jude

It's for people with a HT intolerance :lol: :lol: :lol:

That's disgusting. Its just another example of the lack of service today. Fancy being expected to walk into the morgue yourself. What's wrong with the lazy staff that they didn't carry him? :lol: :lol:

IMO smacking is violence. So is yelling and screaming. And, IMO, neither is an appropriate way of bringing up children. I think what needs to change in this country is our attitude to children and our attitude to how to discipline them. I believe the law change is part of that. Who remembers the lack of interest and 'defiance' when the campaigns for not drinking and driving began? Yet, over time and through perserverance, the attitude of the majority has changed and now driving while drunk is disapproved of rather than accepted. I would have hoped that this law change was the start of the same process for smacking children. It would be nice to see people being willing to consider other peoples opinions and experiences instead of hotly defending their right to smack their children. This thread started out that way but now seems to me to be becoming angrier

I agree with Alanmin. I don't see how we can justify hitting the smallest and most vulnerable in our society. In my opinion, all it teaches them is that bigger people can hurt smaller people. I confess that I smacked my children but it was very rare and only when I didn't know what else to do. If a good parenting course had been available back then I could probably have avoided that by having a few more parenting strategies. Despite hardly ever being smacked, my kids are successful too. I define successful as: They have never been in trouble with the law They are honest They are kind to animals They are considerate of others They are nice to their dear old mum :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'm not snappering, I'm just feeling crabby so don't flex your mussels at me by hoki

There is a local firm called Well Hung Joiners

My results varied according to which test I chose but I scored the best in Aesop's fables Net Speed: 53 WPM (words/minute) Accuracy: 91% Gross Speed: 58 WPM (words/minute) Lowest one was Net speed 43WPM

I'm exotic and I have pet cats :lol: :lol: :lol:

There's no getting around rising costs Once lots of people have pellet fires I bet their prices rise too. If different firms are making pellets now, is there any difference in the quality? Some might burn away much faster than others if that was so.

What are the running costs of pellet fires? I understood they were 'reasonably' economical compared to other forms of heating but I recently overheard two women discussing how expensive the pellets were. Does anyone know???

yolko ono Hi Vinson (Jude waves back)

Chookolate

Did anyone know that May 23rd was world turtle day? I have visions of you all dressing up as turtles and basking under a heater :lol: :lol: :lol:

Lots of people have tried to catch him, he's sneaky. He's also living in a part of the river where I've been told you are not supposed to fish - and no, the trout didn't tell me :lol: :lol: :lol:

What a good idea. They'd have to be big native fish though - or the big old trout who lives down there would eat them :lol: :lol:

Thanks everyone. The move was horrific - I am never doing that again. It was like musical houses - one son and his family were moved from their flat into a rented house. The other son was moved from his flat into the empty one. We moved into the second flat with a minimum of stuff (cause we are going to be renovating). The rest of the stuff was shared between one son's garage and the other son's spare bedroom - so it was like 5 moves in total. I am loving it here - nice quiet location and a river at the back. I haven't once felt I made the wrong decision. The flats are rundown and need new windows and paint. We will also be renovating the bathroom and kitchen, extending the lounge slightly and building decks and a ramp. The planning and thinking about it is fun, I'm not sure that living here while the renovations happen will be quite so enjoyable :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Thanks Zev. I have had a few emails from Caryl - it sounds like they are having a great time I have mirc set up again now - I decided to shout myself a new computer to go with the new place - so I will pop into chat tonight if I remember.

I've been offline for several weeks while we moved house - did you all miss me? And what did I miss? Any important info? Any gossip? Any good fights? :lol: :lol: :lol:

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I bought some new fish and quarantined them. While they were still in the quarantine tank, the original fish got white spot :lol: :lol: :lol: The poor new fish would have got the blame if I'd put them straight in the main tank!

Shout them coffee and some smoked fish at the Smokehouse on Mapua wharf - its directly opposite the aquarium. That should persuade them to take you.

Charge him heaps :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

That looks really great, glad the plants were useful

Google soup recipes - easy, nutritious and delicious, especially with fresh crusty bread. Eat it for dinner then take the rest to warm up for lunch at work As Caryl said, crockpots are great for long slow cooking and are safe to leave on.

That does look like a lot of fish for that sized tank. I'd recommend plenty of water changes, reduced feeding and careful filter maintenance - as others have said, be careful not to wipe out all the good bacteria when you clean it. In the past I've found that unwell fish often lurk around in the background and hide. Good luck

Didn't they move recently? Perhaps they are not properly back online yet.