thesidekickcat

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  1. 21 Axles & 84 Wheels Stuck @ The Chicken Coop

    in Open Chat

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    If I remember right, it was a wind machine turbine? being trucked to Eastern Washington, or Eastern Oregon, that didn't quite fit going through one of our (Portland) freeway tunnels last year ...doesn't look like that picture though. It took days to figure out how to take the trailer or load apart to get it out of the the tunnel. Luckily didn't do any major structural damage the tunnel.

    I know as Motorhomers we have to always be on the lookout for places we don't fit, have to know our height, width, and weight too (a detour because of mud slides one year was forbidden to us as we were technically 500 pounds but in reality closer to a 1000 pounds over the weight limit). So I assumed that truckers would have to do that too. Yet we have talked to truckers with special loads that have no idea the heighth of the load...aren't they training them in this critical area anymore? Sooner or later you'd think they'd think about needing to know their size, since nearly every older bridge and overpass is marked. And those markings can be wrong too, since not all height signage is changed after road work is done and it can significantly change the clearance to being less than posted.

    P.S. How did they weigh that long a load for the Tacoma Narrows bridge joint? Axle by axle or ??? Just curious!

    Some twenty or so years ago, the center span of our Fremont bridge was brought up the Columbia River and then down the Willamette a few miles (luckily it didn't have to go under any of the other low bridges in the city) to it's final destination, the major stumbling block was the old railroad drawbridge that it had to go under, which wasn't quite high enough for easy high river traffic, also the side pylon clearance was considered extremely critical. Yep it was close, something like 3 or 4 inches leftover on each side of the barge and bridge span. They had to calculate the tides (yes there are tides on the rivers from ocean tidal changes), and many other things before the big moving day. Sure was fun to watch it go ever so slowly under the bridge with no problem. Took alot of dedicated tugboat people along with engineers to make it go smoothly.

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  2. Attention Pet Owners

    in Open Chat

    Posted

    This whole pet food contamination thing has me so mad, sad, and angry!!!

    Why didn't they learn from the previous nasty poisonous pet food and recall problem was it only last year? Whatever happened to quality control???

    And why on earth would we be sending our wheat etc to third world countries, yes I think China is a third world country no matter what they think, and then they send it back refined down to products like wheat gluten? What's wrong with our flour mills here doing that and saving on all that wasted fuel to ship it back and forth across the world? Stupid trade agreements with other countries on many products like this one just don't make any sense at all to me! When are we in the U.S.A. and Canada going to wake up and see that this whole trade issue is stupid, and why aren't the global warming people like Gore (the hypocrite with the 10,000 sg ft house and 191,000 kwh of electricity per year use) and the sky is falling via global warming media not talking about this waste of petroleum products energy and creating more pollution etc to ship stuff all over the world not only endangers our food supply, and our pets food, our national security (how easy to just poison our food and kill us off without even touching our shores) but every other aspect of our lives? Why are we risking our lives and livelihoods to people in other countries, some of whom hate our very existence? The whole thing is stupid!!!

    Maybe, I hope and pray, just maybe this pet food thing will so anger people that they will wake up and fight to get things made here again under strict quality control.

    By the way there are people who eat pet food as it is cheaper than people food, some of it that is and even some of el cheapo store brands were on the 95 or more brands recall list.

    And who knows if the ingredient that had the cancer drug/rat poison (so is that what the drug industry does with cancer products that don't get approved maybe?) in it wasn't also shipped to food manufacturers and added to people food???

    And another thing, what the heck is with these greedy companies pretending their pet food is so much better than brand x or y or z, when it is all made by same outfit? I distinctly remember seeing an ad for Iams a few years back about the care they take in their factory to make the best pet food possible!!! Liars!!! And the other outfits too, especially Hills/Science Prescription Brands...some of which are also on this poisoned list!!! Considering the arm and a leg they charge for special diet foods for already ailing animals and then to poison those poor animals too? Makes me so angry!!!

    Ok, I'd better get off my soap box before I really say to much about this whole nonsense of how little control anyone has over the products they buy as to where they are made and/or if they are safe to use/eat.

    I still miss my little Siamese, Blue Eyes, alot, but am glad she isn't here now so I don't have to worry about the special expensive cat food I was buying her being full of poison. Our paper has had such sad stories of pets sick and dying in our area after eating the contaminated food...one a 15 year old cat....I cried over that one!!!

    This is a wake up call that I hope and pray that people will listen to and do something about.

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  3. The Besttechie Cafe'

    in Open Chat

    Posted

    Hello my friends,

    I've missed you folks!!!

    Come on and have a cup of coffee with me while I tell you about some of the wierd hard stuff that has happened this past month to friends, family and us.

    The hard times started off with a dear friend's house burning down, Thank God her wonderful 150 lb German Shepherd woke her up in time to run out of the house!!! Unfortunately the last reports I have heard is that wonderful dog died along with all her birds, another small dog, and most of the cats/kittens though two cats survived, some outdoor caged animals such as chickens and rabbits died too. She just had the clothes on her back, didn't even have her purse with all the usual important stuff like keys to car, credit cards and drivers license, insurance card, bank cards, and other important hard to replace stuff. A neighbor going by saw the flames and her in yard screaming, and called the fire department but house to fully engulfed to save anything. The inspectors think it started in a border's room and their dog died too. My friend is disabled and I am totally amazed that she even made it out of the house in time. She has always been so afraid of fire...yet she crossed a large living room with flames racing towards her, and then through the dining area and out the door...if only she had grabbed her purse near the door the replacement paperwork wouldn't have been so hard for the next few days...but then maybe those extra few seconds would have taken to long? Thankfully she had full replacement home and furnishings insurance. But what a nightmare to try to remember all the stuff you had after being in a house for 30 years or so. She is staying with one of her daughters while the insurance company and a builder start the process of a new home for her. A door closes, another opens. She needed a fixed up home and couldn't afford the new roof and all the other things that old time house needed, now she will have a brand new one that will be one floor instead of two, and will be wheelchair accessible if/when she ever needs one. But letting go of the past was never one of her strong suits to say the least so she is still having trouble believing it is a good but hard New Season start for her.

    Next, another dear friend's husband just began hospice care, and it doesn't look like he will survive very much longer. Both she and her middle aged daughter are disabled, so his care has been a real hardship on them but ironically now the nurses are able to relieve them a bit they stil don't dare take time off because he is so ill he could go at any time. Another hard New Season coming for her unfortunately.

    Then an acquaintance's hubby was run over by a Dodge Ram truck speeding through a cross walk (a few blocks from us) with people going across with the walk light on. He has several broken bones from ribs to feet, and internal injuries etc. Get this...he had been helping a friend do some heavy work and was walking over to the store to get something for supper when he was hit, so after he was hit he called her at work and told her he FELT like he'd been run over by a truck!!! So like most wives she thought he meant from the heavy work he'd been doing. So she asked if he was ok, 'sure no problem'! grrrr!!!...she got home from work an hour or two later, no hubby, so called his cell no answer...after an hour or so of that she got to thinking maybe he really was run over by a truck so she started calling the hospitals and when she found the right one he was in the ICU by then. Yiiiiiikes!!! Why don't men make sure we understand them before they hang up??? or give the phone to the ambulance paramedics to tell us???? So a tough New Season for them!!!

    On a much less serious note, my hubby thought he was a shoe in for a job with a subcontractor for Intel doing about the same thing he had been doing before the layoff but on a different campus. But they had added a whole bunch more stuff to the job description so it would have been like doing the job of two people, since he only had the original skills and experience of his old job not the second part, he didn't get the job. SIGH!!! I just want to know if we are officially retired or if hubby will have a job before then!!! This limbo time is so strange a time, feels like we are just waiting for the next shoe to drop but don't know how or what or when!!!

    One of the days about that then, I woke up at about 4:30 am with sound of hubby going out the front door, when he didn't come right back in like he would with the newspaper I decided to get up and check on him. Lots of police car lights and fire department too in nearby intersection. Turned out he had seen a fire over at the substation, as I guess whoever else in the neighborhood closer to it had too and callled it in, anyhow he told me to shut down and unplug computer and the UPS battery thing (I have only been turning off the monitor most nights). Just got it shutting down when the transformer blew...luckily it wasn't feeding our power...so didn't have any power loss or surge....Phew!!! It took PGE two or three days to get it fixed. Got me to thinking, and wondering if we'd had a full blown substation fire and all the terrible smoke, like happened to one out in the suburbs last fall I think it was, would homeowners insurance pay to put us up in a motel for the duration due to smoke being so hard for me to breathe around? Don't know but seems like they should like any chemical spill from trains or whatever making home unlivable for a time! I haven't had a chance to call our agent with all the questions I've come up with since my friend's house burned and then the substation fire question too.

    Then last week I got a call that hubby's sister had died at 90. She had been suffering terribly from arthritis etc and was bedridden, but the strange thing was she caught some kind of respiratory bug and Dr prescribed Avelox, a one a day antibiotic. Within the next three or four days she lost her cognitive abilities and then her speech. The family decided to discontinue the antibiotic but to late to save her life. This is a very worrisome class of antibiotics from what I found doing an Ask search. Side effects go from ruptured tendons mainly achilles, even in young athletic people, to brain or heart problems. Ciprio I think it is, for anthrax poisoning is in this same family of drugs...but Avelox is commonly used nowadays for everything from ear infections to prostatitis. Scary medicine!!! Hubby's poor sister!!! A nasty way to die taking a medicine that probably wasn't even needed!!! (Also learned with that phone call that another of hubby's relatives had died last fall in a house fire. I saw the news item but the name didn't register at the time. Only 21, so young!!!

    So it has been a hard month for many people we know.

    Then to top it off the other night just as hubby was cleaning up after doing some painting over at the rental house as we get it ready to sell, he heard water rushing in the pipes (old houses each have own peculiar sounds). Since he didn't have the fawcet on, he looked around the basement to try to track sound to right pipe when he saw a growning large puddle of water on floor. Yep a broken pipe!!! He turned off main water line to the house, and when I went looking for him to get him home for supper I found him sopping up gallons of water off the floor. Thank God he was over there when the pipe burst or the basement would have been totally flooded!!! So of all the pipes in that old house...it had to be the one that is the worst to get to right???...right!!! Did I mention of all the diy home repair that we both hate plumbing the worst? So we tried to figure out if it was the outdoor fawcet or the kitchen sink, can't even figure out how they ran the pipe outside....sure doesn't appear to be a straight shot from basement out. So that left the kitchen, so sawed through back of sink cupboard and the lath and plaster to find the pipes to kitchen sink. Still couldn't find any obvious leak spot. I had been telling hubby it was downstairs or between floors....he said no it had to be from kitchen sink...well it's dry as far as we could tell. So back downstairs, turned on water to test and sure enough it was one of my suspects but that was only a pinhole leak...there was to much water coming to fast I think to just be that one spot. So since it is above a built in storage cupboard, hubby thought he might be able to undo the joint a few feet away and then undo the joint under kitchen sink and angle the pipe out and replace it....I mentioned it was an old house right??? Pipe joint wouldn't budge!!! I thought maybe loosen it with a Coke soaked rag like we've done elsewhere, but surprisingly hubby said lets just call a plumber with the right tools and agility to get into the tight spaces. So that's tomorrows project...plumber estimates.

    Well I guess that wraps up the major events of the month, it has been scary, discouraging, and sad for so many we know plus for us too!!! I'm not even going to mention all the 'little stuff', will just say it has definitely been a trying time.

    The good news is Spring has exploded in full color here. The pinks are giving way to the white blossoms, but still some 'pink snow' left from pink flowering trees etc but the white cherry blossoms will be flying around soon enough. I love Spring. Time for a bright happy New Season after a long hard winter!!!

    Love y'all. :wub:

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  6. When We Were Young

    in Open Chat

    Posted

    after reading many of these posts

    it seems many have come from humble backgrounds

    and i thought every one in the usa was from affluent

    familys

    i thought i was the only one with a home made ccompt

    because i coudnt afford the top of the line machine

    i found many posts

    interesting because

    you are no different from me

    and a message board brings us all down to the same level

    irespective of our culture and background

    one of the reasons i like posting at BT

    is the honesty

    as many of the posts in this thread indicates

    marty

    Hello Marty,

    We are more alike than not, we value many of the same things...family, friends, our beloved BestTechie family, our blessings, our concerns about the world around us, and a whole lot more I'm sure.

    I think the message boards tend to show us that we do value the same things in life...no matter where we are in the world. That we care about each other. Oh sure some boards, yes even this one has a few that are materialistic, but most of us are just normal people trying to do a good job with our lives and time here on earth. Sure alot of people have more money than sense in this country...or haven't matured enough to make good choices about things!!! Most people in U.S. though are low to middle class income levels with lots of job insecurity if they are lucky enough to still be working, and many people have chronic health problems too, and many have to many obligations and not enough time and money to take care of all the needs and wants of a family. And lots of people are way over their heads in debt from home mortgages, to credit cards and car loans etc. Then the worry about job loss with it's corresponding loss of medical insurance if we are lucky enough to have it in first place, how to send kids to college so they have a better chance at good jobs, taking care of our parents if still living and needing our care, funding our retirement if possible, and of course finding time and money to help others in our community and world, tithing and giving of our time and money to church and ministries and all the many other worries that fill our sometimes sleepless nights. So lots of stress in our lives. I would think many of those things are fairly common in western style countires and cultures aren't they?

    Most of us only dream about being affluent as you call it...sigh!!!

    Yet Praise God we are realy rich compared to the truly poor in third world countries.

    So we count our blessings and do our best to share with others our good fortune on whatever level we can.

    Yes Marty, we alll are very much alike around the world, only the media etc would paint us differently!!!

    P.S. My computer isn't homemade, it was free from a one time only program that Intel did a few years back to give all the employees a new HP (deluxe at that time) computer/printer/crt monitor with Win2000. Never dreamed before that that we'd ever own one, or that I'd even learn to use it, and especially didn't think that I ever would like using it...and I now use it much more than hubby!!! :rolleyes: Ha! Ha!

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  7. Jplayer --- Jahplayer

    in Linux & Unix

    Posted

    Hi Sultan,

    I was able to check your link ok yesterday, saw a Windows XP download link for the product, but no real explanation of what it was all about as far as I could see.

    So maybe the site crashed today with to many people checking it out? The Ask links to the jahplayer site don't work either. One was to a forum for it too.

    I did an Ask search for both jahplayer and jplayer, with plenty of results for each, but I didn't see any connection between the two. Then again I have no idea what either is for anyhow...sorry about that. Just adding my two cents worth..remember that two cents doesn't buy much nowadays.... :rolleyes: !

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  8. Firewire Cable In The Coffee

    in Open Chat

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    Have had a pedometer fall off into the toilet a couple of times...yep it still worked, including the voice nag, after fishing it out and disinfecting it with lysol spray.

    Broke the end cover piece off the newest flash drive recently trying to open it. Just couldn't figure out how to open it with my near sighted eyes, and no instructions. Works fine anyhow!!! wheewww!!!

    Hubby has lost many a wrist watch, along with pagers, and ham radio walkie talkie things at work skinying into and out of manholes and storm drains etc. Unfortunately never recovered any to see if they still would keep on ticking/working!!! Sigh!!! Maybe the sewer rats would know. :rolleyes:

    Pat

    God bless everyone.

  10. Drug Plants

    in On The Web

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    I'm like you Marty! I learned quite a bit by this thread.

    As for growing cactus...peyote or not...I have no luck at all. (Ooops I'd better clarify that I never tried to grow peyote!!!) I always over water them even though I don't water any of my house plants as often as most people. And in our rainy climate, they would definitely drown outside.

    Thanks for the links to the article and pictures of both peyote and poppy folks!!!

    Liz, that is a gorgeous poppy but nothing like ones red or orange ones I have seen or had. Wow!!!

    Loved the Weed story too. Your Grandma sounded delightful. Now with medical marijauna at least in this state she could legally be able to use it if she had any aches and pains, just get the Doc to agree to it. Ah the times are achanging...used to be the kids now it's the grannys and the gramps too. I wonder how that law works out in nursing homes...might cure the chronic turnover of employees to mention the 'fringe' benefits? Ha!

    Pat

    God bless everyone.

  12. Cyclones

    in Open Chat

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    I feel no sympathy for mobile homes. All that's needed is anchoring them to the ground. It's not that hard or expensive...

    I don't live in tornado or hurricane territory, but we do get strong wind storms in the NW. And unfortunately I have seen (long time ago) mobile home anchors fail even in an ordinary wind with a (now that I think about it it may have been an 8 wide instead of ten it was pretty old) ten wide MH...one facing into the wind...it had no skirts and still had tires...so wind was able to get under it and start bucking it...didn't take long to pull up the front side anchors and the ones further back came out a short time later resulting in roof damage from not only the wind but the bucking up against cables on roof. I saw it happening from my 12 wide newer mobile home which didn't have anchors and was also bucking front to back!!! And I have seen mobile homes at the coast that roofs tore off in spite of anchor system... just started tearing around them. The same high winds at the coast can and do tear off roofs over gas stations and pump islands, and other such metal roof structures that are built alot stronger and anchored alot better than mobile homes. False security to think a mobile home with anchors, especially if not put in right in sandy soil, will in every storm be able to withstand tornados or other high winds, just not true!!!

    I agree with you Liz, can't prove how either, but do think some storms seek out mobile homes and rv parks!!! Could just be the locations those parks are built in, or????

    As for mobile homes in Europe of Scandinavia...don't know for sure...though have never heard of any. Though the Danes or was it the Swedes? did invent the process to make homes indoors and transported to the site by sections. Also they were the ones who invented removable kitchen modular cabinets too I think...just take your kitchen with you to next home when you move. Are kitchens there more uniform in size and shape to make this idea work? Sounds like an interesting concept but would sure make moving day more arduous. Hmmm, better make sure they are on the to do list or poor hubby could be in trouble for forgetting the kitchen!!!

    So when looking at a house to buy...ask not only if the range and refrig come with house but the cabinets too?

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  13. When We Were Young

    in Open Chat

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    Grew up poor on a small farm. Yes there was a hike up the trail to the outhouse...luxury was having store toilet paper...otherwise it was Sears or Wards calalogs.. and bees in the summer to worry about, and spiders all year long!!! Oh how I love indoor plumbing...though still have the occasional spider.

    Had a well that was on an underground stream a hundred feet down. So pumping the water up took ages, but oh in the summer time it was so cold it would frost the glass up. Great tasting water too...all those minerals were good for us. As was fresh air, walking about a quarter of a mile to the school bus...or in my case usually running because I was late. Wild life from bears to wildcats to deer to plenty of birds and fish in the lake. We had a huge garden and a goat herd (I was allergic to cows milk for most of childhood) and sold extra produce to local market, canned alot of food, sold extra goat milk to Dr's office for those who couldn't have regular milk. Did alot of trading surplus of animals or goods with others. Didn't have electicity, used kerosene lamps ughhhhh!! Had wood stoves for cooking and heat...lots of work (lots of trees on our place to thin out or use downed logs) to keep us in wood all year long. Hard life to just survive...but maybe a better one than having it so easy now? Don't know about that, but one thing I do know I didn't have time to get in much trouble what with being an only child and lots of chores to do everyday. Had plenty of dogs, cats, and kid goats, to keep me company whatever I was doing, from walking to school to chores to a lazy summer day reading the afternoon away laying in my hammock...and folks you really need to try relaxing in a shady hammock on a warm day with a good book and have a half dozen puppies or kittens sharing space with you...even if a goat does sneak up and butts you out of it. Ha!!!

    I think all that gives me greater appreciation of my indoor plumbing, electric appliances and lights etc. But still like wood stove heat better, and still do a small garden for good tasting vegies. I love my freezers, side by side refrig with water and ice in door, microwave, electric lights everywhere!!! And oh how I love hot showers instead of pumping well water, carying it in to heat it on wood stove, and trying to bathe in a small galvanzed tub and then later carrying out the dirty water. And did I mention my wonderful Amana washer and dryer? Sheer luxury!!! Radio back then was a Sylvania (I think) great sounding table top radio with a gigantic farm pack battery from Sears to use for a few hours if lucky a day. Now I have my choice of radio (AM or FM or CD), tv with roof antennae for a half dozen local channels and umpteen Dish network channels, plus tapes, or my computer and the whole world opens up for me via the internet . All that is nice, but are the tv and radio programs as good as the old time stuff on the radio?...some are but a lot of it now is just trash. So when nothing good is on I read from my tons of books and magazines, and if I want more the library is a mile down the road compared to yesteryear when we had only a handful of books and I spent my Saturdays afternoons at the town's tiny one room library 3 miles away.

    Times change but some good is always lost along the way yet much is added that is of value...the problem is how to incorporate the long ago good with the present good times or to even realize what has been lost. And to always be Thankful for what we do have, and not complaining about what we don't.

    Choose carefully my friends from all that is good and live well.

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  14. Cyclones

    in Open Chat

    Posted

    Glad you Southern folks and your families are safe!!!

    One of the weather forecasters here in Portland, says he saw the typical national patterns setting up, called his folks in Missouri for them to be on the lookout overnight for one batch of those super cells, then later told us the super cells that hit Alabama that the tornado winds were likely up around 240 mph. Yikes!!! Jet stream at 75mph was way down south on the U.S. map carrying the warn moist gulf air which collided with the cold air from the North which produced the terrible tornado winds. Recipe for disaster.

    My question is why mobile homes are even allowed in areas that experience such disastrous winds? And why aren't all building codes updated to better handle at least some of these winds? California has updated their codes for earthquakes...why not other sections of the country for their particular normal dangers? And while we are updating building codes, why not upgrade the energy usage part too? The technology is available...and if the codes mandated it the cost would come down!!!

    Marty various parts of our country have all sorts of wierd bad seasonal weather...nope not global warming...just normal seasonal weather patterns. I doubt any place on earth has perfect weather all year long without some danger from something...monsoons, flooding, mudslides, earthquakes and volcanos, lightening, winds straight or sheer including tornados to hurricanes, snows, cold and heat, rains...you name it...no place is perfect (except Heaven!!!)

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  15. Fish Fingers

    in On The Web

    Posted

    Today's Oregonian had another article on the sea lions and their quest for en easy lunch at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia. Seems like they are pulling a gang up method to kill sturgeon on their way up river to spawn. Bad enough they are killing so many of the wild salmon, but to gangster style take out the sturgeon is awful....yet the Feds still protect the sea lions, as "endangered species", from being killed to even out things. Sea Lions are plentiful on the coast and on the river....taking over public and private docks completely at times. And who would dare argue with a huge sea lion over use of the dock?

    Sea Lions gang up on Sturgeon for dinner feast

    I think the Feds need to realize that the sea lions are damaging the salmon and sturgeon spawning runs and if something isn't done soon it will further decrease the protected salmon, and sturgeon numbers in danger too.. So where is the balance to all this protection of species?

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  16. Hallucinogenic Herb A Problem In Washington State

    in On The Web

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    Yes Fort Vancouver is certainly an mportant place to our NW History.

    I never really thought much about the garden aspect of it though. And haven't visited the site for many years, even though Vancouver Washinton, and the Fort, is just across the Columbia River from Portland Oregon right along I5.

    I just Googled for the Fort and here is a link to the National Park Service site for it.

    Many interesting sections on the website. Though I felt it could have added more detail.

    Fort Vancouver National Park Service

    This site although quite commercial, does give some good information on Vancouver, including Fort Vancouver, just keep scrolling down.

    Vancouver Washington

    And here's Portland...

    More than you ever wanted to know about Portland Oregon

    P.S. If you want an interesting garden try this site. This place is fabulous...I have been there several times from the 50's to the 70's. High on a bluff overlooking the Wenatchee River Valley... Spectacular Views and dangerous drop offs, but the original gardener planted in outcroppings of rocks at times in spots that seemed to defy gravity to reach into let alone plant anything in. And the effort to build the gardens is unbelievable!!! Probably couldn't even be done nowadays due to all the environmental studies and similar such nonsense.

    Ohme Gardens

    History of Ohme Gardens

    More beautiful pictures and history of Ohme Gardens

    Sultan here is the best Fort Vancouver website for pictures, scroll way down for the garden info.

    Liz, you might like the kitchen pics..lots of beautiful china...Spode I think.

    Lewis and Clark's Columbia River, Fort Vancouver

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  17. Drug Plants

    in On The Web

    Posted

    Yes I thought the name mescaline sounded familiar, though wasn't sure if it was peyote, or something else. I think the last I heard was it was finally decided that under controlled circumstances it would be legal for American Indian ceremonies under religious rules. I sort of remember it also being a military question of an American Indian soldier's right to use it or not in Iraq or other battlefield environment, but think it was denied.

    Liz, don't necessarily assume that all poppies are the opium poppy. As I understand it, they are not the right variety. But all poppy seeds will cause a drug test to show positive if you eat bread or hamburger buns crusted with poppy seeds for example. Supposedly you can explain you ate legal food that contained them, and they will have to retest with a more detailed test to prove if you are clean or not???

    My sister-in-law had also had a house that had pretty red poppies, but she investigated and found out they were ok and legal. My place had them too when we bought it....seemed to be popular around old houses. I didn't like them so spent years ripping them out... they self seed and lay dormant for years before springing to life...ugh!

    But speaking of plants/drugs....my sister-in-law (same one as above) came over to visit one day and checked out my garden. But I hadn't kept up with the weeding along the fence line...and didn't understand her at first when she said that a certain plant was (a) weed!!! I thought she was just being critical of my not keeping up with hoeing out the weeds. But soon found out it really was Weed....yep marijauna!!! Yikes, I sure didn't know what it looked like until then and don't know how she did and was to intimidated by her to ask!!! then the question was how to get rid of it without getting caught with it. She laughed and said burn it....Ha! Sure folks, and let everyone know I had it by the smoke smell from chimney!!! So finally just chopped it up real fine and composted it deep down in a hot compost pile. Years later a neighbor was big on feeding wild birds...so he bought bird seed in bulk. Found out the seeds left over by the birds sprouted at base of feeder...and some of the plants were marijuana!!! Was a common ingredient in bags of mixed bird seed for many years. He was embarrassed and mad at first...then just laughed about how the moles liked to tunnel right near the bird feeder. Ha!!!

    Gardening, bird feeding...yep they do have interesting, even funny, moments.

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  19. Hallucinogenic Herb A Problem In Washington State

    in On The Web

    Posted

    Yeah I thought the ads were ironic too Liz, so much for targeted ads. Ha!!!

    Is that the same as the common salvia that people plant in yards for flowers?

    I remember reading in our Oregonian paper last summer about salvia being hallucinagenic (sp?).

    I thought most wanting something like that went mushroom hunting in our NW forests. Oh well...gardens save them a hike to the woods...Huh?!

    Have had kids grab leaves off my rhubarb, and try to smoke the green, at times wet even, leaf as they walk off. Never have heard if they got a buzz off it...or just desperately nuts enough to try anything. Another neighbor had an artichoke plant growing and the same kids tried to smoke those leaves too. And another of his plants too...but can't remember right now what it was...real exotic looking. He kidded about planting horseradish out front so they could try that and get hands burned from leaves. Ha Ha!

    Crazy world we live in.

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  21. Lectoring To The Library Club

    in Open Chat

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    Backup regularly to flash drives (disconnect them properly) is easier than doing cds. Don't forget to backup the Favorites folder. Scan with antivirus and antispyware before backing stuff up.

    Update Update Update, but not necessarily with auto update, do pick and choose what Windows updates you really need and when to download especially if on dialup.

    Download stuff to a folder then scan with your antivirus, and your antispyware before opening.

    Use an adblocker and/or a popup blocker, and don't click yes to just anything and everything that asks you to. Don't say yes to, or click on, ads or popups. Do read the alerts or warnings, including details, from your firewall or internet security when they show up asking or telling you about stuff before you click to allow or deny. Not everything needs to be allowed or should be allowed.

    Don't trust email to be private...remember it will be on the other persons computer which might have many users. And your incoming email may not really be from the person or company who it says it's from!!! Have your Internet Security set to scan email!!!

    Have a website checker like CallingID or Site Advisor to be sure the website is safe.

    Do become familiar with your various protection programs! That way you wont be so scared of them, and you will understand what the various notices are, and what to do with them. Try reading the help section, and also many of them have websites with more info, or forums, and some may still do paper manuals. Put the links to those security websites in your favorites menu so you can research things when you need to, or get product support.

    Also check that your security programs actually load and work ok when you turn on your computer so you are always protected. Some nasty things turn off security. So watch the tray if they show there, or open the window to check that it is working.

    Something I do that I haven't seen mentioned much anywhere is I watch the status and address bars as new to me websites open to see that they correspond to what I think they should be loading.

    Set Google or Ask or whatever search engine to safe search. Not completely safe, but every little bit helps. And read the url addy of the results in a search to determine if you want to go to it, if it is off the wall wierd in description and/or the url seems strange especially compared to search terms...then don't click on it. I like Ask because it seems to have more relevant results for me than Google.

    Don't add toolbars, unless you really need them...make a shortcut to desktop of search engine, or whatever, or use your favorites link.

    Read the About for a site...usually at bottom of page, though sometimes it's on top, or side. Read the Privacy notices, Read the Eulas!!! If there is anything that you don't like...such as them sharing your info with third parties...then don't sign up or download the program/product. It isn't worth the hassles later. Even such innocent sounding sites as your local tv station for weather, or national private ones, may have agreements to allow them to resell or send to other outfits all your signup info. If you do sign up, use a "throwaway" email addy...not your most private ones for close friends and family.

    Lock toolbars, lock desktop, not foolproof but again every little bit helps.

    Safe Surf!!! Use common sense...just like being street smart in real world, be internet smart. Don't trust everything to be safe. Open eyes...it is a dangerous world, but you can be safe with proper tools and using good sense in what you do and where you go. Don't give out private information for just any old reason....in fact I don't like giving credit card #'s and wont do banking online at all.. but if you do, be careful that you know the site is truly who it says it is, and that your info is safely encrypted. Don't ever answer emails (they are phishers) requesting you update your private card or bank info.

    Set routers, or whatever, to new passwords not default ones. (Write the passwords down and put the paper in a safe hidden place), don't share them with just anyone...wellllllll... maybe a spouse is ok...Ha!

    Unplug computer for stormy weather to protect it. Yes even unplug the UPC or whatever it is called. Don't forget to unplug phone too.

    Stay safe folks, so you can enjoy using your computer.

    Edited for spelling correction, and to add a couple of things I forgot to mention. One is a clarification/addition above. The other is anotther safety trick I do, is to mouse hover over all links, before clicking on them, to check them out via what shows in my status bar to make sure they go where the person who gave the link on a message board thread etc...says they go.

    Pat

    God bless everyone.

  22. Jungle Walk

    in On The Web

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    Thanks Sultan!!! :thumbsup:

    Bless you my friend, for such a great link, it's in my favorites now!!! :thumbsup:

    I just spent the last 20 or 30 minutes viewing all the domestic cats, and many many pages of beautiful landscapes....ahhhhhhhh!

    Took out all the stress of last couple of days of doing taxes!!! :thumbsup:

    Pat

    God bless everyone

  24. Fish Fingers

    in On The Web

    Posted · Edited by thesidekickcat

    This is a great tasting fish!!! Expensive too, unless you can talk a fisherman friend out of some of his catch. By the way caviar comes from sturgeon.

    The current size limits I think are at least 42 inches up to maximum of 60 (which translates to about a 20 year old fish if I remember right). And a limit of 5 per year.

    This link tells of many types of Sturgeon. They are a very ancient fish species.

    Columbia River Sturgeon with lots of info and pictures

    The next link (Frazier River, British Columbia, Canada) has some nice photos. Ooops forgot to put the link in, so when I find the exact one I meant to do I'll add it.

    Here is another one I found while looking for the previous one I had before supper.

    Possible World Record Sturgeon From Frazier River

    Well this isn't the one I found earlier, but it is a good site for photos. Hubby says give it up for tonight....sorry about that.

    Fraizer River Sturgeon Fishing

    This next one is from the Portland Hikers website forum. Shows info and pics of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River about 40 miles east of Portland. I was hoping it would show the largest of the old timer sturgeon in the sturgeon ponds there, but only a smaller one. Hubby likes to go there about once a year to check out the fish ladder viewing, and hopefully catch sight of a boat or barge going through the lock system. The last couple of years or so have been a feeding frenzy by the sea lions (protected species) gobbling up the salmon on the route up river to spawn. Major problem of sea lions taking out so many of the limited amounts of wild salmon. The sea lions have even learned how to jump up the fish ladder!!! And the salmon get so tired navigating the ladder that they are easy prey for the sea lions. Hazing them with sound, and rubber bullets, etc has not been effective in driving them away either, and why should it when they have a free pass to dinner?

    Bonneville Dam info including sturgeon ponds

    This next link gives you a montage of photos from Troutdale (a suburb of Portland on east side of town) to The Dalles via the Columbia River Gorge.

    Photos for Columbia River Gorge sights

    Hubby is calling me to dinner so will be back later to check spelling etc.

    Pat

    God bless everyone