August 2009

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jethro's picture

Tightening Security

I have been having some trouble with comment spam lately. We use Mollom, a great ser vice that works well with Drupal and stops most spam. However some spammers are getting more clever – and at the same time j0406665very stupid. They are putting more realistic comments in and getting past the text analysis – but as there are  no links allowed they are kind of stupid. The comment doesn't gain them anything – just fills my comments with rubbish.

So now all anonymous comments require approval – and I can bulk delete the time wasters spam. If you have a legitimate comment to make – and you are encouraged to do so – either log in to make it, or realise that it will go into my approval queue for checking.

So to all my legitimate readers and commenters – thanks for participating. And to all the spammers  go away – there's nothing for you here!

Thanks for reading.

jethro's picture

What operating system do you use on your main system?

jethro's picture

Death

We have had a number of deaths in our house lately.

First the assisted death of our pet dog Raz Soondari. She was 10 years old, suffering complications from a dislocated hip and also a thyroid problem with an associated skin condition. Her hip had re dislocated and we were looking at expensive surgery and the need for her to be confined afterward. She went away with our vet friend Audrey last week and went to sleep peacefully.

judy and razPICT0032

IMG_6785 The same day we had to euthanise one of the longest living pet mice – suspected tumours and growths were making her very fat and she wasn’t eating. Gold was Erin’s mouse.

IMG_4723Today one of Miranda’s snakes King died. We are not sure why, but he was a very fussy eater and that may have contributed to his demise.

PICT0014-400And finally today also our last central netted dragon Sleepy died. He was a dragon that had some birth defects, and couldn’t keep sand out of his eyes properly. He actually lived a very long life for a CND, lasting around 4 years. they live for 2-3 in the wild.

 

 

The kids have been upset by the deaths as can be expected, but we also hope that this will assist them to learn and understand the cycle of life, the grieving process and how to deal with loss.

jethro's picture

Construction work

2009-07-31 mucking around 046Today was a DIY day. I designed and built this enclosure for the blue tongue skinks this morning. Start to finish around 2.5 hours.

The base and sides are medium density fibreboard as are the end and centre pieces. the bottom is braced with 3x2 batons that also work as feet.

The centre top piece is a bit of MDF, and the end mesh pieces are bits of an old bird cage that was lying around in the rubbish heap to be taken to the tip. Now it forms the essential part of letting light in and keeping our snakes and stopping the skinks from escaping. One end is hinged ad allows easy access to the skinks while the other end is fixed but has two openings in it.

2009-07-31 mucking around 048 2009-07-31 mucking around 047

Job well done.

Oh and Heidi helped Tim the Toolman as well.