so it might not be too much of a panic for her compared to last time.

Thanks, I was just thinking about your cats the other night, how are they, did the newcomer move in?

borderlinemeath

Tranceypoo wrote: »

Oh we also have a birds nest next to the front door in the guttering, apart from all the bird ****e everywhere round the house and on the car they started dive bombing me coming out plus I can't open any of the windows too wide as a couple of years ago 2 of them FLEW INTO THE HOUSE. It's a miracle I still live here and I haven't had a heart attack. Next month when they've definitely all gone the nest is being deconstructed I don't care if it's bad luck and I'm going to hell, I just don't care, then I'm putting balloons up all round the house next Feb before they all come back and start building again.

I get a few flying into the house every year:o. The panic with me is that they'll stun themselves flying into a window and the dogs will get them before I do. I have such a soft spot for my returning swallows, but totally get how people can get freaked out by birds flying at them.

But.. the poo is AWFUL. Under the two nests is just stinky. And every couple of days I go in and shovel up the dried poo, disinfect and clean and by evening time there's more...when it comes to this time of the year I'm sort of glad to see the back of them but then I'm delighted when they return in the spring and all is forgotten!

Pumpkinseeds

I put Peppers new cushion bed in the safe room under the big clothes horse, thinking she'd have a bed with no other scent but hers on it. This was after I moved Felix's identical bed from that room to ours. Went upstairs to check something and Felix, wait for it, is in her new bed:rolleyes:, while Jazzy is enjoying his under the radiator. Will be heading off to try to catch her in half hour or so, don't know why I'm nervous:o

honerbright

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Thanks, I was just thinking about your cats the other night, how are they, did the newcomer move in?

He wants to SO bad, you can tell. He's hanging around most of the day and sits at the front/back door/windows looking in but spooks when one's opened :rolleyes:. He came up about a foot away from my OH this evening at dinner time but was a bit nervous the whole time, thinking we might grab him. He's growing so big so fast, which is a relief because the vets said George so was small because of her illness. He's all skinny and lanky though but has a lovely shiny coat. I got a lovely shot of him chilling yesterday:



Hopefully by the time you read this, Pumpkinseeds, you'll have Pepper safely and soundly in your house!

Pumpkinseeds

He's stunning, Jazzy was that nervous for the best part of a year with us. Then one day he just said sod it I'm moving in and that was that, he's a lap monster now.

No success with Pepper, the box is too narrow at the bottom and she's too wary of it. It's heavy and she's very petite and I don't want to risk hurting her, especially since she lost her tail somehow and I don't know how or if she had any internal problems with that injury. We're not giving up though, our old travel crate has a big top opening and with a 2 person job we think we can wrangle her in. Almost had her tonight, only got a few small scratches this time(me not her):)

She was eating, well snatching cooked chicken out of my hand and dashing off after all of it so we haven't traumatised her. Couldn't have picked a worse night to do it. There was some sort of run going on and someone with a loudspeaker, then tons of traffic with soccer moms picking up their kids, I hadn't expected any of that and it didn't help. We'll try again tomorrow or Friday.

Whispered

Have you tried getting a trap from a local vet or rescue?

You could also use a dog crate. Feed pepper in it regularly then when you know she will go in and out without you near it, attach some twine to the door, looping it through the bar beside the door and stretching to the house, then when she goes in, you can pull the twine, closing the door and trapping her. You might need 2 or 3 lengths to make sure the door is shut tight enough to give you time to get there. I assisted with trapping a few ferals and that method worked very well. Although I did fear for my fingers picking the crate up!

Pumpkinseeds

Whispered wrote: »

Have you tried getting a trap from a local vet or rescue?

You could also use a dog crate. Feed pepper in it regularly then when you know she will go in and out without you near it, attach some twine to the door, looping it through the bar beside the door and stretching to the house, then when she goes in, you can pull the twine, closing the door and trapping her. You might need 2 or 3 lengths to make sure the door is shut tight enough to give you time to get there. I assisted with trapping a few ferals and that method worked very well. Although I did fear for my fingers picking the crate up!

The problem is a lot to do with where she is. While she's not feral the area is a little overgrown park/wood but it's very busy as it's on the edge of an apartment complex and a shortcut to a shopping centre so there's traffic and people all the time and she's very anxious. I wouldn't be able to get a quiet time to settle her. She is very wary of any box so I think the only thing I think will work is for me to grab her and my husband to zip the top of the crate shut. It's a big portable dog crate. Next time we'll try to catch her on a morning

toadfly

Quick question to save me starting a thread but going to order a bag of Skinners for my mams dogs, she is feeding Burns and its mad dear. I can only find Salmon or Duck on Amazon. Is there a Chicken based one? Duck is £22, is that correct?

angeldaisy

toadfly wrote: »

Quick question to save me starting a thread but going to order a bag of Skinners for my mams dogs, she is feeding Burns and its mad dear. I can only find Salmon or Duck on Amazon. Is there a Chicken based one? Duck is £22, is that correct?

The maintenance mix has chicken and there is also a chicken one for sensitive tums.

toadfly

angeldaisy wrote: »

The maintenance mix has chicken and there is also a chicken one for sensitive tums.

Would you have a link please? Are these "complete foods" or mixers?

angeldaisy

toadfly wrote: »

Would you have a link please? Are these "complete foods" or mixers?

I cant link from my phone im afraid, but if you put skinners into the amazon search function, you'll see them. Both are complete foods

tk123

angeldaisy wrote: »

I cant link from my phone im afraid, but if you put skinners into the amazon search function, you'll see them. Both are complete foods

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_p_6_3?rh=n%3A340840031%2Ck%3Askinners+dog+food%2Cp_6%3AA3P5ROKL5A1OLE&keywords=skinners+dog+food&ie=UTF8&qid=1378985888&rnid=419151031

tk123

Guys anyone with the prefect fit harness - how long did it take to ship? Ordered one for Lucy, Bailey and my friends dog lol

borderlinemeath

Dunno about the harness but I ordered stuff from their website and it was ordered on a Wednesday night and arrived on the following Monday morning. I don't recall getting a confirmation email that the stuff had shipped so I remember wondering myself.

SillyMangoX

Sprained my ankle tripping over a cat... I love them really...

Tranceypoo

borderlinemeath wrote: »

I get a few flying into the house every year:o. The panic with me is that they'll stun themselves flying into a window and the dogs will get them before I do. I have such a soft spot for my returning swallows, but totally get how people can get freaked out by birds flying at them.

But.. the poo is AWFUL. Under the two nests is just stinky. And every couple of days I go in and shovel up the dried poo, disinfect and clean and by evening time there's more...when it comes to this time of the year I'm sort of glad to see the back of them but then I'm delighted when they return in the spring and all is forgotten!

Yes I have to get the shovel to pick up the poo at the bottom of the drainpipe (ok, my husband does) plus poo on the paths all around the house. The thing is I think birds are lovely and beautiful and bats and butterflies etc, but it's the wings and the flapping, even typing the word makes me shiver, so I can't cope with them inside the house I go into meltdown!

tk123

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Dunno about the harness but I ordered stuff from their website and it was ordered on a Wednesday night and arrived on the following Monday morning. I don't recall getting a confirmation email that the stuff had shipped so I remember wondering myself.

W00t! Well I just checked parcel motel and unless I've forgotten I've ordered something (which happens all the time:rolleyes::p) I think it's there so hopefully get it tonight! They 3 of them will be kitted out lol!

bluecherry74

What colours did you get tk?

tk123

bluecherry74 wrote: »

What colours did you get tk?

Pink for Lucy, blue for Bailey and obviously green was the only colour for the red setter lol! No txt yet from parcel motel so mustn't be coming tonight

Update - they came Bailey's fits fine but not sure about the puppy one - it fits her but there's no much growing space on the chest piece. She's too sleepy to try it on properly and get a good look lol!

Pumpkinseeds

Pepper is home

Well we managed to catch her this morning, thankfully. We got up at 5am and went to get her at 6.30am. She didn't resist too much, I think she was ready to come home with us, there's been a few ground frosts and the leaf cover is thinning out where she was. We got her in the top of the big soft crate.

She's in the safe room and has been giving me lots of head boops and purrs. She's just started shouting a few minutes ago and Toby and Jazzy are outside the door looking under at her. Felix isn't entirely sure what's going on, he's a bit subdued.

She's got a little fleece blanket on the window and she's loving watching all the birds and other activity. She's also got her igloo bed and cushion bed, as well as the carrier we brought her home in. It's a good thing I took the voile off that window:). She's made herself hoarse from talking. Jazzy is feeling very put out but that is his room and I suppose he has been turfed out of it, for now.

Will post pics when she's a bit more settled in:)

toadfly

Thanks TK and Angeldaisy I will order for her this evening. How long for delivery?

Well done that's great news, Pepper is one lucky girl.

tk123

toadfly wrote: »

Thanks TK and Angeldaisy I will order for her this evening. How long for delivery?

Well done that's great news, Pepper is one lucky girl.

Amazon are pretty good for delivery - usually a few days and the delivery estimate they give is always spot on.

The stray dogs in work had puppies and they were taken to the rescue down the road. There's a big collection box in the canteen for 'the <company name> puppies' now with photos stuck on it etc