Happy New Week all.
I also send belated birthday wishes to Clare, hope you had a nice day!
Morning all:
Clare: A birthday? Did you celebrate?
OG: You're more ambitious than I; moreovert, I've sealed most of my cards and now am fretting that I misspelled a word in a few of them. Oh well. I look forward to the day when my grandson (25 next year) finally grows out of the black T-shirt-with- menacing-image phase.
Margo: The Sierras and higher elevations farther north in California will have had some snow, where it often sticks around until June, especially if there's been a lot. We've had snow on the tops of the hills behind us (only about 4,000 ft) but only in really cold winters. Today: A chance of showers this afternoon with temps in the mid-60s, so it's nice!
Brenda: Diane's area was in the path of all that bad weather, but I think the states around the Great Lakes got the worst of it, especially Buffalo in NY.
We have a young Satsuma (tangerine) tree in the garden - we put it in three years ago. It lost a branch last year due to an abundance of fruit. This year I was going to prop the branches up, but learned that it's better to prune the excess fruit and let the energy go into the roots. So that's on my agenda today - I'm also casting a suspicious eye on the orange tree and hoping it doesn't go mad this year and produce two crops.
Take care everyone.
Good evening, all, and thank you for the birthday wishes! I did indeed celebrate - Limpy took me for a day at Minsmere, where I saw my first firecrest! Perfect.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Clare: Happy belated birthday!
Hi, everyone. Thank you all for your concern about me. I'm fine here. Only 3 inches of snow. It has been very cold and windy for this early in the season. (Monday night the temperature was 9 F or -12.7 C, and the "feels like" wind chill temperature was -10 F or -23.3 C.)
But I haven't had to cope with life-threatening weather like those poor folks in western New York state. My thoughts are with them.
I'd been grouching about my upcoming heating bill, but I stopped my whinging today, because I was watching the live stream coverage of the New York snow disaster. www.nbcnews.com/.../watch-live-buffalo-snowstorm-322484291648
Some areas there have 8-9+ feet of snow. People can't get basic necessities or essential services (food, medicine, ambulances, etc.). They're dealing with roof collapses and other structural dangers. Some people spent 2 days or more stranded in their cars buried on highways. Up to 76 inches (6 feet, 4 inches) of snow fell in the first 24 hours, breaking all the records.
Annette is right that the massive snowfall events in the news are lake-effect snows around the Great Lakes. Indiana had some heavy snowfall in areas along its Lake Michigan coastline.
Here's a stunning video of the snow wall that hit western New York.
www.weather.com/.../epic-lake-effect-snow-timelapse
Thanks again, all!!!
I would hate to see a weather system like that off the coast here!
CLARE belated birthday congratulations and congrats too on seeing your first firecrest. Saw Minsmere on breakfast tv yesterday. They were talking about the many swans and geese that fly in and the measures that are being taken to try to prevent them flying into electricity wires.
DIBNLIB - wasn't that Martin Mere (Lancashire)?
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Oops sorry, I must have misheard.
Good evening, all. Seems like everyone is busy – anyone would think it was nearly that certain time of year! I thought I had ordered the said tee shirt yesterday – got an email “out of stock in that size, try a different one”. Wasn’t helped by Outlook playing silly games with me last night, but tried a substitute this morning: same result. Just managed to connect again with my third attempt! Uuuuurgh!
Margo – sorry I didn’t reply yesterday – was quite busy and went out in the evening to “Wild Bunch” for a talk on Grasshoppers and Crickets: did you know that crickets have ears on their elbows!? Pleased your OH had a good meet-up with family; I am sure it meant a lot to his Mother. I didn’t get the Christmas letter started yesterday, but have made a slow start today.
Brenda – been thinking of you and OH today; I do hope the hospital was pleased with him and that he will be able to drive again at last – just realised, it will be a year or more since he had to stop!
Rita – I hope you managed to make up your mind and that your online ordering went better than mine!
Annette – I tried to choose the least-menacing image tee shirt, but am gradually working down my preference list! I hope the Orange Trees don’t challenge you with extra pickings!
Clare – so pleased about the Firecrest – lucky you!
Diane – maybe not the worst weather, but it still sounds very unpleasant down your way!
Dibnlib – Martin Mere stuck in my mind as we know it well from living nearby for 30 years. Also, it was WWT, not RSPB.
OH did little bits in the garden yesterday and today – just an hour each afternoon, not to get too cold; I have been pottering indoors. No plans for the weekend, until possibly Sunday evening church service.
Good morning! Have a good weekend, wherever you are.
We are starting with cooked breakfast - fish fingers and tomatoes.