The General Chat Thread (2024)

SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
So is rabbits eating cars a common thing in Oz?
Or do you just have phenomenal number rabbits?
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I was in the UK. Remember, I have only been in Australia for 8 yrs.

And yes, in the UK, in the countryside, it is more common than people realise but usually it is put down to other things. However there are few explanations for the car electrics having nothing longer than 2 inches without a break in the wiring. And no issues reaching up into the wheel arches or engine bay (rats, mice or squirrels). Plus we used to see them under the car all the time and didn't know it was an issue. You could also see their teeth marks. Rabbits are a bullying society and the younger rabbits are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Our vehicle was the right height for smaller rabbits to get under, but not larger ones. But they still need to eat, that's the grass we parked on, and more importantly, they still need to gnaw because their teeth continue to grow all of their lives.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I was in the UK. Remember, I have only been in Australia for 8 yrs.

And yes, in the UK, in the countryside, it is more common than people realise but usually it is put down to other things. However there are few explanations for the car electrics having nothing longer than 2 inches without a break in the wiring. And no issues reaching up into the wheel arches or engine bay (rats, mice or squirrels). Plus we used to see them under the car all the time and didn't know it was an issue. You could also see their teeth marks. Rabbits are a bullying society and the younger rabbits are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Our vehicle was the right height for smaller rabbits to get under, but not larger ones. But they still need to eat, that's the grass we parked on, and more importantly, they still need to gnaw because their teeth continue to grow all of their lives.
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I think that must be area dependant. I live a few fields back from the sea and behind the farm is woodland and a disused quarry (so that's farmland, coast and woodland) and we don't have a problem with rabbits. We have very very few rabbits. But we do have a large population of foxes so perhaps that's why.

Edit: I had 6 rescue rabbits and was surprised how hierarchal they are, the fluffy bunny image they have is far apart from the red in tooth n claw reality! In the end I needed two feed stations and three water bowls so the dominant rabbits couldn't prevent the lower ranks from eating and drinking!
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
I think that must be area dependant. I live a few fields back from the sea and behind the farm is woodland and a disused quarry (so that's farmland, coast and woodland) and we don't have a problem with rabbits. We have very very few rabbits. But we do have a large population of foxes so perhaps that's why.

Edit: I had 6 rescue rabbits and was surprised how hierarchal they are, the fluffy bunny image they have is far apart from the red in tooth n claw reality! In the end I needed two feed stations and three water bowls so the dominant rabbits couldn't prevent the lower ranks from eating and drinking!
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We had only 1 occasional fox. We had several warrens of rabbits though surrounding the house on all sides. The whole area (pretty much as far as you could cycle in any direction in 1 day) was overrun with rabbits.

It was similar in the lake district (ullswater) when we lived there as well, but in the part of Scotland we lived in, it was red deer that were the problem.
 
The rubber seal in our washer is getting gunky, any recommendations? I did read 1 thing about soaking kitchen towel in bleach, tucking into the gunky bits overnight, remove then put on 60 degrees. Any other suggestions?
 
Lullabelle said:
The rubber seal in our washer is getting gunky, any recommendations? I did read 1 thing about soaking kitchen towel in bleach, tucking into the gunky bits overnight, remove then put on 60 degrees. Any other suggestions?
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Washer=??? Seal (guess not because of the temperature cycle. At least I'm assuming 60° is not an angle of 60° but 60°C?), dishwasher, washing machine?

Assuming a washing machine...
I'd not risk bleach overnight. It could easily kill more than you planned. Does your washing machine have a cleaning cycle? Mine had a 90°C dedicated cleaning cycle, else try it empty on the hottest wash? Or you could try one of those washing machine cleaning agents that get advertised on TV and such.
 
I reset the predictive text on my phone again today after a hot chocolate became "got choclear" and on the second attempt "hot cockatoos".

I don't think it has helped. I'm still worrying complete rubbish that leaves even me staging my head winding what I was trying to write
 
I just posted a cake in the Baking thread, and it occurred to me that I've learnt a new British expression for a very hot day: A baking hot day.
Quite appropriate...I really loved it.

I enjoy learning those nuances from a great online teacher, she has a Youtube channel. And these two word combinations are called collocations. A scorching hot etc.
 
clothes washer?
front loader?

they are absolutely famous for going gunky.
wipe clean, rewipe with weak chlorine solution - rewipe every wash . . .
we never got rid of the stains - it was clean, but stained . . .
and then we replaced it with a top loader....
 
CookieMonster said:
clothes washer?
front loader?

they are absolutely famous for going gunky.
wipe clean, rewipe with weak chlorine solution - rewipe every wash . . .
we never got rid of the stains - it was clean, but stained . . .
and then we replaced it with a top loader....
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You'd be hard pushed to buy a top loader in the UK or find anyone who owned one. I seem to remember back in the 60's they were around.
 
Morning Glory said:
You'd be hard pushed to buy a top loader in the UK or find anyone who owned one. I seem to remember back in the 60's they were around.
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We used to have one.... but it was purchased secondhand for £1 at an auction house back in 1993. It was fantastic. The spin cycle could almost dry anything at all. But it whilst it was a top loader, the drum spun in the same direction as a front loader, so the opening to get clothes in and out, was actually part of the outside edge of the drum. I remember my Grannie having a top loader, but it spun it the usually direction for a top loader.

They're quite common here in Australia for some reason.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Best of luck with that.

When rabbits literally ate our vehicle off the road, they refused to cover us despite the fact that the garden was down as being parked in a field. That's always what we recorded our made sure they were aware of. The rabbits had chewed through all of the abs wiring, tow bar wires, fuel pipe, brake pipes, hand brake cable and that rubberised foam that gets sprayed onto the underside of a vehicle (at the corners before anyone asks, so any bend was chewed to bare metal.). I'd asked the garage to investigate the oil leak we had because I could see oil under the vehicle on the ground, but the engine wasn't losing oil, so I was a touch confused. It turned out that the rabbits had finally (it took about 5-6 years) gnawed through the automatic gearbox as well.

We ended up footing the entire bill for a new vehicle ourselves. That one was chosen for what the underside looked like. We visited a car supermarket and literally lay under each vehicle, nope, they'll have a field day with that one. We narrowed it down to a VW Bora or an Audi A4. We went with the A4.
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WTH??? What kind of rabbits do you have? Our rabbits eat grass.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
WTH??? What kind of rabbits do you have? Our rabbits eat grass.
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Rabbits have to gnaw all the time to keep their teeth in check. Their teeth grow continually. If they get too long, they'll starve and die. Even wild rabbits do this and your's will be no different, you just won't be aware of it.

There's a fascinating book called "the private life of Mr Rabbit" that goes into extensive detail on rabbits and their physiology. Did you know that rabbits are one of the very few species that when pregnant, if the conditions become unfavourable to the survival of the litter, can re-absorb the foetuses and not give birth. It saves energy and resources when fire or other disasters or just unfavourable conditions occur.
 
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