General Discussion Thread

[Sunflower]

*cough* Massacre? Nooooo, I said.... mascarpone... because... all the mud was like...mascarpone...with wallabies jumping through it....

Here's a fuzzy photo of some slow ones

It's OK, Owl, I wouldn't freak if it was a massacre.  Wallabies are exotic to us here in the U.S., but I suppose to you they're just pests, like squirrels or maybe even rats.  Besides, I spent years covering the farm beat as a reporter, and I know farmers get pretty protective of their livelihood.  (How much do wallabies eat, anyway?  Or do they cause damage or something?)

So where you took that photo, there were 50+ wallabies jumping around?  Bizarre and awesome.

Speaking of fancy restaurants, I had dinner at a very fancy restaurant Tuesday night, where I was served a sunflower appetizer!  The image below actually consisted of a smear of sunflower-seed hummus, roasted sweet peppers, and sunflower sprouts (like what's in my icon photo), garnished with sunflower petals (which I never knew were edible) and various spices.

The whole meal (4-course, prix fixe) was made up of tiny dabs and pieces of exotic ingredients and sauces, put together like a Sudoku puzzle.  It was delicious, and an aesthetic adventure, but not exactly the sort of food you'd want on an ordinary Thursday night when you don't feel like cooking. 

[Fimbulvarg]

It is, but I've never tried it. They have it in fancy restaurants now!

Maybe it's time to open a steakhouse. Who knows, wallaby and apples could be a match made in heaven.

[Sunflower]

Maybe it's time to open a steakhouse. Who knows, wallaby and apples could be a match made in heaven.

Pork, goose, and most kinds of wild game go well with apples (and many other fruits, in fact).  So that might be tasty!   

[Lenny]

(How much do wallabies eat, anyway?  Or do they cause damage or something?)

Think rabbits.

They eat all things, though they love young shoots the most. And they cause fencing damage due to forcing any small gaps into large gaps, or creating gaps in weak spots. One regularly visiting wallaby is already a nuisance or death blow to a normal kitchen garden. A whole pack of them would not make any farmer happy.

[OrigamiOwl]

Speaking of fancy restaurants, I had dinner at a very fancy restaurant Tuesday night, where I was served a sunflower appetizer!  The image below actually consisted of a smear of sunflower-seed hummus, roasted sweet peppers, and sunflower sprouts (like what's in my icon photo), garnished with sunflower petals (which I never knew were edible) and various spices.

The whole meal (4-course, prix fixe) was made up of tiny dabs and pieces of exotic ingredients and sauces, put together like a Sudoku puzzle.  It was delicious, and an aesthetic adventure, but not exactly the sort of food you'd want on an ordinary Thursday night when you don't feel like cooking. 

Wow! That's so cool! SUNFLOWER eating SUNFLOWERS!

It's OK, Owl, I wouldn't freak if it was a massacre.  Wallabies are exotic to us here in the U.S., but I suppose to you they're just pests, like squirrels or maybe even rats.  Besides, I spent years covering the farm beat as a reporter, and I know farmers get pretty protective of their livelihood.  (How much do wallabies eat, anyway?  Or do they cause damage or something?)

So where you took that photo, there were 50+ wallabies jumping around?  Bizarre and awesome.

But aw, I don't see them like that, I have a soul! I quite like them! But there are a lot, and they eat a LOT (more than they need to in some cases, like humans and stuff) and damage things....anything green: eaten, bark: torn off trees and eaten, baby trees: snapped off at the base and eaten, grass: eaten so close to the ground that bigger animals like sheep, cows, horses can't actually get it in their mouths, and it doesn't grow back well/quickly at all. Which is bad news in the winter like today. Then there's also foot traffic, which- like any foot traffic- in small numbers is no problem, but when there's no ground vegetation to hold the soil together, and with lots of constant repeated use on the exact track with no variation it becomes a mud pit pretty quickly. Wallabies just...don't use nature very sustainably I guess, (like...wasteful people or giant business corporations in dystopian novels...or whatever happened in The Lorax...) and they tend to stop relying on the forest for their food and prefer to sink their teeth into the easier meals that human-places provide, which causes a giant population boom which gets its own boom, each boom creating more mouths to feed and more competition with humans/themselves etc etc etc. Wallaby and possum roadkill here is also super common, so growing up here I've kind of been desensitised to that I guess, but exposure to that doesn't mean that I'm completely detached from empathy and sympathy and respect for the animal kingdom like some people are, or how some people believe every rural person to be. When people assume I'm like that it really kills me inside and actually makes me sick.
So yeah, in this situation they do turn into pests...but I don't...dehumanise...de...de-life-ise them or anything. If that makes sense. 

[Mélusine]

Iced tea, that's a good idea 
Uh, hot car sounds terrible, especially at the end of your vacation.

You have tea ? You have a lot of ice cube ? You have (liquid if possible) sugar ? You can make a marvelous homemade iced tea
I'm waiting for the snow rain.

[DancingRanger]

I'm Alive! Just to give a small update me and my parents are like 40% done moving. Woot. I haven't had much proper internet time, usually just long enough to read a topic or two. I don't have any pictures yet (been meaning to take some) but I'm almost settled in completely, I still have some of my personal stuff to move and to obtain shelves (maybe I can convince the Parents to an IKEA roadtrip?) Also does anyone have paint scheme ideas? I want to paint my room blue, but not just blue, but I can't figure out a good color scheme.

[viola]

I'm Alive! Just to give a small update me and my parents are like 40% done moving. Woot. I haven't had much proper internet time, usually just long enough to read a topic or two. I don't have any pictures yet (been meaning to take some) but I'm almost settled in completely, I still have some of my personal stuff to move and to obtain shelves (maybe I can convince the Parents to an IKEA roadtrip?) Also does anyone have paint scheme ideas? I want to paint my room blue, but not just blue, but I can't figure out a good color scheme.

What sort of blue? A house or two ago I had light blue and light green walls. It was very cheerful and relaxing.

[Mélusine]

Also does anyone have paint scheme ideas? I want to paint my room blue, but not just blue, but I can't figure out a good color scheme.

I fear I can't help, I like my walls as light as possible because I can put every color/poster/thing I want on it without having to ask myself if it will fit or not

[DancingRanger]

What sort of blue? A house or two ago I had light blue and light green walls. It was very cheerful and relaxing.

like a peacock blue.This color blue

I fear I can't help, I like my walls as light as possible because I can put every color/poster/thing I want on it without having to ask myself if it will fit or not

Funnily i like my room walls to be dark but not related to the colors grey, white or black.

[Mélusine]

like a peacock blue.This color blue
Funnily i like my room walls to be dark but not related to the colors grey, white or black.

Something between blue and green. Nice color
I always had a small room, so a dark color on the walls would have made the room seems smaller.

[viola]

like a peacock blue.This color blue
Funnily i like my room walls to be dark but not related to the colors grey, white or black.

I still think it would look nice with some greens, or a deep purple.

[DB (f.k.a. DaveBro)]

. That's what my REI jacket looks like!   

Which means I like the color; you'll just have to start with primer, and might take 2 or 3 coats to get an even finish.  It will be really gratifying when you are happy with it, though.   

Red would take 4 or 5 coats, so you dodged THAT bullet!    (I didn't.)

[Sunflower]

like a peacock blue.This color blue
Funnily i like my room walls to be dark but not related to the colors grey, white or black.

Here's an example of gorgeous decor based on peacock blue:  http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/peacock/

(The Peacock Room, designed by the Victorian artist James Whistler.)

Martha Stewart has become a decorating cliche, but she (or rather her corporate minions) had excellent taste, and her color palettes are inspiring:  http://www.marthastewart.com/873630/paint-palettes-we-love/@center/276988/painting-ideas-and-projects

[Trinka]

Mum's garden is pretty tough ;__; no one is around to maintain it these days, and it just ends up being dad's secret sad punching bag- usually he just hacks everything up with the whipper snipper (weed hacker).

WHOA
HOLD DA PHONE
You guys call them whipper snippers?!
That's so much more fun than weed hacker!
(But at my house we call it a weed whacker, so I guess that's kinda fun)

WHAT OTHER MAGICAL AUSTRALIAN WORDS DO YOU HAVE?!?

And awwww to walabies everywhere! Funny little tiny kangaroo things are so cute, I think I'd have a cuteness induced seizure if 50 started hopping around me.  Your backyard was NOT what I expected; I had the steriotypical red-dirt outback shrubland backyard in my mind.

Does walaby masacre mean you guys shot them all...or used the rat poison on them...I won't judge if you did...I'm just curious as to how you handle "disposing" of so many of them...Sorry if that seems insensitive.