WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey topics) SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2015

Hallo all!  Hope you all have a peaceful and pleasant Easter.

  • I woke this morn to a strange sound - rain! We've only had a few drops all year.

  • Annette: Your photos are lovely. The caterpillar to butterfly is really nice. Can't believe you have oranges again already. Ms. D is certainly growing up quickly. She's quite beautiful. I, too, hope she retains her interest in books.

    AQ: I looked at your wonderful photos. Such an impressive compilation.  

    Heather: I hope you OH is on the mend.

    Hello to everyone.

  • Lynette: Congrats on your membership in your church; sounds like a nice move for you.

    AQ: Good to hear you're making time for yourself.

    OG: Spoke to g/daughter today; she took Ms. D to church for Easter and after the rather long service, the older gentleman who was sitting next to Ms. D reached over and pressed a few dollars into g'daughter's hand and told her to buy Ms. D a treat because she was so well behaved.  G/daughter didn't initially want to accept it, but was persuaded.  Ms. D really is a sweet little girl.

  • Annette - I so enjoyed all your lovely pictures, I can just imagine the scent of the Orange tree and that beautiful protea bush, I wish we could grow them here. A very good photo of that lovely butterfly,I did not realise they are so large. I have already seen a Red Admiral and a Peacock Butterfly in my garden on the last sunny day we had, must have come out of hibernation.    What a really gorgeous picture of the lovely little Ms D, she looks so pretty in her Irish green outfit, so glad that she likes books, hope that lasts for always.     My eldest son has four children grown up now and is very disappointed that none of them read books much now.   He and his wife are great readers and he has a huge collection of books of all kinds that he hoped the children would enjoy, he always read to them when they were young and they all had lots of books, but it does not seem to play much of a part in their lives now. Too busy on their phones and I-pads!

    Re- my tortoises, they spend the winter in the fridge (their own fridge!) , as that keeps them at a steady temperature for hibernation, my centrally heated house would be too warm for them.  I always examine their eyes, nose, mouth a give them a warm bath to wake them up and weigh them to see that they have'nt lost too much weight during hibernation, after all, they have not eaten anything since October!

  • Good morning, all!  You'll all be delighted to know that Dai Dot is back in Wales........and Odin the Magnificent made his triumphant and extremely unlikely return to LG in the early hours of this morning!

    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: Hurray for Odin!  I lurked on the DU last night, but didn't post. What a nice treat for the night shift. :-)  Sorry that Lady doesn't seem to have returned to LOTL though.....

    Rita: Interesting about refrigerating the tortoises.  Isn't it cold enough for them to be outside for the winter (in an enclosed area) or is that a no-no in the tortoise-raising world?  Did you cook bacon and eggs for them when they woke up?  :-))  Re kiddies and reading, my granddaughter is making a major attempt to restrict her TV viewing (none of them watch it much anyway) and raise her with animals:  They took my daughter's two horses back to AZ last Christmas and g/daughter's b/day gifts to Ms. D included three baby chicks!  They wanted to get a goat and pigs too, but can't have that many critters where they're renting, though they've certainly got enough space. As it is, they have antelope and javalinas roaming the property, not to mention Black Angus cattle - it's open range there, so the cattle can wander wherever they want....

  • More weird misty weather today, but more clear patches during the morning, and now is almost sunny.  You can tell how damp it has been here for a while - we are getting frequent visits from a Reed Bunting - not exactly a common garden bird!  Both been busy again; lawn is the biggest worry now: chosen new mower was unavailable and old one is really struggling: add that to damp grass in the mornings and we aren't sure OH will get it all scarified and mown - about one third fully finished so far.  He has, however painted half the shed, while I have been pottering about with plants etc, final washing for holiday and keeping up with ironing - not to mention all the everyday stuff which still continues.

    Keeping up with nest news - must say LG nest looks better already with two of them working on it!  I like Laddie's Lassie at LotL, but I wish they would stay on the one nest instead of apparently moving between the two!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Nice to hear from you AQ,I'm sure you will be able to post pics in time. Keep trying, love to see the lambs.

    Rita - we use to keep a tortoise many years ago at my family home but he always hibernated in a box.   Refrigerator is something new but if it keeps them at a constant temp then obviously it works.

    Been like a summers day here after the last few days of gloomy weather. OH managed to to the lawns and Dau and I went over to one of our garden centres where I spent some money, not on plants, but on food.  You could spend a fortune in these places but managed to be restrained.

  • Maya is home at Rutland so two there, two at LG and LoTL and one so far at Dyfi. Nearly all home

  • Who is home at Dyfi?

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!