I thought this was a groundhog (also called a woodchuck)… but its an Austrian marmot
They’re actually related, in that both are large ground squirrels, but have different habitats.
Matteo Walch, according to their website, and his family have been traveling to Groslocker in the Austrian Alps for two weeks every year since he was four. He immediately began forming a rare bond with the mountain marmots.
They didn’t make their usual warning notice when he approached them, didn’t run or hide, and now they let him feed and pet them. Not even other family members can do it.
This picture was taken a few years ago… I couldn’t find dates or his present age.
He must have been a marmot in a previous life. When they first spotted him they thought “It’s him! The one the prophesies foresaw. The one the elders spoke of. He has returned to us to show us the way and deliver us from want!”
It looks so quaint… so ridiculous.
How could anybody believe those claims?
Well, over 100 years later, you can still buy pretty much the same massager, in various sizes and configurations…. and in some ads, they still make almost the same claims.
I’m afraid if you want to roll it under your chin, though, you’ll have to hold it up without the nifty head contraption.
The good news, though, is that in 2025, it still costs $10, even though that’s not even an hour’s work in most jobs…
It was a whole month’s rent for a lot of people back then.
Hard to believe it was that expensive!
Must have been very disappointing.
I have a bunch of these… all made in China, AFAIK.
I love them!
My latest is from Dollar Tree… I think the first was from the flea market in the 70s. A fellow who sold there always had a metal wastebasket full of them for 50 cents each.
But they’re for scratching your back, not for massaging, so to me, it’s not a question of preference.
I do think they’re better at their job than the rolling massagers are at theirs… but it’s easier to make a simple tool that’s scratchy than one that will do an effective massage.
Funny thing is, though, some of the scratchers have a couple of those massage rollers embedded in the handle, so you can try to do both jobs with them.
But it’s not great at massaging, and eventually the little bamboo sticks they roll on break, and the rollers fall out…. so it’s just a back scratcher again.
B-2 Spirit (stealth bomber) flying a demonstration profile at low level in daylight. Missions are flown at high altitudes at night. Only 19 or 20 remain active (out of 21 built).
Going to be offline for several hours as British Telecom (BT) have decided that I need to be transferred over from copper wire telephone lines to ‘Digital Voice’ fibre cables. It means that I should get faster internet connection too.
I could have paid for fibre a couple of years back, but I knew that BT was going to be upgrading the house connections soon, so I waited and they’re doing it for free because it’s their choice to do it 😉
Hopefully I’ll get back online at some point today.
OK, so fibre isn’t going to be installed today after all. BT sent a subcontractor (Morrisons Utilities) to do the install. Turns out that the guy they sent is not allowed to go into lofts, so that’s that. Plus he said that he has to do the splicing at ground level and not off a ladder. The cable can’t come through the lower walls because of the design of the house and what’s on the inside, and the existing cable is drilled through the wooden doorframe, so that’s a non-starter. Plus the existing cable then runs behind a storage heater…..
I asked why the job wasn’t ‘Pre-sited’ (surveyed) as all this could have been established beforehand, and no one had said anything about the operative not being allowed to go into lofts. The guy said that he was to do the survey ‘now’ before he started on the job.
I’ve had experience of working with Morrisons Utilities before, the company is quite useless.
My data speed is less than 35Mb/s with FTTC. I was promised up to 75Mb/s, but it never got above 45Mb/s, and been getting steadily worse over time. Fibre to the house will be faster.
I have one autograph. I met Mike Shannon in St. Louis after a Cardinals game. He signed a baseball and gave it to me. I looked at it later. He’d signed it, “Jackie Robinson.”
I thought this was a groundhog (also called a woodchuck)… but its an Austrian marmot
They’re actually related, in that both are large ground squirrels, but have different habitats.
Matteo Walch, according to their website, and his family have been traveling to Groslocker in the Austrian Alps for two weeks every year since he was four. He immediately began forming a rare bond with the mountain marmots.
They didn’t make their usual warning notice when he approached them, didn’t run or hide, and now they let him feed and pet them. Not even other family members can do it.
This picture was taken a few years ago… I couldn’t find dates or his present age.
He must have been a marmot in a previous life. When they first spotted him they thought “It’s him! The one the prophesies foresaw. The one the elders spoke of. He has returned to us to show us the way and deliver us from want!”
Rodents.
Großglockner or Grossglockner.
Yes… They are Mammalia, of the order Rodentia (rodents) and family within that order Sciuridae (squirrels.)
And yes, thanks, Google agrees that the mountain is actually Grossglockner… but I just copied the name from the website where I found it.
It’s funny, because if you Google “Groslocker” you find lots of articles about Matteo and the marmots, so they must be perpetrating that misspelling.
,
.
I was disappointed by how little they looked like the cartoon characters.
.
…aaaand heading for the next one.
Likely an expensive piece of gear. Enough to make theft of it a crime if not a felony.
,.
Are you sure this wasn’t part of the Edgar Allen Poe mashup from yesterday?
It looks so quaint… so ridiculous.
How could anybody believe those claims?
Well, over 100 years later, you can still buy pretty much the same massager, in various sizes and configurations…. and in some ads, they still make almost the same claims.
I’m afraid if you want to roll it under your chin, though, you’ll have to hold it up without the nifty head contraption.
The good news, though, is that in 2025, it still costs $10, even though that’s not even an hour’s work in most jobs…
It was a whole month’s rent for a lot of people back then.
Hard to believe it was that expensive!
Must have been very disappointing.
I prefer this one (got mine in Korea):
“The loyal son’s hand”
I got that at Pier One when it was still open
Mine is a freebie handed out at Metro one day. Advertising something.
I got mine at Dollar Tree.
I have a bunch of these… all made in China, AFAIK.
I love them!
My latest is from Dollar Tree… I think the first was from the flea market in the 70s. A fellow who sold there always had a metal wastebasket full of them for 50 cents each.
But they’re for scratching your back, not for massaging, so to me, it’s not a question of preference.
I do think they’re better at their job than the rolling massagers are at theirs… but it’s easier to make a simple tool that’s scratchy than one that will do an effective massage.
Funny thing is, though, some of the scratchers have a couple of those massage rollers embedded in the handle, so you can try to do both jobs with them.
But it’s not great at massaging, and eventually the little bamboo sticks they roll on break, and the rollers fall out…. so it’s just a back scratcher again.
…
I hope she’s still that happy.
“Throw the ball!!!”
Do you suppose she said yes?
Not very stealth jet…
“There’s a chunk of sky missing.”
I guess they forget that they need to make a daytime version.
It’s kinda like how they forget that we need different “flesh colored” bandaids for people of color.
People ask for “skin colored” hearing aids. I say “Whose skin?” Most now try to match hair color. Or, they just have bright colors.
B-2 Spirit (stealth bomber) flying a demonstration profile at low level in daylight. Missions are flown at high altitudes at night. Only 19 or 20 remain active (out of 21 built).
In about 2027 the similar looking B-21 Raider should start entering service.
,
Grandma! What big eyes you have!
The Turtle moves!!!
I have yet to decide if that’s a photo or painting.
photo
,,,
As Cooper says in Interstellar: ‘Those aren’t mountains, they’re waves!’ 😵
“Roll, roll, roll your boat…”
I’m already seasick.
.,.,
The extras are working for peanuts.
breadcrumbs…
Doubtless the avian cast members are hanging on every word.
‘Little bird flying high’
‘Drops a message from the sky’
‘Man looks up, wipes his eye’
‘And says “Bloody good job cows can’t fly!”‘
Will never forget wearing my new red jacket in Central Park. I was @6. Broke my heart.
find these:
.
,.
Somebody worked for that photo. Does the next one show the steam coming up as the sun sinks into the ocean?
It is my expectation that we are looking at the moon being lit from below by the sun, which has already dropped below the horizon.
I see that now! Wow!
…..
I hope that propellor was turning better than what we see here.
Think seemingly backward-turning wheels on wagons in old western movies.
Same cause.
I would be worried about damaging my floats.
Lifting off won’t harm them; they just had to be careful loading it onto the trailer.
Was that meant to happen?
That’s what I wondered.
That is an impressive showing of skill, but i’ll really be impressed if he lands that way…
Baxter Black, cowboy poet on “A Vegetarian’s Nightmare”:
Here’s another something for you from the Pointer Sisters:
One of my favorites from the Pointer Sisters.
(Also an educational song.)
Before they were famous, the sisters used to perform in vintage clothes… they were regular customers in my shop, among others. Very nice young women.
A friend of mine was outfitting (as I recall) The Red Hot Chili Peppers from his shop.
Just a few years later…..😁
Vintage Radios 1920’s–1940’s.
Going to be offline for several hours as British Telecom (BT) have decided that I need to be transferred over from copper wire telephone lines to ‘Digital Voice’ fibre cables. It means that I should get faster internet connection too.
I could have paid for fibre a couple of years back, but I knew that BT was going to be upgrading the house connections soon, so I waited and they’re doing it for free because it’s their choice to do it 😉
Hopefully I’ll get back online at some point today.
OK, so fibre isn’t going to be installed today after all. BT sent a subcontractor (Morrisons Utilities) to do the install. Turns out that the guy they sent is not allowed to go into lofts, so that’s that. Plus he said that he has to do the splicing at ground level and not off a ladder. The cable can’t come through the lower walls because of the design of the house and what’s on the inside, and the existing cable is drilled through the wooden doorframe, so that’s a non-starter. Plus the existing cable then runs behind a storage heater…..
I asked why the job wasn’t ‘Pre-sited’ (surveyed) as all this could have been established beforehand, and no one had said anything about the operative not being allowed to go into lofts. The guy said that he was to do the survey ‘now’ before he started on the job.
I’ve had experience of working with Morrisons Utilities before, the company is quite useless.
What a waste of time.
I suspect that they have to pull the old cable out and pull the new cable through the existing route.
If the new fiber is much faster than than the old copper wires, maybe you’ll get back here before you leave….
It was such a non-event that I didn’t have to leave!
Ivy couldn’t care less.
She was asleep through it all.
Don’t expect great things — I couldn’t tell the differences.
My data speed is less than 35Mb/s with FTTC. I was promised up to 75Mb/s, but it never got above 45Mb/s, and been getting steadily worse over time. Fibre to the house will be faster.
From today’s London “Daily Mail.”
It says nothing about sharing with anybody.
Or why you can’t drink it straight.
I have one autograph. I met Mike Shannon in St. Louis after a Cardinals game. He signed a baseball and gave it to me. I looked at it later. He’d signed it, “Jackie Robinson.”
…