and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

Although if it really is that close to the cat's eye it might be a job for a vet (also $$$ )

mmm, Google told me the head of the tick is 'barbed' (it f*cking would be) so the 'twist' bends the barbs to allow extraction. Care is needed not to squeeze the bulbous part of the little twat as it will 'spew' nasty sh*t back into your pet. Bugger, I can see us having a right job pinning-down our Forester long enough to piss about right near his eye ball

[Welly]

Well I got home last night and the Tick seems to have gone I can feel a 'scab' there (hope it's not the head part) but will keep a check on it.

[steve_earwig]

It'll have dropped off somewhere. Time for some more spring cleaning?

Took Brian for his follow-up/antibiotic repeat this morning, then released him into the wild. He's already been back for some chicken... While we were there we got anti-parasitics for all - pills for the dogs, ampoules for the cats. That's 500Kn we won't be seeing again I did Brian before I let him out this morning, the rest will follow. The dogs just got their pills, Ollie wasn't a problem but Teddy and Scooter put up a flight. Scooter worst of all, even wrapped in my precious bacon it still wouldn't go. Eventually, after he'd scoffed the bacon, I popped the two halves in his gob (ignoring all the growls, he knows better than that) and held his muzzle until it was all gone.

[Welly]

One of our cats always susses out you've hidden* a tablet in a piece of chicken/cheese and skillfully gobs it out whole onto the floor, if you keep the chicken pieces going at him quickly he eventually scoffs the tablet by mistake I think.

The other cat will eat a tablet straight off the floor if you put bits of food around it.

[steve_earwig]

Hiding pills in stuff never* works for cats, I use a pair of plastic tweezers: t'wife holds the cat and immobilises the front legs, I scruff the cat, tip its head back as far as possible, wedge its gob open with the tweezers and, while its mouth is open, thrust the pill as far back as I feel safe with. Then maybe give it a little nudge further in. Most of the time it works. I just wish I could do it like our vet Mirela does: grab head, tilt back, open mouth using, I dunno, telekinesis maybe? Thrust the tweezers in much further than I dare and release. I think she does it too fast for the cat to react, then she probably does that 10 times a day x 30 years.

*and when I say never, last time we wormed them Teatime put up a major fight, the first two pills I tried he managed to get between his molars and chew into a paste before spitting them out. So in desperation I got some of my precious bacon (2 rashers left! ), cut it into bits, gave him one bit empty for a taster, then put the pill in the next bit, folded it up, offered it to him and he snaffled it down as quick as

[steve_earwig]

Not wanting to off-topic the cruise control retrofit fred I thought I'd post this ear. The drive-by-wire comment reminded me of this technical innovation* which I've only just heard of: Brake-by-wire - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake-by-wire

So, you're hammering along doing, say, a sensible 65, and suddenly there's a short on the main battery cable - now you have no brakes 'cos even the E-brake is electric, no p/s 'cos that's electric too, all you have left is engine braking and even that's off the table 'cos you're driving an automatic. So all you can do is heave your motor towards the scenery and hope it's not too unfriendly.

Seems like it originated in electrick vearculls, do they even do engine braking?

steering feel emulators

Won't be long before all that's on the other end of the steering column is a pot

[Doggy]

Something similar was tried on E-class Mercs in the early/mid-noughties, wasn't a great success as far as I can tell.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensotronic_Brake_Control

[steve_earwig]

Oh dear, oh dear oh dear - I do enjoy a good laugh

There's an Autocar article linked off of that

co-developed over nine years with DaimlerChrysler AG at a cost of 147 million euros

Oh stop it you're killing me

And off of that one https://www.autoweek.com/news/technolog ... nnections/

if you want to understand how the road is changing and reacting to your tires, you’re out of luck...if automakers only built cars for enthusiasts they’d be out of business in a week. It’s a tradeoff...If you really want steering feel, get an old Lotus Exige or an Alfa 4C

Great, cars with no safety features, see how long you last when the roads are crammed with people who may as well be playing a video game for all the attention they're paying

[Welly]

I am extremely good to cyclists and give them lots of room however this morning on my way to work (single carriageway lined with hedgerow) I saw a Cyclist up ahead so eased off.....there was a right-hand bend coming up and felt I was able to pass him before the bend.....a car then suddenly appeared at me (speeding) from the other way before I'd got past Mr_Cycle.

I had no choice but to edge over to the left a tad and overtook him closer than would be 'preferred' but definitely not OMG CLOSE.....well bloody hell you'd have thought I'd sheared off his leg he went bat sh*t crazy at me really shaking his fist and shouting w**ker and f*cking %$&? etc.

A bit further on it dawned on me that he'd probably catch up with me again and do god knows what so I dived off another way to avoid confrontation. Sure I should have braked before the bend and waited for a clear pass but it was just 'one of those' situations that didn't work out.

[Doggy]

There but for the grace of.....

Like you I try to give them space and be patient but sometimes you just can't win.
You did the right thing avoiding the pillock, could have been another psychopath like: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-52882996

[steve_earwig]

Why the hell isn't he being done for GBH? Hopefully being named will substantially reduce his future employment prospects but punching a pensioner puts him somewhere between mental health issues and danger to society

I nearly collected an old dear on a bike yesterday, I was overtaking the usual tractor, nothing coming but I had my eye on her cycling along the pavement. Ok, I was on the wrong side of the road (her side) but she didn't so much as look before crossing the entire road to get in front of the tractor. I was already on the brakes of course, so there wasn't a problem, but I can't help thinking that if I'd been driving something black and German it would've been another story entirely.

[Welly]

That story

Punched and later died

[steve_earwig]

Currently in my shed:

Yeah, the Yam's back, finally No longer pee'ing petrol out all over the place, no longer in imminent danger of implosion due to a faulty cam chain tensioner (but it always sounded like that ) =but= it's a pig to ride at low speed (under 2,500 it might pull, or it might just cough) tyres are getting on a bit, brakes need new disks (pricey!), apparently the head bearings are toast (feels fine to me but what do I know?), stuff like the radiator hoses, which are 29 years old, are now so obsolete it's ridiculous and I'm wondering what will go wrong next. I've had enough of pulling it to bits to fiddle with the carbs, I know the mechanic will have another look at it if I ask (needs to do the head stock anyway as it's special tool city) but... I'm wondering if it's time to get something newer, say 4 or 5 years?

I always assumed I'd be going to a TDM900 at some point, I almost traded for one before I left GB, but now I look they've been out of production for 9 years! So what's the replacement? Seems to be a Tracer, either 700 or 900. How much is a 5 year-old 700? €6k - lordy! How much is a new one? €9k Umm...

[Welly]

Wow that Tracer is stunning!

I think you may be a little bit like me sometimes (bear with)....

You enjoy maintaining stuff and treating it with respect and enjoying its use....only sometimes you overlook or forget just how old or frustrating it can be and how much everything else has moved on.

It's then when you try something new and more advanced you realise just how much of a contrast the two things are.

A perfect example is when you get a newer/upgrade car and if you still own the old one - as soon as you jump in the old one again you realise just what was not so good about it and maybe wonder how you ever put up with its various issues.

TLDR: Buy NEW Tracer - you will really appreciate it.

When will you tell 'er indoors?

[steve_earwig]

You're dead right there, not just with cars and bikes either (anyone wanna buy an ancient Blackberry?) Going from 200 quid clunkers in the UK to fairly new motors over here was certainly a revelation, I suspect I should have done it with the bike too. The tracing paper 700 has ABS The 900 (only another couple of grand) also has traction control

T'wife seems to be in horror of me buying a new bike, like I don't own 2 already "It'll be safer" I tell her but it cuts no ice. Still, I think she's coming round to my way of thinking. Which is good because I was wondering if I should ask her next if I could take up paragliding instead...

We were at the insurer's yesterday picking up the paperwork and I asked how much more it would cost to insure a new bike. For some bizarre reason it goes in cc (not power output) and my age, so the 700 would be slightly cheaper but the 9, which has the same cc's as the TDM, would be exactly the same

I still need to go sit on 1 (or 2) of course...