Will EJ return this week? What if another female tries to claim the nest? Will super-Odin return to fish another year? Or will EJ take another mate (she'd better not!!) Will YOU be the lucky blogger to catch the first glimpse of an osprey at LG? Tune in to the Loch Garten LIVE webcam for the first installment of Loch Garten Ospreys - 2010!!
Seriously, lots of interesting chat on the last page or two of the previous week's chatter. Catch up now because you won't have time once the ospreys are back in town! :-)
Hi all
OG: Oooh - thanks for EJ arrival dates - we have a few days to hurry up and get hair cuts, shopping, and cook enough meals to freeze for next few months! Ironing I can do watching the nest. :-) Wore gym outfit under long denim shirt to store so nobody called security! Re the Trucker Cam: As the song goes, "It's a rainy night in Georgia" right now. I'm waiting for him to head to the Southwest. OG/Alan: Are the trees birches? And more links and osprey news from Alan. Thanks!
Lindybird: Ride sounds lovely, party a smashing success. Cats are very contrary creatures and will sit on whatever or whoever they like; I found they simply can't take a hint.. I know a woman who's had her eyeliner tattooed on - and was thinking of getting her lips "outlined" with a tattoo. I can't imagine..... It's all I can do to brush my hair in the mornings....and that's only when I stop to look in the mirror.
Djoan: Dublin will be lovely and if EJ or anyone else does arrive, I'm sure Alan will post photos.
dibnlib: Then there's "wearing my new pants (trousers!)"; "wearing my new shoes" - the possibilities are endless.
Long workout at gym today, so feeling skinny and virtuous and celebrated with piece of chocolate. Now off to drive the neighborhood with OH to look at other people's gardens and how various shrubs, etc., behave. Then back to see how Congress is behaving...
Annette: Bart Stupak just flipped. Media are reporting that the Dems have the votes. Mike Pence (Repub of Indiana) is promising a surprise obstacle.
Yes, Annette, they are Birches, but not native British Silver Birch - I think they are an ornamental hybrid from a Himalayan species.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
OG/ANNETTE : The trees are Himalayan silver birches. They go to some lengths to keep them white:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-localtoyou/w-eastengland/w-eastengland-news/w-eastengland-news-anglesey-abbey-tree-washing.htm
Thanks Alan - I now remember reading about them being washed. I think we were last there in 2007 (because the next year when we visited, F-i-L was not feeling up to going out) so I hadn't remembered the detail!
Thanks OG and Alan for the treee info. Very pretty, but must read more re them being "washed."
Diane: I saw that there was a deal pending with Stupak. Wonder what Pence has got - I may have to renounce U.S. citizenship if this fails. Can't stand this "Leave My Healthcare alone" c**p from people who obviously have it. Aaack!
Annette: I know what you mean about citizenship. Yesterday, protesters at the Capitol chanted ugly racial epithets at Reps. John Lewis and Andre Carson. And Rep. Emanuel Cleaver was covered in spit, and had to be rescued and escorted inside by Capitol Police. What is wrong with people? No matter how you feel about an issue, that kind of behavior is criminal and unacceptable. I personally think the bill is inadequate, and I have reservations about how it will actually manifest. But those people scare me to death. This country gets more frightening every day. Vote begins now.
Diane: Well, it passed. and yes, the bill is limited. But we needed to do something. I really wanted the public option and was disappointed it got dropped. Watched some of the rhetorical posturing before the actual vote and ended up yelling at the telly - all those slick anti-reformers with their "Cadillac" health coverage. Ugh. Anyway, it's done and it looks like I'll be making phone calls for the Dems come the next election.... But that's okay.
Ah, so it passed. Obama was meant to visit Aussieland & Indonesia this week but postponed his trip. Not that we would see him in little ol' Adelaide. Cooler day only 28 C but more hot weather later this week, so I have ironed just enough clothes, hoping to be wearing jumpers asap. Alan, we call those flowers snowflakes. Snowdrops are different??? Photos have been appearing - maybe I shall try my luck.
I have become a stalker. For weeks I have been lurking behind my kitchen window, trying to snap one of our back yard visitors. I tempted with bread scraps. A quick fly in and out. Click. Nope, a blur. The I realized he/she also gave a short call before it dived off the roof. Nope, another blur. And so it went on day after day. Then one morning I spotted the elusive bird prancing around on the front lawn. Grabbed camera. Bird is now standing on the dead patch of lawn. I mutter "move on to the green" as I aim camera. Which he does but . . . in the shadow of the Stobie pole. I have given up for now, this is the best I can do with our Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala).