The Vent and Rant Thread

[pdurrant]

I'm currently outraged by a negligent 'farmers'.

Spoilered for the squeamish. In short: Injured/unwell sheep, and I've called the RSPCA.

Spoiler:

I was out for a walk in the countryside today. One bit of the public footpath ran alongside a new-ish fence around a field with a few sheep in it. First I noticed that there were some half-grown lambs. At the end of October? They were certainly born much later in the year than usual. And then I noticed they had undocked tails. Also unusual.

And then I noticed that one of them had a definite limp in its back legs when walking.

And then at one end of the field, I noticed a lamb lying down near-motionless, just chewing a little. And then I saw it had clearly been lying there for some hours or days, and that it made no move to get up, when I was just a few feet away from it (outside the fence, of course). It looked really unwell. It appeared to be lying in its own faeces, with bits of its wool scattered around.

So I've phoned the RSPCA, and given them details and directions, and sent them a photo of the ill/injured lamb, and I hope they will have time to get there today.

My guess is that someone got some sheep to keep this spring, and doesn't really know what they're doing, and has neglected these animals shamefully. If that is the case, I hope the RSPCA prosecutes them, and gets a big fine and a ban on keeping animals. I've told the RSPCA I'd be happy to be a witness, although I suspect their own inspector will be enough, once they get there and investigate.

[ApK]

I was showing my 14 year old daughter my Navy ribbons and medals, explaining what each was for. I explained that the National Defense Service ribbon was for serving during wartime. I wasn't deployed during that time, that would be a different ribbon, it's just for serving.
She said "Oh, it's the Navy's participation trophy."
I don't know if I'm more annoyed at her lack of appreciation for my military service, or at the fact that she's kinda right....

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ApK

I was showing my 14 year old daughter my Navy ribbons and medals, explaining what each was for. I explained that the National Defense Service ribbon was for serving during wartime. I wasn't deployed during that time, that would be a different ribbon, it's just for serving.
She said "Oh, it's the Navy's participation trophy."
I don't know if I'm more annoyed at her lack of appreciation for my military service, or at the fact that she's kinda right....

Yup, I know exactly what you mean.

Hitch

[CRussel]

Mostly, she's just right.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm currently outraged by a negligent 'farmers'.

Spoilered for the squeamish. In short: Injured/unwell sheep, and I've called the RSPCA.

Spoiler:

I was out for a walk in the countryside today. One bit of the public footpath ran alongside a new-ish fence around a field with a few sheep in it. First I noticed that there were some half-grown lambs. At the end of October? They were certainly born much later in the year than usual. And then I noticed they had undocked tails. Also unusual.

And then I noticed that one of them had a definite limp in its back legs when walking.

And then at one end of the field, I noticed a lamb lying down near-motionless, just chewing a little. And then I saw it had clearly been lying there for some hours or days, and that it made no move to get up, when I was just a few feet away from it (outside the fence, of course). It looked really unwell. It appeared to be lying in its own faeces, with bits of its wool scattered around.

So I've phoned the RSPCA, and given them details and directions, and sent them a photo of the ill/injured lamb, and I hope they will have time to get there today.

My guess is that someone got some sheep to keep this spring, and doesn't really know what they're doing, and has neglected these animals shamefully. If that is the case, I hope the RSPCA prosecutes them, and gets a big fine and a ban on keeping animals. I've told the RSPCA I'd be happy to be a witness, although I suspect their own inspector will be enough, once they get there and investigate.

Did anything come of this?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Did anything come of this?

The RSPCA went out, and are taking action, but for privacy/data protection reasons they can't tell me more than that. I'm happy that action is being taken to protect the welfare of the animals.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The RSPCA went out, and are taking action, but for privacy/data protection reasons they can't tell me more than that. I'm happy that action is being taken to protect the welfare of the animals.

OK, good. Thanks.

[John F]

Went to buy an mp3 at Amazon today, and no MP3 cart.

[poohbear_nc]

So, I've been working from home now for many months, with the daily, almost constant, assistance from my 2 cats. Pixie cat has a particular affinity for my keyboards (I have 2 workstations on a long table) and loves to stretch out in front of one .... and accidentally reach a paw out ... and suddenly a line of mmmmmm appears on my screen. Or my list of email messages begins rapidly scrolling .... Quite helpful to keep me alert ...

But this morning, new heights of helpfulness were reached. Pixie stretched out and rolled onto a keyboard ... whereupon high pitched chirping noises ensued. I swiveled rapidly to see ... ... she had rotated my desktop upside down ... and when I seized the mouse to correct this, discovered that the mouse arrow on the screen did the opposite of what I was doing with the mouse on the table top. So there I was trying to access the "Rotate" function on the desktop menu with the menus appearing upside down, and the mouse arrow flying wildly about ... and Pixie reaching in to help me ...

It was a tense couple of minutes until I finally clicked on the menu option ... and reality was restored.

Pixie? She got bored during this and left to take a nap.

[Hemmi]

Us cats like to be helpful.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

But this morning, new heights of helpfulness were reached. Pixie stretched out and rolled onto a keyboard ... whereupon high pitched chirping noises ensued. I swiveled rapidly to see ... ... she had rotated my desktop upside down ... and when I seized the mouse to correct this, discovered that the mouse arrow on the screen did the opposite of what I was doing with the mouse on the table top.

Ctrl-Alt-[Up Arrow] is your friend. Remember it for next time.

A little rant about the weather. It's a cold, wet and windy weekend in Norfolk, with little chance of a countryside walk.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ctrl-Alt-[Up Arrow] is your friend. Remember it for next time.

A little rant about the weather. It's a cold, wet and windy weekend in Norfolk, with little chance of a countryside walk.

Now you tell me!

[cc_in_oh]

Voting was a zoo today. Fortunately nice weather after 2 days of wind and rain, so long outdoor lines weren't too unpleasant. Seems like there should be a way to give out numbers so most people could wait in their cars until room to enter the building?

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Voting was a zoo today. Fortunately nice weather after 2 days of wind and rain, so long outdoor lines weren't too unpleasant. Seems like there should be a way to give out numbers so most people could wait in their cars until room to enter the building?

Waiting in cars does sound like a good idea, both for distancing and for protection from cold or wet weather.

[Deskisamess]

We got up and got to the polls at 7 a.m. We weren't sure how crowded it would be, and out polling location doesn't have a large area to wait, so with distancing, only 6-7 people can be inside out of the weather. We didn't wait more than a few minutes, and there were open voting machines.

I'm curious how the rest of the day went...some years the lines have been fairly long towards the end of the work day.

It's lovely here today, almost 60, sunny, finally, after days of wind and rain.