The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[ian]

I think what most people think are cat turds are actually from foxes, cats do generally bury them to make for an exciting treasure hunt if you're ever inclined to dig up your flower beds.

To be fair, I don't think you can have a reasonable discussion with a cat about its behaviour. They make teenagers seem rational. Though if your teenager is shitting in anyone's flowerbeds it's probably time to have some sort of discussion.

[nicknack]

I think what most people think are cat turds are actually from foxes, cats do generally bury them

The ones we find on our lawn (area with grass - 'lawn' is probably pushing it a bit) are defffo moggy ones cos I've seem 'em doing it. No attempt at burial whatsoever.

[perpetual dan]

The local foxes have cost us a doormat recently, the gits.
Though as I watched someone else's mog stalking the wildlife in our garden this morning, I did wonder whether remote controlled snakes are a thing.

[mrcharly-YHT]

The local foxes have cost us a doormat recently, the gits.
Though as I watched someone else's mog stalking the wildlife in our garden this morning, I did wonder whether remote controlled snakes are a thing.

Yes

[Beardy]

We have an extremely timid cat these days, so the local cat population have now encroached into the space formally defended by the last incumbent. I decided that I’d try and make life a bit easier on the timid puss and looked at how I might deter the local cat mafia. I bought an inferred triggered water sprayer. My only successful hit has been Dr Beardy (Mrs) who wasn’t listening when I explained it to her. (Yes, that was my fault. I admit it). So this and the logistics of making sure it was deactivated when timid cat did go out means that it is languishing in one of the sheds along with other shed related TQT.

[ian]

I do have a super-sprayer hun (and deadly aim) by the back door that I used to squirt the Giant Grey Monkey-Faced Cat (GGMFC) with – it used to fight with Little Monster Cat all the time and it's twice her size. They (it turns out there are two of them) seem to have taken the hint and found some other territory. Or possible the tiny dervish of claws was enough of a match for them.

We do have a family of foxes (though the cubs have dispersed now) under the summer house. They leave the occasional turd on display (our cats like to bury in the flower bed just outside the kitchen, joy). The cats occasionally have spats with them, but mostly the foxes are pretty chill about sharing, they'll just come out and nap on the lawn or on top of the garage.

[Cudzoziemiec]

One midnight I saw cat meet fox in our garden. Cat was terrified, shrank into the corner, shivering with fear, until fox had gone. Fox either wasn't aware of cat's presence or didn't care, just ambled slowly on. OTOH a friend says his cat curls up in the garden next to their local fox, both sleeping there.

[nuttycyclist]

I think what most people think are cat turds are actually from foxes, cats do generally bury them

The ones we find on our lawn (area with grass - 'lawn' is probably pushing it a bit) are defffo moggy ones cos I've seem 'em doing it. No attempt at burial whatsoever.

Same here.  And the ones always deposited exactly where you put your foot when getting out of the car after a drive home in the dark are also definitely cat and not fox.

[Kim]

We got cats pissing on our doorstep while we still had the dogs. Cheeky bastards.

Standard cat behaviour.  Dog places are territorial no-man's-land and therefore ideal for use as a toilet.



My general experience of cats is that unless they're sick or very elderly they do try to bury their waste, with degrees of competence ranging from 'token scratching' through 'barely adequate' to 'utterly tragic'.  I suspect domestication is breeding this sort of adult territorial behaviour out of them.

[T42]

The local foxes have cost us a doormat recently, the gits.
Though as I watched someone else's mog stalking the wildlife in our garden this morning, I did wonder whether remote controlled snakes are a thing.

Chum of mine has a pet python, but he's in Oz.  He's worried about it just now because it seems to be constipated - somewhat torpid, not crapping, got a lump halfway along.

Dunno if he's done a cat census recently.

[rafletcher]

  I suspect domestication is breeding this sort of adult territorial behaviour out of them.

I'm not so sure, our cat tries to bury her food bowls. Half-heartedly and unsuccessfully admittedly, but try she does.

[Ashaman42]

I know our front lawn is a bit unkempt (again) but whichever dog owner is letting their dog crap there and just leaving it needs to fuck right off

[ian]

Bad Cat digs a hole, deposits her brown eggs in it, and then kicks the soil onto the patio and leaves the turds uncovered.

[Mrs Pingu]

My general experience of cats is that unless they're sick or very elderly they do try to bury their waste, with degrees of competence ranging from 'token scratching' through 'barely adequate' to 'utterly tragic'.  I suspect domestication is breeding this sort of adult territorial behaviour out of them.

A few years back I was basking in our garden, looked up to see Pumpkin having a massive poo in the middle of my downstairs neighbours lawn and she looked well pleased with herself when she'd finished. I was mortified, but we did go and pick them up. Torties are weird though.

[Pingu]

My general experience of cats is that unless they're sick or very elderly they do try to bury their waste, with degrees of competence ranging from 'token scratching' through 'barely adequate' to 'utterly tragic'.  I suspect domestication is breeding this sort of adult territorial behaviour out of them.

A few years back I was basking in our garden, looked up to see Pumpkin having a massive poo in the middle of my downstairs neighbours lawn and she looked well pleased with herself when she'd finished. I was mortified, but we did go and pick them up. Torties are weird though.

For a few months Poo Patrol was part of my daily routine.

[Regulator]

Local cats know our garden is a 'no go' area that is enforced by Jack with extreme prejudice.

A new cat decided it was going to start crapping on the front parking area/outside the front door.  An introduction to Jack was arranged and, having dislodged itself from the tree, it has since avoided our place.

[Mrs Pingu]

Door knobs. All I want is a replacement for the one with no handle (there will follow photographic evidence of how naff they are later).
Why is it so complicated? Spindle size, length, set back and other such door furniture black magic. Just something that means we don't shut ourselves out of the kitchen, not rocket science!

[T42]

Put a diagonal brace into one side of our main gate.  First time I've used a pocket hole jig - by no means as easy as the brand's videos show.

Not entirely finished but at least the gate is functional again, otherwise I'd be lifting my bike over the fence tomorrow.

Discovered that my Wolfcraft pocket-hole jig uses 9.2 mm beech plugs to keep weather out of the holes.  Dowels here come in 6, 8 and 10 mm sizes. Have to clamp a few bits up in the drill press and sand them down. Arse.

Also, my Titebond III Ultimate has transmogrified into a gungy block. Double-arse.

Why am I thinking of Hornby all of a sudden?

[Beardy]

Gates are certainly less challenging in OO. 

[Polar Bear]

Door knobs. All I want is a replacement for the one with no handle (there will follow photographic evidence of how naff they are later).
Why is it so complicated? Spindle size, length, set back and other such door furniture black magic. Just something that means we don't shut ourselves out of the kitchen, not rocket science!

Browsing the forum and listening to an episode of Dr. Phil's Bedside Manner from north of the border, I think that I know where your door handle is.  A patient presented to A&E with a door handle stuck because apparently he had his hands full, was naked in his kitchen and tried to open the door in a novel manner ...

[ian]

We bought sticky out handles, which I regret, not because they have got stuck up my arse (trust me, this is not the sort of DIY activity I involve myself in), but the number of times I've painfully whacked them with the back of my hands (I even have a scar from one occasion). This might, in part, be down to the fact that I walk like a monkey though. Or so I'm told.

Should have bought round doorknobs, which was my preference in the first place.

As a break from tales of curious anal insertions, the best study I saw was about a bloke who somehow managed to insert his scrotum and testicles through a large and very substantial metal nut. However he'd got them in, no amount of diligence was going to get them out again, so after a couple of days of pain and strangulated testes, he finally had to visit A&E, presumably walking big leggy style, but I mean, it was the sort of nut that looked like it might hold tractor wheels on. No amount of lubricated medical manhandling could remove the offending item either, so in the end it came down to a careful application of power tools, and they had to grind it off. I'm told he made a full recovery. Men, in general, should not be allowed access to their own parts.

[Kim]

My problem with door handles is they catch the sleeves of T-shaped shirts when you aren't expecting it, causing rapid deceleration.

[Mr Larrington]

The ones in Larrington Towers have a penchant for grabbing the belt of one’s dressing gown. The subsequent disruption to forward progress can lead to spillage of Brown Drink.

[Beardy]

My problem with door handles is they catch the sleeves of T-shaped shirts when you aren't expecting it, causing rapid deceleration.

How on earth do you catch the sleeve of a T shaped shirt on something as low as a door handle?

[Mrs Pingu]

If anyone could insert these knobs I'd be impressed, they are really very large.