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!). :-)
Hey Wattle, so you have emerged from the world of books.Good to "see" you. Please send some of that rain down here. It seems to be raining everywhere else. Floods in the Far North (of SA) but Adelaide keeps missing out. The cooler temps are very welcome.
Hallo all: Had lunch with some women friends today. Took my binocs and watched the herons that nest at the tope of the eucalyptus groves down by the beach. Huge birds perched so high. All a bit incongruous. Then off to Costco and Best Buy where I bought a webcam for my laptop. No, it's not for the birds - yet - but to use on Skype when I talk to my sister, whose son got them set up last fall. Does this mean I have to wash my face and get dressed before I call??? Hmmmm. Does anyone else use Skype with a cam? Is this an idea that is better in theory than practice?
TerryM. It's a deal! Lake Los Carneros is just a 10 minute or so walk from my house and as you may have noticed, has benches so you can sit and birdwatch in comfort. And I'm with you on the shopping philosophy - I can't believe how many nifty new products there are out there that would actually be quite helpful around the house, etc. I tend to go to the same old aisles in the same old stores and buy the same old things.
bjane: Hallo there! I've not seen your name on these pages before, although that's no guarantee you haven't been here all the while. :-) Anyway, welcome - and thanks for cluing me in on the San Jose cam!
Alan: Molly has quite a challenge there - almost more eggs than Molly.
OG: Hmmm. We'll look for you being taking into custody with a jacket over your head under the headline: "Granny's pose as avid birder was a smokescreen for illegal harvest."
Wattle: Hallo again! Congratulations on reaching Fall. Two acres, eh? That's a lot of work. We've had three years of well below-average rainfall in SoCal, but that all ended this year. Do hope you get the rain you need to keep the farmers happy. Which is your favorite Delderfield book? A shame you can't make the Fiji trip - maybe have a little celebration at home when you get the chance?
AQ: I've been to a couple of rallies and feel a big odd singing protest songs, especially when it's a small group (must be the English in me). Where are most of Adelaide's overseas students from?
Must sort out "my" room; hope something worth watching is on telly tonight...
Hullo again to all!
Let me start off by saying, "Alan, I could just hug you!! You found the Peregrines at deMortel for me! And in English to boot!
We had been mentioning this earlier in the week because Tiger posted that the old site had been revamped so no more cute video of the wide-eyed youngsters in the thunderstorm. The video is now a memory but we'll be able to catch the upcoming season with Pa, S2 and family. Hurrah, hurrah for Alan! Woo hoo! Perhaps that Kingfisher Cam will also reappear soon....................
The latest news on Snowflake and Dan, the Valmont owls, is that the eggs were removed from the box in hopes that they will have a new clutch. Other web watchers report Snowflake appears to be in good health and is eating so to me that's the most important thing of all.
Nice to see you back on, Wattle, and glad you're doing well. Congratulations on the happy news of an upcoming wedding in your family!
Unknown said: Does this mean I have to wash my face and get dressed before I call???
Does this mean I have to wash my face and get dressed before I call???
Yes, indeed, Annette. LOL. You will have to behave yourself too. Himself has a naughty habit of taking the cordless phone outside and weeding - while he is chatting to his mother. The overseas students come from Asia - China, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Lots of Africans on the buses. I expect some are refugees but many look like they are students too. Today's paper had a photo of a Danish student.
It is really scary here this afternoon. That yellow round thing has disappeared! The blue sky has been replaced by grey cotton-wool stuff. And wet stuff is falling. I wonder what is happening.
Hey AQ: I used to have an (old-fashioned?) headset with my cordless and did all kinds of things - weeding, ironing, etc., - while on the phone, which I'd hook on the side of my jeans. I supposed I should get one of those Bluetooth things (except my cell phone is not BT-compatible it's so old). I haven't taken the webcam out of its package yet; still wondering.... Watch out for the that wet stuff, it can get slippery.
No worries about the slippery. All I have to do this eve is check that Lizarda da Vinci has water in her dish and that is across the lawn. Tea is cooking. Home-made steak pie followed by steamed pudd. Amazing how I feel like cooking when the temp is down. Alas get hungrier too. A pity about the wet because the WOMAD is held outdoors in Botanic Park. Ah, a bit of moisture will lubricate the vocal cords. See you and all tomorrow.
AQ Steak pie and steamed pud. I'll be right over.
Off to bed. Night/morning/whatever all.
AQ Glad you are getting some rain - just don't want floods! I suppose it's too late to come for steak pie? I looked at SA on Google Earth - had totally forgotten Coober Pedy!
Wattle So glad to 'see' you back. What a shame that you won't get to the wedding but some economies have to be made when on pension. Annette's idea of a little celebration at home is good - but I'm sure you would have liked to be there on the 'big day'. Don't know how you cope with 2 acres of garden.
Already 10°c, alternate thin cloud and bright sun. Birds doing spring things. OH painting inside my built-in wardrobe – has to be done in morning so paint smell is gone by bedtime!
Bjane – I think you have only just joined in our chat threads – we are a friendly bunch, so please stay with us. In case you haven’t noticed, we have a new thread weekly, to avoid it getting too long – Annette usually starts us off from Southern California very early on Sunday morning, while we in the UK are asleep and when she is going to bed.
Wattle – great to see you back from bookland and enjoying autumn – doesn’t seem long since our friends in Oz were commenting on the beginning of summer – time flies! So glad you had a good family visit and are enjoying your daughter’s news – but sad you can’t go to the wedding. Don’t know how you manage 2 acre garden – we never seem to finish every corner of our slightly larger than average “suburban” patch!
AQ – glad you behaved yourself at the rally! Hope Adelaide gets its fair share of rain – pleased to read it has started. Have you seen Lizarda again recently? Steak pie and Steamed Pud at the same meal? Obviously the cooler weather is making you very hungry!
Annette – pleased you had an opportunity to watch Herons – we have Grey Herons which nest by our river. We now mostly use RSPB seed which is “clean”, so I feel better about what might grow!
Patriciat – how is the sciatica? You haven’t mentioned it recently, so I hope it is getting less painful.
Well, that’s my little sit down finished – on to something productive again!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Good morning original goldfinch. I will enjoy my Chinese meal again, although I know it is not really healthy. Will be the last one for a while as next time we have a meal out it will be at a lovely little Italian restaurant we have discovered. Love Italian food as well and where we go is comparable with the food we have when we are in Itlaly. Why is it we enjoy all food that we have not had to think about or cook, I always eat more when we go out. OH is going to be watching football most of the afternoon today, Tottenham Hotspur (his team) and Portsmouth also playing. Will sit with him but listen to music on my Ipod as I can't stand the commentary.
You are right about the residue from fat balls and the like makes everything greasy. Now it has got a bit warmer during the day (although we had a frost again this morning and even sharper frosts promised for the next 2 days), I get out there with a bucket of hot soapy water and a stiff broom to get it off.
Have a good weekend and I wish all of you on this site the same. Don't spend so much time on the web at weekends but OH has gone to work this morning so trying to catch up with posts.
Margobird