| Feeding the Birds [message #50474] |
Tue, 26 June 2012 20:58  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2620
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Cheep cheep!
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50475 is a reply to message #50474 ] |
Tue, 26 June 2012 21:01  |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2620
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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I got an answer! And it was just as gloppy, gormless and useless!
LOL
Maybe this is the time to casually mention to them that your thousands of Twitter & Blog followers will be fascinated to learn who to avoid next on their online shopping trips! 
But then the company may be too gormless to care. *rolls eyes*
[Updated on: Tue, 26 June 2012 21:01]
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50476 is a reply to message #50474 ] |
Tue, 26 June 2012 21:46 |
claning
Messages: 266
Registered: February 2010
Location: California |
Senior Member |
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1. Yes. There are all too many websites out there stuck together with chewing gum and baling wire that have never been touched by anyone who understands the concept that the website is not about how much you know and want to boast about, it's about SOLVING PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. Like letting them buy what they want.
I build websites for a living, so I know a little bit about this.
Also, many website designers have no taste. Or they have plenty of taste, all of it bad.
2. I blame this website for my current earworm. So of course I will share it. "When the red, red robin goes bob-bob-bobbin' along, along...."
(evil grin)
O Chris Laning <claning@igc.org> - Davis, California
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50478 is a reply to message #50474 ] |
Tue, 26 June 2012 22:43 |
EMoon
Messages: 670
Registered: March 2009 |
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Wanting comfortable socks (preferably in colors I like) was what got me into knitting socks after (mumble) years not knitting and almost a year of knitting flat things (not all completed, I hasten to add.) Even my mother, the wonder-knitter, only knit me two pairs of socks, and she knit one in a pale mint green I didn't like, instead of the red I asked for. Because she had pale mint green yarn, or it was easy to find, or something. She was understandably annoyed that I didn't like the color. I was understandably annoyed that she KNEW I didn't like pastels and made the socks in mint green. (If you sense two alpha mares in the same paddock...pretty much. The engineer mind v. the writer mind.) Maybe she thought red socks were outrageous. I feel about red the way some people feel about pink. Or our son feels about yellow (and I totally do not get that. Yellow??? In a hot climate like ours??? Nonetheless, I buy him yellow things.)
As I got older, I could not find any socks that really fit and did not make deep grooves in my legs. Not in any material. I have, for 10-11 months out of the year, no need for cardigans unless I go to cold places, but I have a need for comfortable socks 12 months of the year. Hence...socks. In colors I like. Red. Bright green. Bright blue. I'm trying a faded-denim color yarn too, because I do sort of like the heathery effect, but I think the pair after that will be a rich purple (dark purple) heather. If I went with all red, though, I wouldn't ever think them boring, so I expect that at least a third of all socks will be red, so I always have some to wear on days I need to feel brave, or need an energy boost.
It was well over 106F today. Handwashed wool socks dry really fast in that kind of heat. I wore them out on the land in the morning, to photograph a rare flower, washed them when I came in (panting and determined not to go out again except to put wet socks out.) Clothes from the washer take only 15-20 minutes on the clothesline. (Someone is going to ask why on earth wool socks in hot weather. Because, on my feet, wool feels better than cotton--cotton quickly gets sweaty and wet and yucky-feeling. Wool breathes. Feet differ. Mine like wool.)
E
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50479 is a reply to message #50476 ] |
Tue, 26 June 2012 22:48 |
EMoon
Messages: 670
Registered: March 2009 |
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On shopping websites. Yes. Not designed for real people to navigate quickly and easily, for the most part. Esp. infuriating is not putting the credit card types accepted on the front page, before you've gone through the difficulties to pick out your items, load the items in the shopping cart, get deep into checkout...and they don't take your credit card (whatever it is.)
All they have to do is put the little logos right up front, before you've wasted time fighting with their "no easy way to go to the next layer up" navigation. And those stupid timeouts...I'm SHOPPING, dagnabbit, not racing into the local convenience store to buy a loaf of bread that I know where it is. On a brand new to me website it's going to take me time to look at things, just as in a store. You don't turf people out of a store when they're wandering around finding something else they want, and piling it in their shopping cart, because it takes them longer than the person who's only after bread.
E
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50480 is a reply to message #50474 ] |
Tue, 26 June 2012 23:50 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2758
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
Senior Member |
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Do you have red squirrels? I ask because I had one of those small-bird cage-encased tube feeders, which did a great job of foiling the grey squirrels, but the red ones are small and pushy and could get through the little squares and pig out on sunflower seeds. This didn't make me happy, but my bitch Zinka cottoned on to "squirrel on the bird feeder" after about a day and a half and would instantly head to the window to bark at it. That made her happy. The squirrel, of course, didn't care.
Creepy weird fabric socks seem to be taking over the market here, too--I had to try three department stores before I could find cotton ones. As for knitting them . . . the socks I made last year are a little too big because I measured my foot badly, but they are very comfortable, and I have plans to make more. The pinnacle of sockdom is occupied by merino socks, which are apparently the retail hosiery equivalent of hen's teeth; all my merino socks are old and thinking about suicide, so skinny yarn and teeny tiny needles are in my future.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50494 is a reply to message #50474 ] |
Wed, 27 June 2012 20:57 |
gamma
Messages: 14
Registered: November 2011 |
Junior Member |
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The Knitty training sock is amazing (it is linked to on that page, that page has the picture). It's fast! And it's so rewarding to knit, some days I want to do nothing but make tiny little socks. The thing I wasn't expecting the first time was how cool it was to knit something that had structure to it. Really nifty.
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50499 is a reply to message #50494 ] |
Wed, 27 June 2012 23:48 |
EMoon
Messages: 670
Registered: March 2009 |
Senior Member |
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It turns out that--as I should have expected--I knit the same way I write books and the same way I played with Tinkertoys. Directions? What directions? Directions are confusing, or annoying, or anyway...I'm not very good at following directions. Other than STOP!!! in emergencies and simply one-step ones like "Do not feed the tigers. They bite."
So...what I do instead of following directions is leaping in, having a sort of idea of what I want to end up with, but no real conception of what's between the raw material and the ending. Lots of mistakes. Lots of wrong turns. Lots of interesting discoveries while and after the wrong turns (Wow...that makes a really weird looking sort of knot thing on the needle...I wonder why...)
Hence...I started out with my ankles and feet, and two skeins of red yarn, and two sets of DPNs, plus a sock my mother had made and a picture of a sock online with every part in a different color, and the conviction (sudden and unstable) that this was doable and I would get something that fit over my foot somehow. The first two socks aren't exactly a pair, in that the mistakes aren't the same on both. But they're red, and that makes up for a lot, like the fact that they're about an inch too big all around. My feet love them. Room. Air. With soft underneath.
I was knitting before choir tonight, and a young tenor with delightfully wild hair said, after asking what I was making, "I never saw anyone making socks before. I didn't know it was possible." We talked awhile, he asking questions, and at the end, as we got up to go into practice, he said "I could never make socks" and then corrected it to "I don't know how to make socks now...but I could learn." GOOD kid. He's one of the twitchy sorts of tenors, not the placid kind. Gorgeous voice, though.
E
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50502 is a reply to message #50499 ] |
Thu, 28 June 2012 05:55 |
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AJLR
Messages: 2582
Registered: September 2008
Location: England, UK |
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[Moderator] |
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| EMoon wrote on Thu, 28 June 2012 04:48 |
I was knitting before choir tonight, and a young tenor with delightfully wild hair said, after asking what I was making, "I never saw anyone making socks before. I didn't know it was possible." We talked awhile, he asking questions, and at the end, as we got up to go into practice, he said "I could never make socks" and then corrected it to "I don't know how to make socks now...but I could learn." GOOD kid. He's one of the twitchy sorts of tenors, not the placid kind. Gorgeous voice, though.
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Very encouraging.  I was showing some student gardeners around the campus kitchen-garden today, having been asked to give an impromptu talk on the basics of fruit-growing. They were a delight to talk to - didn't know much (not sure how much I knew at that age, not having been born a gardener) but they were fascinated and slightly boggled by the different things one needs to keep in mind. And they're all extremely keen to be hands-on. I love that attitude - though the number of 'Awesome'(s)did cause me to boggle, slightly.
"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50503 is a reply to message #50499 ] |
Thu, 28 June 2012 10:43 |
lecuyerv
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2011 |
Member |
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| EMoon wrote on Wed, 27 June 2012 23:48 |
It turns out that--as I should have expected--I knit the same way I write books and the same way I played with Tinkertoys. Directions? What directions?
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I am so there. It turns out I knit the same way I cook. I might follow directions once, but then I just make things up as I go along throwing random stuff (or not so random ingredients) in the pot to see what something will taste like. As a result I'm a self taught knitter and all my projects to date have been "I want to learn ____ stitch. What can I make that will use that stitch and/or show it off."
Now, I read patterns to get an idea of how something is constructed (Thank you HS Home Ec for the Sewing Lessons) and then I just wing it. I shelled out eight dollars for a key chain sock blocker toy and directions (and yarn) for making a sock to go over it. Which taught me the basics of making a sock aaaaaand it went quickly - under two hours with plenty of time for "WTF is she doing?" A friend told me to "Trust the pattern even if you think the instructions are cracked and insane. You Must Trust the Pattern." From that start I've made a handful of Christmas tree ornaments (heavier weight of yarns and various sized needles); baby booties (just like the ornaments, only with more stitches cast on); and slippers (bulky yarn cast on two needles and about two inches of flat knitting for the cuff section and joining the edges part way down) that came out looking like Elf Shoes for Adults.
I'm told this is Designing. I just call it Knitting Hacks - mostly because I can't find a pattern that matches an image of what I have in my head.
-Victoria
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50504 is a reply to message #50484 ] |
Thu, 28 June 2012 10:50 |
lecuyerv
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2011 |
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I second this. I do have a Ravelry account, but I'm trying to finish my UFO stash before I go back to the Place of Temptation. It's a bit like going to the TV Tropes site. One pattern search means I'll be clicking for hours looking at stuff I never intended to view.
-Victoria
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50520 is a reply to message #50505 ] |
Fri, 29 June 2012 06:27 |
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AJLR
Messages: 2582
Registered: September 2008
Location: England, UK |
Senior Member
[Moderator] |
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| Angelia wrote on Thu, 28 June 2012 16:56 |
ALJR: I was showing some student gardeners around the campus kitchen-garden . . .
I'm fascinated by the idea of a campus kitchen garden. Is there a website with pictures and info? Our campus just started a small vegetable garden last year--I'd like to see it grow (no pun intended)--such a great idea for otherwised unused space.
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Our website is not very informative at the moment, I'm afraid. However, there's a plot layout diagram here, if you want a look. Not all of the beds are planted up this year as we had a shortage of hands earlier in the season. However, our small orchard (eight fruit trees) and soft fruit area are coming on well. The main problem we have with the whole scheme is the time available for those of us who have enough gardening knowledge and experience to teach the others, alongside day-to-day work. Those who are involved, including our student intern who co-ordinates some of the activity, are very enthusiastic.
"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50534 is a reply to message #50528 ] |
Fri, 29 June 2012 17:52 |
lecuyerv
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2011 |
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When I get back from the weekend (I'll be internetless.) I'll have to post pics of the Cottage Garden from my university's botanical garden. They have a few good landscape photos up on the site, but the web site is designed by botanists so it's fact-heavy. Photos of individual flowers in each of the collections are fantastic.
The home page image banner has three options and if you get the one with the bright orange flowers, it's showing the Native Flower Garden in the foreground and the Old Dairy Barn and Visitor's Center in the background. (Research is done in the Old Dairy Barn, one wing holds the university's Insect Zoo that's run by the university's Entomology department. The attached caretakers' section was renovated into the Garden's visitors' center. A breezeway connects the two.) The garden is maintained by Horticultural interns.
For those interested in these things, the Insect Zoo has a hive of honeybees in a glassed in area so you can see bees going about a bee's business.
-Victoria
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50535 is a reply to message #50534 ] |
Fri, 29 June 2012 17:53 |
lecuyerv
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2011 |
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| lecuyerv wrote on Fri, 29 June 2012 17:52 |
When I get back from the weekend (I'll be internetless.) I'll have to post pics of the Cottage Garden from my university's botanical garden.
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Gah.
Mod note: just fixing link.
[Updated on: Sat, 30 June 2012 14:35] by Moderator
-Victoria
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50606 is a reply to message #50542 ] |
Thu, 05 July 2012 09:06 |
lecuyerv
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2011 |
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that's part of what the cottage garden is. Vegetables, fruits and herbs as well as flowers.
-Victoria
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50686 is a reply to message #50623 ] |
Tue, 10 July 2012 15:36 |
lecuyerv
Messages: 61
Registered: January 2011 |
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I know I still owe photos of the Cottage Garden at my university, but it's been hot enough here to fry eggs on sidewalks (and bake cookies in cars) for the last several weeks. The temps are now in the low 90's so I won't parboil while getting my photos. Plus I had to walk through them on the way to an appointment, so I scouted things.
Anywhooooo. We have a beaver living on campus! The little beggar came up Campus Creek (which is 95% underground - having been built over by urban sprawl*) and only sees daylight on campus. After looking at a map, I figure that he crawled up over 1.5 miles of drains to make it to daylight and start gnawing down trees in the Quinlan Natural Area (2% of the daylighted stream) and shoving the branches up culverts by Umberger Hall. It's either that, or he's been negotiating with the racoons living in the storm drains**. Another option is playing chicken on the streets. As dry as it's been, I'm thinking he strolled up the subterranean creek.
Last night, he chewed down a tree in the Jardine Apartments' (student housing) pond which is more or less the headwater of Campus Creek. Jardine Pond is a very pretty water retention area for stormwater runoff (the athletic complex and large parking lots as well as the rest of the Jardine complex is uphill from the pond.) The housing group decided to tie their landscaping into the KSU Botanical Gardens' design.
Since Phase III of the Botanical Gardens is a water garden, I'm thinking our beaver is actually a professor of landscape design and aquatic engineering who got impatient waiting for donors to ante up and decided on a DIY project for his post-doctoral research. Either that, or he's an undergrad who decided to study the humanities and speech pathology.
We just got the fountain for Phase II built, the garden's crew was installing walkways along the edge today. I'll have to check to see if they'll be moving the peony collection there or going with the formal garden from the original design. Phase III is a ways off.
----
* It gets really interesting on campus when we have heavy rains/storms. The lower part of N. Manhattan Avenue becomes a great big water slide (BYO Inner Tube) and Aggieville (college bars and shopping) gets flooded to the point where cars drown and stall out.
** Typing this now has inspired a anthropomorphic version of the 80's TV series "Beauty and the Beast" starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman in my head. ...and Hamilton's voice is coming out of a beaver's mouth.
-Victoria
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| Re: Feeding the Birds [message #50786 is a reply to message #50489 ] |
Tue, 17 July 2012 05:58 |
rachel
Messages: 65
Registered: November 2008 |
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Thanks. It was entertaining, and interesting, but ultimately disheartening.
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