"YABBER-LINER" - ALL ABOARD

Afternoooon All!

Letty - ahhh, whenever I see a monk I shall think of Boida gregorian chanting!!!!!! OHMYGAWSH (((((((Letty)))))))

hey TC - how's things in the Great White North-ish - are you white yet? Dismal here today, kinda looks a little forlorn out there. Hope all is well with you and work isn't too tiring. x

Misssssy - there you are girlie - oooh, read about your twister warnings - yep, exciting, but not so keen on them being so close to you. So good to see you - know you are real busy - thinking of you ((Mis))

well, we are good here - little fella's a bit disappointed - he was cleaning his room which means everything down, everything back up in a different place (can't think who he gets that from) - anyhoo, he trod on his cheetah pic... glass all splintered but the pic is undamaged, so reframed and back up on the wall now. He's been a star - big and brave going in the garage and getting the logs out of the web-nests... ugh ugh ugh. He's got an important doctors appt tomorrow which he's looking forward to, so that's all coco. We've had such a nice relaxing week, much needed - can't believe it's nearly Friday already; he's now looking forward to seeing Tulips F-boy at the weekend - they're coming home tomorrow.

My girlie, Caralyn, is off to NYC next Thurs to do this:
http://london.walkthewalkfundraising.org/caralynandsophiadonyc

she's gonna have Charlie's name on her back - yay for Caralyn! Go Girl.



Sending hugs to those who need 'em and healing wishes to crew 'what needs 'em' too.

((Blue)) you xox


laterzzzzzzzzzz crew...

YAY, YAY, YAY!!!!

So glad you found your treasures, Iz.

I'm catching up from being "powerless" for much of yesterday.

Wicked wild winds here for the past two days. At least it wasn't January...

Way behind in work now after not having access to anything yesterday. End of month reports, 3rd qtr tax returns... you know... all the fun stuff

Happy sailing, crew!

Yes, yes, yessssss. Izzie found what she was looking for. Happy for you, kid.

Any chance of our NY City crew getting some pics?

Hey Y'all

yep yep yep, very happy to have found my treasures


Baz - hopefully Caralyn is gonna be meeting up with an A2Ker (how blooming mahhhvellous is that!) - she's only there for 4 days but if they can get together, I reckon we may just get a photo or two. She's on FB so you can see her progress there! She is totally amazing!

Weird really - her and I met many many many years ago - she lived in London about half an hour from me - not long after we met I had to call her to come and remove a spider from my house; being the brilliant mate she was, she came straight over - tho I had thrown up and fainted at that stage! <doh> <proper phobic>



Tonight: have just embarrassed myself horribly ... well, ya know, feel kinda stoooopid now (yes yes, more so than regular)- 2 rather large 8leggythings in the garage... had to phone a mate to come over In my defence, one was was bloody mahousive, no really, it was - big and really uuuuuuuuuuuuugly - and that complete irrational blech mode kicked in and both S-boy and I were in a pickle - anyhoo, sorted now... chap across the road at No4 - well, he works at the pub opposite my old house and he used to help out a lot when I was proper phobic when we lived up there (bless BigDave)... then when we moved here found out they lived opposite S-boys window - haven't had to call him for a long, long time, but tonight was one of those eeuuuuuch moments. Major heebyjeebies. Dammit!


ah well, nem'mind - 'tis done - lotsa spray all over the garage now - stinks! Need to find a way to deal with this again - hmmmmm... daft irrational stupid stupid stupid ridiculous fear of something that can't hurt me. Ooof!


eeeeuch - heebyjeebies.

You need a course in arachnophilia.

Get a nice tarantula in a glass case, and learn to look after it. It'll eat mice, small birds and cats.

ya know, my next door neighbour at Cobs Way did that to get over arachnophobia, had 3 of the beasties - of course R-boy found them fascinating...

yuk... no NO NO Nasty Nasty - ha, that would really make me scowl

thing is, those big T-things don't petrify me (well, not that we have them here but G occasionally had them in his shop and I used to be able to semi kind of look at them through the glass), but they don't scare me as much as the big MaMa's that are here - they can run so fast....eeuw (crawling now, yuk)

it's such a stupid fear, i know that - humiliating really - been and seen psychologists about it before and had hypnotherapy when I moved to Devon - was doing brill really, 'til tonight - but it was disgusting... eeeugh <makes me feel 'ick>

and i love bugs... just not ones with 8 hairy legs!

must get some conkers, conkers in the corner of the room - where's the nearest Aesculus Hippocastanum in town! Who knows!

and moving on...

<must.stop.thinking.bout.them>


<my kitties send you a withering stare>

You've got more trees down there than you can shake a stick at.

I bet there are some horse-chestnuts within spitting distance, or between you and Tavistock at least.

<dons coat... grabs little fella... <gets in car, oh, c'mon, it's horrible here today>, pops into PO and asks where the nearest conker tree is, well, you know - who to ask a? - he said "I've been asked some things in my time, but that's a question I've never had to answer!" and gave me one those have you been looks! hey ho - points in general direction>, traipses through the wind, the gales, the rain - are ya getting the picture! Up to the top of the weeniest little road that I must have passed a few hundred times and never knew where it went, kicks the leaves, scrambles around midst falling branches and raining hedgehogs... FINDS TREE - THEEEEEEEEEE TREE - and goes bonkers for conkers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!>


see, raining wee hedgehogs (car was none too happy either)








<ahem>
















LOVE A CONKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

now we have a conker crew and they had better do the business - we no likey spiders



<oh c'mon, gotta keep the kiddo amused for a little bit>












<cough >


and yes, yes, yes, it could be an old wives tale so I thought I'd check it out on here http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/spiders/16054-conkers-keep-spiders-away.html and saw this response on a board, which did make me chuckle!

And for those of us who have NO IDEA what a conker is, it's a horse chestnut, which is what I thought they looked like but had to look up to be sure.

Ohhhhhhhh, yep, sorry - it is indeed! Beautiful big trees.

and I've just been reading this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6255510/Spiders-v-conkers-are-arachnids-really-scared-of-horse-chestnuts.html
02 Oct 2009

(he said Bonkers for Conkers too )


Spiders v conkers -- are arachnids really scared of horse chestnuts?
With an autumn invasion of spiders imminent, one of Britain’s most prestigious academic institutions has decided to get to the bottom of an age old mystery: are they really scared of conkers?

Members of the public desperate to keep back the arachnid hordes have contacted the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) asking whether the old wives' tale that spiders suffer from “conkerphobia” is true.

According to folklore, leaving conkers near doors or on window ledges will guarantee that no creepy-crawly arachnids scuttle into your home.

Now to see if the stories are true, the RSC is offering £300 to anyone who can back the claims with persuasive evidence.

The 46,000-member Society, which has roots dating back to 1841, is also consulting biologists and insect and spider experts.

One theory is there might be a chemical in conkers that spiders hate.

John Edwards, of the RSC, said: “We have been told by external contacts that conkers do prevent invasion by spiders.

“Apparently they have to be fairly fresh to have their deterrent effect. But there are claims on the web, pardon the pun, that spiders don’t like them at all and steer clear – which to those suffering arachnophobia is great news.”

Stuart Hine, at the Natural History Museum, said as far as he knew there was no scientific evidence supporting the theory.

“Conkers does rhyme with bonkers and I know of no science behind this idea,” he said.

“That said not many insects find the horse chestnut very palatable unlike say the oak tree. It is likely that there are some chemicals that they find unpalatable.

“Chestnuts originate from abroad and it may be that insects and spiders in this country do not like the taste.

“There are however a dozen other things I would try before conkers, such as lavender or citrus fruits. Insect repellents are usually aromatic in nature.”

This autumn is expected to see an unusually large invasion of spiders because of the mild and damp summer.

Members of the public are invited to send photographic or video evidence, or supported written accounts, to the RSC at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, by October 3


hmmmmm.... errrrrrrrrr.... send photographic or video evidence... of.... no spiders.... oooooooookkaaaaaaaaay

These chestnuts are the edible ones.
The ones you roast on an open fire.
Conkers are different.
Sorry to be so picky.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT POMcT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and you get a gold star



and there was me thinking they just hadn't turned brown!!!!!!! How DOH is that sheesh, I spent my childhood picking up conkers and having conker fights with my older brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH

which makes me laugh really loudly now - coz I have about fifty of them under the sofa and around the house...


AND THEY'RE BLOODY CHESTNUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





and I can't move the sofa!!!!!





oh dear, can't tell ya how much I'm chuckling now! and I bet there are a few others really snickering along the way....



















<dayum>





CONKER!!!!!!!!!!!




HEY - the good thing is.... guess who has an open fire?


<which is a very good thing right now as the boiler is bust (well, it bust when Margo was here... but now it's even more bust... boiler man coming tomorrow - 'til then...


put another log on the fire...

and even funnier... is I've just told S-boy - who is saying: "how stoopid are we, I see conkers everyday at school"


we are so laughing



he's saying... "OMG - we were drawing faces on flat conkers (chestnuts) and they are all under us, everywhere! errrrr duh!"





this is hysterical!


edit: now he's saying "what kinda person does that?"








WHO ME



<ha, fully expecting to get mileage on this! shakes head >

Hey, Izzie. I'm wearing my pink pajamas. How about another kind of chess nuts.

Morning crew the Bosun has finished his shore leave and is back on deck. Izzie your stories never cease to amaze me, you can weave the simplest issue into a subject of great interest, your 'conker bonker' story is a shining example. Time for you to start writing a book it would be a best-seller.

Hope all the crew is doing well and have a nice weekend. Going to have an Earl Grey, anybody for a cuppa?

Soooooooo.... it’s midnight in the UK... which means in India and a certain little fella has already turned ONE YEAR OLD

Happy Birthday H-boy





Ahhhhhhhhhh... MaMaVerby – can you believe it’s been a year – and look at your little boy – just wonderful. Hoping to talk with you today, listen for the ring ring... love love you ((((((((Ind))))))))) xx

Hey Letty - ha, that 'ole chess nut Really, still doin' a laugh oot loud here at Izanumskull! What an Edd Case (((((Letty))))


BOSUN - well, boyo, do you have some chores to catch up on...

first things first

as promised on your return to the deck, what's new pussycat...




ahahahaha... heart to heart RIPPER TO SEE YOU BACK BEAgle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Izzie, that was fabulous that tango, certainly heart to heart. You haven't lost your touch and still move like a dream. I'll be back for a repeat later.

Congratulations to our beautiful verbivore and her lovely boy Hrehaan, 1 year old already, where has the time gone. Spoil your little man a little today verbi.

Hey Bosun,nice to see you on board again.
Verbs,give H-boy a big hug from Uncle Bazza.
Only the Captain could get confused over conkers! .