Speedy's Cafe - General Chat about anything you like!

[Pseudonym]

 

Yup, weird insect on a window. :D

 

[Arcadia]

Carol thinks it's cute!

 

:P

[Pseudonym]

Yea, it's a bit gross, not a fan of those weird insects. Or any insects really. 

 

It's the middle of the night, and the taped program I was watching ended and there's some documentary playing with a historian investigating medieval embroidery. It's a bit dull and a bit fascinating, but something about the presenter was really bugging me and getting my back up and I couldn't quite figure out why. I thought perhaps it was his upper crust accent, but I've suddenly realised it's because he reminds me of Seb Wilkes. He sounds like him, looks a bit like him around the eyes. Boo, hiss, we don't like Seb!

[Arcadia]

Poor Sebby. I bet he cries all the way to the, uh, bank.

[sally.lloyd1]

After not being able to see straight for five and a half hours cause I couldn't find my glasses it has taught me a great lesson. Always get a second pair.

 

 

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[Carol the Dabbler]

...and keep them where you can get at them if you need them. I finally realized (fortunately not the hard way) that it didn't do me much good having a spare pair if I had to drive a couple hours to get at them -- because I can't drive without them!

[sally.lloyd1]

...and keep them where you can get at them if you need them. I finally realized (fortunately not the hard way) that it didn't do me much good having a spare pair if I had to drive a couple hours to get at them -- because I can't drive without them!

Yep. Lessons well learned right? Lol

 

 

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[Arcadia]

Which is why I started carrying my spare car keys in a different compartment of my purse, instead of keeping them at home. But then if I do lock myself out of the car, I usually lock the purse ... and cell phone, and the AAA phone number ... inside as well. Still haven't figured my way around that one. :(

[Pseudonym]

Is it home time yet? 

[Pseudonym]

I just had this come up. The fact Google Translate thinks this is Polish is hilarious. 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Which is why I started carrying my spare car keys in a different compartment of my purse, instead of keeping them at home. But then if I do lock myself out of the car, I usually lock the purse ... and cell phone, and the AAA phone number ... inside as well. Still haven't figured my way around that one. :(

 

Welllll -- they do sell those little magnetic boxes that allow you to keep your spare key somewhere on the undercarriage of your car.  Assuming that you can find a spot where car thieves won't think to look.  Assuming it won't fall off next time you drive through a pothole.  Assuming you can remember exactly where you put it.

 

Then there's always a chain around your neck -- like Larry Grayson.

[Pseudonym]

I'd be too paranoid to put a key to my car on my car. What I'd really like one of those snazzy boots that opens when you put your foot under the sensor - I always seem to be juggling things when I'm trying to open the boot. 

 

A guy on his bike just rang his bell at me - that's a new one. It's not because I was in the way, he was on the road waiting for the light to turn green and I was on the pavement waiting for the green man. I'm wearing a different kind of outfit today thanks to spilling tinted moisturiser all over my normal jeans, seems he, at least, was a fan. 

 

This is a bit of an unusual question - has anyone ever tried waxing clothes that were not already waxed? I've bought some trousers to be my hiking trousers (I'm too picky about the style of stuff to get legit ones that look like plasticised tubes), but I'd like to wax them so they're a bit more hardy and waterproof. Had an eyeball of the otter wax website, and it seemed easy enough, but I'm wondering if it is actually as straight forward as it seems?

[Arcadia]

I've never even heard of such a thing! Sounds barbarous. :p Like waxing eyebrows. What are you hiking through, nettles? Around here we hike in shorts, unless it's too cold, then plain old jeans will do. But maybe our countryside is gentler than yours?

[Pseudonym]

Yup, nettles, brambles etc. Plus I'm hoping thicker trousers might keep away anything horrifying like ticks. And it's already gone really cold around here, so shorts have been packed away for another year. :(

[Arcadia]

Ah, well, ticks ... we have plenty of those, I'm afraid. Insect repellent and close personal inspection for me. And thank god for cooler weather, so much more civilized for hiking.

 

Do you go off trail? I don't, much, too much chance of straying onto private property and getting shot. Or just plain lost. But even the most remote trails around here are fairly well used, so not a lot of stuff to brush through usually. So ticks usually aren't too much of a problem if you stay on the trails. Branch off on your own, though ... yikes. What do all those ticks live on when they can't get hobbit human?

[Pseudonym]

Hobbit fits fine when it comes to me! 

 

Bit of a mix really, depends who I'm going with. One of my meetup social groups is made up of a fair few older folks who are pretty unfit, when I went with them it was along a paved coastal path, so that was all clear. Two other hikes I've been on recently with other people have been technically paths, but very overgrown, lots of brambles and thorny plants looking for a leg to snag. The group I'm aiming to join, though I'm working up to it because they do really long walks, tend to walk though the mountains to reservoirs etc, and that's more cross country.

 

Do you hike on your own? I'd be too paranoid. 

 

I've still never seen a tick, and I'm more than happy to keep it that way. My brother has some horror stories of going in a river abroad and emerging covered in leaches. :o

[Carol the Dabbler]

According to the Daminix people, ticks generally live on poor little mice (who hardly have any blood to start with).  We have loads of ticks at our place (though thankfully not near as many as there used to be), so I've been considering getting some of their "tick tubes."  We have a big yard, however, nearly an acre, so we'd need a lot and they ain't cheap.

[Arcadia]

Tick tubes?

 

I do often hike alone, but only in areas where there's quite a lot of other hikers. And I've discovered tons of neighborhood trails, where you're essentially walking in people's backyards, so I feel safe on those. I wouldn't go any place very remote by myself; but I used to.

 

Right now, though, I can barely go anywhere, because my foot's broken down again. First it was a heel spur in one foot, then something the doctor called arthritis in the other foot. But since that has now gone away, I don't see how it could have been arthritis. At any rate, I was finally able to start walking again ... and now I have what feels like another heel spur in the first foot. *sigh* It's not fair.

[Pseudonym]

I'm sure it's not as fun as I'm thinking - 'heel spur' immediately makes me envision a velociraptor style foot with a big disembowelling claw on it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Could it be plantar fasciitis?  That's often self-treatable by simply wearing supportive shoes with a resilient footbed.  I got over it by not walking around the house barefoot any more (our floors are hardwood and ceramic tile), and wearing nothing but Birkenstock sandals, Haflinger clogs, Crocs, or good athletic shoes.

 

Tick tubes are cardboard tubes (about like what's inside a roll of toilet paper) filled with wads of cotton treated with synthetic pyrethrin.  You put them around your yard, near any place where mice might nest, and the mice will find the nice soft cotton and take it back to their nests, where it will kill any ticks they may attract without harming the mice too much.  (Nothing that you'd want to take a bath in, though.)  My favorite organic-gardening-show host (Mike McGrath) swears by the product (click on "T" and then scroll down to "Ticks").

[Arcadia]

It could be, I haven't had time to get to the doctor yet. I just bought some new cushy shoes, they seemed to help; for about a week. Now it's getting worse again. Stretching seemed to help at first, but now it seems to make it worse. Staying off  my feet for a couple days helps a lot; until I start walking again, then it's worse than ever. :(

 

I'm also worried I'll waste my money on a doctor only to be told to take NSAIDS and stretch a lot. Yes, I know, already doing that, thank you very much! Rather save my money for a second pair of new shoes in that case.

[kimber8ada]

There are supports you can buy to help this. I bought something from a novelty catalog, Carol Wright I believe. It slips over your foot and a Velcro attachment fastens around your calf to keep your foot flexed while you sleep. I used this several years ago and haven't had any problems since. You could also google for treatments, but this one worked for me.

[Arcadia]

Yep, had one of those the first time this happened. Maybe it helped, but what finally fixed it in the end was cortisone shots. :( And two years of staying off my feet as much as possible.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Do you ever go barefoot -- around the house, on the beach?  Even with carpets, that could be aggravating things.  I seriously had to stop altogether -- and start wearing shoes with a good resilient footbed (cork, hard rubber, etc.), as I mentioned.

 

My neighbor knows of a good podiatrist, if you wouldn't mind traveling a bit.  The one I went to years ago with a neuroma wasn't any help whatsoever, other than to tell me what to call my problem.  (The owner of a Chinese restaurant, who saw me hobble in on crutches, recommended massaging the area as much as possible -- and that cleared it up within a few weeks.)

[Arcadia]

Oh, what did it was trying to get more fit by walking 4 miles every day this summer (in good shoes) on island roads. If I'd stuck to barefoot on the beach I would've been fine. :( But the beach walk is only about a mile and I can't use it at high tide, and anyway I didn't realize this was going to happen again ... wah!!!!!
 
My doc recommended hot soaks, which I have neither the time nor the patience for often enough to help. But ... I might be onto something. I put a heat pad on my foot for 20 minutes the last couple of nights, and the foot feels much better. However, just by coinkydink I haven't been walking much either, so we'll see. I hope to get a walk in tomorrow. On a nice soft dirt path. And find out.

 

And coinkydink is slang for coincidence, because I can't seem to bring myself to use proper English these days. :d