What's on Your Mind

[Meebs]

So you have transit to get around, @Cridders88?  We Americans are addicted to our damned cars.  I used to be able to ride the bus to work, but that was only for a relatively short time out of my working years.  Transit here is lame.  @Meebs, do you have it?

There is public transit in the town next to me but not in my actual town. I live out in the middle of nowhere almost lol

[Bhp91126]

I hate how I always get heat rash on my arms. Itches like crazy....

Do you wash your arms with soap? If yes, make sure you rinse and rub the soap off extra thoroughly. That might help.

Never really experimented with soaps over the heat rash. Only get it in the summer time. For a while I thought it was something to do with sun exposure because that's when I usually get it but if I sit in front of a camp fire I also get it. Does seem to get better as the seasons goes...hard to say for sure.

The soap-remains on the skin reacted to sunlight and caused a rash that was very itchy. Once I started rubbing the skin with clear water in the shower the rash disappeared.

[LJay]

I hate how I always get heat rash on my arms. Itches like crazy....

Do you wash your arms with soap? If yes, make sure you rinse and rub the soap off extra thoroughly. That might help.

Try a handful of baking soda in a basin of cool water.  It often eases skin irritation.

[marshlander]

Feeling very sad. I like to think of myself as live and let live, but there are some species that, reluctantly, I have to admit do need to be controlled - maybe a bit like homo sapiens ...

Although I live on a river I am fortunate that I don't seem to see rats very often. Yesterday morning though I noticed a mink slipping under the door to my storage shed. At first I thought it might be an otter, because they have been making a comeback in this area, but I realised it was too small. All the mink I have seen before have had very dark, mostly black coats, but this one was coconut brown.

The American mink is an invasive species. They are voracious predators and since they became a part of the British wildlife scene following the escape and misguided release of captive mink from the "farms" where they were bred for their fur some fifty years ago native species of waterside mammals, particularly voles, have been decimated. It is now the nesting season and mink will take and destroy a very wide range of wildlife for food - not just the fish and freshwater mussels that I see from time to time as evidence of their proximity, but also eggs from nests and adult birds if they think they can do it. There is a legal requirement to notify the authorities if a mink moves in.

Unless you catch sight of one the first alert is often the smell. Their droppings and hoards of half-eaten animals that they leave in and around their nests have a perfume that few would describe as pleasant. It is sickening. They are also very destructive. One took up residence in a friend's boat a few years ago and caused hundreds of pounds of damage by destroying all the furnishings and leaving piles of those evil-smelling droppings everywhere. I think the cause of the damage to the cratch cover on my own boat a few years ago was probably mink.

I'd noticed some of the dogs on the farm here taking an interest in my shed so obviously something was up. I thought it was probably rats, but when I opened up the shed it was clear this wasn't a rat problem. Something was moving about inside though. I put on my overalls and a pair of work gloves and set to emptying the shed. When I cleared some of it I went to find the lady with the two terriers that have been scratching around the shed. She came down with the dogs and they were immediately on it. They cornered the mink in a box and it was not happy. It was hissing, screeching and lungeing at one of the dogs. The farmer, on whom is the legal requirement to deal with rodents, turned up with his air rifle. When he poked the end of the gun into the box the mink attacked it. After the sow was dispatched the dogs set about finding the kits. There were six newborns. Inside the nest were the remnants of the sow's kill. I thought there seemed fewer moorhens around this year. What I found pointed to one of the reasons.

So, today I am sad, but I have to temper that with the realisation that some of my other wildlife neighbours will likely live for longer.

[LJay]

@"marshlander" Life isn't fun sometimes but taking the longer view helps. Sorry you had to deal with this.

[andy]

@InbetweenDreams you might have some food allergies too... I used to get a rash until I cut out dairy from my diet.  I found out I was allergic to milk from a test (York clinic blood test).  Was a bit expensive at the time (about 14 years ago) but was worth it in the long run.

@"marshlander" ...don't feel too bad about it... as you mentioned they are an invasive species and the situation could have been a lot worse if they were allowed to breed more!  Your whole area could have been overrun with the little critters and they would have affected other animal populations.

[InbetweenDreams]

@andy I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. I do have GI issues that have been going on for years that I think is linked to some kind of food stuffs. I just haven't pinned it down to what it is or perhaps several things. There's a big long back story...whenever I get the time to go in about it. As for the heat rash. Definitely heat rash, never get it in the winter. I went on a long hike yesterday and my arms got sunburned and got heat rash. They didn't itch during the hike but boy they sure when when I got home. Tiny little bumps on my arms which I suspect are the clogged sweat glands.

I'll definitely have to post about my stomach woes, it's a conundrum in itself.

But yes, I got out of the house, went for a 7 hour hike. I did about 9.5 miles and about 1,800 ft of elevation gain. It really was too much. It's one thing when you do a loop but an out and back hike, I kind of have the tendency to go too far. I was completely wore out. I probably should have done half that I did. I probably posted about it years ago, but it is the Fire's Creek, Rim Trail. The trail isn't well maintained that well, mainly because it a hard hike. Not a trail for beginners by any means. I got ate up around my ankles I guess from spiders or something...they got through my socks. So I'm going to have to revisit that as I'd rather not get bug bites all over me. It was overall nice, just need to be more acclimated to those sort of hikes. I'd like to do the entire trail which is 25 miles and probably will take 3 days to do. Really need to have someone to go hike with but that is probably going to be difficult since it is a difficult trail. Last month would have been better weather, it is so much nicer when it is 50 doing these big climbs.

[LJay]

@InbetweenDreams Have you had a colonoscopy?
Apologies if I have asked you before.

[InbetweenDreams]

@LJay Nope, and that is part of the conundrum that is my life.

[Meebs]

Really appreciating all my friends.