Hi all: Don't forget to check last few comments of last week's chat and a lovely photo from OG - of Loch Garten I assume. Alan: Wonderful close up of EJ on the last Daily Update. Thanks to everyone else for all the news from far and wide.
Just in from Earth Day event, which had a lot more transportation (electric/natural gas, etc) options on display this year, including bikes of all shapes and sizes (SB is a big bike town with lots of bike paths, even throughout downtown). Spoke to a friend of a friend there who is setting up a raptor rescue center at the Natural History Museum; also the California Condor group who are trying to figure out how to set up a live cam at the condor feeding station in the back country. They're thinking maybe solar power, but then there's the problem of relaying the signal,etc. If that's successful, they may try one at the nesting sites, but the problem is that condors don't nest in trees - they like caves, so a logistical hurdle for further down the road. Not to mention the "permit" hurdles, which are major given that the condors are still highly endangered. In addition to the usual solar, green, organic farms, foods and other community display booths there was the usual band and "green" gifts area. Didn't buy anything but did visit my friend with his spiffy electric car and bumped into another friend - a "Master Gardener" at another booth where we sat and chatted for an hour.
All quiet on the LG and LOTL nests right now; doesn't look windy or wet.
New riverside hide at Pont croeser in Wales. It looks like they have stolen Hamish shed. I had better go and check:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/glaslynospreys/archive/2010/04.aspx
Hi Diane: The Swedish company may have used a Yahoo UK address, instead of a Swedish one. So you could be right that it was a clerical error.
samename@yahoo.co.uk...........................a British person.
samename@yahoo.se................................a Swedish resident.
I did the search on my UK friend and the results were horrific! Somehow he has managed to get not only his details on the web, those of his wife, children, neighbours and all sorts of demographic data, including a Google map showing his house. Also 'premium' data is available at a price, which may include email addresses.
Thankfully I am invisible!
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data Site
Sat track schedule Spring 2014
LG 7 days; RW & SWT nil; LDOP varies
Volcanocam very clear, still in broad daylight at 22.28pm UK time. Much less plume dust/steam coming out now, against a lovely blue sky.
http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-thorolfsfelli/
Had to double-check, yes, it is amazingly still daylight in Iceland, even although we are two months away from midsummer day. No wonder the ospreys travel north to get more daylight.
Evenin’ all! Dibnlib and George – when we went to Vane Farm, we were staying in Dunblane, so we went north on the A9 to Auchterarder then took the country road (but it is an A road) via GlenDevon to Milnathort. After LLL, we then continued round Loch Leven to Vane Farm and north to join the same road back. Probably a bit time consuming if you want to do it as an en route stop, but lovely countryside. Patriciat – I can’t claim any Irish roots (so far). But if this carries on, we are going to find that half this group are cousins! Diane and jsb – it’s quite disturbing how much info is available on each one of us – maybe I’m just an ostrich, prefer not to think about it!! I guess Annette is busy making herself beautiful for the celebration dinner tonight, and I must get to bed – look forward to reading her menu in the morning! jsb – I still can’t get any video working on the volcano site! Any hints?
Finished the magazine today – just have to proofread over the weekend, then OH can start the printing. Rewarding ourselves with a trip to RSPB Mersehead tomorrow – some Barnacle Geese will still be there and hope to see Lapwings tumbling and maybe Marsh Harriers.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Alan P, glad to see you’re still around and not been carted off to prison, as if : )) Beautiful flowers in your garden, ours are a couple of hundred miles north and so a little behind.
Dibnlib, what a sweetie Dillon is, I want him! Well done on the pic.
Food stories, Annette, I love them too. Happy anniversary. I haven’t been on the computer at home for a couple of days so I have completely missed Truck Dude going through South Dakota and Montana, which I wanted to see, maybe I’ll catch a film of it later.
Tiger, that sounds a really good day you had. I went to Bassenthwaite on Sunday afternoon, before the egg was laid. Didn’t see any fishing but they were flying around a little.
Lindybird, the only oatcakes I’ve ever had are biscuits, impossible to roll up!
Terry in Cumbria
PS, I don't have any Irish connections, as far as I know, but OH is proud of his Scottish dim and distant past.
Lindybird & OG - My mother was a vast reservoir of family stories, both of her family and Dad’s. I discovered most of them were fairly close to the truth - not embellished very much. On the other hand Dad couldn’t see why anyone wanted to know about all that old stuff. It was like getting blood out of a stone to extract his memories. I wish now I had spent more time asking about their lives than the earlier ones. I often wonder about their early life on the farm.
Patriciat - My children tolerate my family history interest. Our elder daughter only became (slightly) interested when she had her own kids. I think many people don’t start looking for their roots until they reach some sort of mid-life crisis, such as the chicks leave home or the marriage breaks up. BTW of my 8 great-grandparents, 3 were Irish, 3 German, 1 Scottish & 1 English. I’ve always claimed to be a purebred mongrel !!!
Lindybird - We have been getting phantom phone calls lately. I answer and no one there. We are on the Do-Not-Call register which sifts out all but charities, surveys and the phone company. Yesterday the phone co called and a bored voice went into the spiel. "You have been with X for a number of years. . " "Yes unfortunately" sez I. But he didn’t hear me, just keep on the bored spiel. I said no thanks and hung up. I wonder if he has noticed yet that I’m not listening. LOL. As for the meaning of "brumbies", my dictionary says origin unknown. Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brumby which has 5 different versions.
Evening all:
Tiger: Thanks for the info on t he Irish census; a preliminary search has turned up lots of folks with the right name but the wrong address (at least at that point in time) but the Tips suggest that some people maybe weren't at their usual address at the time of the census. So I'll have to check further.
jsb: Wow. Nine e-mail addresses!! The mind boggles! I can barely cope with one. Also can't handle all the PINS and Passwords. Aaack. Did you alert your UK friend to his notoriety on the web?
Djoan: My mother was born in Blackpool, Cork and as far as I know, the whole Irish side was there. She "ran away" to England at 16 and created a family scandal. I saw my mother's house when I was 13, but when my sister and I went back there two years ago, it had been replaced by modern flats.
Lindybird: Lunch sounds yummy! And the ride home sounds very pretty; now nice to know that winter is over. Do hope you all get a decent summer. Re brumbies, if you go to Wikipedia, it'll give "Origin of the Name" (which is actually obscure) under History.
Diane: Thanks for yet more interesting techie info on e-mails. I've checked some of the "people search" directories and haven't found myself yet - but then again, haven't looked very hard.
OG: Funny you should mention dinner. I was just trying to figure out when I should start pasting myself together - it takes longer all the time! We were planning on going to the art museum first, but it's wet and windy and we don't fancy hanging about downtown until our dinner reservation, so we're putting off the art until another day and enjoying a lazy afternoon puttering. Re the volcano cam, sometimes it simply doesn't load and even when it does, it takes longer than most pages. Ah, so an outing tomorrow? Will you stop for latte and carrot cake?
Take care all; back to check on EJ et al later....
Hi, all! This post is for the folks on this forum who like bears!
One of my most favorite animals is the Spectacled Bear, also called the Andean Bear. They look so wise and thoughtful, and they are very gentle, even in the wild. They are a small, mostly vegetarian bear, native to South America. They are on the list of threatened animals.
Anyway, the Smithsonian National Zoological Park has a breeding pair (Billie Jean and Nikki). In January, Billie Jean had twin cubs, and they are denned in a secluded area of their indoor exhibit. They are the only surviving Spectacled Bear cubs in a North American zoo, and the first at the National Zoo in 22 years. The Smithsonian has kept the bears in seclusion, but they have placed a webcam at the entrance of the den. I thought that those of you who are missing Lily and Hope might enjoy this cam. I know everyone is watching EJ and Odin (of course!), but I know many of you use split screens. (Just for the record, I have ethical concerns about zoos and some of their practices, but the bears are wonderful!)
Spectacled Bear Webcam (good quality): http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/default.cfm?cam=ABC
Wonderful video of and info on Billie Jean and the very tiny, adorable new cubs: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Exhibit/AndeanBears/March2010cubs.cfm Hope you all like this.