Weekly Chat, Sunday May 2, 2010

Hi, all. Two links that I thought you might enjoy.

ALL SEATS $7! Ospreys have nested on top of a movie theater marquee in Florida for 10 years, but the nest has now been moved to a platform a few feet away, thanks to the Audubon Society. The new platform is more stable and free from the glow of the All seats $7 sign. The worker who moved the nest said he found plastic wrap, construction fencing, and a shirt inside it. http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/local/pinellas/osprey-nest-moved-112009 The video of the nest move is really interesting, I thought.

Also,

NO TURKEY VULTURE ZONE!  I liked this video slideshow on the Indianapolis Peregrine Falcon site.  http://blogs.indystar.com/falconblog/   Several turkey vultures have been flying in the area of the peregrine falcon nest. You can see pictures of the peregrines dive bombing the turkey vultures and aggressively chasing them out of the area. Turkey vultures feed on carrion, and they are no threat to the peregrines, but Kinney and KathyQ won't let any of them fly within two blocks of their nest. Not much Indiana hospitality there. :-)

By the way, if anyone is awake, the chicks are all visible right now.

Hi all:  First off, must apologize for this very long post - haven't had time and/or energy to respond much the last few days.

Long day at the garage sale, which went well. I managed to sell most items but kept back one item that I didn't want to cut the price too much on.  Friends had a bunch of stuff and did very well - they donated the proceeds to their son and his family who are moving into their first house next month. Then the son's wife BBQ'd eats for us which went down nicely with some cold beer after we'd cleaned up.

Planning a very low-key day tomorrow.

Margobird: Brilliant that you managed a secretarial career with all the eye problems!

ChloeB: Thanks for the link to the Pale Male/Lola blog telling of another apparently unproductive year. Still, as the Marie reminds us, the birds probably don't take the failure of their eggs as badly as some of us.

Alan: Sounds like a peaceful day with the BBQ a nice conclusion.

Sandy: Falcon chicks terribly sweet.

jsb: Couldn't connect to "Spellbound" video. It kept insisting it was playing but....   Tam, eh? Is Sean Connery his real name?

Lindybird: I think I stopped watching talent shows because I felt so bad for the less wonderful participants.  While I was at the garage sale, OH cleaned out the garage (a bit). Now I'm wondering where some of that stuff ended up - wouldn't be surprised to find spare pieces of lumber and old tools under the bed!  Hope the girlfriend visit went well; funny how pets know that treats are more likely when visitors are around.

OG:  I like being outdoors - one of the things about Southern California is that it's a year-round outdoor climate which means things like - um - ironing are far down the list from weeding, watering, puttering. I'd love to have someone do all the housework and let me be outside in the garden all day....

Heron: Lovely little goldfinches!  An oriole approached our hummingbird feeder this evening but by the time I realized it was there it was gone - no way I could get a photo without spending the entire day perched near the feeder.

TerryM: Oooh, that's my kind of concert (but I also like Eric Clapton).   I just checked the ISS and nothing close to us for a while yet.

Diane: Oh boy - I wish you could see our side tables - you name it, we've got it. I haven't parted with any yet since we still have to do some switching about (haven't got anything suitable for the stereo and the as-yet-unpurchased flat screen telly).  Geez. Another tornado watch - and your Dad on a machine? Do you have a generator in case the power goes out?

Do appreciate all the posts and the pix - thanks folks and have a good Sunday!

Hey Diane: Hope things are quiet (tornado-wise) there tonight....

Hey, Annette. Glad your garage sale went well, and I hope you have a nice quiet day tomorrow. I don't know how you can make a decision on a new telly. You practically need a technology Ph.D. to understand the options.

By the way, if Discovery Channel reruns the Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking programs tomorrow, I highly recommend them. Very interesting opinions by Dr. Hawking. He says we shouldn't be trying to contact alien species because they likely will only be interested in conquering and colonizing us to steal our resources. !!! He also thinks that time travel into the future is possible, but not into the past.

We have storms moving in, but I'm not worried about them. No generator here -- old electrical system won't support it -- but Dad has oxygen tanks to use in event of a power outage. So we're fine.

Have a nice Sunday.

Diane: Hawking's views on aliens were picked up by the media (as you can imagine). Saw someone associated with him/the program doing some "clarifying" on one show as I rushed passed the telly one evening. NPR had a very interesting debate on the chances of us and other allegedly intelligent beings evolving at the same time and in close enough proximity to meet up.

Watching a fascinating program on the excavation of Flanders Fields on the Military Channel, which actually has some very good documentaries. Now it's the Somme. I've heard the names and know their significance, but these program really bring the history to life.

OK. I'm probably going to pack it in now folks. Odin is on the nest; EJ off and about.

Morning all, & thanks to Annette for starting the new Chat Page, as usual. Dry and 'trying to be sunny' here, which is good as Husband has just left for a day out golfing with some pals - he only plays a few times a year so has a job keeping up with them as most of them are retired and so play every week.

I'll have a mixed day of lazing to keep up with the newspapers from the last week, plus have been cleaning out one cupboard a day in the kitchen, so will not let myself off that today (although it was left yesterday due to New Girlfriends visit).  Also the dreaded ironing basket calls, so will watch something on TV while getting rid of that.  Forgot to mention that the Girlfriend visit went well:  I was in a hurry writing yesterday so didn't make much comment - she is fun and we think will be 'good for him'.    He had the grace to look sheepish when she revealed that they have been an item for quite some time, unbeknownst to us!

Off now to read all the last posts from yesterday. Have a good Bank Holiday Sunday.

Good Sunday morning – happy new week!  Decided we are not going to church – brilliant weather, so going to putter about doing our bit for Creation!  Paul – lovely Goldfinch picture – so pleased you have them too.   Ours have been here several times already this morning.  Dianne – hadn’t realised your Dad is on oxygen – must be quite difficult to maintain in a rural area – hope the power isn’t out too often.  Thanks for the links  (Tampa Bay Osprey nest and Indianapolis Falcons) – enjoyed both.  Annette – glad to hear the sale went well for you and neighbour – and how good to share the BBQ after.  We got the new television and HDD/DVD last autumn, and we think we have just managed to make the controls work properly after several long calls to help centre!  Passed by news items about Hawking on alien life-forms – didn’t give it much attention – one world is enough for me to worry about!!  Hi, Lindybird.  We talk about the kitchen cupboard thing, but they are another item on the “one day …” list.  Needs both of us as I can’t do much reaching up or bending down but need to be there for decisions.  Your one-a-day might be the answer – could be an “after breakfast – before coffee” task for us.  So pleased that you liked Girlfriend – could be “the one” if he was keeping it quiet!

Afternoon all,

Thanks everyone for your chat,clips,links etc.

This morning LadyP and I went to the Van Hage garden centre for a look round. Weather is really cold today. It feels like we have gone back about two months.

Now back home and LadyP has just given me a training course in : "How to hang out the Washing" as apparently I have not been doing it correctly. The course itself was well presented and not too much theory. There were plenty of practical exercises and I managed to get some "hands on" experience. I came away feeling confident that in the future my skills in this subject had been enhanced.

Afternoon Alan I am laughing my head off now about your training course on "How to hang out the Washing".  So glad you are now confident in your future skillsand that the course was well presented.

It is a pretty miserable day here in Poole, rain most of the morning and not very warm with it.

Thanks to all for all pics, links on the last week's weekly update.  Took me a while to catch up.

Went to the ballet yesterday and saw Cinderella and it was just lovely.  We try to go to the ballet at least twice a year and are lucky enough to live only about 50 minues drive from the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.  Really nice theatre which we visit often for shows.  Not quite so expensive as London but we get all the top shows there.  Drove through some really heavy rain there and back but quite strange that when got just outside Poole on the way back there had not been any rain.  Weather really strange at times when you can have rain a couple of miles up the road but the sun is shining here.

I unpacked all my summer clothes this morning and I am beginning to wonder why now, but I do need some of them for Venice.  According to the weather forcast we should be having sunny intervals but we hardly seen any sun today.

Have a good afternoon all and hopefully cam will be up and running soon.

Afternoon everyone

No LG live cam so I'm sure we are all busy doing things we would otherwise be happily distracted from doing.  Glad your 'How to hang out the Washing' lesson was a success Alan.  I think you and Lady P might be on to something.  How about little mini videos on U-tube.  I'm sure we could think of many subjects for the 'How to .......' lessons to show our other halves.  Steed is pretty good at hanging out the washing but I am still amazed by the fact that he forgets pegs leave marks on clothing which are difficult to iron out and we don't want really want these marks....  We are enjoying a pleasant afternoon weatherwise so I am tempted to address one or two outdoor issues and enjoy my five minutes of therapeutic exercise for today.  Interestingly, there has been an inturder at LOTL these past couple of days who has even landed on the nest.  Hope everyone enjoys a busy Sunday.

Emma