Hi all: Thanks for chat and Ernie info - don't forget to read the last few posts of last week to catch up on folks.
Brenda: My sister has been to the Chelsea Flower Show several times and has always loved it. Do hope the weather is kind on your day.
Patriciat: How nice that people were so generous with your fund-raising efforts. Good for you - you must have a winning way!!
dibnlib: Thanks for spelling out Ernie's "real" name. Doesn't sound half as much fun as his more familiar name. Actually, I remember now - Premium Bonds - they were being sold when I was still in the UK. I think my sister also has some that she bought way back when....
Emma: Painting is done - although just noticed a smudge of Pot of Cream (the paint) on a wood ceiling beam. How did it get there!! Took all the blue painter's tape off the glass panes this afternoon and put the hardware back on and it looks pretty nice. Do need to do some tidying up where paint trickled under the tape and also onto the hinges a bit, but all pretty minimal.
Have been keeping tabs on Trucker Steve, whose cat has an eye problem. He's going to take her to the vet. He's got a hard trip this time - three days of 11 hours a day to the next stop in Wisconsin. He's in Montana now, where it's well into the evening.
Off to see how EJ is doing. Have a nice Sunday morning all.
Wow, DjoanS !! How did you manage that? usually if they say 2 days they mean 3 at least. Hope you can get everything put away nicely when they're all gone, then you can get back to normal. (never quite sure what passes for 'normal' in this house, we always seem to have some kind of muddle).
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Hi fans – I’ve missed you all and trust Alan and Margobird are having a good time.
Anyone else away at the moment?
Back from Mull after a wonderful week. Weather just great – only one poor-ish day and that was Thursday. Very cold wind (from north) but if one was sheltered from it, positively hot enough for a Tshirt !! Which I hadn’t taken of course :) - generally though, fleeces were the order of the day. Wonderful trips to the Mull Eagle hide where I met Debby and Sue and a great trip to Iona where I met David Sexton doing the Corncrake field trip (heard but, not seen. Never mind – it was a great trip anyway.) And …. On the way to Iona – about 1.5 miles from the ferry to get over to Iona I had a simply SPLENDID view of two juvenile Golden Eagles cavorting together in a blue sky, closely followed by an AMAZING sighting of an adult White Tailed Eagle riding a thermal. These were the best viewings but other sightings of Frisa from Mull Eagle hide and a mother and chick ‘somewhere’ along the ‘scenic view’ from Craignure to Salen were just great. One sighting of an Otter (not good enough but there it is).
Boat trip on Thursday despite the weather all ‘tucked up’ in a bright orange ‘survival suit’ over my own waterproofs made me imperious to all the elements – spent all the time on the top deck helping the Survey (it was a wildlife survey boat !! although I didn’t realise this when I booked the trip. (Despite it being called .. ‘Wildlife Survey Boat Trip’ duh….). No sighting of a whale but I certainly made sure of positive sightings (as opposed to ‘I wonder if that might be a …’ ) of Max Shearwaters, Razor Bills, Black Guillemots, Puffins, Fulmars, Gannets, Shags - just splendid despite light rain being flung in our faces by the wind. Oh yes, and Porpoises (LOTS).
Back in the nick as they say cos yesterday on the news I saw that Glasgow Airport had been closed cos of volcanic ash again.
And now I await the first hatching !!
Lindybird - nothing in this house is 'normal' either ... or it hasn't been for the last few years! My aunt died 3 years ago & I inherited 'sentimental family' stuff from her, and then my dad died last year and the same happened. All the stuff was sitting in boxes until a couple of months ago & I told OH to do a car boot with a lot of it & he raised over £200 for the local hospice!
Joan - avid bird and nature watcher in Northumberland!
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Great description of your hols, Cirrus. What a lot of things you packed into it. Never seen a porpoise (or an otter, come to that!) All sounds just splendid, and hope you have lots of pics to show us later (?). I've been busy today so have to look back on the previous posts, now.
Know what you mean, DjoanS, its not easy sorting that kind of stuff out, we still have a lot of my mothers 'bits'. Well done you supporting the Hospice, we support ours here as I'm almost incandescent (long word for this time of day) that the Council don't pay for their upkeep.
Cirrus What a wonderful visit to Mull - so much bird life (and an otter). OH and I have talked about going to Mull but haven't done anything about it. Worry about ferry journeys because of his disability. We already have one crossing to get to Scotland - stressful enough even knowing what to exoect on the ferry. Maybe next year!
Sad news from the Derby peregrines - it appears they have now lost a second chick, let's hope it isn't down to a disease and that the surviving pair are OK.
Oh dear. I was a little premature in stating that the little peregrine chick at Derby Cathedral had died, it is clearly still alive but is in a very bad way. Be warned - if you want to see the camera footage it is not particularly pleasant viewing.
DjoanS, You must let us know your secret. What do we say or do to get workmen to complete a job in one day, rather than two.
Cirrus, I really enjoyed reading about your holiday. The eagles would always be top of my list, but you also saw such a variety of other birds, especially on the 'Wildlife Survey Boat Trip'. I always make a point of reading Dave Sexton's blogs and would love to meet him. Like many others have said, I wish he would write a book.
Sandy, Thanks for news from Derby. Will now go and have a look.
Cirrus: Sounds like your trip was a real success. Brilliant! Great that you got to help out with the survey.
Sandy: Oh dear, thanks for the heads up about the unhappy situation at Derby and for the warning about viewing...
My trip to Ventura yesterday was to get rid of just some of that inherited "stuff." Obviously, items with great sentimental value aren't going anywhere, but then there's all that other "stuff." Thing is, you hate to give it away at a sale if there's any chance it'll end up on Antiques Roadshow. ("Oh my, I only paid $2 for it at a yard sale and you're telling me it's worth $25,000? I had no idea!") Some lady on AR the other week had a Chippendale chair that was worth umpity thousands - she said a dealer had offered her $70 for it a few years back. Getting accurate appraisals is hard enough without having to worry about the crooks.
Nice that at least 3 of your watches went to good homes, Annette. You sound as if you had a good day. I love hardware shops and kitchen shops, I could poke around them for hours. My family laugh at me because I love to have new gadgets for the kitchen. Husband is a whizz with the hoover, likes to rush around with it in a macho way, but has no idea what a duster is for!