The FastDay Forum

You probably already know this but if not......... Freeze a sliced banana (on the turn is good) but not until it's rock solid! Then whizz it in a food processor or the like. It is gawjus, very like ice cream. It will keep you wilting flowers down under nice and cool

and if you add a little canned coconut milk and a drop of vanilla essence, its beautiful........

Crikey, I go away for a day and have to spend half an hour, just on this thread to catch up.
We once had a rat in the house, it sneaked in the open door (we live very rural). In the end my son got him cornered and chopped its head off with a cleaver behind the dishwasher.

As for bird deprivation, I always try to balance out what my cat does by feeding the birds in the hope that more survive bad weather and modern farming methods. I do need to make up some fat balls tomorrow for them, as I have loads of dates left over I may string some of them up on a wire for the birds too. It hasn't got cold enough for me to have the usual line of 20+ on the fence waiting their turn to get at the feeders. I do hope they haven't started nesting yet as we haven't had our cold spell and chicks wouldn't survive if it suddenly drops to minus centigrade figures and a foot deep snow.

No, very bad!! it is estimated that cats kill approximately 100 million native birds and animals in Australia every year and are aiding in the loss of some of the small native species. Unfortunately there are a lot of feral ones, often cats left in the wild as the owners don't want them and think it is humane. It isn't. They suffer, the wildlife suffers. Some councils have brought in cat curfews to stop them wandering at night.
An an enviro., it is a subject I get very passionate about as they cause so much damage. And I do love cats, but responsibly owned ones. That is rare unfortunately.

There, I'll put my soapbox away now!!!

I agree @debs. They can be cruel creatures. The only alternative point of view is that I don't think they should be locked up. I always get sad when I see animals having to live indoors, claws taken out etc etc. Not natural. But I agree with culling and curfews.

@Debs and @Rawkaren,
My turn on the soapbox. We have coyotes - very hungry coyotes actually. In these parts it is irresponsible to let cats out at all, in my opinion. We lost one a decade ago, probably to a coyote, and now Lucy and Sammy have never been out. They are very happy, don't know what they are missing, and get plenty of exercise chasing each other around the house.

So cats are both predators and prey, and since they are a human contribution to most ecosystems, maybe we should keep them in the human sphere.

I do agree about cats and wildlife. My kitty is an indoor cat and so no danger to birds etc. However, mice are an introduced species and I won't mind at all if she knocks one off in my house!

Well possibly another day indoors waiting for my visa. I don't think it's coming today, so officially panicking now.

[Debs]

Anyone you can contact to find out? They have left it late haven't they? I can understand, I'd be in a right tizzy

Apparently the status says 'final processing'. Until there is a courier tracking number attached to it, I just have to sit it out.

I'm also sat in today waiting for a man to fix my boiler. Definitely not as stressful as waiting for a visa but probably colder! Fingers crossed for you Karen.

Fingers crossed Karen - that nice courier man will give you the news you want

@rawkaren, I see that the administration in the UK is as bad as it is here.... I don't understand how, knowing that you are suppose to go on Sunday, they didn't process it ASAP and why your husband is ready before yours as his is not as urgent(hope I remember right....) Crossing fingers for everything to go smoothly for you as I remember how stressful these big moves can be

About the cats situation, Lily, Sitaêlle sister's who lives at my parents house use to hunt a lot and bring back birds and wild mice (they're not really mice but the same size and I am too lazy to look for the right word ) as presents but only the usual kind like pigeons as we have plenty in the countryside and don't know how to deal with them (so she gave us a hand with that task) but, for a few months now she became an indoor cat and go out only a few minutes to stretch her legs. The ones I have here are true indoor cats who never ever went out (except that I found Boo outside but she was 3 weeks old)

Good day everyone !!!!!!!!!

After yesterday's phone drama I didn't have the time to go on the forum but the good news is now I can do it properly from my phone !!!!! Still has to learn to deal with a small virtual keyboard that drives me crazy but it should be fine after a few days and, as it uses wifi, the connection is excellent, plus the mp3 player has a good quality sound which is a shock. It's a smartphone but not a too expensive one, I wouldn't put hundreds of euros in it

Will keep my fingers crossed for you Karen

Morning peeps.
Karen, I would be biting my nails by now - and I don't even bite my nails! Talk about cutting it fine. I'm sure it'll arrive in time.
My last day off today. Booo hooooo..... I've really enjoyed being a lady of leisure!
TTFN!!

I bet you don't have time to be leisurely do you Penny? What with all your furry friends!

Bean

No, Bean, but it's a different kind of 'leisure'!
And even next week, I probably won't be cooking, but ordering stuff, planning etc, so easing myself back into it! I have a list of jobs and whether I stretch it to 4 days, or squeeze it into 2, doesn't matter!
I also have to ease pups into my work pattern, so easy does it next week!

Does anybody know the name of a good android app that counts your steps or the calories burned when you exercise ? I am looking for one but it's kind of difficult to know what is good and what is rubbish......