My cousin believes that the family homestead house is haunted. She claims the female ghost there doesn't like her. And that there is at least one other ghost as well. Years ago, she claimed to have seen the ghost of my other cousin who died at a young age in a tractor accident, so she's seen ghosts before.

This house that she claims is haunted has been in the family for almost 200 years. It's a fairly run down old place in the NE PA countryside, an hour's drive from Scranton. I've always thought it was a pretty creepy place, although I have lots of great memories of family there over the years.

This house has had an active bat colony in the attic since I was a child, and probably before then, so you definitely hear noises when you are there alone.

Anyway, it's now gone to a new level. I didn't realize this, but my cousin somehow arranged to have the Penn State Paranormal Club come out to the house with all their equipment and inspect the place. They claimed to detect a female ghost there. This club has a reality show, but the house won't appear on the show.

It's all a little amusing. I don't really believe in ghosts. I've never seen one. But I've had the heebs when I've been in that house. And so has just about everyone in my family. My mom grew up there, and she is kind of scared of the place. If you are alone, it's scary to just go inside. But once you are in and spend some time in there, it's fine. I lived there for a summer, and it was pretty normal.

My Aunt lives there now, and this cousin of mine goes to check on her mother and do stuff at the house, and keeps seeing ghosts. She was over there this week doing some painting, and sensed the ghost again. Interesting.

Have you ever seen/felt a ghost?

I haven't. When I moved into my apartment in the sky, however, I told the potential ghosts I'd be cool if they were.

That house is awesome. I love old spooky-vibe houses. There's a house in town that looks like an illustration straight out of a children's book; it's that much the epitome of a haunted looking house.

I do remember a guy I knew swearing he'd seen a ghost on the fourth floor of the old factory where I worked. My ex said "Oh, I don't doubt that he saw a ghost, I just think it was a figment of his psychosis."

Has anyone besides your cousin seen or felt this ghost?

I'd be more than happy to camp out there for a while and let you know if I see one! ;) I love scary scary.

Nobody else has seen the ghost, but everyone agrees the house is creepy. Except my aunt, who lives there. She thinks it's just a house, and that the whole thing is silly.

Here are a couple more shots of the house. I dug through some old pictures.
The outside.
Attachment 38997

The upstairs hallway.
Attachment 38998

One of the many cool old details in the place.
Attachment 38999

beautiful house.

no ghost experience. I've had the heebiejeebies before though.

A simple doorknob can give me such a feeling of nostalgia. Is there a job called "loving old houses" or some such?

yes, but the pay is a negative amount

Ah yeah. That won't work for me. Rats!

Have you had the carbon monoxide levels checked? That can cause weird brain states that can be interpreted as ghost encounters.

That house has been in your family since before European settlement of the state of South Australia. Holy old house, Glattman.

I'd be working in the cellar and hear the front door open and close, then footsteps on rug, hardwood, rug and hardwood again, all the way to the dining room. I'd go upstairs and nothing. This happened pretty frequently to me, and two other people who were here when I wasn't home. The kicker is the dog would look up too. :ghost:
I fiqure it's the old lady that died here so I don't have to worry about showing her around.

Cultural differences mean I say big house! as opposed to old house.
I categorically don't believe in ghosts, heaven, life after death or reincarnation.

But I am very easily spooked for all that.
Perhaps I judge other people through my own lens, and assume that they are just creeping themselves out too.

I don't think I've ever had the Heebs though.
I think that was Monster.

I think that was Hitler.

:bolt:

/thread

Google says there is such a thing as doorknob porn. I'm not clicking to verify.

(Won't the feds/kids have fun when they look at my search history........)

Ooh! I just know I've seen one of those "Oops, accidental reflection!" ones in a doorknob.
I won't look either.
I want Diz to respect me.

I thought I'd missed the start of the England vs France match.
Dad was calling someone a fucking arsehole downstairs.

Checked the clock - KO is 17.00.
Okay. He is objecting to a commentator.
My father so rarely swears, but when he does he is either driving or watching football.

Last night he turned the commentary off (ITV) and listened to Radio 5 Live instead (BBC).
Unfortunately the radio was about 5 econds ahead of the TV.
He loved it.
As I wandered in and out he would gleefully say to me "He's going to hit the crossbar!" or "Watch! Tackle!"

I was busy making cakes for school. Only to realise this morning - while cleaning my teeth - that it was an Inset Day (teachers only training). Took them in anyway, they'll have needed fuel and silly to let them get a day staler.

Off to join Dads for the match now.
Laters potaters!

lol - here the radio is always 5 seconds behind the TV. Hmmmmm

It is midnight oh two and I'm a damn pumpkin. Again.

For a midnight snack there's lemonade and pumpkin pie.

In the Italy vs Croatia game earlier this evening, the BBC TV coverage was a few seconds ahead of the BBC radio coverage.
/Strokes beard in bemusement.

Speaking of cool old buildings, as part of my job, today I was entrusted with the keys to this:

Attachment 39076

Here's the inside, where we'll be running exams next week.

Attachment 39078

ETA Well, I did have to give the keys back at the end of the day, but I did go for bit of an explore and climbed up the tower on the right corner in pic one.

ETAA great collection of pics at http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tag...l/interesting/ including some of it very creatively lit as part of an art festival.

Beautiful. Really lovely.

Those are ingenious feats of lighting... still haven't figured out how
the casings and ledges were lit separately and so cleanly from the walls.

gorgeous, ZenGum, deserving of its own thread. And its own internet connection. Be aware, cellar clickers, there are 369 pictures at the page behind that link and they're all coming from the other side of the planet. Patience, patience.

I would have been tempted to copy that key.

1. Take a photo of the building from a fixed spot.
2. Set up a single kick-arse floodlight at that spot. Turn other lights off.
3. Use the photo to design some transparent slide to throw coloured light on the building.
4. Place slide in front of spotlight.
5. Make many slides, cycle through them.
6. :rasta:
7. Like, whoah, maaaannnn, coooooool.

There are a bunch of lovely old buildings along North Terrace, for the festival of arts they all get this treatment.

I've been biding my time...

slinking around waiting in the dark corners...

when you weren't looking...

Waiting for just the right moment...
>
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>
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>
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I've never seen a BBQ with a solid top like that, I guess it's to keep the shrimp from falling through.

Oh wow!

Mav has been talking about breeding birds for a while now. We have an aviary which we've never used since we moved to this house, so I told him I didn't see a problem with his plan at all. So he settled on peach faces because they're good breeders and easy to care for.

The major impediment is that the boat has been parked next to the aviary which restricts access and really would make it kind of hard to sit and look at the birds anyway, so I suggested to Mav that we clean up the shed and put the boat away (something I've been waiting for almost 2 yrs for my husband to do), and then next weekend we can clean out the aviary and make the garden nice around it again, and then all he needs to do is build a couple of breeding boxes (easy peasy) and away he goes.

So we went out to the shed yesterday, and Aden and Max came mostly to watch at first, but then we started making some really good head way and they got into the spirit of it all and started helping out. Before long we had everything stacked neatly around the edges, tools sorted, fishing gear in the boat or in the right spot on the work bench, floor swept, and general rubbish in the bin. The whole job took less than 2 hours from start to finish, and the boat is now in the shed leaving unrestricted access to the aviary.

I should have taken before and after shots. Aden's first comment was that it didn't take as long as he thought it would, and Mav just looked happy about it all. Max went around the floor picking up all the runaway sinkers.

They all did a great job, and said to Aden, "Imagine how much quicker it would have been done if you'd gotten stuck into it right from the start".

Food for thought.

Great family time, Ali.
Good luck to Mav with the breeding.

Lots of pics needed of course.

I did the rosters yesterday, and rostered myself off for today :) Its 2.30pm and I have been up since 5am and everything is spotless and Ive been bored for the last 2 hours.

Shoulda gone to work.

whats the little monkies name in picture above?

Howdy Ms Sexton!

I don't know that we ever named the monkey - it's based on the saying about an infinite number of monkeys playing on an infinite number of typewriters. We have a poster called Infinite Monkey though.

Perhaps you could call it Spanky.

We saw a snake yesterday.
A real, live, outside-captivity snake!

I was so excited.
First ever in my lifetime.
It just snaked its way across the hot path in front of us (concrete walk in otherwise open fields by a river).

I was out with Mum - who is terrified of snakes. They repulse her. She cannot even look at a picture of one in a book. She didn't read or watch most of the Harry Potter franchise because of this. I think she tried the first film and retired when she saw a trailer for the second.

So instead of grabbing my camera and charging after it I stood still and hugged her. I feel good about that. I also didn't mention it again, even though my whole brain was singing snake! snake! snake! and my whole body was humming along.

I know this will sound so silly to people who live in countries chockful of snakes, but it's a really extraordinary occurrence for me - like seeing a "falling star" (twice in 40 years).

Happiness.

ETA it was a grass snake, one of only three indiginous snakes in this country and non-venomous.

Exciting! I'm glad you saw a snake, Sundae. Snakes are cool. Even here, you don't see them every day, and I get a little excited when I see one. "Look, a snake!"

When I was a lad, my friends and I used to hunt and catch them. We had a Jr Herpetology club of sorts. Mostly we caught Garter Snakes.... but we caught a milk snake once, which was cool.. and a Rainbow garter... HUGE fucker. 5-6 feet long, and thick as a bike tire.

One time, I made a grab for a small garter...(we used to do that thing they do with Cobras where you get them looking at your one hand, then snatch them with the other) and it bit me. I was so surprised that I yanked my hand back reflexively. I tossed the snake 10 feet in the air.... and it came down right on Dan's head. It slashed my finger open as it was jerked free.

I remember Eric getting bit another time, and him being calm enough to simply remove the snake's teeth carefully from his hand, leaving a couple small punctures instead of a pair of lacerations like I had.

Come over here Sundae. You'll be lucky to go a month in the cool season without seeing one if you hang around my suburb for a while.

You'll see venomous and non. Big and small. All sorts of snakes. Some of them even up close and personal if you're really lucky. lol

If you want to see more deadly snakes than not, I'll take you to Dad's place. He has taipans, king browns, eastern browns and the less deadly red belly blacks. (we have those too, but we have a lot of non venomous around our area too).

I've even snacked on a few.

Wikipedia - Snake, consumption:
"U.S. Army Special Forces trainees are taught to catch, kill, and eat snakes during their survival course; this has earned them the nickname "snake eaters", ..."
Wikipedia - Special Forces (United States Army), introduction:
"Nickname
Green Berets, Quiet Professionals, Soldier-Diplomats, Snake Eaters, Bearded Bastards"

I had the rattlesnake appetizer once in a touristy steak house in Phoenix. It was alright. Six of us shared a snake segment about 6 inches long. It was broiled, I think. I'd eat it again.

Meet Homer and Marge, Mav's first breeding pair of Lovebirds.

Attachment 39886

Looks like Mav is going for a "double rainbow"

It will be interesting to see what colour babies they make, if they end up being successful breeders.

Pretty, pretty.

It's Cherry's Week of Wildlife apparently.
Had two hedgehogs in the garden last night - mama and baby I think.
Now hodgepigs aren't rare in my life or even in this area, but I don't see as many as I used to and still find them exciting.
I put down some cat food for them (Mia's hahaha) and they were very happy with that.
They are noisy buggers. They were up and down the decking like Roman centurians. Mum thought I was out there moving the garden furniture around.

They obviously have the same heavy paw syndrome as Diz - in which a tiny animal can exert massive force in one single paw, usually about 14 stone right on my tit at about 04.30.

Har! Love hodgepigs.

Martin and Sophie found a baby one on their walk last week. It looked like it had fallen off a wall. They googled to see whether it is advised to leave them for mum or take them in. Take it in apparently. So now they have a hodgepig in their menagerie:P

Mum & Dad took one to a local wildlife hospital the other week. But it was hurt (they think by a council mower) and definitely needed treatment.

The hospital gave them a good prognosis on initial viewing and asked for a donation. Good tactics - get people who care to cough up when they're vulnerable (not being sarcastic). Mum strong-armed Dad into £10 and felt good for the rest of the day.

Poor vulnerable lickle things. Spines are no match for ride-on garden machinery.

I know. So tiny!

I see lots of hedgehogs around here. From time to time I see a dead one on the road, but not so often considering how many there appear to be bumbling about the village of a night time.

Chops (love that btw :p) and I somtimes just stand and watch one doing its hodgepiggy thing when we go for our last walk. They're so cute.

I am very hungry today. I've already had a big bowl of cereal. I think I need to eat something else. :(

I had some more cereal, then a glass of milk. Now I feel stuffed...and I need a nap. :(

Saw 38 perseid meteors tonight. It was pretty awesome, especially since I have never seen a 'shooting star' before tonight.

Seriously? Never saw a shooting star?

They are cool. In Maine one summer I watched the Draconids (I'm pretty sure) I lost count.

What's your position on NorthernLights?

Havent seen those yet either.

I went back out again to see Jupiter and Venus rise with the crescent moon and I saw 20 more meteors. A few of them were fireball types, with the thicker tails that last a little longer.

The night sky in Arizona is just amazing to me. Its just not something Im used to having grown up in suburban northwest Indiana (only 30 miles southeast of Chicago).

<-- envious.

Very poor conditions for viewing the Perseids down under this year. Sounds like you had a great view.

Yeah, I think so...a lot of them were directly overhead, so most of the time, I was just lying down in the lawn chair looking up. And this was in my Mom's backyard.

I heard an interesting term on the radio today:

"spin-loaded question"

Made me think about asking neutral questions in an effort to get a higher quality answer (that is, one that has more objective content and less subjective/opinion/persuasion/insulting hostility) I realize there is a whole universe of good questions for which this is difficult or impossible or inappropriate.

Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning (indeed Socrates himself thought that questioning was the only defensible form of teaching). It illuminates the difference between systematic and fragmented thinking. It teaches us to dig beneath the surface of our ideas. It teaches us the value of developing questioning minds in cultivating deep learning. Integrating Socratic questions this the following manner in the classroom help develop active, independent learners:[2][unreliable source?]

Getting students to clarify their thinking

e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Could you explain further?’

Challenging students about assumptions

e.g., ‘Is this always the case?’, ‘Why do you think that this assumption holds here?’

Evidence as a basis for argument

e.g., ‘Why do you say that?’, ‘Is there reason to doubt this evidence?’

Alternative viewpoints and perspectives

e.g., ‘What is the counter argument for?’, ‘Can/did anyone see this another way?’

Implications and consequences

e.g., ‘But if...happened, what else would result?’, ‘How does...affect...?’

Question the question

e.g., ‘Why do you think that I asked that question?’, ‘Why was that question important?’, ‘Which of your questions turned out to be the most useful?’

Well, you could go old school.

I will return to Griff's post soon.

In the meantime, I've run *out* of gas for the lawnmower, and I'm perilously low on motivation. I still have plenty of sweat though. 85 degrees is plenty hot to be wrangling a mower through the high grass, catsears, rhododendrons, blackberry canes and english fucking ivy.

I've got a couple hundred pounds of stinking billy goat for your greenery.

ooohhhh baby... I *love it* when you talk like that!

I'm away from the location of my pictures documenting my latest deforestation ordeal. The companionship of stinking billy goats would never have smelled sweeter. Pics to follow.

Turns out I had no more motivation than I had gasoline. I have since replenished my reserves of both. Still have plenty of tall greenery to shorten.