(no subject)

Christmas food is ordered.

3kg king prawns
15 balmain bugs (slipper lobsters)
1kg smoked salmon
2 doz oysters
1 small ham (for those who don't like shellfish)
2 cooked chickens (as above)
salad and stuff like that.

Lunch will be taken cold with cold beverages, and dinner will be cold leftovers with cold beverages if we can fit it in. Buggered if I'll have hot food when it's 40C outside.

Bad Advice through email

A mate sent me this:

If a small child is choking on an ice cube, don't panic.
Simply pour a jug of boiling water down its throat and hey
presto! The blockage is almost instantly removed.


Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by
getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.


Keep the seat next to you on the train vacant by smiling and
nodding at people as they walk up the aisle.

( more bad advice )

Software Sucks.

Dr Karl says:

And finally, there is the basic problem that the initial design for some large software projects is nothing more than some words, some bubbles and some straight and squiggly lines joining them all together, scribbled on the back of an envelope.

Rescues.

This week has been a bloody nightmare.

I've rescued 4 blackbird chicks, 3 starling chicks and 5 sparrow chicks. Since they're all feral they ALL had to be euthanised. It got to a point where a wman rang to have another sparrow rescued, and I told her what I'd have to do. She was very disappointed. Then I said "Would you like to try to raise it?" So I told her how to raise a sparrow. It's illegal to release ferals back into the wild but I didn't care. Anything to avoid killing something else.

Today I rescued a blue-tongued lizard that had been attacked by a dog. The lizard's back was broken and it's vent was prolapsed. I had to put it down, too. ( Not a pretty sight )

I also picked up two rosellas that were so badly diseased they had to go. I don't know the proper names, but one had "beak and feather" disease and the other had "sticky pooh." Both birds were emaciated beyond belief.

The dove with a compound fracture full of maggots didn't require much thought beyond "How fast can I put this one down?"

The only successes this week were a pair of noisy minah chicks, a grass parrot chick, and a nankeen kestrel chick: the cutest ball of brown fuzz with sharp pointy bits I've ever seen. It bit my finger with hardly enough pressure to leave a mark. Then it grabbed my finger with its talons. It didn't draw blood but I experienced first hand the ratchet-effect raptor feet have. I had to wait until it wanted to let go.

So many young birds! The parents can't feed them in this drought.