WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER (gasp!) 6, 2014

I love elephants, Lynette. Sad to hear how endangered they are becoming. I got all my errands done (& gave 7 pairs of spectacles from my OH & I which we no longer need, to the charity which sends them to the 3rd world. My OH only needs one pair of reading glasses now since he had his cataracts done, and I seemed to have hoarded a lot). We also got the car repaired, which wasn't too eye wateringly expensive as just a rubber seal.

Badger Army sett sitters prevent the cullers from getting to badgers:

"It seemed quiet last night. Yet it is confirmed from source that there were "several" incidents where Cullers had to withdraw caused by sett guards. The sett guards would not even have known. Not only is a quiet night a good night; never underestimate the good you did without noticing" from the Gloucestershire Badger Office.

The dreaded housework I take it Annette

Hi Everyone. Spent a lovely day with our daughter. We went to Chartwell House, which she had seen many times, when we lived in Kent and she was a child, but she said she wanted to see it again. The house is very impressive and the gardens were lovely, especially Lady Churchilll's rose garden.  We spent some time, after lunch, sitting by the lake and absorbed the lovely scenery. I didn't take any photographs as I didn't know where we were going until we met. Daughter took plenty though.

Rita, Well done on all the sanding etc. I would love to see a photograph of your Grandparent's garden seat. I do envy you having such a family heirloom, which holds so many happy memories for you.

Linda, Glad the car repair wasn't expensive. Sounds like you go to a very honest mechanic.

Lynette, It is some time since I last watched Pete's Pond. Great captures.

Annette, I hope your wounds are healing. Dangerous work, HW !!  I kicked the mower ( accidentally ) a few week ago and  hurt my big toe. Since then, I seem to keep knocking it against furniture etc. My OH even stood on it this morning.

Time for my bed. It has been a long day.

Brenda - Glad you had such an enjoyable day with your daughter. It sounded delightful, and you had such good weather, too. Its been very warm here. We planted some tiny narcissus in the front garden, and had a big discussion about our front hedge, which we are considering digging up, as its a cotoneaster which looks as if its been here as long as the house and is now over five feet deep and a lot of trouble to clip. We need to replace it with either a low wall or fence, backed by a low beech hedge.

another one of the mongoose tribe and osprey juve at Ferris University site

Evening all:

Lindybird: Soft furnishings behaved themselves today, which allowed me to wipe off the window blinds in the bedrooms (seriously tiresome job) in preparation for major assault on the rear of the house tomorrow.  Digging up a bush that's more than five feet deep sounds like quite an undertaking. Maybe hire one of those young wanna-be gardeners mentioned this last day or so?

fish: This is a twice-a-year effort; it was that or start wearing HazMat suits.  :-)

BrendaH: That sounds like a lovely day out. What is it that sore places seem to attract attention from furniture and various family members? :-)

Have a good - geez Louise - Thursday all.

Good Morning. It feels so much cooler this morning. Cloudy and no sign of the sun yet.

Annette, Forgive my ignorance, but I had to Google a 'hazmat suit'. Now I understand and laughed LOL. I doubt that your home would ever need such drastic action :-))

Linda, Digging up the old established  cotoneaster hedge is going to be a very hard job. I don't envy you. Just cutting it down to get at the roots, is going to produce so much wood and greenery to have to clear. This year, I have arranged for a gardener to come and prune and trim our hedges, some of which, is pyracantha, so I am so glad that we won't have to fight with that.

I have neglected the HW this week, so I do need to get started. 

Hi, folks. I'm just posting this in case anyone -- besides me -- is interested. LOL

The Sun has released a massive X1.6 solar flare and a full halo Coronal Mass Ejection is heading straight for Earth! This is the second X-class flare in two days! Watch for Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) at middle latitudes. I might even see the lights here in the Midwest. Woo-hoo! A solar radiation storm warning has been issued, and the storm may disrupt communications and GPS signals.

The Slooh Observatory in Prescott, Arizona, will host a special online broadcast TODAY (Thursday) showing the flare in brilliant detail. Slooh’s live coverage will begin at:

6:00 p.m. in the U.K.
10:00 a.m. in southern California
1:00 p.m. in Indiana/Ohio U.S.
2:30 a.m. Friday in Adelaide, Australia

Watch live here: http://live.slooh.com/

Hope everyone is doing well today!

Thanks Diane!!   Sounds exciting.  I will look in at Slooh later today.

Yes, we are doing well here, and are as busy as ever.  I really must go sort out those old receipts which are floating about on the sideboard..... And the Dust Bunnies are having a party in our conservatory where we just have bare tiles.   Shoo!!!