YET *EVEN* MORE things that made you happy today!

[The Bullet]

New birdbox-webcam is online:

https://www.ipcamlive.com/63cff1d012ca7

Third year with video.
The birds usually move in at the end of March.
Let´s wait and see.

[Sir Henry]

I'll try to remember to come back in a couple of weeks.

[Synistor 303]

I check in usually every couple of days, as they grow so fast then they are gone...

Thanks for including us in the feed!

[Sorontar]

Is that looking down on the bottom of the box?

Sorontar

[Sir Henry]

Is that looking down on the bottom of the box?

Sorontar

With drainage holes. It looks like it.

[Synistor 303]

...and it still amazes me that I can look in a bird-box in Germany from Australia. (But I quickly remember when everything is dark and I have to wait until later this afternoon to see anything.) 

[Banfili]

I built a wood store yesterday

A wood stove? wont it burn when you put logs in it??

(mine is a wood-burner! )

[The Bullet]

Is that looking down on the bottom of the box?

Sorontar

Yes, the camera looks downwards.
Some old pics for illustration.





The entrance hole is to the top of the picture.

[von Corax]

They've also bought me a new pair of boots:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Nice summer boots, rated for -60°C. I'm supposed to get the rest of the suit Monday.

I finally got my freezer suit today. I'm actually more comfortable now in the freezer than out, but the suit is hi-viz yellow so I look like Bibendum with jaundice.

Finally got someone to take a pic of me in full regalia. This is the first photo of me to appear on Brass Goggles.

Spoiler: ShowHide

[Rockula]

Three weeks ago I found out that my younger brother had been diagnosed with the same cancer that my Father and my Grandfather had.
Luckily it was caught early and he's having an operation next month.
But it got me thinking.
So I contacted the NHS to get blood tests.
The first blood tests were for liver function and diabetes.
The second blood tests were for kidney function and PSA (prostate).
Last Friday I went to hospital for an MRI scan.

Yesterday the Oncology unit contacted me to say ALL the test were negative.

I have a slightly raised PSA but nothing to indicate imminent cancer.

All I have to do is have a regular blood test to keep an eye on it.

I am much relieved and so very grateful to our NHS for the speed with which this was all done.

Long live the NHS.

[Sir Henry]

Finally got someone to take a pic of me in full regalia. This is the first photo of me my nose to appear on Brass Goggles.

Fixed that for you. 

(And very fetching it is too!)

[Synistor 303]

Finally got someone to take a pic of me in full regalia. This is the first photo of me my nose to appear on Brass Goggles.

Fixed that for you. 

(And very fetching it is too!)

I was blinded by the jacket! It is a bit warm Down Under today, so you looked uncomfortable to me  Sweltering!

[von Corax]

Finally got someone to take a pic of me in full regalia. This is the first photo of me my nose to appear on Brass Goggles.

Fixed that for you. 

(And very fetching it is too!)

I was blinded by the jacket! It is a bit warm Down Under today, so you looked uncomfortable to me  Sweltering!

It's supposed to be comfortable down to -50°C, which means it's comfortable up to around -5°C, so I'm not exactly looking forward to summer...

[Synistor 303]

Three weeks ago I found out that my younger brother had been diagnosed with the same cancer that my Father and my Grandfather had.
Luckily it was caught early and he's having an operation next month.
But it got me thinking.
So I contacted the NHS to get blood tests.
The first blood tests were for liver function and diabetes.
The second blood tests were for kidney function and PSA (prostate).
Last Friday I went to hospital for an MRI scan.

Yesterday the Oncology unit contacted me to say ALL the test were negative.

I have a slightly raised PSA but nothing to indicate imminent cancer.

All I have to do is have a regular blood test to keep an eye on it.

I am much relieved and so very grateful to our NHS for the speed with which this was all done.

Long live the NHS.

Older brothers - the canaries in the coal mine... My brother had a heart attack late last year. It was not very severe, possibly because our father had died from heart disease and my brothers had adopted a preventative lifestyle. Within 1/2 an hour of having the attack, he had a stent put in, then stayed overnight and home the next day.

In light of that, I went to have blood tests etc to see where I was on the risk level. Some of it was not great, so I embarked on a bit of a health regime and had my blood tests done again a few days ago.

In two months I dropped my blood pressure (which wasn't dangerously high, but there was room for improvement), dropped my blood sugar level, (also not high, but now it's 'perfect'), dropped my cholesterol level to the lower end of the green line (from the beginning of the orange line) and lowered my heart attack risk to less than 4%. My Doctor was grinning like mad woman. I guess when doctors try to get their patients to improve their health, they are frequently disappointed with the lack of compliance/enthusiasm. I figured I didn't want the irony of surviving stage 3 cancer just to die from a heart attack.

Oh, and I lost 6kg (12 pounds).

Blood tests, doctor visits and cancer treatment courtesy of Medicare. Love our healthcare system and don't want to be a burden to it.

[J. Wilhelm]

Watching a positively Wagnerian electrical storm over the city right now (and praying we don't get a tornado in the process). We're slated to have very heavy storms in a fre hours over midnight, and that includes damaging hail (maybe this should be in the Gah! Thread 

I even feel like singing one of the Leitmotifs from Ring of the Nibelung! 

https://vimeo.com/444002896

[von Corax]

Finally, after six weeks and a Herculean effort by my supervisor, I now have access to the warehouse management system at work. Now, when I screw up, they can blame me instead of my trainer.

[rovingjack]

I used my asian pork (and cabbage) dumpling recipe, from which I devised the dumpling loaf, to make a burrito topped with sweet thai chili sauce. Not sure what to call it other than tasty as hell.

also made a few burgers from it. Dumpling burgers.

now I gotta figure out making hotdogs, to make dumpling dogs.

[Sorontar]

Finally, after six weeks and a Herculean effort by my supervisor, I now have access to the warehouse management system at work. Now, when I screw up, they can blame me instead of my trainer.

Hopefully in the process you will be helping them reform their induction and training process and they will be grateful to you for that.

Your work outfit looks pretty good for basic protection during the pandemic, even if lots of people seem to have forgotten about it. Any COVID19 will spot you a mile away and know to take an alternate route via the North-West Territories.

Sorontar

[J. Wilhelm]

I used my asian pork (and cabbage) dumpling recipe, from which I devised the dumpling loaf, to make a burrito topped with sweet thai chili sauce. Not sure what to call it other than tasty as hell.

also made a few burgers from it. Dumpling burgers.

now I gotta figure out making hotdogs, to make dumpling dogs.

Over on these parts we tend to call them "wraps" if they don't contain at least Tex Mex inspired food (which is w bit disingenuous, because legend says Burritos were precisely oversized soft tacos marketed across the border and filled with "not necessaily Mexican ingredients" thus making the name"burrito" correct). Anyhow, why not "Dumpling Wraps?"

[von Corax]

I used my asian pork (and cabbage) dumpling recipe, from which I devised the dumpling loaf, to make a burrito topped with sweet thai chili sauce. Not sure what to call it other than tasty as hell.

also made a few burgers from it. Dumpling burgers.

now I gotta figure out making hotdogs, to make dumpling dogs.

If you add your pork and cabbage mixture and Thai chili sauce to an ordinary hotdog-in-a-bun, would it not be a Thai chili dog?

[rovingjack]

I used my asian pork (and cabbage) dumpling recipe, from which I devised the dumpling loaf, to make a burrito topped with sweet thai chili sauce. Not sure what to call it other than tasty as hell.

also made a few burgers from it. Dumpling burgers.

now I gotta figure out making hotdogs, to make dumpling dogs.

Over on these parts we tend to call them "wraps" if they don't contain at least Tex Mex inspired food (which is w bit disingenuous, because legend says Burritos were precisely oversized soft tacos marketed across the border and filled with "not necessaily Mexican ingredients" thus making the name"burrito" correct). Anyhow, why not "Dumpling Wraps?"

generally in this area, a wrap is a flatbread (could be a pita, naan etc), with lettuce and maybe tomato, and some kind of sandwhich filling opened at one or both ends. whereas a Burrito is specifically a flour tortilla, usually with a seasoned and sauced ground or shredded meat with sauted peppers and onions (sometimes refried beans) both ends folded in before rolling up. Often a burrito is served warm or hot and a wrap is generally served cold.

But that might just be cultural appropriation of the term Burrito. I don't know. Fusion foods are a little bit 'I don't know' about things like that.

did a dumpling burger for lunch today.

[Banfili]

Blood tests, doctor visits and cancer treatment courtesy of Medicare. Love our healthcare system and don't want to be a burden to it.

Absopositivly! One of the best in the world, I say - having had a lot to do with the healthcare system 2020-21!

[The Bullet]

Birds have moved in.

I would love top know if that´s the couple that was here last year or any of their children.

ID please.....

[J. Wilhelm]

I used my asian pork (and cabbage) dumpling recipe, from which I devised the dumpling loaf, to make a burrito topped with sweet thai chili sauce. Not sure what to call it other than tasty as hell.

also made a few burgers from it. Dumpling burgers.

now I gotta figure out making hotdogs, to make dumpling dogs.

Over on these parts we tend to call them "wraps" if they don't contain at least Tex Mex inspired food (which is w bit disingenuous, because legend says Burritos were precisely oversized soft tacos marketed across the border and filled with "not necessaily Mexican ingredients" thus making the name"burrito" correct). Anyhow, why not "Dumpling Wraps?"

generally in this area, a wrap is a flatbread (could be a pita, naan etc), with lettuce and maybe tomato, and some kind of sandwhich filling opened at one or both ends. whereas a Burrito is specifically a flour tortilla, usually with a seasoned and sauced ground or shredded meat with sauted peppers and onions (sometimes refried beans) both ends folded in before rolling up. Often a burrito is served warm or hot and a wrap is generally served cold.

But that might just be cultural appropriation of the term Burrito. I don't know. Fusion foods are a little bit 'I don't know' about things like that.

did a dumpling burger for lunch today.

We have a restaurant chain called "Freebirds: World Burrito"  You can't get more fusion than that.

That's the problem with border regional foods. It's rather hard to call it cultural appropriation because the border is political, not cultural. Same goes with Chimichanga (It's a deep fried burrito. I imagine belongs to the Southern California coast) which like the burrito simply doesn't exist in Mexico, but was likely crafted by Mexican Americans inspired on Mexican food at the border region.

And you can expect the fusion to continue. There's many street foods in Mexico City that didn't exist just 30 years ago and many are just plain fusion - Chiles Rellenos Pizza? Yes, at a shop called "Black Dog Pizza"in Downtown CDMX. Mexicans are not shy about consuming foreign foods and mashing them into their own style. They've been doing that since the Conquest. I guess someone could call it cultural appropriation, but seems disingenuous to me. Tempura in Japan was inspired by a Portuguese dish of deep fried fish and vegetables in the 16th Century? Once you get colonized, it's fair game to adapt the conquerors food, I say.

If you go back in time for more than a century, same goes for Chili con Carne, now an American staple that technically is Texan in origin. You can't say it's not Mexican entirely because Texas was part of Mexico  but Mexicans will not recognize the dish as such (not even in Northern Mexico). It's American more than Mexican, due to it's historical usage in the chuck wagons during cattle drives from Texas into the rest of the US.

And what about Caesar Salad? The Italian American brothers who invented it at their Italian restaurant south from Tijuana it could have called it "Baja Salad" or "California Salad? Who knows? The only thing I know is that absolutely no one makes real Caesar dressing anymore, including the raw eggs and mashed anchovies prepared at your table.

[Synistor 303]

New birdbox-webcam is online:

https://www.ipcamlive.com/63cff1d012ca7

Third year with video.
The birds usually move in at the end of March.
Let´s wait and see.

Checked the bird box last night and could see that something is starting to build a nest!