OK, yes I've been a bit absent the last couple of weeks, and with genuine reasons. Normally I pop on on a Wednesday afternoon after my weekly hospital visit, but with the current climate, I'm at work until the hospital appointments resume, and, working has been variable days and times, which means fitting in shopping and other tasks around my work hours, oh and not forgetting the HS2 road closures, narrow lanes etc as they ramp up their work!
So, I'm well, and I hope you're all well?
Any gossip, please tag it here.....
My local reserve I understand has been overwhelmed with visitors, so I've kept away, because in places, social distancing is not practicable. That's nature, not a fault of the reserve, making some paths very narrow. Long term, it doesn't look like things will get much better quickly, especially as a nearby town is experiencing uncontrolled Covid-19 cases, but not deaths, and if Leicester is anything to go by, if a localised lockdown does occur, then i will be impacted.
Lets hope not.
I've not been too busy with the camera, but here's a few, and some interesting rare visitors included....
A large white butterfly enjoying one of the new lavender plants
A peach of a sunrise....
The next two sunrise pics were taken about two mins apart.
A hiding pond lily
And a blooming nice lily
The newly planted erysimum and lavender plants are filling out nicely,
And the big surprise visitors, long tailed tits, of which at one point, we had at least ten on one feeder!
This pic below, there were two just out of the the image, which I didn't see til afterwards.
One cutely waiting its turn...
This one gave up waiting and found another feeder...
And once the feeding frenzy had died off, this one came back....
Take care and stay safe and I'll hopefully catch up with more posts over the weekend.
STOP PRESS!
More LTT's this afternoon!
Unknown said:very nice updates Mike and good to see numbers of fuzzy buzzy insects !
Thank you Hazel.
Even though the weather has been very wet here, the birds have been very busy on the feeders, including the LTT's, but no piccies, the light has been yuk and rain on the window makes it interesting to say the least.
Ok, first apologies for being absent, but things here have taken a bit of a turn, not quite for the best, Mrs PR had a very small tumble earlier this year, and like the rest of us with such a small tumble, thought nothing of it. Dropping a glass wouldn't have seen it break, that's how insignificant it was.
However, gradually over the weeks and months that followed, she started to experience numbness in both arms, which was getting more prevalent and debilitating. With Covid19, getting to see the GP wasn't an early option, however, after a long time, a phone consultation the GP became possible. To be fair to the two GP's in our practice, they're a brilliant husband and wife, both very close to their 80's, so they are referring patients where they can.
The long and short, Mrs PR was advised to go to A&E, where after a few hours of investigations, they felt she required an MRI on her spine. This took some time to get the appt through, and the end result is, she has collapsed discs, one of which is at the top of the neck!
So currently, we're both struggling to keep the home liveable at the moment, but getting by.
So photography and many other things have had to take very much a back seat of late, and that looks set to continue for the foreseeable future as she waits for a delicate operation to sort the discs out. The scary part is, the disc at the top of the neck, if that part of the op fails, she would require assisted breathing, though the consultant has tried his best to reassure, the success rate is well over 99%.
I just want to write 2020 and 2021 (and possibly 2020) off, for I forecast very early on, Covid19 wasn't going away any time soon.
Any way, less of the doom and gloom, there is some piccies from the garden, and in another post, I managed to make a trip to RSPB Conwy, see RSPB Conwy 19 Sept; a long overdue visit!
This photo, not in the garden, though I'd almost die for a pond the size of the one in Long Itchington, and this Muscovy duck having a waddle along the edge.
A grey squirrel enjoying a good feed on something....
The feeders are as busy as ever, and though no piccies of the LTT's, they're still very prevalent, though the numbers are slowly reducing, I guess as they spread their wings and leave the family group(s).
And one of this years young, we named Bobtail, because you may recall we had one that had no tail, well, I'm happy to report, the tail is fully grown, however, one thng it always did was, bob like a dipper. It still does bob up and down like a dipper, but now with a full tail and looking as splendid as its fellow robins.
The lavender and erysimum planted earlier this year is still in flower
While the Constant Cheer, an autumn flowering plant, is nicely in bloom....
Take care folks, and stay safe, I'll try not to leave it so long before I post again.
Hello Mike, so sorry to read about Mrs PB. It just goes to show that the smallest thing or a little tumble can cause such problems. That is a very good sucess rate, so I hope everything goes well with the operation and that she makes a speedy recovery. It was good that you were able to get out for a while and had something to help take your mind off things, for at least a wee while. Lovely to see Bobtail with his new tail! All the best to Mrs PB with the operation and take care of yourselves and keep safe. CL x
Thanks folks for the well wishes. Mrs PR had her op last week, and all the signs are promising, with a couple of exceptions, The surgeon was very pleased with the early results, and she only had to stay in hospital for one night, rather than the expected three, because they were concerned with the state of the compressed discs that had to be removed, and how the nerves would respond.
The good news is, no pain, no tingling, full movement, but still a lot of numbness in the arms, which was better than promised.
PB, I warned you about jumping off wardrobes, leave that for the youngsters....