Thread: The owl and the pussycat

Caelum’s latest avatar, “Watering the owl” looks like Khali, the other half’s Bengalese Eagle owl. Of course the one in the picture could be a European, they look very similar apart from the size, but it has the same sort of colouring as Khali. Owls vary quite a lot in their colouring from rich browns to a dusty grey. I have been on my own for the last week as Her Indoors has been off on the annual holiday to Wales with her sister and their friends, (Longer time members may remember me mentioning it last year).

I stayed behind this year as my legs and balance now make walking a distance a trial rather than a pleasure and my eyesight is too poor to appreciate the views. This also meant I could feed Khali and Dave the cat, which saves a lot of arranging things.

It has been some time since I handled her and the first day or two I ended up simply dumping the food on the floor for her, but she has now started coming to the fist, it really is a pleasure having a bird that size sitting on your glove.

By the way, they are not being cruel in the picture, in hot weather large birds start overheating and panting to cool down, they enjoy a bit of a spray or a large tray of water to splash about in

This was also good because Dave was not well the week before we went, and kept bringing his food back up some hours after eating when it should not have been in his stomach, the vet thought a touch of pancreatitis, he has been on a light diet and is much better now.

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle

my eyesight is too poor to appreciate the views

What's the latest on the cataracts?

My eyes are in poor condition from repeated attacks of scleritis, my retina is detaching slightly and I have a lot of crystal in the back part of the eye which a cataract operation would not touch, also immune system attacks on the nerves have left me with slight double vision. Now I am on mofetil and a reduced dose of prednisolone the cataracts do not appear to be getting worse. The received wisdom from Moorfields is that I could actually end up with worse sight after an operation and I am better off without one. Stand by your beds, continue as you were, nil illigitimum carborundum, forget the car and stay on the bus and we will give you a new glasses prescription that may help in three months time.

Advice to young readers, stay that way, don't get older. This may be difficult but it will be well worth it in the long run if you can manage it.

New glasses in three months, or may help in three months? I suspect the former. Questions need to be asked in the House. This man needs his glasses now.

"nil illigitimum carborundum" - ROFL


It is possible that whoever coined the phrase utilised a play on words involving the 'bastard file'. This form of file had been in use since the 17th century and was referred to in Joseph Moxon's Mechanick Exercises, 1677:

"The Bastard-tooth'd file is to take out of your work, the deep cuts ... the Rough-file made; the Fine-tooth'd file is to take out the cuts ... the Bastard-file made."

I remember when, as a kid working in my dad's hardware shop, the intermediate files even then were still referred to as bastards. Imagine what that did to a 15-year-old's hormones, in a more innocent age.

My metalwork teacher was giving a kid a hard time because he couldn't remember the difference between bastard and other files, the kid lost it and said "They are all bastards to me" before storming off, didn't go down well.
Three months to the tests, they are a world centre of excellence, very busy and have a lot of patients worse off than me. I could go to my local opticians and get a sight test tomorrow, but I am not sure they could account for the diplopia, and experience tells me Moorfields have the best minds and the best equipment, the confidence I have in them means I am willing to wait.