I had the sad task of burying another ferret today. Whisper was 8½ years old and until her death was the last surviving member of her litter.
She had adrenal disease like her sister who died almost a year ago.
Whisper, the recipient of a number of prizes at ferret shows organized by the Scottish Ferret Club was a good looking, polecat coloured ferret but she was also, like all my ferrets past and present, an extremely gentle ferret. In her lifetime, she was handled by literally hundreds of peopl…
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Added by George Shepherd on December 7, 2009 at 4:35pm —
2 Comments
I received an e-mail recently from the owner of another Ning network of which I am a member. The body of the e-mail contained the following lines:
Ning corporate has sent us an email telling us that unless we increase our activity on the site, they may discontinue it by December 18, 2009.
I don't think that The Thursday File will ever receive such an ultimatum thanks to the immense amount of work Steve puts in to this site. However, I do think it is unfair to expect Steve to do it all.…
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Added by George Shepherd on December 2, 2009 at 9:14pm —
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There can be fewer more stressful situations than that of providing full time care for someone. Around 6 million people (11 per cent of the population aged five years and over) provided unpaid care in the UK in April 2001. While 45 per cent of carers were aged between 45 and 64, a number of the very young and very old also provided care. There were 114,000 children (just over 1 per cent) aged 5 to 15 years providing care in 2001, with 9,000 of these (8 per cent) caring for 50 or more hours a wee…
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Added by George Shepherd on November 11, 2009 at 5:00pm —
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The Scotsman
Published Date: 05 November 2009
By Jenny Fyall
IT is a forest lodge, custom-built to the highest Scandinavian standards, in a stunning loch-side location.
The idyllic family home, built entirely from local materials, meets top eco standards. It boasts a private entrance, a drying area and cosy sleeping quarters.
But this desirable residence will never go on the market – even if th…
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Added by George Shepherd on November 5, 2009 at 10:56am —
3 Comments
I will never understand the public's obsession with so called celebrities. Over the past few years there has been a rash of "reality shows" featuring rich and famous (and not-so-famous people).
One of the first reality shows to be thrust upon us was the Osbournes. Ozzy Osbourne made his name as the lead singer with the heavy metal band Black Sabbath from whom he was apparently fired because of his drug and alcohol addictions.
The Osbournes Show was vulgar and vile. The "stars" of this show make…
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Added by George Shepherd on October 25, 2009 at 6:00pm —
3 Comments
I was overjoyed to read a news report yesterday which told how a couple of drunken yobs attacked two cross-dressing males who turned out to be cage fighters in drag! The yobs were very swiftly given their just desserts by the two cage fighters and were later arrested and charged.
You might well ask yourself why any incident of violence would bring such joy to someone who will normally go to great lengths to avoid violence. The short answer is: I despise yobs.
Perhaps I should explain my reasons…
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Added by George Shepherd on October 8, 2009 at 4:07pm —
2 Comments
Seeing Nathan's ferret pics recently reminded me that there must be many people who, when thinking about getting a small animal for a pet think along the lines of chipmunk, gerbil, hamster, guinea pig, etc. but would never dream of having a ferret. Why not? The simple answer is that for years ferrets have had a bad press. They are dirty, smelly vicious animals. At least, this is the image many people have of them.
In actual fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, some ferrets bite.…
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Added by George Shepherd on October 2, 2009 at 4:25pm —
2 Comments
I came across this interesting web site and just had to share it!
http://andymackiemusic.org/about.html
Be sure to check out the video featuring Andy Mackie on CBS Assugnment America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTZ1VUO5_xM Continue
Added by George Shepherd on September 28, 2009 at 3:14pm —
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Maybe I'm becoming an angry old man but it seems that my list of pet hates increases with each passing year. I have listed a few, maybe you can identify with some of them:
1. Someone squeezing the toothpaste tube at the top.
2. Someone who gouges the butter out of the middle of the block instead of scraping it from the top.
3. Someone leaving the gate open.
4. Able bodied drivers who park in disabled parking bays.
5. Inconsiderate motorists.
6. Inconsiderate pedestrians.
7. Someone helpi…
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Added by George Shepherd on September 27, 2009 at 4:25pm —
16 Comments
Published Date: 14 September 2009
By LAURA HARDING
THE Forces' Sweetheart last night trumped the Fab Four in the battle for the top of the charts, making Dame Vera Lynn the oldest living artist in the world to have a number one album. Dame Vera's debut offering We'll Meet Again – The Very Best of Vera Lynn hit the top spot, meaning the 92-year-old has now usurped Bob Dylan as the oldest artist to grace the premium position.
Her album outsold artists including Arctic Monkeys, Jamie T and The Ki…
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Added by George Shepherd on September 14, 2009 at 11:44am —
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In these times of Hi-Tech entertainment and electronic wizardry isn't it nice to know that we can still derive some pleasure from simple things? I have been thinking lately about some of the things that give me pleasure and although some of these may well elicit snorts of derision, or at the very least blank expressions from some people, I thought I might list them here:
A gleaming wash basin and sparkling taps.
Sheets drying in a summer breeze.
Birds visiting the garden.
The arrival of swallow…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 27, 2009 at 8:00pm —
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ITN
An insurance firm has warned that social networking sites are like internet shopping for burglars with users revealing details about their home and whereabouts to complete strangers.
Users of sites such as Facebook and Twitter are putting themselves at risk of being burgled by revealing too much personal information, according to Legal & General.
Research found that 38 per cent of users of social networking sites have posted updates about their h…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 27, 2009 at 12:21pm —
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Mail Online
A teenager who posted a death threat on Facebook has become the first person in Britain to be jailed for bullying on a social networking site.
Keeley Houghton, 18, wrote on her personal website that she would kill Emily Moore, whom she had bullied since the pair were at school together.
Miss Moore, also 18, had been victimised by Houghton for four years, the court heard, and previously suffered a physical assault as well as damage to her home.
Abusing her on…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 21, 2009 at 3:23pm —
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© Sky News
A rookie cop was left red-faced after nabbing a scruffy suspect walking along a street - not realising it was music legend Bob Dylan.
Police were called after a resident of the New Jersey town of Long Branch spotted a shabbily dressed man acting suspiciously.
A 24-year-ol…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 15, 2009 at 5:58pm —
1 Comment
Daily Express
UK NEWS
ANGER AT £6.4M FOR BANK BOSS
Boss Stephen Hester is under fire
Friday August 7,2009
THERE was anger last night after it was revealed the boss of the Royal Bank of Scotland is to pocket a £6.4million bonus, despite the bank announcing a net loss of more than £1billion.
Thousands of other executives at the bank, which was bailed out with billions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash, are also set to share a…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 8, 2009 at 12:43pm —
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A portrait of Arthur "Peg Leg Sam" Jackson --black harmonica player, singer, and comedian who made his living "busking" on the street and performing in patent-medicine shows touring southern towns. Footage includes excerpts from one of his last medicine shows, videotaped at a county fair in 1972, and material filmed near his home in South Carolina in 1975. The performance includes harmonica solos, songs, a parody of a chanted sermon, folktales and reminiscences, and three buck dances.…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 4, 2009 at 8:10pm —
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Thursday, 28 May 2009
My grandparents tenanted a tiny holding in a small village in East Cork and each square inch of the place was put to full use. There were chickens and turkeys in the front yard and potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbages growing in the trenches out back. And in the fall the apples would be harvested and put in storage for the winter months along with all those root vegetables.
As a small girl I would help prepare the mash for the fowl and scatter it over the yard imitating…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 3, 2009 at 6:23pm —
1 Comment
Sky News
Electronics giant Apple has rejected claims it tried to silence a British family with a gagging order after a girl's iPod exploded.
Eleven-year-old Ellie Stanborough's music player was blown 10ft into the air and was left a scorched, charred mess after she dropped it on the stairs.
But when her father Ken contacted Apple to ask for a refund, he said the company returned a letter insisting any "settlement agreement" must remain "completely confidential".
The letter warned any…
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Added by George Shepherd on August 3, 2009 at 4:02pm —
1 Comment
ITN
Henry Allingham, the oldest surviving serviceman from the First World War, has died at the age of 113, his care home has said.
Mr Allingham served with the Royal Naval Air Service during the Great War, later transferring to the Royal Air Force and serving at Ypres.
Robert Leader, chief executive of St Dunstan's care home in Ovingdean, near Brighton, East Sussex, said: "Everybody at St Dunstan's is saddened by Henry's loss and our sympathy goes out…
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Added by George Shepherd on July 18, 2009 at 5:11pm —
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Steve's post on the Tall Ships reminded me of the time I traveled to Greenock for the Tall Ships Festival. When we arrived there was not a ship in sight! It turned out that I had got the dates mixed up and was a
year early LOL!
Sadly, I didn't make it the following year.
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Added by George Shepherd on July 14, 2009 at 3:38pm —
2 Comments
