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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
You have an electric chainsaw @lobster ? What an extravagance…
Our neighbours are currently on holiday but sometimes have BBQs which causes the smell of burnt meat to drift over our garden. Then my mother sometimes says, “I fancy a grilled chicken” and she tells me about the time my father brought home a rotisserie oven when I was little. And then I remind her, we have been vegetarian for 48 years…
You have an electric chainsaw @lobster ? What an extravagance…
I used to be a gardener. It is battery operated. Reserved for natural tree fall. You will be pleased to know I am kosher, halal and vegan. In my dreams. In real life I eat what is available, a Maitreya speciality/necessity (like the olde Śākyamuni, Sakyamuni, or Shakyamuni did)...
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
You have an electric chainsaw @lobster ? What an extravagance…
I used to be a gardener. It is battery operated. Reserved for natural tree fall. You will be pleased to know I am kosher, halal and vegan. In my dreams. In real life I eat what is available, a Maitreya speciality/necessity (like the olde Śākyamuni, Sakyamuni, or Shakyamuni did)...
It is all perfectly fine… I understand the tantric impulse to go chain sawing the undergrowth!
I harvested the tomatoes the hedgehog gardeners have produced. There is a patch of land that was used as a landfill that we cleared up and added some fresh soil to put some plants and started watering the area and leaving catfood and water for the hogs. Well...loads..heaps of tomato plants have emerged and managed to harvest two or three different types of tomatoes...all because those hogs ate tomatoes somewhere else and pood the seeds. Good creatures!
...and delicious. Twice as smart as dogs. https://www.lovepork.co.uk/discover-pork/nutrition/is-pork-healthy/
I try and get meat once every two weeks ideally. If the choice is between pigs or toms. Think the toms would be my choice. That and fish (I am more lobster than Buddhist)
I have never regretted studying and practising with the good people of religion. Even when I am in the presence of privileged Americans, Europeans etc.
Sometimes we live and learn. Keep up the good work. https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhist-diversity-in-america/
Me dog be shedding! Dogo hair everywhere! But she is such 70+ pounds of "Hi! Let's Play". And those eye! Oh those eyes!
But, on July 4, we found her hiding under the granddaughter's bed, in the shower stall, and, finally, way back in my closet. We don't fault her as both my daughter and I had problems with the highly illegal (in this city and county) fireworks until we reached an accord with our "wild monkeys". Commercial grade stuff 360.
Everyone here survived, but we did hear some emergency vehicles in the distance a few times.
Gotta go, that squirrel is looking at me kind of strangely there.....
So chia seeds give it a pudding like texture and if you add a banana to it...wow! My stomach is already enjoying and eating it quite slowly BuddhaoatZ
3
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
@Kotishka said:
So chia seeds give it a pudding like texture and if you add a banana to it...wow! My stomach is already enjoying and eating it quite slowly BuddhaoatZ
I genuinely understand and appreciate the feeling of finding a meal that is pleasant and satisfying while also being generally good for you.
I've been a long time oatmeal for breakfast consumer. I have it with a 1/2 cup of homemade granola which also contains chia seeds and a banana. Some things are classics.
To feel a bit less hungry until lunch I added 5 more grams of oatZ and more 5 grams of chia seeds for extra-pudding like texture. It is amazing! All you oatmeal adepts are a league ahead!!!!
1
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
Matthieu van der Poel won the final stage of this year’s Tour de France on the Champs Elysee in Paris! It’s a special achievement to win the last stage in Paris especially as a non-sprinter, he is a very promising rider.
Our dog is in the final phase of her shedding. Anyone with a super shedder (looking at you, Husky people), know. Every day, we can follow our dog's trail, not from paw prints, but from her trail of hair. FIR COATS ANYONE?
@Lionduck said:
Our dog is in the final phase of her shedding. Anyone with a super shedder (looking at you, Husky people), know. Every day, we can follow our dog's trail, not from paw prints, but from her trail of hair. FIR COATS ANYONE?
Time to take up hair dog spinning for clothe making?
I think that is a thing...can be used as mulch or soil conditioner...
Yep it is a cottage industry in the UK (also available for cats...) https://www.devinespinning.co.uk/
1
Fosdickin its eye are mirrored far off mountainsAlaska, USAVeteran
edited July 30
Yes, my wife used to spin dog hair and knit Tam o'shanters. Very warm, always smelled kind of ripe.
Well I arrived back in Aotearoa Saturday evening after spending just over a month overseas visiting my children and siblings in the UK and Europe. Going over I had a 12 hour stopover in Beijing (I got to stay in a transit hotel not far from the airport). On my way home I spent three and half days in Beijing. I booked into a traditional Chinese hotel in the city centre (well one of the centres) for three nights.
I visited Tiananmen Square and walked (in part) the Great Wall of China plus rode on a bullet train....I can remove them from my bucket list...
The videos are short.
It was daylight when I left my hotel to walk to Tiananmen Square which was not far. Little did I know that there would be big queues and security checks along the way.
The Great Wall and the surrounding scenery was/is amazing, but it was very steep in parts and quite hard going in 32 C with little shade.
On the bullet train to the Great Wall.
Gondola ride up to the Great Wall
The walk begins...
How steep the Great Wall is in parts
Very sore feet, aching legs and perspiring like a water fountain ...On the home stretch (Thank Buddha for that )
When making my way back to the train station I stopped to watch this Shadow Carving Craftsman At The Great Wall : He Works Using Mongolian Marble.
2
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
Hi @Shoshin1 did you mean to make all those videos private that you linked to? It sounds like quite a trip to Europe and back…
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
edited August 26
I’m finding I’m in a more somber mood these days… feeling the weight a bit of all the people who have passed away and disappeared from my life in recent years… my uncles Kees and Henk, my aunt Elly, my stepfather and most of all my dad. It’s just me and my mother now.
I used to always be quite cheerful, a joyous person, usually with a smile on my face. But recently I have been surprising serious and anxious expressions on my face when I would return from being concentrated on something.
From time to time, the weight of those who or whom have passed flows over.
My parents and all my aunts and uncles are gone. My older brother and a son, friends..my graduation class will be having it's 60 year reunion with more on the wall of memory than remaining.
But, from anther light, for those still around and those who have fallen, for whatever span of time we each have or had, we all enjoyed the jewel of life. To die, one must first live. So, even as we miss the ones who have gone, we celebrate having shared our lives with theirs. We celebrate sharing and having shared the priceless jewel of life.
A toast - To those we have known, those we now know and those we shall know,
THANK YOU, ALL!
Yes, I’ve seen them now. That was quite a trip! And not many western tourists…
I may have seen a couple of Western-looking people in Tiananmen Square and maybe four at the Great Wall.
It's interesting, during my 12-hour stopover in Beijing on my way to Europe, I traveled to the hotel with a young Russian Kiwi woman who was on the same plane. She had attended school and college in Aotearoa and now lives there. She spoke English fluently and was heading to visit her grandmother in Siberia.
At the end of the Great Wall walk, as I was making my way down to the train station, a Russian woman and her son approached me and started a conversation. They were from Moscow, her son had won a scholarship to one of Moscow’s top universities. The woman was quite fluent in English, though with a Russian accent, and her son spoke English too.
We walked together for a while towards the station, and she shared some insights about life in Russia.
The only ‘Westerners’ I really interacted with in Beijing were Russians. I had much more interaction with the local Chinese population, despite the language barrier. Most of our communication was through a translation app on my or their phone.
I had to get a reconditioned iPhone for the trip because I needed a phone that could support an eSIM so I could use it in China.
3
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
edited August 29
Good morning, everyone.
On buying a new iPad I decided to take Apple up on their offer of 40% off a years subscription to the Apple TV streaming service. I’ve been enjoying Pluribus, and will probably catch up on Foundation next…
@Jeroen Apple should be paying you for all of the positive sentiments towards it that you have been sharing with us. I have a similar affinity with the public-bycicle system and company that was introduced in my city a year ago. We should be their sales reps!
1
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
Good companies deserve good word-of-mouth recommendations. But really I was reminded by @person’s positive experience with Apple TV when this deal came along, and the last time I had an Apple TV subscription was a couple of years ago and I enjoyed a few things, and I was wondering about the new seasons.
Nothing special here.
Just completed an episode of "Do we have AC or not" - Now we do.
Our warped car gate is now repaired.
Battling with the squirrels over the coming persimmon harvest.
Slept through the lunar eclipse.
Dtr and Stepson now on speaking terms
Everyone is reasonably healthy here
The sun is shining and we can, for now, walk outside without melting.
It is raining, in September, in Southern California.
There will be reports of flooding and probably mud slides.
The Labor Day Bar-B-Qs will have to move inside with a slight change in the cooking techniques.
Oh well, FREE SHOWERS! Bring your own soap and towels.
Peace to all
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
You know what they have been saying, that it looks like a bumper El Niño year, which means all kinds of unusual weather. We had an exceptionally early and hot summer in Europe, and now August which is usually the hottest month has been wet and chill, and most people are saying Autumn has arrived early as well.
Comments
You have an electric chainsaw @lobster ? What an extravagance…
Our neighbours are currently on holiday but sometimes have BBQs which causes the smell of burnt meat to drift over our garden. Then my mother sometimes says, “I fancy a grilled chicken” and she tells me about the time my father brought home a rotisserie oven when I was little. And then I remind her, we have been vegetarian for 48 years…
@Jeroen
I used to be a gardener. It is battery operated. Reserved for natural tree fall. You will be pleased to know I am kosher, halal and vegan. In my dreams. In real life I eat what is available, a Maitreya speciality/necessity (like the olde Śākyamuni, Sakyamuni, or Shakyamuni did)...
It is all perfectly fine… I understand the tantric impulse to go chain sawing the undergrowth!
I harvested the tomatoes the hedgehog gardeners have produced. There is a patch of land that was used as a landfill that we cleared up and added some fresh soil to put some plants and started watering the area and leaving catfood and water for the hogs. Well...loads..heaps of tomato plants have emerged and managed to harvest two or three different types of tomatoes...all because those hogs ate tomatoes somewhere else and pood the seeds. Good creatures!
...and delicious. Twice as smart as dogs.
https://www.lovepork.co.uk/discover-pork/nutrition/is-pork-healthy/
I try and get meat once every two weeks ideally. If the choice is between pigs or toms. Think the toms would be my choice. That and fish (I am more lobster than Buddhist)
Chomp!
I have never regretted studying and practising with the good people of religion. Even when I am in the presence of privileged Americans, Europeans etc.
Sometimes we live and learn. Keep up the good work.
https://tricycle.org/magazine/buddhist-diversity-in-america/
Me dog be shedding! Dogo hair everywhere! But she is such 70+ pounds of "Hi! Let's Play". And those eye! Oh those eyes!
But, on July 4, we found her hiding under the granddaughter's bed, in the shower stall, and, finally, way back in my closet. We don't fault her as both my daughter and I had problems with the highly illegal (in this city and county) fireworks until we reached an accord with our "wild monkeys". Commercial grade stuff 360.
Everyone here survived, but we did hear some emergency vehicles in the distance a few times.
Gotta go, that squirrel is looking at me kind of strangely there.....
I heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
So I had two.
Looking forward to lunch.
I'm trying to stick to overnight oats for breakfast and wow! Delicious!
Recipe:
45 grams of oatZ
120ml milk (skimmed)
120grams of full-fat coconut greek yoghurt
10grams chia seeds
Cinnamon
MIX
SLEEP
Rise and shine!
So chia seeds give it a pudding like texture and if you add a banana to it...wow! My stomach is already enjoying and eating it quite slowly
BuddhaoatZ
I genuinely understand and appreciate the feeling of finding a meal that is pleasant and satisfying while also being generally good for you.
I've been a long time oatmeal for breakfast consumer. I have it with a 1/2 cup of homemade granola which also contains chia seeds and a banana. Some things are classics.
@person
To feel a bit less hungry until lunch I added 5 more grams of oatZ and more 5 grams of chia seeds for extra-pudding like texture. It is amazing! All you oatmeal adepts are a league ahead!!!!
Matthieu van der Poel won the final stage of this year’s Tour de France on the Champs Elysee in Paris! It’s a special achievement to win the last stage in Paris especially as a non-sprinter, he is a very promising rider.
Our dog is in the final phase of her shedding. Anyone with a super shedder (looking at you, Husky people), know. Every day, we can follow our dog's trail, not from paw prints, but from her trail of hair. FIR COATS ANYONE?
Time to take up hair dog spinning for clothe making?
I think that is a thing...can be used as mulch or soil conditioner...
Yep it is a cottage industry in the UK (also available for cats...)
https://www.devinespinning.co.uk/
Yes, my wife used to spin dog hair and knit Tam o'shanters. Very warm, always smelled kind of ripe.
Well I arrived back in Aotearoa Saturday evening after spending just over a month overseas visiting my children and siblings in the UK and Europe. Going over I had a 12 hour stopover in Beijing (I got to stay in a transit hotel not far from the airport). On my way home I spent three and half days in Beijing. I booked into a traditional Chinese hotel in the city centre (well one of the centres) for three nights.
I visited Tiananmen Square and walked (in part) the Great Wall of China plus rode on a bullet train....I can remove them from my bucket list...
The videos are short.
It was daylight when I left my hotel to walk to Tiananmen Square which was not far. Little did I know that there would be big queues and security checks along the way.
The Great Wall and the surrounding scenery was/is amazing, but it was very steep in parts and quite hard going in 32 C with little shade.
On the bullet train to the Great Wall.
Gondola ride up to the Great Wall
The walk begins...
How steep the Great Wall is in parts
Very sore feet, aching legs and perspiring like a water fountain ...On the home stretch (Thank Buddha for that
)
When making my way back to the train station I stopped to watch this Shadow Carving Craftsman At The Great Wall : He Works Using Mongolian Marble.
Hi @Shoshin1 did you mean to make all those videos private that you linked to? It sounds like quite a trip to Europe and back…
I’m finding I’m in a more somber mood these days… feeling the weight a bit of all the people who have passed away and disappeared from my life in recent years… my uncles Kees and Henk, my aunt Elly, my stepfather and most of all my dad. It’s just me and my mother now.
I used to always be quite cheerful, a joyous person, usually with a smile on my face. But recently I have been surprising serious and anxious expressions on my face when I would return from being concentrated on something.
From time to time, the weight of those who or whom have passed flows over.
My parents and all my aunts and uncles are gone. My older brother and a son, friends..my graduation class will be having it's 60 year reunion with more on the wall of memory than remaining.
But, from anther light, for those still around and those who have fallen, for whatever span of time we each have or had, we all enjoyed the jewel of life. To die, one must first live. So, even as we miss the ones who have gone, we celebrate having shared our lives with theirs. We celebrate sharing and having shared the priceless jewel of life.
A toast - To those we have known, those we now know and those we shall know,
THANK YOU, ALL!
Peace to all
Can you access the videos @Jeroen ?
No… it just says the videos are private and you should sign in. I am signed in to my Google and YouTube account and don’t have access.
Guys, Google now has changed its policies. We are the data, info they use to train their AI. You might like to use:
peertube
https://fedi.garden/tag/peertube/
Can you view them now ?
Yes, I’ve seen them now. That was quite a trip! And not many western tourists…
I may have seen a couple of Western-looking people in Tiananmen Square and maybe four at the Great Wall.
It's interesting, during my 12-hour stopover in Beijing on my way to Europe, I traveled to the hotel with a young Russian Kiwi woman who was on the same plane. She had attended school and college in Aotearoa and now lives there. She spoke English fluently and was heading to visit her grandmother in Siberia.
At the end of the Great Wall walk, as I was making my way down to the train station, a Russian woman and her son approached me and started a conversation. They were from Moscow, her son had won a scholarship to one of Moscow’s top universities. The woman was quite fluent in English, though with a Russian accent, and her son spoke English too.
We walked together for a while towards the station, and she shared some insights about life in Russia.
The only ‘Westerners’ I really interacted with in Beijing were Russians. I had much more interaction with the local Chinese population, despite the language barrier. Most of our communication was through a translation app on my or their phone.
I had to get a reconditioned iPhone for the trip because I needed a phone that could support an eSIM so I could use it in China.
Good morning, everyone.
On buying a new iPad I decided to take Apple up on their offer of 40% off a years subscription to the Apple TV streaming service. I’ve been enjoying Pluribus, and will probably catch up on Foundation next…
@Jeroen Apple should be paying you for all of the positive sentiments towards it that you have been sharing with us. I have a similar affinity with the public-bycicle system and company that was introduced in my city a year ago.
We should be their sales reps! 
Good companies deserve good word-of-mouth recommendations. But really I was reminded by @person’s positive experience with Apple TV when this deal came along, and the last time I had an Apple TV subscription was a couple of years ago and I enjoyed a few things, and I was wondering about the new seasons.
Nothing special here.
Just completed an episode of "Do we have AC or not" - Now we do.
Our warped car gate is now repaired.
Battling with the squirrels over the coming persimmon harvest.
Slept through the lunar eclipse.
Dtr and Stepson now on speaking terms
Everyone is reasonably healthy here
The sun is shining and we can, for now, walk outside without melting.
Peace to all
Short interlude from the muppets
and now back to the random announcements.
Nothing to announce here.
Oh wait my tea is getting cold. I know. I'll drink it tepid....
It is raining, in September, in Southern California.
There will be reports of flooding and probably mud slides.
The Labor Day Bar-B-Qs will have to move inside with a slight change in the cooking techniques.
Oh well, FREE SHOWERS! Bring your own soap and towels.
Peace to all
You know what they have been saying, that it looks like a bumper El Niño year, which means all kinds of unusual weather. We had an exceptionally early and hot summer in Europe, and now August which is usually the hottest month has been wet and chill, and most people are saying Autumn has arrived early as well.
And Krakatoa has been erupting.
Smore, the dog, keeps waiting for her "Friend" the squirrel, to show up. Said squirrel is not coming out as soap and towels have not been provided.