Whaaattt?

Off topic, but I find the practise of employing someone to do something for you rather interesting.

I'm somewhat capable of building and fixing things (OK, occasionally to alarming or hilarious results ) and was brought up thinking that getting someone to do it would be wasteful and a shameful sign of lack of basic skills.

Nowadays I think it's worth considering also the economy side of things. Handymen and window cleaners need to make an honest living, so I as a regularly paid office rat actually should support their trade.

So I do consider jobs that are less fun and more effort, and when appropriate, pay someone to do it. Local Checkatrade site is easy to use to get in proper people avoiding cowboys.

(And on the plus side, a job done by a person who gives a proper invoice probably makes my insurance company less troublesome should my newly installed washing machine cause a water leak.)

I also keep firmly telling my elderly Dad to swallow his pride and get someone to do things for him, it's hard going trying to change his mindset though.

 

I work on the premise that there are some things I'm good at ... and many I am not! I am happy to pay someone else to do the things I don't have the skills or tools or back flexibility to tackle.

If I hate doing something, but can actually do it, I save my money. Window cleaning springs to mind. Well, all cleaning really.

 

I've always hated anything to do with cars regarding maintenance, cars are for driving not taking to pieces and then wondering why they dont go, which was the weekend ritual around here at weekends years ago, so never got into that.
But I always tried my hand at a fair bit of building type stuff.

Bad back, bad knees mean most of that has had to stop, it just takes me too long these days.

 

I lived in London from age 22 to 29 and didn't need to drive but then OH and I bought a house in Harrow with no transprot link to the office so I learned to drive and then went on a car maintenance course to save money. I learned to do a 13000 mile service but drew the line at brake pads and wheel changes, deeming those to be jobs for a "man who can". Keen petrol head friends in the office helped me tweak the timing and colour tune it so I could beat fancy sports cars away from the lights.

Haven't been under a bonnet in decades tho, except to check oil and add water to the windscreen bottle. It's all computerised and I can't even see where the spark plugs are now.

I do basic DIY too - shelves, painting and decorating, furniture renovation, erecting fences and trellis - and, whilst OH was away for 3 days this week, I took advantage and replaced a sheet of corrugated iron and some coping tiles that blew off the roof of our open sided garage in a gale. OH has ignored it for months and I knew if we tackled it together we'd end up getting divorced. DIY is not his forte tho he's good at leccy and digging planting holes for trees.

 

I've owned my current car 14 yrs and to date have only opened the bonnet once. I had to look up instructions online for how to do it!

 

For those that are confused by the current US overuse of the word obliterate; Merriam Webster defines it as "to remove from existence : destroy utterly all trace, indication, or significance of"
So you cannot obliterate something multiple times, no matter what Humpty Dumpty Trump thinks.

 

This has concerned me for a long while now.
Toxic pet flea treatment chemicals found in Wales' rivers harming wildlife

 

I've just given Ben his second dose in 12 months, I don't like the idea to be honest.

I wouldn't put it on the back of my own neck so it seems strange they do it to dogs.

I just keep an eye open for any signs of fleas or worms.

 

I have stopped using it on my two indoor cats. When I told the vets why they denied all knowledge!

 

We used to treat our two dogs because there are ticks about here but they didn't go swimming in any local streams or lakes. Our vet always asks if the cats have been flea'd and wormed when we go for the annual jabs and offers industrial products which I find odd given the amount of natural and homeopathic meds vets here use.

We've tried herbal products and they don't seem to work so I now use a spray on any ticks we see and groom them to make sure there are no fleas about. It's working so far.

 

The stuff I use treat for worms as well, the dog I had before this one picked up a tapeworm, thought to have come via a flea bite.
So it's difficult to know what to do for the best, but I really don't think every month is necessary.

 

I've not read the article so don't know if it mentions this but prof Dave Goulson has talked about these treatments and although he suggests not using any meds unless you need to, he did say that not all are a known problem at the moment. Our dog is a swimmer and we therefore don't go near any of the spot on treatments, instead she has a tablet that gives 3 months protection from fleas and ticks with a different active ingredient (which isnt know to be problematic yet). We only use it during the summer.

I believe research has also shown that these spot on treatments are killing our birds as well. I think the specifics are that they cause thin egg shells which reduce broods. We used to put our dogs fur out in the past for the birds but have stopped just incase because the links are to nesting material .

 

In the old days you just used a worming tablet and sprayed your dog if you spotted any fleas, I think a lot of this is down to vets and the drug companies pushing their products.

I was surprise last year when the vet said Ben didn't need a booster injection for all the vaccinations as they last longer these days, it used to be an annual event whether they needed it or not.