sunday morning..very early!!

[Mick]

mae all..howare we then?just a quickie..on the way out in a minute..bit rainy outside,but getting used to that now!slowly putting the house back in order...and fingers xd..the march of the ants may be over..
quick brew time.....

hiya SL...hey your doing well with the runnig well done you..was it run and walk or 2.4 then 1.6?awfy gled tae hear nae neeps wuz injured(or tatties fur that metter)in the making of the pumpkins.here you go..
Halloween tradition from Ireland that you can spot on porches all over the United States on Oct. 31 -- the jack-o'-lantern.
Like most folklore, the history of the jack-o'-lantern varies a little bit depending on who's telling the story. But all stories involve a clever drunkard that pulls one over on the devil. Legend has it, in 18th-century Ireland, a foul-mouthed drunk and disreputable miser named Stingy Jack asked the devil to go have a drink with him. The devil obliged and when the bill came, there was that awkward moment that we're all so familiar with. Jack expected the devil to take care of things, and the devil thought Jack should pony up. Seeing as how Jack had no money anyway, he convinced the devil to turn himself into a six pence coin to pay the bill. The devil fell for it and Jack skipped on the bill and kept the devil at bay by sliding the coin into his pocket to lay at rest beside a silver cross.
The devil was stuck in Jack's pocket, trapped by the cross, but Jack decided to be a good egg and let him out, providing that the devil wouldn't come after Jack for a period of one to 10 years, depending on who you ask. The devil had no choice but to agree and once the coin was removed, he turned himself back into the devil and went on his not-so-merry way. At the end of the agreed upon timeframe, the devil found Jack for a little payback. Somehow, Jack convinced him to climb a tree in search of an apple for Jack before they set off for hell. The horned one once again obliged, only to see Jack carve a cross into the tree trunk, and leaving the beast stranded again.
Jack must have felt bad, because he agreed to let the devil down if he promised to never claim his soul for Hell. The devil was caught between a rock and hard place once again, so he agreed. When Jack died, St. Peter rejected him at the pearly gates because of his suspect credentials. The devil wouldn't and couldn't let Jack in to hell, per their agreement at the tree. In the end, Jack was given a lump of burning coal by the devil to light his way through purgatory. Jack carried the coal inside a hollowed out turnip.
Irish families told the tale and began to put carved out turnips in their windows to prevent Stingy Jack and other ghouls from entering the home. Some had scary faces carved into them to frighten away any comers. Once the tradition hit the United States, Irish immigrants soon realized that the pumpkin, native to the states, was an ideal fruit for carving. That's why you see jack-o'-lanterns on porches around Halloween.


now wasnt that worth waking up for!!!

hiya pauly...big smile time!!!!!hows you today..did you have a donut yesterday?make sure you do today then

hiya Lav...not fancy Florida then..with a load of "when I "stories?hey we are all as bad!!remember as a kid listening to people..when Iwas in the army..not like that in my day, the world is b.ggered up..remember thinking ..jeez not for me this box of when Is ..and guess where I AM NOW...bbt
have a great day.

hiya ppqp..all ok ..brew time..you go for it boss ..put your foot down with a firm hand!!!have a great weekend.

tt ..you enjoying your jollies?

coupla jokes then offski pour moi

I didn't see much of myself in my newborn daughter until I babysat her last night.

At feeding time I made up a bottle for her. She drank far too much, then burped, threw up and fell asleep.

Now I see the resemblance.

My dad told me that my great grandfather knew the exact hour of the exact day of the exact year he was going to die.
I said, "That's amazing. How the hell did he know all that?"
My dad replied, "The judge told him."

What's the point of doors that have signs on them saying "Please keep closed at all times"
Doesn't that technically make it a wall?

Man goes into Doctors. "I think I've got this bird flu thing that's been going round."
The doctor says, "What makes you think that?"
The man replies, "Well I've starting wearing make up, talking bollocks and I can't park the f.cking car."

I've had many jobs in my time; my most recent though was a Crime Scene Investigator for current and past genocidal activities.

It was only yesterday that I was investigating the mass grave of a thousand snowmen.

Luckily though it turned out to be a carrot field.

Does anyone else think it's really suspicious how newsreaders always seem to know about things happening before anyone else?

[treetops]

Hi there everyone - Sunday night here. We came home a day early - well only a night as we would have had to leave early-ish Monday morning. Place we were renting was not so great - quite grubby and beds were horrible - street-light shining right in the bedroom all night. I am usually pretty flexible with accommodation but it seemed a bit daft to be uncomfortable just because we had paid for tonight for the house. It was the kind of place I felt a bit yuk cooking in. Had a nice break though,did lots of walking and saw seals, sea-lions but no penguins. SL - we don't have otters in NZ!
Very interesting about the pumpkins Mick. I didn't know that. We don't do much for halloween over here - seasons being the opposite. Shops still sell lots of scary rubbish.
Good news about the house Det. Don't panic. Just go with it - sort out doable steps of what to do ahead of moving in - and also when you move. Make sure you have some kind of ritual/personal celebration for when you move in - but I heard that its very bad luck to have AL at such times (hint hint).
Hope everyone else has a great Sunday - its a public holiday here tomorrow - so now I have a day to catch up on things. Its much less stressful this way for me.

[Lavande]

Good Sunday morning Abbers,

Had another crappy night - something going on with my dogs wanting to go out every few hours. Maybe a doggie virus or something? The younger one sounds like she's developing asthma, I swear. Do dogs get allergies??

Thanks for the coffee & warning Mick. I'll be sure to carve turnips instead of pumpkins this year
I hope your ant situation is under control now & you have a great day!

TT, I can remember renting a cabin on a lake that was so nasty I wanted to sleep in the car, yuck. Good idea just to pack it up & go home Enjoy your holiday tomorrow!

Det, congrats on the house offer! I was just wondering about the status of your house - good for you! Are you planning to rent for a while? Just pack up the necessities & the rest can go in storage for a while

Greetings SL! Your daughters look like professional pumpkin carvers, good for them. I can't even be bothered anymore especially now that I live in an area where there is no trick or treating, oh well.

Hello to PQ, Pauly, Sam & everyone. I hope you all have a fantastic AF Sunday.
I'm off to the kitchen now to make meatballs. Guess who is coming to dinner?

Lav

[paulywogg]

Mae everybody,just checking in and saying hi,was gonna post more but reading Nursie's thread put me in a funk and i don't feel like posting much,have a good Sunday

[treetops]

Pauly - very very sad about Nursie and what she has to deal with. meanwhile you must take care of yourself and not let this send you into too much despair. XXXXX

[Roadside]

LOVED the story. I look forward to sharing it with others.

[treetops]

Just letting everyone know Monday is here in penguin-land and I have started the thread>

Hi there Roadside. !!!

[scottish lass]

No otters in NZ - never knew that, or even thought about it mind! Sorry your trip was not good, that does not make me happy when I look forward to something and pay good money...
Mick walked 0.8 mile. then ran 2.3, then walked 0.8 - then walked another 5 later on.
absolutely knackered today after more horse stuff with girls - looking forward to a nice restful weekend (ps tell me a LOT later that the weekend is over - DO not wish to hear)
We don't do much for Halloween either - but the fun of carving pumpkins remains - and then toasting the seeds....girls had fun doing this for the older folks that live on our road - they take a lot of pleasure in making smiles - and seeing their grandparents are 6,000 miles away, helps to teach respect for the older generations...
Lav - yes dogs can have bad allergies - they can even be allergic to humans just as humans are allergic to dogs. We had one dog with really bad food allergies - all his hair fell out and horrible welts! Try a benadryl and if it works, then it might be allergies...
Got to go nag to get homework finished...

[Samstone]

Well, there you are, learnt something new every day. Jack O'Lantern story was great. Did the market thingy yesterday and got to work on the green house project. Brought the surveying transit home, got the four corners staked, so much easier than pulling a tape. Of course the wife had to change her mind once as to where it was to be, so I got to do it twice. Reset and got things level, got post all set and ready to start messing with the hoops. These last couple of days have been idea to work outside!

Mick, how goes the ant-war? Hoping you are through. One year we had an infestation of fleas, cedar oil work well, spraying with a small pump sprayer.

hello TT, has monday treating you? good I hope.

Hey Pauly, so sorry to read Nursie's news. Makes me realize how much we all need each other.

evening Lav, beautiful couple days here on the eastern side of the US

hello Roadside, glad you popped in

Det, SL evening to you all

night all
Sam

[porqoui]

MAE ALL...

I've been feeling a little down in the dumps today. Didn't get down to Dad's yesterday, meeting went too long, snowflakes are a falling but they are very pretty and will be gone by morning.
Then I saw this, thought of Mick, logged on and now feel much better :happy2: Chat tomorrow....PPQP

33 things Americans should know about Canada

1. Our president is called a Prime Minister.

2. Baltimore, Maryland has more murders in a week than the entire nation of Canada does all year.

3. You don't have to be born in Canada to be Prime Minister.

4. Canadians do not find, "Say 'eh' for me," to be particularly funny.

5. Canada has rednecks, too.

6. We're a lot bigger than you, in land mass, but our population is considerably less. The populations of Los Angeles and New York City would be around 30 million people. The entire nation of Canada has around 32 million people. Due to the fact that most of our country is in the northern latitudes, we huddle close to the border, for warmth.

7. In the War of 1812, we kicked your butts. The reason why your Whitehouse is white is because we set fire to it and it was whitewashed to hide the damage (for propaganda purposes). Some Americans will say that THEY won the war. However, to win, a party must reach their objective. Your objective was to take over British North America (what Canada was called then), our goal was to stop you. You don't have any more northern territory along the Canada/US border than you did before 1812. So who won? (Alaska doesn't count, you BOUGHT that state from Russia.)

8. A form of baseball was played just outside of Toronto, Ontario three weeks before Alexander Doubleday played the 'first' game of baseball in your country.

9. We do not find the term "Canuck" derogatory, like Americans find "Yank" derogatory. It apparently originated during World War One. Your soldiers were call "doughboys" ours were called "Johnny Canucks". I think the British coined the term, but I'm not sure.

10. We are not "just like Americans", we have our own national identity, we just haven't figured out what it is, yet. Someone once said that, "Canadians are unarmed Americans with health care." That pretty much sums it up, I guess. We are internationally (but unofficially) known as the "World's Most Polite Nation."

11. Our national animal is the beaver. Sure it's just a rodent, but they're not even CLOSE to being extinct. You can still get money for beaver pelts. It is NOT our main unit of exchange, we have money, just like you.

12. We do not find the fact that American wear Canadian flag pins (so they can get better treatment in Europe) very amusing. So stop it.

13. We have Thanksgiving in October, so we don't look like copycats (it IS an American originated holiday, after all). However, we celebrate Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Passover and other holidays at the same time you do.

14. We were formed, as a nation, in 1867.

15. November the 11th is called Remembrance Day, up here. It is a day when all Canadians honour our war dead and the veterans who are still amongst us. Its significance is that on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the Armistice was signed, ending World War One.

16. Not every Canadian speaks French. In fact, Canada is the only country where speaking French is not cool.

17. We spell words differently. Honour, valour, defence, neighbour, colour, centre and other words are from the British way of spelling. We also pronounce the last letter of the alphabet "zed", not "zee".

18. The Queen of England is not our national leader. She's' just a figure head and somebody to put on our money with the birds. (Some Royalists in Canada will have something different to say about his, but they're a minority.)

19. Our states are called Provinces. We even have three Territories.

20. We DO NOT have snow all year round. We DO NOT live in igloos. We DO NOT ride around on dog sleds.
We DO NOT have to check the back yard for polar bears, before we let our kids go out to play.

21. Many Canadians have never played hockey in their lives. There are many who do not like hockey.

22. Besides, our national sport is not hockey, its lacrosse. It's one of the few sports that originated on the North American continent, it was played by the Aboriginals.

23. We didn't invent hockey, we just made it better.

24. Even if an "American" team wins the Stanley Cup (the "World Series" of hockey) it doesn't matter to us, because all your best players are Canadian.

25. On the other hand, if a "Canadian" team wins the World Series we ignore the fact that all our baseball players are American.

26. Stop asking if we know somebody in Canada when you find out we're Canadian. We DON'T know everybody in Canada.

27. We have no right to keep and bear arms. So leave your guns home if you're visiting, otherwise they'll be confiscated at the border. We have very strict gun laws, and fully automatic weapons are pretty much illegal. It almost takes an Act of God to get a licence to own a pistol. (This may be a contributing factor as to why we only have about 600 homicides a year, nation-wide.)

28. The border between Canada and the US holds the title of the "World's Longest Undefended Border".

29. Our side of Niagara Falls is nicer looking than your side. In fact, even when Americans use images of the Falls in advertising and movies, they film the Canadian side. It's called Horse Shoe Falls, by the way.

30. We own the North Pole, and therefore Santa Claus is Canadian. The internationally recognized mailing address for jolly old St. Nick is:
Santa Claus
North Pole
Canada
H0H 0H0

31. We call eskimos "Inuit", because that's what they call themselves.

32. That movie you thought was filmed in New York, or Seattle, or Chicago, or Los Angeles -- may have just been filmed in Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto.

So there you have it. Now you just might know more about Canada than most Canadians do!