Evening all. Wonderful rainbow over Santa Barbara this afternoon; more like April with heavy showers then sunshine. Don't forget to check last week's chat for Tiger's link to the Roy Dennis site about a French osprey that's already completed its migration, and Patriciat's recommendations for places to eat in Grantown (for when we all go to visit OG's son!). :-)
TerryM and SueC: I have also been watching Hope & Lily today and there has been some great action with legs flayling and occasional glimpses of the cubbies face.
Margobird - Tis Thursday here and I am sending positive thoughts to you, ready for your Thursday.
Patriciat - I caught up with my ironing while the grand-kids were here and my computer was otherwise engaged. Hm, does that say something about me?
Cirrus - Dispersible tablets called Feldene-D, active ingredient piroxicam. The trouble with anti-inflammatories is that they do dreadful things to one’s stomach. I take mine with lots of water and during the biggest meal of the day. Of course these may not suit other people.
OG & Annette - I love reading atlases and maps. When reading even novels, I need to check where the characters are.
Annette & Alan - To help the economy avoid recession the Federal govt provided households with a $1200 rebate for installing ceiling insulation. A year on we hear that where they used foil insulation, the houses could become electrified. Four installers have died, 100 house fires. Arguments about whether or when warnings given. Blame on unregulated industry, untrained installers. The scheme has now been cancelled, leaving thousands of homes still to be rechecked. By whom? And the businesses have unused insulation on hand and workers out of work.
OG - I’m not with you. I only have main & dessert. Last night we went out for our once-a-month dinner to the Flying Knife (!!!). Located in an old house overlooking the beach at Semaphore. Peaceful views of boats sailing. Oh, the meal, quite nice but toooo much. I had chicken stuffed with feta and spinach on sweet potato. I should not have ordered side dish of salad but I do like those fresh greens. I was taught to eat everything on my plate and I always feel guilty when I leave food. After white chocolate cheesecake and berries it wasn’t only the chicken that was stuffed. LOL. Came home and fell asleep on the lounge and slept til 11 pm. It must have been the wine - I only had 1 glass.
Annette - The whale nos are interesting. I hope that last year was just a one-off bad year.
Greetings all - been reading without posting and now I've let the evening pass by, so no detailed replies tonight - will check today again tomorrow morning - if you see what I mean!
Just a quick message for Margobird: will be thinking of you tomorrow - pleased it's a morning appointment - hope you aren't kept waiting for the result..
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Evening all:
dibnlib: Just found out that Tesco has invaded the U.S. under the name of Fresh & Easy and that they have multiple "neighborhood" markets in California, Nevada, and Arizona. The nearest one to me is one of several down in LA. Just browsed their site and saw they were doing sample tastings of coffee cake, but no mention of luxury sticky gingerbread and treacle pud! Will obviously have to add this to my list of things to follow up on. Flamingos, eh? Sounds very tropical. Also just checked in my Wonderful New Book that the American Avocet is a year-round resident in this area and that it lives around shallow water (of which we have a lot), so I must keep my eyes open. It has a very distinctive beak which should make it easy for clueless people like to me spot. Good luck with the new bathroom floor.
Alan: That overhead eagle cam is great - you get more unobstructed views it seems. Touching little segment where Dad (?) takes over from Mom and is so careful settling on the chick.
Tiger: Horrible news. Are these farmers trying to poison eagles specifically or some other predator? One of our local politicians has just introduced a bill in the California legislature that would ban the use by hunters of lead shot in all California wildlife areas. (Don't get me started on guns and hunters.) It's already banned in areas around condor habitat, and in 20 other states, and by Federal law in all wetlands. Of course, gun owners are up in arms; one claimed that "people aren't dying." I guess they don't get the canary in the coal mine analogy.
TerryM/Thanks for the headsup about busy little Hope (Lily's cub). I'll check her out. Looks like gingerbread is proving to be a popular topic! SueC: Thanks so much for directing us to "recorded highlights" on that cam.
AQ: I'm all over Google Earth for every little thing - aren't we lucky to have such technology available? Oh my, that business with the insulation is terrible. Lots of finger pointing going on I imagine. I'm sure the lawyers are on the job though! Aha! Another main dish and dessert fan! Of course, we have to remember that OG eats her dessert (carrot cake) when she stops for latte. :-)
Off for a walk before dinner; looks like rain but....
Take care all, with special good thoughts en route to Margobird.
Annette To be honest I am not sure if they are specifically aiming at eagles. I guess they have some target but poisoning is a blunt instrument.
It is just so sad.
Tiger Signature
Tiger: What was so distressing is the number that have been poisoned/lost in the last few years. :-(
Completed my shopping mission this morn. Gee, it is hot again. 30 C. Since then I have been answering emails (obsolete though they may be LOL).
What's wrong with some people that they have to destroy such wonderful things in nature. OK, I'll happily agree with demolishing snakes, cockroaches, flies. . .
Continuing SA history . . . During the first 30 years the SA government only sold Crown Lands for cash with prepayment. Pastoralists leased vast tracts of Crown Lands to run their sheep. Small farmers could not support a family by growing crops on the standard 80-acre sections which were too small to allow crop rotation to rest the soil. With high prices and the prepayment condition nor could they compete with the pastoralists in land purchases.
Henry Strangways proposed that Crown Lands be sold for cash or on credit and the legislation was passed in 1869. The credit terms were 20% deposit with the balance payable at the end of four years. No selector could purchase more than 640 acres (1 square mile) on credit. Selectors had to be over 21 years. Women could only be selectors if they were single or those married had obtained a judicial separation. To prevent "dummying" by pastoralists (where family members or dummy selectors were the nominal selectors), selectors had to live on their selection. Selectors were required to grow crops (not run sheep) and make improvements, such as a dwelling house, farm buildings, fences, wells, dams and the clearing of land.
Farmers rushed to purchase land and new areas were surveyed. George Goyder, the Surveyor-General, following his many years travelling across SA, had advised that cereal crops could not be grown north of a line that became known as "Goyder's Line of Rainfall". This line indicated the southern limit of the 1865 northern drought. Beyond this limit of reliable rainfall there was saltbush country where Goyder declared the land was only suitable for pastoral uses. The newly released lands were within Goyder's Line and suitable for cereal growing.
The first years were successful with good rains. Record harvests led to a demand for more land to be released for agriculture. The eager settlers disregarded warnings of drought. No account was taken of the soil fertility or rainfall variability and Goyder's Line was ridiculed. Theories abounded that "rain follows the plough" and "the far north was dry because no trees grew there". Scarce lands, good seasons and the income from sales persuaded the government in 1874 to open to selectors the whole colony as far as the Northern Territory border.
Changes were made - the maximum area of a selection became 1000 acres and the payments were spread over nine years. Residents could purchase after five years if required improvements had been made. These included a dwelling house, farm buildings, fences, wells, dams and the clearing of land.
In 1880-1883 drought struck. In the north poor rains, attacks of the fungus red rust and locusts ruined the wheat crops. Winds blew away the cultivated soil. Many selectors had not yet harvested a paying crop. Farmers in the north of the colony reaped so little grain that they had no seed wheat for the next year.
As the poor seasons continued, Goyder's Line was accepted - the lands beyond were best for pastoralists grazing sheep. While some farmers walked off their land, others under new regulations were able to revoke their agreements and reselect in more suitable areas. Dotted across the northern lands are the ruins of abandoned stone huts and rusting implements - memorials to pioneers who were defeated.
Despite drought and other set-backs, the twenty years after the introduction of the Strangways Act was a time of growth in the colony. The opening of new land resulted in the extension of railways and tramways to transport the grain to the ports on Spencer Gulf and St Vincent Gulf where new wharves and jetties were needed. Towns flourished with flour mills, schools, churches and local newspapers being established. New varieties of wheat, new methods of cultivation and the introduction of superphosphate fertilizer were all results of the spread of agriculture across South Australia.
Fascinating AQ. Isn't it amazing that humans insist on trying to "best" nature. When what was then Alta (Upper) California was under Spanish, then Mexican, rule, the Californios raised cattle. But years of drought in the1860s convinced the Americans (California was now part of the United States) that sheep were a better bet because they could tolerate drought. Now we're back to mainly cattle, but obviously not in such numbers as then. Incidentally, the peninsula south of the U.S. border that belongs to Mexico is still called Baja (Lower) California.
Finally got rain this evening; it's blown over now, but brought some "low" temps with it - we could be in the 30s tonight. Nice weather for Thursday, but a bigger storm predicted for Friday and Saturday. Have got my hands on McCall-Smith's latest "Scotland Street" book - The Unbearable Lightness of Scones. Well, at least it's not gingerbread! So am tootling off now. Take care all.
Annette. I have happy memories of Baja. I saw the total eclipse of the sun from there on July 11, 1991. The eclipse was 6mins 41 secs from my vantage point, the longest until 2131. I was at a place called Todos Santos which did not have a road to 1985.
Half way up the peninsula (as you almost certainly know) one can see whales.
I found Mexico a real eye opener. When I crossed the bridge at San Diego to Tijuana it seemed as if I had travelled 1000 miles.